A Guardsman in Equestria

by Guardsman_Sparky

May the Best Win

Alexander stood at parade rest before the princesses, having just finished his report on what was becoming known as "The Massacre of Foal Mountain." Celestia closed her eyes in quiet pain for the lives lost, while Luna seemed ready to fly into an uncontrollable rage at the slaughter of foals. Not even as Nightmare Moon had she threatened the lives of children. Celestia opened her eyes, meeting the one eye visible through the gauze swaddled on Alexander's face.

"You are certain that this doctor was not working alone?"

Alexander nodded. "Yes. Before he...perished, the good 'doctor' claimed that 'they' had thrown him to the wolves, so to speak. Also, for such an operation to remain hidden for so long, and for so many to go missing before it was discovered speaks of outside help."

One of the guard captains, a large white unicorn with a blue mane and tail spoke up. "You don't know that for certain." He flushed, bowing to Celestia and Luna. "I do beg your pardon."

Alexander turned his attention to the captain. "Captain, we in the Imperial Guard had a saying. Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action."

Celestia nodded, a thoughtful expression painted on her face, while Luna continued to struggle to keep her rage in check. "Sage words indeed. Unfortunately, we are now without a champion."

Alexander raised a brow. "What am I, chopped liver? I'm still good to go!"

Celestia derped for a moment, just long enough for Alexander to see it, before she composed herself once more, Luna finally forgetting her rage in bemusement. "My dearest Sentinel, while your...enthusiasm is commendable, the reality of the situation is that you are missing an eye."

Alexander shrugged. "What, this? It's just a scratch."

Celestia gestured to Alexander's left. "Not to mention that your left arm had to be amputated."

Alexander referred to the pinned sleeve where his arm had been. "A flesh wound. Give me a few weeks, I'll be right as rain."

Luna went buggy-eyed at this declaration. "But-but not even magic can regrow lost limbs!"

The cycloptic Sentinel gave a knowing grin, one that smugly said 'I know something you don't know.' "Hey, you have your magic, I have mine." Alexander turned his head to look at the Phoenix chick, the one he had rescued and been rescued by in turn, playing with Celestia's phoenix Philomena. "By the way, what reasons would one have to experiment on a phoenix egg?"

Celestia regarded the frolicking firebirds. "Phoenixes possess potent magics, ones that allow them to be reborn from their ashes, amongst other things. Phoenix feathers can be used in a variety of protection and healing potions, while the ashes left over from a rebirth are rumored to have restorative powers. Perhaps this madstallion intended to mine this phoenix for ingredients." Celestia turned back to the one-armed man. "Have you named him?"

Alexander nodded. "I have named him Cinis, High gothic for embers and ash." Hearing his name, the newborn chick left his perch with Philomena to flutter over to Alexander, occasionally flipping over to fly upside down. With a relieved sigh, Cinis perched on Alexander's shoulder, fluffing up as the exhausted chick dozed off.

Celestia chuckled at the small bird's exuberance as Philomena left her perch to sit on the back of the Solar Diarch's throne. "A very apt name for a phoenix." She turned and whispered something to Luna, her sister whispering something back in return. The two princesses finished their counsel and returned their attention to Alexander. "We have decided to allow you your four weeks vacation. Perhaps you too will rise from the ashes as you claim." With a bow, Alexander took his leave.

Alexander opened his bleary eye as he regained consciousness. Sitting up, he groggily looked around the brightly lit medbay of his derelict frigate. He turned to Cog and Syrette. "So, how'd it go?"

Syrette chuckled. "Why don't you see for yourself?" Alexander looked at the stump of his left arm to find a shiney new augmetic interface socket, ready for a new arm to be put in.

Alexander wiggled what was left of his upper arm. "Great. So how long until I get an arm to go with it?"

Cog lifted a bundle in his mechadendrites. <I have one for you now.>

"Really?" Alexander stared incredulously at the burnished onyx finish of the artificial limb. "That was fast."

Syrette shrugged as Alexander took the arm in his organic one, placing the bionic in the socket. "Yeah, we found it in the mechanicus shrine, already mostly built. We just had to readjust some bits and added a few extras."

Alexander ceased flexing the new limb. "What kind of extras?" He stared suspiciously at Syrette and Cog. The medic coughed nervously as the techpony stood there like a statue. Syrette was the first to break the long, awkward silence. "Well, ah...I got nothing. Cog?"

There was a burst of binary, the closest any self-respecting techpriest would allow themselves to get to a sigh. <Every living being on Equus has some amount of magical energy within them. Even the non-pony races have some form of magic users.>

"Alright, so everything here has magic, so what?"

<While you were unconscious from the anesthetic, we discovered that your body has been absorbing the natural magics present in the air. However, since you lack the magical organ necessary to manipulate mana->

"Mana?"

"Mana is essentially the raw form of magic that permeates everything. Completely unconnected to the warp in any way."

<Yes, well said Syrette. Now as I was saying, because you lack the necessary organ needed to manipulate mana, namely a horn, you would be unable to project your mana outside of your body. At best, you would find yourself getting stronger and faster, and I hypothesize that your body's ability to heal would also increase, much like an earth pony. However, I put inlays of psycho reactive metals into your augmetic, so in theory, it should allow you to cast spells as well as any unicorn.>

Alexander flexed the metal limb. "You're saying I'll be able to use magic, without needing to worry about a demon eating my brain?"

<In theory.>

"Hmm..." Alexander thought quietly for a moment, metal fist clenching and unclenching slowly. It's not warpcraft. So, I guess there's nothing to be concerned about. If a pony can do it, then I'll do it better. Besides, Syrette seems comfortable enough with it. Can't be all bad. I hope. He looked around the medbay. The Sentinel lifted his augmetic hand towards a scalpel on a tray. Best to start small. The Sentinel concentrated on the razor utensil. Lift. A golden glow surrounded the hand, an identical aura surrounding the knife. It shook slightly. Come on, LIFT! The scalpel jumped off the tray, imbedding itself in the bulkhead above. "Um...Oops."

Syrette shook his head. "Yeah, should'a' seen my first attempt at magic. Nearly set Cog on fire."

<You did immolate me. As well as a good portion of the town.>

"Yeah, so like I was saying, not the worst first try I've seen."

Alexander shook his head. "So, how long until I get a new eye?"

<It will be a few months before I can finish it.

"A few months? Why so long?"

<I somehow feel that the normal augmetic lens won't suffice here. I intend to fabricate, nay, craft one that will fit in your socket as well as your natural eye does. There are also some things I must attend to, supplies to procure before I can begin. For instance, your armor is a disaster, and I am sure you would like it to be ready before your next mission.>

Alexander sighed. "Yeah." Rolling down his sleeve, he looked at the chronometer on the wall. The Sentinel stood up from the operating table. "Well, time to go meet Fluttershy in the park. Gotta go pick up Cinis."

Syrette looked at the door Alexander had left through. "Who's Cinis?"

Alexander entered the park to find the Elements of Harmony frolicking with their pets. Applejack was playing fetch with her collie, Winona, the farm dog gleefully barking every time she chased after a stick. Twilight was talking with Pinkie Pie, the lavender unicorn's owl, Owliscious dozing on her head as Gummy, Pinkie's toothless baby alligator gnawed on his mistress's bubblegum tail. Over by a few bushes, Rarity was magically batting a ball of yarn towards her persian cat Opalescence, a ball that the prissy cat was trying very hard to aloofly ignore. Under a tree, Angel Bunny and Chomper the minifex were deep in a staring contest, both visibly sweating as they struggled not to blink. Nearby, Fluttershy was whispering encouragement to Cinis as the small chick bobbed unsteadily through the air. Seeing the little Phoenix fluttering around Fluttershy's head, Alexander called to him with a sharp whistle. Delighted, the baby Phoenix flitted over to the human and nested in his hair. Alexander heard soft snores as the fiery feathered chick took a nap on his head.

"Oh, Alexander, it's nice to see you. How's your-oh, your arm! It's back! That's wonderful."

Alexander shushed the butter-yellow pegasus. "Shhh. Thanks for looking after Cinis for me. And, thank you for not telling the others about the extent of my injuries. I'd rather not have to explain things too much too soon." When Alexander had dropped Cinis off at Fluttershy's cottage, the poor mare had fainted upon seeing the pinned shirt-sleeve where his arm had been. Once she had recovered, Alexander had explained that he needed her to watch his pet while he got an augmetic arm, as well as what an augmetic was. When the pegasus had wanted to know more about replacement limbs, Alexander had made her promise not to tell anyone about augmetics until Cog could develop a reliable working prototype of an augmetic pony limb, a task that was proving surprisingly harder than had been originally thought.

Fluttershy blushed, hiding behind her mane. "Oh, it was no problem. He's such a sweetie. And I did make a Pinkie Pie promise, remember?" Alexander remembered. He personally thought that it was a bit strange, and when he asked how he knew she wouldn't break the promise, he could have sworn he heard someone screaming 'FOREVER!' out in the distance when Fluttershy explained that was how to lose friends.

"I remember." Alexander looked around. "Hey, where's Rainbow Dash?"

No sooner had the words left Alexander's lips when a yelp came from the tree Opal had climbed to escape from the attentions of the other pets. The other Elements quickly went to collect their pets.

Rarity scooped up Opal. "Sincerest apologies, Rainbow, if our pets were bothering you. Say you're sorry, Opal." The pampered persian turned away and hissed. Rarity blushed sheepishly. "She's... sorry."

Rainbow Dash lifted a hoof. "What are you all doing out here?"

Applejack tossed a stick with her tail, Winona chasing it gleefully. "Why, we always round up our critters for a regular ol' Pony Pet Playdate in this park."

Dash blinked. "Uh, you do?"

"Same time every week."

Fluttershy pawed at the ground with her hoof. "I thought you knew. You didn't know? She didn't know?" The poor pegasus looked ready to cry.

Twilight began to explain. "Well, we had initially planned on inviting Rainbow, of course, except–"

Pinkie took the opportunity to jump in, gummy clamped onto her head like a leech. "We were totally gonna invite you, Rainbow, then Twilight remembered that you don't even have a pet, and Rarity remembered that you really like to take naps in the afternoon, so Applejack figured you wouldn't be missing out on anything anyway, and Fluttershy and I nodded our heads in agreement like this." The pink party pony grabbed Fluttershy's head and made her nod.

Fluttershy seemed unable to stop nodding as she apologized. "Oh, please don't be mad at us."

Rainbow Dash waved a hoof dismissively. "Oh, I'm not mad. You all are right. Not much point of a Pony Pet Playdate for me if I'm a pony without a pet, right?" She turned to Alexander. "Besides, I'm not the only one here without a pet, right Alex?"

"Um..."

Rainbow noticed the dozing ball of reddish down on the human's head. "Oh, c'mon, when did you get a pet?"

"Quite recently."

"Right. C'mon Flutters, we're getting me a pet!"

"O-okay."

Alexander shook his head at the sight of Fluttershy being dragged away by Rainbow Dash, receiving an alarmed squawk from the baby bird on top. "Sorry." He turned to leave the park. "C'mon, let's go make sure the town didn't explode while I was gone."

Alexander climbed the stairs to his room, utterly exhausted. What had started out as a simple day had quickly escalated into something else. First, he barely came away with his life when several large and heavy objects fell out of a moving wagon pulled by some pegasi. Ditzy Doo had apologized profusely, promising she'd give him some muffins in the mail tomorrow. Then, that crazy aqua unicorn from the other day, Lyra something or other, had assaulted him again, showing off his hands to a cream-colored earth mare with a two-tone purple mane who had quickly pointed out that Alexander had been in Ponyville for several weeks. Lyra had promptly turned a violent crimson, too embarrassed to apologize as she shuffled off with Bonbon. After that, he'd been run over by the Cutie Mark Crusaders, more specifically, Scootaloo. And to top it all off, that damned little carnifex had eaten a frag grenade, merely puffed up like a balloon when it detonated and coughed up a cloud of smoke. Alexander was beginning to doubt that the abomination could even be hurt, much less killed.

Sighing, Alexander entered his room and knelt before the small shrine he had made to the Emperor. Striking a match, he lit two of three votive candles, the third absolutely refusing to catch. Sighing in frustration as the match went out, Alexander put aside the unlit candle. He began to pray to the Emperor.

"Oh, divine Emperor, protector of mankind, I find myself in the employ of xenos, my comrades no longer human, and myself and my regiment betrayed by those we once served. These xenos, these ponies, they should sicken me with their presence, but, I-I feel comfortable around them. I've been tackled by them on several occasions, but never once did I consider harming them, until I became their Sentinel and went to Foal Mountain. I let a mutant carnifex live, because one of them argued to do so. This place, I feel more at home here than I ever did anywhere in the Imperium. I know you approved of my decision to aid their rulers as I could, but I-I still don't know if I am doing the right thing. And now, I'm basically a Psyker. I just don't know what to do."

As Alexander knelt with head bowed, he heard a small *fwumph*. Looking up, he found that the third candle was burning, as if to tell him that 'everything will be alright.' Smiling gratefully Alexander moved to pinch out the candles with his augmetic. "Thank you." The candles out, Alexander stood and went to go to bed.

Alexander fired his bolt pistol into the mass of screaming cultists, the mass-reactive rounds adding fountains of blood and gore to the bleeding skies. He swung his chainsword down in a sweeping chop, decapitating the last one. Turning to his squad, the sergeant gestured to his men. "C'mon, we need to get into those ruins!" Alexander began to charge toward a crumbling apartment complex, his squad following him. Alexander looked over his shoulder to make sure the hooded and cloaked eleventh member of the squad was keeping up.

"Alexander?" A feminine voice brought Alexander to a halt, a ghostly after image continuing on to lead the advance. He turned to find a midnight blue alicorn standing beside him. It's...just a dream.

"Luna, why are you in my head?"

"As the Princess of the night, it is our-my duty to ensure that our subjects' dreams are peaceful and protected."

"Protected?" Alexander did not like the sound of that. "Why would dreams need to be protected? And you still haven't answered why you're in my head."

If Luna was perturbed by Alexander's demanding questions, she didn't show it. "I am not the only pony who can access dreams. As for why we chose your dream, we find you...interesting." The royal unicorn looked at her bloody surroundings. "Where are we?"

"Heh." Alexander flung his arms out dramatically, taking in the hellish landscape. "Welcome to the fall of Eridanus VI!"

"What happened?"

"Chaos."

That one word, somehow filled with the unbound malice and hatred of an entire species, was enough of an answer for Luna to guess what had happened. She looked to where Alexander's memory-self had progressed, and found him talking to the cloaked figure. The figure was tall and gaunt, but not undernourished. His frail-looking hand grasped an ebony hafted staff topped with a golden Aquila like a drowning man clings to a floating board. He looked to be swimming in the too-large olive cloak he wore. The sharp clarity of the memory of him was a stark contrast to the blurry figures that made up the rest of the squad.

"Who is he?" She pointed a hoof towards the figure.

Alexander followed her hoof. "My brother."

Luna felt the profound sadness held in those two words that spoke of tragedy and loss. "What happened?"

Alexander stared at the hooded figure with the staff. "I killed him."

Author's Note:

Dun-dun-dun-DUUUUUUUN!

Comments

[ancientofstone]

AND CLIFHANGERED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

[Cobra of England]

Alexander has a sanctioned psyker for a brother? Nasty.

[Cadmium]

Psykers+Chaos near them means BLAM the psyker before it becomes a "deamons fall, everyone dies" scenario.
And it would have been more fun if the only prosthetics they had where the space marine issue ones and he had to run around with a giant bulky metal arm that could rip houses apart and lift a small car if it wheren't for the fragile human attached to it. Until cog could get around making him one for human proportions.

[FreedomFiend]

Alexander flexed the metal limb. "You're saying I'll be able to use magic, without needing to worry about a demon eating my brain?"

*Daemon.
However, I am willing to forgive this base insult against Chaos given how excellently this story is advancing. Keep up the awesome work, you rock.

[DezzarTac]

2903908 Straight from wiki

A demon or daemon is a paranormal, often malevolent being prevalent in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, and folklore.

Edit: Forgot to mention my point is that it's spelled either way.

[FreedomFiend]

2904290

Normally, I'd agree with you, but it's always spelled Daemon in the WH40K canon.
Source ~ I'm a Chaos sympathizer.

[DezzarTac]

2905803 Ooh, OK I see where you're coming from now! I agree, Daemon in this case

[Bronzer]

I'm glad you've been getting the power (and effects of being shot by) las weapons right. So many authors don't.

[KVFFour]

Alexander sighed. "Yeah." Rolling down his sleeve, he looked at the chronometer on the wall. The Sentinel stood up from the operating table. "Well, time to go meet Fluttershy in the park. Gotta go pick up Cinis."

He's Solid Snake now.