The Legion of the Damned

"You forgot about the Legion's condition, didn't you, Sergeant? You, of all of us, should know of it. You have been around the longest, after all." Iphoan's voice sounded through Centurius's still-working comm bead. "We would have lasted at best a few years down there, if not for the highly fortunate fact this planed is a complete warp blank.Which nullifies the warp-damned plague's effects on the mind, but not the body."

"You... You mean the condition no longer affects us?"

"Oh, it still affects me because I'm still sitting in orbit with the Legions fleet. Just don't ask me to make any warp jumps soon. The whole place is more of a mess than Armageddon and Cadia combined when they were at their height! The machines will keep me sane, Brother. Don't worry about me. As for you and the other Legionarries, your physical forms will still be devoured completely and utterly but, since your psychic energy can't leave your bodies because the warp doesn't touch this place and vice versa, well you'll just become walking metal boxes of warp energy with a physical form manifested inside through sheer force of will."

"Great, Brother, just great. Now we all become walking metal boxes like the Thousand Sons, but at least we still have our sanity. Put the ships in the Eclipse orbit pattern, we will maintain watch." Centerius stared around the building these primitive horses had put him in. It was vaguely reminiscent of a Imperial chapel, what was obviously a platform for a altar or throne at one end, long rows of pews, except for the windows, it could have been a chapel to the God-Emperor.

The windows were the most confusing. Some had scenes of the white horse which he guessed was their leader on her (judging by the voice) own while others had her paired with a similar horse that was dark blue. Her sister? he guessed. That means we have two rulers to contend with. He turned his helmet lenses on, causing them to glow a dull red which any horses in the room would have easily noticed if any had been in there.

He spotted Brother Alphan stood in a alcove opposite him and leaned out of the alcove into the darkened room to see how many of his other brothers were in the room. He spotted Brothers Caldous and Neuros in their Dreadnoughts, standing sentinel behind the dais and the lone throne that had been added to it. Two other brothers, Savillias and Merallion were stood flanking the door. One way in, one way out, two Dreadnoughts and four Brothers. If things went bad, they could hold this room until the enemy came in through the windows.

Centerius spoke into the comm-bead "Our wait will be long, Brothers. The day will come when we are needed once again. Your physical forms will have long turned to dust, yet the warp energy that sustains us will remain. The Damned watch once more."

His optical sensors dimmed back to their orginal dark red, his arms fell limp, kept in place by the armour. He could feel his body being destroyed cell by cell. The Legion would watch, wait, and protect.

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1000 or so years later-In Ponyville-

Twilight was restless. She was expecting yet another test by Princess Celestia and this one was 'designed to get you to think outside the box.' She had looked over every topic in the library, and yet she still couldn't figure out what the test could be on. It was the middle of the night, and the test was tomorrow. Twilight had devoured the contents every book in the library, and then she found this one, battered, thin black covered volume lying at the bottom of the pile. She could have sworn she'd never seen it before.

The cover read- The Black Statues of Canterlot-The truths behind the legends. There was no author. Twilight stared at it. She knew of the semi-legendary black statues of Canterlot and the various myths about them. Some connected them to the banishment of Nightmare Moon, citing that they appeared only after her banishment to the moon. Others said they were connected to 'The Spears', a group of spearhead shaped asteroids that drifted in a lazy figue-of-eight around the Sun and the Moon. Many had tried to study them and all who did had vanished mysteriously.

She opened the book and began to read aloud. "The statues themselves have been described so many time in so many different texts that I will not do so again. All who read this volume should know of the basic legends behind the statues, yet there are hundreds of them few ponies know." Twilight stared at the book for a few seconds. Could this be what Princess Celestia would test her on?

She eagerly turned the page, seeking more knowledge on the statues, yet all she found was blank page after blank page. Some even had blood-like stains on. At the end was a hastily scribbled note. "They've found me. They've killed everypony else who came close to revealing the statues secrets. They are not statues at all! These statues are magic in its pure, unrefin-" Twilight couldn't read the last word because it was torn brutally from the book. She was confused by this. Somepony didn't want the secret of these mysterious statues getting out. Where there was a secret, there was knowledge. And where there was knowledge, Twilight went.

"Knowledge is power, guard it well..." A voice whispered into her ear.

Twilight turned, startled, seeking the source of the voice. "Hello? Is anypony there?" she asked the darkness.

There was no reply. Being thoroughly creeped out by the mysterious voice, Twilight placed the book back on her desk and trotted back to her room, eager for sleep.

She didn't see the book suddenly combust into a small pile of ashes.