My Little Xeno

The chariots made a landing directly in front of the hospital of Coltport. Antonius immediately grabbed Moonlight and rushed into the hospital, Luna and Blackwing at his sides.

The mare at the admittance desk almost had a heart attack and stammered:

"Why, Princess Luna! And..."

"We need a doctor! Post-haste!" Luna interrupted.

"Of course! Follow me!" the mare shouted and dashed through the next door.

They followed her and met the desired doctor immediately, an elderly blue stallion.

"Oh, hello, I'm Doctor Rapid Cure. How can I help... Good gracious! What happened?" he asked.

"Batpony, wounded by a daemonic blade," Antonius explained,
"severe internal injuries, efficiency of healing magic reduced."

Rapid Cure took a quick look at Moonlight, then he told two waiting nurses:

"Prepare the surgery, make haste! And I will need a second surgeon!"

As the nurses rushed off and the group made its way to the surgery, he asked Antonius:

"You told me it was a 'daemonic blade'. I have seen a lot of peculiar things, but that is new to me. I'm a doctor, not a mystic, after all. Do you have any experience with this?"

"You must excise the grey tissue. It is better to take out some healthy tissue than to miss even a single tainted cell."

"Anything else?"

"I'm a tactical Marine, not an Apothecarius. Thus, my knowledge is limited."

"Okay, we will do our very best."

They entered the surgery and Antonius put Moonlight onto the operating table.
The second doctor, a younger mare, came in now and hesitated a second as she saw Antonius, Luna and Blackwing.

"No time to stand around! Come here and help me!" the elderly doctor shouted while other members of their team were preparing blood and different infusions.

The mare immediately ran over to him and together, they started to operate on Moonlight.

"Umm... giant, batpony?" Rapid Cure asked.

"Antonius and Blackwing," Antonius told him.

"Okay, Antonius, Blackwing, please leave now. You can't do anything here and are just distracting us. Princess, we still need your healing magic for a while."

Blackwing wanted to protest, but Antonius just grabbed him and dragged him out of the surgery. When it came to medicine, no Space Marine would ever challenge an Apothecarius - even if he was just a pony doctor.
Going back to the waiting room, they found Twilight and her friends, as well as the pegasi who had pulled the chariots. Fluttershy was just handing - or hoofing? - the rescued filly over to another nurse to examine her and take care of her.

Antonius and Blackwing updated the six mares and the guards on the current situation, then they waited.
The Space Marine used the spare time to clean his armor again, finding an even smaller bathroom than Twilight's.

After almost an hour, Luna entered the waiting room. She looked completely exhausted and told them:

"They are still operating on her. It is still uncertain if she survives, but it looks a bit less grim now."

Having said this, she slumped into one of the chairs and sighed.
The tension in the room was almost palpable. It reached its climax when Rapid Cure came through the door. The ponies jumped to their hooves, anxious to hear how Moonlight's condition might be.

"AND?" Blackwing shouted.

The doctor took a deep breath and nodded.

"Yes, she is alive."

The ponies cheered, but where immediately silenced by a wave of Luna's hoof.

"That certainly is outstanding good news, but your face tells me there is a catch," she said.

Rapid Cure nodded again.

"A lot of tissue was tainted. We had to excise large parts of her intestines. We fear she will never be really pain-free again, but she lives, and that is the main thing."

"Can I see her?" Blackwing asked worriedly.

"No, not now. In a few hours. I suggest you all go to the Coltport Inn and get some sleep. I will send somepony over when you can see her."

Blackwing insisted on staying in the waiting room to be as close to Moonlight as possible. The Guards opted to keep him company, so the others followed the doctor's advice and headed towards the aforementioned hotel.

It was a rather small, rural looking building. Once they entered it, they were immediately greeted by a smiling unicorn mare behind a reception desk:

"Hello and welcome to the Coltport Inn! What can I do for... Princess Luna! It's a honor to have you here in our humble hotel!"

"Thank you, good mare," Luna answered tiredly,
"We need five rooms for the night, next to each other, if possible."

The mare's face fell.

"I'm sorry, Princess, there are only two unoccupied rooms left, but they are next to each other."

Luna sighed.

"That will do."

She turned to Twilight and her friends:

"About the sharing of the rooms: I suggest you take one and Antonius and myself take the other."

The reception mare gasped:

"Oh, Princess, shouldn't you have a room of your own, without..."

She took a skeptical look at Antonius.

"...roommates?"

Luna glared at her.

"If you had five rooms available, that wouldn't be a problem. And do not dare to think little of our friend Antonius Varus! He has proven his worth many times! Now, show us our rooms - and get us something to eat and some water."

"Of course! Of course!"

The mare hurried to get the keys and lead them to the rooms.

"Now, if you excuse me, I'll get you something to eat!" she said and vanished.

The group split up and entered the two rooms. Finding no furniture that could stand his weight, Antonius sat down on the floor again, next to the bed. In fact, considering the sizes of the Space Marine and the room, every spot was more or less 'next to the bed'. He took off his helmet and put it to his belt.
Luna had closed the door and slumped down onto the bed.

"What a day!" she mumbled,
"I never thought I would see that much cruelty, that much madness. Is that really what the galaxy is like?"

"As soon as Chaos is involved, yes."

Luna looked at him for a few seconds, then she said:

"I would like to say 'I hope we have seen the last of them', but I know that this is unrealistic. We will yet have to deal with them. Either the companions of this Word Bearer find us, or we will encounter them when we will finally set out to help mankind."

Antonius just nodded and Luna rolled over onto her back, then she sighed.

"I need to tell my sister what has happened."

She fetched parchment and a pencil from a pocket of her armor belt and quickly wrote a letter. Then, she used her magic and the parchment was disintegrated into a trail of smoke. That seemed to have cost her a considerable part of her remaining power, she looked even more tired now than before.

"I need to get out of that armor," she whispered.

She climbed out of the bed and ignited her horn. The glow, however, immediately vanished again and Luna cringed. Her hair stopped flowing and the 'night sky' vanished, leaving behind a blue mane and tail which followed the rules of gravity.

"Damned. I'm not used to using that much magic."

"Umm... you push around the moon, Luna."

"Yeah, but that is my special talent. Healing-magic is not. I have depleted my reserves."

"Is that also the reason for your changed mane and tail?"

"Yes, it is."

"So, you use magic to 'enhance' your hair?"

"Well, sort of. It is not a spell, though, more like an ability that comes when you've reached a certain level of power. Do you dislike that? Do you want me to keep my hair this way all the time?"

Huh? Had she just asked him which of her hairstyles he preferred?

"Hold on! I did not say that. I was just curious," he quickly clarified.

"Does that mean you also like it when it flows and looks like the night sky?"

"Umm... sure."

"I'm glad to hear that, since my subjects are used to the enhanced mane and tail.
Well, we should get back to the topic. I still need to get out of that armor. Umm... could you please help me?"

Antonius got up and started removing the plates of her armor.

After a while, Luna said glumly:

"I'm sorry if we disappointed you today. You must be used to fighting with more courageous companions."

Antonius smiled:

"I did not expect you to be quadruped Ultramarines."

The term 'Ultra-mare-ines' popped up in his head. Nonsense. He quickly pushed it out of his mind and continued:

"You used to live in peace and are not used to all of this. Yet, I have seen outstanding bravery today. Remember that every pony came back when they heard that we were fighting, and Moonlight was willing to sacrifice her life to save that little filly. Also, you did a good job. Good tactic, good leadership, and you didn't show a notable sign of fear."

"I didn't, did I?" Luna said quietly as Antonius removed the last piece of her armor.

"Truth be told, Antonius, I was horrified. For a short while I even felt the urge to run away when we were walking through those roads."

"But you did not run away. You did not even show the slightest hint at this feeling. As I already told you, it was a good performance."

Luna nodded and gave him a weak smile, then, there was a knock on the door.
She went to open it and found the mare from the reception desk standing in front of the door.

"I'm sorry, Princess, but this is everything I could get," she said apologetically and hovered four small boxes and two bottles into the room.

Luna took one of the boxes and one bottle with her hoof and told her:

"Thank you. Please, deliver one of the three remaining boxes and the last bottle of water to Twilight and her friends, the other two boxes go to the hospital for the guards."

"Yes, Princess."

The mare bowed and left. Luna closed the door again and turned to Antonius. Her face fell as she looked at him, sitting on the floor next to the bed again. She trotted over and sat down on the ground next to him, then she opened the box: donuts.

Antonius took one and wanted to start eating when he noticed Luna's sad face.
What was bothering her?
Before he could ask, she gave him the answer:

"I'm a bad pony."

"Huh? What gave you that idea?"

"Just look at you! You should feast on the most delicious of dishes and sleep in the most comfortable of beds! Yet, here you are, sitting on the ground, with some donuts!
Even yesterday night, when you had the chance to sleep in a bed, I made you stay in my room, sitting on the ground!"

"Luna, I can assure you that I do not depend on beds, nor on feasting. I'm content with normal food - and a few of Pinkie's wraps, now and then. Furthermore, you could not make me do something I don't want to do."

Luna nodded and was silent. Antonius knew that something else was bothering her, but should he just ask what it was, or should he wait until she told him on her own accord? The Codex Astartes did not mention such a situation.
She looked at him and opened her mouth, then she shut it again and looked away.

"What is it, Luna?" he finally asked.

"Can I talk to you?" she responded with a question of her own.

Antonius almost indicated that she was already talking to him, but he grasped that she really needed someone to talk to, so he refrained from stupid jokes and told her:

"Of course."

"I am not sure you will understand," she said slowly.

"Just give it a try."

Now she looked at him.

"I killed a pony," she mumbled,
"I have fought many battles for Equestria and defeated lots of villains. But this was mostly done by banishing them, not by killing them. I am responsible for some dead among our enemies' lines, yet I never killed a pony before. Am I not supposed to protect them?"

Uh-oh. Remorse.

"You did not really have a choice," Antonius assured her.

"Are you sure? Perhaps we could have knocked them out and used the Elements on them later. I did not think about that. I was angry and so I killed one of them."

"They had become Chaos cultists. They had chosen the way that lead to their destruction. Dragging them to the Elements would have cost way too much time. We still had a Word Bearer to deal with. Do not waste your mercy on them."

"Are you sure we did not have a chance to wrench them from the claws of Chaos?"

"Trust me, Luna. It was the only reasonable decision."

She nodded, but she still looked depressed and turned her face down. Well, as her friend, he had to do something about it, hadn't he?
The donut in his hand caught his eye and he had a silly idea. A very silly idea, but it could work. Perhaps now was the time for stupid jokes, after all.

"You know, Luna," he started.

She turned to him again and he continued:

"You ponies do have a natural advantage over humans regarding donuts..."

She looked at him curiously.

"We do?"

"Yep!" he said and put his donut onto her horn,

"integrated holders!"

She looked at the small roll of dough on her horn, then she started laughing.
Mission accomplished.

"Thank you," Luna said and hugged him,
"I really needed a bit of silliness."

"Anytime," Antonius answered and wanted to fetch his donut again.

Luna stopped his hand with her hoof.

"No, on my horn means it's mine!"

They shared another laugh, then, there was a knock at the door.

"Perhaps news about Moonlight!" Luna exclaimed and jumped to her hooves, all signs of weariness gone for now. Even her hair had returned to its 'enhanced' state. Damned, she regenerated pretty fast.

It really was one of the hospital's nurses.

"Princess Luna, sorry if I bother you, but... Huh? Is there a donut on your horn?"

"Ignore that and tell me what you came here for. Is it about Moonlight?"

"No, in fact, it's about the little filly."

Antonius has gotten up in the meantime and was standing next to Luna.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Well, at first, we were able to examine her, but then, she hid under the bed and demanded to see both of you."

"Then, we will go and see her," Luna told the mare and took the donut off her horn.

A few minutes later, the treat was gone - shared between her and Antonius - and they were standing in front of the door to the room the filly was in.

"She's in there," the nurse told them.

"You left her alone?" Luna asked reproachfully.

"She demanded that we do so. She screamed until we all were out."

"What was the result of your examinations?" Antonius asked.

"She has a few bruises, is slightly malnourished and dehydrated. But we are sure the physical injuries are not the main problem; she has probably taken serious emotional damage, but we haven't been able to assess that yet."

"We will go in and see why she wanted to see us. Lock the door behind us."

"What do you expect her to do?" Luna asked worriedly.

"Nothing," Antonius answered,
"but I won't take any risks."

Antonius entered the room, closely followed by Luna. It seemed to be empty, but there was a wadded blanket under the bed. A slightly moving blanket.
They crouched down next to it, and Antonius said

"Here we are,"

one hand on the hilt of his combat knife.
Better safe than sorry. Chaos was a force of corruption, after all.

His alertness was unnecessary. The blanket moved and a small grey head appeared. The little mare looked at them with big eyes.

"Anotius? Princess Luna?"

"Antonius," Antonius rectified,
"you wanted to see us?"

The filly nodded.

"Yes. I... wanted to say thanks... and all..."

"Anytime."

"I also wanted to thank the batpony who got hurt. Is she okay again?"

"She will survive."

Now, there was an awkward pause.

"There is something else, isn't it?" Luna asked compassionately.

"Hmm... I don't like it here. May I come with you?"

"You want to... what?" Antonius asked incredulously.

"It's not safe here. It's safe nowhere, unless with you. You killed this..."

She shivered and fell silent.

"Yes. He won't hurt anyone ever again. No reason to be afraid anymore," Antonius told her.

"But he said there are more like him."

"Not here on this planet."

"But there are more?"

"Well, yes, but far away."

"There ARE more. So, I'm not safe, unless I'm with you."

"Quite logical," Luna smiled,
"we should take her with us, at least for a while."

What? No.

"We cannot just take her with us. We should rather see if we can find her parents among the refugees," Antonius opined.

"My parents are dead," the filly cried,
"he killed them. I had to watch it."

Ouch. Antonius realized that he had obvious deficits in dealing with traumatized children.

"There, there..." Luna said and pulled the filly out of the blanket to hug her,
"you will come with us, and nopony will harm you."

"Will you take care of me, too?" the little filly asked Antonius.

Oh boy, taking care of a filly was not exactly a thing he was keen on, there were many other things to do now. But when he looked into those big, pleading eyes, he knew he couldn't say no. Damnit, his humanity struck again.

"Okay," he said with a sigh,
"Luna and I will take care of you - at least for now."

The filly extended her front legs to hug him, and Luna leaned over so that she could reach him.
Once the little mare had ended the hug - after almost a minute - Antonius asked her:

"What is your name, filly?"

"Stormy Skies," she answered.

Antonius carefully put her on Luna's back and knocked at the door, calling

"Open. Everything is all right."

All right, maybe, but his life had become even weirder than before.

After asking about Moonlight's condition - no news yet - they went back to the hotel. Once in their room, Stormy, seeing the open box of donuts, exclaimed

"Oh, donuts! May I have one?"

"Sure! Help yourself," Luna answered.

Stormy devoured her donut and half the bottle of water and fell asleep soon thereafter.
Luna and Antonius had sat down and shared the rest of the box' content, as well as the rest of the water, then Luna looked at the sleeping Stormy and mumbled:

"This little filly has seen more cruelty than most ponies see in their whole lives. I hope we can help her deal with it."

"I'm a Space Marine, not a psychotherapist," Antonius said,
"I have already accidentally proven that I'm not qualified for this kind of task."

"You are her hero. Please don't take this lightly."

"I'm not taking this lightly, I just know my limits."

Luna raised an eyebrow.

"Don't tell me that waging war is easier than taking care of one little filly."

"For me, it probably is. Generally speaking, it's perhaps not easier, but entirely different."

"I can't do it alone. I need you. She needs you. If you refuse to help her, she will probably end up deeply traumatized in an orphanage."

An orphanage... logically thought, that was the correct place for her, since her parents were dead. It was the same fate human children had to face when they were taken to a Schola Progenium.
But why did he not like the idea? It was more or less 'best practice' in the Imperium. Here, It seemed... suboptimal.

"Are you trying to blackmail me?" he finally asked.

"No. Not at all. I'm just telling you the truth." Luna answered.

Antonius sighed.

"Well, alright. I'll help you help her."

Luna smiled at him.

"Thank you. I knew I could count on you. You're a good pony."

A 'good pony'? A really strange compliment.

"Sorry, neither."

"Come on, you know what I mean."

Yes, he knew it. A little bit of friendliness, a little bit of not-killing-everything-in-sight, and TADA: You suddenly were a 'good pony'.

Antonius was pulled from his thoughts when Stormy started stirring.

"Uh-oh. Nightmare!" Luna sighed, closed her eyes and ignited her horn.

"Oh damned..." she whispered, then she opened her eyes again as Stormy woke up screaming.

Luna levitated her to her neck and nuzzled her.

"It was just a dream, not real. Calm down, Stormy."

It took the crying filly several minutes to do that, then Luna levitated her back onto the bed and curled up around her.
When Stormy was asleep again, Luna whispered:

"I was too late. That was a very powerful nightmare. The only thing I could do was to end it by waking her up. She was in Hope, surrounded by a legion of Chaos Space Marines.
I neglected my duty. I should have watched her dreams right from the start and prevented this. I will not repeat this mistake."

"Perhaps you can take me with you into her dream? I could try to help you."

Wait a second... Wouldn't that turn the dream into some kind of training simulation? At least if Luna could keep it realistic?
That was a crazy idea, but if it worked, it would benefit everyone.

"I wish I could, but I am honestly too exhausted to create a shared dream. You could hold her hoof, though. She will be able to feel that."

Holding the filly's hoof. Well, if he could help them that way...
He took off his left gauntlet and put his hand into the bundle of fur that was Luna and Stormy. The little mare immediately grabbed on to it and sighed contentedly.

Shortly thereafter, Luna had fallen asleep, too, but there was always a faint glow around her horn, which intensified every time Stormy started stirring again. Antonius was sure, this night would not bring much relaxation to Luna. When he heard a quiet knock at the door, he knew he would not fare much better.

"Who is there?" he asked quietly, just loud enough to be heard.

"Ummm... sorry... I did not want to disturb you..."

Fluttershy?

"Come on in!" he said.

The door opened and a yellow head with a pink mane appeared.

"Umm... I hope we..."

"We?"

"Yes," she whispered and came into the room, followed by her friends.

"We could not sleep and thought that maybe we could stay in this room, with you and Princess Luna," Twilight explained a bit awkwardly.

Huh? What was next?

"Can't you... cuddle up or something? You are six ponies, you should be able to support each other," Antonius said.

"We would rather cuddle up to you," Pinkie told him blatantly,
"I have already brought our blanket!"

She held said blanket up high and smiled.

"You are already helping Princess Luna - oh, and also the little filly you rescued - could you please help us, too?" Fluttershy pleaded.

Damned. He definitely had brought that upon himself. He sighed.

"Okay, whatever. But be quiet, Luna and Stormy are sleeping."

Within a few seconds, the blanket was cast on the floor next to him, and the ponies had made themselves comfortable. They said goodnight and were asleep soon.

The only one still awake was Antonius, pinned down to his place by the ponies. He felt the urge to kick himself. He was a teddy bear once again.
He thought about writing a book: 1000 alternative uses for Space Marines, pony edition.
Could become a bestseller here...

When the sun rose - was risen, damnit! - again, Antonius had made another experience:
Ponies did not sleep motionlessly. Not at all.
Twilight and her friends had more or less piled up on him during their sleep, turning him into a bed by burying him under a heap of fluffy, quietly snoring bodies. Well, in Rainbow's case, you could scratch the 'quietly'.

Furthermore, Luna had grabbed on to his hand during the night.
Maybe Stormy hadn't been the only one who needed a little bit of support.

Luna was the first pony to wake up again. She yawned and sleepily looked at him. When she saw the pile of ponies, a smile crept onto her features.

"Do me a favor and do not comment on this," Antonius deadpanned.

"I don't have to. I already told you that you are a good pony. They could not sleep, I guess?"

"Exactly. I allowed them to stay for the night."

"Hmm, they did not have any nightmares. You had a very positive effect on them."

"Like a big, armored teddy bear... By the way, you could release my hand now."

Luna looked down at his hand, blushed a bit and let go of it.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she apologized,
"it must have been a somewhat uncomfortable night for you."

"Believe me, I've had worse."

The next one to wake up was Rarity, who was lying on top of the others. When she realized that she was also lying on Antonius, her eyes went wide and she gave him an apologetic smile. Climbing down to the ground, she woke Twilight and Applejack.

Twilight was lying on her back and awkwardly looked at him. Applejack nudged her and teased:

"A perfect opportunity for test number two, don't you think?"

Twilight blushed deeply and quickly left her 'bed'.
It was actually good to see that the ponies seemed to be back their normal selves again, joking and goofing around. Now, every pony was awake and they got up.
Stormy climbed on Luna's back. Antonius was finally free again and reattached his gauntlet.

At that moment, a scroll appeared over Luna's head. She grabbed it with her magic, unrolled it and started reading.

"A letter from my sister. She asks us to return to Canterlot as soon as possible.
Well, I wanted to return to Hope to reunite witch the guards, but I'm sure Celestia has good reasons for calling us back. Now, let's finish our business here and get going."

First of all, they wanted to go to the hospital and ask about Moonlight's condition. On their way there, they encountered one of the guards who had kept Blackwing company.

"Good morning, Princess Luna," he saluted,
"and good morning, everypony else. You are already on your way? Perfect. I was sent to tell you that you can visit Moonlight now. Blackwing is already with her."

They entered the hospital and were lead to Moonlight's room. Rapid Cure awaited them in front of the door.

"Hello. Blackwing is already inside and two more of you may enter," he told them,
"The others will have to wait in the meantime."

Luna and Antonius wanted to enter the room when Stormy protested:

"Hey, I want to go in there, too, and thank the batpony!"

Rapid Cure smiled:

"Okay, fillies are complimentary."

They entered the room. Moonlight was lying in a hospital bed. Several medical monitors were attached to her.

"Hello, Moonlight," Luna greeted.

Moonlight slowly saluted and said:

"Hello, Princess. Reporting for duty."

She gave Luna and Antonius a smile, but her eyes were wet.

"Okay, Moonlight," Luna said,
"Then hear my order: Get well soon!"

"No problem, Princess, I'm alive and k..."

She contorted her face in pain for a second, then she continued:

"Okay, just alive. No kicking for now."

Luna smiled at her.

"Your deed was outstandingly brave, Moonlight."

"Thank you, Princess. Now, could I please have a honest assessment from Antonius?"

Well, she had definitely not lost her sense of humor.

Now, what should he tell her?
Fooling the Word Bearer had been an outstanding accomplishment, attacking him after alerting him to her presence had been downright suicidal.
Yes, he had told her the weak spots of power armor and that hate was her most potent weapon. He should better have told her that this hate had to be guided by reason all the time, too.
Well, the filly was safe and the traitor was dead. She had been willing to sacrifice her life to achieve that.

"I have to concur," Antonius told her,
"it was brave indeed."

"Braver than it was stupid?"

Antonius smiled at her.

"Definitely. The announced attack was... suboptimal, but because of this, we were able to rescue the filly and defeat the Word Bearer. All told, well done."

Moonlight smiled.

"Thank you. I rate this commendation highly, Antonius."

"Now that we're at it, the filly, Stormy Skies, is here, too."

"Ah, that's your name. Hello, Stormy."

"Hello, Moonlight," Stormy said,
"thank you for saving me."

"Anytime, little one."

Now Moonlight turned to Luna and Antonius:

"Where are the other guards? Are they okay?"

"Yes, they are," Luna told her,
"I ordered them to search the town for any survivors and line up the dead for identification. A team from Canterlot should already be on the way to do that."

"The letter?" Antonius asked.

Luna nodded.

"I'm not sure what to do with the town, though. I thought it might be best to ask the survivors if they want to return to their homes, or if they just want to fetch a few things and we abandon the town completely."

"The town is tainted. I think burning it down might be the best way to go," Antonius opined.

"Perhaps, but I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to return, after all. We ponies don't give up our homes that easily. Nor our dreams." Blackwing said, then, he nuzzled Moonlight.

After saying goodbye, Antonius, Luna and Stormy left the room. Rapid Cure and the Element Bearers were still waiting outside.

"How long will it take for Moonlight to recover, Doctor?" Luna asked.

"She should be at home again by Hearth's Warming."

"Good to hear, Doctor. Now, we should go to the survivors of Hope and ask them what they want us to do with their town."

The news that the Chaos Space Marine was dead had already spread and the survivors were cheering.
Just as Blackwing had expected, they wanted to return to their town. They even made preparations to leave, so that they could help bury the dead.
Really a resilient species; not very difficult to scare off, but they would come back.

When it was finally time to leave, Blackwing got the permission to stay in Coltport. Luna, Antonius, Stormy, Twilight, her friends and the chariot-pulling pegasi returned to Canterlot.

They knew they had to prepare for the next time they would encounter the Word Bearers.