My Little Xeno

The next day, the cleaning-up operations in Ponyville continued. This time, Antonius wasn't there to help, though. He had stayed in Canterlot to see if he was able to create some bolts to replenish his not-that-abundant amount of ammunition.

After breakfast he walked into the armorium and headed for Trixie’s workbench. There he took a single bolt out of his current magazine and placed it on the table in front of him.
This bolt - almost omnipresent in the Imperium - was quite a bit more complicated to produce than the types of ammunition Trixie had had to deal with by now, but perhaps there was a chance to build more of them.

“Oh, hello, Antonius,” a voice said from the entrance of the armorium,
“you are here already? I hope you didn’t have to wait too long for me.”

Antonius looked up and regarded Trixie, who had just entered:

“No worries, I came here just a minute ago. I thought we should have a look at a bolt and see if you can reproduce it.”

“Sure,” Trixie answered,
“by the way, did you already arrange something in regards to my new wagon?”

“First things first, Trixie. When you teach the other ponies about the ammunition I will have plenty of time to take care of that. Now, the chance of getting more bolts takes priority.”

“Hmm… that sounds as if something’s going to happen soon…” Trixie mused, an eyebrow raised.

“You never know, so better safe than sorry.”

Trixie nodded, took a seat next to him and together, they started disassembling the bolt, using the plans Antonius had gotten from Al.

They were busy with the detonator when Trixie hovered a small, silvery piece of metal in front of her face.

“Silver?” she asked.

“Palladium,” Antonius answered.

“Palladium? Isn’t that a theater and concert hall in Manehattan? Or was it Applewood?”

“Umm… I’m talking about the chemical element, atomic number 46… and I’m getting the feeling that you don’t know that element.”

“You think I don’t know it? You think I don’t know ‘palindrome’?”

“No stetson.”

“Huh? Why do you call me ‘stetson’? I’m not Applejack.”

“That little sentence was a palindrome,” Antonius deadpanned,
“what we need is ‘palladium’, Trixie.”

“Well… you are right. Never heard of it before,” Trixie admitted with a sheepish smile.

“I really hope it is not entirely unknown to your species. We need it for the detonator. Give me the PDA, please.”

Antonius got the device from Trixie and used it to call Celestia.

“Hello, Tia,” he said,
“please tell me, do you know a chemical element called ‘palladium’?”

“Not in pony,” Celestia grinned, then she continued,
“but joke aside, I know it is a silvery metal and quite rare.”

“Do we have a supply of palladium somewhere?”

“None that I knew of… and I don’t know where we could get some. It is known, but barely used. Why do you ask?”

“I need palladium for the detonator of bolts. No palladium, no new bolts.”

“Oh… I’m sorry, but I have no idea who could have or use it.”

“Al, any ideas?” Antonius asked.

“Palladium is used to create white gold. You could ask someone who works in jewelry making,” Al answered.

“As far as I know,” Celestia interrupted,
“we use nickel or silver to create white gold. I will still send a few ponies out to check Canterlot for the metal. Perhaps they will find some.”

“Okay,” Antonius replied,
“thank you. Antonius, out.”

He gave the PDA back to Trixie and said:

“Now we have to wait if they are able to find anything. Until then, you could return to making the other types of ammunition.”

“Okay,” Trixie agreed,
“and I will select two ponies and teach them what to do, just as I have promised.”

“Thanks, and I will see to it that you get the wagon.”

Having said that, Antonius left the armorium.

After asking a guard for directions, he went to a wagon dealer and placed an order for a wagon designed for one traveling pony; big enough to hold the pony’s belongings, but still small enough to be moved without a problem. He was even able to convince the dealer to personalize the wagon for Trixie.

Then, Antonius visited Celestia.

“What about our search for palladium?” he inquired,
“any progress yet?”

“Unfortunately not,” the princess answered,
“two ponies are still on their way, though. Let’s hope they find some.”

“We still need a plan in case that they don’t find any. Could we import it like the silversteel?”

“I don’t even know of any palladium mines. I’m afraid this metal is just not available at all, much less in sufficient quantities.”

“Right,” Antonius admitted,
“a few grams won’t be enough. That’s really…”

He was interrupted as his vox beeped.

“Huh?” he wondered,
“who could that be?”

“Hello, Antonius!” came out of the vox.

“Stormy?” Antonius asked.

“Yeah! I want to invite you to my cute-ceañera this afternoon!”

“Are you already done restoring Ponyville to its former glory?”

“Yeah, and Pinkie Pie said it’s no problem preparing the party in time. It’s in Sugarcube Corner, by the way. Are you coming?”

Great. No palladium, some daemon quasi on their doorstep, and he was invited to spend an afternoon not preparing for anything. He didn’t want to turn Stormy down, but there were more important things to do, weren’t there?
Celestia noticed his hesitation and started waving like crazy.

“Just a second, Stormy, Princess Celestia wants to talk to me,” Antonius said and muted the vox.

“Attend the party,” Celestia commanded.

“Huh?”

“A cute-ceañera is very important for a young pony. You really shouldn’t miss it. You are her friend, and something like her uncle.

“And the bolt problem?”

“Will have to wait for a day. Trust me, do not neglect your friends and family, for that will cause greater damage than any amount of missing ammunition.”

Celestia spoke from experience, Antonius knew that. So, he unmuted the vox and said:

“Stormy, I’ll attend the party.”

“Great! See you there!”

The connection was terminated and Antonius turned to Celestia again:

“Social life really can have an impact on your duties,” he grinned.

“Usually, ponies consider it to be the other way round,” Celestia laughed,
“and I promise I will inform you if we find any palladium.”

“Thanks. In the meantime, I will use the rest of the morning to aid in the search.”

After lunch - and an unsuccessful search in the less honorable alleys of Canterlot - Antonius took the Land Speeder to Ponyville. Quite a lot of ponies of all ages were already gathered inside Sugarcube Corner, and more were coming every minute. It seemed half of the town had been invited!

“Hello, Antonius!” Stormy greeted as soon as she noticed him,
“I’m glad you could make it! Now have fun, I’ve got to get back to my other friends!”

The party was not that different from other parties Antonius had attended since he was in Equestria, there just was a special focus on Stormy - and her cutie mark.

“I bet that your cutie mark means that you will become a Wonderbolt!” Scootaloo cheered.

“Or perhaps you will be an expert weather pony,” Apple Bloom guessed.

“Or you will keep defending Equestria with your lightning attacks!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed.

“I… have no idea,” Stormy admitted, a little confused for a second, then she smiled:
“but all of your ideas sound awesome!”

Antonius had overheard this conversation, but before he could start thinking about cutie marks and their relation to destiny respectively free will, he was addressed by Rapid Cure:

“Hello, Lord Varus! A nice cute-ceañera, isn’t it?”

“Indeed,” Antonius answered,
“so you have been invited, too?”

“Yeah,” the stallion grinned,
“one of the perks of being a plain old country doctor. You can establish closer ties to your patients. Speaking of my job, I think it would be worth consideration if you should perhaps let me examine you. It’s not that I’m curious…”

“No?”

“Well, okay, a bit, I have to admit that. But as it stands, there is no one who can help you if you get hurt, and with the battle last night… I thought it would be beneficial if I knew something about you, so that I could later spot deviations from the desired value if it comes to the worst, you know?”

“Hmm,” Antonius mused, the impending daemon attack in mind,
“that actually makes sense. Okay, but don’t spread the things you learn everywhere.”

“No worries,” the doctor assured him,
“we’ll just include one nurse, in case I am not available. Are you agreeable to Nurse Redheart? She’s a very capable pony.”

“Agreed. Let’s do this right after the party and not waste time.”

“Okay, at your convenience.”

When the party had ended, Antonius and Rapid Cure took the Speeder to the Ponyville hospital and entered an examination room.

“Very well,” the doctor said,
“I’ll go get Nurse Redheart. In the meantime, you could take off your armor. I Don’t think our equipment can provide us with useful insights as long as you are wearing it.”

Rapid Cure left and Antonius took off his armor - while still keeping his chainsword close by - and sat down on the examination table. A few minutes after he had left, the doctor returned with the nurse. He quickly closed the door behind them and explained:

“This, Nurse Redheart, is the ‘special assignment’ I was talking about.”

The mare froze and stared at Antonius, who had no better idea than to wave at her. It took her a few seconds until she mumbled:

“Yes, this assignment is indeed ‘special’…”

“And top secret!” Rapid Cure stated,
“the both of us are going to get familiar with Lord Varus so that we can help him if necessary.”

When Nurse Redheart started blushing, he exclaimed:

“Not THAT kind of familiar! Geez, always those young mares! Now, professionalism! And do not spill anything you learn about him! Now, let’s get going.”

“Of course,” the nurse agreed and the examination started.

“I’m sorry,” Nurse Redheart suddenly said after a while,
“but I think we’ll have to redo the X-ray. This just can’t be right.”

“Hmm?” Rapid Cure inquired,
“let me see.”

He took a close look at the X-ray and mumbled:

“Sweet Celestia! What in the name of… this is incredible!”
He turned to Antonius and continued:
“Your rib cage is fused into a solid mass of interlocking plates! Excuse me, but is that really normal?”

“For a Space Marine, it is,” Antonius grinned.

“Oh, okay. I’m really curious what else we will find.”

The examination took quite a while, and Antonius explained his altered physique. When it was finally over, he donned his armor again.

“I hope you got all the data you need,” he said.

“Yeah, thanks,” Rapid Cure answered,
“and I can tell you one thing: whoever is responsible for this ‘bio-engineering’ is either a genius of truly epic proportions, or friggin’ insane.”

“The Emperor of Mankind is responsible for the creation of the Astartes, so your first guess is correct.”

“That must have been incredibly painful,” Nurse Redheart noted compassionately.

“Well, it keeps me alive while I’m doing my duty,” Antonius told her,
“it’s definitely not a price too high for being able to defend my species - and now yours, too.”

They said goodbye, then Antonius took his Speeder back to Canterlot. This day was as good as over.
The night, however, was not.

Once again, Luna was guarding her subjects’ dreams. She held watch over the dreamscape, looking out for any sign of nightmares, and this time, she was especially alert. It was only a matter of time before the Nightmare Lord and his minions attacked, and they were far more powerful than the corrupted denizens of the moon.

At the moment, however, everything seemed to be quiet. She wasn’t able to feel any sort of disturbance, just ponies dreaming peacefully. It was a little miracle that they got along so well with their memories of the battle last night, but it had been a happy end, after all, and happy ends had a calming effect on them.

After keeping watch for some time, Luna started getting anxious. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going on. There still was no evidence of any nightmare activity, but she still began browsing some dreams, just to make sure.
She had a quick look at about a dozen dreams, and everything seemed to be fine.

“You are getting paranoid, Luna,” she mumbled to herself,
“it might take the nightmare forces weeks to show up. Unfortunately, you do not know where they will show up…”

As she said this, she thought about it.
Was there really no clue where they would attack first?
They purposefully abducted Rarity, the Element of Generosity… the Element Bearers. Of course!

Luna immediately had a look at their dreams.
Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, they were all okay. But where was Rarity?
She was not able to find her in the dreamscape. Perhaps she was awake? Well, she could pay her a visit. So the Princess of the Night left the dreamscape and teleported to Ponyville, into Rarity’s boutique.

Luna was greeted by darkness. Perhaps Rarity was in her quarters?
As she ascended the steps, she could hear noise coming out of that room; a whimpering.
She knocked on the door:

“Rarity, this is Luna. Are you okay? May I come in?”

Except for the whimpering, there was no answer, so Luna opened the door and entered the room.

Rarity was lying in her bed. Her eyes were closed, but she was tossing around, wet with sweat, and Luna had the impression that she wanted to scream, but couldn’t.

Nightmare!
Luna entered the dreamscape and saw… nothing.
Huh? Where was Rarity’s dream?
She started magically - and intensely - scanning the spot where it should be… and there it was! The dream was concealed! Without standing directly next to the dreamer and conducting such a thorough scan, there was no chance to find it!
With a sense if foreboding, Luna entered the dream.

She was standing in the boutique, in the room where Rarity used to work. Shadowy things were scurrying around, seemingly working on some sort of mannequin that was sitting in the middle of the room.

Nightmare daemons!
But why were they working on that mannequin? Stitching and…
And why was that mannequin bleeding?

It hit Luna like a hammer when she realized what was actually going on.

“RARITY!” she screamed.

Rarity slowly turned her head and whimpered. Her muzzle was sewn up, and buttons were stuck to her eyes. More seams - bleeding wounds - were running down her spine… it looked like they wanted to turn her into a doll!

“STOP THIS MADNESS!!!” Luna commanded, her horn flashing.

One of the daemons turned to face her.

“A little more effort, Princess?” it mocked her.

“With pleasure,” Luna replied and blasted the thing.

Her magic beam vaporized it, but its laughter was still echoing through the dream when Luna eliminated the other daemons.
A final burst of magic freed Rarity and ended the dream.

Rarity fell out of her bed, screaming and crying. Luna immediately picked her up, wrapped her into her wings and tried to console her.
What an underhooved attack! She thought she already had expected the worst, but this was worse than her worst expectations!

It took Rarity quite a while to calm down again, then she looked up at Luna and whispered:

“Oh thank you, Luna! That was so horrible!”

“It is over now,” Luna replied calmingly,
“and I must leave. I must make sure that the nightmare forces do not perform such an act of vileness again!”

“Please don’t leave me alone!” Rarity begged,
“I know you must take care of those ruffians, but I can’t be left alone now!”

Luna sighed. Of course Rarity was right; she was not in the condition to be left alone now, but Luna had a busy night ahead.
She needed help. Somepony who could act as some sort of ‘nightmare retardant’ and companion for Rarity while Luna was fighting the nightmare forces… and she knew exactly who she could call for aid.

“Do you need to pack anything for the night?” Luna asked, looking around,
“I will bring you to the safest place in Equestria! What is this?”

Luna was pointing at a jar on Rarity’s nightstand, and she answered:

“That’s the remedy for my… ahem… sore posterior.”

Ah, Antonius’ bruise-inducing rescue. Well, Rarity had sweated so much it looked as if she had taken a shower, so this remedy would probably have to be re-applied. That should be a good distraction from the memories of the nightmare.

Luna grabbed the remedy with her magic and turned to Rarity:

“I will teleport us to Antonius. He will watch over you.”

Antonius’ alertness awoke him and he looked around. Despite the darkness, he could identify the creatures that had just teleported into his quarters, although the smaller one looked a little… soaked.

“Luna? Rarity?” he asked,
“what’s going on? Have the nightmare forces returned?”

“In a way,” Luna answered,
“they are manipulating dreams. Rarity fell victim to their machinations.”

“I’ll get my armor.”

“No, Tony, we need a different kind of help. May Rarity use your bathroom? I will explain everything while she takes a shower.”

Antonius was a little confused by that, but being confused by the ponies was honestly not that new to him.

“Of course,” he said,
“be my guest. You’ll probably find the towels to be a bit large, but that should not matter too much.”

Rarity vanished into the bathroom, and Luna told Antonius what had happened.

“Hmm…” he opined,
“the cruelty is slowly approaching real Chaos-levels. Now what do you want me to do, if it isn’t getting my weapons and armor and killing some daemons?”

“You cannot kill them at the moment,” Luna told him,
“as they are only active in the realm of dreams. I must fight them on my own. I need you to take care of Rarity, though. This experience has shaken her to the very foundations. Keep her company. And keep your pajamas on!”

Antonius raised an eyebrow and stated:

“I did not plan on molesting her.”

“Tony, that is not what I meant!” Luna said,
“I meant that your pajamas are softer and much more comforting than your armor. Better for cuddling up, you know?”

“‘Cuddling up’?”

“Well, everypony needs some cuddles from time to time, especially if stressed. And Rarity is extremely stressed at the moment. If you know a better way to comfort her… she likes to spend time in the Ponyville spa, so you could make use of that, too… oh, by the way, I think I have something for you to distract her from her memories of the attack!”

Having said that, Luna hovered a jar over to Antonius. He grabbed it and read its label:

“‘Goops for Stuff Hide Ointment’. Oh, I get it: I’m supposed to apply that to her… hurt spot. Yeah, that should distract her.”

“Exactly! And I promise I will not get jealous,” Luna told him with a hint of a smile,
“now, please excuse me, but I have to go back to my quarters and patrol the dreamscape. If I find a pony’s dream is missing, I will know where to go and what to do. Bye!”

Luna left, and Antonius was alone for a few minutes until Rarity came out of the bathroom. She had her mane wrapped a towel, which caused her some trouble due to the size of said towel.

“Huh? Where is Princess Luna?” she inquired.

“In her room, hunting nightmares,” Antonius told her.

“And what are we going to do now? I don’t think I could just go back to sleep right now. Perhaps… we could play some game or something?”

“What about we treat your bruise, followed by a relaxing little massage? That should ready you for sleeping.”

“Umm… Antonius…” Rarity started with some hesitation,
“my bruise is on my… erm…”

“Butt,” Antonius said flatly.

“Derriere,” Rarity corrected,
“wouldn’t that be a little… you know… indecent?”

“Girl, you are hurt. Treating a hurt spot is beneficial to recovery. There is nothing indecent about that.”

“Well, if you see it like that… just don’t tell anypony, okay?”

“I certainly won’t run through Canterlot proclaiming it. You, me, and Luna are the only ponies who will know.”

“The princess? Oh, right, she brought the remedy. And what about the massage you suggested? Don’t tell me you know how to massage a pony.”

“I do, and the princesses are quite fond of my skills.”

“You… massage… the princesses?” Rarity stammered, completely dumbfounded.

“From time to time. Now hop onto the bed and relax,” Antonius said and opened the jar with the remedy.

“But Antonius… I’m a lady!”

“And I’m a Space Marine, so I can assure you that this is way weirder for me than it is for you.”

Rarity snickered, followed his instructions and stretched herself out.

“You know, I’m acquainted with the ponies who made this ointment. I even helped them become the famous beauty care brand they are today,” she said.

“Really? Tell me.”

“With pleasure! It all started the day after a fashion show…”

Luna was back in her room and closed her eyes. She wasn’t sure if the nightmare forces would start another attack, but she had to be prepared and protect her subjects, so the Princess of the Night lit her horn and entered the realm of dreams.

Suddenly, Luna was standing in an orchard. She knew this one: it was Sweet Apple Acres. She had no idea how she had come here, but somehow she didn’t care.

Looking around, Luna spotted a pony standing about. She just wanted to walk over as Applejack jumped out of the trees and darted towards the pony.
Wait a second… did she have something between her teeth? Was that a knife?

Luna’s observation was proven correct as Applejack stabbed the knife into the ponies throat. Then, as the pony sunk to the ground, Applejack yelled:

“Fifteen!”

Luna recoiled in disgust. What had gotten into the farmer? Cold-blodded murder, just like that? And what did she mean by ‘fifteen’?

“Not bad, but not good enough!” another voice called from the sky.

Rainbow Dash?
A moment later, Luna saw the blue pegasus fly above the trees, then she suddenly dived down. A few seconds later, she appeared again, on the ground this time, and walked up to Applejack - and she had a blood-stained knife, too!

“Sixteen,” Rainbow grinned.

“Horseapples,” Applejack cursed,
“you keep drawing more blood than I do!”

WHAT??? This was some revolting kind of competition?

“Applejack, Rainbow Dash!” Luna shouted,
“what in Equestria has gotten into you? You cannot run and fly around and kill ponies!”

Both mares looked at her, more curious than frightened, and not the least bit conscience-stricken.

“An alicorn,” Applejack mused,
“should be worth at least 50 points, huh?”

WHAT?

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash agreed with a grin,
“too bad for you that those points will be mine!”

As she said that, Rainbow dashed towards Luna, the knife in her mouth and a crazy grin on her face.
Luna did not have a choice. She fired a bolt of magic to stop the insane pegasus… and vaporized her.

NO! That was impossible! How could…

“Hah! Those points will be mine!” Applejack cheered, rapidly approaching Luna.

The princess fired again, and Applejack was gone, too.

Luna plopped down, completely confused and disgusted.
What the hell had just happened?
How could Applejack and Rainbow Dash have done something that horrible?
Why were her beams so lethal all of a sudden?

Taking deep breaths, Luna thought about those questions, and she realized:
It had to be an attack of the nightmare forces! They had deranged Applejack and Rainbow Dash! That was why her beams were so powerful, yes, that had to be the reason. But was it the Nightmare Lord or just his minions? She had to find out, and she had to see if the other Element Bearers were okay, posthaste!

Luna ran through the orchard and on to the bifurcation to Fluttershy’s cottage. When she had almost reached her destination, she encountered a pony and froze.
The stallion was pale and decayed, and his skin and flesh were torn apart in numerous places, showing his bones. He slowly shuffled towards Luna, groaning like in unbelievable agony.

“Goodness…” Luna whispered,
“what happened to you?”

The pony did not answer, but he opened his jaw - which fell off.
A zombie-pony. This was more than just ‘bad’. Luna had to get to Fluttershy as quick as possible, but she couldn’t allow this pitiful pony to suffer any longer.

“I have to deliver you from this horrible fate,” she stated and fired a magic beam at him.

The pony was turned to ashes and Luna continued to run.

On her way to Fluttershy’s cottage, she had to deal with two more zombie-ponies, but then she had finally reached her destination and hammered against the door:

“Fluttershy! Are you in there? Are you okay?”

“Yes, I am in here. And I never felt better!” answered Fluttershy.

Luna had never felt more relieved in her life. At least until she opened the door.

The walls of Fluttershy’s home were coated with a sickly green mucus, and abominations that once might have been animals were crawling over the floor. But worst of all was the pony that was sitting at the far end of the room: Fluttershy, but she was not herself.
The once yellow pegasus was pale green now and looked almost like the zombie-ponies Luna had already encountered. Missing fur, missing skin, missing flesh. Decayed beyond imagination.

“Why did you kill my babies?” Fluttershy asked sadly.

“BABIES???” Luna screamed in disgust,
“those zombie abominations?”

“I loved them,” Fluttershy told her, tilting her head a little too far for a normal pony,
“as I love all of my creatures. Every animal, every germ, every virus. They are all so adorable!”

Luna suppressed the urge to vomit and asked:

“Fluttershy, tell me, who did this to you?”

Fluttershy opened her mouth, but instead of an answer, a wave of fat, black flies darted out, heading straight for Luna. The princess immediately created a magic shield around her, and within a few seconds, the flies had blotted out every trace of light.

More than just disgusted, Luna set her shield on fire and caused it to explode. The flies were incinerated on the spot, and the whole room was set ablaze. Fluttershy was also burning, but she managed to stand up before succumbing to the flames and toppling over with a last shriek.

Luna dashed out of the burning building and back to the bifurcation. There she threw up and started crying. Three of the Element Bearers were dead, driven insane by the nightmare forces and killed by her. This day could not get worse!

“It probably can,” Luna mumbled and started running again.

She arrived at Sugarcube Corner and immediately bashed in the door. Inside, everything was decorated for a party… and a pony was tied to a table?

“What the…?” Luna wondered.

“Oh, there you are!” Pinkie Pie cheered, hopping in through another door,
“you are just in time for the party!”

“Party?”

“Of course, silly. Let’s play a game! Let’s play ‘pin the tail on the pony’!”

Having said that, Pinkie pie hopped over to the restraint pony - and ripped the pony’s tail out with her teeth!
For a second, Luna was too repulsed to say a word, and that was enough for Pinkie to stab the severed tail into the pony’s eye!

“Oopsie,” she laughed,
“I guess I’m really bad at this game!”

Luna killed her with another magic blast and stormed out of the house. Just two Elements were left now, and Rarity was the closest. Hopefully, she was still okay…

Inside Carousel Boutique, everything seemed normal. There was a stallion, obviously waiting for Rarity. No bloodshed, no zombies, just a pony waiting… with an admittedly strange expression on his face…

Before Luna could do anything, Rarity came through a door.

“Oh, hello, Princess Luna! What an honor to have you here!” the unicorn mare greeted, walked up to Luna - and kissed her downright passionately.

Using her magic to force Rarity back to a safe distance, she replied:

“Well, I am happy to see you, too. I would have preferred a different way to show that, though.”

Rarity snickered and pranced over to the stallion, her tail in a position that did not suitably cover her posterior.

“Are you… okay?” Luna asked with a sense of foreboding.

“Of course I am, darling!” Rarity answered as she circumambulated the pony and wrapped her tail around his neck.

The stallion started turning blue, but he still had that stupid grin on his face, even as he started choking.

“Rarity! STOP IT!” Luna commanded.

With a jolt of her tail, Rarity snapped the pony’s neck, then she reared up and proclaimed:

“Taking lives feels so divine, darling!”

Oh damnit, another insane Element Bearer!
Luna did not waste any time and fired at her, hitting Rarity’s belly. The expression of pure glee on her face as she died would haunt Luna for weeks to come, she was sure of that.

Now, there was just one destination left: The Golden Oak Library.

A quick sprint later, Luna kicked in the door, and was greeted by a perpetually changing purple mass. She could not identify it, but that thing was screaming in horror and pain.

“Gee! Spike! Be quiet, I’m trying to read!” Twilight snapped and turned back to her books.

Luna ended Spike’s torment with a magic blast and walked forward to confront Twilight.

“Thanks,” the insane unicorn said,
“all that screaming was really annoying.”

“Did you do this to him?” Luna demanded to know.

“Yup,” Twilight answered nonchalantly,
“had to test a few spells.”

Again, Luna was disgusted beyond imagination. She lit up her horn and fired. This time, however, her blast was deflected by a magic shield.
Twilight put the book she was reading down and grinned:

“Did you think it’d be that easy? I can tell you, I have powers now! Such incredible powers! I have changed quite a lot. No more nice little librarian, I’m the Queen of Magic now!”

“Twilight, tell me, who did this to you?” Luna inquired,
“was it the Nightmare Lord?”

The self-proclaimed ‘Queen of Magic’ did not answer, she just picked her book up again continued reading.

“ANSWER ME!” Luna screamed in despair.

“Ugh,” Twilight sighed,
“you are loud and annoying. Guess I’ll better kill you.”

Having said that, she fired a magic beam at Luna. The alicorn in turn fired a beam of her own, and the two beams met. Both were equally strong, and both mares increased their power to best their respective opponent. It took Luna a few seconds - and quite a lot of power - but she finally overwhelmed Twilight and turned her to ashes.
Then, she plopped down on the floor, completely exhausted and deeply grieved.

The Bearers of the Elements of Harmony were dead. All of them. And she had killed them. But she did not have a choice, those corrupted ponies had been too much of a threat, hadn’t they?

As Luna was sitting there in misery, she heard somepony laughing.
She tried to jump up, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t even turn her head, all she could do was look straight ahead. That was enough to see the source of the laughter.

Directly in front of her, a blackness started spreading, darker than the darkest night. Two eyes started glowing in that darkness, and a voice she was horribly familiar with said:

“Thank you for getting rid of those pesky Element Bearers for me. Now, even the minuscule chance of stopping me you had is gone forever.
What about you, Luna? Don’t you want to embrace the change again? Don’t you want to become Nightmare Moon again?”

The darkness started expanding towards her. Luna screamed…
and was suddenly lying in her quarters.

She struggled to get back onto her hooves, disoriented and shivering with fear.
The Nightmare Lord… it WAS his doing!
She had to alert everypony… and she had to confess that she had killed the Element Bearers…
She teleported.

Antonius woke up as he heard the sound of somepony teleporting into his quarters. Probably Luna. Knocking on doors was just not her style.
He turned his head and saw that his assumption had been correct - but Luna was shivering and seemed to be close to crying.

“Luna?” he asked,
“what’s wrong? Another attack of the nightmare forces?”

Luna nodded.

“They have…” she started, but then she froze and stared at Antonius’ left arm.

Rarity was lying there, asleep.

“Umm… this ‘cuddling up’ was your idea, remember?” Antonius stated,
“and it worked remarkably well.”

Luna did not answer. Instead, she lit her horn and picked up Rarity. Hovering in front of the princess, the unicorn mare slowly woke up.

“Is it morning already?” she asked sleepily.

“You are dead,” Luna said tonelessly.

Huh?
The way Luna had said that did not sound like a threat, more like something she had problems believing.

Rarity, on the other hand, was not susceptible for such details, at least not in her drowsy state.

“It was his idea!” she screamed,
“I have to admit that I could have resisted a little more, but it was definitely his idea!”

“Okay, so you’re not the Element of Loyalty,” Antonius deadpanned,
“and you’re also wrong. In fact, it was Luna’s idea. Yet, I don’t think that this is about jealously. What is this about, Luna?”

Luna still had Rarity in her magic grasp and looked at her in disbelieve. Then, she suddenly started mumbling:

“A nightmare. It was just a nightmare. The nightmare forces set up a trap, and I walked right into it!”

“What?” Antonius and Rarity asked.

Luna set Rarity down again and told them what had happened.

“If they can do something like that to Princess Luna,” Rarity wailed,
“is anypony safe from them?”

“This is more than just unsettling,” Luna admitted,
“I must say that I am greatly disturbed by this course of events.”

“As long as those abominations hide in dreams, I’m afraid I can’t do much,” Antonius grumbled,
“not being a psyker, I need physical bodies to destroy.”

“I think they will attack in a very physical way soon enough.”

“Probably. I think they cause those nightmares to lower morale and fighting power. Talking about fighting power, Luna, you look exhausted. You need to rest.”

“I do not know if I should exactly look forward to sleeping.”

“Just cuddle up to Antonius!” Rarity suggested all of a sudden, and much to Antonius’ surprise,
“I did not have another nightmare, and I have to admit that it’s quite comfortable!”

“May I?” Luna inquired.

“Pfft… he’s got two arms, after all! You don’t mind, Antonius, do you?” Rarity grinned and nudged him.

“Umm… no,” he replied, a bit dumbfounded by the fact that Rarity was basically lending him to other ponies.

“Thank you,” Luna replied and crawled into his bed.

Now, Antonius had a pony in each arm again, and the mares quickly fell asleep.
He, on the other hand, thought about Luna’s nightmare. While he was quite sure that this ‘Nightmare Lord’ was a daemon of Tzeentch, he also was able to identify the thumbprints of all four Gods of Chaos. That was a remarkably bad omen.
He didn’t know what was about to descend upon them, but he knew one thing: He had to expect the worst.