My Little Xeno

Twilight was on her way towards Canterlot, together with her friends. They all had received an invitation to lunch from Antonius and now they were curious - to put it mildly.

“He has never before invited us to lunch, or any other meal,” Applejack said,
“I wonder if it’s just a pretense and there’s something else going on.”

“Perhaps he just needed some time to find a fancy restaurant - or to learn how to cook,” Rarity added for consideration.

“You think Antonius, awesome super-warrior that he is, has nothing better to do than stand in the kitchen and cook?” Rainbow Dash asked skeptically.

“Well, he is nice and a good friend,” Fluttershy opined,
“and cooking for your friends is a nice thing to do.”

“Especially if whatever you cook is made with a few gems,” Spike grinned,
“but that probably won’t be the case.”

“I hope it’s nothing with meat,” Pinkie Pie worried,
“that would NOT be nice.”

“He knows that we don’t eat meat,” Twilight told her,
“so I am sure he will be considerate.”

When they arrived at the palace, the Royal Guard led them to the refectory, where the princesses were already waiting for them.

“Hello, my little ponies,” Celestia greeted them,
“I am glad you could all make it to Antonius’ lunch.”
Then she bowed down to them and whispered:
“So I’ll at least have some company when they pump my stomach.”

“Oh dear,” Twilight replied,
“is he that bad a cook?”

“Actually, I have no idea,” Celestia smiled,
“but allowing for all possibilities is certainly not wrong.”

“No need to worry, little ponies,” Luna stated,
“I already sampled this kind of meal as he cooked it for the first time a few days ago. I assure you it is quite savory.”

“I would feel better with your expertise if you were at least able to create a non-lethal pancake yourself, Luna,” Celestia grinned.

Luna rolled her eyes at that and they all took a seat at the dining table.
Not even a minute later, Antonius appeared, a few waiters in his wake.

“Greetings, everypony,” he grinned and sat down,
“it’s really nice of you to volunteer as guinea ponies for my newly acquired cooking skills.”

“Could we please define the term ‘volunteer’?” Rarity asked.

Meanwhile, the waiters were placing the dishes with the food in front of everypony.

“Pasta… with tomato sauce…” Twilight stated and sniffed,
“and a lot of garlic.”

“That, and some vegetables,” Antonius told her,
“I have refined my recipe a little since my first attempt.”

Curious, Twilight sampled the meal, and her eyes widened.

“I guess you ‘refined’ it with chilies?” she panted.

“Exactly!”

While the food wasn’t bad at all, it unfortunately hurt a little to eat it. Rarity and Fluttershy were on the verge of tears and Applejack was using her hat to fan herself.

“Tastes great!” Rainbow Dash proclaimed, crying.

The only one of her friends who did not seem to have even the slightest problem with the spiciness was Pinkie Pie - she had stuffed her face into her dish and was eating noisily.
Spike was also able to deal with the chilies remarkably well.

Twilight peeked at the princesses, and to her surprise, they seemed quite happy with the food. Celestia even ordered a second helping!

When they all were done - in more then one way - Antonius looked around at the crying ponies and mumbled:

“Okay… note to self: reduce the amount of chilies next time.”

“Oh, please don’t!” Celestia exclaimed,
“the lunch was perfect the way it was!”

“Indeed,” Luna concurred, wiping a tear from her eye,
“though it was not for the faint of heart… or stomach.”

“So, the lunch was a success?” Antonius asked.

Everypony - no matter if crying or not - answered in the affirmative, resulting in a content looking Ultramarine.

After some milk to extinguish the fires in their throats, Twilight and her friends got ready to leave and take a stroll through Canterlot.

“Before you go,” Celestia said, turning to Twilight and giving her a small parcel,
“I have a little something for you. Please open it once you’re home again and have some spare time.”

Now the Element Bearers and Spike left the castle.

“I wonder if it’s a good idea to walk through Canterlot after this lunch,” Rarity remarked,
“thanks to all that garlic we probably shouldn’t talk to anypony for the rest of the day.”

“Come on, it was tasty,” Rainbow Dash said.

“So good that you were moved to tears,” Applejack grinned.

“You’re one to talk, miss hat fan.”

“Well, it certainly was good,” Twilight laughed,
“and nopony is going to explode because of it or something.”

When they were back in Ponyville that evening, they said goodnight, and Twilight and Spike returned to the Golden Oak Library.

“This day would be perfect with a bubble bath,” Spike grinned,
“you wouldn’t mind me take one, would you?”

“Not at all,” Twilight smiled back,
“have fun!”

The little dragon vanished and Twilight was alone. She knew he wouldn’t return for a few hours - he really loved bubble baths. Twilight was alright with that, as it meant that she could have a look at Celestia’s parcel without ruffle or excitement.
It contained a book and a letter.

It was afternoon and Antonius was working in the armorium. The lunch the day before had gone quite well, even though he had accidentally made the food a little too hot for most of his guests.

Suddenly, his PDA signalized an incoming call. It was Applejack.

“Hello, Antonius?” she said with a forced smile,
“could you please come to Ponyville? With your auspex and stuff?”

“What happened?” Antonius replied with a sense of foreboding.

“Umm… well… you know, Twilight kinda messed up our destinies…”

“She did what?”

“… don’t worry, she was able to set things right.”

“Good.”

“Then, she completed some spell and…”

“And?”

“Umm… it may be possible that we sorta blasted her with the Elements.”

Antonius needed a second to process that.

“YOU DID WHAT? Where is she now? How is she?”

“We don’t know, she is gone.”

“What do you mean by ‘gone’?”

Now Applejack turned her PDA around and showed Antonius a scorch mark on the ground.

“That’s all that’s left of her.”

Antonius was at a loss for words. Had the Element Bearers just disintegrated the Element of Magic?

“Couldn’t you have chosen a way to tell him that was a little less blunt?” Rarity asked in the background.

“Hey, you all made me call him!” Applejack snapped.

“SILENCE!” Antonius roared, stopping the bickering before it could actually start,
“I’ll soon be on my way. Stay where you are! And don’t blast anypony else!”

He ended the call and dashed through the palace to get his armor. While doing so, he called Celestia. As Twilight’s mentor, she should know what had happened, after all. Unfortunately, he got no response.

“Damnit,” he grumled.

Since he was about to pass Luna’s door now, he decided not to call her, but use a more personal means of communication: He banged on the door.

“Luna! Get up, I need you!”

It took a few seconds, then a sleepy Luna opened the door and mumbled:

“Hmm? So ardent all of a sudden?”

Antonius ignored that and said:

“Luna, it looks like the Element Bearers have somehow disintegrated Twilight!”

“Oh?” Luna asked, now wide awake,
“did you tell my sister? What did she say?”

“She didn’t answer my call. We need to go to Ponyville, NOW.”

For whatever reason, Luna made a relaxed impression again and told him:

“Do not worry, Tony.”

“How should I not worry, damnit?” Antonius exclaimed,
“Twilight probably just got killed!”

“Not really,” Luna answered calmly.

“Huh?”

“Remember my sister’s secret plan concerning Twilight? This sounds like the final stage.”

“Do all of Celestia’s secret plans involve murdering somepony?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Luna grinned, but noticing her friend’s lack of humor in that regard, she became serious again and said:
“alright, fun aside. Please calm down, Tony. I promise, in the end Twilight will be all right. But you are not wrong, we should travel to Ponyville. I will get ready while you put on your armor.”

A few minutes later, Antonius and Luna were in the Land Speeder and on their way to Ponyville. They stopped in front of Twilight’s library, entered the building and were greeted by five panicking ponies and a hysteric dragon.

“There you are at last!” Pinkie Pie screamed, jumping at Antonius and grabbing his helmet,
“Use your high tech stuff and find Twilight!”

Antonius picked her from his face, put her down and took a look at the scorch mark.

“Hmm… this is remarkably… star-shaped…” he mumbled and grabbed his auspex.

His scans did not show any useful results, though.

“Great, so this thing is useless” Rarity griped.

“Hey, this device wasn’t made to locate unicorn mares who were blasted into oblivion by their supposed friends,” Antonius retorted.

“We did NOT blast her into oblivion!” Rainbow Dash screamed,
“we just blasted her… somehow… and now she’s gone… somehow…”

“What if we really killed her?” Fluttershy cried.

“But the Elements of Harmony have never killed anypony ever before!” Applejack noted.

“And they have never done anything like this, either,” Rarity said,
“was anything different this time?”

Ah, an attempt to examine the situation from a logical point of view. Finally.

“Antonius’ hot sauce yesterday?” Pinkie suggested.

Great, so much for that ‘logical point of view’…

“Seriously?” Antonius deadpanned,
“if my sauce were responsible for that, you’re the one who would have exploded.”

“So you think she’s really dead?” Fluttershy sobbed.

“Please calm down,” Luna asked them,
“I assure you that Twilight will be fine by the end of the day.”

“I bet she will,” Applejack interjected,
“but we have to find her first! Come on, girls!”

They rushed out of the library, leaving only Antonius and Luna behind.
He took another look at the unusual scorch mark and pondered what Luna had told him.

“Disintegration? Or rather some sort of violent teleportation?” he finally asked.

“You are quite close to the truth, Tony,” Luna smiled,
“but this is hard to explain to somepony who doesn’t understand magic - no offense.”

“None taken, but are you sure that this is part of Tia’s plan?”

“Quite.”

“Sorry, but ‘quite’ is not enough for me. I think we should help the others look for Twilight. That way, we can also keep an eye on them and see to it that they don’t do something stupid in their panicked state.”

“Agreed.”

Antonius and Luna joined the search party and did their best to keep the frightened ponies - and dragon - at least halfway under control. They searched Ponyville and the immediate vicinity for hours without any result; no trace of Twilight.

Then, as it was already getting dark, Luna suddenly stopped short and exclaimed:

“Ponies! Spike! Antonius! Follow me to the library!”

They all did so and Antonius had the distinct feeling that the conundrum of Twilight’s disappearance would soon be solved.
Before he could ask Luna what exactly was going on now, though, a light appeared in the sky - shaped like Twilight’s cutie mark!

Everypony was staring at it as it slowly descended until it touched the ground and…
revealed Twilight!

“Twilight? Is that you?” Applejack asked incredulously.

Now the freshly returned twilight opened a… pair of wings?
Her friends rallied around her, not able to comprehend what had happened. And they were not the only ones.

“An alicorn?” Antonius mumbled in disbelief.

“Told you you would like it,” Luna smiled.

As Celestia appeared and declared Twilight a princess, it did actually not significantly increase the weirdness of the situation - at least from Antonius’ point of view.

Just a few minutes later, chariots appeared in the sky, proving that Celestia had meticulously planned everything that had happened this day. Celestia, Twilight, and her friends boarded the chariots and left for Canterlot, while Antonius and Luna went to the Land Speeder.

“So, that was Tia’s secret plan, the ‘other countermeasure’ - turn Twilight into an alicorn,” Antonius said.

“Exactly!” Luna cheered,
“is it not a great idea? She really deserves it, and with her help, we will have even better chances of defeating Tirek… by the way, do not tell Twilight about this enemy, she must be able to grow into her role as alicorn and princess without this additional pressure.”

“Okay, no problem.”

Once in the Speeder, they returned to Canterlot.

Antonius, the princesses, the Element Bearers and Spike spent the rest of the evening together, talking about Twilight’s coronation that was scheduled for the next day. When Twilight and her friends had retired, the others went to Celestia’s quarters and she turned to Antonius:

“And? What do you think about PRINCESS Twilight?”

“An extremely interesting move. Could you tell me how you did it? And please don’t just say ‘magic’,” Antonius answered.

“Well, what am I supposed to say when I mustn’t say ‘magic’?”

“I mean, did the Elements teleport her somewhere, you magically upgraded her genes and sent her back? Or did they indeed vaporize her, you intercepted her soul and reforged a new, upgraded body?
While number one sounds fantastic enough, number two would imply a level of power I would only expect of the Emperor.”

“It was both, yet none of this.”

“I... see?”

“Sorry, Tony, but it’s hard to explain…”

“To somepony who doesn’t understand magic?” Antonius finished.

“Well, yes,” Celestia admitted.

“I told him so earlier this day,” Luna smiled,
“hopefully, this is not frustrating you too much.”

“I’ll survive… now that we talk about surviving, what about Twilight? Is she immortal like you now?” Antonius inquired.

“She is,” Celestia answered.

“Good! When are you going to upgrade the other Element Bearers?”

“You… want me to turn them into alicorns, too?”

“Of course. Those six ponies belong together, since they can use the Elements of Harmony only together.”

“To be worthy of becoming an alicorn, a pony must be paragon of virtue, the living embodiment of charity, compassion, devotion, integrity, optimism, and leadership… and they must create new magic!”

“Let’s ignore that you’re blowing your own trumpet, I think Twilight’s friends are almost as worthy as Twilight herself. Sure, they have some flaws, but honestly, your student is not entirely flawless, either.”

“Being an alicorn is not about being flawless. I’m not flawless. But it is about… well, it’s…”

“Hard to explain to somepony who doesn’t understand magic,” Antonius said flatly.

“Well, yes. They must create new magic first, that is the final proof that they are ready for becoming alicorns.”

“So, being an alicorn is restricted to unicorns? I thought Cadance was a pegasus before her ascension.”

“She was. You see, becoming an alicorn is not restricted to unicorns, but that is…”

“Don’t say it. I still think you should grant them alicornhood, though.”

“I really appreciate that you advocate for them, Tony,” Celestia smiled,
“but I’m afraid I won’t do that, not at the moment.”

“Well, guess I’ll just have to trust you in this matter,” Antonius said with a little bit of skepticism,
“I can’t do anything about it anyway.”

“Thank you, and believe me when I say that you really don’t need to worry.”

Antonius and Luna bid goodnight and left.

“You really want to turn the other Element Bearers into alicorns, do you not?” Luna asked as they headed to their quarters.

“Indeed. Increased resistance, strength and immortality would benefit them a lot when the time to fight Chaos has come.”

“I understand, but I think we should trust my sister. And before you ask: I cannot turn ponies into alicorns, Cellie is the only pony with that much power.”

“I didn’t want to ask you for that. You’ve had enough problems with divided or opposing loyalties lately.”

“That is undoubtedly true.”

The next morning, Cadance and Shining Armor arrived for the coronation. It was a nice ceremony and Antonius had to grin: the standard bearers presenting Twilight’s cutie mark banner reminded him a bit of Ultramar - his chapter also loved standards. Fittingly, Celestia had chosen not to create a separate crown for Twilight; her Element of Harmony took that place. That would probably come in handy some time, as Twilight would not have to fetch her Element first should something ‘Element-worthy’ happen. Antonius would just have to make sure that she did not lose it for whatever reason.

The coronation and the corresponding party took the whole day, and when was over, Antonius, Celestia, Luna, the Element Bearers and Spike met again, this time with Cadance and Shining Armor, to discuss a ‘princess summit’ that would soon take place in the Crystal Empire. After the discussion, they all retired.

The next day, Cadance and Shining Armor left to prepare the princess summit. Antonius, Luna and Celestia followed a few days later via Land Speeder to give them enough time for the preparations, while the Element Bearers and Spike took a train. They all united again in the Crystal Castle’s throne room.

“Twilight! I haven't seen you since the coronation!” Cadance laughed.

“Which was just a few days ago,” Antonius mumbled so quietly that only Luna could hear him, who answered with a grin.

“We have so much to discuss,” Celestia said,
“but it can wait until tomorrow. You all look tired from your journey. Now, off to bed, all of you.”

When Twilight and her friends had left, Antonius turned to Luna again:

“So Twilight became a princess to be told to go to bed?” he asked with a grin,
“I thought that such a high position would include the right to decide on your own naptimes.”

“Yeah, that is where you are wrong,” Luna laughed,
“now I will go to bed, as my sister said, and since Cadance has allocated the same quarters to the both of us, you will have to go to bed, too, or do you want to disturb me?”

“I’d never even think of it.”

In the middle of the night, Antonius woke up. There was noise:
Screaming.
Hooves on a crystal floor.

“Luna,” he urged,
“rise, something’s going on.”

They quickly got out of bed. Antonius did not take the time to put on his armor, he just grabbed his chainsword and left the room, Luna on his heels. He followed the sounds as fast as he could, and as he rounded a corner, he could see Twilight and her friends, as well as the rear half of a yellow pony jump… into a mirror?

“The hell?” he mumbled and came to a stop.

“Who was that?” Fluttershy asked.

“Good question. And what did they do here?”

“She stole my crown!” Twilight told him,
“my Element of Harmony!”

“Damnit!” Antonius grunted,
“after that witch! Let us return your Element and make her pay for her infamy!”

“Stop!” Luna exclaimed and all eyes were on her,
“please make no hasty decisions. Get your armor, I will wake up my sister and Cadance. We will meet in the throne room in an hour.”

Said hour later, they had all gathered in the throne room and Celestia told them about the thief of the Element: a former student of hers named ‘Sunset Shimmer’ who turned to evil.
Well, Antonius would take care that her ‘sun’ would ‘set’ forever…

They went to the room where the mirror was. After a short mission briefing - or at least something alike - about returning the Element so that it doesn’t harm the other world (and because it’s sort of important to their own world) Celestia asked Twilight:

“You understand the importance of your task?”

No, not having all the Elements of Harmony wouldn’t be the least bit of a problem when Chaos came… really, sometimes Celestia showed a remarkable propensity for asking stupid questions… Okay, it might also be possible that Antonius was a bit impatient. Every second they spent talking gave the witch more time to further whatever sinister plan she probably had.
And he was also angry at himself for not being able to prevent the witch from stealing such an invaluable artifact.

“Of course,” Twilight answered.

“Good. Then you must go at once,” Celestia said.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed,
“she’s going, we’re going with her.”

Her friends agreed wholeheartedly, but Celestia thwarted their plans:

“I’m afraid I can’t let you go.”

“What?! Why not?!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

“Sending all of you could upset the balance of this alternate world,” Celestia started, then Antonius interrupted her:

“Celestia, we all know that you generally prefer a gentle approach, but in this situation I honestly don’t care about this other world, the Element is too important to show signs of timidity. I say we go in hard, retrieve the Element, and pull out again. A quick mission, executed with utmost precision.”

“That - or sending all of you - might create havoc that would make it impossible for Twilight to get the crown back from Sunset Shimmer. This is something Princess Twilight must do alone.”

“Let me guess… the exact reasons are hard to explain to somepony who doesn’t understand magic, eh?”

“Yes, this is indeed the case… again… sorry.”

“Time is of the essence,” Luna said, and Antonius definitely agreed to that,
“on the third day, when the moon reaches its peak in the night sky, the gateway will close. And once it does, it will be another thirty moons before you will be able to use it to return.”

Now Twilight stepped through the mirror portal and suddenly, Spike rushed to join her. Honestly, Antonius would probably have been fast enough to stop him, but he was sure that her assistant and friend would prove to be invaluable for Twilight, so he did nothing.

Once they were gone, the magic mirror looked just like a mirror again.

“Okay, what do we do now?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Wait for Twilight to return,” Celestia answered.

“I’ll guard the mirror and make sure nothing that’s not Twilight or Spike gets through,” Antonius offered.

“Okay, now even air will be afraid to get through,” Rainbow joked.

The ponies chuckled a bit, Antonius did not. The situation was too serious for humor. One of the Elements was gone, and Twilight and Spike were on their own - for the time being.

Twilight had gone through the portal more than a day ago, and Luna was looking in on Antonius. Ever since she had left, he was standing in front of the magic mirror, his bolter in his hands, and stared at the portal.

“Tony?” Luna asked worriedly.

“Yeah?” he answered immediately, but without turning around.

“Do you not want to have lunch with us? I mean, you are here for more than a day, without sleep, food or drink.”

“I’m fine, Luna. Staying awake for three days is no problem for me, and the nutrients I need I get from my reservoir. Guarding the portal takes priority.”

“Of course,” Luna mumbled slightly disappointed and returned to the others.

“He won’t come, will he?” Cadance asked as Luna entered the dining room.

“No,” she answered curtly.

“Well, he is quite… determined ever since Twilight has gone through the mirror,” Rarity stated,
“somehow… ’Space Marine’-y.”

“Of course he is,” Luna confirmed,
“the Elements of Harmony are his primary mission, the weapon to win a war that has lasted for more than ten thousand years - and Sunset Shimmer has stolen one of them right from under his nose.”

“Yet you still tried to invite him to lunch,” Cadance smiled.

“Just because he can guard the portal for three days nonstop does not mean that it is especially healthy for him to do so,” Luna explained,
“but as I expected, he will not abandon his post. I think he would not even take the time to take off his helmet and eat if we brought him something.”

“Hmm… gotta admire his determination,” Applejack opined.

“Or his stubbornness,” Celestia said,
“I really appreciate his sense of duty, but I honestly hoped he would be a little more relaxed and trust Twilight more.”

“I think he does trust Twilight,” Luna remarked,
“but he is used to bare the risks himself. He hates putting others in danger while staying behind himself.”

“Sometimes, that is the only way to help others grow, and there even are times when it’s the only way altogether.”

“Well, he trusts your judgement, aunt,” Cadance said,
“otherwise he wouldn’t wait here and just guard the portal.”

“Yes, Celestia agreed,
“he would step through the portal and wreak havoc on the other side…”

“That other world would surely be surprised,” Rainbow Dash snickered.

More time passed, and Luna and the others stayed in the mirror room with Antonius whenever they could. He talked to them, and they even got him to remove his helmet for some minutes and eat a bite or two, but he never ceased his vigil over the portal.

It was the third day since Twilight and Spike had left, and now time was getting short. Antonius had chosen not to oppose Celestia, but now his urge to intervene rose.

“The last hour,” Luna stated worriedly.

“What’s taking Twilight so long?” Rainbow asked.

“Perhaps she ran into trouble,” Fluttershy worried.

“Have faith in her,” Celestia said,
“she will prevail.”

“Even the mightiest may fail if the odds are stacked too high against them,” Antonius grumbled.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rainbow exclaimed.

“That even Twilight might fail if this Sunset Shimmer is too devious,” Rarity translated.

“But we can’t help her without risking to do more harm than good,” Applejack stated.

“Perhaps now would be a good time to try and explain why,” Antonius said.

“Fine,” Celestia sighed,
“I will try. Our worlds are connected and delicately balanced. If we upset the balance, for example by sending too many ponies form one world to the other, we might destroy both worlds.”

“I am not from your world. Neither am I a pony.”

“Oh, you know what I mean.”

“And you definitely are a part of our world,” Luna added.

“Thanks,” Antonius said,
“but the risk of Twilight not returning starts to outweigh the risk of upsetting the balance.”

Then he started checking his weapons.

“Tony… what are you doing?” Celestia asked nervously.

“I’m preparing to bring the Emperor’s justice to the other world,” he said coldly.

“Uh-oh,” Rarity gasped,
“he is so very ‘Space Marine’-y now…”

“Tony, please,” Celestia begged.

“I’ve pondered the risks, but we have not enough information to determine if Twilight might be in trouble and need help. It would be unforgivable if we’d been able to save her, but didn’t because we dreaded the risk. We have less than an hour now. I will go through the portal and see if I can help.”

“Luna!” Celestia shouted, turning to her sister for help.

“May the Emperor guide your ways,” Luna said calmly.

Antonius ducked and crawled through the portal.

The transition was… interesting, to put it mildly - and quite colorful - but finally, he exited the portal.
He immediately checked the readings of his armor, and found it in perfect working condition. His bolter was still in his hands, too, so he was ready for battle.

Antonius quickly scanned his surroundings. He was on some kind of forecourt, and there was a large building nearby. A part of its structure had collapsed, revealing…
What the…
Humans???
No, not exactly. Their eyes were too big, their limbs were too lean (which reminded him a little of the Eldar) and while humanity was known for a multitude of different skin tones, those creatures were a little too colorful… like big-eyed, lean humans with pony color patterns…
Abhumans?
Were they descendants of humanity? Did they know about the Emperor? Did they follow His guidance?
If that were the case, they would deserve Antonius’ protection, like all loyal subjects of the Imperium… but why were their eyes glowing… in such a sickly green color?

He did not have time to ponder this, though, as there was more going on… two daemons hovered above the humans, and there also was a daemonette… or something alike, to be exact. The disgusting creature hovered a few meters above the ground, Twilight’s Element of Harmony on its head!
Well, that was a ‘shoot me!’ if Antonius ever had seen one. He raised his bolter to kill the thing and reclaim the Element, but his line of fire was blocked…

By six also hovering girls, three of them winged, forming the shape of a heart.
This was a very, very weird world.

Still, they had a familiar ring to Antonius… they had the same color patterns as the Element Bearers! What was going on? Was this the balance Celestia had talked about? A Counterpart for every pony?
And what about the abhuman Twilight? Where was the real, pony one?

At the moment, Antonius did not get answers to his questions. Instead, the hovering girls fired a rainbow colored double helix skywards. It narrowed to a ball of light, and from this ball, another rainbow colored beam erupted and homed in on the daemonette.
It wrapped around the obviously frightened creature, creating a tornado of multicolored light.

The Elements of Harmony? But there was only one Element present… this couldn’t be the effect the Elements had… yet, somehow Antonius knew that this beam was caused by those ancient artifacts that probably were the ultimate anti-Chaos weapon.

He watched as more beams sped around and hit the other daemons and abhumans alike. The glow in their eyes vanished, making them look somewhat more normal, and the daemons were turned into abhumans, too.

Incredible. Tabula rasa.
All enemies were gone, defeated within seconds by the Elements of Harmony and their strange rainbow powers, and all that was left was a respectable crater where the daemonette had been.
Damnit, he NEEDED to get them to mankind as soon as possible.

A series of screams made him take another look at the abhumans; they were staring at him with shocked expressions. Well, they had probably never seen an Astartes, but there were more important things to do now than introducing himself. The girls who had fired the rainbow beams were lying scattered on the ground, and Antonius lowered his bolter and walked up to the one who looked like Twilight.

As he knelt down next to her, a small, purple dog came running towards him.

“Antonius!” it called in a familiar voice.

“Spike?” Antonius asked, somewhat puzzled.

“Yeah, it’s a long story. How is Twilight doing? Is she okay?”

“This girl is our Twilight?”

“Yes. Just transformed. Like I said, long story. Is she hurt?”

Antonius put an arm under Twilight’s shoulders and gently lifted her a bit.

“I don’t think so,” he stated.

Now Twilight opened her eyes - and smiled.

“Antonius!” she said,
“you’re here?”

“The last time I looked, I was,” he smiled back, though his helmet made that somewhat pointless.

“Umm… excuse me, darling, but who is that?” another familiar voice asked now.

“That’s Antonius,” Twilight explained as Antonius helped her up,
“he’s a good friend from my world.”

After some rather awkward greetings, Antonius turned to Twilight again:

“So, the ascension to an alicorn wasn’t enough for you, so you ascended a second time to a human - or human-ish - form?” he grinned,
“are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“Good. Then excuse me while I check if there’s something left of the daemonette.”

“Actually, that is Sunset Shimmer.”

“Not for much longer.”

Antonius raised his bolter again, pointing it at the edge of the crater, and advanced, followed by Twilight. Down there, a girl was lying, and according to her color pattern, it was the transformed pony he had seen escape through the mirror.

Antonius switched to his chainsword and jumped down. He grabbed the crying Sunset Shimmer by her jacket and lifted her into the air.
Essentially, she deserved death for the atrocities she committed, but Twilight would probably not be too happy about him killing her, and maybe it was a good opportunity to study the effects of the Elements further… well, he could ask.

“Want me to kill her?” he inquired, effecting gasps from the girls that accompanied Twilight and the other abhumans who had walked up to the crater by now.

“NO!” Twilight shouted, then she continued in a calmer voice:
“I mean: No, that’s not necessary. Please leave her to me.”

So Antonius jumped out of the crater and dropped Sunset Shimmer at Twilight’s feet. Then, he got into position next to her, his chainsword still in his hand in case the witch was stupid enough to try something funny.

Now Twilight put her in her place - using only words, unfortunately (but predictably) - and the witch apologized, still crying. Yeah, Twilight truly was a pupil of Celestia… apropos Celestia… two adult women approached them, and they looked rather familiar, too.

“I believe this belongs to you,” the abhuman Celestia said and put Twilight’s crown where it belonged - on Twilight’s head. While doing so, she eyed Antonius for a second, but focused on Twilight again immediately.

Then she added a few words of wisdom and inspiration that could have come straight from pony-Celestia.
When she had done so, the other woman, a version of Luna, picked up Sunset Shimmer and said:

“I’ll take care of her… and them, too.”

‘Them’ were the two boys who had been daemons. Antonius watched as the abhuman Luna gathered them all and led them towards the ruined facade of the nearby building.

Since Twilight and Spike were safe and the Element was retaken, Antonius wanted to suggest returning to Equestria, but an abhuman boy turned to Twilight… and asked her for a dance?
What? Daemons, mind control, and an encounter with a Space Marine, and this guy could just think of trying to hit on Twilight?

She giggled and turned to Antonius:

“How much time do we have left?”

“We really should not return at the last second,” he replied, but seeing her face fall, he added:
“but about half an hour should be acceptable.”

Happy again, Twilight and her new friends entered a hall that looked suspiciously like a repurposed gym and danced.

With a somewhat defeated sigh, Antonius put away his sword and took an observation point to keep an eye on Twilight. All of the abhumans steered clear of him, but he did not mind that. He had a lot to think about, now that the battle was over.
Were those almost-humans descendants of mankind?
Or was this a parallel evolution in a parallel universe? If so, did that mean that there was this universe’s version of the Emperor somewhere?

His thoughts were interrupted when Celestia approached him.

“Hello. I’m Principal Celestia.”

“Antonius Varus, Ultramarines second company, Imperium of Mankind, currently Lord Commander of the equestrian PDF,” he introduced himself.

“And Princess Twilight’s bodyguard, I assume?”

“Correct.”

“Okay… would you please tell me what the ‘Imperium of Mankind’ is supposed to be… or ‘Ultramarines’… or this ‘PDF’ you mentioned.”

“The Imperium of Mankind is the pangalactic empire of humanity. The Ultramarines are the chapter of Space Marines I belong to. The PDF is the defensive force I helped forming on Twilight’s homeworld.”

“‘Space Marines’?”

“Transhuman elite warriors on the Imperium.”

“Oh…”

After a few second of silence, she continued:

“Now excuse me if I’m a little blunt, but would you really have killed Sunset Shimmer?”

Yeah, the two Celestias really were similar.

“Of course,” he answered truthfully,
“but I trust Twilight’s judgement. If she says that the witch gets a second chance, she gets a second chance.”

“Umm… ‘witch’?”

“The appellation is correct. It might be a bit hard for you to understand, though. It is…”
He sighed as he realized what he was about to say:
“… hard to explain to someone who doesn’t understand magic.”

“Well, after what I’ve seen today, I’ll just take your word.”

“A wise decision. Now please keep an eye on Twilight while I check in on the witch.”

“Okay, but I can assure you that Vice Principal Luna is more than capable of supervising her.”

Antonius still assured himself that Sunset Shimmer did not pose a threat anymore. After a short introduction and conversation with Vice Principal Luna (who was, despite some similarities, not the Luna he knew so well) and a glare at the ex-daemon, he returned to the gym.

Soon, it was time to leave and he walked up to Twilight who was just taking photos with her new friends.

“Time to go, Twilight,” he stated.

“Oh, okay,” Twilight responded,
“but let’s take a photo first!”

“You already took quite a few.”

“Yeah, but only without you. Come, take off your helmet for a second, get behind us and give us a nice smile!”

After a quick check of the hall, Antonius did as Twilight had asked him to.

“Hmm… more handsome than I thought…” he heard the abhuman Rarity whisper.

“Seriously?” abhuman Applejack whispered back.

Antonius thought it wise to just ignore that.

When the photo was taken, Antonius put his helmet back on and they finally got ready to leave.
Twilight said goodbye to her new friends and asked them to look out for Sunset Shimmer. Then, she stepped through the portal, followed by Spike. After a last look at the abhumans, Antonius followed them.

He almost stumbled over Twilight and Spike as he exited the portal. Twilight’s (pony) friends were already busy welcoming her back, and Antonius was immediately included.

“Sunset Shimmer, is she alright?” Celestia asked worriedly.

“I think she's gonna be fine,” Twilight answered,
“I left her in good hands.”

“Did you say ‘hands’?” Rainbow Dash wanted to know,
“those finger-y things Antonius has?”

“Does that mean you met humans in the other world?” Applejack concluded,
“have you been on an imperial planet?”

“No,” Antonius told her,
“the creatures could be classified as a strain of abhumans… in fact, they looked like humanized versions of you ponies. They weren’t part of the Imperium, though.”

Since Twilight was tired from her mission and her friends were tired from waiting and worrying for her, they retired, accompanied by Cadance.
Antonius, Luna and Celestia stayed in the room.

“I am glad you made it back,” Luna smiled.

“You shouldn’t have gone in the first place,” Celestia remarked, but a little smirk told Antonius that she wasn’t really angry.

“You will be happy to hear that I’ve been pretty useless in the other world,” he admitted,
“I still think that my intervention was justified, though.”

“Well, since none of the worlds has crumbled to dust, I assume we can forget about our little dispute and return to just enjoying each other’s company,” Luna said.

“Agreed,” Antonius replied,
“we just have to keep this magic mirror portal in mind and be prepared when it opens the next time.”

“Don’t worry,” Celestia assured him,
“we’ll make sure that this portal doesn’t pose a threat anymore.”

“Now that that is settled,” Luna smirked,
“what do you think about going to bed? You have been awake for more than three days now.”

“Yes,” Antonius said,
“a nap is certainly a good idea.”

“I will join you and make sure that your slumber is restful.”

Antonius and Luna bid goodnight and left the room. As they were walking down the hallway towards their quarters, Antonius though he heard Celestia sigh. He took a look back and saw her still standing in the room with the mirror, her head hung low.

Hmm… perhaps it was just the tension of the last three days falling off of her… what else could it possibly be?