“Ouch” was the first thought that came to Antonius’ mind when he regained consciousness. At the moment, his whole world consisted of darkness and… pain?

No…
It was not real pain…
Just a memory of pain, searing, but short.

What had happened?
Where was he?

He was sure he was lying somewhere, and that such a situation had happened before. Indeed, the feeling of deja vu was undeniable.
He tried to open his eyes - and it worked. He could see a blue sky with fluffy clouds above him.

Was he…
He jumped up.
He was in Equestria! In the same clearing where he had appeared after the teleporter accident that had brought him to this planet in the first place! Even the scents were just as he remembered them!
But that was impossible.

His memory worked now, and he knew that he had died. There was no way he could have survived that explosion.
A time loop?
No, he wasn’t wearing his armor, but instead, he wore the clothes Rarity had made for him. His body was complete, too, no sign of missing limbs or even minor injuries.

This did not really make sense. Was this the afterlife?
Well, whatever it was, standing around here would not be useful. Since he still knew the direction in which Ponyville was supposed to be, he started walking.

On his way, he didn’t see a single animal. No squirrels, no birds, not even insects. Nothing.
This was a little unsettling, but he couldn’t help it. He walked on.

Antonius finally arrived at Zecora’s hut, but she wasn’t home. So, he continued his journey.
Entering the town, he was greeted by the same lack of life he had witnessed ever since he had woken up in that small clearing.

He started searching the town, but nopony was there. The houses, though, were in pristine condition, so this couldn’t be the result of a battle. Everything looked normal - just the inhabitants were missing. Twilight’s library, Moonlight, Blackwing and Stormy’s house, Lyra and Bon Bon’s home - nopony was there.

Somewhat perturbed, he moved on to Fluttershy’s cottage - only to find it as empty as the rest of the town.
Sweet Apple Acres was no different.
He returned to Ponyville.

Well, this was unsettling. Where was everypony?
He glanced at the sun that was burning down mercilessly. He also couldn’t remember the sun being that intense…

As he looked around, he spotted Canterlot in the distance. Perhaps he could find some answers - or some ponies - there.

As he walked on the road towards the capital, still assailed by the rays of the sun that obviously wanted to turn him into ‘grilled human’, a truly disturbing thought popped up in his mind:
Was this his personal version of hell?
Having to spend all eternity in this familiar place, devoid of all life, especially his friends who made this place so special in the first place?
Was this his punishment for violating the Codex and becoming genuine friends with xenos?
He shook his head to clear his mind. Such panicked delusions were thoroughly unrewarding. Why had such a thought come to his mind at all?
He continued his journey.

Antonius finally arrived at the foot of Mount Canterlot.
Damned, that had taken quite some time. Actually, it had taken too much time. He should have been here sooner… and the sun should have moved by now.
This definitely wasn’t the real Equestria, not the one he knew and liked so much…
Still, the city above was the next logical place to go, so he went on.

After a lot of climbing, he finally reached his destination. The gates were unguarded, but that did not surprise him… honestly, it would have hardly surprised him had the gates of the real Canterlot been unguarded.

He entered the city and found empty streets. Not wasting time with searching for ponies there, he proceeded to the castle. If somepony was here, in this emptiness, it would be there, he was sure of that.

But obviously not at the gates. Or in the hallways.
He entered the ancient imperial base. No ponies, but the Stormbird and the Land Speeder were where they belonged. Antonius climbed into the Speeder and checked its systems. Nothing. The vehicle was as dead as the rest of the city.
With growing unease, he left the base again. Further searching the castle, he also found his room and the princesses’ quarters devoid of life.

All of this made him feel a strange sensation… one he hadn’t felt in a long time, but one he could remember from his childhood.
Fear.
Damnit, he was an Astartes, he shouldn’t be able to feel fear!
Well, he had been an Astartes. He was dead now. The conditioning seemed not to transcend that… boundary.

Now, there was only one place left to inspect: the throne room.
Standing in front of the two-winged door, Antonius took a deep breath. If this royal room was empty, too, he was royally screwed.

He pushed the door open.
The room was not empty.

Antonius knelt down immediately and averted his gaze. He knew exactly who he had found there.

“What are you doing, Antonius?” the Emperor of Mankind asked.

His voice was mellifluous, but also commanding. A voice that could shake the heavens if it wanted to. And now, it was talking to him.

“Kneeling…” Antonius stammered,
“and averting my gaze…”

“Stop that. I haven’t expended that much effort for you to look at some marble floor tiles.”

Antonius looked up. Really, there He was. The Emperor. Clad in golden armor, larger than life, He was too great for him to fully comprehend. And he was sitting on Celestia’s throne.

“Get up and come closer,” He said, slightly irritated,
“I see no reason why we should shout at each other.”

Antonius hurried to obey and was standing in front of his Emperor on a very different golden throne.
The Emperor looked at his servant for some time, then he said:

“Antonius, Antonius…”

Uh-oh.

“I sent you to the ponies to acquire the Elements of Harmony. Well, you did that. And you also ignored the most fundamental principles of the Imperium and became genuine friends with them. Now, explain yourself.”

Antonius straightened himself. Even if the Emperor wasn’t thrilled by his action, he didn’t want to sugarcoat anything, and he would accept His judgement standing upright.

“My Emperor,” he started,
“in my opinion, the ponies deserved my friendship - just as they deserve the friendship of mankind.”

“So, you decide what’s best for mankind now?”

“No, but I strongly recommend accepting the ponies as the allies they actually are. They are loyal, trustworthy, honest and kind. I have never met a xeno species that could even remotely keep up with them.”

“That may be true, but - looking at the xenos we know - it doesn’t mean much.”

“Right… Still, it is my firm conviction that an alliance with them would be extremely profitable, if not even vital for the continued existence of mankind.”

“Interesting. Unfortunately, your assessment is affected by one of your flaws.”

Antonius took a deep breath.

“I know I am far from perfect, my Emperor, but I am still sure that my assessment is valid.”

“Then reminisce,” the Emperor commanded calmly,
“I have burned away your conditioning while you were on your way here, so that you will be able to discover the flaw I am talking about.”

He had done what?
Okay, that was the explanation for the unusually hot sun and the fear.

Antonius quickly focused on remembering his experiences with his friends.
The time he had met Twilight and Applejack on that hill near the farm…
The time he had met them all in the library…
The missions they had been on together…

Such precious memories.
They really had become good friends.

He thought about the time he had spent with the princesses, the arguments, but especially the goofing around.
Honestly, that had been great.

Then Antonius reminisced about his best friend in Equestria - Luna. They had really had some fun together, covered in a blanket of weirdness and funny misunderstandings…
They had fought together.
He had saved her life when those nightmare daemons had abducted her.
Just a moment…
This strange feeling of restlessness back then…
The relief when she was safe again…
The ‘positive magical condition’, as Rapid Cure had called it…

“No!” the Emperor tried to intervene,
“this is NOT the epiphany I want you to have…”

“Holy Terra!” Antonius blurted out,
“I…”

“Yes, I know,” the Emperor sighed.

“And I think it’s even mutual!”

“Of course it is - or was. But please don’t turn your trial into something sappy. Well, those feelings are part of the flaw I was talking about: your are too attached. An Astartes has to keep his distance, or his decisions will become biased and loose efficiency. You know what I mean, don’t you?”

“Yes… but I feel compelled to point out that I don’t see any negative results of my decisions.”

“That’s more a thing of luck than of careful planning.”

“I have to admit that.”

“Good. Now, Antonius, hear my judgement: While you completed your mission in the most unusual of ways, you still completed it. More than that, even. Because of you, the ponies will voluntarily help us and use the Elements of Harmony against Chaos when the time has come. So, all told, you deserve my Peace. Before you meet with your ancestors, I will scan your soul for a covered corruption. I don’t expect any to be present, but I generally err on the side of caution in that regard - for rather obvious reasons.”

Antonius was relieved. By verdict of the Emperor himself, he was not a traitor. A weirdo, but not a traitor.
Now the Emperor stared at him with an indescribable intensity.
Suddenly, there were steps, armored boots on marble tiles, but Antonius could not turn around and take a look who had come into the room.

“Is he okay?” a voice asked, almost as mellifluous as the Emperor’s.

“Hmm… there is no Chaos corruption, but…” the Emperor mumbled.

‘But’? This did not bode well…

“Antonius, did you touch any strange crystal trees?”

“The Tree of Harmony!” Antonius exclaimed.

“Aha. Why did you touch it?”

“I’m not sure… I felt somewhat compelled to touch it… has this contact left traces in my soul?”

“‘Traces?’ There is a whole data package!”

Having said that, the Emperor made a little gesture with his hands, and a small chest appeared on his knees.

“Just a visualization,” the voice behind Antonius explained,
“so that you are not too confused by all of this.”

Antonius really would have liked to know who this voice belonged to, but his attention was caught by the Emperor as he opened the chest and pulled out a scroll.
He read it, and his expression turned into one of surprise. Then, he lowered the scroll and took a look at Antonius.
He seemed to contemplate the content of the scroll, then he said:

“Antonius, the Tree of Harmony left a proposal in your soul. Together with this.”
He took a jar from the chest. Inside it, a glowing double helix was slowly pinwheeling.
“Sequences of pony DNA. It wants me to forge you anew with this ‘upgrade’ and send you back to Equestria.”

“WHAT???” Antonius exclaimed.

This was more than just unexpected, it was unthinkable. Quite welcome, but unthinkable.

“And I will accept this proposal - more or less. I certainly will not bow to the will of this… tree, but it actually is an opportunity. Let me tell you what happened in Ultramar while you were in Equestria.”

Just a wave of the Emperor’s hand, and Antonius knew what his Lord was talking about.

“Primaris?” Antonius asked incredulously.

“Yeah,” the Emperor said with a trace of disdain,
“this upstart Cawl really thinks he has perfected the Astartes. He has NOT. The Astartes were perfect as I designed them. Easy to create, yet much more powerful than a normal human. The Primaris may be stronger, but they are also more difficult to create.
I just waited for an opportunity to show this self-aggrandizing fool what real ingenuity is. Without his precious technology, I will make you a Primaris - but not just any Primaris. You will be the ‘Primus inter Primaris’, the most powerful of those warriors. The pony DNA will give you a natural understanding of the magic the ponies use, and the upgrades I’m going to add will - among other things - counter the less desirable effects of this DNA. Seriously, you will be useless if you become too peaceful… too tame.”

Antonius was speechless. The Emperor, however, wasn’t:

“With fragments of the genetic code of the Primarchs, you will become a warrior Cawl will drop to his knees before - even if he has to build some first!”

“Guess you will ‘ascend’,” the voice from behind said with an audible grin.

As he heard the word ‘ascend’, Antonius had to think of Twilight and her alicornication. That made him worry a bit and ask a somewhat stupid question:

“I won’t get wings, will I?”

“What’s wrong with wings?” the voice asked.

The Emperor sighed and Antonius was suddenly able to take his eyes off the master of mankind, so he turned around and gasped:

“Primarch Sanguinius??? But… you’re dead!”

“So are you,” Sanguinius replied with a friendly smile.

“Oh… right…”

“It takes some getting used to. But don’t get too used to it, for in your case, it will obviously only be temporary.”

“Indeed,” the Emperor agreed, and Antonius turned to face him again,
“but it will still take a while to train you to the point that you can use your new abilities. But first, let me create a new genome for you.”

Having said that, the Emperor pulled the pony DNA out of its jar. With a small wave of his hand, he created more helixes; one in the center and several others around it. Then, he started placing parts he took from the outer helixes into the central one.

“He’s reforging your DNA,” Sanguinius, who was now standing at Antonius’ side, towering over him, explained.

“Ugh,” the Emperor grumbled,
“just as I thought. I must counter the pony DNA’s undesirable side effects… Russ! The Canis Helix! That should work.”

The Canis Helix? The component that made the Space Wolves so… wolfish? Placed into an Ultramarine?

“My Emperor,” Antonius dared to ask,
“I know I am in no position to question your decisions… but are you sure you want to use Space Wolves DNA?”

The Emperor stopped working, looked at Antonius for a second, and continued working with the words

“Better a little more Canis Helix.”

Great. So he would become a transhuman-pony-wolf hybrid.
With this level of weirdness, he actually fitted pretty well into Equestria…

While the Emperor was busy tinkering about with the very foundations of life - Antonius’ life - the recently deceased Space Marine turned to Sanguinius:

“Excellency Sanguinius, since you are here, does that mean that the other fallen loyal Primarchs are around, too? Their souls, I mean?”

“Some are, others are not,” Sanguinius answered glumly,
“my brother Ferrus Manus, who died at the Dropside Massacre, is lost forever. It was only after my father had become aware of Horus’ rebellion that he took measures to catch the souls of his dead sons…”
His mood lightened as he continued:
“And now, he has caught your soul. And he is upgrading you with Primarch DNA. Perhaps I should call you ‘brother’ from now on…”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” the Emperor intervened,
“he will be a powerful Primaris, but not a Primarch. Now, it is time he actually becomes a Primaris. Antonius, prepare yourself to receive my gift.”

Before Antonius had the chance to ask how exactly he was supposed to prepare himself for such a transformation, he felt a strange sensation. It wasn’t exactly painful, more like a tingling of every - actually nonexistent - cell of his - also nonexistent - body, accompanied by a swirling vortex of light around him.

When it was over, he noticed that his perspective had changed. He was taller now, almost as tall as the Primarch at his side. Antonius first inspected his arms, then the rest of his body.

“Most impressive…” he mumbled,
“and surprisingly painless, given the transformation.”

“Because you are just a soul,” the Emperor explained,
“there will be a fair amount of pain when your body is actually reforged in the materium. Until then, you need to get used to your new body and abilities. And drop your last name. Since your actions will certainly be seen as unthinkable in the Imperium, we should keep your original family out of it. Now, Sanguinius, you will start training him. I will take over once I deem the time has come. Until then, I have other things to do.”

“Of course, father,” Sanguinus replied.

The next moment, Antonius and the Primarch were standing in a giant, plane clearing. There also was a weapons rack with a multitude of different swords, axes, bolters and other equipment.

“An impressive range of weapons,” Antonius commented,
“which one are we going to train with?”

“All of them,” Sanguinius answered.

Since neither of them had an actual physical body that required food or rest, the training went on without interruption, whereby the environment changed every time to provide an adequate area for the weapon they picked.
While Antonius had not been a subpar Space Marine and now even had a further enhanced body, he was completely out of his depth fighting Sanguinius at first. Over time, this slowly changed, until their fights became more and more balanced and Antonius was able to stand his ground with every weapon they choose.

“You’re making progress,” the Primarch noted.

“Slow but steady,” Antonius replied,
“thanks to your training and your patience.”

He had lost any sense of time by now, but he was willing to bet that it had taken him months to achieve this level of prowess.

A little later, Antonius and Sanguinius were dueling again, with greatswords this time. The newly forged Primaris had to admit that this type of weapon was his favorite out of all melee weapons he had mastered, and he proved his expertise by standing his ground against the Primarch. He countered up to four attacks per second and retaliated just as fast - quite an accomplishment considering the giant swords.

Then, the incredible happened:
After blocking one of Sanguinius’ blows, he managed to bring the tip of his sword to the Primarch’s throat. Both men froze.
Antonius had won this fight.

“Outstanding,” Sanguinius smiled, not the least bit indignant because of his defeat,
“soon we will reach a point where I can’t teach you anything anymore. Now, please excuse me. I will go and tell my father about your progress.”

Sanguinius was gone for some time and Antonius made use of this by continuing his training. Since the legendary Primarch of the Blood Angels and even the Emperor himself obviously put that much trust into him, he didn’t want to disappoint them by being negligent.

When Sanguinius returned, his face was serious. He said:

“Antonius, I have bad news: The Emperor has decreed that the ponies are an incalculable risk to his plans. He wants you to exterminate them and claim the Elements of Harmony for mankind.”

This was like a punch into Antonius’ soul. This was worse than the worst nightmare. Why had the Emperor made such a decision? What had happened?

“Why?” he stammered, still trying to come to term with this order.

“It is not your duty to question the Emperor’s orders,” Sanguinius told him sternly,
“your duty is to execute them.”

“But… this makes no sense! We can’t betray our allies, and the ponies ARE our allies!”

“So, you refuse to execute this order?”

Disobeying the Emperor was unthinkable, but this whole situation… there was something deeply wrong with all of this…

“Yes,” Antonius finally answered,
“I won’t attack our allies - my friends - without a damned good reason. If something terrible enough to justify such an order has happened, I need to know it first, even if this is an order given by the Emperor…
If…
Damnit, I don’t even have a single proof that this order was given by the Emperor! I can’t even be sure if you are you, and not some daemon impersonating Primarch Sanguinius and trying to ruin the Emperor’s true plan!”

To Antonius’ great surprise, Sanguinius smile was back on his face. The Primarch turned around and said:

“He passed.”

A moment later, the Emperor had joined them and stated:

“Then, it is time for the advanced training.”

“What?” Antonius asked, dumbfounded.

“It was a test,” Sanguinius explained,
“do you know what one of the reasons for the Horus Heresy almost being successful was?
Blind obedience.
The traitorous Primarchs told their sons to attack the other Astartes, and they - already traitor or not - just complied. Had they done what you just have, had they said ‘no, we don’t attack our allies without a damned good reason’, the Heresy would have been over before it really had started. Damnit, had my brother Russ not… but I digress. Now, the Emperor will start training you in the ways of the psykers.”

So, the Emperor himself started training Antonius. The psychic abilities he learned were anything but easy to master. They required an inhuman amount of focus, willpower and perseverance.

One day - Antonius had just fried some illusions with lightning - he turned to his Emperor and asked a question he had pondered for a long time:

“My Emperor, why did you choose me to go to Equestria? There were far greater Space Marines than me.”

“Yes,” the Emperor answered,
“but most of them were already too stuck in their hatred of each and every xeno. I needed someone who wouldn’t kill the ponies on sight just for not being humans. So, I selected a few potential candidates for this mission, and you were among them.”

“Who else was on your list, if I may ask?”

“Your sergeant Seneca. Unfortunately, was was severely injured and thus ruled out. Furthermore, there were a young Salamander, a Lamenter, and a Space Wolf… you even know that last one.”

Antonius thought about the Space Wolves he had gotten to know. Most of them were quite barbaric and would probably have eaten the ponies instead of making friends with them.
There was an exception, though…

“Haegar Bloodbrow? The one with the… unusual fenrisian wolf?”

He had gotten to know this Space Marine during a campaign against the orks. He was surprisingly reasonable for a Space Wolf. Instead of using every - inappropriate - opportunity to make fun of the Ultramarines for following the Codex Astartes, he had actually been willing to cooperate. While his brothers had not been too fond of this, they had not dared to oppose him. One reason for this was the fact that he was a Wolf Priest, the other reason was Grond, his fenrisian wolf. Usually, those animals were infamous for their bad mood, but Grond had - for whatever reason - taken a liking to Antonius and had never wasted an opportunity to put his tongue in the Ultramarine’s face.

“Yes, indeed,” the Emperor answered, stopping Antonius’ train of thoughts,
“however, when you wanted to teleport to the strike cruiser it was a good opportunity that I didn’t want to pass up.”

“And so, I landed in Equestria to claim the Elements of Harmony… what exactly do you want to do with them? I know that you want to use them against Chaos, but how?”

“First of all, I need them for something different: See, at the moment my soul is split up into thousands of fragments, each one battling the Ruinous Powers. This ‘schism’ has left its marks, even on me. I could gather the parts of my soul, but I think that this might result in a grim, needlessly ruthless version of myself. See, this spark of my soul that is currently talking to you is the nicest one left… and it still has some quirks.
With the power of the Elements, I want to reunite and heal my soul, so that I can be the Emperor mankind deserves. This is where you came into the picture - and where you will come into the picture again.
I want you to keep up your friendship with the ponies - no matter how weird it may be for a Space Marine.”

“Yes, my Emperor… but why do you know about the ponies in the first place? I know they were created by mankind, but that was long ago…”

“You have found the journal of the creator of the ponies, haven’t you?”

“Yes.”

“You came across the name ‘Peter Schroedinger’?”

“Yes, he was a scientist and apparently a good friend of the ponies’ creator Dr. Faust.”

“And he was me.”

Antonius jaw dropped.

“You?” he asked in bafflement.

“Indeed. I have to admit that I remember those times quite fondly.”

“Just a moment… you were this Schroedinger… and Dr. Faust taught you about genetics… and you created… I can’t believe it… that means that the doctor is something like the grandmother of the Astartes?”

“I wouldn’t call her a ‘grandmother’, but she did lay the foundation for my knowledge in that area.”

“Incredible! So the Astartes are somewhat related to the ponies in a way.”

“Don’t exaggerate. I created the Astartes, and I created the virus that increased the ponies’ intelligence, but there is no pony DNA in the Astartes, just the experience gained back then.”

“Of course, my Lord. I am the only warrior of mankind with that kind of DNA.”

“At the moment; I hereby authorize you to create a fighting force specialized in battling Chaos.”

“Composed of ponies?”

“You may create a second force consisting of ponies, but I was talking about humans. When your body will be reforged in the materium, I will give you a meta-seed that will allow you to quickly create a company of Primaris-like warriors without having to grow the implants first.”

Antonius was flabbergasted.

“You… give me a lot of power,” he said.

“That’s nothing compared to the spark of my power I will give to you.”

Antonius could barely believe what he had just heard.

“You want to what?” he blurted, then he pulled himself together and continued:
“I… am not worthy of this gift.”

“Of course you aren’t,” the Emperor told him in a matter-of-fact tone,
“but as I said, it is a good opportunity. It may even be the last opportunity, since Chaos is about to rise again and time is getting short.”

“They are what? Damned daemon scum! I’d really want to know how this all started.”

“Then listen.”

“You know?”

“I am the Emperor. Of course I know.
When the universe was young, the Immaterium wasn’t the Warp we know today, it was the ‘Sea of Souls’, a much friendlier and calmer place, only influenced by the weak emotions of lesser animals. Then, as higher life came into existence, it got more turbulent. When two factions, the ‘Old Ones’ and the ‘Nectrontyr’ started a war of unimaginable scale, it only got worse.”

“‘Necrontyr’? Sounds suspiciously like ‘Necrons’…”

“Yes. The Necrontyr sacrificed their bodies and souls and became the Necrons to gain the upper hand in that conflict.”

“This is madness.”

“The Old Ones weren’t better. They created the Eldar and the Orks to fight the Necrontyr and later the Necrons, but that is a different story.”

“What??? Do we owe all of our problems to this ancient war?”

“Most of them. Now shut up and let me continue:
The Sea of Souls was flooded with aggression and other negative emotions, until they started accumulating and even formed a dark consciousness. Thus, Khorne, Tzeentch and Nurgle were ‘born’ - at least if you want to call that a birth - and the Sea of Souls toppled and became the Warp we all know and hate now.
Due to some more very unfortunate events, the Old Ones were wiped out, the Necrons retreated into their tombs, and the Eldar and Orks continued their fight on a much smaller scale.”

“And the Gods of Chaos?”

“They did what they are still doing: They devoured the souls of the innocent - and everyone else they could get. One day, they found Terra, and took interest in the psykers there. The souls of those ‘shamans’, as they were called, transcended into the Warp when they died and could be reborn from there. Now, those shamans noticed that a lot of their souls were lost to the Gods of Chaos, so they came up with a plan: About 50 millennia ago, they all committed suicide to face the dark entities together.”

“That’s… quite a drastic measure…”

“Yeah, and it didn’t exactly work. When they realized that they still couldn’t defeat their enemies, half of them distracted the Gods of Chaos, while the other half were reborn into a single being, a human far beyond any human who had ever lived on Terra.”

“Wow… I mean, incredible. If only we had this super-human…”

“We have. This super-human is me.”

All Antonius could do now was stare at the Emperor, his mouth agape.

“Yes,” the Emperor continued,
“and ever since my birth back then, I did all I could to protect mankind from the Ruinous Powers. And now, about 50 thousand years later, we finally have the chance to get rid of them. So, let’s declare this history lesson finished and get back to the training.”

Antonius still had countless questions he wanted to ask, but he followed his Emperor’s order.

Marneus Augustus Calgar and Gearhart were walking through the hallways of the Sword of Iax, heading to Aleksa’s quarters.

“We could also have called her and told her to deliver her report to us on the bridge,” the Magos said.

“Yes,” the Space Marine answered,
“but it’s just a small detour, and honestly: I don’t have any urgent things to do at the moment, do you?”

“Keeping the machine spirits satisfied is a task that does not allow for free time.”

“Oh, so the five games of regicide you played against Tigurius yesterday were some sort of liturgy, I presume?”

“Correct,” Gearhart answered flatly,
“the adoration of the ALU. Still, I do not want to disturb her.”

“You really are very considerate towards her,” Calgar replied,
“but I don’t think that she will be too busy, either.”

“That depends on the current whereabouts of chapter serf Marcus.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“I have noticed that they see each other quite often…”

“Wait… gossip? From a member of the Mechanicum? That’s a whole new idea,” Calgar laughed,
“but seriously, Marcus may not be an Astartes, but he still is a chapter serf, a trained professional. He lives for his duty, just as all of us do.”

Aleksa’s quarters were in sight now. Suddenly, the door opened, and Marcus walked out backwards. He was pulled back by the room’s owner for a second, then he was released and the door closed.

Calgar and Gearhart stopped dead in their tracks and watched as the chapter serf started a little dance right there in the hallway. He needed a few seconds to realize that he wasn’t alone, then he snapped to attention with an incredibly awkward expression on his face.

“My Lord,” he saluted.

Calgar stared at him for a second before he said:

“Resume your duties.”

Marcus quickly left and the Space Marine and the magos were alone in the hallway.
After a few moments of silence, Calgar turned to Gearhart:

“I know you are laughing beneath that mask.”

“Lord Calgar,” Gearhart replied in his usual unmoved tone,
“you know that I cannot laugh.”
Just as Calgar thought that the topic was done, Gearhart continued:
“At the moment, however, I really wish I could.”

The training became more demanding every day, every hour even. Still, Antonius managed to stand his ground and pass the tests of his body, mind and soul. He also learned new - and quite unusual - tactics; to use his powers to put on a show to intimidate his enemies, for example.

Then, one day the Emperor said:

“Antonius, it is time to forge your new weapon.”

He had barely stated this as they suddenly were in a large room with various forges and smelters.
Antonius looked around. The skull-and-cog insignia of the Adeptus Mechanicus was omnipresent, but everything looked derelict, abandoned for centuries - if not longer.

“Where are we?” he asked, and the Emperor answered:

“This is a Mechanicum void ship, embedded in a space hulk. We are in the Warp, and there is no Gellar Field, so you can manipulate physical objects. Over there are the resources we’ll use for your weapon. Put them in the smelter.”

Antonius obeyed and got busy. He picked up a piece of metal ore and stopped.

“Is that silversteel?” he asked with surprise.

“Yes. It took me some effort to get it here from the Materium, and we only have enough for one attempt, so be careful.”

Thankfully, the ancient smelter still worked and soon, the silversteel had turned into glowing, viscous liquid.

“What kind of weapon do you prefer?” the Emperor asked,
“it has to be a melee weapon, the rest is your choice.”

Antonius did not need to think for long:

“A greatsword. Of all the weapons I have trained with, this is the one I’m most proficient with.”

“Fine. Get everything ready, I’ll return in a few minutes.”

Having said that, he was gone, and Antonius started stacking the silversteel ingots next to a forge. When he was done, the Emperor also had returned - with a large, flat crystal.

“For the greatsword?” Antonius asked.

“It is not for decorating the room,” the Emperor replied drily.

Then, they got busy forging the sword. They spent days there, and finally, the sword was finished. A long and broad weapon, inscribed with runes - and with the crystal in the center of its blade. Stunningly beautiful, it was a powerful force sword attuned to Antonius and his new powers.

“Wonderful,” he whispered as he examined it.

A little focus, and the weapon was engulfed in psychic energies, its crystal and runes glowing with a pale blue light. A little more focus, and it burst into flames of the same color.

“This weapon will bring judgment upon the enemies of mankind,” Antonius promised with a grin.

“In addition to the sword, you will now receive the spark of my power I told you about,” the Emperor told him and touched Antonius’ brow with his finger.

Antonius lacked the words to describe what he felt at that moment. His soul seemed to be trembling with excitement and new possibilities opened up. With that much power, he could do everything! He could…
Serve mankind.
That was what he had been created for, what he would be reborn for.
No place for any kind of megalomania.

“Hmm…” the Emperor pondered,
“you withstood the side effects quite well… perhaps this tree really was right choosing you.”

Antonius shook his head to clear his thoughts, deactivated the spark and said:

“I was the only Space Marine available, but I thank you for your confidence, my Emperor. I swear, I won’t disappoint you.”

“Probably not, but now, let’s work on your armor. Unfortunately, we don’t have the technology here to build power armor, so an old fashioned, passive one will have to do. You can create a better armor when you’re back in Equestria, but until then, you will need at least some protection.”

“The Emperor protects,” Antonius stated out of habit.

“Shut up and get working.”

The armor they crafted looked primitive compared to the power armor Space Marines usually donned, but it was still an impressive piece of low-tech protection; armor plates, held together by iron chains and straps of leather, underlaid with pieces of cloth.
With this armor and the huge sword, Antonius looked more like some sort of fantasy barbarian than a Space Marine with a special mission issued by the Emperor himself.

“It will do”, the Emperor stated,
“since we don’t have a black carapace or servo systems at our disposal, it is actually more than just satisfying.”

“Indeed,” Antonius agreed,
“once I have access to the STCs and the Ultramarines arrive, I can get a new set of power armor and the necessary implants to use it. For the time being, though, this is a superb replacement.”

“So, it is getting time to actually use it, don’t you agree?”

“My Emperor?”

“Let’s have a look what your ponies do.”

The next moment, they were back in the replica of the throne room where they had first met. Sanguinius was there, too.

“Ah,” he said,
“I see you are ready… and that sword almost counts as a ranged weapon.”

“Well,” Antonius replied,
“it actually is a ranged weapon if I use it to channel my psychic powers into a beam.”

“Showoff,” Sanguinius grinned,
“but I guess you will need quite some power to set things right.”

Uh-oh. That didn’t sound too good.

“What has happened?” Antonius asked.

“It still is happening,” the Emperor said and waved his hand to open a psychic window.

It hovered in the middle of the room, and beyond it was - Equestria!
Ponyville, to be exact, and the Element Bearers - sans Twilight, but with Spike - were there, too. Accompanied by Discord.

“They look like I remember them,” Antonius remarked,
“how much time has passed, anyway?”

“For you, it was a decade of training,” the Emperor told him,
“for them, it was not even a year.”

Well, the flow of time in the Warp always was somewhat unsteady. The Emperor obviously could manipulate that to their advantage.

“You’re back!” Antonius heard Fluttershy exclaim,
“did you bring the cucumber sandwiches?”

Huh? A snack-related emergency? That would need him to be set right???

“I did,” Discord replied,
“I imagine they’ll be your last decent meal for quite some time.”

What?

Having said that, Discord created a cage around the ponies and the dragon. As Antonius watched this act of treason, a new creature appeared: a giant centaur.

“You’ve gathered up all of them?” the newcomer asked.

“And her little dragon, too,” Discord answered with a malevolent grin.

“Traitorous scum!” Antonius thundered,
“he will make the acquaintance of my new sword!”

“No,” the Emperor said calmly,
“just keep watching - for now.”

What? He was not allowed to kill this traitor?
The Emperor had to have a plan… well, being the Emperor, he probably had a plan, and Antonius would of course follow it - even if it meant not to exact vengeance on Discord.

So he did as he had been told - he watched.
He saw Tirek - that was the name Discord called the centaur - betray Discord, grow quite a bit and set out to hunt down Twilight.

“Perhaps now would be a good time to send me back,” Antonius suggested.

“Not yet,” the Emperor answered,
“but it is a good time to show you what this Tirek has done since he has returned.”

He opened another window that depicted a dark side road. There was a brown unicorn with a bucket of oranges, and also a taller, hooded figure.

“‘Is he friend or is he foe?’ the pony wonders,” the creature said, and Antonius recognized the voice as Tirek’s,
“I can assure you… I am no friend. I am Lord Tirek, and I will take what should have been mine long ago.”

Having said that, he drained the pony of his magic, growing a little in the process. Then, he started laughing.

Antonius witnessed more scenes of Tirek draining ponies, unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies.

“Damnit,” he mumbled,
“did all ponies fall victim to the centaur?”

“Most of them,” the Emperor answered,
“and now, let’s have a look at the current state of events.”

The second window closed and they returned to the first one.
It didn’t take Tirek long to find Twilight, and at first, he seemed to have the upper hand, despite a notable increase in the pony’s power. But this soon changed. When the centaur destroyed Twilight’s library, almost killing Owlowiscious in the process, she finally started fighting back.
Now, the encounter was much more balanced than before - in the sense that both of them were battling each other now with powerful blasts of magic. The fight culminated in both of their beams colliding, creating an unstable sphere of energy that detonated in an impressive explosion.

“Wow,” Antonius mumbled,
“I’ve always known that the ponies are much more powerful than they seem to be at first gaze, but that… impressive.”

“Hmm…” Sanguinius concurred,
“reminds me of a volcano cannon… coming from such a small creature, it is most certainly unexpected. Never judge a book by its cover, indeed.”

Unfortunately, Tirek was neither dead nor defeated. Quite the opposite, now he played his trump card: Twilight’s friends (and Discord), imprisoned in magic bubbles.
The deal sounded simple. Twilight’s magic in exchange for her friends.
Of course, trusting such a power-hungry creature was dangerous - to say the least - but Twilight still did it, under the condition that Discord would be released, too.
Truly, this year hadn’t changed her.
So the centaur set Twilight’s friends free and subsequently drained Twilight of her magic, growing to an even larger size.

“Perhaps now would be a good time?” Antonius inquired, slowly running out of patience.

“Not yet,” was the Emperor’s answer - again.

What was he waiting for?

Twilight and her friends had gathered together by now and Discord gave her some sort of medallion when suddenly another cage appeared around them.

“Hey!” Twilight exclaimed,
“you promised to set us free!”

Tirek laughed and answered:

“Well, I did set you free, I just caught you again. Seriously, you couldn’t have believed that I would allow you to run around feely? Even though you are just pathetic little ponies, you could still find a way to cause trouble. So, I will send you to Tartarus. There, you can keep your precious princesses company.”

Having said that, he opened a portal, picked up the cage with his magic and slowly levitated it towards the magic gate to Tartarus.

“Umm…” Antonius started.

“Wait. Any moment now,” the Emperor interrupted him.

Damnit, what was he waiting for?

Through the portal, Antonius could see Luna, Celestia and Cadance, defeated and in chains. He did his best to suppress the anger this caused - he needed to be at peak effectiveness for the Emperor’s plan… WHATEVER IT WAS, DAMNIT!!!

“So, that’s it?” Celestia asked in despair,
“after all we have endured, after even repelling the forces of Chaos, we will now be wiped out by Tirek?”

“No,” Luna replied sternly,
“if that happened, Tony would have died in vain. This must not happen!”

“But what can we do?” Cadance inquired,
“I don’t see a way to turn things right… we desperately need help, but there is no pony there.”

“Not a pony,” Luna whispered, a spark of sudden awareness in her eyes.

“What?” Antonius mumbled.

“Oh Emperor of Mankind,” she whispered.

“She’s praying to you…” Sanguinius told the Emperor with more than just some surprise.

“Yes,” the Emperor confirmed,
“while I don’t like people seeing me as a divine being, this prayer shows that the ponies are capable of seeing me and mankind as their only hope for survival. They have accepted the truth.”

In the meantime Luna continued:

“I think we have met before - when I visited Macragge. If not, let me tell you what non-human is bold enough to invocate you. I am Princess Luna of Equestria. One of your Space Marines, a great warrior named Antonius Varus, was cast to our planet and spent more than a year here with us. He became a good friend of mine… the best, even. He also learned to value our species of ponies. Enough that he sacrificed his life to save us from Chaos. Now, we are on the brink of annihilation. If that happens, we will never be able to help mankind with our Elements of Harmony, and… Tony’s sacrifice will have been in vain. Please, Emperor of Mankind, do not let that happen. We need you. Please help us!”

After a moment of Silence, Sanguinius sad:

“Equestria calls for aid.”

Suddenly, the Emperor looked different, glowing with a bright inner light, a giant even next to a Primarch, and stated:

“AND THE IMPERIUM WILL ANSWER!”
Then he turned to Antonius and added:
“Prepare for drop.”

Author's Note

"Good things come to those who wait."
But seriously, sorry for the wait, and here it is, the sequel to "My Little Xeno".
I hope that it is indeed a 'good thing', and that you'll enjoy reading it.