My Little Xeno 2 - Equinox Knights

Twilight was waiting in the throne room, together with her friends, the princesses and the three Ultramarine leaders. The Royal Guard had been distributed throughout Canterlot to catch - or at least report - Antonius as soon as he entered or approached the city.

“I’m surprised it’s taking Antonius so long,” she mused.

“I bet he doesn’t know how to get near us without being blasted,” Rainbow Dash grinned.

“I’m not that confident.”

“Neither am I,” Rarity said.

“Yeah,” Applejack agreed,
“the longer he takes, the better his plan is going to be.”

“No matter his plan,” Rainbow stated,
“with those Element rules, we can defeat him as soon as we see him.”

“IF we see him,” Twilight countered.

“Come on, he’s a pretty big guy.”

“And definitely not stupid enough to walk right into a trap. He knows those rules as well as we do and I’m certain he’ll find a way to circumvent them somehow.”

“And how?” Applejack wanted to know.

“Well… he could try to use a darkness spell, or to shortly blind us, so that we can’t see him.”

“Maybe he’ll try to separate us?”

“That’s another possibility, but pretty hard to achieve. We’re already together here, so why should we split up?”

That moment, a guard entered and Announced:

“Moonlight, Blackwing and Stormy Skies ask for an audience. They say they bring news regarding the maneuver.”

“Send them in,” Celestia told the guard.

“Antonius attacked Ponyville?” Fluttershy asked.

“Damn!” Rainbow shouted,
“we should have sent some guards there.”

“We had to focus on Canterlot,” Twilight reminded her.

The batponies and the little pegasus had entered the throne room by now, came closer and bowed.

“Hello, your Majesties, Element Bearers, and Ultramarines,” Moonlight greeted,
“we have messages for you. For Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash, to be exact.”

“What?” Applejack asked in confusion.

Stormy distributed the letters and returned to her parents.

“Quick, tell us what the letters say,” Pinkie demanded,
“have you won something? Is it a trip to Las Pegasus?”

“More like a trip to Ponyville,” Rarity said,
“Antonius has fillynapped Sweetie Belle!”

“He has WHAT?” Twilight exclaimed.

“It’s true,” Applejack told her,
“he’s got Apple Bloom, too. I’m supposed to meet him in the Everfree. Alone.”

“So, that’s how he’s planning to separate us… but tell me, what about your sisters? They are okay, aren’t they?”

“I am certain no harm has come upon them,” Luna stated,
“this is just a simulation, and Antonius is well aware of that fact. I think he walked up to them and just asked them if they wanted to play along.”

“That may well be,” Rarity said,
“but he’s written that he’ll do something truly horrible to Sweetie Belle should I not show up.”

“Huh?” Twilight wondered.

She couldn’t believe that Antonius would actually harm the fillies.

“Yes!” Rarity continued,
“he threatens to take watercolors and dye her hair… GREEN! That’s horrible! And he’s already disfigured her mane!”

She levitated a tiny strand of pink-ish hair in the air.

“That’s… not really harmful, Rarity.”

“But it’s a crime against my little sister’s good looks! GREEN!”

“You won’t believe what he’s going to do to Apple Bloom!” Applejack said.

Since she had paled a little, Twilight fetched her letter and read aloud:

Hello Applejack,

in the context of our maneuver, I’ve ‘abducted’ your little sister Apple Bloom (actually, I’ve asked her to help me by being ‘abducted’). See her ribbon as proof.
Don’t worry, she’s fine. I even bought treats (on Celestia’s tab, since I’m temporarily 'evil').
Be that as it may, I want you to come to the Everfree Forest, half way between its edge and Zecora’s hut, at 1315.
Come alone, or else… I’ll have her drink a bottle of store-bought cider.
Feel free to imagine an evil laugh here.

Regards,
Antonius

PS: To be clear, neither is she harmed nor will any actual harm befall her.

“Ooohhh… devious,” Pinkie muttered.

“That’s probably as evil as you can get without actually becoming evil,” Twilight grinned.

“Not actually evil?” Applejack shouted,
“STORE-BOUGHT CIDER?”

“That cider may not be as good as yours…”

“You’re damned right with that!”

“… but it isn’t really harmful. Rainbow, what’s in your letter?”

“He’s added a feather, and he’s gonna dismantle Scootaloo’s scooter. What kind of monster would do such a thing?”

“He’s ripped out one of her feathers?”

“No, that was Apple Bloom. But still, Scoots loves her Scooter.”

“Does he want all three of you to come to the same place at the same time?”

“Same place, yes, darling,” Rarity replied,
“but I’m supposed to be there at 1300.”

“1330,” Rainbow added.

“Of course,” Twilight mused,
“so that he can deal with you one at a time… listen girls, I say we attack at 1245…”

“Oh, most definitely not,” Rarity objected.

“Huh?”

“I will not risk my little sister to get her hair dyed green. I’ll do exactly as he has told me.”

“It’s only watercolors, Rarity. You just need water to remove them.”

“But every minute of green is a minute too many!”

“I’m also gonna keep to his instructions,” Applejack said,
“store-bought cider… yikes!”

“And I won’t allow Scoots scooter to be ruined!” Rainbow added.

“Just dismantled!” Twilight insisted.

“No offense, darling,” Rarity said,
“but you’re being reasonable when the situation calls for drama! I’ll go to Ponyville at once and meet Antonius. Alone!”

As Applejack and Rainbow Dash made similar assertions, Twilight sighed in defeat:

“Fine, I’ll teleport you to Ponyville. Fluttershy and Pinkie should also tag along, just in case. And no, we’re not going to follow you, you can go to meet Antonius on your own, if you insist.”

“Weird, but somehow still efficient,” Calgar opined when Twilight and her friends had left.

“Antonius has managed to separate them, negating their Elements,” Tigurius stated.

“We must be aware of that should an actual battle arise. Each and every possible lever must be protected from being used against the Element Bearers.”

“Since they are firmly embedded in the social structure of their hometown, that might prove challenging.”

“True. But we should be able to protect Ponyville against all threats that might arise from this planet, and the final battle against the forces of Chaos will be fought far away from here, anyway.”

“So, we can focus on the maneuver again. With the Element Bearers separated, only the defenses of Canterlot remain against Antonius. I’m curious how they will fare.”

“The validity of this maneuver is quite limited,” Cassius stated,
“we do not have a definitive assessment of Antonius’ combat strength, making it impossible to asses the Royal Guard. The other way round, it’s the same.”

“You are right,” Calgar replied,
“but we still can assess the methods, strategies and tactics used by them. And it’s a better first test for Antonius’ new armor than dealing with an actual threat. That way, he should be able to solve some almost inevitable ‘teething problems’.”

“I doubt that the Royal Guard will be able to stand his attack for long.”

“No offense, princesses,” Tigurius added.

“None taken,” Celestia assured them,
“the Royal Guard is more of a ceremonial unit, and we are aware of that.”

“Indeed,” Luna confirmed,
“that’s why we established a Planetary Defense Force. After suffering heavy losses during our battle with Chaos, we retired the few survivors with a decent pension. They had done enough for ponykind and deserved the chance to rest.”

“Hmm…” Calgar mused,
“we should re-establish the PDF. Ask the veterans if they want to be put into active service again.”

“We already thought about that, but we wanted to wait for your opinion to avoid possible misunderstandings, especially since we intend to equip them with human technology from the Golden Age.”

“We should discuss the matter with Magos Gearhart, but I don’t think there’ll be any objections.”

“I hope you are right. It seems the Royal Guard will soon get some competition again.”

“Though not in time for this maneuver,” Celestia said,
“to get back to Varro’s statement, I’m also curious how the Guard will fare, but I have to agree with Chaplain Cassius that they probably won’t be able to stop Antonius or hold him back for long.”

“Well,” Calgar replied,
“perhaps we can make this maneuver a little more challenging for Antonius and make him compete with someone who’s combat strength we know.”

“Who do you have in mind?” Cassius inquired.

“Me,” Calgar smiled in response.

1. Rarity should be there any moment.
   Usually, Antonius would check his weapons when a battle was imminent, but now, well… he didn’t, because it wasn’t a real battle that was going to take place. If there would be some sort of battle at all…
   Still, just waiting felt somewhat unsatisfying.

“Do you think Rarity will come alone?” Scootaloo asked.

“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle answered,
“she won’t risk my mane getting dyed.”

“Unless they ambush Antonius and try to free us before he can do anything about it.”

“Well,” Apple Bloom said,
“if they take this seriously, they won’t put us into danger, even if it isn’t real. Remember how they even accepted Chrysalis’ demands?”

“Hmm…” Sweetie Belle replied,
“although I don’t really like remembering anything about that time… except the rescue, of course.”

“Yeah, that was awesome!” Scootaloo cheered.

“Sorry, but I’m going to do my best to prevent any awesome rescues this time,” Antonius grinned.

“Figures,” Apple Bloom smiled,
“since you fillynapped us.”

“Oh,” Sweetie Belle interjected,
“but you’re a way better fillynapper than Chrysalis!”

“Yeah, the food and our prison are much better.”

“The closest thing to a ‘prison’ was Zecora’s home,” Antonius told them flatly.

“And that is much better than the cocoon back then!”

“I hope so… ah, Rarity is coming. Sweetie Belle, come here, please. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, please hide in the bushes.”

He picked up the filly and they waited for Rarity to come closer.

“Sweetie!” she exclaimed,
“are you okay?”

“Well, of course I am,” Sweetie Belle answered slightly confused.

“Oh, you don’t know what worries I’ve gone through! You, alone in the grip of this powerful foe!”

“Umm… my friends were here, too… and Antonius isn’t really a foe.”

“Sweetie, darling, you’re ruining the dramatic atmosphere,” Rarity told her in an ever so slightly reproachful tone.

“Oh, no,” Scootaloo sighed from the bushes,
“she’s hamming it up.”

“Of course she is,” Sweetie Belle told her,
“and she’s right! Sorta.”

“Would you mind returning to business?” Antonius inquired,
“we don’t have all the time in the world.”

“Certainly,” Rarity replied,
“so, what do you want to set my little sister free?”

“Your Element,” Antonius answered,
“at least, that’d be my demand if this were real and you actually had it. So, I’m just asking you to not use the Element rule against me.”

“What? You’re not trying to seduce me to join the dark side? No promises of riches? Power? A fashion monopoly?”

“Eh… that’d work?”

“If this were real? No. But since this isn’t real, it could - if you’re convincing enough.”

“Hmm… on the one hand, I know we should at least try to keep this as close to reality as possible… but on the other hand, this maneuver’s validity is somewhat limited anyway, and I don’t want to pass this opportunity up. So… ahem:
Join me, Rarity, and I will make you lead designer of my evil… whatever. All ponies will wear your clothes, and your talent will be praised everywhere the light of sun or moon touches! You will be adored, and your criticism will be feared!
Well, what do you say?”

“You had me at ‘lead designer’,” Rarity beamed and walked up to him.

“Oh. This was easier way than I had thought. And way weirder. Hey, just a moment! You’re not just pretending to accept this offer to free the fillies, are you?”

“That’s actually a good idea, but a treason is more dramatic!”

“Okay…” Antonius said and put Sweetie Belle down,
“please take care of the fillies while we wait for Applejack.”

“As you command, my evil master,” Rarity grinned and pulled out a small box.

“What’s that?” Antonius inquired.

“Dark eyeshadow. Now that I’m evil, I want to look like it.”

Antonius was at a loss. Memories of their training fight long ago popped up in his mind. This fight had been pretty derailed, but this maneuver was already weirder… it it wasn’t even close to over.

So, while Rarity was applying her ‘evil’ makeup, he just waited for Element Bearer number two.
She appeared right on time, and Antonius picked up Apple Bloom.

“Hello, Antonius. My sister is alright ?” Applejack immediately asked.

“Of course,” Antonius and Apple Bloom assured her.

“No store-bought cider?”

“No.”

“Good… huh? What is Rarity doing there?”

“Oh, Antonius corrupted me,” Rarity told her nonchalantly,
“I’m his evil minion now.”

“Huh? How did he do that?”

“He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. By the way, my evil master, I think it couldn’t hurt to try and seduce Applejack, too.”

Seeing Applejack’s confused facial expression, Antonius explained:

“Not that kind of ‘seducing’. Seriously, there are children present. Now listen:
Imagine apple orchards as far as your eye can see. Imagine everypony eating your delicious apples and praising you for it!”

“Nice, but not enough,” Applejack grinned.

“And no store-bought cider anymore, just fresh and excellent Sweet Apple Acres cider!”

“Oh… that’s tempting… really tempting…”

“You’re not the Element of Loyalty, darling,” Rarity said in a sing-song voice.

“Join the dark side!” Apple Bloom exclaimed,
“we have cupcakes!”

“What flavor?” Applejack asked.

“Blueberry and apple,” Antonius deadpanned.

“Well, if that’s the case… I’m convinced!”

“Do you want some dark eyeshadow?” Rarity offered.

“No, thanks… do you have a black hat?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

Antonius put Apple Bloom down on the ground, and the ponies all gathered.

Okay, so he had disposed of two Element Bearers. In a way.
Yes, this part of the maneuver was a mess, but at least he could try to make the attack on Canterlot a little more realistic. But first things first: Rainbow Dash was still to be dealt with.

Antonius still pondered what to offer her in an attempt to ‘corrupt’ her when he heard some noise from above. A few minutes before time was actually due, Rainbow Dash swooped down, making a surprise attack.
He dodged, turned around and grabbed her tail.

“Scoots, are you okay?” she screamed as Antonius was reeling her in.

“Yes, I’m fine!” Scootaloo answered.

“Of course she is,” Antonius added.

“Then run!” Rainbow shouted.

“Umm… is it enough if we pretend that I ran away?” Scootaloo asked,
“I want to stay here and see everything!”

“Sure thing, squirt. The main thing is that I’ve freed you and don’t need to be considerate of anything now!”

Having said that, she started thrashing around like crazy.

“Rainbow, you’re going to hurt yourself,” Antonius warned her.

“Pfft… you’re going down, big guy!”

She hammered her hooves against Antonius’ armor, with predictable results. It only took her a short time to stop; the armor was still pristine, but Rainbow admitted:

“Okay, now my hooves hurt.”

“So, you surrender?”

“Never!”

“What if I promise you something you like? The command of the Wonderbolts for example?”

“Wait, we’re still playing pretend, aren’t we?”

“It’s part of the maneuver. I can’t give you the command of the actual Wonderbolts.”

“Then: never!”

“Seriously, Rainbow, you’re defeated. What am I supposed to do with you? Would you like to be declared ‘dead’? Would you accept that?”

“No! As long as I can, I’ll fight!”

“Great,” Antonius grumbled,
”I don’t want to actually hurt you, but you need to play along.”

“I won’t let the fillies down!” Rainbow shouted.

So, that was the problem. Rainbow had an audience and didn’t want to tarnish her reputation.
Antonius thought about ways to end this fight without actually hurting her.

“Need a rope?” Applejack suddenly asked.

“You have one?” Antonius replied in surprise.

“Of course!”

“Then come here and help me.”

“I’ll help you, too,” Rarity declared,
“it’s the least I can do as an evil minion.”

“Oh, I’ll remember that!” Rainbow grumbled.

A short time later, the pegasus was lying on the ground, tied up.

“I say we’ll take her to Zecora,” Applejack suggested,
“you can go and attack Canterlot.”

“Good idea,” Antonius said,
“I guess Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie are waiting for you in Ponyville?”

“They are,” Rarity told him,
“oh, idea! You can take me there as a hostage to make them comply! By the way, what do you want them to do?”

“I want Twilight to teleport me to Canterlot.”

“Umm… you do know that she’ll try something to foil your plan?”

“Yes. She’ll probably teleport directly into the throne room, hoping that the princesses will deal with me. But that means that I’ll circumvent the Royal Guard.”

“So you want her to throw you right into the fray?” Applejack grinned,
“works for me. In the meantime, I’ll take care of Rainbow and the fillies. Good luck!”

So, Antonius and his very compliant ‘hostage’ Rarity left for Ponyville.
As they approached the town, he picked her up to make the situation somewhat more believable.

They encountered Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy near the town limits, waiting for their friends.

“Help!” Rarity started wailing immediately,
“Antonius has caught me and now he has demands!”

“Don’t worry, Rarity,” Twilight responded with determination,
“we will deal with him!”
She changed her expression to a way more relaxed one and continued:
“Dramatic enough now?”

“Much better.”

“Then, Antonius, what are your… umm… Rarity? Have you applied dark eyeshadow?”

The following silence lasted for a second, then Rarity screamed:

“Our cover is blown! SEIZE HER!”

Antonius quickly crouched, put her on the ground, and jumped at Twilight. She just wanted to light her horn as he swept her off her hooves and closed a hand around her horn.
Then, he took a look to see how his ‘evil minion’ was doing.

Rarity was standing in front of Pinkie and demanded:

“Stand down, Pinkie, and surrender!”

“No way!” Pinkie answered with a determined grin.

“Then, I’ll… well, how are we supposed to solve this situation? We don’t want to hurt each other, after all.”

“Oh, I have an idea! We could throw some dice!”

“And who rolls highest wins?”

“Yes, for now. In the future, we could set up more rules, and collect them in a big rulebook. Then, we could write additional rulebooks for each faction we represent! We could even include rules that are mutually exclusive, so that the players will argue over which rule to apply to a specific situation!” Pinkie laughed with a slightly crazed expression.

“Pinkie, darling, I’m supposed to be the evil one here,” Rarity told her calmly.

“Can’t we just all be friends again?” Fluttershy cried on the sidelines of the ‘confrontation’.

“Actually, we are still friends,” Twilight, still in Antonius’ grip, stated,
“and I think your ambush was successful. So, what do you want to do now?”

“I want to… ahem… ‘force’ you to teleport me to Canterlot,” Antonius told her.

“Seriously?”

“Yes. I know that demanding an ‘enemy’ to teleport you is a hilariously bad idea, but walking all the way will just protract this maneuver unnecessarily.”

“Hmm… I get it. Are you going to let me go?”

“Not until we’re in Canterlot, at the destination I’ll tell you.”

“Okay, so, where do you want to go?”

“The side entrance to the throne room.”

“Okay,” Twilight grinned,
“you just have to release my horn.”

“Hey, what about us?” Pinkie asked,
“we want to see the great showdown, too!”

“I’ll come back and get you once i’ve dropped Antonius off in the throne… I mean, the side entrance… oh dear.”

“Don’t worry, Twilight,” Antonius laughed,
“I knew you wanted to teleport us directly into the throne room, so that Celestia and Luna can fight me.”

“It’s really hard competing with somepony who knows you as well as you know me.”

“Which is basically the story of the Horus Heresy, but let’s not think about those dark times now. Let’s finish this maneuver. Are you ready?” Antonius asked and took his hand off her horn.

“Yes,” Twilight replied,
“Canterlot, here we come!”

Celestia was just talking to Luna as the flash of a teleportation drew her attention.
Antonius was standing in the middle of the throne room, Twilight in his grasp.

“Thank you, Twilight,” he said and put her down.

“Anytime,” she answered, then she turned to her, her sister and the Ultramarines and bowed:
“Would you please wait a moment? I want to get my friends, so that they can witness the final fight.”

Having said that, she teleported away again.

“I see,” Cassius sighed,
“this maneuver is even worse than I thought.”

“Admittedly,” Antonius said,
“its validity is close to zero, but since we’ve come that far, we should bring it to an end.”

Now Twilight appeared again, with Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie in tow, then she vanished again.

“I’m so excited!” Pinkie exclaimed,
“does anypony have some popcorn?”

“Fair Rarity,” Luna said,
“have you applied a different eyeshadow? I like that color very much.”

“Thank you, Princess Luna,” Rarity answered,
“I have it here, if you want some…”

Huh? Well, Luna was right. Rarity had applied a dark eyeshadow, but why?

“Rarity,” Celestia inquired,
“is there a reason for this change?”

“Well, your highness, I thought it looked a little ‘evil’, and that this was fitting, since I’m… well… on Antonius’ side now.”

“You defected?” Calgar asked in disbelief,
“during a maneuver?”

“Of course during a maneuver. I would never defect if this were real! But such a treason has all the drama a good story needs!”

“It’s getting worse and worse,” Cassius mumbled.

“I’ve told you that we’re pretty close to zero validity,” Antonius shrugged.

Now, Twilight appeared yet again, this time with Applejack, Rainbow Dash and the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“Have you already started?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Are we too late?” Sweetie Belle added.

“No, my little ponies,” Celestia assured them,
“we have waited for your arrival.”

“Could we finally get over with this farce now?” Cassius inquired.

“Of course,” Luna replied, then she switched to her Royal Canterlot Voice:
“Antonius, temporarily evil and bane of Equestria, prepare to face your ultimate challenge!
You will now fight Marneus Augustus Calgar, protector of Equestria and champion of the sun!”

While Tigurius was trying to stifle a laugh, Cassius sighed:

“This is a parody of a maneuver at best.”

Everypony now made room for Antonius and Calgar.

“It’s an honor getting to measure my prowess with yours,” Antonius said as he drew his sword.

“The honor is all mine,” Calgar answered politely and drew his sword, too.

Then they started fighting.

Of course, Celestia had seen Antonius fight before - she had even been his opponent - but this was something entirely different. Both Space Marines moved so fast their swords were little more than blurs, their clinking a fast staccato.

Celestia could discern that both were varying their attacks and adapting to the changes the other one made. It was a pretty even fight, despite the different swords:
Antonius’ was gigantic, and had to be much heavier and more cumbersome than Calgar’s rather normal sized sword, but it had a higher range and could almost be used like a shield, thanks to its breadth.

The fight went on for… how long? It was so enthralling that Celestia had somewhat lost track of time.
Then, Antonius blocked one of Calgar’s strikes and pushed back immediately, throwing him out of balance for a moment. This moment was enough to bring the tip of his sword to Calgar’s throat.

Everything was completely silent, mesmerized by this incredible fight and its end, then Rainbow Dash exclaimed:

“Holy crap! Is this how Space Marines fight?”

That broke the tension and Antonius lowered his sword.

“Pretty much,” Calgar told her with a smile and continued:
“You fought well, Antonius. I accept my defeat.”

“Well,” Antonius replied,
“I was trained by Primarch Sanguinius, after all, and you didn’t use the Gauntlets of Ultramar.”

“Both circumstances worked in you favor, but you’re a formidable fighter either way. Now, you just have to finish this maneuver.”

“Right,” Antonius said, turned to Celestia and Luna and struck a pose:
“Luna, join me, and together we will rule this planet as king and queen!”

Celestia though she had misheard, but since this approach had obviously worked before, it should not have come surprising that he tried it again with his special somepony. And Luna…

“I accept you proposal,” Luna declared solemnly.

Of course. No surprise here.
The surprise came when Luna jumped at her.

“What?” Celestia gasped.

A moment later, Antonius was there, too, and gently, but firmly wrestled her down.
Another moment later, she was lying on her back, and everything she could do now was to shout:

“I surrender! You have won!”

Luna and Antonius let go off her at once, and Luna declared:

“We have been victorious! And that concludes this maneuver!”

“Thank the Emperor,” Cassus sighed.