My Little Xeno 2 - Equinox Knights

Twilight hung her head and sighed.
The cage was slowly hovering towards the portal to Tartarus, the pony and her friends locked inside. She peeked at Tirek, who was obviously relishing all of this.
Well, of course he did. With all the magic in Equestria, he had reached his goal. Nopony could stop him. They were all doomed.

Suddenly, she heard an unusual sound, like a thunderclap she could feel not only with her body, but also with her soul. She looked up and saw a meteor, engulfed in light blue flames, coming at them.

At first, she just thought that now a meteor would kill them before Tirek could do the same, but then she realized that something was wrong here.
Why were the flames light blue?
And wasn’t this meteor a little too slow?

It impacted a few dozen meters away from them, creating a cloud of smoke and dust around it… but that was everything. No deadly shockwave, no searing heat.
That had not been a normal meteor.

“What in tarnation?” she heard Applejack mumble.

The cage didn’t move anymore as Tirek focused on the impact site, too.

The dust and smoke slowly cleared, revealing the outline of a rising creature.

“Is that a human?” Pinkie asked.

It was.
It had to be a giant, that much Twilight was able to fathom.

Suddenly, two eyes lit up in the dark shape, burning with the same light blue fire the meteor had had. A giant sword, its tip standing on the ground, also became visible, wreathed in flames of the same unusual color.
Perhaps this was one of those Space Marine psykers Antonius had told them about?
But how had he come here?

“Who are you?” Tirek boomed,
“what are you?”

“Not your friend,” the human answered, and Twilight held her breath.

She knew that voice!
It sounded a little more menacing now, but it definitely was… no, that was impossible.

“Antonius…” Rarity whispered in disbelieve.

That had been Twilight’s guess, too. But Antonius was not a psyker… let alone alive.

“Perhaps all Space Marines sound alike?” Applejack suggested,
“because of all that genetics stuff, you know?”

“No,” Discord said with unusual sobriety,
“despite the common gene-seed, they still have distinct voices, appearances and personalities.”

Twilight just started to wonder how Discord knew that when she was distracted.

“Then,” Tirek thundered,
“I’ll destroy you!”

The moment Antonius had crossed the portal to the materium, his body had been recreated. The Emperor truly had been right about the ‘fair amount of pain’, but it was a short sensation and did not matter to him. He was back in Equestria, alive and with more potential than ever. Now it was up to him to make the best of this potential.

As the Emperor had told him, he had spiced up his return with a few effects to unsettle Tirek a little. Descending from the heavens wreathed in flames seemed like a proper way to do so.

Now, he was back, and his enemy was in front of him, forming a sphere of magical energy between his horns. Antonius immediately raised his sword, pointed it at Tirek and channeled his psychic powers through the embedded crystal.

Both combatants fired at the same time. The beams clashed right between them and formed another sphere of energy. Unfortunately, this sphere slowly moved towards Antonius.
So, the combined powers of all of ponykind plus Discord were obviously superior to his own powers. It did not surprise him too much, and it did not unsettle him in the slightest, for he had a trump card.

Antonius activated the spark of the Emperor’s power.
At once, a golden hue was added to his light blue beam, and the sphere was downright vaulted towards Tirek.
The centaur was not able to properly defend himself against this attack, and as the sphere hit him, he was sent flying.

The portal to Tartarus collapsed, and the cage with his friends - and Discord - started falling. Antonius caught it with his psionic powers and sat it down without harming the inmates. Although there was one special inmate he would have liked to get harmed a bit. That had to wait. For now.
So, the cage finally was on the ground and Tirek out of view.

This fight was far from over, though. It was only just beginning.
Antonius had been able to overpower Tirek with the help of the Emperor’s spark. Defeating him was something else entirely, though. This attack had drained more than half of his reservoir of warp energy, and while behind the veil, he couldn’t replenish this supply. So, another clash like that would result in Antonius’ death, and Ponykind would follow him into oblivion. A different tactic was due. Thankfully, he knew what to do.

Twilight could not avert her eyes from the giant who was running towards her cage. As he approached, she could make out more details than just his shape:
He was wearing a rather primitive armor that had next to nothing in common with the power armor Antonius had worn; it was more on the level of technology the ponies had.
His sword, although a ‘classic’ one without the spinning teeth, was not only huge, but also much more sophisticated than the armor; a weapon with a giant, embedded crystal and engraved runes that sparked and burned with arcane powers.
The giant himself had long, white hair, that was now flying behind him as he rushed to meet them.

“Hello, my friends,” he said nonchalantly as he arrived at the cage.

“Antonius!” Twilight shouted.
It was him. It was undoubtedly him.
“We thought you were dead!”

“I was,” Antonius answered calmly,
“I got better. I suppose you have a plan?”

“Actually, yes! We want to…”

“No time for explanations,” he interrupted and sliced the cage open as if it were made of warm butter,
“you do your thing, I’ll keep Tirek busy.”

As Twilight and her friends rushed out of the destroyed cage, they could hear giant hooves trampling over the ground towards them and a bloodcurdling angry roar. Tirek was coming back.

They turned towards the Everfree, heading for the Tree of Harmony. Twilight took a look back and saw Antonius dashing towards Tirek, leaving a faint trail of light blue energy behind him.

“Anypony care to explain to me what the hay is going on?” Rainbow exclaimed.

“Antonius is back from the dead and fights Tirek so that we can reach the Tree of Harmony,” Pinkie summarized helpfully.

“Yeah, but, WHAT THE HAY??? HE WAS DEAD!”

“No use racking our brains now,” Twilight stated,
“he’s back… somehow… and gives us a chance to execute our plan. So let’s hurry!”

As Antonius approached Tirek, the centaur fired at him. Thanks to his transhuman reflexes and speed, Antonius was able to evade the attack and close in. Small rocks and debris clattered against his armor, but it withstood this with only a few minor scratches.
Then he jumped. Amplified by his new powers, he reached his enemy’s shoulder, where he used his sword in a flowing motion and left a bleeding gash. Tirek roared and tried to hit him with a hand, but he was already gone and the centaur just hit his newly inflicted wound.

Antonius noticed with some content that his tactic worked: Fast attacks with small to perhaps medium damage. The same tactic he had used a life ago against greater daemons. It worked against this foe, too. Just that now, he was faster than ever and his sword more powerful.
Still, there was no place for hubris. Complacency meant defeat, and a lucky hit could still harm him.
So, Antonius stayed focused and fought Tirek without fear, mercy or remorse.

Twilight and her friends arrived at the Tree of Harmony. As she approached the chest beneath it, the medallion Discord had given her was transformed into the last missing key - the key of magic.
Outside, they could hear - and feel - the battle between Antonius and Tirek raging, despite the distance.

“Together,” Twilight said,
“I think we have to do this together!”

So every Element Bearer touched the key she had gotten, and together, they turned them.

Antonius evaded another one of Tirek’s blasts, jumped forwards and stabbed his sword into the centaur’s leg. His next attack sliced his enemy’s belly, and he was gone before a counterattack could hit him.

All told, it was going quite well. Tirek was very powerful, but he used this power without cunning. Antonius’ reservoir of warp energy was dwindling, though. If Twilight and her friends didn’t come back soon, he would have to switch to slower, but more powerful attacks, at the risk of exposing himself to Tirek’s blasts and swats… unless he executed one final, fatal attack.
His subconscious had calculated the necessary angles and vectors at once. Just like him in general, it had become faster. But there was something else: a primal, almost predatory ferocity, a glee when faced with the imminent destruction of his enemy.
The canis helix? Probably.
He had to keep an eye on that. It would be very embarrassing - not to mention bad - if he suddenly bit a pony or something…

Twilight and her friends floated back to the site of the battle, charged to the brim with the rainbow power of friendship - or whatever one wanted to call their current state.
As they approached the two combatants, they could see that Tirek was in no good condition:
There were bleeding cuts all over his body and one of his horns was missing - as well as an eye!

“Sweet Celestia,” Rarity mumbled.

“The new Antonius is… quite intense,” Applejack opined.

As if to prove that, Antonius jumped over Tirek and did a series of fast somersaults. With his outstretched sword, he basically became a flying buzzsaw blade and downright mauled the centaur’s back.

“Whoa,” Rainbow Dash gaped,
“this is what the crossbreed of a bouncy ball and a buzzsaw must look like.”

“We better defeat Tirek before Antonius filets him,” Twilight said.

Antonius was starting to run low on warp energy and was preparing for his final assault as he noticed the Element Bearers returning. They were more colorful - and probably also more powerful - than ever. In fact, he could feel their magic might.

He would give them the change to end this battle and take care of Tirek. To be honest, he wanted to see what they would do. So, after a last slice with his sword, he jumped away from the centaur, waving to his friends in the process.
Tirek also noticed this and turned to face the Element Bearers. Or, to be exact, he stumbled around until he was more or less facing the ponies. The wounds took their toll. He was still able to stand upright, but he was weakened.

Despite this, he used his remaining horn to charge a magic blast and fired at the Element Bearers. The shield around them deflected the attack easily.

“How is this possible?!” Tirek wheezed,
“you have no magic!”

Well, he was obviously wrong with that.
Twilight, being Twilight, informed him of his misjudgment:

“You’re wrong, Tirek! I may have given you my Alicorn magic, but I carry within me the most powerful magic of all!”

Having said that, the alicorn and her friends blasted Tirek with a quite spectacular rainbow beam. The centaur started shrinking and growing weaker, screaming all the while.
Finally, he was teleported away.

This was not the end, though. With an explosion of magic, the Element Bearers darted away in different directions and Antonius could feel a wave of magic rushing over him. Using this to recharge his energy reservoir didn’t work, though… pony magic obviously was quite different from the energies of the warp…
Well, of course it was. Otherwise the servants of Chaos would have been much more of a threat back when he had been on this planet for the first time - and even then it had needed his sacrifice to defeat them.
Now, he had to learn how to use pony magic. Thanks to his altered genes, that should be more than just ‘possible’.

Soon after they had left, Twilight and her friends returned and headed straight to the Everfree Forest, probably to the Tree of Harmony.
Antonius just wanted to start walking towards them when another rainbow colored beam erupted from there and arced straight toward Ponyville. He wondered what that could mean… and if he really saw a small box fly along the artificial rainbow.

Well, having lived in Equestria for more than a year, Antonius was quite used to all kinds of weirdness… but a crystal castle growing on the outskirts of Ponyville was a class of itself.
Since Twilight and her friends were now flying towards this new castle, Antonius also got moving.

He quickly reached the castle, just in time to hear Celestia - who was also there together with Luna, Cadance, Spike and Discord - say

“I believe it is yours, Princess Twilight.”

So, Twilight had lost her library, but gained a crystal castle?
Most people - or ponies - would probably consider this to be an improvement, but as Antonius knew Twilight, he was not that sure about that.
Well, she would get used to it… and perhaps there was a library inside the castle.

“As impressive as this castle is,” Luna interjected with some urgency,
“I think we should first see who that warrior was… I do not dare to hope that it was…”

“Me?” Antonius interrupter her with a grin.

Twilight wanted to run up to Antonius, but she was held back by Rarity.

“What…” she started as she turned to her friend, but the unicorn said:

“Give them a minute.”

Twilight turned back to Antonius and could see Luna standing in front of him.
Oh. That was what Rarity had meant.

The princess and the Space Marine looked at one another for a few seconds, then Luna said:

“You are a little late.”

“Sorry,” Antonius answered,
“but I’ve been a little busy being dead and all that.”

After a few more seconds of silence, Luna suddenly jumped at him, and Antonius grabbed her immediately for a hug… that actually was more of a cuddle.

“That’s so sweet,” Rarity whispered.

There had been rumors that there had been a little more than friendship between the two of them, and the way Luna had reacted to his death had almost, but not quite confirmed them.
Their cheek-to-cheek reunion now seemed to remove any ambiguity.
Antonius supported Luna’s weight with a hand under her rump, his other hand was on her head, buried into her mane.
Luna, for her part, had wrapped her hooves around his neck, and embraced him with her wings.

“I missed you,” she whispered.

Twilight, as well as her friends, did not dare to breath. They all didn’t want to miss a single word of this conversation. Yes, eavesdropping wasn’t very polite, but well…

“I missed you, too,” Antonius replied,
“more than anyone, anypony or anything else I had left behind. But now, by the grace of the Emperor, I am back to continue my fight… and my friendships.”

“I have to thank Him for that.”

“I’m sure he knows about your gratefulness, just as he knows about your faith in him and in mankind. That was the last prove, my dear. That was what made Him send me back.”

“‘My dear’?” Luna asked, surprise and happiness in her voice.

“Oh… yeah… during my ‘ascension’, some… umm… ‘limitations’ of my Space Marine conditioning fell by the wayside… sorta.”

“I see you body changed, too.”

“Yeah, I grew quite a bit,” Antonius grinned.

“So did your hair.”

“Hmm… I’ll have to cut it. Otherwise, I will get problems with my helmet.”

“I like it that way,” Luna whispered and ran a hoof through his hair.

“Less small talk,” Rarity grumbled quietly,
“more sweet talk!”

“Okay,” Antonius said,
“maybe I’ll keep it until I really need a helmet.”

“Of course, you are also going to keep your little canines,” Luna snickered.

“MY WHAT?” Antonius exclaimed,
“damned, you’re right… I didn’t realized I had them until now.”

“Do not worry, Tony, I do not think that they will hamper us… but let us verify that.”

Now, they (finally) kissed, accompanied by some quiet squeeing from Rarity.

“About time,” Applejack - of all ponies - commented drily, much to Twilight’s surprise.

When Luna and Antonius were done, she smiled and stated:

“They do not hamper.”

“Whoa. Not in the slightest,” Antonius replied with a slightly silly expression.

“Okay,” Rarity said,
“they’d had their minute. Now let’s greet him!”

Following their friend’s evaluation, they all ran up to them.

Antonius saw the ponies rush at him like a small, fluffy tidal wave. Since his hands were still full of Luna, he did not really have a chance of balancing himself - but he didn’t even mind that.
He was just happy to be back, so he let his friends topple him over.

“It’s nice to see you, too,” he said from the depths of the friendly fluff that was surrounding him.

Another little impact told Antonius that Spike had probably joined them. A moment later, he heard Celestia’s voice:

“Don’t smother him, my little ponies.”

Antonius lifted his head over the sea of softness and grinned at Celestia and Cadance, who were standing next to them with smiles of their own.

“If necessary, I’ll just hold my breath for a few minutes,” he told them.

“If that’s the case…” Cadance laughed and joined them.

Finally, Celestia embraced them all with her wings. After a few moments of mass-hugging, they all got up again.

“Now, we should probably have a look at the castle,” Twilight said and they all went inside.

While doing so, Antonius noticed Discord. He had held himself a little apart before, and now they were staring at one another.

“I guess the both of us have to talk,” Antonius stated.

“No fighting!” Fluttershy intervened immediately,
“there’s been enough of that today already.”

Since she was undoubtedly right with that, Antonius nodded and continued his way towards the castle.

It was a highly unusual building. With its rather small base and wide upper levels, it looked a little like a tree, but that was nothing compared to the inside:
When they opened the door, they were greeted by an entrance hall definitely larger than the diameter of the ‘trunk’.
Some kind of folded space? Without any equipment, it was impossible to figure that out.

While Celestia was talking to Twilight about the young alicorn’s role in Equestria (with more hugging of Twilight and her friends), they arrived at the castle’s throne room.
There were seven thrones, six for the ponies and one for Spike, judged by their size, arranged in a circle.

“Hmm…” Antonius mumbled,
“in the center of those thrones, a conference table would be useful… or even better, a hololithic map…”

“If you feel like decorating a room,” Luna snickered,
“there are still your quarters available.”

“Once Al is fully operational again… oh, I have to call him once I have my PDA back…”

After another group hug of the Element Bearers - this time with Discord - the inhabitants of Ponyville arrived to take a look at the new building that had appeared on the outskirts of their town.
While they were certainly awed by the castle, seeing Antonius left them completely speechless.

If you didn't count gasps or a happy shriek as speech, that is. The latter was expressed by a small, fluffy missile that smashed right into Antonius’ face.

“Hello, Stormy,” he grinned.

A moment later, he was surrounded by Moonlight, Blackwing, Lyra, Bon Bon and his other friends from Ponyville, who were expressing their joy seeing him and asking questions Antonius had to put off until later. While this second reunion was taking place, Twilight and her friends started singing.
Yes, that year hadn’t changed them at all.

They gathered in the middle of their thrones - and created another rainbow-beam.
Damnit, this day was really heavy on rainbows…

When the impromptu celebration was over, most of the inhabitants of Ponyville left, with the exception of Antonius’ friends who had greeted him earlier.

“Okay,” Moonlight grinned,
“now is later, I’d say. So, WHAT THE HAY HAPPENED TO YOU?”

“We would like to hear that, too,” Twilight added.

So Antonius told them about his visit to the afterlife.

“If anypony but you had told me such a story,” Moonlight stated,
“I’d have thought them to be insane.”

“Well,” Blackwing added,
“he’s got a good proof that he told us the truth: himself.”

“I always had the impression that the Tree of Harmony was more than just a uniquely shaped crystal,” Twilight mused,
“but such a level of consciousness… I hadn’t expected that.”

“The Tree of Harmony really is an enigma,” Celestia concurred,
“but I’m more overwhelmed by the fact that your Emperor was able to bring you back from the dead. Something like that has never happened in known pony history.”

“Well, as far as I know, it’s not exactly common in human history, either,” Antonius told her,
“but when the Emperor is involved, the possibilities are endless.”

“So, he sent you back as an upgraded psyker to learn our magic and fight Chaos more effectively than you already did,” Twilight summarized.

“About that.”

“I really like your Emperor!” Stormy declared.

“Very good,” Antonius replied with a grin,
“we should remember to tell the Ultramarines when they arrive.”

The gathering ended, and everypony said goodbye.
While the inhabitants of Ponyville went home, Twilight and her friends opted to stay in the castle and explore it. Celestia, Luna, Antonius and Cadance decided to teleport to Canterlot.

“You’ll need new clothes,” Rarity told Antonius,
“come by any time tomorrow so that I can take measurements… oh… that means that you’ll have to spend this night without pajamas…”

“This should not pose a problem,” Luna blundered out.
Seeing her sister’s reproachfully raised eyebrow, she added:
“I mean, Tony has fought Tirek to the edge of defeat, he certainly will not depend on pajamas to sleep.”

Celestia still looked a little skeptic, Cadance and Rarity were grinning. Not wanting to wait for another chance to accidentally embarrass somepony, the three princesses and the human teleported.

They arrived in the throne room, where they were - for the most part - expected by Shining armor.
Seeing Antonius, the stallion had not expected. He stared at the returned Space Marine for some time, then he exclaimed:

“Antonius? Is that you? How is that you? I mean… we thought you were dead… no offense, but why are you not dead?”

“Very diplomatic, my dear,” Cadance deadpanned.

Antonius laughed and repeated his story, just more telegraphese than before. As that was done, Cadance and Shining retired and Antonius followed Celestia and Luna to the former’s quarters, where they wanted to discuss the current situation and matters at hand.

On the way there, he - more accidentally than deliberately - peeked at the hindquarters of the two alicorn mares who walked in front of him.
It had never really occurred to him, but they actually were quite attractive… especially Luna’s…
Uh-oh.
Had he really just thought that?
Why had he… the pony DNA. And the altered conditioning.
Damnit.
He quickly looked somewhere else. Ogling the princesses was very impolite, he was aware of that.

He better had to find a way to prevent that from happening again…
Well, he was a psyker. He could create a psychic blocker in his mind to filter such ‘impressions’. But he had to do it the next day. The fight with Tirek had left him a bit tired, and you really should be well rested before tinkering with your brain. This little delay should be no problem.
Seriously, what was the worst thing that could happen in one single night?
And when would he finally learn not to tempt fate?

“I can hardly believe it,” Shining Armor said,
“back from the dead? Just like that?”

“I don’t know if it’s ‘just like that’, my dear,” Cadance replied,
“but his emperor certainly is a force to be reckoned with.”

“You can say that again.”

They entered their quarters.

“So, I guess we’re in the middle of humanity’s galactic war again,” Shining continued,
“well, after all Antonius has done for us, it’s about time we get a chance to return the favor. And I’m really glad that he’s back. It doesn’t happen often that you can thank somepony for sacrificing themselves to save you.”

“Yes,” Cadance concurred,
“but I think Luna is way happier than you.”

“Huh? Wait… do you mean those rumors are true?”

“Absolutely. Two special someponies.”

“Wow,” the stallion mumbled, then he added with a slightly worried undertone:
“you are not going to meddle with their relationship, are you?”

“Only if absolutely necessary,” Cadance grinned,
“they should get a chance to make their own experiences. They go really well together, just as I had predicted, right?”

“Right,” Shining sighed,
“I think I’m getting complexes.”

“Why is that?”

“You know, I was captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard. A warrior. Even one of Equestria’s best. Then, Antonius showed up, and he’s not only just a warrior who seriously outclasses me, he also created the PDF, that seriously outclasses the Royal Guard. Then, he returns from the dead, which is way beyond me. And now, I get to know that he’s officially started a relationship with the Princess of the Night? Seems he always has to surpass me…”

“I BEG YOUR PARDON???”

“What?” Shining stammered,
“no, wait! I didn’t mean it that way! It came out all wrong… Oh, damn. I’m sleeping on the couch tonight, aren’t I?”

“Make it this week,” Cadance grumbled and went towards the bathroom. In front of the door, she turned around and continued:
“Unless you thoroughly apologize. If you want to do so, you may while I’m taking a shower.”

“Oh… OH! I’m coming! I’m really good at apologizing!”

“That battle was quite impressive,” Sanguinius said.

He had just watched Antonius’ fight with Tirek - together with the Emperor - the reunion with the ponies and the return to Canterlot. Now that this window to the materium had closed he had turned to his father.

“It was adequate,” the Emperor replied.

“You might be a little too critical, father,” Sanguinius opined,
“he was about to defeat the centaur and only stopped to give the Element Bearers the advantage.”

“You think he wore him down and left him to the ponies so that they could get fighting practice?”

“In consistence with our teachings.”

“Maybe… well, it wasn’t bad for a first fight with his new body and abilities, but I am more concerned about his relationship with Princess Luna.”

“How so?”

“Don’t play dumb, Sanguinius. You’ve seen the hug. And you’ve seen the way he looked at the princesses later.”

“I’ve also seen that he quickly looked away again. I think he’s just adapting to his new hormone system - and probably the princesses’ pheromones.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” the Emperor deadpanned.

“You could have taken precautions against that. His conditioning…”

“Is as good as possible, considering the circumstances. This tree built some side effects into its upgrade package… but those should not be too serious. I dampened them, and he is only a small part pony. Furthermore, the princesses certainly don’t produce such masses of pheromones that he will register them.”

“Then,” Sanguinius grinned,
“it’s good that you haven’t given him the super-sensitive olfaction of - I don’t know - a wolf?”

The Primarch could see it dawn upon his father that the canis helix, meant to counter the pony DNA, could possibly have ramifications that were… somewhat unintended.

“Oh…” the Emperor said.