My Little Xeno 2 - Equinox Knights

Antonius and the princesses sat together with a glass of wine in Celestia’s quarters. While dead, he had not really realized how much he had missed those conversations, but now that he wasn’t busy honing his new skills, he started to grasp that.
And no, it wasn’t their attractiveness, it was the fact that they were his friends.

“After you… vanished,” Celestia told him,
“we created a stained glass window and a statue to commemorate you.”

“Nice. I need to see them tomorrow. What about Gentle Breeze?”

“She is alive,” Luna reported,
“but bedridden. She is in Ponyville in the hospital under the supervision of Rapid Cure.”

“Oh. We should visit her soon. What happened to Hope? Or rather, to its remnants?”

“Since we did not expect anypony to want to live there again,” Celestia said,
“we razed it to the ground, and burned the whole area. Then, we put up an obelisk with the engraved story of the town in its former center. We did the same to the Blue Depths, where you sacrificed your life.”

“That was prudent. You made sure that the remaining filth of Chaos was eliminated,” Antonius noted.

“Well, it was Luna who eliminated the remaining filth - the dangerous remnant, I mean.”

“Huh?”

“A Chaos Space Marine survived the explosion.”

“Damnit… that must have been that traitor that had wandered off…”

“His armor was damaged, but he was in fighting condition. Until Luna took the matter in hoof.”

Antonius turned to Luna:

“You defeated him? On your own?”

“I did,” Luna answered, slightly abashed.

“Why didn’t you work together as I told you? That was dangerous, Luna.”

“I know… but at the time, I was so angry… and sad… I just wanted to defeat this abomination myself. I had to do that, you know?”

“It may surprise you, but she wasn’t really in danger,” Celestia remarked,
“quite the opposite, the Chaos Marine did not have the slightest chance against her.”

“Really?” Antonius asked in amazement,
“I knew you were good, but I guess I still underestimated you.”

“My pain gave me strength,” Luna mumbled,
“I thought I would never see you again, and this traitor was casting a slur on your memory with his mere existence. So, I did what I felt necessary.”

“My death really was hard for you,” Antonius sighed.
Luna nodded, and he continued:
“I’m sorry I’ve put you through all this, Luna, but I didn’t have a choice. I had to destroy those Chaos forces, and took the way that provided me with the best chances to achieve this goal. Even if I had realized at the time how you felt, I couldn’t have changed my plan.”

“Well, that is in the past now,” Luna said and leaned against him,
“you are back.”

“Yes, I’m back,” Antonius confirmed and put an arm around her.

“Umm…” Celestia mumbled,
“I think maybe I should go now.”

“These are your quarters, sister,” Luna smiled,
“just come here and join the hug!”

After the hug and a few more minutes of talking, Antonius and Luna left Celestia’s room.
When they arrived at Antonius’ quarters, they found them sealed.

“We wanted to prevent anypony from just strolling in,” Luna explained,
“it was - it IS - your room, after all. I have just reloaded your PDA from time to time.”

“Prudent,” Antonius replied,
“but now, let’s break this seal.”

He did so and entered his quarters. Everything looked exactly the way he had left it, as if he had just been gone for a few hours instead of almost a year.
The PDA was lying on the table, and Antonius went up to it, followed by Luna. He picked the device and activated it.

“Hello, Al,” he said.

Al’s head appeared in the small screen and stared at him. Instead of returning the greeting, Al said:

“Checking receiving unit…
checking object recognition algorithms…
checking database…
all systems are working within operational parameters. Yet, I can’t believe I’m seeing what I’m seeing. Antonius?”

“Yes. Back from the dead.”

“After almost a year? This is beyond normal resuscitation.”

“Indeed. It is the work of the Emperor.”

“And you are fine again?”

“Fine, but eager to hear a status report,” Antonius grinned.

“My reactor will soon be operational again. Estimated time to completion: ten days.”

“So, in less than two weeks, the wonders of the Golden Age will be at my disposal?”

“Affirmative. I am very happy about this turn of events. After my failure to protect you, I was afraid I had also failed in protecting the ponies, but now, everything seems to have changed for the better.”

“Al, seriously… you are a Standard Template Construct System, I’m a Space Marine. I am the one who is supposed to protect you.”

“My programming tells me somewhat differently… but let’s agree on protecting each other, shall we?”

“Good idea,” Antonius smiled,
“and now, good night. I feel like resting a little. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“Good night,” Al replied and closed the connection.

Antonius put the PDA back on the table and turned to Luna:

“Al blamed himself for my death?”

“Yes,” she told him,
“he was somewhat taciturn. Said he wanted to use every bit of energy to speed up the building of his new reactor and be more ‘useful’ again.”

“So, I did not only upset you, but also Al…”

“And Celestia, and Twilight, and all of your other friends.”

“Hmm… friendships make doing one’s duty somewhat more difficult… at least in that specific regard. It may sound weird, but… dying is a normal cause of death for… no, wait, that’s dumb. What I wanted to say is that being killed in action is pretty normal for a Space Marine. I wasn’t used to causing so much grief by dying.”

“Which is why we should try to prevent our death… I do not blame you, though. I see your reasons.”

“Really?”

“Well… perhaps I blame you a little, but as I said: that is in the past now.”

Antonius nodded and looked around in his room.

“And in the present, my old bed is too small for my new body,” he stated drily.

“If you do not mind,” Luna smiled,
“we could share a soft carpet in my quarters.”

“Marvelous idea!” Antonius grinned.

Once in Luna’s room, she turned to him and asked:

“Would you mind me taking a shower? I would like to get the dust of Tartarus out of my coat.”

“Of course. Maybe I should shower, too…”
Luna cocked her head a little, and Antonius quickly added:
“After you, not with you, I mean.”

“As you wish,” Luna smiled and went into the bathroom.

With some strength of will, Antonius averted his gaze from the bathroom door and brought his somewhat ‘inspired’ mind under control. Damnit, he really should create this blocker as soon as possible. He wondered if other, ‘normal’ men experienced the same phenomenon, and if so, how they managed to deal with it.
To distract himself, he took a look around.

Everything looked like he remembered it, with two remarkable exceptions:
The Space Marine plushie he had given Stormy was sitting on one of Luna’s pillows, and his old chainsword was in a weapons rack mounted to the wall.

When Luna returned after a few minutes, he wordlessly pointed at the plushie, grinning broadly.

“Umm…” Luna blushed,
“it is not quite what it probably looks like. Stormy gave it to me so that I had a little keepsake.”

“Next to the chainsword.”

“Oh, I hope you do not mind me using it… I know that I am no Space Marine, but…”

“It’s okay, Luna,” Antonius interrupted,
“good to know that it is still in use. I also don’t mind the plushie, although I have to admit that it’s quite unexpected.”

“I also did not expect Stormy to give it to me, but when she did, I did not want to reject it.”
She sighed.
“Please do not think I am insane, but, to be honest, at first I even talked to it during the times when I felt your loss.”

“Don’t worry. Had I had a Luna plushie, I probably would have talked to it, too… if Primarch Sanguinius and the Emperor hadn’t kept me busy, that is. Whatever, I better get out of this armor and under the shower.”

“I will help you.”

When Antonius emerged from the bathroom again, a bath towel around his hips, his overly long hair dried by Luna’s wannabe-melter, Luna had his armor neatly arranged and cleaned.

“More primitive than power armor,” she stated,
“but still masterly crafted.”

“We made the best of what we had,” Antonius replied,
“and now that we - you and me - have each other again, how about a nap… and perhaps a little cuddle?”

“With pleasure!”

When they had gone to bed (or rather carpet), and Antonius had put his arm around Luna, she turned around to face him and said:

“Tony, there is one more thing: I am truly glad that you are back, really, but you have been in a… condition nopony has ever returned from. I would like to make sure that you are fine… and really you, so… would you mind me examining your mind?”

“You could have thought about this a little earlier than when you’re already lying in my arms, but okay, I have no objections.”

Luna lit her horn.

Luna was standing next to Antonius in a dark room. A single light was above them, illuminating a small spot around them.

“Oh,” Antonius said,
“I guess I am no ‘shining light’, hmm?”

“No,” Luna answered.

“Thanks for your agreement… I could have done with a little dissent, you know.”

“I meant, that is not the reason for this environment. I think it is a kind of… antecourt. Could be a defensive mechanism.”

Suddenly, they heard a growl from the darkness, and two amber-colored eyes lit up in front of them.

“Tony, what is that?” Luna inquired.

“How should I know?” Antonius replied,
“you’re the dream expert.”

“But it is your mind!”

The growling thing came closer and stepped into the light. It looked like some kind of canine… a giant, black wolf.

“Uh-oh,” Antonius mumbled,
“I think I know this creature.”

“Really? What is it?”

“Looks like a fenrisian wolf… probably another side effect of the Canis Helix.”

Luna lit her horn and tried to examine the giant creature that slowly approached them.

“This wolf,” she said,
“it is the manifestation of your subconscious, or maybe your subconscious defense mechanisms.”

“Well, I did feel a strange ferocity earlier that day. So, that mystery is solved at least.”

The wolf growled again and bared its teeth.

“I do not think it likes me being here,” Luna told Antonius.

As the creature got ready to pounce, Antonius stepped forward and put out an arm.

“Stop,” he commanded,
“this is Luna. We. Like. Luna.”

Luna had lit her horn again by now, just in case Antonius’ attempt at pacifying the wolf didn’t work.
However, it did. The creature stopped growling and closed its maw.
Then, it slowly trotted over to her.

The giant wolf towered over Luna, looking down at her with a hint of skepticism.

“Hello,” she said, somewhat insecure,
“umm… good boy?”

Luna had never seen a wolf raise an eyebrow, but this one here was actually a part of Antonius’ subconscious. Of course it was more expressive than its real relatives.

“I mean, you really are an impressive creature,” she continued,
“if you guard Tony’s mind, I am sure nothing will ever endanger it.”

Obviously more contend with this statement, the wolf started slowly circling Luna.
When it had finished its circle around Luna - accompanied by a lot of sniffing - it stared at her.
Then, it stepped forward and started licking her face.

“I guess that settle it,” Antonius grinned.

“Quite,” Luna agreed.

The wolf turned around and vanished into the darkness. A moment later, the darkness was gone, too, and they were standing on a grassy hill near Ponyville.

“Seems I was right,” Luna concluded,
“the darkness was just an antecourt. And I have the prove that you really are you.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely. Now that we are here, I can feel it with every fiber of my being.”

She hugged him and ended the journey into his mind.

Celestia had not slept very well. Of course, she had been overjoyed as Antonius had returned to Equestria, but the more she thought about it, the more potential worrisome issues she found.

Was he really Antonius?
Was he still the same Antonius they had befriended?
Did the Emperor have a plan of his own even Antonius wasn’t aware of?

So many questions, so few answers.
Perhaps if she talked to him? He should be awake by now…
No, better not. Since Luna and Antonius were united again, they probably were… sorta busy.
Well, if her special somepony suddenly appeared out of nowhere - preferably not possessed anymore - she would certainly know how to spend the night with him…

The thought made her shudder a little. Luna was still her little sister, after all.
Perhaps she could have a look if they were… not busy. But awake. Yes, that was a good idea. And soon, it was time to start the day anyway.
Celestia got going.

She just wanted to knock at Luna’s door as she heard a voice coming from inside:

“Good morning, Luna,” Antonius yawned, obviously just woken up.

“Good morning, Tony,” Luna answered, just as drowsily.

Good, they were both awake. Perhaps she should give them a minute to get up…

“Wait a second,” Antonius suddenly said, disconcerted by something,
“WHAT THE…?! Is that normal?”

“Oh, I certainly hope so,” Luna snickered in reply.

Celestia turned around and left. She had no idea what that exchange had been about - well, she actually had a quite graphic idea, but she didn’t want to think about it - and she certainly didn’t want to find out.

After raising the sun - and seeing the moon go down - she went to the refectory. She had been sitting at the breakfast table for just a few minutes when Luna and Antonius entered the room.

“Here already?” she blundered out in surprise.

“Of course,” Luna replied, thankfully not getting the reason for said surprise,
“the moon is down and the sun is up. It is high time for breakfast!”

When they were done, Antonius said:

“I’ll go down to the armorium and check the Land Speeder. I’ll at least need to readjust the seats…”

“I will be with you in a minute,” Luna told him and he left.
Then, she turned to Celestia:
“Okay, sister, what bothers you?”

“Why do you think anything’s bothering me?” Celestia asked.

“Cellie, perhaps you have forgotten that I know you quite well. You were a little too quiet during our meal, so: What is bothering you?”

“Nothing, Luna. It’s nothing… while you are my little sister, you are old enough to… make your own decisions.”

“Of course I am,” Luna answered, a little confused,
“but what… oh… OH! Have you been eavesdropping again?”

“Again? I never eavesdrop!” Celestia defended herself,
“I just have some… unfortunate timing! But seriously, Luna, I am happy for you… both of you.”

“We indeed are happy to be back together, sister.”

“Of course. It’s just that… well, let’s talk from mare to mare: no matter how happy, you should always remember to…”

“Stop right there, sister,” Luna interrupted,
“I am way too old for ‘the talk’, and it is completely unnecessary. I know the correct ‘procedure’, and I can assure you I will follow it should the time come, okay?”

Celestia stared at her for a second, then she asked:

“The time has not come last night?”

“SISTER!” Luna exclaimed,
“nothing came last night! We just cuddled a little!
But why am I telling you at all? Good gracious, I am talking to my sister about… this is so embarrassing!”

“It is,” Celestia agreed,
“sorry for broaching the topic, but if I think about what I would have done in a similar situation… if my special somepony came back…”

“SISTER! You are making it worse!”

“Sorry,” Celestia blushed.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Luna sighed and said:

“I promise to be careful, okay?”

“Okay, Luna,” Celestia answered.

“And you promise not to test this specific procedure to see if it is safe for me, okay?” Luna grinned.

“What do you… LUNA!” Celestia exclaimed.

Thankfully, the Land Speeder was in good condition. Antonius had taken care of the seats and was just about to create some seatbelts for himself as Luna arrived.

“Hello, Luna,” he greeted,
“care to help me?”

“Of course,” she agreed.

While working, Antonius asked:

“Is Tia okay? She was a little quiet this morning.”

“She is okay,” Luna sighed,
“she just thought that we, the both of us, were somewhat… busy last night.”

“Huh? Busy sleeping?”

Luna looked him in the eye with a complete deadpan and stomped her hindhoof a few times.

“She really thought we did…” Antonius inquired when he had discerned the meaning of Luna’s gesture.

“Yeah, because - according to herself - that is what she would have done if her special somepony came back.”

“Oh wow… that is a piece of information I could have lived without. Have you told her that I created a psionic blocker to prevent something like this from accidentally happening?”

“No, but I promised to be careful… and told her not to try firsthoof if such a ‘get-together’ would be safe for me,” Luna grinned.

Antonius stared at her.

“Okay, that thought slightly disturbs me,” he admitted.

Some minutes later, they both were on their way towards Ponyville. Once there, they headed straight to the hospital to pay Gentle Breeze a visit.
There was quite some murmuring as Antonius and Luna entered the building. The ponies who had not seen the revived Space Marine the day before now took the opportunity to catch a glimpse of him and made him the center of attention, at least until Rapid Cure arrived and led him and the princess to Gentle Breeze’s room.

“She’s not in the best condition,” the doctor explained on the way there,
“but you’ll see that yourself. We guess that she’ll live for another few months, but due to her injuries, she will probably die before the year is over.”

Antonius and Luna nodded and they all entered the room.

Gentle Breeze was lying in a bed - or rather, what was left of her was lying there. All four legs were gone, as was her fur, exposing her scarred body, and her blind eyes stared at the ceiling.

“Hello, Gentle Breeze,” Antonius said softly.

The mare turned her head and said with a raspy voice:

“This is a dream. I know this voice. It can’t be real. But usually, I’m neither blind nor crippled in my dreams… uh, I guess I have to wait for Princess Luna…”

“I’m already here,” Luna told her,
“and I can assure you that you are not dreaming. Antonius has returned.”

“So,” Gentle Breeze inquired,
“you didn’t die?”

“I did,” Antonius answered,
“but the Emperor of Mankind saw it fit to send me back to continue my fight against Chaos.”

“That’s… incredible! But who cares for credibility when you experience a miracle? I don’t. I wish I could say ‘nice to see you’, but, well… anyway, as you can see, I won’t be of any help anymore fighting Chaos.”

“You already did more than enough.”

“Well, I almost got killed. Now, I can’t even scratch myself if I’ve got an itch. I really thank you for saving me back in Hope, but honestly that’s not really how I imagined my life to be.”

Antonius had no idea what to say now. Gentle Breeze was desperate. She was forced to unproductiveness, a fate he wouldn’t wish upon his worst enemies… well, perhaps upon his worst enemies… perhaps there was a way to cheer her up a little?

“Your current situation certainly is hard,” he finally said,
“but your perseverance still is commendable.”

“Yeah,” she replied,
“I don’t want to be added to the list of casualties Chaos has caused among us ponies. So, I try to stay alive and delay death, no matter how unpleasant my remaining few months will be.”

“So you know…”

“Of course” she smiled,
“I’ve always been curious, you know. So I asked.”

“I see you’re taking your fate rather well,” Antonius said,
“but it may not be as grim as you probably think.”

“It’s nice that you want to cheer me up, but there’s nothing that could be done for me anymore. Even healing magic has reached its limits.”

“Healing magic, maybe. But in nine days, we will have access to human technology. I can’t promise anything, but maybe we’ll find a way to replace the destroyed parts of your body.”

Gentle Breeze was silent for a second, then she asked:

“With technology? You mean, metal, engines and stuff?”

“Yes, but let’s ask the expert,” Antonius suggested and fetched his PDA.
“Al?”

“Yes?” Al answered as his head appeared in the device.

“Are there augmetics in your database?”

“Of course. Why do you ask? Gentle Breeze?”

“So, you thought about that, too?”

“I did. We’d need to adapt them to the pony body, though, but that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. So, I am confident we can rebuild her, we have the technology, after all. We still need someone who can perform this surgery, however.”

Antonius looked at Rapid Cure, and the stallion shrugged helplessly.

“No idea if I can do that,” he admitted,
“but thinking about the alternative… I should probably just try?”

“Wait a second,” Luna interjected,
“you are really thinking about performing a surgery on Gentle Breeze without having any kind of experience when it comes to those augmetics? That is…”

“I’m in!” Gentle Breeze interrupted,
“I’d rather have a chance of being restored than just lying around until I die!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I know, if something goes wrong, I’m dead. But if we don’t do anything, I’ll be dead too, just a few months of lying around uselessly later.”

They all looked at her, then Antonius declared:

“That settles it. Al, once your reactor is online, please start making the necessary adaptions to the augmetics.”

“Okay, but I have to tell you that the necessary calculations and especially the actual production will take some time, as I also have to restore myself in part to be able to create the augmetics.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Gentle Breeze said,
“I endured for that long, I won’t die now while I’m already on the home stretch.”

Now that they had given Gentle Breeze a little bit of (hopefully not false) hope, Antonius and Luna left the hospital.

“I hope we can keep what we promised,” Luna pondered.

“Me too, but I have trust in Rapid Cure. He was able to deal with wounds inflicted by a daemonic blade, augmetics shouldn’t be much more difficult than that.”

Now they went to meet Moonlight, Blackwing and Stormy Skies. They were barely inside the house as Antonius was - again - greeted by a fluffy missile to the face.

“Hi, Stormy,” he mumbled.

“Stormy, let him breathe,” Moonlight laughed, then she turned to the visitors:
“A cup of tea?”

“With pleasure,” they answered.

A few minutes later, they were sitting together in the living room, enjoying the tea.

“And? How was your first night back in Equestria?” Moonlight asked Antonius with a grin.

“Very nice,” Antonius answered truthfully.

At that, Moonlight winked at Luna, her smile growing wider.

“An active imagination must be a peculiar thing to have,” the princess grumbled in response.

“Sure is,” Moonlight grinned,
“but if you want to, we can just change the topic: What do you think about promotion of culture in south-west Equestria?”

Antonius and Luna sighed.

“I’d say that was enough teasing,” Blackwing laughed.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Moonlight admitted,
“sorry, but I’m just so happy that you are back… we all are.”

After a few confirmations and the inevitable group hug, Moonlight, Blackwing and Stormy told Antonius a few things that had happened in Ponyville while he had been gone. That way, he learned about two species he decided to keep an eye on: the kelpies with the power to control ponies’ minds through acoustic signals and the deer, which reminded him a bit of the eldar with their self-righteous and ruthless ways.
Well, if they should cause trouble again, they certainly wouldn’t get off as lightly as they had.

Some time later, they left the house and headed towards Twilight’s new castle. Since it was a nice day, they left the Speeder behind and walked.

“Luna,” Antonius asked,
“do you see any reason why most ponies seem to think that we had some sort of orgy last night?”

“No really,” Luna replied,
“perhaps it is our propensity to take a rather direct approach of the situations we encounter.”

“Hmm… that would be a very direct approach indeed. I’m positive our relationship will work without this kind of… immediate physical interaction. Some time later… umm… but seriously, I don’t think it would be a good idea to ‘distribute’ my genes before I know exactly what genes I actually have. I also don’t want to hurt you. Even though we are a couple, I think we don’t need to rush things… we are a ‘couple’ now, right?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Okay, that much is clear… just one question in this regard…”

“What do you want to know?” Luna inquired with a soft smile.

“How exactly does ‘being a couple’ work?”

Luna stopped and looked at him.

“You don’t know?” she asked in disbelieve,
“I mean, that is one of the most basic and everyday things! How can you not know that?”

“I was ten when I became an Ultramarine, and such things are not part of the Codex Astartes. But why are you so indignant at my lack of knowledge?”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Luna, do you know how exactly ‘being a couple’ works?”

Luna blushed, and after a few seconds, she told him:

“Well, I had a friend once… a friend-friend, I mean. But I was pretty young back then, not even a thousand years old… I may have forgotten most of it.”

“Only one? With your alicorn attractiveness, I thought that ponies would queue to date you.”

“My reputation as demigoddess repelled them more than my attractiveness attracted them. And later, I wasn’t very… approachable anymore anyway.”

“Oh… so, we are a couple, but none of us know what we are doing?”

“There are still our instincts. I think we can rely on them.”

“Hmm,” Antonius pondered, trying to ignore that the strongest instincts of most creatures usually were foraging and reproduction,
“you’re probably right.”

“Slow but steady, Tony,” Luna smiled,
“and we have a great advantage: we can be unconditionally honest. After everything we have been through, there will be no need to be embarrassed with each other.”

“Yeah, that’s definitely true.”

They continued their way until they arrived at Twilight’s castle. Inside, the Element Bearers, sans Twilight, were in the castle’s library - together with a strange contraption that was built around… a mirror.

“Hello,” Antonius greeted with a sense of foreboding,
“please tell me this in not one of those magic mirrors.”

“Okay,” Pinkie grinned,
“it’s not one of those magic mirrors. What magic mirrors are we talking about, again?”

Antonius facepalmed, and Applejack told him:

“It’s the portal-mirror to the human world. Sunset Shimmer has sent a distress call and Twilight and Spike went through to help.”

“Wait… the pony-turned-abhuman-turned-daemonette sent an SOS, and Twilight just went? Have any of you even thought about the possibility of a trap?”

“Well… no,” Rarity admitted,
“but I don’t think Sunset Shimmer is the problem. There are sirens in their world, and she needs Twilight’s help to defeat them.”

“Sirens? What’s that?”

A minute of exposition later, Antonius grumbled:

“Damnit! I don’t have power armor, or a bolter. Just my passive armor and my sword, but that needs warp powers - or probably magic - to really work… perhaps I could fetch my chainsword from Canterlot…”

“Or,” Luna intervened,
“you could just trust Twilight and let her handle things on her own.”

“I do trust Twilight, Luna, but I should be the one taking risks here.”

“Do not hog all the fun, my dear.”

“Twilight’s either fighting some kind of witches that are capable of mind control, or she’s running into a trap laid by a daemonette. That’s hardly what I’d call… okay, it could be something I’d call ‘fun’, I have to admit that.”

“Why do we not proceed like the last time? We give Twilight a chance to take care of the problem on her own. If she is gone for too long, you can follow her and do your thing.”

“A splendid idea!” Rarity agreed,
“in the meantime, you can come with me to my boutique, so that I can take the measurements for your new clothes!”

Having said that, she grabbed his hand with her magic and started pulling him towards the exit.

“Is it possible that you’re mainly trying to get me away from that portal?” Antonius inquired.

“Is it possible that you’re mainly looking for an excuse not to wear any pajamas tonight?” Rarity answered with a question of her own - and a grin.

“Emperor help me! Not you, too!”

“Oh… you already had some teasing today, didn’t you?”

“More than enough.”

“Well, you know what they say: ‘Teasing is a sign of affection’. But I’m going to stop anyway. Now, let’s head to my boutique, shall we?”

“Yeah, whatever… but at least two of you stay here and call me immediately as soon as Twilight returns - or especially if something seems to be wrong.”

The ponies promised to do as he had asked them to, and Antonius, Luna and Rarity left the castle.

Inside Carousel Boutique, the fashionista closed the curtains and fetched some paper, a pencil, a measuring tape and a bath towel, just like the first time she had taken Antonius’ measurements. He changed behind the big curtain, then she got busy until she reached the point where she had stopped the last time they had done this.

“So, Antonius… now you’d have to take off the towel for the last few measurements… I guess you’ll want to take them yourself again?”

“Hmm,” Antonius replied,
“would probably be better.”

He vanished behind the curtain and took the measurements. In doing so, he noticed that there was an additional measurement he was supposed to take. While a little confused, he still took it and wrote down the value.

“What is that new measurement for?” he asked Rarity as he was done.

“Oh, to make sure that your new clothes will be comfortable,” Rarity answered, staring at the measurements,
“you can put on your armor again, I’ve gotten all I need. I’ll get to making your new clothes as soon as possible.”

So Antonius got properly dressed again and left the boutique together with Luna, heading for the Land Speeder.

“This time you did not jump through the curtain swinging your sword,” Luna grinned.

“Hmm,” Antonius replied drily,
“didn’t want to stress your wing musculature.”

The princess snickered and answered:

“You know, those little jokes are much more fun if they come from one of us.”

“Definitely.”

Once back in Canterlot, they met with Celestia and told her about their visit to the town and the decision they had made.

“Oh,” Celestia said,
“you really think we could save her life?”

“With a little bit of luck, yes,” Antonius told her,
“the Imperium has ways to preserve the life of badly wounded humans, and that is despite the fact that we don’t have access to the technology of the Golden Age. In any case, it’s worth a try.”

“I really hope your technology is as marvelous as you think. It seems it can keep up with or even surpass our magic in quite a few areas.”

“Indeed, but when it comes to fighting Chaos, magic is probably more efficient. Speaking of which, I need to get used to pony magic… I need somepony to teach me everything about it.”

At that, a sparkle entered Celestia’s eyes, and she started smiling.

“You want somepony to teach you magic? Well, Tony, consider yourself my pupil!”

“Ahem,” Luna grumbled,
“actually, it is I who wanted to help him.”

“Well,” Celestia grinned,
“how much experience do you have in teaching, Luna?”

“Not that much, to be honest.”

“See? That’s why I should should take over this job. You still can teach him a few of your specialities, though.”
She turned to Antonius:
“When do you want to start?”

“How about now?” Antonius suggested.

“Perfect!” Celestia beamed.