My Little Xeno 2 - Equinox Knights

While Luna retired to be fit for her nightly duties, Antonius and Celestia started the magic training. In the theoretical part, the princess scribbled weird equations with smiling symbols on a chalkboard and surprisingly managed to get some sense into them with her explanations.
Then, the practical part started. A very intriguing fact was that Antonius didn’t need to tap the immaterium, the magic was actually lingering right there in the materium, waiting to be seized.
The success of those first lessons was somewhat limited, though, as mentioned ‘seizing’ proved to be a problem. While Antonius was able to feel the magic around him, he had problems getting hold of it. He needed quite a lot of focus even for simple things like basic telekinesis.

Celestia seemed to be content, though. She had downright beamed the whole time she had given the lessons, and now she said:

“Don’t worry. It’s new to you, after all, even if you have a genetic disposition. You’ll see, in a few weeks, it will have become easy.”

Luna returned shortly thereafter, and they had dinner together. Then, Celestia retired and Antonius and Luna went to her quarters.

“I still have some time before the patrol starts,” she told him,
“tell me, how was your first day as my sister’s pupil?”

“Could have been worse, could have been better,” Antonius admitted and gave an account of his progress,
“Tia thinks I will become better in a few weeks, but if that’s my learning-speed, I will need years before my powers actually become useful.”

“Hmm… use your telekinesis and pick up this book over there.”

Antonius did as he was told. He focused and tried to grab the magic around him, but most of it evaded his grasp. Still, a light blue fog appeared around the book, and it was lifted from its table.

“Thanks. You can put it down again. Instead, pick me up. With your hands this time.”

“Do you mean you want a hug?”

“No, Tony. Well, actually, yes, but it is not about that. Just pick me up, okay?”

After deactivating his magic, he put his hands under Luna’s front legs and lifted her from the floor.

“So, what have you done now?” she inquired, hanging in his grasp.

“Umm… I picked you up?” Antonius replied without any clue what the point of all that was.

“And how did you do it?”

“Huh?”

“Did you crush me and throw my mangled body against the ceiling?”

“No! I was much… gentler.”
At that moment, it clicked.
“Do you mean that I put too much effort into my magic?”

“You put too much effort into acquiring the magic,” Luna told him friendlily,
“just concentrate on your task, and let the magic flow to it.”

Well, that was a new idea. As a psyker, he usually had to tap the warp and wrest some energy from it first. Could it be that much easier here?

He looked at the book again, and this time, he just focused on picking it up without trying to get the required energy first. The book darted towards the ceiling, and Antonius could feel the magic around him come to his aid voluntarily.

“Amazing,” he mumbled and put the book down,
“thank you, Luna. I wonder why Tia didn’t tell me what I was doing wrong.”

“My sister prefers the slow approach. She probably wanted to give you time to realize your mistake yourself, or she wanted to slowly make you familiar with magic. You know, to prevent you from accidentally hurting somepony. I think, however, that we can speed things up a little.”

“Thanks again.”

“No problem. Now how about the hug?” Luna grinned.

“With pleasure,” Antonius grinned back.

A while later, just as they wanted to go to sleep, Antonius stopped dead in his tracks.

“Is something wrong?” Luna inquired.

“I’m not sure,” he answered,
“I’m having a strange feeling that something’s amiss is Ponyville.”

“Hmm… perhaps you are developing some kind of magical intuition… or the unused magic makes you imagining things.”

“I don’t know, but I’ll go to Ponyville and have a look. Better safe than sorry.”

“I will join you. My patrol is supposed to start there, anyway.”

They teleported in front of Twilight’s castle.

Luna and Antonius took a look around. There was no sign of any danger or threat. The stars twinkled in the sky, and the moon bathed everything in a pale light.

“In there,” Antonius mumbled.

Together, they entered the castle.

“Everything is peaceful here,” Luna remarked.

“Seems so,” Antonius agreed and proceeded to the library.

There, they found Rainbow Dash sleeping. Nopony else was there, just as nopony actually was on their guard.

“Rainbow!” Antonius shouted, ungently waking the pegasus.

“WAH!” Rainbow screamed,
“what? Oh, Antonius…”

“Yes, Antonius. Weren’t you supposed to stay here as a pair and stand guard?”

“Yeah, and it’s me and Pinkie standing guard.”

“Well, I don’t see Pinkie at all… and you certainly haven’t been standing guard!”

“Relax, she just went to the kitchen to make some cupcakes for us… and I might have fallen asleep… a little.”

“I don’t think I’ll ‘relax’,” Antonius grumbled,
“since you already did enough of that. I’ll go and see if Twilight is okay.”

“Hey!” Rainbow wanted to protest, but a short glare silenced her.

“Take care,” Luna sighed,
“and try not to cause too great a stir.”

“Don’t worry,” Antonius replied friendlily and wormed his way through the magic mirror.

“Woah,” Rainbow muttered,
“he is in a bad mood, huh?”

“He takes the safety of the six of you very seriously,” Luna said.

After some very colorful impressions, Antonius exited the portal and was standing in the dark in front of the school he had seen when he had first visited this dimension - or whatever is was.

He checked himself and realized with satisfaction that there were no changes to his body or equipment. So, he still was a Primaris with a primitive armor and a giant sword. And, he still was a psyker, so he used his preternatural senses to check if there was any magic available.

There were only very faint traces, definitely not enough to be used, but enough to to tell that something involving magic had happened here. Of course, he knew what this ‘something’ had been - he had been there, after all.

But this was not the time to bring back memories, it was the time to find Twilight.
Now, what would be the best way to achieve that?

He didn’t have an auspex, and even if he had one, he didn’t know Twilight’s readings.
Pony magic was not available.
Perhaps this dimension had something like the warp? Yeah, and by tapping it, he could alert an army of daemons that there was a world they could devastate. So, no tapping the warp.
There still was a little warp energy left in his reservoir, so he decided to use that. Just enough to get a hunch of a direction…

Antonius closed his eyes and concentrated. It worked.
With something akin to a destination, he got going, always keeping in the shadows.

After two more psychic queries for directions he stood in front of a house. If his powers were reliable, Twilight was in there.
Well, there were a few ways to find out, and Antonius decided to take the least aggressive one: He peeked through the windows.

The rooms behind most of them were empty, but he was lucky. In a room that was probably a kitchen he found Twilight, sitting at a table. But she wasn’t alone. There were Sunset Shimmer and another abhuman girl Antonius didn’t know, but she retreated almost immediately.

“I still can’t get over the fact that she’s related to Pinkie Pie,” Antonius heard the ex-daemon say.

“You and me both!” Twilight answered, then they both smiled.

Hmm… just a friendly chat. So, the actual problem in this world were probably those sirens, after all. Well, there was a way to find out.

Antonius carefully knocked at the window. Both girls turned their heads, looking rather frightened.

“Who’s that?” Sunset Shimmer asked.

“I don’t…” Twilight started, then she hesitated a second and continued:
“wait… I think I do know…”

She walked to the window and opened it.

“Hello, Twilight,” Antonius greeted.

“Hi, Antonius,” Twilight responded.

“Huh?” Sunset Shimmer interrupted,
“this super warrior guy?”

“Yes,” Twilight told her,
“come here, it’s probably important.”

Sunset Shimmer clearly wasn’t too eager to get closer to the giant outside the window, but she came closer and said:

“Umm… hi.”

Antonius took a scrutinizing look at her. If you were willing to ignore the slightly inhuman proportions, she really just looked like a human girl.

“Hello,” he finally said,
“I heard you encountered some creatures that are called ‘sirens’. I’m here to see if I can help.”

“Oh, I don’t think that will be necessary. Twilight’s counter-spell is almost finished.”

A long glare made her take a step back, and Twilight intervened:

“Easy, Antonius. Sunset is reformed. She’s on our side. And she’s… kinda right.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier and safer to just eliminate those sirens?” Antonius inquired.

“Umm… sorry to butt in,” Sunset said,
“but I don’t think the police would be very fond of a triple murder.”

“While I do not bow to local law enforcement,” Antonius replied,
“I see your point. In a world without the warp or magic, those executions would be hard to explain and draw too much attention. So we probably should only resort to killing the sirens as a last means.”

“Yes,” Twilight quickly agreed,
“every plan that does not involve killing should be tried before the other ones.”

“Shall I stay here? Just in case your plan with the counter-spell does not work?”

“It’s nice of you to worry about me, but I think it would be a little difficult to hide you in the broad daylight.”

“True. So, I return to Equestria. If you need me, don’t hesitate to call me, okay?”

“Promise.”

Now Antonius turned to Sunset:

“You know that you owe your life to Twilight. Stay loyal to her and prove that her decision to spare you was correct.”

“Thank you,” Sunset answered (to Antonius’ surprise),
“that is actually one of the nicer things people have told me.”

“Really?”

“Yes. It means that you don’t expect me to cause trouble again. Instead, you take a more… neutral position.”

“Hmm… a good friend of mine was… kinda evil once and got reformed. Perhaps that influences my actions and decisions.”
He turned to both girls and grinned:
“But now, I should go. If they find me here, talking to two underaged girls in their pajamas, they’re probably going to lynch me… and I couldn’t even blame them. And that’s one thing I really want to be able to do: If someone lynches me, I want to be able to blame them. Goodbye, and don’t forget to call if you need help!”

Twilight and Sunset said goodbye, and Antonius sneaked back to the portal.

Back in Equestria, he was expected by a wide awake Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and some cupcakes.

“Hi, Antonius,” Pinkie smiled,
“sorry for sleeping and cooking instead of standing guard. Would cupcakes count as an apology?”

“Usually not,” Antonius grumbled,
“but since Twilight is okay, I’ll just let it be. Just be a little more mindful from now on… and give me a cupcake.”

Luna arrived from her patrol some time later, and together, they teleported back to Canterlot.

“You know,” Antonius told her as they were back in her quarters,
“this was the second time I have visited this other world full of abhumans, and I was able to be useful there exactly zero times.”

“That is because Twilight is able to overcome most problems on her own,” Luna told him with a smile,
“I have to admit that it can make you feel somewhat useless sometimes, but that is only a fallacy. Now, let us go to bed.”

“Do you think I can be useful there?”

Luna snickered.

“Oh,” Antonius said,
“that came out wrong. Sorry.”

“An apology is not necessary,” Luna smiled and hugged him.

After a night of refreshing sleep, they met with Celestia for breakfast. Antonius couldn’t resist practicing his magic and extensively used telekinesis to get the food he wanted.

“You’ve made a lot of progress… and really fast…” Celestia said, then she turned to Luna:
“Did you help him?”

“Of course, sister,” Luna admitted,
“Tony is not a kindergartner, after all. I thought there was no need to take the scenic route to magic.”

“Hmm,” Celestia grumbled, clearly not too happy with Luna interfering with her teaching,
“anyway, should we continue our lessons after breakfast?”

“Not immediately,” Antonius replied,
“first, Luna and I want to see if my altered DNA gives me access to the Inner Sanctum.”

“Oh! I’ll join you, if you don’t mind.”

About half an hour later, the three of them were standing in front of the door to the Inner Sanctum.

“Now let’s see,” Antonius said and kissed the slate.

GENETIC AUTHENTICATION…

“Hmm… it takes longer than last time…”

GENETIC CODE WITHIN DEFINED TOLERANCES.
LEGIONES ASTARTES.
PRIMARCH OVERRIDE ACTIVATED.
ACCESS GRANTED.

Antonius stared at the slate as the door slowly opened.

“What?” he exclaimed,
“I’m not a Primarch, just a… oh, I get it! The system is not familiar with Primaris, so it categorizes me as Primarch and lets me in. An error, but a convenient one.”

Now Antonius fetched his PDA. Just as he wanted to call Al, he received a call from his artificial friend:

“Antonius, the door to the Inner Sanctum was just opened with a Primarch override.”

“I know,” Antonius answered,
“that was me.”

“You are a Primarch?”

“No, but the system mistook me for one.”

“That’s a relief. I thought we had an intruder.”

“Everything’s fine, Al. It’s still good that you called, though. I want you to witness this little excursion.”

He gave Celestia his PDA, and she hovered it above her head, so that Al could see what they were doing.

The hallway behind the door did not look different from the other hallways in the imperial base. Antonius slowly passed the open door, followed by the princesses. They went straight on until they encountered another door. As they approached, it opened and revealed…

“A crystal coffin?” Celestia wondered.

It was indeed a coffin. Inside, a giant, armored human was lying.

“A Primarch?,” Antonius wondered and quickly scanned the rest of the room.

There were cogitators and tables. On one of them, there were a gilded storm bolter and a thunderhammer, together with a black box.

“One of my memory modules!” Al exclaimed,
“please take a closer look at it!”

While Celestia did him the favor, Antonius and Luna examined the coffin and its content.

“Really a Primarch, according to his size,” Antonius stated.

“How did he die?” Luna inquired.

“I can’t see obvious wounds… but that doesn’t mean anything. Inside his armor, he could be maimed, or he got killed with methods that don’t leave such visible traces.”

“You think he got killed?”

“I think so. He looks too young to have died of old age… I’m not even sure if Primarchs can die that way at all. Anyway, he should have been very tough and highly resistant to any kind of disease, so it’s likely that he has been killed.”

“Perhaps there’s some information in this memory module?” Celestia suggested, hovering it in her magic grasp,
“it’s labeled ‘849’.”

“One of the missing modules,” Antonius stated.

“Please return it to me as soon as possible,” Al asked.

“Tia, would you do us the favor? Whatever the module contains, it’s certainly valuable… or even invaluable.”

“No problem, I’ll be back in a minute,” Celestia agreed, gave the PDA to her sister and teleported.

While she was gone, Antonius and Luna turned to one of the cogitators. Mumbling the ritual of activation, he pushed the corresponding rune.

PASSWORD REQUIRED.

“Would have been too easy,” Antonius grumbled and turned to the PDA,
“how’s it going?”

“Celestia is just inserting the module,” Al told him.

“Please look if you can find anything about this place, the password for the cogitator, for instance. If the module is still readable, that is.”

“Memory module connected… checking integrity…”

With a flash of light, Celestia appeared next to them.

“Was even easier than I thought,” she said with a grin.

“Integrity check okay,” Al stated,
“retrieving data… OH! Now that’s interesting!”

“What?” Antonius inquired.

“Mission logs of the Space Marines who built the base you’re in at the moment… and the password you are looking for. Since the system is isolated, I can’t unlock the cogitator for you.”

After entering the voxed password, the cogitator displayed the standard user interface Antonius was familiar with.

“So,” Luna said,
“to get at the information stored in this cogitator, you had not only to be a Primarch - or almost Primarch - but also to have found the ancient base in the north.”

“Yes,” Antonius confirmed,
“seems our Primarch here was trying to make sure that you couldn’t just stumble upon it. Now, let’s see what has been going on here all those years ago… there are the logs… and there’s the… diary of the Primarch? Well, when we found Al, a diary proved to be quite enlightening, so let’s try that again and concentrate on the important parts.”

My new mission is… disconcerting.
My father ordered me to assemble a company of my sons and travel far into the intergalactic void. While that alone would just be unusual, the fact that my brother has apparently vanished there is the disconcerting part. I don’t know what could prevent him, the second Primarch, after all, from reporting back. So I guess it’s up to me, number eleven, to find out.

“Both unknown Primarchs were here?” Antonius wondered,
“that information alone is invaluable. Let’s see what else is there.”

Today, we arrived at the designated planet, orbited by a small sun and a moon. An artificially created system.
I wonder who created it, but it isn’t my mission to investigate that. My mission is to find my brother. We detected his voidship in orbit, but found it empty.
The augur arrays have detected higher, non-human life on the planet. I’ll see if those xenos have any useful information. While it will be unreliable, it will be better than nothing.

We made contact with the xenos. They’re equines and describe themselves as ‘ponies’. More important, a young stallion called ‘Star Swirl’ told us that there were ‘strange metal birds like ours’ flying through the sky some time ago, and ‘quite some ruckus’ a short time later. I guess he witnessed my brother’s craft, and probably even the reason why he didn’t report back.
We’ll establish a base inside a nearby mountain as a bridgehead for our operations on this planet.

“Star Swirl!” Celestia exclaimed,
“of course we already knew that he had worked with those Space Marines, but learning that he was there from the very beginning is new.”

“Learning that he ever was young is new,” Luna deadpanned, earning her a glare from her sister.

Our base is making good progress, and the xenos are disturbingly friendly and even try to be helpful. I have my doubts about them. The magic they use is unsettling, even if they haven’t used it in a malignant way… yet. We’ll keep an eye on them, but somehow I can’t shake the feeling that they are not the real threat we have to cautious about.
An unusual system, unusual xenos… I wonder what else we will encounter here.

The base is ready and my sons have started searching the planet. No sign of my brother or his sons yet.
The ponies are as kind as always. I caught myself actually appreciating their presence around me. I’ll better meditate to purify my mind.

Today, we’ve found an ancient base in the north. Unfortunately, it is guarded by an abominable intelligence. Weirdly, this AI is just as friendly as those ponies, and told us that the small equines were actually created by humans during the Dark Age.
I’m still really not fond of tolerating those more-or-less xenos and an AI on this planet, especially considering how important this ball of dirt seems to be, but I certainly won’t be hasty and destroy anything…
And I have to admit, I don’t think the ponies deserve being destroyed. Yes, I’m really thinking that. Incredible.

“Al,” Antonius asked,
“do you have any information about your encounter with those Space Marines?”

“Affirmative,” Al answered.

“We’ll compare your data and this diary later. For now, we’ll just keep reading.”

Must make it short. We have lost contact to one of the reconnaissance squads. I’ll investigate myself.

“Now things really get interesting,” Antonius mumbled.

I have failed. We all have failed. There is nothing we can do…

“What?” Antonius wondered,
“that doesn’t sound like something a Space Marine would say… especially not a Primarch!”

“Something must have happened to him,” Celestia guessed.

… The creature we encountered… an abomination. Some kind of wicked chimera with even more wicked magic.
And the worst of all: This creature is - or was - my brother, now tainted and corrupted by powers I can’t even understand. He was so disturbingly happy about everything… about having ‘disposed’ of his own men, my men… he’s insane. He has even given himself a new name.

Antonius read the name and closed his eyes for a second. Then he roared:

“DISCORD!!!”

So, that was the answer to the conundrum that was Discord.
That was why he knew Primarch Guilliman.
That was why he was so unusual for a daemon.

“I… I can’t believe it,” Celestia stammered.

“Discord is one of your lost Primarchs?” Luna exclaimed,
“but… how…”

“Let’s ask Discord” Antonius hissed,
“he will give us answers. Then I’ll violently extract some vital organs from his body.”

“No,” Celestia disagreed,
“anger is a bad advisor, and at the moment, you’re too angry to make a sensible decision what to do with him. And we still don’t know what exactly was going on. Please keep reading the diary. When we’re done with that, and you’ve cooled down a little, we can talk to Discord.”

Antonius glared at her for a second, then he turned back to the cogitator.

“Fine…” he said through clenched teeth.

I have no chance of defeating him. He’s way too powerful.
I’ll send my sons back home. There are too few left to take my ship, but my brother’s will do. Let them find some glory in the Great Crusade. I’ll stay here. I don’t deserve to participate in my father’s great vision.
I’ll suggest that all records of my brother - and me - should be erased from all imperial records, so that his treachery - and my failure - shall be forgotten.
We are far away from the Imperium. He’ll never make it back there. So, at least the Imperium will be safe from him.

“So, now we know why all records of the two lost Primarchs were deleted,” Antonius stated,
“it’s still strange that the Primarch gave up that easily.”

“Actually, it isn’t,” Celestia told him,
“turning creatures into their opposites is one of Discords powers. So, the Primarch became unable to fight him.”

My sons are gone. I hope they’ll find glory somewhere. I wanted to go somewhere to live a hermit’s life, alone with my shame, but a pony downright forced me to stay. A mare named ‘Starry Heavens’.

“Mom!” Luna and Celestia exclaimed simultaneously.

I have no idea why she takes care of me. While I haven’t hurt them, I certainly haven’t been too nice to them, after all. She’s a kind soul. This Star Swirls also keeps hanging around. I don’t deserve their kindness. I’ll stop writing this diary. I’ll even delete it. Why am I even writing this down?”

“He obviously changed his mind,” Luna stated.

I really have to commend Starry Heavens And Star Swirl. They saved a copy of this journal. And through Starry’s care, I was able to get rid of the curse my damned brother put on me.
I am a son of the Emperor, and I will not yield. I must find a way to defeat my fallen brother. Fortunately, he is not too aggressive at the moment. Probably too busy messing around with this weird magic.
Magic… could that be the key?
But I’m not a psyker. The ponies, though, are… in a way. But they are not powerful enough to best him. Perhaps I can change that… I’ve always been a scientist, after all.

“Did we just read…” Celestia started.

“The genesis of the idea of alicorns,” Antonius finished.

It took me a lot of time. But with the help of the ancient AI - his name is Al, by the way - and the equipment used by the humans back then, I was able to combine and upgrade pony DNA of all three subspecies with fragments of my own DNA, boosting their strength, energy, and I think even their magic abilities. Starry already volunteered to bear the bio-engineered baby. I’m sorry to pull the ponies that deep into human affairs, but it’s the only thing I can do.

The baby is growing and well, and Star Swirl says he’s sensing an extremely high magic potential. But I’ve noticed that it takes quite a toll on Starry. I hope it’s not too much for her.

Today, the baby was born. A filly with a horn and wings. We named her Celestia, and her kind ‘alicorn’. She really is a little sunshine, just like her mother. Let’s see how she develops.

“So,” Celestia said,
“I was created as a weapon against Discord.”

“We were, I think,” Luna added.

“Just as I was created as a weapon against Chaos,” Antonius joined in.

Celestia ages slower than a normal pony, and really shows extreme magic potential. Star Swirl has taken the roll of her mentor, but he sometimes has difficulties reining her in. Together with Starry and me, though, everything works fine.

Celestia keeps getting stronger, and her DNA and mind are still stable. Our attempt at creating a super-powered pony was successful!
But Discord is awfully strong… I think Celestia will need help, an ally against him.

“Luna in the making,” Antonius commented.

Today is Celestia’s eleventh birthday. I talked to Starry last night, and she agrees with me that Celestia needs somepony to help her. She again volunteered to bear the baby. I have to admit, I’m not too fond of that. Celestia already took a toll on her, the second baby might cause her to loose too much energy. I told her, but she insists is doing it anyway. Well, I know her DNA, taking another mare would probably be too risky. And seriously, there’s nopony I trust more than Starry. I’ll create another gene seed.

The baby is growing and well, and Star Swirl is again sensing a high magic potential. Unfortunately - and as I’ve thought - the toll this second baby takes on Starry is more severe this time.

Today, the baby was born. An alicorn like Celestia, but with a darker coat. Starry is alive, but not really well. I hope she gets better.

Celestia and Luna are both well and pupils of Star Swirl. He calls himself ‘the Bearded’ now. Maybe he thinks the beard will give him enough authority to handle the two fillies.
Starry is better now, too, but not entirely back to her old self. Giving birth to two alicorns was too much for her, her life energy was downright drained by the stress. I guess that she has about a decade to live. No more.

“I,” Luna whimpered,
“am responsible for our mother’s death?”

“Nonsense!” Celestia and Antonius both replied, then he continued:
“if anypony’s to blame, it’s the Primarch and your mother. They knew the risks, but they decided that you and Tia were more important. Your mother basically voluntarily sacrificed her life to fight Discord. That’s a noble decision, and I’m sure she enjoyed the years you spent together.”

“He is right,” Celestia agreed,
“don’t blame yourself, little sister, because you deserve no blame.”

Luna nodded silently, and Antonius put his arm around her and continued reading.

Discord got active again, he laid waste to a town. Celestia is just fifteen and Luna is three, they’re both too young to fight him.
I must do it.
I must try to stop him.
I know I don’t have a chance, but I won’t let him assault more ponies!
I know that Starry and Star Swirl will take good care of Celestia and Luna - my two daughters.
On the one hand, I regret leaving them, but on the other hand, I know that I have to.
I instructed Star Swirl what to do should I die today, and supplied him with an upgrade that will increase his lifespan so that he will be able to fulfill his task.
Now, I have to go.
May the Emperor guide me.

“This is not the end of the diary,” Antonius told the princesses,
“but it was the Primarch’s last entry. Somepony else took over.”

I am Star Swirl the Bearded, and I now will tell you of the events that came to pass after the Primarch left to fight his corrupted brother Discord in an attempt to safe ponykind from his wicked depredations.
Unbeknown to him, I followed the Primarch. When he encountered Discord, a lively conversation took place. While I wasn’t able to understand every word they said to each other, it was clear that the Primarch tried to convince his brother to stand down and renounce the dark magic he used.
It was of no surprise to me that Discord just laughed at him, and that a battle ensued.
The Primarch fought valiantly, but in the end, he had no chance against the wicked creature. Struck by unnatural lightning, he dropped to his knees, before he toppled over.
Discord looked like he was about to cheer, but he suddenly froze. I think the last remnant of humanity inside him must have realized what he had just done, because he started screaming as if in great pain. He cradled his dead brother’s body, screaming ‘what have I done?’, then he carefully put the corpse back onto the ground. Discord looked at him, then he started screaming again, but this time, it became a twisted, insane laughter. I suppose the last bit of sanity in his wicked mind was eradicated that moment. Finally, he vanished with a snap of his claws.
We retrieved the Primarch’s body and put him into a crystal coffin inside the Inner Sanctum of the imperial base, located inside the Canterhorn.
I ensured that the Primarch’s instructions were carried out. We destroyed every trace of Discord’s true origin. Al has moved the corresponding data to memory modules that I removed from his system. We even erased the princesses’ memories, so that the grief about their murdered father would not lure them towards the darkness.
It truly is a pity that the captain’s plan will probably never come to fruition now, but we have more important things to worry about:
I must get Celestia and Luna ready to defeat Discord. Through sternness and hard training, they will one day be able to fulfill their destiny.
I will now seal the Inner Sanctum, and the invaluable, yet terrible information inside it.
To whoever may read this:
Due to the security systems, you should be a Primarch, otherwise, you shouldn’t have been able to enter. To do so, you still had to overcome quite some obstacles, so I think you are probably worthy of knowing the truth, and of the legacy of your valiant brother. Now, act like he would have wanted you to.

Antonius deactivated the cogitator and took a look at the crystal coffin.

“Well, your Excellency,” he mumbled,
“your daughters defeated Discord, and the Element Bearers reformed him. So, we have sort of a happy end in that regard. But there are still many more questions that need to be answered.”

“Yeah,” Luna agreed,
“like: What captain did Star Swirl talk about? And what was this plan of his?”

“And what about the ship the Primarch mentioned?” Celestia added,
“if the Space Marines left with Discord’s ship, it must still be somewhere.”

“Possible,” Antonius pondered,
“maybe those questions are even connected… maybe the captain left this ship here as a means for his Primarch to return to the Imperium… but that would mean training hundreds or even thousands of ponies to operate an imperial voidship. That may be possible, but is somewhat unlikely.
Furthermore, all this happened more than ten millennia ago. The ship probably drifted off and is now somewhere in the intergalactic void. Or do you know of a star that behaves in an unusual way?”

“No,” Celestia answered,
“the most unusual star we have is your Astronomicon.”

“Neither have I ever encountered such an object,” Luna added.

“Hmm… would have been too much to ask for anyway,” Antonius opined and turned to the table with the equipment,
“if you don’t mind I’ll take the storm bolter. I really could need a ranged weapon.”

The princesses agreed, so Antonius picked it up. It was a masterfully crafted piece of equipment with a small, attached bayonet and a double-drum magazine. Conveniently, there were still seven bolts left; the others had probably been sent towards Discord about a hundred centuries before.

Next, he picked up the thunderhammer and offered it to Celestia.

“You are the oldest child,” he stated,
“so I think it’s yours.”

“Oh…” Celestia replied,
“umm… while I feel honored, I think it might better be suited for your hands.”

“I have my sword, and Luna has my old chainsword. Take your father’s weapon. It should fit you well.”

Antonius remembered Celestia’s fighting style pretty well. While not quite as sophisticated as Luna’s, it was more powerful. A hammer really should fit her well.

Celestia took the thunderhammer with her magic and scrutinized it. It was as elaborately manufactured as the storm bolter; a weapon for a Primarch.

“You will have to teach me how to wield it,” she said.

“No problem. Now might be the time to have a word with Discord.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow.

“You’re not going to try and kill him?”

“After what I’ve learned? No. But I do want to know his point of view.”

She nodded and lit her horn.
A moment - and a flash of light - later, Discord was standing right before them.

“What?” he said,
“oh, Celestia. You know how much I dislike being summoned that…”

He stopped in mid-sentence and looked around. He stared at the crystal coffin, then at Antonius.

“So you know,” he said seriously.

“That you are a traitor Primarch? Yes,” Antonius replied,
“that you killed your brother? That, too. But I’ve also gotten to know something else, and that keeps me from violently introducing you to my sword. Now, I want to know your version of what happened all those centuries ago.”

Discord looked somewhat uncomfortable, but he started talking:

“Well, I was sent here by the Emperor to claim this planet for mankind. When I arrived here, I - psyker that I was - discovered that this place is full of magic, and that this magic is quite different from the energies of the warp. I started experimenting with it, and stumbled upon the magic the ponies call ‘Chaos Magic’. Its potential was incredible… and tempting.
I swear I had the best of interests in mind when I started, but somehow, it overwhelmed me. I was turned into this form and… well, let’s say I got a little bit insane… I turned against my own sons, turning them into different creatures or teleporting them to strange dimensions… I was all around awful. That was also the time I assumed my new name.”

Discord was silent. He had his eyes closed and scratched his brow.

“And then, your brother showed up,” Antonius poked him.

“Yes. I casted a spell on him. Since he wasn’t a threat after that, I left to continue my experiments with Chaos Magic. More than a decade later, I tested some of my new spells on some ponies. A short time after that, my brother showed up. He tried to help me, but I was too deranged to listen.
We fought. I killed him.”
Discord sighed and continued:
“As I looked upon his dead body, I finally realized what I had become. A traitor, a fratricide.
I went completely mad and retreated to another dimension for several years. When I had reacquired some sanity, I returned to Equestria. The rest is part of pony history.”
He turned to Antonius:
“I am sorry about what I’ve done, but I can’t change it. I won’t ask you for forgiveness, for I will have to sort this out with our Emperor. Now, I just ask you to believe me when I say that I want to help you, the ponies and mankind.”

Antonius looked at him for a few seconds, then he said:

“Well… you are not the only Primarch that got corrupted, but you are the only one that got redeemed. I will give you a chance, Discord. Besides, I think killing you would upset Fluttershy,” he added with a small grin.

“It would upset me, too,” Discord deadpanned.

“You don’t know what happened to your brother’s ship, do you?”

“No. My best guess is that it drifted off, but since I was in another dimension - and sorta batshit crazy - at the time, this is really just a guess. I don’t think it fell onto the planet, since I’ve never seen an indication of such a crash. If you want a ship, I think we’ll have to wait for the Ultramarines to arrive.”

“Seems so… I wonder when that will be.”

“Translation successful. We are back in the Materium.”

Calgar nodded at Gearhart’s report and turned to the bridge crew:

“Initiate full scan. Is there anything out there?”

It took some time, then Calgar got his answer:

“My Lord, the augur arrays are picking up a planet, orbited by a small sun and an even smaller moon,” a crewman told him.

“Seems we’re right,” Calgar said.

“At the first attempt,” Tigurius commented,
“Lady Angren really is more than just capable. Such an accuracy, that far away from the Astronomican… commendable.”

“Indeed. How long will it take us to get there?”

“Seven days, three hours,” the crewman said.

“Set a course. All ahead full.”

Aleksa had heard the news that they were on the last stage of their long journey. Just a week now, and she would finally meet this Antonius - and get to know what a pony was. Now, she was about to look after Parvus and make sure that he got the news.

To her surprise, Parvus already had a visitor: Apothecarius Ambrosius was talking to him.

“Mammalia, Perissodactyla, Equidae, Equus,” Ambrosius said.

“No idea,” Parvus replied,
“I’ve always been more concerned with feeding them or cleaning the stable. As a young boy, I wasn’t particularly interested in scientific classifications. You got that stuff from a book?”

“Yes, Brother. I used my free time on this flight to learn about their kind - or their template, at least. Now, I thought it might be a good idea to supplement the theoretical knowledge with some practical experience.”

“That’s always a good idea, Ambrosinus. Apropos ‘good idea’, I see that Aleksa is here. Hello!”

Ambrosius turned to regard her, and Aleksa approached with a polite bow.

“Greetings, Brother Parvus. Greetings, Apothecarius Ambrosius,” she said,
“it is an unexpected pleasure seeing you here.”

“Huh?” Parvus wondered,
“I’ve been right here for the whole journey, why are you surprised to see me here?”

“I think that remark was directed to me,” Ambrosius told him,
“greetings, Tech-priest Aleksa. What brings you here?”

She bowed again slightly and said:

“I just came to make sure that Brother Parvus is up-to-date on the status of our mission and to conduct a few maintenance rituals. I can come back later if I disturb your conversation.”

“Not necessary,” Parvus told her,
“we’re done, anyway… I think.”

“Quite, Brother. Your experiences with horses certainly were enlightening,” Ambrosius answered calmly.

“Oh! Supplementing the theory with some experience? That’s always a good idea!”

“Yes, Brother. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with me.”

“Anytime, Ambrose.”

Ambrosius bowed, said goodbye and left. When he was gone, Parvus turned to Aleksa:

“A really nice guy. Do you know who he was?”

“Apothecarius Abrosius,” Aleksa smiled,
“and I assume you already know that we’re on the last stage of our journey?”

“Yes.”

“Ambrosius?”

“The Apothecarius? What about him?”

“Hasn’t he given you the information?”

“What information?”

“I’ll tell you while I’m conducting the rituals of maintenance,” Aleksa grinned broadly.