I nearly ground my fist into the wall of my study, even with the monastery complete we still didn't have the means yet to make more soldiers, our forces were split between protecting Celestia and protecting Empress Luna... Although, she seemed... rather open... around me.

I relaxed my hand a little as I thought back to our various talks, all of them occurred while I was protecting her... mind you, so don't get any ideas... But, I couldn't help but see as she was starting to let her jealousy towards her sister begin. It wasn't as bad as the show made it though, although in the show she probably didn't have a genetically-altered super-soldier to talk to and vent her pent up aggression to so that her jealousy wouldn't cloud her judgment.

I smiled a little under my helmet as I thought back to one of our nights talking.

-{DW}-

I smiled as Luna laughed, mostly at the expense of my friend Geoffy, I had gotten around to telling her my actual name and she had been quite happy to accept it, although she did promise to only call me it when it was just us two.

“...So... Your friend... Geoffy, as thou say, had actually gotten himself nearly hit by one of those cars just because he was acting like a jester?” She asked with a giggle.

I stifled my own chuckle, “Yes, the man had even pulled his car over to the side of the road because he had thought that my friend was doing some sort of gang acting and was about to attack him. We managed to get the problem under control after explaining that Geoffy had only been acting like an idiot because he was listening to music. You should have seen his face when he nearly got hit, I think his adrenaline was going for a while after that.”

She lightly punched my shoulder, “Thy friends certainly do act like jesters at times do they not?”

I leaned back a little, “Yeah... They do a lot... I trust them with my life though, always have, always will...”

She leaned back as well, although she moved herself a little closer and laid her head against my shoulder, “Kris...” She said quietly.

“Yes my Empress?” I reply, for some reason, when it was just us two, that small phrase seemed to have more meaning behind it than just a title

Her smile warmed up a little more as she heard my reply. “...What made you choose me? Why are you a Lunar Templar instead of a Solaris Knight?”

I put my hand on my chin as I thought about it, “Hmm... I guess... It was a lot because you and I are so alike... Quite introverted, few hobbies that we truly enjoy, and that we prefer to have a smaller set of friends... ones that are true friends, not just nobles who wish to gain favor with you.”

She nuzzled into my shoulder with a smile. “Maybe...” She began quietly. “Maybe we could be... a bit more than friends...?” She asked with a soft voice that was filled with so much warmth that even Celestia's sun paled in comparison.

At the time, we still had no idea what a marine's gene seed would do when it came to the ponies, we had no idea if it was limited to just the earth ponies, or if it could be used on the other races... or if it could be passed on at all, in a way, I was concerned, as I rightly should be for my Empress...

There it was again, that feeling... That wonderful feeling of lightheadedness whenever I referred to her as MY Empress... I might be a little dehydrated though, I'll have to speak to Nick later to make sure I'm drinking enough water.

“Empress Luna-...” I began, but was stopped as she put a hoof on my mouth, it was pliant to say the least, kind of like play-doh, at least... texture-wise. There was a distinct difference between the soft hairs on her body and the firm keratin of her hoof and it felt nice as she cupped my cheek with it and turned my head to gaze at her beautiful, deep, caring pools of crystalline-turquoise that some had the audacity to call mere eyes.

“Call me Luna...” She says with that little edge of authority in her voice that sent my mind into a miniature spiral of pleasure, did I ever mention that I found a bit of attraction to women who could take charge in a situation? Yeah...

I let myself release the breath I had been holding, realizing that the night was far too silent for the moment, “Only...” I begin with a slight stutter, “Only when we are like this... as our true selves... Luna...” I say. At that very moment did I finally register how close her muzzle was to mine. I could feel her warm breath, which smelled slightly of marshmallows... oddly enough, across my own muzzle. It felt like I was being pulled closer by those beautiful turquoise orbs that I could stare into for hours on end. Her eyes began to close, as did mine, just before our lips met.

...Although I partially believe that her hoof had been pulling on my cheek the entire time...

Her lips were soft, and they trembled with her nerves, not knowing if it was right to do this. Unbidden, my hand began to stroke her chest and I could feel it as her heartbeat began to slow while she eased deeper into the kiss. I felt my own heart skip a few beats... or at least one of them skipped a beat... it was a good thing that I had two now, one on backup in case the first stopped, always a useful trick in case your enemy thought you were down for the count.

I heard her gasp a little and she pulled back with a slightly surprised look on her face. I could only look at her in confusion until she spoke.

“You... You have two hearts?” She asked as her look changed to curious.

“It's more of a survival feature... but yes, I have two, as does every space marine.” I reply, stroking her chest again, which caused her to shiver a little and move back into the warmth of my body.

“That... Is very interesting... There are very few creatures that have such a survival feature to their biology.”

“And they're hard to bring down for a reason, they're built to keep going no matter what, just as your Templars are forged to strike down your enemies.”

That night, even though nothing more happened after the kiss aside from light conversation, we made that silent promise between ourselves... That we were going to eventually find a way to make it work and we wouldn't have to hide our love.

-{DW}-

My smile drops only a little as I think back to the events that are going on around the world.

We're losing ground, and it looks that the forces of Chaos are fighting to bring us down like a whimpering mutt. I set my gaze into a slight glare as I stand back up again and make my way to the forge to get my gear. We had all gone into a kind of leadership position once the monastery was fully built, I became the Lunar Templars Chapter Master while Nick became the Solaris Knights Chapter Master. Brandon had taken his place as Master of the Forge and had already begun augmenting his servo-harness to add more mechadendrites to aid him, Geoffy? Well, Let's just say that he made sure that he had plenty of Dakka to lug around and is the only one of us to actually have a giant drum of adamantine bolter rounds strapped to his back.

I had to get my gear in order and pray to the machine spirits to aid my battle, for I could feel it in my bones...

… There will be blood soon... And we will get to show our full might to this Chaos, driving it back to the pits of the abyss that it came from.

Author's Notes:

We have a special today! Four marines for the price of one, you submit a marine and he gets a squad!

To everyone who has favorited the story, I love all of your favoriting, keep slapping that like button and more action shall come soon!

At any time you can submit a marine and right now there's a 95% chance that he shall appear in the story!

We march for the Empresses!
AND WE SHALL KNOW NO FEAR!