Twilight was nervous. Very nervous.
This was the first time Princess Celestia had sent a letter in the middle of the night, waking up Spike in a very hard way. What she had written was... unsettling, to put it mildly. Twilight took the letter and read it again:

'Twilight,
gather the other Elements.
I have already sent two chariots to the library. Board them and come to Canterlot immediately.
Make haste!
Celestia'

This was everything. No explanation, no further information.
Something terrible must have happened. Celestia had never before sent chariots to pick them up, even when Discord had returned she just had told them to come.

So, now they were approaching Canterlot. The city seemed to be asleep, there was no sign of unusual activity - with one exception:
She could see light in one part of the castle, and she knew what was there; the barracks.
The Royal Guard and the Night Guard were mustering. Hardly a good sign.

When they landed, they were already expected by Antonius. He had put his helmet on and his red eye-lenses were glowing in the darkness.

"Hello, Antoinus," Twilight greeted him,
"tell me, what is going on?"

"Follow me, I'll tell you," he answered curtly, turned around and started walking.

Twilight and her friends were almost running to keep pace with him.

"Antonius, please, tell us what has happened," she pleaded.

"According to a vision of Celestia, there is a Chaos invasion of unknown magnitude in the west," he responded.

It hit the ponies like a hammer.

"C-C-Chaos?" Fluttershy squeaked.

"Time to kick some flanks!" Rainbow shouted.

Antonius took a look at her.

"You will get your chance, Rainbow. That's why you were called here. Luna will lead a defensive force to the town of Hope where the invasion has occurred. You will join us and use the Elements of Harmony against the aggressor. I'm curious to see what they can do."

"You'll go, too?" Twilight wanted to make sure.

"Of course. I'm the best chance you have."

"Chance for what?"

"Survival."

The ponies swallowed hard and looked at each other. Antonius really was brutally honest, but they knew he was right. According to his stories, Chaos was far worse than anything they had ever encountered.

They stepped into the throne room. The whole atmosphere was incredibly dense. The princesses were already there, near the throne, Luna in full battle-armor. Four members of the Royal- and Night Guard were talking with them.

"The Elements are here," Antonius shouted.

Celestia and Luna nodded to the guards who bowed and withdrew to the side of the room, then they turned towards the ponies and Celestia greeted:

"Twilight, my little ponies, I'm glad you are here. Come!"

Twilight and her friends went to Celestia, while Antonius headed to the waiting guards.

"Princess, Antonius told us that Chaos is here in Equestria!" Twilight exclaimed.

Celestia nodded.

"It is, Twilight. You will accompany my sister, Antonius and 40 guards to the town of Hope in the west. Here are your Elements."

The princess' horn glowed as she levitated the chest that contained the Elements of Harmony over to the ponies, who took their corresponding Element.

Twilight took a look at Antonius. He was standing in front of the four guards and obviously tried to give them a crash course in some kind of sign language. She turned back to Celestia as the alicorn bent down her head towards her.

"I'm sorry you have to do this, Twilight. I never wanted to send you to a war.
I am still confident, thought. You six have defeated every villain you fought, you will also be able to handle this situation."

Now, Antonius had come over to them. He looked at Twilight and her friends.

"So, these are the Elements of Harmony."

Twilight nodded.

"Yes."

"May the blessings of the eternal Emperor fall upon them - and us."

A short time later, the detachment - ten guards of each common kind of pony - was ready to board the chariots. Not normal chariots as Twilight knew them, these chariots were larger and pulled by four pegasi or batponies.

Everypony was nervous, with one exception: Antonius.
He was standing in front of the guards, at Luna's side, and almost radiated an aura of confidence and determination. He clearly was in his element.

Luna turned around to address the guards:

"Guards! Ponies! Today, a new aggressor has shown up for the first time in Equestria. This aggressor is called Chaos, and is the arch-enemy of our friend Antonius Varus' species. We will head to the town of Hope near our western border and deal with any threat we might encounter."

She pointed at a map of Hope on a map stand next to her, marked with different colored arrows.

"The bat-ponies, being excessively trained in stealth techniques, will use the side roads and wait for my signal to start flank attacks. The rest of us will take the main road and draw the enemy's attention. Antonius, the Element Bearers and myself will form the spear head of our attack, ready to use the Elements of Harmony. That way, we will be able to defeat anything that is foolish enough to stand against us.

"You all are well trained in combat, be it ranged or melee.
You all have sworn to protect Equestria from harm.
Now, use your training to fulfill your oath!
On board!"

The unicorn- and earth pony guards rushed onto the waiting chariots, the pegasi and batponies of the Night Guard prepared to take off, whether they had to pull a chariot or not.
Twilight and her friends, as well as Luna and Antonius, also boarded the chariots.

The detachment took off into the night. They were going to war.

Antonius took a look at the ponies. They were nervous. No surprise. According to Celestia, they had mainly ceremonial duties, the closest thing Equestria had to real warriors were Luna's guards who did the nightly patrol. Every guard was still thoroughly trained - for a pony. They just rarely got an opportunity to participate in a real fight. Well, they would get that opportunity soon.

The lights of Canterlot were quickly fading behind him. Next to him, Luna was standing, silent, worry clearly written on her face.

"What are you thinking about, Luna?" he asked.

Luna turned to him:

"We only have very vague information about what we are going to face. We need some reconnaissance.
What do you think we will encounter? How will our changes be?"

"The answer to your second question depends on the answer to your first question.
If we just have to fight some Chaos cultists, we won't have much of a problem. If there is a company of Chaos Space Marines, things will get more difficult. In that case, your Elements of Harmony might become invaluable."

"They are already invaluable to us, but I know what you mean.
When we start closing in on Hope, I'll send out a few pegasi as scouts. That way, we will get to know what awaits us and we can adapt our tactic."

It was already noon when a scroll materialized next to Luna. She immediately grabbed it with her magic and unrolled it.

"A letter from my sister... Antonius! There are survivors of Hope in Coltport!" she shouted.

"Coltport?"

"A town at the coast, not too far away from Hope. I think we should go there first and question them. The information we will get might be vital."

"I concur, but we must hurry to prevent Chaos from spreading."

Luna nodded, then she took off and shouted, loud enough for every pony to hear:

"Ponies! Change of plans! Change course, we will head to Coltport! Make haste!"

They arrived at Coltport in the middle of the afternoon and were greeted by the local mayor, who took Luna and Antonius to the town hall where the refugees from Hope were housed.
The building had about the same floor space as the Ponyville town hall, but was not as tall. A big, roofed door served as main entrance.

Once they had opened that door, hell broke loose.
The ponies inside the building took a short look at Antonius and started to panic. They were running around in wild disorder, shouting

"He's back!" or
"Don't hurt us!"

Antonius was a bit confused by this intense reaction, until he realized its meaning:
They had seen someone with his stature before.
They had seen a Chaos Space Marine.

He did not miss the irony of this situation: Usually, xenos were meant to react this way when seeing an Astartes. This situation was not 'usual' in any way, however, as little as the ponies were usual aliens.
He raised his empty hands to show them that he was no danger to them.

"Ponies, I'm not a worshipper of Chaos!" he tried to becalm them.

It was a futile attempt.

"He said 'Chaos'!"
"Run!"

Antonius turned to Luna:

"I guess it might be a bit of a problem to talk to them..."

Luna took a deep breath.

"SILENCE, PONIES!" she shouted, loud enough to shake the foundation of the town hall.

Impressive.

The ruckus stopped immediately. She continued:

"We are Luna, Princess of the Night, and we tell you to calm down!
This warrior at our side is not an enemy of us ponies, quite the opposite: He is the arch-enemy of the creature that attacked you and he is fighting for us and for Equestria!"

Now, most of the ponies slowly came closer, muttering things like:

"That's Princess Luna!" and
"He is on our side?",

until a white pegasus mare with a two-toned blue and black mane finally said:

"Well, he certainly looks different from the other one. He is blue and gold."

Antonius knelt down and asked her:

"What is your name, pony?"

"Gentle Breeze," the mare told him.

"Tell me, how did the other one look like?" he asked.

Gentle Breeze cringed, then she told him:

"His armor looked similar to yours, but it was mostly red, with dark rims. On one shoulder, there was an eight-pointed star, on the other shoulder was something like a... screaming minotaur head."

Antonius took a deep breath and turned to Luna:

"Word Bearers! The Emperor-damned Word Bearers!"

He turned back to the pony:

"You said 'the other one'. Singular. How many of them attacked you? Just one?"

"That really was more than enough..."

"Was there anyone else that accompanied him? Perhaps smaller creatures?"

"No, he was alone."

"Was his armor somehow... noticeable... elaborate, or was it more... plain like my armor?"

"Like yours."

"What did he do?"

The pony cringed again.

"He came into our town yesterday morning and told us he was a friend. Then he started talking about four Gods of Chaos.
When we told him that we had heard about Chaos and did not like it, he told us that we were fools. Then, he started killing us. He used a strange box similar to the one you have, a smaller... thing that shot blue fire and a sword."

Antonius nodded.

"Thank you, your information is really invaluable."

He wanted to turn to Luna, but Gentle Breeze said:

"Wait! There's more to come! Four ponies joined him!"

"Subspe.. I mean, pony kind?"

"Two unicorns, a pegasus, an earth-pony."

"Anything else?"

"Yes, they also caught some of us, I can't imagine why."

Well, Antonius could imagine why.

"Again, thank you for your help," he said.

He turned to Luna, but he spoke loud enough that everyone could hear him:

"Now we know the magnitude of the Chaos invasion:
A single Chaos Space Marine.
Word Bearer.
Not a sorcerer, not a champion, just a regular Marine.
Plus four pony cultists.
This is a threat we can definitely handle."

The ponies still looked skeptical, worry written on their faces.

As they went back to the waiting chariot, Antonius told the mayor:

"Keep an eye on them. If one of them shows any sign of corruption, do what must be done."

"Corruption?" the mayor asked.

"Mutation, strange behavior, talking about the - urgh - 'glory' of Chaos. Things like that."

The pony swallowed hard, but nodded.

Luna turned to him:

"Do you think that will be necessary?"

"No, but we shouldn't take any risks."

They boarded the chariots again and took off towards Hope.

"Yesterday morning," Luna told Antonius,
"the morning after we opened the veil. I don't think this is a coincidence."

"Probably not," Antonius answered.

The sun was already low over the horizon as the detachment touched down about half a kilometer away from Hope, seeing the town covered by a dark haze.
The guards left the chariots and lined up. The Element Bearers went to Luna and Antonius, who was checking his weapons.

"So, here we are, hmm?" Twilight asked.

"Here we are," Antonius confirmed,
"are you ready?"

"Yeah, let's blast this Chaos creep!" shouted Rainbow Dash.

"I already told you that you will get your chance, Rainbow. But don't be overly enthusiastic. Stay in formation and be ready to use the Elements of Harmony."

He turned to all of the Element Bearers:

"The same is true for you: Be ready. Once you get the command, do not ask questions. Do not hesitate. Use the Elements immediately. Everything else will cost lives."

"Oh dear..." Fluttershy mumbled.

Luna turned to her:

"I know, you do not like your task today. Nopony truly likes war, but we did not start it, we are just responding to keep our ponies safe.
Just stay together and remember that your friends are at your side."

She came a bit closer to the Bearers and winked:

"And having Antonius with us won't hurt either."

Antonius just wanted to start walking and almost stumbled over Pinkie Pie.

"Pinkie, what are you doing?" he asked her.

"Staying in formation," she answered,
"5.08 centimeters from you."

"Don't you think that is a little close?"

"Oh, right, I totally forgot the scale. That should be about three meters, then."

"Sounds better, but stop goofing around. This is not a game. Get into formation with your friends and be ready."

She looked down at the ground and said quietly:

"You are right. Sorry."

They all started marching towards Hope. Luna and Antonius took the lead, side by side. Behind them were Twilight and her friends. Then came the earth ponies and the unicorns. Above them, the pegasi darted forward and gained altitude to scout the town from high above while the batponies stayed close to the group.

About one hundred meters from Hope, the scouts came back and reported their findings:

"The town seems to be abandoned, but we could see a bonfire at the far end of the market square, near the town hall. We couldn't see much else, as there is some sort of magical field around and above the town that uses the fire's smoke to obscure our vision."

"They protect themselves from our scouts. They're certainly not fools," Luna opined.

"No, they are not. Chaos possesses the most malicious kind of intelligence," Antonius confirmed.

They arrived at the town limits, the haze directly in front of them.
Antonius took a look at the ponies. Luna looked very focused, the others were nervous. Very nervous.
Luna also noticed that and turned to them:

"My fellow ponies! Our enemy is inside this town, hiding in the shadows.
We will march in there and force him to show himself!
We will make him regret the day he decided to come to this planet and threaten us!
We will make him regret the day he decided to leave the path of righteousness!"

Oh, Luna also took the history of the Imperium into consideration? Antonius felt honored.

"Let me go in first," he recommended,
"let me be your bulwark against Chaos, your guide towards victory!"

"Yes," she answered,
"it is your arch-enemy. You know this villain best. We will be directly behind you."

The ponies looked more confident now, Luna's little speech had boosted their morale considerably.

Antonius was the first to enter the town, bolter at the ready.
The haze was like a dome; the town itself was rather dark, but free from smoke, allowing him and the ponies to see without much of a problem.

What they saw was a carnage.
Dead ponies were lying on the roads, shredded by bolts, their blood used to paint marks of Chaos onto the walls of the houses. Others showed plasma wounds.

"Unnamable..." Luna muttered, her confidence faltering more than just a little bit.

The other ponies were incredibly pale, their steps uneasy. Antonius knew they were afraid, he could almost feel their fear.

"Remember," he told them,
"we are doing this so that no other town will have to suffer the same fate. Just keep to the plan and know no fear."

Luna nodded and the batponies vanished into the side roads while the others kept advancing on the main road. The ponies tried to avoid the spots of wet and dried blood whenever they could and stayed clear of the corpses.
Their morale was low. It was completely broken when they encountered the first dead fillies, ripped apart by mass-reactives. Using bolts against creatures of that size was a complete overkill, leaving almost nothing of them over.

Some ponies started crying, others threw up. Antonius took a look at Luna, who was on the edge of tears herself, then he looked at the other ponies. They were definitely not in the condition to fight.
Twilight and her friends were shaking with fear. Fluttershy was on the ground, crying, but she still crawled forward to stay in formation with her friends. Antonius had to admit, this was indeed bravery: Despite her terrible fear, she moved on.
Now Applejack noticed her condition, went over to her and picked her up. She tried to give Antonius a small smile, but failed miserably. She carried Fluttershy to her friends, and they huddled up close.

All told, the detachment was not a detachment anymore, it was a mess.
Antonius thought about their plan, and he realized: It wouldn't work.
Just as he wanted to turn to Luna, she turned to him and said:

"Antonius, our plan..."

"Won't work," he finished.

"None of us is used to that kind of gruesomeness, even I can barely stand this."

That was the problem with living in a sort of fairytale-world: Everything was fun and games, until reality paid a visit.

Antonius pondered what to do.

"I suggest sending the Element Bearers and every guard whose moral is broken back to the chariots.
They should bring the vehicles closer to the town for fast evacuation, one-hundred meters should be fine. Furthermore, the guards should be ordered to protect the Element Bearers no matter the cost."

Luna agreed and called her Night Guard. They were not better off than the other ponies.
Twilight and her friends walked over to Antonius and Luna.

"You are sending us away?" Twilight asked.

"I think this is a marvelous idea!" Rarity opined, close to panic.

"But we have to help you against the Chaos Space Marine!" Twilight remarked.

"In your current condition you are of little use here. Go back to the chariots and regain your composure. If anything hostile or unknown comes out of this town, blast it!" Antonius told her.

"Umm..." Rainbow Dash murmured,
"shouldn't I stay at least? Element of loyalty and so on?"

She was just as shaking with fear as her friends, so he told her:

"No, you six stay together. Now go!"

The Element Bearers and most of the guards left to fetch the chariots.
Now, the 'detachment' consisted of Luna, Antonius, Moonlight, Blackwing, six batponies who did not have the heart to leave their princess, three earth ponies, two unicorns and two pegasi. From 48 down to 17 without a fight.
Damn.

"We are still enough for this task!" Moonlight said with determination.

She had obviously guessed some of Antonius thoughts.

"We are," he answered,
"I have to say, you don't seem to be as frightened as the others, Moonlight."

"So it seems, huh? The truth is, I am as afraid as anypony else, but I am also angry. I have never been that angry before. That covers it. I hate this Chaos Space Marine, and everything he has done to those ponies."

A little smile crept onto Antonius' features, hidden by his helmet. He nodded.

"Good. Cherish your hatred. Use it. Direct it against your enemy. Let it burn with the intensity of a sun, for it is your most potent weapon."

Moonlight nodded, the other ponies looked a bit bewildered. They would soon see the worth of this teaching of Chaplain Cassius.

At Luna's command, the batponies disappeared into the side roads again. The others advanced along the main road.

"About the fast evacuation... Do you think that will be necessary?" Luna asked.

"No," Antonius told her,
"we will leave this town either victorious or not at all. There will be no retreat. But it will keep them busy and make them feel less useless."

They arrived at the market square without contact with their enemy and stopped behind the last house. As the main road was a tangent of the market place, this house provided good cover.
They could hear strange chanting, chanting Antonius was all too familiar with.

"Chaos cultists," he whispered and peeked around the corner.

There was the bonfire the scouts had seen.
Around it, four ponies were sitting and chanting, eyes closed and nodding with their heads. They had cut marks of Chaos into their flanks, directly into their cutie-marks.
Around them was a circle of eight impaled ponies, forming an eight-pointed star.

Those damned cultists were trying to open a Warp portal, probably to summon a daemon! Fortunately, without any success, at least until now. Antonius would not wait until they achieved their goal.

He noticed Luna's head below to his own and waved her back into cover.

"Antonius," she said,
"I'm fed up with sneaking through one of our own towns! I want to go out there and challenge them!"

Antonius nodded.

"Then we will do that."

He stepped out onto the market, Luna at his side, the ponies behind them. Moonlight's head peeked out of a side road about halfway down the market, and he signalized her to advance a bit further and then wait for the command to attack. She nodded and her head vanished again. He had to admit, she had learned the basic terms of Astartes sign-language pretty quickly.

Once they were in the middle of the market, still unspotted by the cultist-ponies, he exchanged a glance with Luna, then he shouted:

"Princess Luna of Equestria has come and demands that you atone for the atrocities against ponykind you have committed!"

The cultists stopped their chanting, stood up and slowly came closer.
One of the unicorns, a mare, started laughing manically:

"Atrocities? We?
The true atrocities were committed by this so-called princesses! Pretending to be almost divine creatures!
There are only four gods in the universe, as our master has told us; the four gods of Chaos!
Join us! Let go of your foolish faith and see the truth about everything!"

Yes, definitely corrupted by a Word Bearer. Such nonsense was typical for them.

Now Luna began to speak:

"Ponies, you have been influenced by powers darker than anypony had been able to imagine.
You sit here, in a circle of dead ponies and think your actions to be justified? You have committed crimes beyond salvation and we won't let this go unpunished."

"You are nothing compared to Chaos! Now die, false goddess!"

The cultists started running towards Luna. The princess's horn flashed, and the batponies shot out of the side roads onto the market, led by Moonlight.
Antonius saw that she had taken his advice very seriously; extended blades, bared fangs, high speed. She darted into melee and stabbed the leading unicorn mare who had dared to threaten her princess right through the heart, shouting:

"For Equestria!"

The second unicorn, a stallion, was killed by Blackwind with a headshot from his crossbow.

Luna fired a beam of magic at the cultist-pegasus, who was dead even before hitting the ground.

Only the earth pony was left now and Antonius took care of it. A punch broke the cultist's skull and neck and vaulted the dead body back to the other corpses, ending this fight.

"Rally at my position!" Luna shouted, and the ponies hurried to her.

Then, she continued:

"Ponies, this is not over yet!
The main culprit is still out there! Search the town! If you find him, do NOT engage him! Come back at once and report your findings to me and Antonius!
Moonlight, Blackwing, you two stay here and prepare to fight the Chaos Space Marine."

The ponies spread out and vanished into the roads. Now that the cultist-unicorns were dead, the magical field was gone and the smoke could escape, allowing a little more light to reach the town.

Moonlight turned to Antonius and asked:

"What is the best way to fight this Chaos Space Marine? I guess he is armored like you, so our blades and crossbow-bolts won't be very effective."

"Astartes armor is formidable, but not without weak spots. Aim for the joints and the eye-lenses."

Antonius knew he had just told xenos the weaknesses of power armor. Under normal circumstances, this was treason. Here, it was necessary.
Moonlight nodded. A few seconds later, she muttered:

"I hate waiting."

"Me too, Moonlight," Luna told her,
"but it is necessary. We're in the middle of town now. If we join the search and our enemy is found at the further end of the town, it will take us longer to get to him. This here is the spot that gives us the best overall reaction time."

Moonlight nodded again. A few seconds later, however, she asked Antonius:

"Do you have a battle cry? Something like our 'For Equestria'?"

"Courage and honor," Antonius answered.

"Oh, that's..."

She was interrupted by the noise of a plasma discharge and the death scream of a pony.
They spun around and dashed into the direction the sound had come from. Finally, the Chaos Space Marine had been found. Antonius could hardly wait to kill the traitor.

As they approached the corner of a house, an earth pony guard came into view, running for dear life, screaming in panic. It was of no use. A plasma bolt hit his abdomen and sent what was left of him flying against a wall.
The group stopped and Antonius aligned his bolter. As soon as the traitor showed up, he would be ripped apart by bolts!

Now, something appeared around the corner of the house. Antonius could barely prevent himself from pulling the trigger. It was a little grey pegasus filly with an orange mane and tail, held at shoulder height by a red gauntleted hand. Luna and the batponies gasped.
Then, the Chaos Space Marine stepped around the corner, limping, always holding the crying filly in front of him.

"Be careful, Ultramarine, you might hit me," he said.

That damned bastard had taken a hostage!

"Lorgar must be very proud of you", Antonius responded,
"you have enough courage to threaten an infant."

"Oh, it's quite effective," the word Bearer opined, shaking the filly a bit,
"you like 'effective', don't you?"

"Put her down and we will settle this within our kin."

"First, you will listen to me."

"Save your breath, I'm not going to brownnose some daemons."

"You mean join Chaos? Oh no, I know, a honorable Ultramarine wouldn't see the truth if it bit him. But that's not what I wanted to talk about.
But first, be so kind to take down your bolter. You won't need it. Or do you want to take the risk and hurt this little creature?"

Antonius knew the filly could be considered 'acceptable collateral damage', but he did not like this thought. Seeing an innocent creature just as collateral damage was against his conviction. But putting away his bolter without some preparations would be stupid.

"Throw away your weapons and we will see."

To his surprise, the Word Bearer really threw away his bolter and his plasma pistol. Antonius put his bolter to his hip.

"Sword?" he asked.

"I am just cooperative, not stupid. But it's better that way, isn't it?
Now, see, my master knew something unusual had happened when our cruiser had been destroyed. So, he sent out his warriors to find out what it was. I was sent through the Warp to this region of space, but I could not find anything, until suddenly... something appeared. I cut the fabric of reality with my sword and going through this gate, I found this planet."

Damned. A daemonic sword. This 'something' the bastard had seen was probably the breaking of the veil.

The traitor continued:

"I dropped out of the Warp high above the surface. My connection to the Warp was severed and I made a hard landing.
At first I thought this might be an elaborate trap by you imperial lapdogs, but I soon realized that this was far beyond your intelligence. Now I know that the both of us have the same problem. We are stuck here, on this planet of pathetic aliens."

Quite talkative, this Word Bearer. Was he telling the truth? Did this planet have some kind of Warp protection? That would explain why the ponies could use magic without suffering the dangerous consequences...
The Word Bearer continued:

"Now, here comes my offer: Help me open a Warp portal so that I can return home, and I will take you with me, away from this cursed planet, and back to your beloved Ultramar. You won't need to join Chaos, just take care of your own business. How does that sound?"

Antonius had longed for a chance to get back to Ultramar, but this was definitely not the chance he was looking for. Another thought crossed his mind.

"And while I 'take care of my own business' in Ultramar, you will take care of the ponies, right?"

"Probably. Don't tell me you care about them. Hmm... Okay, if you want, take one of them, perhaps the bigger dark blue one at your side, with you as a pet, or as whatever you want to use this creature for."

Luna snorted angrily:

"We are not a pet, nor anything else that can be 'used', villain!"

The Word Bearer laughed.

"Oh, you will be. A pet, a slave, a toy, a corpse. Or perhaps you prefer to join us? We will discuss this later. Now be quiet and let the grownups talk."

Luna made a step forward, but stopped when the Chaos Space Marine shook the filly again.

"Now, what do you say, Ultramarine? Help me! A few more sacrifices and I will be able to open a portal and get you back to Ultramar. Then, you can do your duty again instead of getting bored by those creatures."

Antonius was not tempted. Not the least bit.
Of course he did not trust this Word Bearer, but there was something else: He would not let the ponies suffer the horrors of Chaos. Even the Elements of Harmony were irrelevant when he made his decision.

There still was a problem, though: The filly. He had to make the traitor drop her, but how?
Suddenly, someone behind the Word Bearer shouted

"Courage and honor!"

Moonlight?

The traitor spun around, dropping the filly and whipping out his sword. Before the little mare hit the ground, she was teleported by Luna onto her back and immediately covered by her wings. The filly was safe now.

Antonius was amazed by Moonlight's trick: Now he could finally deal with the traitor.
Unfortunately, she was not content with just fooling him. She made an actual attack run!
Bad idea. Very bad idea. Like a bad idea having a bad idea.

Moonlight aimed for his neck joint, but her strike was easily deflected. As a response, the Chaos Space Marine's sword shot towards Moonlight. She tried to get away and gain altitude, but she was too slow.
The blade entered her belly and left again between her hind legs, slashing open her stomach. She screamed and dropped towards the ground. Luckily, she had enough momentum to gain some distance to her enemy before she crashed.

"Moonlight!" Blackwing screamed in horror and dashed towards her.

He would have been the next victim of the Word Bearer, but now, Antonius attacked.
The roar of his chainsword filled the air, yet it was drowned out by his angry

"Courage and honor!"

He would not waste a bolt on this bastard. He would rip him apart in melee.

Luna was mad with anger as she saw Moonlight getting slashed.
Antonius now engaged the Word Bearer in close combat, and she wished she could do the same, but that would risk the life of the filly on her back, and there was Moonlight, too!

What should she do? Endanger the filly and abandon Moonlight or abandon Antonius?
She realized she could only make a wrong decision, she just had to pick the least wrong one. Well, Antonius certainly could take care of himself, but Moonlight needed her help. So, while Antonius' and his enemy's swords collided, she hurried over to her.
Moonlight was lying on her back, still alive, but bleeding heavily. Blackwing was desperately trying to keep the wound shut and stop the bleeding, although with little success.

Luna's horn flared up as she used her healing magic on Moonlight. It worked to a certain degree, but was not as effective as she was used it to be. She took a closer look at the wound. The tissue that had been severed looked grey. Some kind of evil magic, probably. Luna intensified her efforts, although it was hard to concentrate with the sounds of battle nearby. She risked a look at the fight.

There they were, two titans, fighting to the death. Antonius' chainsword came down on his enemy, whose sword came up to block the strike. At the last moment, Antonius twisted his sword so that its teeth did not have to take the force of the impact. There was obviously more to fighting with a chainsword than just to strike your opponent...

Luna quickly turned back to Moonlight. She wished she could at least watch the fight, but she needed all of her attention to help the injured batpony. While she was busy pouring healing magic into Moonlight's wound and directing it to stop the bleeing, she felt the filly on her back stirring. The little pony had shoved the feathers of Luna's wings aside and was watching the battle.

"Don't look at that, little filly," Luna told her,
"you have seen more than enough violence today."

The filly didn't listen and kept watching, and Luna did not have the time nor the spare magic to stop her.

"Fine. Than at least tell me as soon as Antonius - the blue one - gets in danger."

Antonius was fighting with all the determination and righteous fury expected of an Ultramarine.
He had not landed a critical hit yet, but neither had his enemy. In fact, the Word Bearer was mostly in the defense, blocking blow after blow and only rarely attacking.
Why this lack of offensive?

Well, without his connection to the warp, the Chaos Space Marine was weakened, so he stuck to defending himself and waited for his chance to stab his sword into Antonius.
A cruel sword, as Antonius noticed. The blade had a reddish hue and it looked as if wet with blood.
Really a daemonic sword. That also meant that Moonlight's wound was even deadlier than it already had seemed to be.
Antonius had to bring this fight to an end as soon as possible. The chainsword steadily consumed fuel. Without a chance to refuel, it would become useless in the long run.

Unfortunately, the Word Bearer's defense was really good, but perhaps he could make the traitor angry and careless...
He slowed down his attacks a bit, and his enemy took the bait.

"Already tired, Ultramarine? These few days with those ponies have already made you weak!"

"The only thing tiring here is you fighting style! Do you want to bore me to death? Well, I guess it is at least better than your usual MO, babbling your opponents to death!"

"Babbling? Your death will be much more painful than that! I will cut you to pieces!"

"You will certainly try. But it is you who will taste death and defeat!"

"Hah! You will never defeat me! And even if you would, my master and his companions are still out there! More than two dozen Word Bearers and more than thrice as many cultists! What do you think you can do against them, huh? Nothing!
You can only die, Ultramarine, die a useless death, forgotten by everyone, and Chaos will be triumphant!
We will bath in the blood of these pathetic ponies! We will..."

"Babble! " Antonius interrupted him.

"You insolent...!"

The Word Bearer attacked fiercely, trying to stab Antonius.
Just as ordered.
Antonius deflected the strike and a left backhand hit the Chaos Space Marine's helmet, tilting it to the side and exposing the neck joint.
Bingo.

Now, Antonius quickly stabbed the roaring chainsword into this weak spot.
Sparks were flying as the weapon cut into the joint, as well as a tooth of the sword, but that was an acceptable sacrifice for killing one of those cursed traitors.
The sparks were replaced by a fountain of blood as the sword dug into the Word Bearer and started eviscerating him. The traitor struck against Antonius, but only hit his pauldron, doing no damage except a little notch.
The chainsword went deeper and deeper into the Chaos Space Marine who screamed in pain and anger. He tried to push Antonius' arm upward, but the loyalist, powered by his hate and anger, was too strong for his attempts to succeed.
His resistance faltered and his screaming became a gurgling as his lungs were ripped apart. He fell down to his knees.
Antonius twisted his chainsword and guided it through his enemy's body. When the Word Bearer's arms became limp, he ripped it out again.
The traitor fell on his back, finally dead.

Antonius' armor was drenched in blood, as was the ground around them. Getting rid of this filth had to wait, though.
He put the chainsword to his hip and ran over to Luna and the other ponies. To his surprise, Moonlight was still alive, eyes closed, her facial features distorted in agony. Another surprise was the little filly on Luna's back, who had obviously watched him fighting the Word Bearer. She just looked at him with big eyes, but did not say a word.

Now, Luna noticed his presence and said:

"It is looking grim. We have to take her to a hospital at once."

It really looked grim, but Luna had been able to stop most of the bleeding.

"Can we move her?" Batwing asked worriedly.

"If we don't, she will die. Fly to the chariots and get one!"

Blackwing started immediately and darted out of town.

"I have never seen a wound like this," Luna stated,
"what wicked kind of weapon was this?"

"Some kind of daemonic sword," Antonius explained,
"tell me if I can help you."

"Thanks, but no, you can't help me."

A moment later, Blackwing came back, and he was not alone. Twilight and her friends, as well as the guards, were running towards them, followed by the chariots.

"They were already on their way," Blackwing explained.

Well, better late than never.

"Here we are!" Twilight shouted,
"we heard your sword and knew we couldn't let you down. Then there as a scream... is it already over?"

"Yes, it is," Antonius told her,
"now, we have to get Moonlight to a hospital."

"The next one is in Coltport."

"Okay, get Moonlight onto the fastest chariot. Luna and Blackwing will take care of her during the flight. You and your friends take care of the filly we rescued. Board another chariot and follow. I will take the guards and search the town for survivors or more cultists."

"No, you must come with us," Luna said.

"I am too heavy, I would slow you down," Antonius objected.

"Not that much, but you are the only one with experience with that kind of wounds. Your knowledge might be vital."

"Hmm. Reasonable. I just need a second."

While Luna was issuing orders to the guards and Fluttershy placed the filly onto her back, he quickly picked up the dead Word Bearer's weapons and put the bolter and the sword down next to the corpse. Then, he checked the plasma pistol. Still a few shots left. Good.

Antonius shouted

"Clear the area!",

set the weapon to overload and stuffed it into the chainsword-wound. He would not let a single remnant of this creature remain here.

The guards were quickly leaving the market square as he dashed over to Moonlight's chariot and jumped onboard, shouting

"Start!"

The chariot took off and headed towards Coltport, followed by another one carrying Twilight and her friends.
When they had just cleared the town, the plasma pistol detonated and its super-heated gases disintegrated the remnants of the Word Bearer. The explosion made Moonlight open her eyes again. She looked at Luna, asking weakly:

"We have won, haven't we?"

"Yes, we have," Luna answered, still using her magic to keep Moonlight alive.

"Awesome..."

Now, Moonlight turned to Backwing:

"Blacky?"

"Yes, my dear?" he answered, holding her hoof.

"Princess Luna is here, Antonius is here, you are here, but I won't be here much longer..."

"Don't say that!"

"Blacky, let us antedate our marriage... let me die as your mare..."

"Hey, don‘t be so melodramatic. And don't dare to die!"

"I'll do my best..."

And so Antonius witnessed a short and improvised pony wedding ceremony, hastily officiated by Luna. It was a rather... strange ending for a mission against Chaos, or for any mission of an Astartes at all.

Ponies - they were not like him, not Astartes. For him, being killed on duty was a noble end, an end you could be proud of. He did not need to worry about a partner he would leave behind.
Thankfully the Emperor - in his wisdom - had spared his Space Marines from that kind of problems. No longing for starting a family, no longing for a partner relationship. They did their duty until they were killed, even beyond that if they were both worthy and lucky enough.
For these two batponies, death ruined their plans for a common future.

Well, Moonlight was not dead yet; perhaps she had a chance to survive, but that depended largely on Luna's abilities. There was still hope.
Hope.
The first step on the road to disappointment.

The sun set and the chariots sped towards Coltport, trying to beat time itself in a race to save Moonlight's life.