It was late afternoon as the chariots arrived at Canterlot. Antonius, the ponies and Spike immediately went to see Celestia in the throne room.

"Thank you for returning so quickly," she said,
"the chariots from Hope will arrive in about an hour. The ballroom has been prepared for the celebration. I will give a short speech thanking everypony for their deeds, and I will also offer our condolences to them for their losses. Would any of you like to say something, too?"

Twilight and her friends shook their heads.

"I will tell them about Moonlight's condition," Luna stated,
"she is a member of my Night Guard, and I was in charge of this mission, so it is my duty."

"What about you, Antonius?" Celestia asked,
"do you want to say something? You are the one who defeated the Chaos Space Marine, after all."

"I'm not very good at speeches," Antonius told her,
"and I think death has not the same meaning to me as it has to you ponies."

"Could you elaborate this a bit?"

"For a Space Marine, being killed on duty is an end to be proud of. We live for the Emperor, we die for the Emperor.
In the afterlife, we will meet him to be judged. If we have led an honorable life, He will take care of our souls, until the final battle takes place, when the souls of the dead will be summoned for a last fight against Chaos.
And while our soul is with the Emperor, waiting to fight again, the gene seeds of our bodies are harvested to create new Space Marines. So, with our deaths, we pave the way for the next generation of Astartes."

"Are you not afraid of death?" Fluttershy asked.

"No. It is just the last duty to fulfill."

"And what if your emperor is not happy with your life?"

"Come on," Rainbow Dash interrupted,
"how could he not be content? I mean, Antonius's kinda awesome!"

"Thank you for the compliment," Antonius laughed, then he suddenly got serious:
"I have to admit, though, that I'm not as sure as you are. What I am about to do will be serious transgressions of the Codex Astartes: I will not just join forces with your kin, I will train you and grant you access to human knowledge.
While everything I'm going to do will be done with the objective of defeating Chaos, it may be that I'll cross a line, dishonor my chapter and forfeit my soul.
I don't know. Such a situation is not envisioned in the Codex. I'll have to wait for my death to get to know if my actions were justifiable or not, if the Emperor's Peace will be given to me or not.
Be that as it may, I've made my decision: I will help you."

The ponies looked at him, then came the inevitable group hug.

"What about my parents?" Stormy asked suddenly,
"will the emperor also take care of them?"

Antonius at first reflexively thought 'no', but then he thought about it again and realized:
Damned, that question really was worth a second thought.
What was more important: The fact that they were xenos, or the fact that they were allies of humanity and enemies of Chaos? It was exactly the same question Antonius already had to deal with, and he had no answer.

Fortunately, Celestia took over the conversation:

"The Great Beyond is a mystery to all of us, my little pony. While I can't tell you exactly what is going on there, I can assure you that your parents are fine there. You do not need to worry about them."

"Yes, Princess," Stormy answered quietly.

It was probably not exactly the answer she would have liked to hear, but it was a better one than any Antonius could have given her.

Celestia cleared her voice:

"Twilight, could you and your friends please check the preparations and make sure everything is all right? My sister and I will show Antonius and Stormy their quarters."

"Oh, then don't forget this," Rarity exclaimed and hovered her parcel over to Antonius,
"your pajamas!"

"Thank you," Antonius said with a nod, grabbed the parcel and the groups parted.

The Princesses led Antonius and Stormy to their room. Antonius would never have thought it possible to share his quarters with an alien, but he had agreed to take care of Stormy and he would do anything necessary to successfully complete this task.
By the way, he had already done a lot of things he had always thought to be impossible, and he knew he even would continue doing things of that category.

They arrived at the designated room, not far away from Luna's quarters. It was fairly big - at least for ponies - and radiated the same coziness as the princesses' quarters. To Antonius' surprise, the furniture was properly sized for Space Marines, which he had to inquire about:

"Did you manufacture this pieces of furniture for me?"

"Of course," Celestia told him,
"pony furniture is not suitable for you, so we ordered these to be built."

He took a closer look at them. They were clearly built to bear his weight, but the ponies had nonetheless tried to give them the same look as the regular pieces of furniture - with success; they looked like oversized, stout pieces of pony furniture.
One thing was differed from this rule, though: a small bed. Stormy's.

"How do you like it?" Luna inquired.

"Acceptable," Antonius answered and put the parcel on a table,
"No, even more than that. It's actually quite nice. Cozy."

"I think it's nice, too," Stormy said and went over to her bed.
"I think I will test it," she proclaimed and crawled into it.

"Comfortable?" Celestia asked with a smile.

Stormy nodded and yawned. A few seconds later, she was asleep.

"I guess the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders' kept her busy all day," Antonius opined,
"I hope she can sleep soundly."

"I'll keep an eye on her dreams," Luna promised.

"And I'll order a guard to look after her when we leave for the celebration," Celestia added.

The princesses sat down on a plushy carpet.
Aha, another discussion was about to begin.

"Antonius, we need to talk before the guards arrive from Hope," Celestia said.

Antonius also sat down and she continued:

"They will ask us what is about to happen, and how we are going to react to it."

"Just tell them the truth: we are expecting another Chaos attack within a century and need to prepare for it," he suggested.

"Yes, but how will we prepare?" Celestia asked depressively,
"we will have to relinquish our peaceful style of life, won't we? I fear that ponykind as we know it is at an end, one way or the other: If we stay peaceful, we will be wiped out. In order to survive, we will have to convert our society into some kind of warrior society."

Antonius thought about that for a second, then he answered:

"I don't think so."

"Really?" she asked in amazement.

"Yes. I suggest that the majority of your subjects should continue their normal lives with only minimum changes for the time being. We will strengthen your military, but we won't turn everyone into a soldier. We'll also need farmers for food and workers for weapons, ammunition and armor, after all.
When we are done, a lot of ponies will contribute to our war effort, but they will still be a minority. We will make sure that you can keep your... positive attitude. I think everything else wouldn't be good for the Elements of Harmony, but I admit that that is just a guess."

"Care to explain your thoughts?"

"The Elements are generosity, honesty, kindness, laughter, loyalty and magic. These qualities are present in your society and are concentrated in the Element Bearers, right?"

"Right."

"Since your species seems to be closely linked to your magic, I think we could risk losing those qualities and weaken the Elements of Harmony if we are too strict and make life too grim. As I said, that's just a guess, but I think my assumption is plausible. We should at least be careful."

"We ponies do have a strong connection to our magic, that's true. I will be honest with you: I really like what you said, but I'm not sure if it's entirely true. Nobody has ever tried to change our society that drastically. I just don't know the consequences if we tried to. Maybe we would weaken the Elements, maybe not.
I concur with your opinion, though: Let's not take unnecessary risks. I have to admit, however, that I'm a bit surprised of your insights in our magic."

"Just logical thinking. The thought of the Elements of Harmony in a grim, merciless warrior society... that just seems wrong, implausible.
As I said: I don't want to take any unnecessary risks, so I would like to maintain the cultural status quo as far as possible."

"I agree with you."

"Good. Now that that's clarified, we need to discuss the military built-up."

"We could extend the Royal Guard and Night Guard."

"As far as I know, the Night Guard protects your ponies from dangerous wildlife, and the Royal Guard is rather ceremonial than a real fighting force."

"Yes, but we can change that."

"Are they volunteers or conscripts?"

"Volunteers."

"Of course they are," Antonius deadpanned,
"then, if they volunteered for a ceremonial unit or a patrol unit and we force them into a real fighting force, they efficiency will be terrible. We also can't push them too hard, for they are just mere ponies - no offense. I suggest we leave the Royal and Night Guard be and create a PDF, a wholly new fighting force, made up of volunteers for that force."

"PDF?" Luna asked,
"Pony Defense Force?"

Antonius smiled:

"Almost. Actually, it's 'Planetary Defense Force'. Hmm, now that I think about it: The Chaos attack will probably affect the whole planet, not just you. Perhaps it would be a good idea to include other species you are allied with, too? At least in the long run? Well, at first, we should stick to ponies."

Celestia was obviously relieved:

"Volunteers. Very good. I thought that..."

"I am a militaristic maniac who goes 'war, war, war' on everyone and everything, hmm?" Antonius asked, grinning broadly.

"Well... not really... perhaps a bit... sort of? Sorry, Antonius, it's just that..."

"You care for your subjects. I don't mind that. It's your duty, and I appreciate that you do your best to fulfill it."

Celestia sighed.

"We did not have the best start, did we?" she asked.

"Taking into consideration that you are a leader of an alien species, I can assure you that I had worse starts," Antonius told her, still smiling.

"I think you should spent a little more time together," Luna suggested,
"perhaps your relationship will get better."

"Luna, you know I don't have a lot of free time, and if Antonius stands next to me while I'm on the throne, it won't benefit us much," Celestia opined.

Antonius raised an eyebrow:

"It's unfavorable if you can't take some time off, since I intend to train both of you, too."

"I'll try to rearrange my schedule," Celestia said,
"but I wouldn't like to miss out on my duties. There is always a lot to decide."

"Don't you have something like a senate that takes care of the minor decisions?" Antonius asked.

"Actually, no, I handle everything myself, I just have ministers who counsel me."

"You should think about empowering them a bit, or establishing a senate, so that you only have to deal with the really important questions."

"Doesn't that mean that I will lose touch with my subjects?"

"I didn't say you should lock yourself up in an ivory tower. Just get some free time. Luna, what about you?"

"Well, I can take time off. I'll skip some of the nightly patrols; my guards can do some of them on their own, after all. I just have to be able to guard my subjects' dreams," Luna opined.

"Now that we're at it, what are you going to teach us?" Celestia wanted to know.

"Close-quarters combat!" Luna smiled.

"Among other things," Antonius explained,
"Am I right that you, Celestia, are more the administrative type and you, Luna, are more of a warrior?"

The princesses looked at each other, then they nodded, and Celestia added:

"You are not wrong, but don't underestimate me. I have also fought quite a few battles. I prefer diplomatic solutions, though, or ranged combat magic, at least."

"Okay," Antonius said,
"Luna, we will concentrate on melee, strategy and tactics. Celestia, we'll just do basic combat practice and focus on military administration and logistics."

The princesses looked baffled.

"Did you just say 'logistics'?" Celestia asked.

"Of course," Antonius answered,
"how do you think the Ultramarines are able to run the Realm of Ultramar? Furthermore, even the best soldiers are useless when they are starving or don't have ammunition, so: logistics!"

"You really are much more than just a warrior," Celestia smiled,
"you also see the big picture."

"There is another point we need to discuss," Luna said,
"how to integrate Antonius into our chain of command. He needs to be in charge of the new PDF, but he must not need to accept orders from normal nobility. I don't think 'captain' would be enough. We'll need a higher rank."

"You are right, Luna," Celestia opined,
"but it must still at least give the impression that he has to answer to us, otherwise our subjects will feel too uncomfortable. Antonius, would you accept such a position?"

"My primary duty is to guard mankind. As long as it doesn't contravene this duty, I'm fine with it," Antonius answered.

The princesses looked at each other.

"So, what are we going to do, sister? Which rank shall it be? What title?" Luna asked.

"'Prince' would be good, I think, but one of us would have to adopt Antonius," Celestia answered.

WHAT?

"You are kidding me, right? I certainly won't call you 'mommy'. I really don't think that would work." Antonius interjected.

"It would be 'aunt', but... well, we can't turn you into an alicorn, so we have to adopt you - or marry you," Celestia told him.

WHAT THE HELL???

No, wait, her facial expression - she was kidding. Just a joke. But a new level of jokes. He remembered the little incident this afternoon and realized he had to take this lightly. It would be best if he had a witty remark - unfortunately, he had none. Next best solution: skip the topic.

"Umm... There is no way I could justify that. More ideas?" Antonius inquired.

"We could create a new rank and title. It will be more difficult to introduce, but less awkward," Celestia said with a small smile.

"Do you have any suggestions for this new title?" Luna asked Antonius.

Antonius thought about that for a second, then he told them:

"There is no suitable title above 'Captain' now, just 'Chapter Master', but that would be just wrong.
However, there is a title called 'Force Commander' and during the time of the Great Crusade, there were 'Praetors', 'Legion Masters' and 'Lord Commanders', these titles are out of use amongst the Astartes, and I'm not sure if one of them fits."

"Lord Commander..." Luna repeated,
"it has ring to it, hasn't it?"

"Hmm, you are right," Celestia agreed,
"radiates authority even without having to explain its exact meaning. Okay, 'Lord Commander' it shall be."

She turned to Antonius with a smile and a wink:

"Unless you insist on marrying one of us."

So much for 'skipping the topic'. Antonius raised his hands:

"No offense, Princess, but no."

Now the princesses started laughing and Antonius joined in. He realized that it was not just a complimentary laugh, he had to admit that he genuinely enjoyed this... horseplay!

Luna was happy that Antonius seemed to enjoy this little get-together. When she thought about his face that afternoon when she had made a similar joke... Well, that was over, now he knew that it wasn't meant serious. He adapted to them.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Celestia's secretary came in.

"Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Mr. Varus," she greeted politely.

"Yes, Raven? Have the guards arrived?" Celestia asked.

"Yes, Princess. They are washing up now and should be in the ballroom soon. This is their report," Raven said and hovered a scroll over to Celestia."

"Thank you. Please see that the guards are comfortable."

Raven nodded and left the room. Celestia unrolled the scroll and started reading.

"Horrible," she told Luna and Antonius,
"43 ponies dead in total. Two guards, the rest were citizens of Hope. Horrible. A disaster."

"It could have been much worse, Celestia," Antonius said calmly,
"in fact, we have even been lucky. Yes, I know that sounds strange, but it is true nonetheless."

Celestia just nodded and gave Luna the report, which included a detailed casualty list.

Now it was time to go to the ballroom. They called a guard to have an eye on Stormy, then they left the little mare.
Once there, Luna could see several rows of long tables and chairs, enough to house every pony that had been in Hope. At the end of the room, across the tables' alignment, was another long table, where her sister, she, Antonius and the Element Bearers would sit.

"Antonius, would you please gather Twilight and her friends? The guards will arrive soon," Celestia asked.

Antonius nodded and left the princesses.

"You have been very friendly to him, sister," Luna said.

"Of course I was. He deserves sympathy. He really thinks his actions could cost his soul," Celestia answered.

"Yeah, it's terrible. I am not sure what is worse: The fact that this is possible, or the fact that he helps us anyway without hesitation. He even seemed to genuinely like our joking."

"He hates Chaos, he despises it. No wonder, if you think about the history of his species. He is even willing to sacrifice everything to help us overcome it. What a determination. As for the joking, I guess he has started to thaw a little."

"He really has started to like us. We must not disappoint him."

"We won't, Luna."

"Oh, by the way, sister: Did you really say we should give our subjects 'the impression that he has to answer to us'? You have forsaken your wish to keep him under your control?"

"More or less. Every attempt I started has been unsuccessful - to put it mildly. Furthermore, we already owe him a lot. I think he really does have our best in mind, and we can't ask him for help and then turn his help down, just because we do not like his ideas. He is the Chaos-expert, after all. We should just remind him from time to time that he is dealing with peaceful ponies, not battle-hardened humans."

"I just wish we could help him somehow."

"Me too, Luna, but I don't know how. He is mortal, and we are not in control of the afterlife."

"Perhaps we could try to change the first fact."

"His mortality?"

"Indeed, sister."

"Luna, we can't turn him immortal. The only way we can influence mortality is alicornhood, and as I said, we can't turn him into an alicorn; wrong species."

"Isn't there a spell to change that?"

Celestia looked at Luna in utter disbelieve.

"You mean, we could turn him into a pony, and subsequently into an alicorn? That's crazy! There are indeed transformation spells, but they are not intended for permanent transformations.
Besides, do I really have to remind you that alicornhood has to be earned by more than just fighting?"

"I know, sister, but we both also know that he is capable of more than just fighting. Maybe he can earn it. And maybe we can modify one of those spells to be permanent. It would save him."

"Perhaps, but even if we could, do you think he would accept that?"

Luna sighed.

"No, probably not. I think he would see it as treason to be transformed into a pony. You are right, it was a crazy idea. I just want to help him."

"Well, we could ask him what he thinks about that idea. And perhaps we will find another way, perhaps a rejuvenation spell, but I doubt he would be very fond of us using magic on him.
In the end, it may well be that helping him is beyond our powers, and we'll have to trust the wisdom of his emperor."

They ended their discussion as Antonius came back with the Element Bearers. They positioned themselves in front of their table and waited for the teams from Hope to arrive.

They did not have to wait long. Soon, the first guards entered the ballroom and sat down at the tables. Within minutes, all the seats were occupied. Time for Celestia to give a speech.

"Guards of the Royal- and Night Guard, my dear ponies, all of you have done great deeds in Hope during those last, hard days, be it the fighting itself or its aftermath. You have shown more courage and endurance than had seemed possible, and I, as well as my sister, am proud of you.
Now, we are hosting this celebration to show our gratitude and commemorate our losses."

That was Luna's cue. She stepped up to her sister's side and began to speak:

"We mourn the deaths of 41 ponies of Hope, as well as the deaths of Silver Sword and Broad Shield of the Royal Guard, who gave their lives to protect Equestria. Our thoughts are with their families. They are further with Moonlight of the Night Guard, who got severely injured, but is on the road to recovery in a hospital in Coltport."

They held a moment of silence, then Celestia spoke again:

"Now, my little ponies, eat, drink, and let the darkness not taint your hearts."

Darkness. It was always associated with evil, even though these two were not really related. Yes, there were evil powers that liked to hide in the shadows and used a dark look. Well, Luna was a dark blue mare who also could hide in the shadows and liked dark colors, but she was not evil. Not anymore. Of course she knew that the darkness her sister had spoken of was a metaphorical one and had nothing to do with her. She still felt somewhat excluded whenever she heard something like that.

Now, however, she barely cared. She had something else to worry about. This 'something' was two and a half meters tall, clad in blue armor and willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to help them. Her own uneasiness with the use of the word 'darkness' was nothing compared to that. She knew she had to help him. She had to succeed.

They were half an hour into the celebration - if you insisted on calling this a 'celebration'. The mood was rather glum, as everypony was thinking about the ponies who were killed in Hope. Luna took a look at Antonius. He looked a bit indifferent, but somehow she knew that he was not content with the course of this celebration. Her assumption proved to be right when he started speaking:

"Ponies, do not be that depressed. While it certainly is appropriate to mourn your dead, you must not solely focus on that. We are celebrating our victory over the forces of Chaos here. Cheer up!"

Well, Antonius was certainly not the most sensitive creature in Equestria, but he wasn't wrong either. One of the guards answered:

"We are sorry, Mr. Varus, but how can we cheer? You said 'our victory', but, truth be told, it is more 'your victory'. We were not really involved in the battle."

"While it is true that it was I who killed the Chaos Space Marine and that this was a glorious deed, it is nowhere near true that this is my victory alone.
We were there, together. We fought there, together. So, we can celebrate OUR victory now, together!
Even those who were not part of the battle can be merry, for it was a victory for all of ponykind! A great threat was defeated, countless lives were saved! Is this not a reason to cheer?"

He stood up and lifted his mug. All ponies - and the dragon - in the ballroom followed his example. Then, Antonius exclaimed:

"Here's to ponykind! May your lives be long and prosperous!"

"Ponykind!" the crowd answered and everypony drank.

"Here's to the princesses!" another guard cheered.

"Here's to the Element Bearers!" shouted another one.

"Here's to Antonius Varus, hero of ponykind!" the guard who had first spoken exclaimed now.

From that point on, the celebration slowly started deserving this term.

It ended about two hours later and the guards left the ballroom. Twilight and her friends bid goodnight and left, too. Now, Luna, Celestia and Antonius were alone again.

"Well, I think, all told, this celebration was a success," Celestia opined.

"It was," Luna agreed,
"the guards know now that we appreciate them."

"A bit much emphasis on the commemoration at first," Antonius analyzed,
"it finally became a victory celebration, but you are clearly not used to ponies dying on duty. That will probably change."

"Thanks for bolstering us up," Celestia deadpanned.

Antonius shrugged with an apologetic smile and Celestia continued:

"Before I go to bed, we should talk about one or two open issues concerning the new PDF and your position, Antonius. How to muster the PDF, for example. I thought about an Equestria-wide proclamation. Those who are interested can come to Canterlot and we can chose those who we think are suitable.
Apropos 'suitable': How are we supposed to asses that? On the one hoof, we must not be too fussy, or the PDF will be too short at numbers, on the other hoof, we must apply a pretty high standard and only select ponies who will be capable of fighting and surviving."

"We should be rather picky for the first batch, as those ponies will be the trainers of the following batches," Antonius said.

"You do not want to train every pony yourself?"

"Not exactly, just the first batch of future trainers. Once they are ready, we will send them out to create and train PDF companies throughout Equestria for optimal coverage. These companies will come to Canterlot in terms to receive additional training. At first, I will train them personally. In the long run, I will act as a supervisor to the training and only intervene if needed. Recruiting and training will have to work without me, just in case.
Ideally, there will be enough volunteers to create a proper PDF. If that is not the case, we will have to conscribe them."

"Why do you only want to supervise? You are not planning to do something stupid, are you?" Luna asked worriedly.

"No, Luna, I am not, but building a keystone of your defense on a single person would not be wise, even if that person is an Astartes."

Celestia nodded:

"Okay, sounds reasonable. I will prepare the proclamation and add some requirements to make sure that only capable ponies will apply. The interviews will start in four weeks."

"That's a bit of a delay, isn't it?" Antonius interjected.

"Yes, but it is necessary. We have to give them time to decide and subsequently travel to Canterlot. Some will even have to take leave from their jobs. That slows things down a bit."

"Hmm. Acceptable."

"I will further send news about you throughout all of Equestria, including a short history of your species. Our ponies shall know the truth about what is happening and going to come.
Okay, that was issue number one, now comes number two. I am afraid you won't be very fond of this."

Oh. Luna thought about what her sister might be planning.

"Then tell me, what is 'issue number two'?" Antonius asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Well, I told you that our subjects must get the impression that you have to answer to us. You agreed in this respect."

"As long as it does not contravene my primary duty."

"Don't worry, it won't, but when we are in public, you should... well... accept our orders in a credible way..."

Oh. How would Antonius react to that?

"You want me to put on a show? Is that everything?" he asked calmly.

Hmm, he took that better than Luna had thought.

"Well, actually, yes," Celestia said a bit confused. She had also expected this to be more of a problem.

"Celestia, Luna, as long as your orders are not directed against mankind, there should be no problem. I'll play along, on this understanding: Should you mess this up, give nonsensical orders or the like, we'll stop immediately."

"Oh, I can live with that," Luna smiled.

"Me too," Celestia agreed,
"but can you play our 'subordinated' warrior in a credible way?"

Antonius smiled:

"Just test me."

Celestia made a thoughtful face.

"Well, what order could we give you..." she reflected.

"Oh, I know!" Luna exclaimed, then she cleared her voice and commanded:
"Antonius Varus, go back to your quarters, relieve the guard there and take care of the filly Stormy Skies!"

Antonius snapped to attention, smashed his gauntleted fist into his armored chest, turned around and left the room at a smart pace. Luna looked after him.

"Well, I'm convinced," she stated.

"Indeed," Celestia answered.

A smile crept onto Luna's features. Time to tease her sister a bit:

"Now that we have our own super-soldier Space Marine, which land shall we subdue first, sister?"

"LUNA!!!" Celestia shouted, completely taken aback.

Luna burst out laughing:

"Sorry, sister, but I could not resist."

"That was not funny, Luna."

"Come on, it was just a joke."

"Okay..."

"Really, I have learned my lesson about the abuse of power. I will return to my quarters now, there are still a few hours until the patrol starts. Goodnight, sister. See you!"

Luna left the ballroom, leaving Celestia behind.