Hmm... a good plan. Luna would certainly be surprised and it would also prove Celestia's trust in her. A far as Antonius was concerned, it would even simplify his integration into the ponies' military.

Celestia had gone again and Stormy was still lying on his chest. He waited about half an hour, but the little filly made no move to wake up.
How long were such fillies supposed to sleep? He had no idea, but he could not keep lying in bed the whole morning, so her carefully nudged her.

"Good morning, Stormy, rise and shine!"

He got a quiet grumbling as an answer, but she opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Do I really have to?" she finally asked.

"Well, yes, since I cannot get up without you getting up first. By the way, how did you sleep?"

"Great," she yawned,
"you were really fluffy this time."

Good, the pajamas fulfilled their purpose.

"Now, do you get up? For breakfast, perhaps?"

"Oh, breakfast!" Stormy smiled, got to her hooves and jumped down to the ground.

Now, Antonius also could get up. After donning his armor and getting ready for the day, they left their quarters. A guard was waiting for them.

"Good morning, Mr. Varus, good morning, Mrs. Skies," he greeted,
"I have order to escort you to the Princesses for breakfast."

Oh, convenient.

The guard led them to a small refectory. They arrived contemporaneously with Twilight and her friends, Celestia and Luna were already there. After a lot 'good morning's they sat down and started eating.
Celestia cleared her voice and said:

"Antonius, today at sunset we will officially introduce you into our ranks. My little ponies, I would appreciate it if you could stay until then. Twilight, Spike, you'll stay in Canterlot to help us understand human technology. Is that okay with you?"

"Of course!" Twilight and Spike exclaimed.

"Antonius, what are we going to start with?" Celestia asked.

"At first, I would like to maintain my chainsword. A tooth must be replaced and it has to be cleaned and lubricated. I suppose you do not have lubricants consecrated by the Adeptus Mechanicus?"

"No, not exactly."

"Then I will need your best lubricant; heat-resistant and smooth-running. Furthermore, I'll need a mug of water, a bowl, a conical flask or something similar, as well as some incense, also highest quality."

"No problem. Just say when and where."

"Right after the breakfast, in the armorium. Celestia, Twilight, we'll have a close look at the engine, for you'll have to come up with a promethium-replacement to fuel it. I'll give you some promethium so that you can study its qualities."

"Would you mind me having a look, too?" Luna asked.

"Not at all," Antonius answered,
"if you want, we will have a look at the mechanism of the sword and I will teach you how to maintain it."

"Perfect, thank you!"

"Hey," Rainbow Dash exclaimed,
"this sword-thingy is cool! I want to see this maintenance, too!"

"Well, I am not that mesmerized by your sword, but I would certainly like to see that base of yours," Rarity added.

"Okay," Antonius said,
"spectators are welcome. Now, let's finish breakfast and get going."

About half an hour later, they were on their way towards the imperial base. A servant had brought the required items. Spike, eager to get something to do, had volunteered to carry them.

When they arrived at the old laboratory, Twilight rejoiced:

"I can hardly believe it! One of Star Swirl's laboratories! He stood here, on this very ground..."

"Uh-oh. She's switched over into her 'Star Swirl fan mode'," Rainbow Dash deadpanned.

"I also find it hard to understand how somepony can be that excited because of all those dusty old things," Rarity opined.

"Dusty old things?" Twilight exclaimed,
"this is equestrian history! Perhaps we can even find..."

"The door to the imperial base," Antonius cut her short and pointed forward.

"Oh my, that must be the biggest door I have ever seen," Fluttershy mumbled.

"Yep. Pretty big door for pretty big guys," Rainbow Dash agreed.

Antonius went over to the door, activated the data-slate and kissed it.

"Hey, another one who really likes dusty old things!" Pinkie cheered.

Antonius did not dignify that with an answer.

"This laboratory will soon be clean again," Celestia told them,
"I asked a cleaning crew to come here. They should arrive any moment now. And don't worry, I told them to keep away from the door."

When the door had slid into the wall, he entered the base and made for the armorium. Once in the entrance hall, the ponies started chatting:

"Hmm, the architecture is a bit... gloomy," Rarity said.

"And intimidating," Fluttershy added.

"I think it's awesome," Rainbow exclaimed,
"just look at the size of everything! And the style! Everything downright screams 'made by badflanks'."

"That's what I find intimidating," Fluttershy returned.

"It is some form of gothic, adapted to Space Marine size," Twilight analyzed.

"Not cozy," Applejack stated.

"That's a matter of opinion," Luna said,
"I personally like that style, and even if you disagree with me, you have to admit that it is very durable. This base is more than ten thousand years old, after all."

They crossed the entrance hall and reached the armorium soon. Antonius wanted to go to one of the workbenches, but Celestia asked:

"It would perhaps be a good idea to let in some fresh air. Could you please open the hangar door? You could also show those vehicles to Twilight and her friends that way."

"Yes, especially this Land Speeder we talked about," Twilight said.

"As you wish. Spike, you can put down your load onto this workbench," Antonius answered and opened the door to the hangar.

Rainbow Dash immediately shot towards the Stormbird and exclaimed:

"WHOA! What is THAT?"

"A Stormbird dropship," Antonius explained,
"it is used to transport troops and material from a spaceship to the surface of a planet and vice versa."

"Hold on a second," Rainbow said skeptically,
"you want to tell me that this monstrosity can fly?"

"Usually, yes. Unfortunately, I am not sure if I can get it going again. I'm not a Techmarine, and avionics is quite complicated. The engines also need a complete overhaul before we can dare to start them - if we can come up with a means of fuelling them, that is."

"What about the Land Speeder?" Twilight asked.

"Well, that is less complicated and I already have some experience with that kind of vehicle. I should be able to get it running again if the engines are not completely wrecked. Of course, the anti-grav system has to work, too."

"I can't wait for a test drive. Perhaps we could use some magic to..."

"Not unless all other means are exhausted. I doubt the Speeder's machine spirit would like your magic."

"'Machine spirit'?" Twilight inquired.

"We believe every machine has an - at least primitive - machine spirit. You have to propitiate this spirit for the machine to run smoothly. More complicated machines have truly intelligent machine spirits incorporated that can even run the machines themselves."

"That's kind of cool - and confusing," Rainbow Dash mumbled.

"Be that as it may, you wanted some fresh air, right?" Antonius said, went to the appropriate control panel and opened the hangar door.

Twilight and her friends looked out of the opened door.

"What a gorgeous vista!" Rarity said.

"You are right," Applejack opined,
"nice to see a bit of nature again."

"Applejack, we are here for just a few minutes," Twilight remarked.

"I know, but I prefer nature over high tech... stuff."

"Well, as you mention 'high tech stuff', I should start the chainsword maintenance. If you want to stay here by the hangar door, feel free to do so. If you want to join me, you are also welcome," Antonius said, turned around and went to the workbench where the items were waiting.

Every pony followed him and they formed a circle around the workbench.

Twilight was downright excited to see how such a maintenance would take place. Mankind used much more advanced technology than ponykind, but she intended to watch carefully and understand everything.
At the moment, Antonius examined the equipment and found incense sticks and a fitting holder. He put the incense holder on the workbench and tucked the sticks into it.

"Has anyone got a lighter?" he asked.

"An original, living dragon-lighter!" Spike exclaimed, jumped onto the workbench and ignited the incense sticks with his fire breath.

"Oh, thank you," Antonius said and put the other items Spike had carried onto the workbench.

Next was a small box he had carried on his belt. Finally, he put the chainsword there, too.

Instead of disassembling the sword, though, he started murmuring something; it almost sounded like a prayer of sorts. Hmm, incense and prayer... this maintenance seemed to be highly ritualistic - probably because of this 'machine spirit'.
When he had finished his prayer, he opened a small fastening and poured a strong smelling liquid from the sword into the conical flask.

"Promethium," he told them,
"pure promethium is highly volatile and ignites when exposed to air. Here, a stabilizer was added to make it easier to handle. When I refill the chainsword, I will leave a little bit in the flask for you to analyze."

Now he took tools out of the small box and started disassembling the sword. Its interior looked disgusting.

"Eww. What is that?" Rarity asked.

"Clotted blood, finely ground bone fragments and - oh, sawdust."

"Sawdust?"

"A last greeting from the timberwolf king I killed during my first nightly patrol.
The sawdust on its own is not a problem. The clotted blood in combination with the bones and the sawdust could prevent the mechanism from working, though.
I have to chide myself. I should have cleaned it immediately after returning from Hope. Be that as it may, now things get interesting."

He continued disassembling the weapon, explained its function and cleaned every peace with the water over the bowl. Finally, he removed a little contraption and held it in his hand. It was not dirty like the other pieces and was attached to a small tank. According to the position of this tank, this was where the promethium had been stored.

"This is the sword's engine," Antonius explained,
"Celestia, Twilight, have a close look now. It would be very beneficial if you understood how this device works."

"I wish I had brought parchment and a pencil," Twilight murmured.

"Don't worry, Twilight," Princess Celestia said.

Her horn lit up and said writing things hovered out of her mane. She took a close look at the engine, then, for a second, it was surrounded by a golden glow. Finally, she drew an exact image of the engine onto the parchment; obviously some kind of advanced copy spell Twilight did not know - yet.

"Not bad," Antonius opined,
"this ability is indeed very convenient. I will continue disassembling the engine."

He did so, all the while explaining what he was doing and how the device worked. At the same time, Princess Celestia used her spell to draw a schematic of the engine.
Once it was disassembled, he checked every part for damage. Finding none, he murmured another prayer and reassembled the engine.

"Antonius, could you please have a look?" Princess Celestia asked and lit her horn again.

The images she had drawn seemed to become alive and formed a three-dimensional hologram depicting the engine above the workbench.

"You can grab it," she told him.

Antonius extended his hand and did exactly that. Once in his hand, the hologram followed his movements like a physical item. He turned it around and looked at it from all sides.

"Impressive," he said,
"really. A flawless 3D hololith of the chainsword's combustion engine."

"We call it a 'hard light construct'."

"Showoff," Princess Luna whispered into her sisters ear, barely loud enough for Twilight to hear.

The princesses smiled at each other and the glow around Princess Celestia's horn faded, as did the construct.

Now Antonius took care of the chain and replaced the missing tooth with one out of the small box. Then he reassembled the sword, carefully lubing it in the process. At last, re refilled the promethium, leaving a bit of it in the flask.
He handed this flask to Princess Celestia and said:

"There. Try to come up with a suitable replacement, but be careful. It may be more stable than pure promethium, but it is still dangerous."

"Do not worry, we will take all possible precautions," she assured him and took the flask.

"Apropos precaution: It would be good if you could get rid of that contaminated water."

"No problem. We know how to deal with hazardous materials."

"Very good."

"Do you allow us to use this armorium for our research? We will likely have to use the devices here to build an engine to test our promethium replacements."

"Sure, but don't use the appliances until I told you how to. Hmm... I wonder what the machine spirits will think of them being used by aliens... Well, I guess they will have to be a bit flexible."

"Now that you mention 'flexible', do you grant access to this base to other ponies, too?"

"'Other ponies'?"

"Cleaning crews, lab assistants and so on."

"Okay, but select only the most trustworthy - and least curious. I won't grant them permission to enter the base on their own. though. They will have to be accompanied by one of you."

"Fine, thank you," Princess Celestia said and set the promethium sample down on one of the workbenches.

Antonius tinkered about with the sword a few more seconds, then he pushed a button and it started making a gurgling noise, as well as emitting dark, fetid smoke. He listened to the sound and smiled.
Now, he pulled a trigger and the gurgling became the characteristic, furious roar Twilight had heard in Hope. Not only the noise, the amount of smoke was also multiplied and Antonius looked at his sword with a huge grin.

"Perfect," he said, obviously content with the result of the maintenance.

He deactivated the weapon and put it to his belt. The small box followed immediately thereafter.

Antonius then took care of his bolter. It was a complicated mechanism and he cleaned and lubed it conscientiously. Finally, he took off one of his pauldrons and used another box to repair a small notch. Once done with that, he put it on again and said:

"So, my equipment is repaired. Now, let's move on to the Land Speeder."

"If you excuse me, my duties are calling. See you for lunch," Princess Celestia told him and grabbed the contaminated water with her magic.

"Alas, I think I'll have to leave, too. I need my rest," Princess Luna added.

The princesses left, and the Space Marine picked up the incense and went to the Land Speeder, followed by the remaining ponies and Spike.
Antonius put the incense down next to the vehicle, fetched a series of tools and murmured another short prayer. Then, he got busy.

Twilight found all of this very interesting, her friends not so much. Once she realized this - after half an hour - she told them:

"Girls, you don't have to wait here. If you have a better idea how to use the time until lunch, feel free to go."

"Well, we are in Canterlot, after all. I think I might be able to come up with something," Rarity smiled,
"would you like to join me, Spikey-wikey? You could help me carry one thing or two."

"At you service, Rarity!" Spike cheered and left together with the Element Bearers.

Now only Twilight, Antonius and Stormy were left.
Shortly afterwards, a few ponies came into the hangar.

"We are the cleaning- and lab-crews. Princess Celestia ordered us to prepare everything," one of them said.

"Okay. Do your duties, but be careful!" he told them and turned back to the Speeder.

The newcomers started working in the armorium, eyed by Antonius from time to time.

After a while, Twilight asked:

"Antonius, what exactly are you doing?"

"I am trying to remove one of the engines to overhaul it," Antonius answered.

"How long do you think it will take to get this Land Speeder operational again?"

"That depends largely on the condition of the engines - and how long you need to come up with a promethium replacement. Oh, by the way, the Land Speeder needs a different type of promethium than the chainsword. I think you should start with the chainsword-promethium, as that type will be less volatile."

"Of course, why should it be easy if it can also be complicated? Well, be that as it may, I think we'll start this afternoon, if Princess Celestia can spare the time, that is."

"Hmm, we really have to change her daily routine to give her some time."

Twilight looked a bit confused now.

"You can't just change her day. She has to make very important decisions for the good of all of ponykind," she stated.

"Yeah, like reviewing flower arranging..." Antonius mumbled.

"Huh? What flowers?"

"Forget it. It's not important," Antonius answered, shaking his head,
"I'm sure she knows which of her duties have priority."

Twilight felt a bit uncomfortable now. The way Antonius spoke about Princess Celestia was just... wrong.

"Antonius," she started.

"Hmm?"

"Don't you think it is a bit... disrespectful to talk about Princess Celestia like that? I get the impression that you are... criticizing her. You talk about her - and to her - as if she was an ordinary pony!"

"Well, she IS a pony, isn't she? So I talk about her, and to her, exactly that way."

"She is a pony, yes, but not an ordinary one. She is our princess, incredibly wise and benevolent, an alicorn! You just can't address her like a normal pony."

"To be honest, Twilight, I think she likes to be addressed on an equal footing - or hoofing, for all I care."

Twilight wanted to say something else, but at she heard a strange metallic sound. A moment later, Antonius pulled something like a... silver trunk out of the Land Speeder's rear. She could see lots of wires and tubes, and finally, he had a large cylinder in his arms and carefully set it down.

"Voilà, one Ramjet engine," he announced.

"Can I have a closer look?" Twilight asked, their earlier discussion overshadowed by this new interesting sight.

"Sure, but don't touch anything."

Twilight had a closer look: On one end of the engine, there was a fan of sorts, the opposite end was like a open pipe. Antonius carefully tried to turn the fan. It worked. He took his hand away and the fan kept spinning. The rotation got slower, but that took quite some time.

"Good. The bearing seems to be okay," Antonius said and started dismantling the engine.

After some time, one of the ponies came into the hangar and told them:

"We have finished our work, Mr. Varus. If you don't need us anymore, we would like to return to the upper levels."

"Sure. Feel free to do so. You can't help me here," Antonius answered.

The ponies left and the three were alone again. Twilight laid down and watched Antonius work, while Stormy climbed on her back and watched, too. Once he had removed the upper half of the engine's casing Twilight stood up again to get a better look. The fan she had seen earlier was not the only one, there were multiple fans of various sizes, but they always fitted the diameter of the engine's interior where they were placed.

"Something tells me that these fans are not just airscrews," she opined.

"You are right," Antonius confirmed,
"the fans in the engine's front part compress the air, then comes the combustion chamber, and the rear fans are accelerated by the exhaust and accelerate the front fans in turn."

"And you need the promethium for the combustion."

"Correct."

Antonius continued checking various parts of the engine. While Twilight still found this to be very exciting, Stormy slowly started to get querulous.

"Antonius," the little mare said,
"how long are you going to work on this... thingy?"

Twilight was actually surprised that the filly had stood this - to her undoubtedly boring - activity that long without complaining.

"The whole day," Antonius answered without batting an eye.

"The whole day?" she exclaimed.

Antonius look up.

"Bored?" he asked.

"Yes. Sort of."

"We'll take a break during lunch."

"And then we return and continue working?"

"Yes."

"Couldn't we fly to Ponyville again?"

"Not today, Stormy. This is important," Antonius said and turned to the engine again.

"Okay," Stormy said quietly.

Poor filly. She wanted to meet the Crusaders again, he wanted to finish his maintenance. They could not do both things at once. After a minute of silence, Antonius looked up again and suggested:

"What about travelling to Ponyville tomorrow morning? The chariots will take Twilight's friends there anyway, and we could join them."

"That would be great!"

Twilight smiled. This peerless warrior would really discontinue his maintenance for a day to do his little protégée a favor.

He continued working until Rainbow Dash zipped in through the hanger doors.

"Hey, Twilight, Antonius, Stormy! It's lunchtime!"

"Okay," Antonius answered,
"I'll close the door and we can go."

"You don't need to," Rainbow said,
"I don't think anypony will fly in and steal your... what is that thing?"

"One of the Land Speeder's engines," Antonius explained,
"and I will close the door. This device is too valuable to be left unguarded."

He pushed a button and the hangar door closed.
Then, they went into the armorium. Celestia's crews had made a good job. One of the workbenches was a well-provided laboratory bench now. Another one had been turned into a bookshelf. Lab coats in fitting sizes for Princess Celestia and Twilight were there, too. Near the smelters, bars of various metals were lying on the ground, as well as wood and a considerable amount of sand in big boxes.

"Looks like you are going to start your work soon," Antonius opined.

"Seems so," Twilight answered.

They left the base and Antonius closed the door.

When they entered the dining room, Antonius and the ponies were greeted by Celestia, who was already waiting there:

"Hello, Twilight, Antonius and Stormy. How is your work going?"

"Satisfying," Antonius answered,
"as far as I can tell by now, the first engine is in good condition."

"Excellent. I was able to take off the afternoon, so we will be able to start our work today."

Now Twilight's friends came into the room, too, followed by a walking mountain of bags.

"Rarity, is it possible that you overdid it a tiny little bit?" Twilight asked.

"Nonsense, my dear. This was just a little shopping trip," Rarity answered,
"Canterlot has the best fabrics in all of Equestria, after all."

A 'little shopping trip'? Antonius did not want to see her bulk purchases.

"Well, I guess Spike is in there somewhere..." Twilight continued.

"Of course I am!" the mountain mumbled.

"Oh, he is such a gentlecolt," Rarity smiled,
"he insisted on carrying everything himself."

"Well, Spike, could you perhaps use some assistance now?" Twilight inquired.

"No, thank you. I can handle this."

Antonius and the ponies sat down at the table. After setting down the mountain of bags and crawling out of it, Spike joined them.

When they were done with lunch, Antonius, Stormy, Celestia, Twilight and Spike returned to the armorium, while the other ponies continued their tour of Canterlot.

"Well, what do you suggest we should start with?" Celestia asked Antonius as they were standing in front of the laboratory bench.

"At first, I would attend to the chainsword fuel, as it will be less volatile then the Land Speeder fuel. Furthermore, there will be no use in producing the latter without knowing if the Land Speeder's engines will work again."

"Sounds reasonable, so: chainsword fuel. Hmm... we need a combustion engine to test the fuel we are going to create, and we need working fuel to test the engine we are going to build. I suggest, we try to build a engine first, then take care of the fuel."

"Agreed."

"Then, we need to know how to operate the devices here. Can you tell us how they work?"

"Yes, I can... but this is not the first thing to do. At first, we must crate molds for the various engine parts."

"And then, we pour the metal into the molds?"

"Correct."

"What material shall we use for the molds? We usually use sand."

"You are familiar with sand casting?"

"We are. We create some parts for chariots that way, for example."

"The same technique can be used here. It will require some post-treatment, but I think we should be able to get functioning results."

Celestia lit her horn and used her records to create a hololith of one of the components of the engine. Then, within a disturbingly short timespan, she built a wooden frame and filled a layer of sand into it. Now, she increased the hololith's size a little bit, put it into the frame, added a gating system to the hololith and filled the frame with more sand. Finally, she lit the whole mold up for a second and declared:

"So, the mold is ready."

Antonius stared at her.

"I have to admit, I am impressed," he finally said.

Celestia winked at him.

"Not bad, hmm? Now, what metal should we use? Cast iron?"

"Yeah, exactly... You know all of this already?"

"Well, we do have steam engines. They are built in a similar way, and as a princess, it is always good to know such things."

"Oh, right... Then I guess I'll activate the smelter. Where's the incense?"

After getting the incense sticks, Antonius went to the smelter and lit them. He was still somewhat astonished that Celestia knew these procedures. A member of royalty who knew casting was something you did not meet all day.

"This is the cast iron?" he asked, holding up one of the nearby bars.

"It is," Celestia confirmed,
"the highest quality available."

He put the bar into a crucible and the crucible into the smelter, muttered the corresponding litany and activated the device.

When the metal was molten, he used crucible tongs to pull the hot crucible out of the smelter.

"Ready?" he asked as he went to the waiting mold.

"Ready," Celestia said.

Now, Antonius poured the liquid, glowing metal into the mold's gating system, filling it to the brim.

"You've got a steady... hand," Twilight muttered.

"Yep. It's necessary to fulfill my duty. The power armor doesn't hurt, either," Antonius answered.

He put the crucible onto a shelf space and said:

"So much for the first casting. Now, it has to cool down. I suggest waiting at least until tomorrow to remove the mold."

"Okay. In the meantime, we will have a look at the promethium sample you gave us," Celestia told him,
"if you want, you can continue your maintenance. We'll call you if we need you."

"Okay. Just try not to blow yourself up."

"I'll join you," Stormy, who had silently watched until now, said.

Together, they returned to the hangar and Antonius got busy with the engine again.
Some time - and a little 'puff' - later, Twilight, wearing a lab coat and safety goggles, her hair a bit singed, came into the room and said:

"Antonius, this promethium is like lamp oil's furious, evil brother. Can you tell us what exactly it is and how it is produced?"

"Promethium is a common fuel in the Imperium. It can be extracted from the atmospheres of gas giants, ancient organic material deposits, or even some rare ices from ice worlds. It must still be refined, however.
I think your comparison to lamp oil could be a promising way to create a replacement."

"Yeah, as we accidentally have just run out of gas giants," Twilight deadpanned and left to continue the research.

Antonius grinned and attended to his maintenance again. Stormy meanwhile had ensconced herself inside the Land Speeder. The Space Marine worked the whole afternoon, then the first engine was overhauled and re-integrated into the Speeder.

"Come on, Stormy," he said,
"let's have a look at what Celestia and Twilight are doing."

He picked up the filly and left the hangar. The two ponies were standing around their laboratory bench and were tinkering with different types of oil. Spike was sitting on the improvised book shelf and took notes.

Celestia looked up and turned around.

"Ah, hello Antonius," she said,
"how is your maintenance going?"

"The first engine is ready. No problems. Are you making progress with the promethium?"

"Yes, we have found types of oil that are combustible. We'll still have a lot of work to do until this combustion is controllable enough for our needs, but it looks promising."

"Glad to hear that. Are there any preparations yet to be made for my introduction into your ranks?"

"Everything has already been taken care of. Nervous?"

"No, but I think being late would leave a bad impression on your subjects."

"Don't worry, we still have plenty of time. On the other hoof, we have just reached a point where we could stop for today, so let's return to the upper levels. Luna should get up any moment, anyway... and I have to admit, that I feel like having a little snack..."

Celestia and Twilight took off their laboratory equipment and together, the ponies, Astartes and dragon left the imperial base.

They returned to the dining room. Shortly afterwards, Luna showed up, as well as Twilight's friends another moment later.

After dinner - and bringing everyone up to date - it got time for Antonius' introduction ceremony. Fluttershy took care of Stormy again and the Element Bearers left to take their places in the front rows of the audience in the throne room.

"Nervous?" Luna asked Antonius.

"Not really."

"Remember to put on a show, try to be as impressive as possible!"

"Shall I brutally murder someone for demonstration purposes?"

"NO!" Celestia screamed, then she took a deep breath continued in a calmer voice:
"You are just joking, okay. Well, I would not go THAT far, but Luna is right. Be impressive. The Hope-incident has left quite an impression on our subjects. While this simplifies taking rather drastic measures, it also had a devastating effect on their morale. Now they have to get to know that we are able to counter the horrors that await us. They must get to know that you are capable of leading the new PDF.
Now, we'll wait a few minutes until everypony is in the throne room, then please wait outside the main door. When you hear your name, come in and walk up to the throne. Then we will proceed as discussed."

"Discussed?" Luna asked.

"Yes," Celestia replied,
"the two of us talked about all of this already."

"Celestia," Antonius said,
"don't you think there are still ponies who will be less than enthusiastic about me taking command of a new military unit and suddenly being that high in your chain of command?"

"Probably," Celestia answered,
"but that is one of the advantages of being seen as almost a demigoddess. They will accept it."

"All right. Oh, apropos demigoddess: Do you think I treat you disrespectfully?"

"What? No. What gave you that idea?"

Antonius hesitated to answer, so Celestia continued:

"Twilight?"

He nodded.

"Twilight. She complained about me treating you like a normal pony."

"Hmm. Twilight has great respect for me. Even more, she's downright terrified of disappointing me. This has led to... unfortunate events, once. I fact, the only time she managed to disappoint me was because of her fear of disappointing me."

"He-he," Luna snickered,
"the 'want it, need it'-incident."

"The what?" Antonius asked mildly confused.

"You could call it a case of careless spell casting," Celestia explained, then she added with a smile:
"would you help me confuse her a little?"

Antonius raised an eyebrow.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked.

"You could address me a little more familiar."

"Oh? Any suggestions what I should say?"

"I liked to call her 'Celie' when we were young," Luna said.

"Then I will go for the other end of your name and call you 'Tia'. Acceptable?" Antonius asked Celestia.

"Perfect!" she smiled,
"I can't wait to see Twilight's face. You should perhaps not do that in public, though."

"Of course. In public, you are 'Princess Celestia'."

"Well, it is time now. Let's go!"

They went to the throne room's main door. There, Antonius waited while the princesses entered the room.

Luna and Celestia walked along the aisle towards the throne. As usual, the ponies bowed before them.
When they reached the throne, they took their places, Celestia directly in front of the throne, Luna at her side.

This was Luna's place, at her sister's side. She herself was only the center of attention when her older sister was not present. Luna did not mind that anymore - at least not as much as she once had. Now, they just had some friendly, playful sibling rivalry.
And Luna had been the first princess to befriend Antonius, who was now critical for the survival of ponykind. He-he.

Luna's thought were pulled back to the present when Celestia started talking:

"My little ponies, you all have heard about Hope, the once peaceful town at Equestria's western border. There, a new threat has shown up for the first time: Chaos. Not the Chaos we already know and which the Element Bearers were able to defeat earlier this year. No, this new Chaos is worse. It is ruthless, gory and downright mad. It is responsible for setting half a galaxy in flames. It's only goals are wiping us out and setting our world in flames, too. We cannot reason with it. We cannot bargain with it.
In Hope, there was only a single agent of Chaos - and we had to suffer dearly.
Thankfully, we were not alone. We had an ally, and with his help, the threat in Hope was eradicated. Thanks to him, countless lives were saved.
Unfortunately, Chaos is not gone forever. It will return in even stronger numbers. We must react to this threat, or we all will perish.
My little ponies, I am happy to tell you that the Hero of Hope has agreed to help us in our struggle against Chaos. We will set up a new military unit, called 'Planetary Defense Force', 'PDF' for short, with the specific task of protecting us from Chaos, and this unit's leader will be this hero, it's leader will be... Antonius Varus!"

Now the giant main door swung open, and into the throne room came Antonius, his helmet on his head, his Bolter presented in front of his chest. He marched along the aisle and each of his steps shook the marble floor. Damned, he seemed to consist of strength and determination. Well, he probably did, and he definitely had taken her request to heart. The ponies at the edge of the isle leaned back a bit, intimidated by his presence, and watched him in awe.
He approached the throne.

Luna knew what was about to happen now. Celestia would ask him if he was willing to help ponykind and accept the orders of her and her sister. Antonius would say yes and be made Lord Commander of the new PDF.

Antonius reached the throne and snapped to attention. Luna had to admit, he looked very impressive: a blue armored giant with shiny golden decorations, really large weapons and those glowing red eyes.

"Antonius Varus," Celestia spoke again,
"Ultramarines 2nd company, Imperium of Mankind, are you willing to help us prepare for the return of Chaos?
Are you willing to fight alongside us to save ponykind from annihilation?
Are you willing to take command of the new Planetary Defense Force?"

Antonius' voice boomed through the throne room as he answered:

"I hear your appeal for help, and I answer.
Chaos is the enemy of mankind even more than it is the enemy of ponykind. I see it as a righteous task preparing you to fight it. I see it as an honor to fight it alongside you.
When Chaos returns, it will experience that this planet is guarded by a formidable force, and it will not find us wanting!"

Celestia nodded.

"Antonius Varus, I hereby declare you Lord Commander of the new PDF.
To prevent your effectiveness from being decreased by an uncertain chain of command, the rank of Lord Commander will be put above all other military ranks, and you will only have to answer to..."

Her and her sister.

"... my sister, Princess Luna."

Wait, what?

Antonius steppes over to Luna, lowered his Bolter and smashed his gauntleted fist into his chest armor, then he snapped to attention again.

Luna was at a loss for words. She looked at her sister, who smiled back and nodded.

"I thank you, sister," Luna finally said,
"and I thank you, Antonius Varus. Now, take your place at my side. Together, we will defend ponykind from Chaos!"

The audience cheered as Antonius saluted again and went over to her side where he got into position.

Luna could hardly believe it. Instead of sharing the command, as they had agreed, Celestia had given her this command. She, and she alone, was Antonius' superior. Of course Luna knew that she was not really in command of the Space Marine, but being his formal commander was still an uplifting feeling.

"The details about the formation of the PDF will be published soon," Celestia told the audience,
"difficult times lie before us, and great efforts will have to be made, yet I am sure we will prevail.
Thank you for your attention, my little ponies, and good night."

Now that everything that had to be said was said and Antonius' introduction was over, the ponies started leaving the throne room. The Element Bearers stayed, of course, but they were not the only ones.
A white stallion with a yellow mane walked up to Celestia.

"Great. Blueblood," Luna whispered.

"Who?" Antonius whispered back.

"Celestia's adopted nephew, old unicorn royalty. He's a... just wait and see."

The stallion darted a nasty glance at Antonius, who just ignored that, and asked Celestia:

"Aunt Celestia, am I right in assuming that, when you told our guest here that he only has to answer to your sister, you still meant that he has to bow to all of royalty?"

Luna was sure that she was the only one who saw the well hidden irritation in her sister's face.

"I am sorry to disappoint you, nephew," Celestia said with incredible patience,
"but Lord Commander Varus will only have to obey Luna's orders. Everything else would make the chain of command too complicated."

"I am really not sure if it is wise to put a stranger from another world that high into our society."

Now Luna got angry. 'Stranger from another world'. That was just disrespectful.

"Antonius Varus has proven his worth more than once," she told Blueblood,
"he may have been a stranger when he had come to this planet, but now, he is our friend. A friend we can rely on. A friend with courage and honor. That is why we have put him directly below us - and above non-ruling royalty like you."

She smiled inwardly. She just had to make this point clear.

"Above?" Blueblood blundered out,
"he is not even royalty, how could he dare to command a prince?"

"Do not worry, pony, I do not plan to command you," Antonius told him in a matter-of fact tone,
"as you obviously won't be any help in the days to come. So do us a favor and just do not interfere while we try to save your species."

Well, that hit home.

"Please excuse me, I have an important appointment," Blueblood said, turned around and left the throne room.

"You should not have been that harsh," Celestia said,
"he may seem... shallow, but he has his qualities."

"His best quality is his absence," Luna riled.

"Do you think he will cause trouble?" Antonius asked.

"No," Celestia assured him,
"he is just a bit sore, but that will subside. Perhaps I should talk to him to explain the situation..."

"What is there further to explain?" Luna grumbled,
"you said everything in your speech. He should have heard it - if he wasn't too busy admiring himself."

"Okay, Luna, I have to admit that he is far too arrogant and self-regarding, but please remember his heritage."

His heritage. The only reason they had to put up with him. Celestia was always so patient with him, up to the point that an outsider could think she genuinely liked him.
No, Luna did not like Blueblood. If you looked up the term 'narcism', you probably found his picture.

"I have to ask you a question," Antonius said,
"you are obviously not too fond of him, Luna, and even you, Celestia, seem to merely tolerate him, yet you have adopted him. Could you please explain that?"

Celestia sighed.

"Before Luna and I became the rulers of Equestria, the ruling family was that of Princess Platinum. They ceded their power to us, and in exchange we promised to adopt the firstborn of each generation, bringing them formally closer to the throne they have renounced."

"And this Blueblood is the firstborn of his generation, so you had to adopt him?" Antonius asked.

"Besides being a complete failure, he is," Luna said,
"we really should have added a loophole of sorts."

Celestia just shook her head and waved Twilight and her friends to come closer.

"I am sorry you had to witness this," she started, but was interrupted by Rarity:

"Don't worry, Princess, we did not mind seeing Prince Blueblood being put-down by telling him how useless he is."

Luna had to stifle a laugh and Celestia looked rather surprised.

"What Rarity wanted to say is," Twilight said sternly, darting a nasty look at Rarity,
"that we will keep this incident to ourselves."

Celestia smiled.

"Thank you, Twilight, thank you, my little ponies," she said.

"Tell us, do you have plans for your last evening together here in Canterlot?" Luna wanted to know.

"No, not really," Twilight answered.

"That is convenient," Antonius opined,
"if you don't mind, I would like to use this opportunity to evaluate your prowess."

"Now hold on a second," Rainbow Dash said,
"do you mean you want to challenge all of us to a training fight?"

"More or less."

"Awesome!" Rainbow shouted.

"Oh dear..." Fluttershy whimpered.

The reactions of the other ponies were somewhere in between.

"Seriously, Antonius," Twilight said,
"isn't that a tad unfair? How are we supposed to have a chance against you? I mean, there is no chance we would use the Elements on you."

"Actually, this is not about winning," Antonius told her,
"I just want to see how you attack, your methods, your strategies and so on.
I need some references on how ponies fight. I can use them to come up with improvement suggestions, for you and for the other ponies I'm going to train.
And, to be honest, I'm also curious how the famous Element-Bearers handle such a task."

"What about me? Do you want to test me, too?" Stormy asked.

Well, this evaluation was hardly suitable for fillies, but of course she wanted to be included. Luna wondered what Antonius' opinion would be.

"Actually, no," he said,
"but if you insist, we can try to come up with... something."

"Great!" Stormy exclaimed.

"Okay," Luna smiled,
"we can do this here in the throne room, we'll just tell the servants to get the equipment we'll need. Are you going to join us, sister?"

"Of course," Celestia said,
"I wouldn't want to miss that."