"Here we are," Luna said,
"this school has a reputation for excellence. It is even considered to be one of the best schools in Canterlot, second only to my sister's School for Gifted Unicorns."

The building was remarkably big and paneled with marble, sparkling in the mid-morning sun. Giant marble columns stood on both sides of the two-winged door that was the main entrance.

"Hmm..." Antonius opined,
"not too far from the palace, a good reputation and a decent appearance. Seems like a good choice. What do you think, Stormy?"

The filly looked a little bit skeptical, but answered:

"Well, it certainly looks... kinda nice."

"Then, let's go in and talk to the principal."

They entered the school. Following the signs that showed them the way to the principal's office, they did not get an answer to their knocking.

"I guess the principal is in class," Luna estimated.

"Too bad," Stormy grinned.

"There are more doors than this one," Luna smiled back and knocked at the door to the vice-principal's office.

"Come in," replied a female voice.

They entered the room and stood in front of a desk at which a middle-aged unicorn mare with green fur and a purple mane was sitting.

"Princess Luna! Lord Varus!" she almost shouted, jumped to her hooves and bowed deep,
"I am vice-principal Sweet Grape. How can I be of service?"

"Stand up, good mare. We are here to enroll our little friend here, Stormy Skies," Luna answered.

"Oh, of course," Sweet Grape answered and smiled at Stormy.

Then, just for the fraction of a second, her smile faltered before it was back again. Luna wondered what the meaning of this was. Well, Stormy's story was well known. To think about what she had gone through...

"Hello, Stormy, it is nice to make your acquaintance."

"Hello, Vice-Principal Grape," Stormy greeted.

Sweet Grape turned to the three of them and said:

"Please take a seat, I'll fetch the necessary papers."

Luna and Stormy sat down, Antonius kept standing. When they had filled in the necessary forms, the vice-principal told them:

"So, we are done. Tomorrow, Stormy just needs to meet me here in the morning, and I'll show her to her class. Do you have any further questions?"

"No, I think everything's clear," Luna answered.

They left the school again and went back to the palace. While Luna retired, Antonius and Stormy took a trip to Ponyville once again.

Later that day, when it was Luna's shift, she entered Antonius' and Stormy's quarters. They had returned an hour ago and Stormy was already fast asleep in her bed, her plushie in her hooves.

"Good. She needs her rest," Luna smiled,
"for tomorrow will be an important day for her, and another step towards a normal life."

"I hope everything goes fine," Antonius said with more than a bit skepticism in his voice.

"You'll see, everything will be fine."

"I'm not as optimistic as you."

Luna's smile grew.

"Is it possible that you just don't want to spend your day without her?"

Antonius ignored that and asked:

"Have you noticed that the vice-principal's smile had faltered for a second as she had seen Stormy?"

"Well, I have... but everypony knows Stormy's story, so it's not that strange that Sweet Grape's smile faltered a second considering Hope's fate."

"You may be right, Luna. There also may be another problem we do not know yet."

Luna made a face.

"Tony, you are paranoid."

"Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean people aren't following me," Antonius replied.

Luna laughed quietly for a second.

"Well, if you think it's the best, we can escort her to school and pick her up again when school's out," she suggested.

"Accepted," Antonius answered.

The next morning Luna and Antonius brought Stormy to school. The vice-principal welcomed her with a warm smile and showed her to the classroom.

"You see?" Luna asked Antonius when they had left again,
"nothing is wrong there. Stormy will most certainly have a nice day and a lot to tell when we pick her up this afternoon."

"I hope you are right," he answered thoughtfully.

Well, it was actually cute how concerned he was about Stormy's wellbeing, but Luna was sure he was falsely alarmed. It was just a school, after all. What was the worst that could happen?

Later that day, Antonius and Luna were on their way to Stormy's school to pick her up. Antonius was not able to put his finger on it, but somehow he had the almost uncanny feeling that there was a problem they had missed. He was distracted from his thoughts as Luna asked:

"Is there a particular reason for your smart pace?"

Until now, he had not even realized that he was faster than normal. He slowed down a bit.

"I'm not sure," he answered truthfully.

"Relax. You will see, everything is fine."

He nodded and they continued their way.

As they came within sight of the school, Antonius saw something that confirmed the bad feeling he had had all day: Three fillies were almost pushing Stormy into a side road.

"Seen that?" he asked and started running.

"Indeed," Luna answered and followed him,
"sometimes, I really don't like it when you are right.

"Neither do I."

When they came into hearing distance, Antonius changed his gait to a almost silent one. His armor immediately adapted to this, turning him almost inaudible. He gestured to Luna to wait and peeked around the corner of a house into the side street. There they were: Three unicorn fillies cornering Stormy. What the hell was going on there?

"You don't belong here," one of the fillies hissed.

"Yeah, this is a school for magic unicorns, not for chicken!" another said.

Antonius almost did not trust his ears. Unicorns that despised pegasi? Were they crazy?"

"I'm not a chicken," Stormy returned defensively.

Good, girl. Tell them.

"Shut up, blank flank! When unicorns tell you that you are a chicken, then you are a chicken!" the third enemy filly shouted.

Enemy. A word a Space Marine was all too familiar with. And Antonius had thought it, here and now.
Automatisms, trained over decades, sprung into action. His subconscious recalled the anatomical data of the ponies and fed it into his waking consciousness. Head, heart, spine, and dozens of ways to crush a member of this little species, including the necessary angles and trajectories for his bolter. Almost a pity he did not intend to actually harm them.

"It does not matter whether you are unicorns or not, I am a still a pegasus!" Stormy told them.

"It does not matter, hmm?" one of the xenos said and fired a quite pathetic magic beam into the ground directly in front of Stormy's hooves.

Antonius reflexively grabbed his chainsword, but he felt resistance. A quick look told him that Luna was holding him back, shaking her head with a worried expression.
She was right, of course. Those were not enemies of mankind. They weren't worth the use of chainswords. They were just... well, jerks, bullies, not even worth killing - at least until they got too annoying.
He nodded in return and Luna let go of him. He gestured her to wait again and stepped into the side street, making no noise.

As Stormy saw him, she started to smile.

"Why are you smiling, chicken? You are in big trouble," one of the fillies said to her.

"She smiles because she has a better overview of the situation," Antonius stated coldly.

The three fillies spun around and looked at his shin armor. Then their gazes went upwards until they stared into his cold, unforgiving face. Their mouths opened, but they did not say a word.

"So, you think you are 'better' because you have your pathetic little magic, hmm?" he continued,
"I'll tell you something: I'll take you three and Stormy to Canterlot's tallest tower. There, I'll throw you out of the highest window. Then we will see which power is more useful: your magic or Stormy's flight."

The three fillies had become shivering heaps of pony by now.
Antonius was content. That threat should keep them from harassing his protégée any more.

"That won't be necessary," a voice from behind him said.

Luna had joined the 'group'.

Antonius turned to her:

"You have a better suggestion, Princess?"

He hoped she would get his drift. She did. She turned to the fillies and said:

"I have. You three will tell your parents that we demand to see them tomorrow, one hour after sunrise. They are to come to the palace and await our arrival at the front gates. In the meantime, we will talk to your principal about your... 'attitude'. Go now."

The three fillies ran out of the side street. Once they were gone, Luna turned to Antonius:

"Tony, I must admit that I also don't like bullies, but throwing them out of a window?"

"It thought it to be a suitable example for the benefit of flight over magic," he answered.

"Maybe, but they were just fillies."

"If they are old enough to behave like jerks, they are old enough for an appropriate punishment."

"Threatening to kill them was not appropriate."

"I did not want to kill them."

"It was just an empty threat?"

"No, I never make empty threats. I would secretly have asked you to catch them before they hit the ground, though. I wanted to teach them a lesson. Killing someone you just have taught a lesson would be counterproductive."

Luna took a deep breath, then she said:

"You know, maybe I should do the threatening from now on."

"As you wish," Antonius grinned, then he turned to Stormy:

"Everything all right?"

"Yep," she answered with a smile.

"Now," Luna said,
"let's see the principal and tell her what her pupils are doing once class is over."

They entered the school and went to the principal's office.
Just as Luna was about to knock, they heard voices through the door.

"I know, Principal Cinch, but Princess Luna and Lord Varus were with her. I could not deny their request," Sweet Grape apologized.

"You couldn't?" another voice said,
"it took me a lot of effort for this school to get its immaculate reputation. This school stands for excellence! And excellence means unicorns! We are even competing with Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns! I will not risk that. Those non-magic hicks shall go to some country school! They ruin the reputation of our school. And they ruin my reputation!"

Luna looked so dumbfounded Antonius almost had to laugh. He bent down and whispered into her ear:

"I think we have found the source of those fillies' attitudes."

"I can't believe it," Luna answered,
"how could this mare become principal of a school?"

The argument inside the office continued:

"Principal Cinch, perhaps Stormy Skies will not endanger the school's reputation. She's the protégée of the princess, after all."

"You have always been much too weak, Grape. We won't take any risks! This school is for unicorns, because it is commonly known that unicorns are more intelligent than the other kinds..."

Luna looked at Antonius and shook her head.

"... and about her 'caretakers': I am not interested in the opinion of Nightmare Moon and some alien brute! Have you not heard the rumors? She called him to Equestria to help her seize power again!"

WHAT?
Wow. That was obviously the next escalation level of Blueblood's nonsense.

Antonius just wanted to discuss the way forward with Luna, but at that moment she blasted the door open and stepped through. He choose to wait for her sign to follow.

"PRINCIPAL! THE PONY YOU CALL 'NIGHTMARE MOON' IS HERE!"

No understandable answer.

"BUT WE ARE NOT NIGHTMARE MOON, WE ARE LUNA, PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT! YOU DEMAND A PROOF? YOU ARE STILL ALIVE AND WELL! WOULD NIGHTMARE MOON HAVE HESITATED TO HARM YOU IF YOU HAD UNCOVERED SOME SECRET PLAN OF HERS?"

Again, no understandable answer.

"WOULD SHE HAVE HESITATED?" Luna shouted, sounding even angrier than before.

"No," the principal whimpered.

Silence lasted for a few seconds, then Luna continued, much calmer now:

"Your time as principal of this school is over. In addition to that, you will come to the palace tomorrow at dawn. You will be thrown into the dungeon for a day, so that you have time to think about the error of your ways. Oh, and if you think you could just run away... LORD COMMANDER!"

Aha, Antonius' cue. He gestured Stormy to wait and stomped into the office, a 'you are already dead'-expression on his face. This would certainly get interesting.

Luna was standing in front of two cowering mares - Sweet Grape and an older, blu-ish one - her wings extended, her posture threatening.

"...we will send the Lord Commander after you to take you into custody. You should know that he is not as forgiving as we are," Luna continued.

Antonius had been right: This was interesting - and quite entertaining!

Then Luna turned to Sweet Grape:

"We will watch you, too, but we will give you a chance to prove that you are more reasonable than Cinch. Get that abominable attitude out of your and your pupils' heads. Our society is built upon the harmony of all kinds of ponies, and we will not allow somepony to ruin that harmony!"

Having said that, she left the office, followed by Antonius. They picked up Stormy and left the building.

"You were right, Luna, you are great at threatening," Antonius grinned,
"I especially liked the threat 'not as forgiving as we are'. Excellent!"

"Yeah, rub it in," Luna sighed,
"but I just could not contain myself. This mare... I have no words that do her stupidity justice!"

"Hmm... well, be that as it may, the immaculate facade of your society has started to show some cracks."

"Nopony ever said we were perfect. Our society is overall peaceful and built upon harmony, but there will always be some... 'wild shots'.
And I could be an example for hypocrisy: first, I reprimand you for threatening somepony, then I do it myself. What are you supposed to think of me now?"

Antonius smiled for a second, then he said:

"Don't worry. I still like you."

"I like you, too," Stormy concurred.

When they were back at the palace, they went down to the armorium and told Celestia what had happened. She, Twilight and Spike had still been busy experimenting with possible fuels, but now she was all ears.

"Twilight, please take Stormy for a walk. We have important matters to discuss. Spike, please join them," she said, looking stonily.

"Yes, Princess," the three answered and left the room.

Celestia waited until their steps had become inaudible, them she asked:

"Are you two nuts?"

"Nope. One pony, one human," Antonius answered dryly.

Celestia blankly stared at him.

"That's not funny. You threatened ponies! What they had done was wrong, very wrong even, but that is no excuse for threatening them!"

"Sometimes you have to do something drastic to make somepony think," Luna justified their behavior.

"That was too drastic! You overreacted. You of all ponies should know better, Luna."

Luna raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean by that, sister?"

Antonius could hear the tension in her voice. A dispute was probably about to begin.
Celestia took a deep breath and remained silent. Luna didn't:

"You mean I should be more restrained because I once was Nightmare Moon, don't you? You want to say I should shut up and just smile and wave all day so that nopony could get afraid of me. You still reproach me for my mistake. You will never allow me to live that down!"

"I do not reproach you for this incident, but it is hard to forget if you behave like a berserk!"

"BERSERK?"

"BERSERK!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry that I'm not as perfect as the princess who allowed that mare to become a principal in the first place!"

"That wasn't my fault, the EEA is responsible for appointing principals!"

"Oh come on, sister, you have a hoof in every pie - figuratively and literally!"

The princesses were glaring at each other now, even baring their teeth a bit.
Okay, this was getting out of control. High time for Antonius to do something.

"PRINCESSES!" he boomed.

Celestia and Luna stared at him and he continued:

"It may not have been the most diplomatic solution, but neither of us is a diplomat. We had to react to a serious misconduct, and we reacted in a way we deemed to be appropriate at that moment. We can't and won't apologize for that, but we can try to optimize our reaction should such a situation occur again."

Not that he thought that to be necessary...

Celestia kept looking at him for a few seconds, then she sighed and said:

"Okay. As long as your 'optimization' means not to threaten anypony! And now that we're at it: No throwing ponies out of windows, no hunting them - no harming ponies at all!"

Antonius calmly stared back.

"I can't promise that. Think of Hope for example: those pony-cultist had to be eliminated."

"Hmm, okay, I see your point in that regard, but promise that you will try not to harm anypony unless absolutely necessary."

"Well, I surely can try to try."

Celestia looked a bit dumbfounded, then she shook her head.

"You are impossible," she sighed.

"Have I caused some kind of mayhem up until now?" Antonius smiled.

"No, you haven't."

"Then, you can proceed on the assumption that I'll see no need to change this. I'm a warrior, not a butcher."

Celestia nodded.

"Right."

"And my days as a maniac are over, sister," Luna interjected,
"we were making use of threats, but none of us really wanted to harm anypony."

"I know, Luna. Just try to keep a little calmer, you two."

She started smiling.

"You know, somehow, despite your very different origins, you are actually two of a kind."

Antonius and Luna simultaneously raised an eyebrow at that.

The next morning, short before dawn, Antonius and Luna were standing at the main gates of the palace, waiting for the ex-principal. They were a little surprised as Celestia joined them.

"Sister?" Luna asked,
"are you here to prevent us from behaving inappropriately?"

"No," Celestia answered,
"I just want to make sure that mare knows that I am angry at her attitude, too. That should further your cause."

"I wonder if she comes," Antonius said.

"If she doesn't, I'll have to order you to get her," Luna smiled.

"Could I order you not to do that so that we can use the guard instead?" Celestia asked.

"No. Luna is my commander," Antonius answered.

Now Luna started humming a happy little melody.

"Oh great. I've given a pyromaniac the mightiest match in Equestria," Celestia sighed.

Luna hummed a little louder.

Celestia had just risen the sun as Cinch appeared. The ex-principal knelt down before the sun princess, ignoring Luna and Antonius, and said:

"Good morning, Princess Celestia. I hope for your wisdom so that justice will be done to me."

Antonius thought about stomping her into the ground. It was not necessary, for Celestia answered:

"My wisdom? How could I be wise? I am just an alicorn, not an unicorn, after all."

Her cold and slightly mocking tone was simply great - and also effective. The ex-principal looked at her with a horrified expression. Celestia continued:

"Yes, I know your attitudes towards the different kinds of ponies, and I must say that I am very disappointed in you. We live in peace and harmony for several millennia now, and I will not allow the dark times of conflict to return. My sister has already passed judgement on you, and I wholeheartedly concur with her."

Surprise was added to Cinch's expression.

"Princess," she said,
"your sister is wrong. I am a loyal subject of your Royal Highness. I have been that since the day I was born. Now, as the loyal subject that I am, I feel obliged to warn you: Do not put your trust in ponies that do not deserve it."

Celestia stared at her for a second, then she exclaimed:

"Instead of showing even a little insight, you dare to insult my dear sister? If she was wrong, then only in one aspect: You will spend two days in prison to think about your plain wrong attitudes. And if you should not be able to correct them, I will send Lord Commander Varus to 'assist' you with that task. Despite being here only for a short time, he already knows more about peaceful coexistence and harmony than you do!"

Wow. Mrs. Diplomacy was actually angry. Insulting Luna in her presence was obviously a very stupid thing to do.

Cinch paled and Celestia turned to the guards:

"Guards! Imprison that mare. You may set her free again in 48 hours. Not a minute sooner!"

Two pegasus guards - Antonius loved that irony - dragged the ex-principal away.
Celestia, Luna and Antonius turned around and entered the palace.

"Well, sister," Luna said innocently,
"it is so good that you were there. I would probably have acted too impulsively and - I don't know - have threatened her or something like that. What do you think, Antonius?"

"You are right," Antonius agreed,
"you would probably have threatened her with sending me to 'correct' her attitudes..."

"All right, all right!" Celestia interrupted them,
"I can understand you, both of you! That mare is indeed unbearable! Well, now she will have some time to think. I hope she makes use of this opportunity. And, Antonius: Sorry for using you as a threat - threatening ponies is still bad... and I know that I cannot give you orders."

"Indeed. I am his commander, so only I may boss him around. If you want to use him, you have to ask politely first. Perhaps I might lend him to you then," Luna grinned.

She did know that he was walking right next to her, right?

"Luna," Celestia said,
"that mare may not insult you. I may. Shut up."

The parents of the three fillies who had bullied Stormy arrived punctual an hour later. One mother immediately started complaining:

"Princess Celestia, you cannot allow this... brute to run through Canterlot and threaten little fillies!"

Wrong recipient, so Antonius told her, slightly annoyed:

"Complaints in written form to: Cato Sicarius, captain of the Ultramarines 2nd company, Master of the Watch, Knight Champion of Macragge, Grand Duke of Talassar, and High Suzerain of Ultramar."

The ponies stared at him for a second, then he added:

"You may, of course, also put forth your complaints to Princess Luna. Before you do so, however, you should hear the whole story - and my motives."

So Antonius told the parents what had happened the day before.
They were shocked when they heard what their children had done, especially when they also got to know that such an attitude was worth a few days in prison. They still were not happy about their children being threatened, but before they left, they promised to keep a close eye on their fillies' behavior.

Later that morning, Antonius and Luna escorted Stormy to her school. Sweet Grape already expected them in front of the building and was quick to assure them that she would appeal to everyone's conscience that all kinds of ponies had to be treated equally.

She had kept her word. As the Space Marine and the Princess picked Stormy up after school, she told them that she had not been harassed today.
It had probably been more fear then insight that had lead to this corrected behavior, but as Antonius knew the ponies, this new attitude certainly would become genuine soon.
At least he hoped so. His tasks here were already difficult enough, after all, even without having to deal with this kind of strife.

Author's Notes:

Two years of My Little Xeno!

I would like to use this anniversary to thank my editor, my followers, everyone who liked my story and all of my readers.

When I started writing, I had an idea for a basic plot and thought: 'Try to write an enjoyable little story.'
Enjoyable: I certainly hope so.
Little: Well, let's say I found out I have more to tell than I initially thought.