As Shining Armor entered the throne room the next morning, he was greeted by a tired but happy Cadance and a less tired but also less cheerful Antonius.

“How was the night?” Shining asked.

“Great,” Cadance smiled,
“and with a few surprises!”

“Surprises?”

“Yes! Antonius has surprisingly good results!”

“Results?” Shining wondered,
“oh no, Cadance, tell me you didn’t…”

“She did,” Antonius answered flatly,
“people who say that war were hell have never spent a night with your mare.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Shining smiled.

“Hey!” Cadance shouted.

Shining laughed and even Antonius grinned, then the stallion inquired:

“Okay, now I have to admit that I am curious. How were the results?”

Antonius sighed and Cadance started talking with a grin:

“I ran the calculations for the princesses and the Element Bearers, and it turned out that that only romantic relationships with Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash are improbable. Celestia is possible, but somewhat problematic: A lot of arguments, but probably very nice reconciliations. Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Twilight have really good scores. Best of all, however, is…”

“Here we go again…” Antonius grumbled.

“Luna!” Cadance finished without missing a beat.

“Yeah, Antonius, Cadance won’t stop…” Shining snickered, then he suddenly became serious and turned to Cadance,
“wait a second… you seriously shipped Antonius with my little sister?”

“Oops…” Cadance said while blushing,
“well… umm… I sort of did… but she has a really good score! She’s only second to Luna!”

“Sorry that I do not rejoice over that,” Shining stated, then he turned to Antonius,
“no offense.”

“None taken,” Antonius replied flatly.

“Okay,” Shining continued,
“now that we’ve all had our daily share of embarrassment, we should continue with our mission.”

Antonius spent the morning guarding Cadance while Shining Armor patrolled the city for hostile creatures. In the early afternoon, the Element Bearers were scheduled to arrive at the train station, and then this mission would soon be over. Antonius had to admit that he was glad about that. An enemy he could not shoot was annoying enough, but staying in the throne room all the time while Shining was on patrol was not really fulfilling.
Necessary? Probably.
Sensible? Yes.
But fulfilling? No.

Around noon, Shining returned and they had lunch. Cadance’s nutrient supply was probably too low to replenish the energy she lost keeping the shield up, but soon this would not be a problem anymore.

“So, if I go now, I will be right on time to escort Twilight and her friends to the castle,” Shining stated.

“Shouldn’t I do that?” Antonius asked.

“Well, they don’t fit into your Speeder, and without magic, you cannot properly protect them. Remember that you would have to leave the force field, and I doubt Sombra would be fooled again by your exhaust trick. So I think I should go.”

“Yeah… makes sense.”

Damned dark evil non-shootable cloud enemies…

Shining Armor left and Antonius and Cadance stepped onto the balcony. Down below, they could see Shining walking towards the crystal pillars that marked the borders of the city. Outside of the shield the snow storm was raging, but there was no sign of Sombra.

“Let’s hope they make it to the city undetected,” Cadance said.

“Hmm,” Antonius replied and put on his helmet,
“but I wouldn’t count on it.”

When shining had left the city, they kept an eye on the spot where he was supposed to reappear.

“I should have brought binoculars,” Cadance said.

“Don’t worry, I will tell you what happens.”

The first thing to happen was that a darkness started spreading beyond the force field, easy to see even for Cadance.

“Oh dear,” she mumbled.

“So much for staying undetected,” Antonius commented drily.

Thankfully, Twilight and her friends appeared a few moments later, running up to the crystal pillars.

“The Element Bearers have arrived,” Antonius stated.

“What about Shining?” Cadance asked worriedly.

“There he is,” Antonius answered as the stallion passed the shield.

“Is he okay?”

“Not wholly, but he can walk, so it can’t be too serious.”

“Thank Celestia. Let’s go in again, I think I need to sit down.”

Antonius followed Cadance inside, where she slumped down on the throne.
She had to hold out for just a few more minutes now…

A short time later, Shining, the Element Bearers and Spike entered the throne room. For a moment, Cadance’s fatigue seemed to be gone and she greeted Twilight in a quite special manner.

“One of these days we need to get together when the fate of Equestria isn't hanging in the balance,” she said.

“Are you okay?” Twilight asked compassionately.

Now Shining Armor told his sister about the current situation, and Cadance assured them that she was fine.

Well, that was a lie.

“She's not fine,” Shining stated,
“she can't go on like this forever, and if her magic were to fade... Well, you saw what's out there waiting for that to happen.”

“That's why we're here,” Twilight said.

“Why we're all here,” Applejack clarified, immediately verified by the other ponies.

“Good,” Antonius opined,
“then put on your Elements of Harmony, and we will go out there and blast this Sombra to oblivion!”

The dumbfounded stares Antonius got in return told him that something wasn’t going according to his plan.

“Girls?” he asked.

“Well,” Twilight started hesitantly,
“it’s that… I mean… we don’t have the Elements with us.”

Now it was Antonius turn to stare at them.

“You haven’t…” he inquired incredulously.

“No. Princess Celestia didn’t say a word about the Elements of Harmony. She just told us to help you protect the Crystal Empire.”

Antonius still stared at his friends, then he raised an index finger.

“Excuse me for a second,” he said, then he turned off his armor’s external speakers and used his vox to call Celestia.

“Yes?” Celestia answered.

“Celestia, might it be within the bounds of possibility that you somehow FORGOT TO EQUIP THE ELEMENT BEARERS WITH THEIR ELEMENTS???”

“I did not forget that,” Celestia answered somewhat indignantly,
“the Crystal Empire has powerful magic. You will find a means to protect it without the Elements.”

“So instead of using a reliable and available weapon we have to hope that we find something before Sombra wreaks havoc around here?”

“There is more to this mission than that. Just trust me.”

“It would be much easier to trust you if your actions would make some sort of sense! Seriously, what is this all about?”

“This mission is also a test for Twilight. I’m sure she will prevail and the Crystal Empire will be saved.”

“You are deliberately risking lives for some test?”

“Don’t exaggerate. Everything will be fine. Trust me.”

Had Antonius had the ability to reach through the vox and choke Celestia, he would probably have done it. But since this was not possible, he just said

“Antonius, out,” and cut the connection.

Now he noticed that all the ponies were staring at him with worry written in their faces, so he reactivated the external speakers and said:

“No Elements. This was obviously a deliberate decision. And now, I guess we also don’t have the time to travel back to Canterlot and get them. Even the Land Speeder is not fast enough to make it there and back before Cadance’s shield fails. We have to find a means to defeat Sombra.”

“As we said, that’s why we’re all here,” Twilight assured him.

“Well, with Cadance putting all her strength into keeping her spell going, Antonius protecting her and me trying to keep an eye on signs of trouble in the arctic, we haven't been able to gather much information from the Crystal Ponies,” Shining said.

“Crystal Ponies?!” Rarity exclaimed,
“hahaha, there are Crystal Ponies?! Umm, ahem. Please continue.”

“But we have to believe one of them knows how we can protect the Empire without having to use Cadance's magic,” Shining continued.

If this assumption proved to be wrong, they would have to evacuate as many ponies as possible - especially the Element Bearers…

“A research paper!” Twilight shouted, interrupting Antonius’ thoughts.

“Huh?” Shining wondered.

“That must be part of my test – to gather information from the Crystal Ponies and deliver it to you! This is gonna be great! I love research papers!” Twilight cheered.

Oh, great. She was just as out of touch with the grim darkness of reality as her mentor. Was Antonius really the only one who had realized that they were basically at war, and that there were lives at stake?

“Yeah, who doesn’t?” Rainbow quipped in response to Twilight.

Antonius choose to ignore Pinkie taking this rhetorical question literally, and Twilight continued:

“Don't worry, big brother. I am really good at this sort of thing.”

“Still,” Antonius said seriously,
“if the shield fails before you have a useable result, I want the six of you to come to my Land Speeder immediately.”

“Why?” Twilight inquired.

“Because I will somehow cram the six of you into the Speeder and get you to safety. I will not risk you being killed by Sombra.”

“Well, that’s nice of you, but we certainly won’t bail!”

“You are too important to die here. You will do as I told you.”

“But what about Shining and Cadance? What about Spike? What about the Crystal Ponies?”

“Once you are safe, I will go back and try to evacuate Shining, Cadance and Spike. The Crystal Ponies, however, will have to try and escape on their own.”

“That’s… harsh.”

“I know, but this is war. Priorities have to be set, and sacrifices have to be made. This is just an emergency backup plan, though. I would greatly appreciate a more positive outcome of our mission.”

“Then we will see to it that this plan never has to be set into action,” Twilight said with determination.

“And keep in mind that Sombra was a unicorn before Celestia and Luna turned him into a shadow,” Cadance said,
“he will probably revert back to a pony when trying to seize power.”

“If so, that will be his last mistake,” Antonius smiled grimly and checked his bolter,
“okay, so I will call you to the Speeder should everything else fail. And now, we should get going.”

Twilight and her friends left to question the Crystal Ponies, Antonius, Shining and Cadance stayed in the throne room.
More waiting, but the prospect of putting a bolt into that shadowy villain made it a lot easier to bear.

After some time, Twilight came back with a book and told them about something called ‘Crystal Faire’, a festivity that was supposed to somehow enable the Crystal Ponies to protect their empire.
Antonius was a bit skeptical about that. He did not believe that Sombra was afraid of parties, but since everypony else was quite optimistic, he did not oppose their plan. It was their world, after all. And perhaps this celebration would help the Crystal Ponies remember something useful.

So, not too long after their talk, he stepped onto the balcony behind Twilight, Cadance and Shining as Twilight invited the ponies to the impromptu faire. Twilight left again while the others watched the ponies enjoy the festivity.
Antonius noticed that something was happening to the Crystal Ponies and used his auto-senses to zoom in on a few of them: They started looking more… crystalline than before. Well, they were probably called ‘Crystal Ponies’ for a reason…

Then Rainbow was suddenly - and quickly - flying to the castle, and a short time later, Twilight appeared again, highly distraught.

“We have a problem!” she shouted,
“this ‘Crystal Heart’ mentioned in the book is not just some sculpture, it is a relic, powered by the Crystal Ponies! I didn't know it was an actual relic! The book didn't mention anything about the Crystal Ponies powering the Heart! There was a page missing... How did I not notice?!”

“It's alright, Twilight,” Cadance tried to soothe her.

Well, it was not really ‘alright’, because now Cadance fainted from exhaustion and the magic shield protecting the Crystal Empire failed.
Immediately, Sombra’s head started forming in the dark miasma that was surrounding the city, and he moved closer with an evil laugh.

“The empire is under attack,” Shining said.

“We are running out of time,” Antonius stated and grabbed his bolter,
“now it’s my bolt or the evacuation.”

“Not yet,” Cadance, barely conscious again, said with determination and lit her horn.

The magic shield was reestablished, sprouting from the ground to form a dome over the city. Sombra raced towards the nascent barrier and tried to cross it, but he was too slow. The field even cut off a small part of his curved, red horn.

The shield was stable - for now, but looking at Cadance this would only last a few minutes. ‘Tired’ did not even start to describe her condition.

“I have to find the Crystal Heart!” Shining shouted, but Twilight answered:

“No, you stay here with Cadance. She needs you, Shining Armor. I'll retrieve the Heart.”

Having said that, she left, followed by Rainbow Dash with a

“Let’s do this!”

Now, what should Antonius do?
Either he could help looking for the Crystal Heart, or he could stay on the balcony, using it as a sniper position should the shield fail.
He took another look at Cadance. It was probably the best decision to stay on the balcony.

The minutes went by and he could see Twilight running around down below him.

“We won’t find the Crystal Heart in time,” he mumbled.

“Perhaps you should help Twilight look for it,” Cadance whispered.

“I need to stay here to shoot Sombra when he approaches.”

“He can’t pass my shield, and I will keep it up. Go and help her, we will call you if I’m too exhausted.”

“Are you sure?”

“Definitely,” Cadance smiled.

So Antonius dashed through the throne room - and almost stumbled over Twilight and Spike.

“No luck yet, I guess?” he asked.

“No,” Twilight admitted,
“but I’m sure the Crystal Heart must be somewhere here, inside King Sombra’s… of course!”

“What? Did you find it?” Spike panted.

“No,” Twilight replied with a wink,
“because this isn't King Sombra's castle.”

She started walking towards the throne, followed by Spike and Antonius.

“Well, isn't this where he lived when he was in power?” Spike asked.

“It is. But it didn't look like this,” Twilight told him.

Now Twilight lit her horn, but soon, her magic aura stated turning dark, and a moment later, Antonius realized that she was now using the same dark magic he had previously seen Sombra use.
Corruption? Or more like the use of forbidden powers… hardly a good sign either way.

His thoughts and concerns were interrupted when the giant crystals behind the throne started turning dark and casting a shadow into the throne room.
Antonius jumped aside - better save than sorry - and turned to see the effects this shadow might have.

A large staircase was revealed in the middle of the room, leading down into the darkness.

“Whoa. When did you learn to do that?” Spike asked in amazement.

“That was a little trick Celestia taught me.” Twilight answered.

“Then let’s get down there and find this Crystal Heart,” Antonius said and wanted to take the steps downwards, but Twilight stopped him.

“No!” she shouted,
“it must be me and me alone who finds the Crystal Heart!”

“What? This is not the time for some sort of ego trip.”

“It’s not an ego trip, Antonius. It’s the main term of Celestia’s test!”

Oh, damnit. The student was as odd as the teacher…

“A test?” Antonius exclaimed,
“Twilight, seriously, screw this stupid test! There are lives at stake! Damnit! It’s not the best sign if a Space Marine cares more about a non-human than a member of it’s own species does…”

“I can’t just ignore the test!”

“Can you ignore the Crystal Ponies?”

“No! But I can pass the test and help them!”

“Have you ever heard the term ‘prioritizing’?”

“Antonius, I know you want to help,” Twilight said with a sigh,
“but if I fail this test…”

She was interrupted by a cry from Shining Armor from the balcony:

“Antonius! Cadance won’t be able to sustain the force field much longer!”

“So, that settles it,” Antonius grumbled,
“go and do your thing, Twilight, but please keep in mind what’s really important here and now.”

Having said that, he returned to the balcony, took his bolter and knelt down. Using the railing to stabilize his aim further, he pointed the weapon at the still distant Sombra and waited.

The shield was still up, but there was already some of Sombra’s dark magic inside it. The crystal pillars that marked the city limits started turning dark, and the darkness kept spreading, slowly but relentlessly.

Cadance’s condition worsened from second to second now. Sombra seemed to know this; he laughed - and regenerated his horn.

“Ugh. He can regenerate,” Antonius noted drily,
“let’s see if he can regenerate his head - if he ever gets a physical one, that is.”

For his taste, there were way too many uncertainties. Battles were won by strategy, tactic, careful planning and adapting to your enemy. For everything they could do, you should have a countermeasure. Now, everything had to work out in a terribly small number of specific ways, or they were all screwed.

At that moment, Twilight’s friends came onto the balcony, and Applejack told them:

“The Crystal Ponies found out that we don’t have the real Crystal Heart.”

“They’re starting to panic!” Rarity added.

“Then.. try to reassure them… somehow,” Shining Armor said, holding the barely conscious Cadance in his hooves.

So Applejack and Rarity stepped up to the railing and Applejack shouted:

“Now, don't y'all worry your pretty, little Crystal heads! The real Crystal Heart will be here any second!”

“I don't know if they believe you…” Rarity whispered.

“Don't know if I believe me…” Applejack whispered back.

Finally, the inevitable happened: Cadance, whose condition had deteriorated from ‘bad’ to ‘terrible’, collapsed. So did the shield that had kept Sombra out.

“Nopony get too close to me or in front of my bolter now,” Antonius commanded.

Sombra started approaching the castle, and the Crystal Ponies on the ground freaked out in fear.

Suddenly, there was a voice from above:

“Hey! Up here!”

“Spike?” Rarity wondered.

“I got the Crystal Heart!”

Well, that was some good news. Was about time something positive happened.
Still, Antonius did not look up, he kept Sombra in his reticle and waited for his enemy to become corporeal.

“That is mine!” Sombra growled and tremendously sped up his approach.

Crystals cracked above, and Rarity shrieked:

“Spikey-wikey!”

Not a good sign.
Could this bastard not just get a physical body so that Antonius could disassemble it?

Sombra raced towards the castle - and finally became corporeal again.
Antonius’ senses were at maximum. His subconscious calculated the necessary angles for a lethal shot, his bolter was set to single fire mode and his stance provided him with the maximum possible stability. Now, he just had to wait for his target to come closer to reduce the possible reaction time - his bolt had to be a surprise and a sure kill.

Then he noticed Spike and the Crystal Heart falling from the castle.
Damnit, so he had to time his shot even more carefully to avoid hitting the dragon… but his little plan would still work.

The next thing he noticed was Cadance, flying towards Spike and the Crystal Heart - and blocking his line of fire.

DAMNIT!!!
This could not be true!
What about ‘do not get in front of my bolter’ was so damned hard to understand?

On the bright side, Cadance managed to catch Spike and the Heart and make it to the ground with none of them getting destroyed. He heard her shout from below:

“The Crystal Heart has returned. Use the light and love within you to ensure that King Sombra does not.”

Now Antonius was about to pull the trigger, but he noticed that Sombra had stopped, and judged by his expression, he was quite confused.
Should he wait for this Crystal Heart to do its thing?
Should he trust the magic of the ponies to get rid of their enemy?
Would save him a bolt…
He waited, but kept Sombra in the reticle.

The ground started glowing, and Sombra shouted:

“What? No... No! Stop!”

Fear. So it had probably been a good decision to save his bolts…

Antonius was proven right about this as a magic shockwave was emitted from the Crystal Heart and ripped Sombra apart. He - and the darkness he had spread - were obliterated, with chunks of dark crystal - and evil unicorn - flying everywhere.
Antonius lowered his bolter with a grin.
Now, THAT was magic he liked!

The shockwave finished with an explosion of light and some kind of aurora borealis emanating from the top of the castle. Pony magic really was fond of colors…

Antonius took a look at his bolter, silently apologizing to the sacred weapon that he had saved ammunition and denied it a kill when he noticed something quite unusual:
The bolter was sparkling and slightly translucent.
So was his hand.
So was his arm.
So was his whole body!

“What the…” he mumbled, then he turned around and saw that everypony on the balcony was in the same weird condition - plus, their hairdos had changed.

Now Cadance and Spike landed on the balcony. Shining hugged her, then the two of them waved at the Crystal Ponies.

“Umm… would somepony be gracious enough to tell me why the hell we are looking like this?” Antonius asked slightly irritated.

“Who cares?” Rarity cheered,
“as long as we are looking this gorgeous!”

This was not exactly the answer Antonius had wanted to hear.

“It is the Crystal Heart,” Cadance said with a smile,
“its powers make you look like crystal.”

“Yeah, that’s kind of what I thought, but I mean how does it do that? Did it alter our molecular structure? Or is this just an optical trick?” Antonius asked.

Cadance looked somewhat clueless, then she shrugged and said:

“It’s magic.”

“Ah, okay. No further questions.”

Would avail to nothing anyway.

Then Antonius looked around, took off his helmet and turned to Cadance again:

“Actually, I do have another question: Where is Twilight?”

Several minutes later, they were all on their way to the border of the Crystal Empire. Twilight and her friends would take the train back to Canterlot, Cadance and Shining Armor would say goodbye at the station and then take their places as princess and prince of the empire. Antonius would also stay there for a few more hours and make sure that a guard against the arctic threats was formed, then he would return to Canterlot just in time to meet with the Element Bearers again.

They chatted quite a lot as they walked, only Twilight was very quiet.

“Everything's gonna be okay,” Shining Armor told her,
“you've gotta stop saving my rump like this. It's starting to get embarrassing.”

“Wasn't me who saved you in the end. It was Spike,” Twilight answered glumly.

“It's just a test. Maybe she'll let you retake it.”

“I don't think she's gonna give me a new test.”

“If she really is discontent with you making a decision that saved everypony, I’ll have to have a word with her,” Antonius stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

Ignoring a glare from Cadance, he said goodbye to his friends and then accompanied the new royalty of the Crystal Empire back to their castle.
Together with Shining Armor, he organized a guard to protect the city and tried to teach them a thing or two.

When the time for his return to Canterlot had come, he said goodbye to Cadance and Shining and got into his Land Speeder.

“Bye, Antonius,” Shining said,
“and thank you for your help.”

“You’re welcome, but I barely did a thing,” Antonius answered.

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Cadance said,
“we are glad that you were here. Now, goodbye. Oh, just one more thing: Please try not to start a fight with Celestia. She means well, very well even, we just sometimes don’t understand her plans.”

“Cadance, I never start fights. I just always end them,” Antonius grinned and put on his helmet.

“That’s what I was talking about,” Cadance laughed.

Antonius said goodbye again, then he accelerated the Speeder and headed back to Canterlot.

His timing was perfect: He met Twilight and her friends just as they arrived at the castle.

“Hello, everypony!” he greeted.

“Hello,” they replied and stopped, with Twilight taking a deep breath.

“Nervous?” Antonius asked.

Twilight nodded.

“Of course,” she said,
“I failed Princess Celestia’s test, after all. I wonder what will happen to me now.”

“Twilight,” he said reassuringly and picked her up,
“you performed well. And you are still the Element of Magic, our friend and yourself, no matter what Celestia might say.”
He sat her down again and continued:
“Now go in there and give her your report. Explain to her why you made the decisions you made. Everything will be fine.”

Twilight nodded again, this time a bit more confidently, and entered the castle.
Antonius and her friends waited outside. The tension was palpable, everypony was really worried about her. Pinkie was biting her hooves, Rarity had fainted dramatically and Spike was wandering around endlessly, quietly babbling all the while. The other ponies’ reactions to the current situation were not as picturesque, but they were clearly nervous, too.
Even Antonius had to admit that he was a little worried: Celestia’s judgement meant a lot to Twilight, and that was something he could not influence. Logically thought, the princess had to be content, but when he thought about how crazy the test itself had been, logic was probably not useful for predicting Celestia’s reactions to the recent events.

Suddenly, the door swung open - hitting Spike - and Twilight was back. After a moment of silence, she exclaimed:

“I passed!”

Twilight friends cheered loudly, and Antonius released a breath he had not realized he had been holding.
Everything was fine. Or almost.
Because now, Twilight’s friends started singing. And they kept singing until they had boarded the train back to Ponyville.
Of course, Antonius did not join in, he was content waving them goodbye as the train left. Then he returned to the castle, thinking about the ponies’ strange fondness for bursting into songs.

On his way through the throne room he saw a stained glass window depicting Spike saving the Crystal Heart - and the Crystal Empire. He grinned. Not bad for a creature that was technically still a baby.
Antonius wondered, however, how they had been able to manufacture this window in such a short time; Twilight had just had arrived, after all. Then he had an idea and fetched his PDA.

“Al?” he asked.

“At your service,” Al answered.

“Did the princesses have a look at my vid-log again?”

“Yes, they did. To be exact, they watched your livestream.”

“Oh… with Popcorn, eh?” Antonius answered sarcastically.

“Are you dissatisfied? Do you want me to strip them of the corresponding rights?”

“Yes. I want you to consider my logs classified until I declassify them - or parts of them. And no livestreams without my permission.”

“As you wish.”

“Thanks. Antonius, out.”

He found Celestia and Luna on a balcony looking at the leaving train. Luna had a book in her magic grasp.

“I’m back,” he stated.

“Oh, hi Tony!” Luna cheered and hid the book behind her back,
“and, how was the mission?”

“To be honest: unnecessarily complicated.”

“A little complicated, perhaps,” Celestia said friendlily,
“but not unnecessarily complicated. Everything worked out fine, perfectly even! And thanks for your help!”

“Just tell me what exactly worked out perfectly,” Antonius asked calmly.

“Umm… saving the Crystal Empire from King Sombra, of course.”

“If that were everything, you’d either be insane or you wouldn't have given Twilight this strange test. But Twilight had to pass this test, and I don’t think you are insane. Oh, and Luna is conspicuously hiding a book behind her back. So, what was that all about?”

“It… was a test,” Celestia admitted hesitantly.

“What?” Antonius exclaimed in fake surprise,
“this test was a test? No way!”

“It was a test of Twilight’s character. I was sure she would pass it, but I had to test her anyway. There is too much at stake.”

“Okay, now I’m really curious. Why did you test her?”

“I’m sorry, Antonius, but I can’t tell you.”

“You cannot or you do not want to?”

“To be honest: both. If you accidentally prattled away even the slightest hint, it could destroy everything. But I can assure you: It will be to your benefit as well as to ours.”

“That is true,” Luna confirmed,
“while I have sworn not to tell you any details, I can assure you that you will like it.”

“Well, keep your secrets,” Antonius sighed,
“but the next time you give anypony a test, please choose the time more wisely. Do you have any idea how many coincidences it took to create the specific situation so that Twilight could make her decision? The timing was almost impossibly convenient!”

“Oh, Antonius,” Celestia smiled,
“high stakes and victories in the nick of time are not that unusual around here.”

That night, Luna visited Antonius again in his dreams.

“Hello, Tony,” she said,
“I wanted to ask if you would like to fight another creature. You know, since your mission to the Crystal Empire did not include you destroying Sombra…”

“Hmm… thats’s a good idea,” Antonius answered,
“do you have anything special in mind?”

“Well, if you want a challenge, how about a dragon?”

“A dragon? That surely sounds interesting - as long as you do not want to prank Spike.”

“Oh goodness, no!” Luna laughed,
“I thought about a grown up, fire-breathing, scale-armored, aggressive creature of death and destruction.”

“Ha! You really make it hard for me to say no, so of course I say yes!”

“Okay, I will prepare everything!”

She lit her horn, and a moment later, they were standing in a desolation; a large plain, covered with dust and rocks of various sizes, the biggest ones big enough to take cover behind.

“Nice,” Antonius commented sarcastically.

“Fitting,” Luna corrected,
“and now, please excuse me. I do not want to get in your way.”

Now Luna spread her wings and took off. Antonius could see that she started circling the battleground, but she wasn’t the only creature in the air. The announced dragon closed in rapidly and Antonius examined it. It was large enough to be called a bio-titan, covered in red scales and equipped with fangs and claws that looked capable of tearing apart most types of armor.
In other words: The creature looked like a challenge.
Antonius grinned, put on his helmet and fetched his bolter.

The dragon landed in front of him, shaking the ground, and roared.
Antonius did not waste time; he aligned his bolter and fired. The bolts hit the dragon directly in the chest - but caused no visible harm. The scales they had hit just looked slightly blackened, but intact.
Oh.
The dragon laughed.

Antonius quickly thought about this situation. Was it possible that Luna used an overpowered dragon to give him a challenge? Or were dragons really that tough?
Well, he knew creatures that were almost impossible to kill with standard bolts, the Tyranid Carnifex was an example. You could, however, damage them, if you knew what to aim at.

The dragon had finished laughing by now and regarded Antonius.

“Fool,” it roared,
“my scales are armor! My fangs are death! My claws are destruction! And you think you can harm me?”

“Yup,” Antonius answered curtly and pulled the trigger again.

A volley of carefully aimed bolts flew towards the dragon - and hit its right eye. The mass-reactives detonated and made the eye explode out of its socket. The dragon roared in pain and anger and averted its gazed for a second to protect its head.
When it turned back towards Antonius it breathed fire. A lot of fire.

Antonius jumped behind a large rock to take cover. The dragon-fire rushed past him, creating a tunnel of death around him. Runes on his HUD started blinking, telling him that the ambient temperature was way above comfortable levels. The blistering paint on his armor resonated with that warning, as did the whirring of his armor’s coolant system. The chances of surviving a direct hit were definitely somewhere between minuscule and zero. Just one more reason to take his enemy down as fast as possible.

So, when the fire ended, Antonius left his cover and fired at the dragon again. The creatures left eye was turned into a fountain of gore and the now blind dragon roared again. This time, however, it turned, used its tail like a whip and lashed out at Antonius. He managed to dodge the tail that crashed into the ground close to him, obliterating the rock he had hidden behind.
Okay, another type of attack that really should not hit him.

The dragon lifted its tail and stroke again and again, forcing Antonius to continue his dodging.
Then, the creature turned and breathed fire. Antonius ran for cover. He barely managed to dive behind another large rock, but he was save from the attack - for now.

When the fire had stopped, Antonius peeked out of his cover. The dragon’s nose was pointing in his direction while the creature obviously tried to discern if its opponent was dead or not.
Antonius aligned his bolter again without making any noise.
What nice, big nostrils…

Another bolt found its target, causing a torrent of blood from the dragon’s nose.

More fire surrounded the now covering Antonius. Warning runes blinked in a frenzy, then his HUD went dark.
Damnit.

Although injured and blind, that dragon was still a lethal threat. His armor would not be able to stand much more of this incredible heat, but how should he kill his enemy? He had already made use of every vulnerable spot he had been able to identify, with one exception: the maw. But the dragon would certainly not be so kind as to just open its mouth so that Antonius could fire some bolts into the orifice… or perhaps…

Antonius peeked over his cover. The dragon was still there, its bleeding nose pointing in his direction, mouth closed.
He left his cover, bolter raised and shouted:

“Wow! Look at that nosebleed! You’re not that tough, huh?”

Yes, provoking the dragon seemed to be a bad idea. If it breathed fire again, Antonius had a good chance of getting roasted, but if the creature got angry enough to…
The dragon roared - in anger.

That was the opportunity Antonius had been looking for. He pulled the trigger and sent bolts into the dragon’s open mouth.
The reward was blood as the dragon started gurgling, and subsequently choking.

Antonius was relieved - this battle was almost over.
Unfortunately, the important word here was ‘almost’. For when the dragon toppled forwards, it belched flames one last time.

Antonius cursed and jumped behind his cover again.

Luna barely could believe her eyes. Antonius had really managed to kill a dragon, one of the most fearsome creatures known to ponykind!
She landed close to the rock he had hidden behind and shouted:

“Huzzah! Most impressive! I have never seen such a display of prowess! Really a lesson in finding your enemy’s weaknesses! Outstanding!”

Antonius did not answer, he just got up and left his cover. His armor was smoking and blackened, the paint almost completely gone. The noise it made when he moved did also not sound too good. Especially worrying was the chipped breastplate.

“Are you okay?” Luna asked.

Antonius stumbled towards her and used both hands to get his - obviously stuck - helmet off his head. He looked sweaty and tired.

“Well,” he said, blinking,
“that last burst of fire ruined my armor and detonated the bolts in my weapon. I also think that I’ve been injured.”

“Oh, I am sorry!” Luna immediately apologized.

“Don’t be,” Antonius replied with a small smile,
“it was a good fight. A challenging opponent, and a hard earned victory. Really, well done, Luna. Now, I think we can end this simulation.”

Luna looked at the whiffs of smoke that kept rising from his battered armor and his slightly worn out expression, then she snickered:

“Are you sure you do not want me to create a spa for you? You know, you look like you need it.”

“Charming,” Antonius deadpanned.

Luna laughed.