Trixie needed quite some time before she was able to fall asleep. Too much had happened that day that was keeping her mind busy. The alicorn amulet, Twilight Sparkle defeating her again, and now, she was in Celestia’s castle - which she had always dreamed of - and was working with a giant alien warrior to build weapons - which she had NEVER dreamed of.
Well, at least she could make up for her behavior in Ponyville. Not needing to say ‘no’ to Lord Varus was certainly also convenient, since she was not a fan of getting mauled. And as a bonus, she would get to surpass Twilight. So, it wasn’t the worst of situations she could be in.

The next morning, Trixie was served breakfast in her room and was told to wait there until Antonius picked her up. She did not have to wait long for the knock on the door.

“Good morning. Are you ready?” Antonius inquired as he entered the room.

“Yes,” Trixie answered and followed him into the armorium.

Once there, she started studying the plans for the ammunition she was going to create. The basic principle was quite simple, but the production tolerances were very small.

“Hmm… given enough time, this should work out quite fine,” she finally opined,
“it is nice to know that I can help where even Twilight couldn’t.”

“I haven’t asked her,” Antonius told her.

“Huh? Why?” Trixie asked in confusion.

“Twilight is the Bearer of the Element of Magic. I cannot risk loosing her in an accident.”

“So… I am here because I am… expendable?”

“No, you are here because your species needs you. If you really manage to make yourself expendable it would be a good sign.”

“HUH?”

“Being expendable means there is somepony who can take your place should something happen to you. This is very advisable, since there is a lot at stake here. Remember that you are not doing this for your personal glory, but for the continued existence of ponykind.”

Trixie thought about that. It was a very humble way of thinking. Well, she wanted to become a little more humble, so this was her chance to train this humility. She just answered:

“Yes, Lord Varus.”

“Still, try not to blow yourself up,” Antonius said,
“I have to return to the princesses now. If you need anything, tell Al. Now, good luck.”

He walked away, leaving Trixie behind. She looked after him for a few seconds, then she started working.

“Keep an eye on her,” Antonius told Al over the vox,
“maybe she really wants to make up for her mistakes, but better safe than sorry. If she shows any signs of treason, call me immediately.”

“Okay,” Al answered curtly.

Antonius walked through the castle towards the conference room in which the negotiations with the delegates from Saddle Arabia were about to take place. While the delegates seemed to be pretty nice creatures, Equestria’s request would maybe be seen as an imposition. Antonius was curious how this would all work out.

He was already expected by Celestia and Luna in front of the door that led to the conference room. Together, they entered.
The delegates had already been seated, and after a few polite greetings, the negotiations started.

“My dear friends,” Celestia said,
“we all know that next to a rich and beautiful culture, Saddle Arabia also has a more material wealth. Your country has one of the rare places in which silversteel is mined. We would like to purchase some of it.”

“With pleasure,” Prince Haakim answered,
“How much would you like to buy?”

“How much do you have?”

There was some murmur among the delegates now, and the prince said:

“Well, mining it is not easy and there is not a great demand due to its expensiveness. Our supplies should be good for about a dozen pony-sized ceremonial armors.”

“Thats is all you have?” Luna asked, disappointed.

“May I remind you that even this amount of silversteel represents an enormous value?” Princess Amira noted.

Well, as Antonius remembered, Luna’s bridle had about the worth of Ponyville and its surroundings, so enough silversteel for a dozen pony armors would probably be worth… a lot. Lots of ‘a lot’.

“If I may be so bold to ask,” Prince Haakim said,
“what do you need such an amount of silversteel for?”

“Have you heard of the town ‘Hope’?” Celestia asked.

“Rumors, mostly. It was almost destroyed by a strange creature, wasn’t it?”

Celestia looked at Antonius, a cue for him that it was his turn to start explaining what had happened there:

“The creature that almost destroyed Hope was a Chaos Space Marine. Once defenders of mankind, those traitors have sold their souls to the daemons of the Warp and have become perversions of our species, abominations with the sole purpose to kill and destroy. We expect them to show up here again, so we need the best equipment we can get to increase our chances of defeating them.”

Prince Haakim raised an eyebrow.

“Daemons? Of the Warp?” he asked incredulously,
“excuse me, but that sound more like something from a horror story. But be that as it may, if you can pay the price and prove to our reasonable satisfaction that you will never use the silversteel against Saddle Arabia, you may of course get what you want.”

Now another delegate gave him a piece of parchment, and after taking a look at it along with Princess Amira, he passed it along to Celestia.
Luna peeked at the parchment and turned to the prince:

“Surely you just wanted to know how many numbers you could fit on this piece of parchment?”

“The price is very reasonable,” Princess Amira interjected,
“especially if you keep in mind how difficult it is to mine silversteel. We could talk about a quantity discount, though.”

“It would still bankrupt Equestria. A few times,” Celestia stated.

“Perhaps you should buy less,” Prince Haakim suggested.

“That is not an option. What about deferred payment?”

“For the next what? Thousand years? Sorry, Princess, but no.”

“I am sure you understand that we would like to have real money for our valuable silversteel, not just promises of payment,” Princess Amira added.

Now Antonius started to get impatient.

“If we could make you understand how important the silversteel is for us…” Celestia sighed.

“We still won’t just bestow it upon you,” Prince Haakim said,
“it is far too valuable to be given away like that. Perhaps you have other valuables you could give us?”

“What about your lives?” Antonius finally asked, fed up with the negotiations.

The delegates stared at him.

“Are… are you threatening us?” Prince Haakim asked in disbelief.

“No,” Antonius stated,
“I do not need to. But I can assure you, Chaos will return to this planet, and if we are not able to repel them, they will kill every single creature here - and that includes the inhabitants of Saddle Arabia, too.”

“Surely you are exaggerating,” Princess Amira said.

“You will be able think about how wrong you have been while you are being tortured to death by daemon-possessed sadists.”

The delegates looked at each other, unsure what to do now.
Then Prince Haakim and Princess Amira looked into Antonius’ unmoving face. Quite some time passed, then the prince said:

“You are serious…”

“I am,” Antonius answered.

“Do you have any kind of prove? Anything else than stories?”

Antonius thought about possible evidence of the wickedness of Chaos, then he stated:

“Yes, I have prove. Just give me some time to get it.”

“Sure. Get this prove and show it to us, and we will probably come to an agreement, but please don’t stall.”

Antonius got up and left the room, heading for the armorium.

Inside the ancient base, Trixie was working on the ammunition. As he entered the room, she turned to him:

“Oh, hello, Lord Varus. You will certainly be pleased to hear that I’m making progress…”

“While I am pleased to hear that, I don’t have time to talk now. I must get going,” Antonius replied.

“Okay, I just wanted to ask if I may make an additional kind of ammunition for the shotgun.”

Hmm? An additional kind of ammunition?

“Sure, the more the merrier. Just don’t blow anything up.”

“Exactly,” Trixie said with a relieved smile.

For a second Antonius wondered what that could mean, but he decided to trust Al watching her. He was on a mission and had to complete it before the Saddle Arabians grew impatient, changed their minds or anything else unfortunate happened.
He got into the Land Speeder, started the engines and left the hangar.

The environment rushed past him as he made a beeline for Ponyville. Slowing down, he entered the town and steered the Speeder through the roads. He stopped in front of a familiar house and knocked on the door, hoping its residents were available.
Thankfully, the door opened.

“Hey, Antonius!” Blackwing greeted with a smile,
“an unexpected, yet very welcome visit!”

“Hello, Blackwing. Is Moonlight at home?” Antonius inquired.

“Why, yes. She’s in the living room. Come in.”

Blackwing took the lead and they walked into the living room.

“Guess who’s there!” Blackwing grinned, and Moonlight, sitting on the couch, got up and said:

“Hello, Antonius! It’s nice of you to pay us a visit. Stormy is in school, though.”

“That’s okay,” Antonius told her,
“I came to ask a favor of you.”

“Anything. How can I help you?”

“I need you.”

“Me?”

“Yes. To be exact - and blunt - I need your body.”

Well, thinking about it, he should definitely have tried to express himself in a more refined manner, even when pushed for time.

“Hey, that’s my text!” Blackwing interjected with a smile, obviously not taking offense at Antonius’ unfortunate wording.

Moonlight looked somewhat confused now, but also not offended as she asked:

“Sorry, but WHAT?”

“The delegation from Saddle Arabia wants to see a prove of the wickedness of Chaos before we get their silversteel. You are the best prove I can think of.”

“So, you want me to… flash a group of ambassadors?”

“If you say it like that, my plan sounds quite stupid. Still, it’s more or less true.”

Moonlight took a deep breath.

“Well, desperate times call for desperate measures, I suppose. Let me just get a dress, I don’t want to expose myself to more creatures than absolutely necessary.”

“Shall I tag along?” Blackwing asked.

“No,” Moonlight answered,
“wait for Stormy, just in case this takes some time.”

Just a minute later, they were already on their way towards Canterlot. They entered the hangar and walked through the armorium, exchanging greetings with Trixie.

“Wasn’t that the pony who caused all that trouble in Ponyville?” Moonlight asked as they had left the imperial base.

“Yes. She knows how to handle gunpowder, so I hired her. Don’t worry, she’s under supervision,” Antonius replied.

When they finally walked through the hallway that lead to the conference room, he turned to Moonlight:

“Ready?”

“For some embarrassment? Sure,” Moonlight told him with a forced grin.

“I’m sorry, but your injuries are the most striking example of Chaos’ evilness we have available, and I want to shock the delegates to drive the point home.”

“Well, that should work,” Moonlight sighed.

So they entered the room and Antonius announced:

“Prince Haakim, Princess Amira, delegates from Saddle Arabia, this is Moonlight. She was part of the strike force that liberated Hope from Chaos.”

According to Luna’s and Celestia’s faces, they knew what was about to happen.

“Please excuse me,” Prince Haakim said,
“but an eye witness is actually just another story…”

“She is far more than just an eye witness,” Antonius stated and gave Moonlight a nod.

She took off her dress and Antonius picked her up, tilting her upwards to reveal her belly.

While Moonlight had closed her eyes, the delegates had theirs wide open in shock.

“What in…” Princess Amira gasped.

“The Chaos Space Marine sliced her open with a daemonic blade as she tried to safe the life of an innocent filly,” Antonius explained,
“and I can tell you, this is just a small sample of the atrocities of Chaos, and by far not the worst they have ever done or will do if we can’t stop them!”

He put Moonlight down again, and she quickly put her dress back on.

“Thank you, Moonlight of Equestria,” Princess Amira said,
“I can understand how hard it must have been to provide us with the prove we demanded. I assure you that your helpfulness wasn’t for nothing.”

“Absolutely!” Prince Haakim concurred,
“you will get the silversteel you need. There is only one condition: Should Chaos attack Saddle Arabia before they attack Equestria, you must promise to come and defend us.”

“I can assure you,” Celestia said solemnly,
“we will fight the forces of Chaos as soon as they show up, wherever that should be.”

Now Prince Haakim turned to one of the delegates behind him, then he put a small chest on the table and opened it. It was filled with small, silvery ingots.

“Silversteel,” he explained,
“just a small amount, since we usually only sell such small amounts. We will send you the rest as soon as we get home.”

“Thank you very much,” Celestia smiled.

“I just wonder how exactly we are going to justify this transaction to our citizens…”

“Oh, I think we could just ask them if they would prefer being tortured to death by some daemon-possessed sadists,” Princess Amira mumbled with a small smile,
“it’s a proven method - sort of.”

Now that the negotiations were over, Antonius and Moonlight headed back to the hangar.

“I owe you one now,” Antonius told her.

“Not really,” Moonlight replied,
“I just helped defend Equestria like I always did. Okay, probably not exactly like I always did. But seeing the alternative, it was clear that I had to help you.”

“I would still like to show my gratitude. What about a monetary compensation for your time?”

“What? No. Taking bits for exposing myself to strangers would actually make this whole thing worse. If you really want to show you gratitude, you can come to dinner to us some day.”

“With pleasure.”

“Feel free to bring Luna along,” Moonlight grinned.

“I will,” Antonius just stated matter-of-factly.

“Aww… I was hoping I could annoy you a little bit.”

“That would require more effort - that you shouldn’t take.”

“Duly noted.”

After bringing Moonlight back to her home, Antonius visited Trixie in the armorium.

“Hello, Trixie,” he greeted,
“how are you doing?”

“Thanks, I’m fine,” Trixie answered,
“and I have something for you!”

Now she hovered a red shotgun shell over to him. Antonius took it and exa mined it.

“Looks good. Now we just have to test it,” he said and walked over to the shotgun, followed by Trixie.

He loaded the shell into the gun and went to the small shooting range that had been built to test the weapons produced in the armorium.

“Cover your ears,” Antonius advised Trixie and fired at a test target. The round of shot ripped the target apart and blew it down the range.

“Nice,” he grinned,
“if you can maintain this quality, we’ll finally have some ammunition for the shotguns.”

“Now try this,” Trixie told him and hovered a blue shell over to him.

“Your additional kind of ammunition?”

“Yeah.”

Antonius checked the shell, loaded it and fired. The target he had picked was still blown down the shooting range, but it wasn’t ripped apart. This kind of ammunition obviously had a very low armor penetration, and Antonius estimated that, if fired at an un-armored creature, it wouldn’t even be lethal. Painful, but not lethal.

“What is in those blue shells?” he asked.

“Halite,” Trixie told him,
“or rock salt, if you prefer that name. After working on such deadly stuff as the regular, red ones, I wanted to make something non-lethal. What do you think about it?”

Well, non-lethal ammunition was almost useless against the forces of Chaos, but there certainly were areas of application outside of this upcoming war. He could, for instance, shoot and temporarily neutralize creatures without killing them, and that meant that Celestia wouldn’t have any more reason to whine, since nopony would die. So he turned to Trixie with a smile:

“A good idea. Please take care that both kinds of ammunition are produced, and stick to your color code. I have to say that I’m really pleased with your performance.”

“Thanks,” Trixie grinned,
“I’ll go back to work.”

“I’d like to help you, but I’ve got to return to the princesses and the delegates. Diplomacy and stuff, you know.”

Antonius spent the rest of the day with the royal sisters and the Saddle Arabians to show some goodwill. He was thankful when the day was over and they all retired. After checking in on Trixie and finding out that she had been hardworking and productive, he went to his room and changed into his civil clothes, expecting to spend a quiet night.

He was proven wrong when he heard a knock on the door. For a second he wondered if it could be Luna, in need of assistance for a nightly patrol, but when he opened the door he was surprised to see Prince Haakim and Princess Amira, carrying a small chest.

“Good evening,” he said with surprise,
“how can I help you?”

“May we come in?” Prince Haakim asked.

Antonius waved them in and closed the door behind them, inconspicuously checking for more creatures in the hallway. There were none, the two of them had come alone.

“You certainly remember me accidentally insulting Princess Luna yesterday,” Prince Haakim started.

“Yes,” Antonius replied.

“Do you also know that the Prince back then gave a present to her?” Princess Amira continued.

“Some sort of bridle, made of silversteel.”

“Ah, so Princess Luna told you. Well, this bridle was just one part of a complete, traditional saddle arabian outfit. Very valuable, but even more beautiful.”

“In this chest,” Prince Haakim said,
“is the rest of this outfit. For more than a thousand years it has been in our country, waiting to be reunited with the bridle. Now, we want the Princess to have it. It is a present, an apology and a promise that we will set her image right. And since you are her friend, we want you to give it to her.”

They gave Antonius the chest and he took a look inside: delicate chains, made of silversteel, but also dark blue, transparent veils.

“The veils are supposed to be attached to the chains,” Princess Amira explained,
“the right spots should be easy to find. We hope that Princess Luna will like the outfit. And now, goodnight, Lord Varus.”

The prince and the princess left, and Antonius was alone in his quarters again.
So, after basically giving away a fortune of silversteel, they gave away an additional fortune? Very generous of them… Antonius still checked the contents of the chest - and the chest itself - if he could find anything dangerous. Finding nothing, he left the room, heading for Luna’s quarters.

After the princess had let him in, he told her what had just happened.

“How very generous of them,” Luna stated and took the chest.

“Indeed. I couldn’t find anything dangerous, but you should probably still be careful, just in case there is something magical about it,” Antonius told her,
“and yes, I know that I’m paranoid.”

“Well, to be honest, I also examined the bridle back when I got it. Just to be sure. I will do the same with this present.”

Luna lit her horn, and after a minute she said:

“No enchantments, curses or any other spells. Not even dormant ones, waiting to be reunited with the bridle. This outfit really is just an outfit. Would you help me put it on?”

“Sure.”

Luna fetched the bridle, and with Antonius’ help, she put the outfit on. The new part was a harness, and a set of chains went down Luna’s spine. One of them ended at her tail, the others wrapped around her thighs. In a final step, Antonius attached the veils over her muzzle, back and flanks, and Luna was completely dressed… as far as a pony wearing such an outfit could be considered as ‘completely dressed’.

“And?” Luna inquired, looking at herself in a mirror,
“what do you think?”

“Nice,” Antonius replied,
“beautiful, even. It definitely looks good on you.”

“Not too… revealing?”

“Well, as far as clothes go, it may be quite revealing, but since you ponies usually don’t wear clothes at all, I don’t think that is applicable here.”

“Oh Tony,” Luna smiled,
“you do not know a lot about mares, do you?”

“Thankfully, no,” Antonius smiled back.

Then, there was a knock on the door.

“Yes?” Luna called, a little annoyed.

A stallion of the Night Guard entered the room and started talking:

“Princess Luna, I just came to infoOOOOOOH!”

Now he just started at Luna, his eyes wide. And he was drooling a little.
Since Luna was so busy blushing that she couldn’t find the time to answer, Antonius did it for her:

“Is there a problem, guard?”

That made the guard snap out of his catatonic state. He saluted and shouted:

“I have seen NOTHING, your Highness, my Lord! We will do the patrol on our own! Goodnight!”

Having screamed that, he darted out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

Antonius turned to the still blushing Luna:

“I think he likes your outfit, too.”

Luna stared at him for a few seconds, then she said:

“Umm… Tony… please tell me: If a pony does not know that this is a traditional saddle arabian dress, would they not think that it is looking a bit… kinky?”

“Luna, seriously: I know that it is a traditional saddle arabian outfit, and I still think it’s looking a bit kinky - not to a worrying degree, just a little. You definitely shouldn't wear it in public.”

“So, I should only put it on when only you are around?” Luna smiled provocatively.

“That would be a sensible course of ac… hey, wait a second… damnit, Luna!”

“You said it was beautiful!” Luna laughed.

“Yes, because you really look good in it! Although it’s a little kinky! Oh, Emperor help me! Have I really started making distinctions between various levels of kinkiness and perversion instead of just wiping it all out wherever I find it?”

At that, Luna walked up to him and put her hooves around his neck.

“Tony, calm down,” she said soothingly,
“I already told you that a little kinkiness is nothing compared to the perversion of Chaos. Making distinctions is correct, you just have to reevaluate your assessment from time to time to make sure that nothing gets out of hoof. Or do you think I will suddenly become a mass-murdering maniac just because I am wearing this outfit?”

“No, that’s nonsense. No matter your choice of clothing, I’m sure you will never join Chaos.”

Now they embraced each other. When they ended the hug, Antonius grinned:

“I’m almost surprised your sister didn’t come rushing into the room.”

“Hmm… can you stand another joke or are you fed up with them for today?” Luna asked with a smile.

“Okay, speak up. I think I’ll be able to stand it.”

“Then: Are you disappointed my sister did not come? Would you have liked her to ‘join’ us? Maybe we could even ask for another outfit…”

It took Antonius a few seconds to grasp all the possible meanings of Luna’s words, then he laughed:

“Wow. What you insinuate would hurl my soul that fast at Slaanesh that the abomination might actually choke on it. Really, that is seriously off the charts.”

“It is. It made a good joke, though.”

“A good borderline joke. If that had come from anypony but you I would be somewhat wary. But now I should go, before Celestia really finds the time to charge in and get all the wrong ideas again.”

“Yeah, she is somewhat proficient in that. Goodnight, Tony.”

“Goodnight, Luna. Or do you need my help to get out of… no, probably not. Goodnight.”

Antonius left the room and returned to his quarters. This time, he got his quiet night.

The next morning, after breakfast with the delegates from Saddle Arabia, they went to the armorium to show their guests what they were working on and what exactly the silversteel would be used for. The ancient base and the weapons being constructed there caused quite some awe, and the royal couple promised again to send the metal as soon as they were back home.

After lunch, the guests got ready to leave as planned. While the delegates boarded the chariots, Prince Haakim turned to Antonius:

“Lord Varus, there is a question that keeps my mind busy, so I have to ask it: If we hadn’t given you the silversteel, would you have tried to forcefully take it?”

“No, I wouldn’t have tried to take it by force,” Antonius answered.

Prince Haakim nodded and got onto the chariot. They took off, and soon they were just small dots in the sky.
Luna, who was standing next to Antonius, turned to him:

“I overheard your little conversation. You would not have tried to take the silversteel by force?”

“No.”

“Hmm… you would not have TRIED, as that would imply the possibility of failure… but maybe you would just have done it?”

“Quite convenient that this is moot now, isn’t it?” Antonius grinned.

Now Celestia walked up to them and said:

“That was a success. I’m really glad that they agreed to give us the silversteel. Otherwise we would have been in quite a predicament.”

“Hmm,” Antonius and Luna agreed and together, they went back to the castle.