The following days and weeks were pretty quiet. The projects in the armorium made good progress, as did the training of the princesses. Antonius had lent his PDA to Trixie, so that he could contact - and keep an eye on - her. She used the device to dutifully record her progress on the production of ammunition and to get to know about mankind. Antonius even taught her how to use the shotgun, so that she could test some of the shells she produced. Of course, he also told her what kind of terrible things would happen to her should she ever misuse the weapon. All told, she caused no trouble. Really, those days were downright peaceful. He even used the opportunity to check on the Wonderbolts, meeting Rainbow Dash while he was there.
Then, one evening, Antonius found Luna waiting for him in his quarters.

“Hello, Luna,” he greeted,
“what brings you here?”

“I am not sure, Tony,” she replied with obvious unease,
“I have this weird feeling that something is… wrong.”

“Wrong? In what way?”

“As I said, I am not sure. Last night, I… felt something. I cannot exactly put my hoof on it. You could do me a favor by being alert the next days and nights, though. Would you please do that for me?”

It was easy to see that Luna was really concerned, and for Antonius, that was enough to take the matter seriously, so he said:

“Of course. I’ll quickly check my armor and weapons, then I’ll accompany you.”

“Thank you, Tony.”

Within just a few minutes, Antonius was combat-ready and walking at Luna’s side through the castle.
When she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, he knew that whatever she had felt the night before was back. He put his hand on the hilt of his chainsword and asked:

“What’s wrong, Luna?”

“Oh no,” was everything she whispered.

Antonius scanned their surroundings, but there was no sign on an enemy. Looking at Luna, though, he knew that there had to be a threat somewhere. She was downright terrified!

“Perhaps I am wrong,” Luna whispered, but it sounded more like pleading than like admitting the possibility of a mistake.

The next moment, Antonius vox came alive, just as did Luna’s PDA. They both used their devices to answer the call; it was from Celestia.

“Luna, Antonius, please come to my quarters. Make haste!”

They started running through the hallways until they arrived at Celestia’s room. The door was already open and they entered. Inside, a startled Celestia was waiting for them, a scroll in her magic grasp.

“Rarity has been abducted!” she told them at once.

“WHAT?” Antonius inquired loudly.

A abducted pony was a cause for concern. If this pony was the Element of Generosity, it was a catastrophe!

“How?” Luna asked, her voice shaking a bit.

Antonius was almost sure that she already knew the answer and just needed confirmation. He was just as sure that this night see some serious violence.

“According to Twilight’s letter,” Celestia told them,
“she was taken away by some sort of dark smoke.”

At that, Luna visibly paled, and her mane lost its magical attributes.

“They are back,” she whispered, then she continued with a firmer voice:
“Sister, we must teleport to Ponyville immediately! Antonius?”

“At your side!” Antonius answered and put on his helmet.

The princesses lit their horns, and a moment later, they were in Ponyville, inside Twilight’s library.
There was quite some commotion; Pinkie Pie was clinging to Applejack and Spike was sobbing while Fluttershy and Rainbow were listening to a nervous Twilight, who just exclaimed:

“Princess Luna is our only hope! Anyone have a scroll?”

“You can ask her in pony,” Celestia said,
“I believe a dark energy has been infiltrating your dreams. My sister may be able to help.”

In the following discussion, Luna hesitantly revealed what was actually going on:
A power she called ‘nightmare forces’ had returned in an attempt to create an evil, all powerful kingdom - in Ponyville.
So, Chaos had come to Equestria to destroy the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. While not the expected warband of traitor marines, Antonius would not underestimate those daemonic forces. Thankfully, stopping daemons from seizing worlds was actually his bread and butter.

During her explanation, Antonius had kept a close eye on Luna. Sometimes, her eyes suddenly widened, just to be closed immediately thereafter with a shake of her head.
She was haunted by memories of what had happened to her when she had become Nightmare Moon, Antonius was sure of that. He had never seen her that way. The imposing and elegant Princess of the Night had become a frightened little pony. Well, if being possessed for a thousand years did not traumatize you, what should?

Anyway, now there was an Ultramarine in Equestria, and those ‘nightmare forces’ would pay dearly for the atrocities they committed - the past and the more recent ones.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash wanted to take action immediately and start a rescue mission, but Luna insisted to investigate on her own. Of course, none of the ponies agreed to that proposal. Neither did Antonius.

“Luna,” he said,
“while gathering information is of course an important part of a battle, I don’t think we have enough time for that and have to be a little more aggressive. I say we get to the moon, then I will act as a spearhead and fight my way through the daemons with you, Twilight and her friends close behind me. We will rescue Rarity, and together, you can use the Elements of Harmony to annihilate the rest of the daemons - or whatever the Elements do.”

Luna looked like being on the edge of a panic attack.

“No! We… must protect Ponyville!” she stammered.

“I will help Ponyville prepare,” Celestia offered,
“you must save Rarity and stop the attack.”

“Good plan,” Antonius grinned,
“and now, let’s make those abominations pay for the atrocities they committed!”

“Please, Tony,” Luna begged,
“stay here and help my sister protect Ponyville!”

Antonius thought he had misheard.

“Luna, seriously, I should be where the daemons are, so that I can, you know, kill them.”

“Please, come with me for a second,” Luna said and left the library.

Antonius followed her outside.

“Luna, what is wrong?” he asked,
“I get the impression that you - for whatever reason - want to spare those daemons.”

Luna turned around with tears in her eyes and said:

“I want to spare them, because they are not daemons.”

“HUH??? What are they, if not daemons? They corrupted and possessed you a thousand years ago, and now…”

“NO!” Luna exclaimed, silencing Antonius, then she continued, her voice just a whisper:
“They were not the forces that corrupted me… it was the other way round.”

Antonius had to think about that for a few seconds, then he stammered:

“What? Umm… I don’t follow you… like, at all.”

“I was corrupted by another daemonic power. Then, when I was exiled to the moon, I, as Nightmare Moon, corrupted its peaceful denizens and turned them evil. We must not hurt them, Tony, please. If you kill them, their blood will be on my hooves. I could never stand that guilt.”

Oh. Shit.

Antonius was not sure what to say now. If they had had the Elements of Harmony - ALL of them - there might have been a chance to save those denizens of the moon, but as things were, they would probably become collateral damage.

“Luna, I… I don’t think we have another choice but to kill them.”

“No,” Luna pleaded,
“please, Tony, no. Please stay in Ponyville and defend it. Let us try to save Rarity and the denizens of the moon.”

Antonius scratched his brow.
This course of action would be ridiculously risky. Rarity had priority, not some possessed natives. Looking into Luna’s face, though, made it clear that he would have to pay a very high price if he insisted on his proposal. As she had said, she would not be able to stand the guilt of dozens of dead caused by her actions, even when she was not herself back then. It would brake her, and if they were killed by him, it would surely also break their friendship.

Now, was the reduced risk of failing the rescue mission worth Luna’s mental health and their friendship?

“Damnit,” Antonius cursed,
“fine, have it your way. I am not especially happy, but I will stay here and do my best to fortify Ponyville.”

“Thank you!” Luna exclaimed and hugged him.

“Excuse me,” Celestia interrupted carefully as she and the others left the library,
“but we don’t have any more time to spare. I know a way to the moon, and we must hurry.”

“Right,” Luna agreed,
“the nightmare forces will surely assail Rarity even as we speak. I hope you friend is brave. The nightmare dreamscape is not for the faint of heart.”

They all went to a hill near Ponyville. For some reason, Celestia had wanted Applejack to fetch a lasso. Antonius wondered what she was supposed to do with that. Lasso the moon?
His confusion intensified when he found out that this was exactly what Celestia was going to do: She successfully lassoed the moon!

So, while Luna was moving the moon closer to the planet with her magic, the other ponies and Antonius pulled the lasso and, by extension, the moon, helping her. He wasn’t sure what was more ridiculous; the plan itself or the fact that it actually worked.

“That’s it!” Celestia finally said,
“well done, my ponies. Antonius and I will begin to prepare Ponyville. Good luck!”

While Luna, Twilight and her friends started their ascent, Antonius and Celestia went back to Ponyville.

“Tell me, Tia,” Antonius asked,
“how are we supposed to prepare the very civil inhabitants of Ponyville for an attack of possessed creatures we are not even allowed to kill? Should we build some barricades? Is the enemy capable of flight?”

“Well, in a way,” Celestia answered,
“they will descend from the sky, so barricades will be mostly useless. We must rally the ponies of Ponyville and make sure they get ready to defend their hometown.”

“So we really put untrained ponies against possessed creatures… usually I protect civilians, I don’t send them into battle.”

“We don’t have the time to fetch the PDF, and even then, we must not kill anypony. The citizens of Ponyville will be better suited to carry out this task. Do you doubt their resolve?”

“No, but I doubt their combat experience, because, you know, they have none.”

“They will be defending their homes and loved ones. They will not fail.”

“I have seen civilians fight before. In such situations, they truly tend to be incredibly determined, which unfortunately almost never makes up for their inexperience and bad equipment. Still, I really hope your plan works, but you will excuse me if I stay a little skeptic. I have an idea how to increase our chances, though. Could you teleport some equipment from Canterlot to Ponyville?”

“Of course… what do you have in mind?”

“Guns,” Antonius answered with a grin and activated his vox.

It took a few seconds to get an answer:

“Yes, hello? Lord Varus? Is that you? Ugh, it’s still night, isn’t it?” Trixie mumbled drowsily.

“Trixie, get the shotgun and as many shells as you can carry, both types. We are going to war.”

“WHAT? WAR?” Trixie screamed, suddenly very awake.

“Indeed. We need to defend Ponyville from the nightmare forces.”

“Oh dear… I think I’m gonna faint…”

“Only if you can make the preparations I mentioned at the same time. Now get going, Princess Celestia will teleport you and the equipment to Ponyville. Varus, out.”

“Oh dear… I’m on my way. Trixie, out.”

Celestia gave Antonius a skeptical look.

“Didn’t we agree not to kill anypony?”

“Trixie came up with non-lethal ammunition. The effectiveness is somewhat limited, but I think it will still be of use,” Antonius explained,
“and if things go south, we still have real, lethal ammunition. Just in case.”

Celestia did not seem to be too happy about that, but she nodded and did not ask further questions. Instead, she and Antonius rallied the ponies of Ponyville to prepare them to fend off the nightmare forces. Once the news was spreading through the town, the princess teleported to Canterlot. She returned a few minutes later with a distressed looking Trixie. The unicorn mare had donned her cape and hat, and more important, she had brought the gun and ammunition along.

“Good,” Antonius said,
“now, Trixie, you know how to use a shotgun. Do you want to use it tonight?”

Trixie paled (even more) and replied:

“Oh, no. Sorry, Lord Varus, but I don’t think I can shoot at living creatures, not even with the halite shells.”

“Ok, I’ll use the gun. Just stay in my vicinity to supply me with ammunition when necessary.”

So Antonius grabbed the shotgun and loaded it with blue shells. Everywhere throughout Ponyville, ponies were finishing their preparations to defend their homes agains the nightmare forces.

Then, Luna came back from the moon - alone.

“Where are the ponies?” Celestia immediately asked.

“They were captured,” Luna admitted dejectedly.

Antonius sighed and said:

“Things are busy going very south now. Are you two still determined to take the ‘minimum force’ approach? I mean, now all six Element Bearers are captives of the enemy…”

Luna regarded him with sad eyes, then she whispered:

“It is actually worse.”

“Then enlighten me,” Antonius demanded.

“The nightmare forces - they have corrupted Rarity. She has taken the place of Nightmare Moon - as Nightmare Rarity!”

“So, we need to perform an exorcism on this Nightmare Rarity to get Rarity back… but we need Rarity to use the Elements of Harmony and perform this exorcism… so… shit.”

“Things may be looking grim,” Celestia admitted,
“but there is still hope. We still have a chance to get Rarity back and free Twilight and her friends - without killing anypony.”

Seriously, this was starting to get annoying. Antonius always tried to avoid collateral damage, but in this case, his usual, more violent approach was more than justified in his opinion. He just wanted to give Celestia a piece of his mind when he met Luna’s gaze. The sadness in those eyes was indescribable.

“Fine,” he finally sighed,
“but if the situation gets worse, we won’t have another choice but to accept that sometimes, things aren’t going according to our plans and intentions.”

The princesses nodded, then Luna said:

“The nightmare forces are on their way. They will attack Ponyville.”

“Don’t worry, sister,” Celestia told her,
“we’ll be ready for them.”

“I will see to it that I get my armor.”

It did not take the nightmare forces long to arrive. Unnatural dark clouds soiled the sky as they approached Ponyville. Luna, Celestia, Antonius and the inhabitants of Ponyville had gathered on a field just outside the town.

Luna took a look at Antonius. We was looking at the enemy forces, his new shotgun in hand. She knew that she demanded a lot of him; in his opinion, the nightmare creatures were lost to corruption and deserved death. She really gave credit to him that he still went along with the plan not to kill anypony… well, unless absolutely necessary, that was. As things went this night, it would probably become necessary, though. Really, everything was going wrong, and it was all her fault.

The dark clouds approached, covering the night sky like dread incarnate, and at the head of the enemy forces, there was Nightmare Rarity. The daemon that had once possessed her had found a new victim… it would have been better if it had taken her again, now Rarity had to pay for her weakness…

“Sister? What’s wrong?” Celestia suddenly asked,
“we need to focus to lead them.”

“Nothing is wrong,” Luna answered, charging her horn,
“I WILL save these ponies - no matter what.”

She fired a powerful magic beam at Nightmare Rarity, but the daemonic mare just deflected it with her hoof.

“Really, must we go through all of this again?” Nightmare Rarity taunted,
“bor-ring.”

The deflected beam hit the ground next to Luna, leaving a crater.

The creature continued:

“Still trying to fight back your fear and anger, Luna? Tsk-tsk. Give in to the darkness! Join the party.”

“I WILL DEFEAT YOU!” Luna roared,
“ALONE!”

“Have fun!” Nightmare Rarity replied and sent the nightmare forces to attack.

The creatures were darting towards Antonius and the ponies, more dark clouds than anything else. Antonius thought of Sombra and how little his weapons had been of use back then. Well, now was a different time, and those things were not necessarily just smoke, perhaps there was enough that could be hit.

So he took a step forward and raised his shotgun. As soon as the next best enemy was at an acceptable distance, he pulled the trigger. The halite left the weapon’s muzzle and slammed into the dark creature. It was stopped and vaulted backwards, with small shreds of dark cloud flying in all directions. It screamed, though it was impossible to say if that was because of pain or just surprise.
Well, at the moment it was not able to continue its attack, and that was the main thing, after all. Not to mention the fact that Antonius now knew that those things could be harmed by ballistic weapons.

He aimed and the next creature and fired again with a similar result. After stopping six of the dark things, there were no targets available anymore; they were either out of range or so close to ponies that he could not risk using the shotgun on them.
Time for melee.

As Antonius just wanted to start running towards the nearest fighting nightmare creature, he could see that the first one he had hit was slowly picking itself up again. So, Trixies ammunition was useful for temporarily sending enemies to the ground, but it did not incapacitate them enough to make them stay there. He still fired another shell at this thing to convince it that getting up was a bad idea.

Now, a creature attacked him, or, to be exact, it tried to. Antonius noticed it, spun around and fired the last shell into the thing’s belly, sending it to the ground, screaming. He took a quick look around to see where Trixie was. She was in a fight, trying to fend off some enemies with a blinding light from her horn. Antonius rushed over and slammed the butt of his weapon into the next creature’s face, knocking it out with a crack that possibly was its nose… if it had a nose. The others were taken down by ponies.

All told, the inhabitants of Ponyville did a remarkably good job of engaging the nightmare forces; the earth ponies kicked them, the pegasi tackled them and the unicorns used light and magic beams on them - with a surprising amount of success.
In a side road, Rapid Cure and Nurse Redheart were busy patching up ponies who had gotten hurt.
Above the battle, Luna and Celestia were flying, using their magic wherever the nightmare forces threatened to overwhelm the defenders.

“Doesn’t look too bad, does it?” Trixie asked.

“No,” Antonius answered and glanced over to Nightmare Rarity who was slowly descending,
“but the enemies’ leader is about to join the battle. I need some shells. Blue.”

“No problem, I made a lot of those.”

Antonius quickly reloaded the shotgun and was on the move again. Now, he changed his tactic, though. Instead of using his gun, he immediately entered close combat since his punches were better suited to incapacitate his enemies than the halite shells. Really, those nightmare creatures weren’t very tough; a fist to the face or - even better - to the skullcap reliably incapacitated them.

One of the nightmare creatures was just attacking a stallion. Antonius grabbed the thing and yanked it backwards. Then, his fist came down on the creature’s head, knocking it cold out.

“Wow,” the pony said thankfully,
“you fight like Bud Prancer!”

Then he rushed off to help his friends.

“I fight like who?” Antonius wondered and knocked out another creature with a fist to its skullcap.

The fight went on for a while. Antonius kept rushing into melee, using the shotgun only to stop nightmare creatures that were about to ambush ponies. Soon, the gun was empty again, and Trixie - with the supply of ammunition - was lost somewhere in the heat of battle. Antonius put the shotgun to his hip and jumped into the next fight, brawling his way through his enemies with his fists while doing his best to keep track of the battle despite the commotion around him.

Above a part of this commotion, he noticed Stormy gathering clouds. He was not too comfortable with children fighting in this battle, but it was their home, too, after all. Still, having children join fights should be the very last means…

As he thought this - while punching another nightmare creature in the face - Stormy slammed from above into the heap of clouds she had collected, creating a bolt of lightning that hit a nightmare, shocked the thing and sent it to the ground.
Hmm… effective.

Suddenly, Stormy’s flank started to glow.
What was that? An attack?
Stormy did not seem to be in pain. She didn’t even notice it, she was too focused on the battle below her.
The glow quickly vanished, and much to Antonius surprise, there now was a symbol on Stormy’s flank.
A cutie mark? A cutie mark! Antonius had just witnessed Stormy getting her cutie mark!
He had to tell her - even thought they were in the middle of a battle! He knew how important that was to her, and since there were enemies everywhere, the direction he took was not important at the moment.

He made his way over to her and called:

“Hey, Stormy!”

“Oh, hi Antonius!” Stormy replied,
“did you see my lightning attack? Pretty neat, hmm?”

“Really great. And it got you your cutie mark!”

“Huh?”

“Look at your flank. There was a glow, now there is a cutie mark.”

Stormy took a look - and started cheering.

Now Antonius heard the sound of hooves coming closer. It was Blackwing, running towards them.

“Stormy!” he shouted,
“there you are! Please don’t wander off again! Moonlight and I were worried sick! Oh, and hello, Antonius… wait a moment… is that a cutie mark?”

Stormy was still busy cheering, so Antonius answered:

“She created a lightning bolt and incapacitated a nightmare creature. That got her her mark. But I suggest we postpone the talking; this battle is not won yet.”

“Right,” Blackwing answered,
“come on, Stormy, let’s return to Moonlight. You have never seen a pony throw stuff at nightmares with more fervor!”

Antonius grinned. He could imagine that. While melee was impossible for her, ranged combat obviously still worked.

He turned around and continued brawling his way through his enemies.

Luna was soaring over the battlefield. Down below her, the ponies fought the nightmare forces with commendable bravery while Antonius wreaked havoc amongst the attackers. You could have said that things were going fine, if not for one important fact: The daemon that had once possessed her and had now taken over Rarity was not yet participating in the fight. Nightmare Rarity just stood there, obviously enjoying the violence in front of her.
What a disgusting creature.

Until now, Luna had seen no casualties, neither pony nor nightmare. But how long would that last? Although Antonius was clearly holding back, the longer the battle lasted, the higher the probability of an unintentional death became.
This had to end. Now. And Luna knew how to end it; she had to defeat Nightmare Rarity.

Luna turned and started her attack run. She was heading straight at the daemonic mare, her horn ablaze. Her opponent noticed her and called:

“I can feel your bitterness, Luna! You can’t deny it! It’s part of you… give in!”

Those words hit Luna hard. Because they were true. The bitterness that had made her susceptible to the daemon was still inside her, just waiting for an opportunity to pull her back into the darkness. She was weak, as weak as she had been all those years ago…

This distraction proved to be dire. Nightmare Rarity hit her with a magic beam, making Luna scream in agony. The whole world became blurry, and the next thing Luna felt was that she hit the ground hard. Dazed, he tried to open her eyes, but it seemed to take her forever to do so.
When she finally was able to see again, she saw Nightmare Rarity, charging up her horn for another shot, grinning with sadistic glee. She closed her eyes again and waited to be hit; there was nothing else she could do now.

She heard the magic discharge.
But the pain she had expected did not come.
Something unexpected had happened.

She opened her eyes again and saw… blue. A blue piece of armor.
Antonius! He had taken the hit for her! He had saved her!

What?

That would have been such a nice hit! Nightmare Rarity had really locked forward to hearing the pathetic Luna scream again, but no, this strange creature had to put its leg right in the way. She had seen him earlier, and she even had to admit that he obviously was a capable fighter, but this?
After this hit, he would probably not be able to walk for a few days. She really had thought him to be a little smarter.

Now, he was standing there in front of Luna, glaring at the leader of the nightmare forces with red glowing eyes.

“Enough,” he just said, then he started closing in on her.

He dared to attack her?
Nightmare Rarity fired a beam of fear and pain at him. He didn’t even try to dodge. Well, of course he didn’t. If he did, the ponies behind him could get hurt, so he took the brunt of her magic.
The daemon grinned. Being one of those do-gooders really sucked.

The grin vanished when she realized that he was still coming at her. She immediately fired another beam at him.
It was a direct hit, but except a small grunt and a little scorch mark on his armor, there was no effect. Really, he should be lying on the ground now, writhing in fear and agony.
Instead, he was running in her direction, and he was fast. Very fast.

Time to get serious. Nightmare Rarity charged a destructive beam to destroy her attacker, but she was a little too slow. A fist hit her head and almost made her turn around.
Wow, he was strong…

As she had just turned her head back forward, she was hit again. She had to close her eyes for a second. Those punches were strong enough to be a real problem.
It was high time to fight back the hard way.

She reared up to strike at him with her hooves. Unfortunately, he was faster - again. He hit her chest, forcing the air out of her lungs and toppling her over.
Seriously, what kind of creature was that?
Still lying on her back, she took a look at him to see where exactly he was, and her eyes went wide.

Two of her minions had tried to stop him, now he was beating up one of them - using the other one as a flail!
What the…?

Nightmare Rarity rolled over to get back onto her hooves, then she wanted to get some distance between her and him to start an attack of her own, but the only result she got was a tug on her tail. She turned around and saw that the giant had grabbed it.
Oh crap…

Just as she wanted to charge up her horn she was vaulted into the air, and a moment later she hit the ground again. Hard.
This happened a second time. And a third.

What the hell did he think she was? Some kind of metronome?
All those hits started taking a toll on her. She felt dizzy, and her body hurt more than she was comfortable with.

When she hit the ground again, she felt that her opponent had released her tail, and she used this opportunity. She spun around and jumped back to her hooves, charging her horn in the process.
She fired a beam of pure pain and hit one of his pauldrons, but his hand closed around her throat, forcing her head upwards.
This did not go according to plan…

Those magic beams were quite powerful, Antonius had to admit that. Each hit felt like being stabbed by a burning hot dagger, but such things did not stop an Ultramarine. Pain was just an illusion of the senses, after all. Interestingly, the pain was barely accompanied by physical damage. Nightmare Rarity did not want to kill her victims, but to keep them alive and torture them. Disgusting.

Apart from the pain, some of the beams seemed to contain some sort of fear component, but that was even less successful than the pain. Space Marines knew no fear, and Antonius was eager to show this daemon that they didn’t know mercy, either.
Unfortunately, he could not do that. He had to exorcise the daemon somehow so that he got Rarity, the Element of Generosity, back. He had to admit that he had no idea how to do that, but weakening the abomination through physical harm seemed to be a good start.

While he was fighting with the daemon, he could hear the ponies encouraging Luna, and then Luna encouraging the ponies in return. One round of encouragements for everypony!
Well, at least his friend had gotten over her compunctions. Perhaps she could help separating the daemon from Rarity?

The ponies gathered around Antonius and the daemon who were still locked in melee.

“Fool,” Nightmare Rarity hissed,
“can’t you see that I have already won? You have nothing left!”

“I have my hand around your throat,” Antonius retorted,
“that’s a good basis to build on.”

“But I’ve taken your Element Bearers! I’ve even taken your dragon!”

Which was an act of pure malice, since he did not pose the same threat as the Element Bearers.

“Then who’s that young whippersnapper flying through the air?” Granny Smith asked.

Huh?
Antonius tightened his grip around the daemon’s throat a little and risked a quick look: One of the nightmare creatures was descending from the sky, holding Spike in its arms. Well, if they wanted to use him as a leverage, he probably would have to take more drastic measures to win this battle…
Antonius was not the only one surprised by this course of events, though.

“W-what? How did he?” Nightmare Rarity asked in confusion, but she quickly regained her composure and gloated:
“No matter - our man what’s-his-face has him. Or should we be shaking in our horseshoes?”

“Actually,” Spike grinned,
“you probably should. Take it away, Jerome!”

Jerome? Who the hell was that? It couldn’t be that nightmare creature, could it? That would mean that it were a defector, and… daemonic defectors?

“That’s right, Larry!” the nightmare creature said, put down Spike and turned into a vortex of dark, but lightening clouds,
“my name is Jerome!”
The vortex vanished, and the creature had taken on a new form, less menacing but still strange.
“And that’s not all!” it continued.

Now, Twilight and her friends were descending from the sky. Unlike Spike, they were not carried by a nightmare creature, but by magic glows that matched the colors of their coats.

Okay, now the Element Bearers were back, together with Spike and a self-exorcising creature named Jerome… incredible how fast a fight could turn from ‘dire’ to ‘weird’ around here…

“Silly scary lady,” Pinkie Pie shouted,
“friendship is stronger than fear will ever be!”

“Less sermonizing, more exorcising!” Antonius suggested.

The ponies seemed to know what to do now: Luna collected magic from Twilight and her friends and blasted the nightmare creatures with it. The dark clouds that they had been until now were blown away, and new creatures of various shapes emerged.

“There’s just one more tiny problem to deal with,” Twilight stated and turned to Nightmare Rarity.

“We’re gonna ask nicely - ONCE - give her back,” Applejack demanded.

“NO!” Nightmare Rarity screamed in anger, creating black smoke all around her.

“Girls,” Antonius shouted,
“I hold her, you blast her! NOW!”

The ponies did just that, and Antonius was surrounded by multicolored light. The daemon seemed in pain, but it was still there in Antonius’ grasp.

“Tony, please lower her head so that I can touch her horn,” Luna said, approaching them.

Antonius forced the nightmare’s head down, and Luna touched its horn.

“Your darkness cannot survive in the light,” Luna said calmly,
“loosen your grip on generous Rarity’s heart and let her speak.”

Through the dark cloud that now was the daemon’s body, Antonius could catch a glimpse of Rarity inside a dark storm. She started talking - nonsensical things about being forgotten.
Was that the weak spot the daemon had exploited? Then it was probably also the solution to the problem…

The ponies had the same idea and tried to assure Rarity that they would never forget her, but it was in vain. The daemon solidified again and gloated:

“BWAH-HA-HA! There is no power that can stop me now! Your body is mine! You will be remembered, Rarity, but as the darkest and cruelest ruler ever known!”

“Her kindness and generosity will NEVER be forgotten!” Twilight exclaimed.

The daemon wanted to retort, but Antonius tightened his grip, shutting her up, and said:

“You are awfully confident for a creature that has a Space Marine’s hand around its throat.”

In the meantime, Twilight and her friends had devised a plan to save Rarity: they reminisced common experiences and told her how much they loved her and that she was irreplaceable to them.
It worked. The daemon turned hazy again.

When Spike finally asked Rarity to come back, her front half emerged from the darkness that was the daemon’s chest, but her other half was still caught in the creature.
Damned, that thing was too stubborn to die.

Still, Antonius wasted no time. Keeping his left hand around the daemon’s throat, he punched his right fist into the its chest, directly beneath Rarity. His arm immediately felt like frozen, but he forced it further into the daemon, along Rarity’s belly. Since he could not grab her there, he continued until he noticed a curvature. He put his hand around it and started pulling.

He was able to pull Rarity out a few more centimeters, but the daemon stuck to her like tar.

“Help!” Rarity screamed, latching on to Antonius’ arm,
“it’s so cold and dark and lonely in there!”

“Don’t worry,” Antonius said,
“I’ve got you!”

Yes, he had got her. But he could not use the combined strength of his muscles and his power-armor without seriously hurting her, so he was not able to pull her out of the daemon. The thing was spitting with rage, glaring at him, absolutely focused on keeping Rarity its prisoner.
A distraction…they needed a distraction… and Antonius had an idea.

He looked out for a specific pony - and found her.

“Trixie!” he shouted,
“grab my shotgun!”

Trixie took a step towards him and took the gun with her magic.

“And now?” she asked.

“Load it! Red shell!”

“Oh dear, you mean…”

“Do it!” Antonius interrupted.

Until now, the daemon was sort of under control, but it was up to anypony’s guess how long that would last. Antonius felt how it tried to escape his grasp, and he felt the cold bite into his right arm.

Trixie was shaking, but she managed to put a red shell into the shotgun.

“Under the daemon’s chin!” Antonius commanded.

“You want me to…?” Trixie cried.

“Just do it!”

Trixie put the barrel under the nightmare’s chin, just as Antonius had told her to.

“FIRE!” he shouted.

Trixie mumbled something unintelligible, then the round of shot noisily turned the daemon’s head into shreds of black smoke.
At the same moment, Rarity plopped out of the quickly dissolving daemonic remnants. Antonius stumbled backwards, but he managed to regain balance and immediately turned to put his body between her and what was left of the daemon. The thing’s body was gone, just a small black cloud was rushing away into the sky where it quickly vanished.

“Rarity!” Pinkie shouted.

Antonius took a look at the white unicorn. She still clung to his arm, shaking with fear and cold.

“Are you okay?” he inquired.

Rarity looked around, then at her hindquarters, still in Antonius' firm grasp, then back at Antonius.

“Yes, I’m fine,” she finally said,
“although I would at least have expected you to invite me to dinner first.”

Antonius laughed and gently put her down on the ground. The other Element Bearers and Spike immediately hugged her.

“I think you’ll have this handprint on your booty for some time,” Pinkie snickered.

Well, she was probably right with that. Antonius handprint was clearly visible in Rarity’s fur.

“Probably,” she replied with a relieved smile,
“and I will also have problems sitting, but at least I’m safe again. Thank you all for helping me. And thank you for reminding me…”

“Reminding us,” Luna said, approaching them and nuzzling Rarity.

“Reminding us that everypony is irreplaceable to their truest friends,” Rarity finished.

“Yes,” Antonius agreed,
“and that’s why we are going to get you properly examined now. I’ve seen Rapid Cure around here, I’ll go and find him.”

Later that night, when Rarity had been found physically fit, Luna escorted the denizens of the moon home. In the meantime, Twilight and her friends decided to finish the night with a slumber party while Antonius went to Trixie.

“Well done,” he told her.

“Umm… thanks,” she answered, but she did not seem to feel well.

“Is something wrong?”

“Well… to be honest… please never make me shot something ever again!”

“It was a daemon, Trixie. Trying to kill it is the appropriate reaction.”

“Maybe, but… not for me. Sorry, but I can’t stand that. I’d be happier if I were on my way again, with a wagon of my own, performing stage magic for my fans. Really, I’m not suited for all this fighting.”

“Is this your way of telling me that you want to leave?”

“Please don’t be angry,” Trixie whimpered.

“Don’t worry,” Antonius answered,
“you have been a great help. I just need to ask two favors of you: teach at least two ponies how to make the ammunition, and help me to try and create new bolts for my bolter. Then you may go. In the meantime, I’ll see to it that you get a suitable wagon for your journey.”

“Really?” Trixie asked hopefully.

“Sure. And now, let’s look for Princess Celestia.”

The Princess was still in Ponyville, helping the ponies who were busy repairing the damage the battle had caused. Trixie went and helped them while Antonius turned to Celestia:

“All told, we got off pretty easy,” he said as he looked around,
“at least for a daemonic attack. You were right, the inhabitants of Ponyville proved to be capable fighters.”

“Yes, and so did you.”

“Well, it’s my job.”

“That’s not what I meant. There are no casualties, neither among us ponies, nor among the denizens of the moon. The worst was a broken bone or nose.”

“Hmm… one of the most bloodless battles I’ve ever participated in. Though, if you ask me, there is one kill that would have been highly appropriate.”

“The nightmare daemon?”

“It’s physical manifestation was destroyed, but its dark essence got away. Well, I suppose it will take it quite sometime to return again, and that’s a good thing at least.”

They helped the ponies until Luna returned from the moon, then they got Trixie and teleported back to Canterlot. While the unicorn mare immediately bid goodnight, Antonius and the princesses gathered together in Celestia’s quarters - with a bottle of wine.

“Here’s to all of us for defending our home,” Celestia said,
“and to my sister Luna for battling and defeating the nightmare.”

“Oh, sister,” Luna replied,
“this was a group effort. I deserve no special mentioning.”

“Well, you were the one who was able to establish contact with the real Rarity inside the daemon,” Antonius noted,
“without this success, everything else would have been moot or downright impossible.”

“Thank you,” Luna said and hugged both of them.

“Still,” Antonius continued,
“it is a good thing that there won’t be any attack of those nightmare forces for quite some time. With a little bit of luck, my chapter will be here when they finally return. Thinking about the nightmare daemon having to face an Ultramarines librarian puts a smile on my face.”

Luna did not smile. Instead, she told him:

“This attack my come sooner than you think.”

Antonius put down his glass.

“Hmm? The daemon may have gotten away, but it was weakened. I think it will take some time until it can harm anypony again.”

“I’m not talking about the this nightmare daemon. I’m talking about the Nightmare Lord.”

“WHAT?”

Luna sighed.

“I corrupted the denizens of the moon, and the nightmare daemon corrupted me. The is another power involved, though: The Nightmare Lord, the entity that commands all of the nightmare forces. I met this creature when I was Nightmare Moon.”

“Great,” Antonius deadpanned,
“so, we have another, probably more powerful enemy?”

“We do. And when he gets to know what happened tonight, his wrath will be terrible.”