The Emperor Preserves

by Centurion Pike-Wall

11~Proper Introductions

Author's Note:

Imperial thought of the day: Leniency is a sign of weakness!

Anton left without another word. The family seemed to notice him leave, too caught up in their mourning. He was down the path leading to their house and onto the main road before they even looked up. "H-hey?", Applejack asked. "Where'd that colt go?"

Anton didn't hear what any of the others said; the wind had picked up, drowning out the voices of the others. He moved down the road, moving as fast as he could without breaking into a run. Blood roared in his ears as he went, as his mind roared against his traitorous thoughts.

Said thoughts wanted him to go back and comfort them. He knew what it felt to lose something so important to himself. They were now hurting, just as he had when he had been stripped of his humanity and his purity. However, for once in the past day, his zeal had won out against his heresy.

He was soon once again trudging into the woods, shade covering everything over him like a shroud. He marched down the road, much faster now that he was unburdened by his escort of the Xenos. Soon, the marks he had made on trees came into view, to which he followed them back to the river. Once again crossing it, he went up the small slope to his emplacement. Slipping past and closing his barricade, he returned to the bunker. A wave of exhaustion washed over him; he barely had time to shuck off his armor and half-fall into his hole before sleep claimed him.

+++++~+++++

Six days passed with little to nothing happening. As much as he despised it, he did miss the contact with the others, however limited it was. Still, he hadn't seen any signs of them, and had managed to build up enough of a resistance to his heretical mind in order to avoid going out of the woods again.

He gathered up a bunch of his spare clothes, laying them across his back and heading out of his pillbox. He walked down the hill, gazing up at the slightly cloudy sky through the gaps in the trees. Soon, he stopped by the river, laying the clothes on a rock and picking out one of the undershirts.

He put it in the flowing water, using his aura to shift the fabric around. After a little bit, he lifted it up and wrung out the water that had been absorbed by it. After most of the water had been drained out, he put it back into the water and did the same procedure again. After he had wrung the water out for the second time, he placed it on another rock to dry. He had soap, but he had only so much and would've preferred to use it on himself.

His ears flicked involuntarily, picking up on faint rustling in the bushes across the river. Anton looked up, eyes narrowed on the treeline. He slowly set the jumpsuit he was cleaning down, his magic reaching for two points on his belt. His pistol was drawn from its holster, resting next to his head. Meanwhile, his sword was pulled a short way out of its scabbard, ready to be pulled free fully when needed.

Finally, he was able to pinpoint the noise; a twig snapping just to his right across the river. His pistol shot away from his head, pointed at the noise. His aura depressed the trigger three times, sending three bolts of red energy sailing into the trees. He was greeted by a series of noises; a branch snapping off, the sizzling of burning wood, and... a panicked yell?

"The hay was that!?", a male voice cried out.

Anton drew and activated his sword, a glowing blue field surrounding the blade. "Come out!", Anton yelled. "Slowly."

He could hear a little bit of muted argument between the male voice and someone else. Before he decided to repeat himself, two figures stepped out of the treeline. One he recognized instantly as Applejack, while he recognized the other a few seconds later as the red male that had come out of the house after the green female had called him.

"It's us, it's us", Applejack said. "Don't need ta worry."

"Apologies", Anton said, turning off and holstering his sword and pistol. "Usually when something comes through the trees, it's not friendly."

"No hard feelings", Applejack said, nudging the male.

He looked at Applejack, before looking back up at Anton. "Uh, eeyup. It ain't no problem."

An awkward silence settled over the three of them, only broken by the bubbling of water over stones. Finally, it was broken by Anton sitting down. "I-is there something you need?"

"Oh, yeah!", Applejack said. The two of them walked through the shallows of the stream, setting a pair of containers next to him. Applejack's package was a small box filled with small pastries and a small glass bottle. The male, Big Mac if he recalled correctly, set down a big bucket full of plump, bright red fruit.

"What are they?", Anton asked, picking up one of the fruit.

"Oh, that's just an apple", Applejack said. "Pa and Granny wanted you to have them as a thank you. F-fer everythin' ya did wit' Ma."

"Those are Apple Fritters and Glaze", Big Mac said, pointing to the box that Applejack had brought. "AJ made um 'erself as 'er own little thank you."

Anton studied the fruit, turning it over in his hoof to examine all of its surfaces. It was a completely smooth sphere, save for two small indents on the top and bottom for a stem and a small section of leaves. After a few seconds, he took a deep bite, his teeth ripping through the hardened skin on the exterior and ripping into the soft flesh of the inside.

Instantly, a sweet flavor arced up his tongue and reached his brain. He tore the chunk his teeth were around free from the rest of the fruit, chewing it slowly to both study and savor its taste. As soon as the last of the sweet flesh of the inside had been broken up by his teeth, he studied the apple again, the red skin now broken by a valley of white flesh. He dove in for another bite, and before long, had eaten the apple down to its core.

"Ah take it ya like 'um?", Applejack asked.

Anton nodded, "By the Golden Throne; they're delicious!"

"Golden Throne?", Big Mac asked.

Anton nodded. "Yeah. The seat of the God-Emperor as he watches over us."

The two looked at one another, before Applejack nodded. "Eh, right. Anyway-"

"You two don't believe me", Anton said, his smile wiped away almost instantly. "About the Emperor."

"Ah mean, we've never heard 'a him...?", Applejack said. "An, from what ya said, well..."

Anton took a deep breath, attempting to calm his mind, which screamed for vengeance against the damnable Xeno. His mind reeled, even as a part of it reasoned that they were ignorant of the Emperor, and as such would be unknowing of His glory. He sighed, before muttering to himself, "Very well. I care not. My faith is firm, and-"

"Hey, hey", Big Mac said. "Nothing wrong wit' it. Just something we ain't heard of."

"Yeah", Applejack said.

"Very well", Anton said, moving on even as part of him grumbled at the faithlessness of the two. "Is there something you needed besides dropping them off?"

"Well", Big Mac said, looking at Applejack. She was sort of wilting. "Not really. But, Pa and Granny figured that you were a great help to us, and... they kinda want ta invite you ta Ma's wake in a few days."

Anton nodded, shrugging. "Alright."

"Ya don't have ta if ya don't wanna, bu-Wait, really?", Big Mac asked.

"I am... Well, to be frank, I feel that I have need to do something", Anton said. "Do not mistake that for meaning that I'm only doing this because it wastes time. Honoring the dead is a task that all should be grateful to fulfill."

"Oh. Uh, ok...?", Applejack asked. "H-hey, we never really got yer name."

Anton froze at that comment. None of their names were normal names, and they appeared to have no inclination of his origin. If they were named after some of these fruit, then he assumed that they used some symbols as a basis of their names. If symbols or something of the like were a form of symbolism for them, and to fit in... "_{Emperor forgive my profanity of thy most holy of symbols}"

"Whah?", Big Mac asked.

"Aquila", Anton said, biting back bile. "Y-you can call me Aquila."

Comments

[CrimsonWither]

first its a good story keep it up 👍

[Josiador]

And thus Aquila, the Faithful Heretic, began his life with the strange xenos of Equestria. Where will his cursed form take him?

[Velvet-Fresh]

Wait, he named himself after the insignia. Well that made sense why he is trying not to outright kill himself for blaspheming his order

[paladinwolf]

I do not understand why he would betray his name, it too has meaning. All names have meaning.

Anton ~Boy. Scandinavian, Russian, Latin, German. A German, Russian, Scandinavian and Slav form of Anthony which is either from the Latin antonius which is of unknown origin but was a Roman family name thought to mean "priceless", or from the Greek anthos, meaning "flower".

Unless he is embarrassed his name meant 'priceless flower'

[Maulet Paya]

Fantastic, waiting for more and I have a fantastic idea. You know the 2 lost primarchs? What if ...they are the royal sisters? Jejejjejej

[Davenfjeld]

I shall call you Aquila Antoninus, and you will like it! Damned heretic...

So, our good soldier anton, mutant and xenos - but not heretic - lives well and again. I hope he is to enjoy his life as an alien medievalist on this bastard and uncultured world. I hope he recognises its similarity to ancient Terra, but does not allow his great Emperor-Given equipment to make him feel as superior to these horses as the emperor is to him. The pleb is equal to such bastards as these xenos, and a mutant xenos is even less of a person than they are.

Ave Imperator.

[robot1840]

10895946
being sincere i not sure if he even knows the meaning of the name

[paladinwolf]

10896539
That's fair, lots o folks never bother learning what their name means... now I am imagining him introducing himself as Anton, and having Granny Smith smirk and say, "Priceless Flower, Eh?"
i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/486/955/088.gif

[paladinwolf]

10896060
My money is on The Emperor and Horus Lupercal...
i.imgflip.com/4s2phr.jpg
<Gasp> if that is true, would that make Anton... Ollanius Pius?
i.ytimg.com/vi/OBI_tvmU_48/maxresdefault.jpg

[Silver_storm_iron]

heresy heresy of the highest order