When the day was dawning, Antonius was still busy with the data-slate.
During the night, Stormy had somehow climbed onto his lower arm and was still peacefully sleeping. The first pony to wake up was Luna.

"I really have to get back to my usual night-day cycle," she yawned,
"having to sleep at night is really awful. I'm usually awake at that time."

Antonius looked up from his slate.

"So, you are more of a night mare, hmm?"

He realized how thoroughly he had messed up when he saw Luna's shocked and hurt face.
Oh shit - 'night mare', not 'nightmare'!
Damnit. Hurting and insulting her really was a great way to start a new day. He had to save what could be saved, immediately!

"Sorry, Luna. I did not realize the implications of my words. I really did not mean it."

"It's okay," she said with a small and forced smile,
"I do prefer the night. Overly, once or twice..."

Crap. This 'Nightmare Moon'-incident was still an open wound in her soul, and he had just ruptured it.

"I really don't think anyone is holding this against you anymore, Luna. You have been the victim of a malicious power that has millennia of experience in corrupting others."

"Would you have fallen for that?"

"Umm... Probably not... No, I wouldn't have.
But I have been trained in discovering and resisting its influence. You had no idea what you had encountered, am I right?"

"Yes, you are. Still, I am responsible for those events," Luna said, looking down.

Well, that had not worked as well as he had wanted it to. How would a pony solve such a problem?
Antonius put his hand under her chin and gently raised her head until he could look her in the eyes.

"You know, Luna," he started,
"this was a terrible start of a nice day. Do you concur?"

"I concur."

"Then, let's forget it. Do you want an 'I-am-sorry'-hug or something to close this topic?"

Luna finally started laughing. Pony-style problem solving was really effective around here. Even if it meant that he had - oh crap - actually started thinking like a pony, for Emperor's sake!

"Thank you, but I don't think that will be necessary... Ah, why not?"

One hug later, everything was fine again and Luna got up. She got ready for the day and left the room, saying

"Just stay here and do not wake them up. I'll be back soon."

Antonius just wanted to turn to his slate again as Stormy woke up. She had a good yawn, then she looked down at the piece of armor she had been sleeping on. After nudging it with her hoof, she looked at Antonius and told him almost reproachfully:

"You are not soft and fluffy."

"Sorry, Stormy, but when this armor was designed, fluffiness was definitely not on the priority list," Antonius laughed.

Stormy nudged the armor again, then she suddenly said:

"I miss my mommy."

And Antonius' good mood was gone. A terrible continuation of a terrible start of a nice day.

Well, pony-style problem solving has worked once, perhaps it would work again. So, he hugged Stormy, who obviously was quite fond of that.

Well, of course she was fond of that, ponies generally liked hugs, after all.
But why did he care? Wasn't there something much more important to do? He had to prepare a whole planet for fighting Chaos, yet he had promised to take care of one little filly. Wasn't her fate, after all, negligible, just a distraction?

No, it was not.
Stormy was another battleground in the eternal fight against Chaos. They have killed her parents and traumatized her. They wanted to ruin her life, just as they wanted to ruin every life in the galaxy.
If he ignored her, Chaos would win this fight.
If he took care of her and enabled her to live a normal pony-life - well, almost normal, at least - he would win. Sanity would win. Chaos would be defeated on this little battleground, and every defeat of Chaos was invaluable.

To accomplish this mission, he better had to become 'fluffier' to increase his comforting ability. What a strange objective, but he would accomplish it.

Now, how could he become 'fluffier'? Hmm, that meant to get normal, soft clothes, at least for the night at first.
He did not really like the idea, but it was unavoidable, also for another reason: He had no idea when Chaos would attack again. He guessed he had between a year and a century to prepare the ponies, probably at least a decade. His armor's reactor, however, did not last forever. He already operated on a low power mode, using his emergency solar collector whenever possible, but he still drained irretrievable fuel. He should probably save this energy for times of need, and take off the armor when he did not need it.
So, he needed clothes as a replacement. Luckily, he knew a pony who knew how to make them. He had to talk to Rarity when she woke up.
He did not have to wait for long. Only a few minutes had passed as she came out of the bedroom.

"Good morning, everypony!" she said in a honeyed voice.

"Good morning, Rarity," Antonius answered,
"may I ask a favor of you?"

"Of course, how can I be of service?"

"I have come to the conclusion that I need normal clothes. Since you are..."

"You want me to design something for you?" she interrupted with a large smile on her face,
"oh, what a marvelous idea! Your clothes will be bold, yet classy. They will be breathtaking!"

"Umm... I would prefer something simple, sensible."

"Don't worry, you will be delighted! We will have to return to Ponyville, though. We should tell Princess Celestia, or Princess Luna. When do you want to start?"

"First, I have a meeting with your 'Wonderbolts'. We can start after that. I'll tell the princesses."

"Did somepony say 'Wonderbolts'? Rainbow Dash asked, entering the room.

"I did," Antonius sighed.

"Now that you speak of it, I better join you for this meeting, so you have the opinion of an expert in flying!"

"Sure, why not? Please check yourself, though. This will be a serious discussion, not an autograph session."

"No autographs?" Stormy asked sadly.

"Of course there will be autographs, squirt. You'll see, I'll get one of every Wonderbolt for you!"

Well, so much for that 'serious discussion'.

Shortly thereafter, when the Element Bearers were all awake, there was a knock at the door. Servants with breakfast, followed by Luna, who had a plate with slightly burnt pancakes in her magic grasp.

"Good morning, ponies! I took care of breakfast, and the pancakes here are for you, Antonius. I made them in person!"

Huh? He got rewarded for accidentally insulting her? Perhaps she wanted to prove that she was not mad at him.
He grabbed one of the pancakes and took a bite. Well, the salt content was definitely below lethal levels, but not as much as Antonius would have preferred.
Was that her revenge for the 'night mare'?
He looked at Luna and saw a hopeful smile. This was not revenge, she was just a terrible chef.
She really wanted him to like those pancakes. Fortunately, Space Marines were used to inedible food; they got it from time to time to train the Preomnor. So, he did her the favor and continued eating the salt-mines.

"Can I have one, too?" Stormy asked.

Uh-oh.

"Sure, help yourself," Luna told her.

"Umm..." Antonius started, but he was immediately interrupted by Luna:

"Come on, Antonius, there is more than enough for both of you."

The little mare grabbed a pancake and took a big bite. The expression on her face spoke volumes; a mixture of surprise and disgust.

"Is something wrong, Stormy?" Luna asked, a bit puzzled by her reaction.

Stormy did not answer, at least not verbally. She jumped up and darted into the bathroom.

Luna took Stormy's pancake with her magic and sniffed on it. Then she took a small bite.

"Ugh! That's terrible! Disgusting! Way to much salt! Why didn't you tell me?" she asked Antonius.

"The pancakes are just inedible, not dangerous. Since you made an effort making them, I decided to get along with them."

Luna looked surprised and said:

"Antonius, that's nice of you, but unnecessary. Take something else, I'll find another use for those 'paincakes'."

She started smiling:

"I wonder if my sister's hungry... Please excuse me for a few minutes..."

Luna jumped up, fetched the plate with the pancakes with her magic and left the room.

"She's not really going to do that, is she?" Fluttershy asked.

"The princesses seem to be quite fond of strange jokes. I think she'll do it," Antonius explained.

"That's not very nice," Fluttershy complained.

"Are you kidding? That is an excellent prank!" Rainbow shouted.

"Well, they may be alicorns, but they are still sisters," Rarity opined,
"a little bit of bantering and pranks is quite normal."

"Sure is," Applejack agreed.

"Hmm," Twilight said, deep in thought,
"I have never seen Princess Celestia as a normal pony who was just a 'sister'. To me, she was always the incredibly wise mentor and teacher, even when she was not that serious..."

"Well, learning never stops," Rarity smiled.

Now, Stormy left the bathroom.

"Where is Princess Luna?" she asked,
"is she mad at me?"

"Not at all," Antonius explained,
"she is just getting rid of the pancakes."

A few minutes later, Luna returned, snickering.

"I finally put those pancakes to good use," she declared.

The ponies also started snickering, only Antonius kept a straight face and said:

"Celestia also seems to have found an alternative use for them."

"What do you mean?"

"Look at your flank."

Luna turned her head and saw one of the pancakes sticking to it.

"Damnit," she mumbled and went into the bathroom.

When she had returned, they finished the breakfast.
All the while, Rarity was swooning over the clothes she would make for Antonius.

They finally left their room and headed towards the throne room. When they arrived there, they were already expected by Celestia.

"Good morning, everypony," she greeted,
"I have news for you: The Wonderbolts are waiting outside on the chariot platforms. They are very eager to show their skills to you. Furthermore, a pegasus of the Royal Guard came back from Hope to tell us that the teams will return this evening. I would like all of you to be present when they come back, since you played a major part in their mission. We will thank them for what they have done for Equestria.
I'm not sure what else we should do, I don't think they would like a celebration with two guards dead and another severely wounded and still in hospital."

"I can't concur," Antonius told her,
"you really should hold a celebration, a feast! Show them that you appreciate their performances, their sacrifices."

"Is that the way you do it?"

"Commonly."

"Then we shall do it, too. I'll tell our chefs and kitchen staff to prepare everything.
Besides meeting the Wonderbolts, what are you going to do today?"

"I would like to return to Ponyville. Is a chariot available?"

"Of course. What is your business there, if I may ask?"

Before Antonius could answer, Rarity rejoiced:

"He wants me to design clothes for him!"

"Really?" Celestia asked with a smile.

"Yes," Antonius answered,
"that way, I will be able to save irretrievable fuel for my armor."

Celestia nodded.

"A good idea. What about the rest of you?"

"I will join them," Twilight said,
"I need to tell Spike what has happened. But if you need me, Princess, I will of course stay here."

"You may go to Ponyville, Twilight. If I should need you, I can write a lett... no, wait a second, I can use my 'vox', right?" Celestia smiled.

"Umm... I would like to go to Ponyville, too, and look after my animal friends," Fluttershy said.

"I want to have a look at the farm and see my family. I'll join you, too," Applejack told them.

Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Luna also voiced their intention to go to Ponyville.

"Okay, my little ponies," Celestia said,
"I'll make sure that the chariots are prepared for you. Please be back in time for our celebration this evening.
Now, Antonius, I suggest you head towards the platforms for your meeting with the Wonderbolts."

Antonius nodded.

"Right. See you later. Stormy, Rainbow, if you would like to join me..."

He turned around to leave the throne room and recognized that everyone except Celestia was following him, not just the two mares who he knew would come.

"I got more company than I expected," he told the group of ponies.

"Of course," Twilight said,
"we would never miss a performance of the Wonderbolts!"

A few minutes later, Antonius and the ponies arrived at the landing platforms.
Three ponies were waiting there, clad in some kind of light blue overalls with yellow lightning-insignia. When they spotted Antonius, they came closer. A mare with a two-toned orange mane and tail took the lead, a stallion with a blue mane and tail and another mare with a white mane and tail flanked her.

"Ah, hello. You must be Mr. Varus," the leading mare greeted.

"You are right. Greetings," Antonius replied.

"I am Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts..."

Spitfire? Wasn't that the name of a really ancient aircraft on terra?

The mare pointed at the stallion and continued:

"...this is my second-in command..."

Messerschmitt.

"...Soarin..."

Close enough.

"...and this is Fleetfoot."

After pointing at said mare, Spitfire turned to the other ponies and greeted them, too, including a bow towards Luna.
Then she turned to Antonius again and said:

"Princess Celestia asked us to show you our aerial skills, but first I must ask you a question: Is it true what we heard about Hope?"

Antonius noticed that Stormy had gone into hiding behind Rainbow's legs. However, he was not the only one to notice that.

"Hey, it's okay, squirt," Rainbow soothed her.

Spitfire looked a bit confused now and Antonius explained:

"Survivor of Hope. I'm sure she would prefer an autograph over being re-traumatized."

"Oh, sorry. I'd really like to give her an autograph, but we don't have..."

"No problem!" Rainbow shouted and held a set of autograph cards and a pencil up high.

Everyone looked at her.

"What?" Rainbow asked,
"don't blame me for being prepared."

After a short autograph session, the Wonderbolts started and showed their flying skills. Antonius watched them carefully, despite Rainbow's distractive cheering. They landed again in front of Antonius and Spitfire asked, inflated with pride:

"And? Our flying sure is impressive, isn't it?"

Before answering, Antonius turned around and asked:

"Could one of you take Stormy for a walk?"

Fluttershy and Applejack immediately understood and vanished with Stormy.

When they were gone, Antonius turned back to the waiting Spitfire.

"Not that much," he told her blatantly.

The mare deflated.

"WHAT?" she and Rainbow Dash exclaimed in unison.

"Your top speed is not bad and you seem to be quite maneuverable, but your trajectories and maneuvers are too predictable. At the moment, a Chaos Space Marine would need mere seconds to bring a whole squad of you down."

"But... we are the best flyers in Equestria..." Spitfire stammered.

She was obviously not used to this kind of criticism. Antonius elaborated his opinion:

"You are indeed capable flyers, and your aerobatics-show is... entertaining, but war is not an aerobatics-show. Your maneuvers do not need to look spectacular, the need to be effective in dodging enemy fire."

"More tight turns... in more randomized intervals..." Spitfire mumbled.

"Good idea, and keep an eye on your enemy. When he tries to aim at you, constantly change your course and don't get too close. You will need some distance to react."

"Okay, how about a second try?"

"Be my guest."

Spitfire turned around and discussed the new maneuvers with Soarin and Fleetfoot.
Then, they started again. This time, their performance was better. Not as spectacular, but more likely to keep them alive in case of emergency. Furthermore, they always kept an eye on him.

Good. That meant he could already increase the difficulty.
He took his bolter, made sure that it was on safety and shouted:

"Now, I am going to aim at you. Don't worry, I won't fire. Try to evade anyway."

Antonius aligned his bolter at the Wonderbolts and they immediately broke formation and scattered. He followed Spitfire with his gun and she changed course again and again. Just a bit too slow.

"A bit faster," Antonius shouted.

Spitfire increased the rate of her maneuvers. Now, it had become hard to keep her in the reticle, coming up with an trajectory or a deflection was downright impossible.

Very good.

Antonius noticed that Fleetfoot was trying to slip off to the left. He tracked her out of the corner of his eye while still aiming at Spitfire. Fleetfoot started to swoop down at him.
She was making an attack run! What was it with winged mares and suicidal attack runs at armored targets?

He pretended to be unaware of her attempt, then, at the last possible moment, he blazingly fast put his bolter back to his belt and turned around towards Fleetfoot. The mare screamed and tried to dodge, but it was too late.
Inertia could be a harsh mistress.

Antonius caught her in mid flight and did a 180 to minimize the deceleration for her. Then he held her in front of him. She looked a little dazed.

"Congratulations," he told her,
"you just got yourself killed - if this was a real fight, at least."

Spitfire and Soarin had landed now and were standing in front of Antonius, who still held Fleetfoot.

"You wanted to know what happened in Hope. Dozens of ponies were slaughtered by a Chaos Space Marine. Moonlight of the Night Guard was almost one of them as she made an attack run to save the filly you have met earlier. She succeeded in saving Stormy, but was severely injured.
So: no attack runs on Astartes, either loyal or traitor, until we have found a way to increase your chances of success and survival."

He put Fleetfoot down again. The mare got back into formation and Spitfire said saluting:

"Thank you for the suggested improvements. We will add that to our regular training. Give us a week, and we will be downright impossible to hit. Is there anything else we can do?"

"Yes. Train thorough, not just fast. Remember that your life and probably the continued existence of your species will depend on it."

"Yes, Mr. Varus."

The Wonderbolts kept standing in front of Antonius in silence. He finally asked:

"Anything else?"

"No, Sir," Spitfire answered.

"Then, what are you waiting for?"

"For your 'dismissed', Sir."

Oh? Antonius was a bit confused. Had they accepted him as some sort of commanding officer?
He turned around to Luna, just as Fluttershy, Applejack and Stormy returned:

"Luna, I think you are the one to dismiss them since I'm not really a part of your military."

Luna stepped up to him:

"That is indeed true - and a problem. We should incorporate you into our ranks somehow to simplify things.
For now, Spitfire, Soarin, Fleetfoot, you are dismissed. Good work."

The Wonderbolts bowed, said goodbye and left.

"Antonius?" Stormy asked.

"Yes?"

"Why do you always send me away when you talk to somepony else?"

Hmm, she was right with that, but it was necessary, so he answered:

"I only send you away when I have to deal with things not suitable for fillies, and your companions are the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. They can protect you as well as I or Princess Luna can."

Antonius realized that he had no idea if that was true. He had never seen the Elements of Harmony in action, after all.

His thoughts were interrupted by Rarity:

"Well, now that this meeting is over, we should head to Ponyville, so that fashion can happen!"

She turned to Stormy and continued:

"Once we're there, I could introduce you to my little sister, Sweetie Belle, and her friends. Perhaps you would like to play with them as long as I have business with Antonius."

Stormy looked a bit skeptical and hesitated to answer. Rarity noticed that and continued:

"Don't worry, they will be able to protect you."

"Really?" Stormy asked.

"Yeah," Applejack deadpanned,
"in fact, I think Chaos should be afraid of THEM, not the other way round."

Huh? What the...? Antonius really needed to have a word with them.

They boarded the waiting chariots and left Canterlot.

The chariots landed in front of Twilight's library and the group split up.
Antonius, Rarity, Stormy and Luna went to the Carousel Boutique. On their way there, they met the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"Hi, sis! Hello, Princess Luna and Antonius. And hello to you, too." Sweetie Belle greeted.

"Hello Sweetie! What are you and your friends doing?" Rarity asked.

"We wanted to hang out at our clubhouse."

"Well, that's perfect! Would you three like to take care of our new friend Stormy here?"

Stormy took a step forward and timidly said

"Hello."

"Hi, Stormy!" the three girls exclaimed.

"She is from Hope," Rarity continued.

"Oh," whispered Apple Bloom.

Aha, the news about Hope had spread.

"Please take good care of her and don't get her into trouble. I already told her you will protect her."

"You will?" Stormy asked.

"You bet we will!" Scootaloo shouted,
"there is nopony who dares to mess with the Cutie Mark Crusaders! We will... Wait a second... You do not have a cutie mark yet?"

"No."

The next second, Stormy was surrounded by the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who were eagerly talking to her - simultaneously.
They started slowly wandering off while Stormy was busy answering any question the three had.

When they were gone, Antonius mumbled:

"Stormy was right, I send her away too often..."

"You do not really have a choice," Luna told him with a reassuring smile,
"times now are very chaotic - sorry. I mean, there is so much to do now and it is better for her if she does not hear everything we discuss."

"Princess Luna is right," Rarity agreed,
"and don't worry, the girls will take good care of her. Now, let's get into my boutique."

They entered the house and Antonius took a look around:
Lots of mirrors and curtains of various sizes, a few tables and clothes racks full of pony-sized dresses.
Wait a second - some of the dresses looked like based on saddles. That was in equal shares interesting and strange.

"Take a seat, I'll be back in a moment," Rarity said and left the room through another door.

She returned just a few seconds later with parchment, pencils, a measuring tape and a bath-towel.
Antonius could see where this was going.

"Now, let's start with you telling me how human clothes look like; which parts of the body are covered by the various pieces and so on," she suggested and made a sketch of a human shape on the parchment.
Antonius told her everything she wanted to know, and she was very curious. She also was - much to Antonius' confusion - strangely fascinated by the concept of socks.
Having all the information she needed, Rarity told Antonius as she gave him the bath-towel:

"Now that I know which measurements to take, we can start. I can't do it through your armor, though. Would you please take it off? You can change clothes behind the big curtain over there. I'll close the other curtains in the meantime."

Antonius vanished behind the mentioned curtain and started to take off his armor. This time, he had not fallen for some trick, at least. While he was busy, he heard the two Ponies whispering to each other:

"Do you think asking him to take off his armor was a wise decision? He told me there is some ambiguity to such a request."

"Don't worry, Princess. He is not that sensitive. I have already seen him in a bath-towel."

"You have?"

"Yes, we 'convinced' him to take a bath before we met you and your sister."

"A bath? I suppose you did not share it, as he would think this to be indecent."

"Of course not, Princess... well, Pinkie jumped into the tub..."

"No way!"

"Unfortunately, she did."

"What happened?"

"I pulled her out of the water.. and... umm..."

"Yes?"

Antonius was ready now and stepped into the room.

"Rarity slipped and paid me a visit," he summarized.

"Oh, you heard us... Could we please not mention that ever again?" Rarity begged uncomfortably.

Luna stared at Antonius, then she asked him:

"Well, what are these black spots?"

"The interface ports for my armor. Can we get started now?"

"Of course," Rarity said and approached him with her measuring tape.

When she was in front of him, she stopped and took a scrutinizing look at him.

"Sorry, Antonius, but, are you... I don't know how to phrase it... somehow 'oily'?"

"Yes, I am. Because of my Mucranoid - I think I already told you about that - I exude a oily liquid that cleans my body and provides me with resistance to extreme temperatures. Really handy."

"You... sweat yourself clean?"

"If you want to phrase it like that, then yes."

"Well, wouldn't you prefer another bath?"

"Not at the moment, since I do definitely not feel an urge to run through town wearing only an bath-towel."

"Oh, right. We also don't have an appointment and my tub is too small... Well, it will work anyway."

Rarity started taking the measurements. A few moments later, she started sniffing.

"What's the matter now?" Antonius asked.

"That smell..." Rarity told him.

Now Antonius started to get a little annoyed.

"Okay, okay, at the next opportunity, I'll take another bath. Could you go on now?"

Rarity took a step back.

"I can assure you, I did not want to insult you. The smell is... spicy. I'm sure it would smell quite good if it was a bit diluted. You know, like musk," she stammered.

"You compare me to a musk deer? Really?"

"I... sorry. I'll just go on."

Now Rarity took the rest of the needed measurements. Or almost.

"Well, Antonius, I took all the measurements I could, but I still need a few more. Unfortunately, well, I kind of can't take them while you are wearing that... bath-towel..." she said uncomfortably.

Luna seemed to choke for a second and coughed.

"Which measurements do you still need?" Antonius asked with a raised eyebrow.

Rarity used her sketch to show him these measurements, then Antonius grabbed the measuring tape and vanished behind the curtain, saying

"I'll be back in a minute."

He had taken off his bath-towel and was halfway through the measurements when Rarity told Luna:

"Well, while Antonius is busy, I'll look after my cat Opal. Just make yourself at home, Princess."

A few moments later, he heard Rarity scream in terror. Thinking she was in danger, he quickly grabbed his chainsword and jumped through the curtain, activating the weapon.
Whatever it was that had frightened Rarity, the Bearer of the Element of Generosity, he would deal with it!

"Opal! What have you done? Use your scratcher, not one of my hats!" Rarity shouted from another room.

Great. False alarm. Just the cat. No threat.

He deactivated the sword and turned to Luna. She was looking at the floor. For no apparent reason, her wings were unfolded. What was that supposed to mean? She certainly could not fly in here. Now she peeked at him and looked down again immediately.
Was she blushing?

"Umm... Luna," he said.

No reaction.

"LUNA!" he shouted.

"Hmm? Umm, yes?" she asked, somewhat confused, and looked at him.

Yes, she was blushing.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah..."

"Have you hurt your wings?"

"Wings? What wings?"

"YOUR wings, Luna, those feathery things on you back..."

She turned her head and winced as she saw her wings. Then she looked back at the floor, folded her wings back to her body and went crimson, mumbling something unintelligible.

Why was she so confused?
Oh shit. He had not thought of the bath-towel, he had sprung into action immediately.
Awkward. He better had to get behind the curtain again before Rarity came back. He retreated immediately.

When Rarity came back into the room, Antonius was still behind the curtain. She could hear metallic noises, so he probably donned his armor again. That meant he had taken the remaining measurements, and that meant she could soon let fashion happen.
She smiled and turned to the Princess, but she quickly noticed that something was wrong. Luna was looking down and was a bit... tensed up?

"Princess Luna, is everything all right?" Rarity asked.

Luna nodded, but it took her a few seconds and a deep breath to look up again.

"I'm fine," she finally said.

Shortly thereafter, Antonius appeared again. Rarity noticed that Luna did not look at him, instead she preferred to look down again. Unfortunately, Rarity had no time to ponder this since Antonius gave her the parchment with the measurements and said:

"There you go. Will you be able to finish the pajamas for tonight?"

"No problem," Rarity assured him,
"you will have to wait for the other clothes, though. I'm afraid I cannot take my equipment to Canterlot to work there."

"I don't mind that. It's not that urgent. If you don't need me anymore, I would like to go to Twilight's library."

"Sure, I've got everything I need."

"Then thank you in advance, and Rarity... please, no frills or stuff like that..."

"Don't worry, I will create something that fits your personality."

Antonius pondered that a few seconds, then he said:

"Okay. Luna, are you staying here or do you want to join me?"

"I'll join you," she answered and they left the boutique.

It was close to noon now and the sun was standing high in the sky. Antonius noticed that the leaves on the trees slowly started to change their color. Autumn was coming. He further noticed an awkward silence between him and Luna as they headed towards the library.

"Sorry if I have startled you," he suddenly said,
"I can assure you that was not my intention."

"It's okay," Luna said,
"sorry for staring."

"No problem, you were keeping your head down most of the time anyway. Must have been a disgusting view for you."

"Disgusting? No, not really."

Antonius thought he had misheard. He stopped and looked at Luna, who also stopped and blushed a bit.

"I mean... I was just surprised... and... could we please not speak of this incident ever again?"

"Agreed."

They started to move again and soon entered the library.
Twilight and Spike were sitting at the central reading desk, which was littered with books and scrolls, and were talking.

"Hello, Princess Luna, hello, Antonius," Twilight and Spike greeted them, then Twilight continued:
"I just finished telling Spike what has happened, now I'm looking for reports on Star Swirl the Bearded. I already know most of them, but perhaps I missed a detail that hints at his connection to humans."

"That is indeed a good idea, Twilight," Luna opined,
"tell me if I can help you."

"Thank you, Princess Luna. I really appreciate your help. There are countless books and scrolls about Star Swirl's life."

"I suggest we concentrate on the decades around my sister's and my birth, since the contact we are looking for has most likely happened during that period."

"Hmm, you are right. That reduces the amount of books and scrolls we have to read."

Antonius was unable to tell if Twilight thought this to be good or bad news.
Anyway, she and Luna shared the writings, fetched cushions and started reading.

"Spike, be so kind and make us some tea," Twilight asked without looking up.

"Okay, Twilight," he responded and left for the kitchen.

That was a good opportunity to ask him one or two questions, so Antonius followed him, saying:

"I'll help you."

The kitchen was big enough that Antonius could move, although he had to be careful.

"If you want to help me, you can fetch the tea from that cupboard over there," Spike told him.

As Antonius carefully opened the cupboard, he asked:

"Spike, may I ask you a question?"

"Sure," Spike answered.

"The day I first came here Twilight told me that a dragon had attacked Ponyville. She refused to go into detail, though. Can you tell me what happened?"

Spike looked uncomfortable, but he finally said:

"Well, yeah, that dragon... was me."

Antonius was honestly surprised:

"Huh? You? How were you able to cause that kind of damage?"

"It's a long story."

"Just start."

Spike was clearly not happy, but he said reluctantly:

"It was my birthday, I got greedy, grew into a monster, kidnapped Rarity and went on a rampage through Ponyville. Okay, maybe the story is not that long."

"You 'grew'?"

"Yeah, as it turned out, dragons grow extremely quickly if their greed is satisfied, and the larger they become, the greedier they get."

"Oh. How were you 'defeated'? The Elements of Harmony?"

"Nope. Rarity reminded me of my true self, and I transformed back."

"That's it? That simple?"

"Yep."

Antonius thought about Spike's story for a while, then he asked:

"Why did you kidnap Rarity? Was it just a coincidence or a deliberate action?"

He was surprise again as Spike blushed and just said:

"We've got to get the tea ready."

Well, that answer was not an actual answer at all, but it was not that important. The main thing was that he now knew the details about the dragon incident, even if it had turned out way different from what he had expected.

With the brewed tea, they went back into the library. Twilight and Luna were still busy reading through the papers and Antonius leaned against a wall, took his data-slate and searched the imperial base's database for relevant information on the topic.

An hour later, Twilight sighed:

"Nothing! There is barely any information about these decades at all, and what we have does not include any hints at humans!"

"Same here," Luna said.

"This Star Swirl was obviously very thorough when he destroyed the stories about that time. Same goes for the Astartes who have supposedly been here," Antonius added, waving with the slate.

Now Twilight looked at him and started smiling. She got up and pranced over to him.

"Do you remember what you promised me last night?" she asked in an almost seductive tone.

Luna and Spike looked at them somewhat perplexed, then Luna started laughing:

"You have promised her access to this cogitator-thingy, haven't you?"

"I have, I have..." Antonius sighed.

"Okay, I'll make lunch, this is going to take some time," Spike deadpanned and left for the kitchen.

Twilight was sitting in front of Antonius like a dog waiting for a treat, a big smile on her face.
He had barely sat down as Twilight was already sitting on his right thigh.

"I find your technology to be tremendously fascinating, may I join you?" Luna asked.

"Sure," Twilight told her,
"he's got two thighs, after all."

Antonius was at a loss.

"Hey, I am not a piece of furniture," he complained.

Luna ignored this and seated herself on his left thigh. Then she turned to him and said innocently:

"Well, this position grants all three of us optimum view of the data-slate. It is a very efficient way to teach both of us how to use it, don't you concur? Furthermore, since you think us to be 'fluffy', this should not be too uncomfortable to you, or are we too heavy for an elite-warrior of humanity?"

She could not prevent herself from smirking. Okay, the ponies were goofing around again, with him at the receiving end of their jokes. It was goodhearted, so he would join in - he would try at least.
Damned, he was really not good at repartee. Perhaps this would work:

"Fine, fine. Keep doing things like that and I might declare you my personal cuddly pony."

"Would you?" Luna breathed longingly.

Twilight laughed so hard she fell from Antonius thigh. The Space Marine, on the other hand, was feeling... uneasy. The jokes went in a direction he was not really comfortable with, but it was his own fault, after all.
Could he not have thought of a better remark? Obviously, no.

Luna had stopped smiling. There suddenly was an insecurity and worry in her eyes that just did not belong there.
Strange. Antonius knew her as a self-confident, likeable pony. Now, she seemed just vulnerable. It was the same vulnerability he had seen this morning when he had accidentally brought up the Nightmare Moon incident. What was it that bothered her now? Did she think she had gone too far and insulted him? That was nonsense.
Fortunately, his left hand was free, so he gave her a smile and reassuringly patted her side, causing her smile to come back at once.

He had to talk to her about this vulnerability later, perhaps he could help her to come to terms with it.
Hmm... his humanity said hello again, for the umpteenth time; he really cared for Luna. Well, that's what friendship was all about, wasn't it?
Oh, and Chaos might be able to use that vulnerability against her, so by helping her she would become more effective in fighting Chaos! Yes, that was a good justification for his caring. And TOTALLY the main reason for deciding to help her.
Twilight had stopped laughing in the meantime and climbed back on Antonius' right thigh, completely oblivious of the dynamic of Antonius' and Luna's friendship.

The Space Marine started to explain how the user interface worked. During the process, they had to provide samples of their DNA - put more simply, they had to kiss the slate.
As Antonius explained this to Twilight, Spike, who had returned by now, started smiling and asked:

"This data-slate thingy is your version of a book, right?"

"You could say so," Antonius confirmed.

Spike's smile grew.

"Making Twilight kiss a book should be as difficult as making me eat some gems," he grinned.

Twilight darted an nasty look at him but still kissed the slate.

"Dragons love to live on gems," Luna whispered in Antonius ear, so that he got the joke, too.

"Now that we speak about eating: lunch is ready!" Spike proclaimed.

After lunch, they continued browsing through the imperial data. They spent some time on the maintenance plan for the Land Speeder Twilight had seen the night before and Antonius explained how the vehicle worked and what he would do to get it running again.

"I'd like to make a reservation as front-seat passenger for the first test run," Luna told Antonius.

"Second!" Twilight exclaimed, then she looked at Spike.

"A test run in a contraption that takes highly volatile stuff and deliberately ignites it - yeah, sounds like fun," he deadpanned.

"It's a controlled combustion inside Ramjet engines, they don't blow up that easily - at least if I don't mess up the maintenance," Antonius said slightly indignant.

At that moment, Luna's vox beeped. She took the device out of her mane and answered it:

"Hello, Luna here, who wishes to speak to the Princess of the Night?"

"Your sister, sister," answered Celestia's voice out of the vox,
"it's time to return to Canterlot. Please gather Twilight, her friends and Antonius and take wings."

"Okay, sister, we'll be on our way in no time."

Luna switched channels and told Applejack to come to the library and bring Fluttershy and Stormy along, then she put the vox back into her mane.
Twilight gathered Rarity, who carried a parcel, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.
When they met at the chariot a short time later, Antonius asked Stormy:

"And? How was your time with the Cutie Mark Crusaders?"

"Great!" the filly answered,
"they made me a Crusader! Next time we meet, I will even get a cape of my own!"

"They made you a crusader?" Antonius asked skeptically.

"Don't worry," Applejack told him,
"their 'crusading' is not really dangerous - at least not to them. When you are around them, it's actually more dangerous to you. All told, you don't need to worry."

"Well, if the Element of Honesty says so, who am I to object?" Antonius said with a smile.

"Antonius? Can we visit Ponyville again soon?" Stormy asked.

Hmm... She wanted to return to her new friends. That was a good sign, wasn't it?

"As soon as I can spare time," he answered.

Together, they departed for Canterlot.