The next morning, when Stormy was in school again, Antonius had a look at technical drawings of the various machines the ponies used. The trains would be useful for transporting troops and equipment through Equestria, and the airships could probably be refitted to bombers. That, combined with the pegasi's ability to control clouds to cover them would certainly prove to be useful.

As he was writing down his suggestions to discuss them with the princesses later, he heard a knocking at the door. When he opened it, he saw - to his surprise - Rainbow Dash, with saddle bags and a parcel in her mouth.

"Rainbow?" he asked a bit skeptical,
"what are you doing here?"

She sat down the parcel and answered:

"These are the clothes Rarity made for you. You somehow... forgot to take them with you yesterday."

"Gosh! What could have been the reason for this?" Antonius deadpanned.

"Yeah, I know, I know, it was my fault. I thought I deliver the clothes myself, that way I can tell you again that I'm really sorry. No hard feelings?"

"Rainbow, I already told you that I won't take revenge on you."

"Yeah, but I would prefer if you really forgave me instead of being angry and just not beating me up."

"I'm not really the forgiving type, at least not this fast."

"Can't you make an exception for somepony as awesome as me?" Rainbow smiled.

Antonius facepalmed.

"Rainbow, you are not really beneficial to your cause."

Her face fell.

"I really messed up everything, didn't I?" she mumbled.

"'Everything'? Again, this lack of humility," Antonius said and scratched his brow,
"you did not mess up everything, and I won't stay angry forever. In fact, I'm already much calmer today since the negative consequences of that stunt you pulled are manageable. Just keep your boasting and your tendency towards mischief in check, and you will earn my forgiveness rather sooner than later."

Rainbow started smiling again:

"Okay, Antonius, I will earn your forgiveness faster than..."

Seeing Antonius' face, she stopped herself and continued:

"... umm, I mean, I will be nice and - ugh - modest."

"Good plan."

"Although it's not easy being modest when you're as awesome as me," she added with a big grin.

Antonius sighed.

"Just give me my clothes."

In the following minutes, he got to know that he had only seen a fraction of the clothes Rarity had made for him. As far as the suits were concerned, the color pattern was always similar, but the thickness of the fabrics varied; probably summer and winter gear. Next to them, there were all kinds of different garments for various opportunities. Rarity had really outdone herself, especially for someone who usually didn't wear clothes.

"We have washed the suit you wore yesterday thoroughly in Zecora's antidote," Rainbow told him,
"and Twilight used some spells to make sure that it is perfectly clean now."

Antonius nodded.

"Well, I think I'll return to Ponyville again," Rainbow finally said.

"Okay," Antonius answered,
"thank you."

"You're welcome. And now, goodbye!"

Rainbow left, but instead of using the normal door, she got out through the balcony door and took flight.
Antonius returned to his technical drawings and continued taking notes.

Later that day, after entrusting Stormy to Shining Armor's and Cadance's care, Antonius and the princesses met in Celestia's quarters. He told them his improvement suggestions to increase the efficiency of their society and they discussed each point thoroughly. Some of Antonius' ideas were mitigated a bit, but all of them were accepted.

A key point was the installation of beacons on hilltops throughout Equestria, forming a star-shaped net with Canterlot in its center. That way, when Chaos returned, the ponies in the concerned area could light the beacons, instead of relying on Celestia's premonitions. This signal would then be relayed to the capital to alert everyone.

Another suggestion should improve goods transport. At the moment, the ponies shipped goods bit by bit, which required either some capable unicorns or quite an amount of other ponies to load or unload a transport, as well as a lot of time. With the use of standard sized containers and a corresponding crane system, Antonius hoped to decrease those times drastically.

All told, he wanted to nudge the ponies towards industrialization, which was received quite well.

His idea to teach offensive spells at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns was not that well received, but they agreed to create a - elective - class for that purpose.

Finally, Antonius gave Clelestia his notes on the history of mankind, to print books and also include this subject into Equastria's curricula.

When they parted, Luna turned to Antonius:

"How about another training session?"

"Outstanding idea," Antonius agreed and a short time later, they were facing each other in the royal gardens.

They started fighting, and an hour later, they were still in combat. Luna had obviously seen enough of his fighting style to properly adapt to it. The best way to defeat her would have been to simply overpower her with brute force, but Antonius had preferred to test her stamina. She really had not disappointed him. Just now she started showing first signs of fatigue, but she still fought on.

Then, when she was blocking a blow, her face suddenly contorted in pain, she lifted her left hind leg, took a step backwards and lowered her sword. Antonius immediately lowered his weapon, too.

"What's happened, Luna?" he asked.

"A strain again," she answered, clearly annoyed,
"damnit. Sorry to disturb our training that way."

Well, he did not have such problems, but he realized that he had neglected her physiology. To properly train her, he had to come up with means to strengthen her muscles and increase her endurance.

"You don't need to apologize," he told her,
"can I help you somehow?"

"No. Just a little bit of healing magic and I'm as good as new."

"Hmm... I think we will need your healing magic quite a few times to heal strains once we train the PDF."

"We should not be too hard on them, so that they won't get strains at all. If it comes to the worst, we can just order the injured soldiers to get a little massage or something, that should do."

"A massage? Why don't you go and get that for yourself?"

"It is no use. I tried a massage once, but the pony who was supposed to massage me barely dared to touch me. It was just a waste of time. So, even if they would be beneficial, there will be no massages for me."

Hmm... if those massages would have a beneficial effect on her, she had to get some. Antonius would make sure that she got some. But how? Antonius started analyzing the situation:

According to Luna, no pony was capable of properly massaging her because of her status and her reputation. So, a non-pony?
Well, he did not know a lot of non-ponies around here, and as far as he knew, none of them was a massager. And even then, Luna's reputation would still be a problem. That just left... him.
What? That was supposed to be his solution? Had he lost his mind?

He had to reconsider this topic. Was there a fitting entry in the Codex? No, there wasn't.
Another approach: What was his task?
His task was to train her so that she had a realistic chance of fighting Chaos.
But did massages, because of her inferior physiology, not belong to the training? They somehow did, and since nobody was capable of helping him in that regard, it was his responsibility.
He had done many strange things since he had arrived on this planet, but this idea was especially weird, somehow out of place.

"I cannot give you those massages..." Antonius mumbled, lost in thought.

Luna had heard that.

"Yeah, I know" she laughed,
"everyone has to have some limits."

Hmm? Limits? What the hell?
Something as mundane as a massage should be beyond his limits? He had mastered far greater challenges than that!
Antonius made a decision: He would learn how to massage her, if only to prove his adaptability to even the most unusual of situations... and it would certainly be good for their friendship to help her. This was a friendship-thing, wasn't it? Yes, it was.
So he would do it. Period.

While he was setting his new goal, Luna used her magic to heal her strain.

"Done!" she proclaimed.

"Good. It really was a nice fight, but now I should get back to Stormy," Antonius said.

"I will join you."

When they entered Antonius' quarters, they were greeted by Stormy, Cadance and Shining Armor. The three were playing one of Stormy's board games - and utterly losing to the little pegasus.

"She really is lucky with dice," Shining Armor stated,
"Stormy, you haven't, by chance, ever played 'Oubliettes & Ogres', have you?"

"Oh no, Shiny," Cadance laughed,
"you won't corrupt Stormy with your gaming habits!"

"No?"

"Definitely no."

"Pity," Shining said with a fake pout.

Now Cadance turned to Antonius:

"Well, now that you are here, we're going to leave. It really was a nice evening. If you should need us again, don't hesitate to ask."

"Okay, thank you," Antonius nodded.

"Umm, may I have a word with you? In the hallway?" Shining asked.

"Sure," Antonius answered and followed him and Cadance through the door.

Once in the hallway, Shining turned to Antonius:

"There is something I wanted to ask you about the new PDF."

"Then ask."

"Why did you not just reinforce the Royal Guard? Wouldn't that have been easier and faster than training a whole new army?"

Oh. How should Antonius tell this captain that you couldn't get anywhere with the rather ceremonial Royal Guard - at least not if Chaos was involved - without insulting him?

"Well," he started,
"Shining, what is the primary duty of the Royal Guard?"

"Guarding the princesses and citizens of Equestria," Shining answered.

"Those are two duties. Which one do you focus on?"

Shining hesitated for a second.

"The princesses," he finally said.

Antonius nodded. The Royal Guard's primary duty was to protect the two most powerful creatures known to ponykind. No wonder they were more ceremonial than anything else...

"That is your focus. The PDF will protect the citizens of Equestria just as you do, but it will focus on the Element Bearers."

"My sister and her friends?"

"Exactly. You may not have realized it, but they are probably the most important ponies on this planet and may even influence or even decide the fate of the whole galaxy."

Shining was silent for a few seconds, then he said:

"I always knew Twily was special, but this... whoa."

Antonius nodded again.

"Few creatures have ever been this important. Still, we need the Royal Guard to focus on the princesses, for they keep this world running. The PDF will take care of the Element Bearers."

Now Shining Armor nodded.

"Okay, Antonius. That really makes sense. I just hope that we'll have enough time to prepare ourselves."

"I think that we might have between a year and a century until Chaos returns, probably at least a decade. That should suffice."

"Thank you for your honesty."

Honesty... well, he had not lied, just not told the whole truth.

Shining Armor and Cadance bid goodnight and left. Antonius returned to Luna and Stormy.

"And, Stormy? How was spending time with Princess Cadance and Shining Armor?" he asked.

"Great! They are really funny," the little mare smiled.

"And how was school today?"

Suddenly her face darkened.

"Well, to be honest, not that great."

Antonius was all ears.

"More bullying?" he asked, ready to correct any kind of wrong attitude the next day.

"No, it's actually the opposite."

"What?"

"I think they are afraid of me - even the teachers. They are always so... tense when talking to me."

Damnit. That had not been his intention. He had just wanted to help her, but he had obviously gone too far. His mission to enable her to lead a normal pony life had suffered a setback, one that would probably be difficult to mend.

"Hmm... I guess I overdid it a bit when I tried to correct the fillies' attitude," Antonius admitted.

"It is not your fault alone," Luna added,
"I have not been very diplomatic with the principal, either."

"I suggest we visit the school tomorrow and tell those teachers that they are supposed to do their duty without getting distracted by the fact that Stormy is our protégée."

"Tomorrow? Tony, we have a custom called 'weekend'. That means no work or school for two days. It is a time to relax and spent some quality time with your family and friends."

"Oh? I've heard about that. Then, we should postpone our visit to the third day. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

Antonius turned to Stormy:

"Now, Stormy, since there is no school tomorrow, what would you like to do?"

"We could visit Ponyville again!" she suggested.

Of course, what else?

"And..." she continued.

"Hmm?"

"Apple Bloom told me that I could spend the night at her farm if I wanted to. You know, sleep over? A slumber party?"

Hey, Stormy was becoming independent, wasn't she?

"If you'd like to, we just should ask Applejack if that's okay with her. Am I supposed to stay there, too?"

"Umm... actually, no, this is a filly thing. If you want to stay, I think we could..."

Yes, she was becoming independent. So he was still on course with his mission.

"That won't be necessary. I just wanted to know. I'll call Applejack and ask."

Antonius activated the vox and selected Applejack's frequency. She did not mind hosting such a 'slumber party' and Apple Bloom was audibly happy as she heard the news.

This matter being decided, they said goodnight and Luna left.

The next morning, Antonius donned his armor and during breakfast, Celestia asked again for his plans for the day. She had sort of made a habit of this. When told what she wanted to know, she said:

"I think that's a good idea, and on your way back this evening you can take Twilight and Spike with you."

When Antonius and Stormy had packed the filly's saddlebags, they took the chariot to Ponyville. Stormy wanted to go to Sweet Apple Acres at once and was already expected by the Cutie Mark Crusaders. As Antonius got to know, the four of them would spend the night in their clubhouse. It went a bit above the Space Marine's head why someone wanted to spend the night at an unfortified location quite a bit away from possible reinforcements, but this was probably a pony thing.

After saying goodbye to Stormy, Antonius headed to Zecora to see how her work with the poison joke was going. On the way there, he crossed Ponyville and was immediately invited to lunch by Lyra.
When he arrived at the hollow tree that was the zebra's home, he put on his helmet, sealed his armor and switched to internal life-support. Then he politely knocked at the door:

"Zecora? This is Antonius. Are you available?"

"Antonius? Wait, I'll open the door,
I just need a second, or maybe... two!"

Huh? Had Zecora just messed up a rhyme?

There was a some ruckus inside, then the door opened a bit and Antonius heard a knock.
She... hadn't just slammed the door into her face?
Now the door completely opened and revealed Zecora. She was wearing a hood and looking a bit distressed - to put it mildly.

"Hello, Antonius, it's nice to see you,
why are you here, could you give me a... hint?"

Well, something was wrong here.

"Hello, Zecora. I just wanted to see how you are doing, and if you were able to make some progress with the poison joke gas."

"Oh, I'm making progress, just come in and see,
and you're wearing your armor, so you can be... unworried."

Worry-free? Damned, now he started rhyming her sentences...

When she turned around to let him in, she hit the door with her rear and slammed it shut, directly in front of Antonius' face.
This really started to get weird.

The door was immediately opened again - with another knock - and Zecora told him with an apologetic smile:

"I'm sorry, Antonius, I don't even know why,
but today, everything goes wrong, I could... weep."

Cry.

Antonius carefully entered her home. Zecora walked up to a table with some potions and empty glasses.

"Look, Antonius, this is..."

She smashed some of the empty glasses with a wave of her hoof, then she sighed.

"I can't even just point at things,
I wonder what the future... holds."

Br... no, no rhyming here.

"I'm clumsy, I'm gawky, I can't even rhyme," she told him sadly,
"behaving that way is almost a... transgression."

"Zecora," Antonius asked,
"I was told that this poison joke is not dangerous for ponies, but 'silly'. Could you have gotten in contact with it? Could that explain your clumsiness?"

Zecora's face lit up:

"That's it, why didn't I realize that myself?
I'll quickly get the remedy from my... rack!"

She spun around and destroyed some more of her possessions in the process. Wow, she really had become a walking demolition ball.
She managed to fetch a potion and left her home - not without stomping on Antonius' foot. Another reason why it was a good thing that he had donned his armor this morning.

Zecora walked around her tree to a hollowed out log and set the potion down next to it. Then she fetched a bucket, stumbled, got up again and fetched water from a nearby stream. Antonius decided to take the work out of her hooves to prevent her from drowning in the stream or something like that.

When the log was full, Zecora was about to open the potion and pour it into the water as Antonius, driven by a sense of foreboding, shouted:

"Zecora, wait! Let me have a look at that potion!"

He examined the small bottle and said:

"You know, I may not be an expert in the pictograms you use, but I'd say this potion is some kind of hair remover."

He showed her the potion. Zecora grabbed it, paled and dropped it.

"Oh dear, I almost denuded myself,
I need to get the right potion from my... rack."

Hey, that was a repetition.

"Zecora! Just stay! I'll fetch it for you before you tear down your home," Antonius offered.

"Thank you, Antonius, I'll set you on track,
you need to go over to the last wooden... shelf."

Oh, now the other way round.

Antonius went into her hut and started looking for the remedy. He found a potion which's label showed a crossed out skull with a jester's cap; that definitely looked like anti-poison joke.

He returned to Zecora and emptied the bottle into the log. She forcefully discarded her hood threw it right into Antonius' face.

"Do not move a muscle! Do you hear me? Do. Not. Move!" Antonius shouted, pulling the hood from his helmet.

"I'm sorry, I..." Zecora started apologetically.

"Don't apologize. And don't move!"

He went over to her, picked her up and set her down into the tub. Once there, she immediately submerged. Antonius stayed next to the tub to save her from drowning, but that was not necessary.
She appeared again a few seconds later, looking downright relieved.

"Gone is the poison joke,
it has been quite a yoke.
Thank you for saving me from the wrong potion,
its effects would have been an unsettling notion."

So her rhyming was restored. Hopefully, her dexterity was, too.

"I have a question, Zecora: Is there a specific reason you're always rhyming?"

"You are wrong, Antonius, I do not always rhyme,
only if my sentence is too long for one line!"

"Oh, so you can also make it short?"

"Yep."

They ended their conversation with a shared laugh. Zecora left the tub to clear up the mess she accidentally had made and finally properly updated Antonius on her progress with the poison joke gas. Then, he returned to Ponyville.

Once he had left the Everfree he took off his helmet again. The air was fresh and rich as always, and as he closed in on the town he could determine the faint scent of food. Time for lunch? Convenient.
After lunch with Lyra and Bob Bon and some small talk, Antonius headed to the library.

"Hello, Twilight," he greeted as he entered.

"Hello, Antonius," Twilight answered,
"how do you feel today?"

"Fine, thank you. Celestia asked me to pick you and Spike up before I return to Canterlot."

"You didn't stay long this time. What about Stormy?"

"She is at Sweet Apple Acres. Apple Bloom invited her to a sleepover."

"A sleepover? Hmm... maybe I should give them my book about sleepovers..."

Antonius raised an eyebrow.

"You have a book about sleepovers?"

"Of course!" Twilight smiled,
"I have books about almost anything! You never know when you could need some information about sleepovers, magical theory, the life cycle of the common equestrian earthworm..."

His new goal came to Antonius' mind.

"Do you have any books about physiotherapy? Massages, to be exact?"

"Of course!" Twilight cheered and walked to one of the book shelves. She had just pulled out a book when she turned to Antonius:

"Umm... Antonius... may I ask why you want to know how to massage ponies?"

Well, he could hardly tell her that he wanted to take Luna - the Princess of the Night - by surprise with a massage to prove that some limits only existed to be exceeded... especially if Space Marines were concerned!

"It might prove to be useful. It'll certainly improve my knowledge of your physiology so that I can optimize my training methods."

"Oh, that makes sense! Here you've got the book! I'll take care of a few things and Spike and me will be ready for departure in, let's say, an hour?"

"Okay."

Antonius took the book, labeled 'Massages 101', and started reading. He committed the information he got to his memory, the descriptions as well as the drawn pictures. Too bad he couldn't test his newly acquired skills on someone... on a second thought, it was probably better if his first patient - or victim - was an alicorn, as they were more resilient than a normal pony.

Antonius was able to finish the book in time. When Twilight and Spike were ready to leave, they boarded the chariot and left for Canterlot.

He spent the afternoon with Celestia, Twilight and Spike in the armorium to help with the promethium replacement. Much to the ponies' frustration, it still did not work.

"Maybe we have to discard the lamp oil approach and come up with something different..." Celestia thought aloud.

"What do you suggest, Princess?" Twilight asked.

"I'll have to think about that for a while. Perhaps we should call it a day. Tomorrow might be more fruitful if we can sleep over it."

So, they left the imperial base again and headed upstairs.

"Dinner will be in an hour," Celestia told them,
"feel free to spend the time until then at your convenience."

Antonius went to his quarters and changed to civil clothes for dinner. It finally got time to start saving fuel, after all.

He had just finished changing when there was a knock at his door.

"Come in," he said.

Luna entered the room.

"Antonius, I have a great idea concerning the training of the PDF."

"Tell me."

"With pleasure! When we start a training fight, we just start a training fight, right?"

"Umm... yes," Antonius agreed.

"Since I am an alicorn, it works the way we do it, but, as you will remember, even I can get strains. So I suggest we invent a warming phase for the normal ponies of the PDF to prevent them from getting strains at all! You know, stretching and stuff! What do you think?"

Warming up for soldiers... well, that idea was unusual, but not bad. Probably.

"Hmm... prevention is better than curing."

"Exactly! I finally could contribute something!"

"You are already contributing quite a lot, Luna."

"Really? I thought I was rather useless until now."

"Nonsense. You are a great training partner. Oh, by the way: How do you feel? Is the strain gone?"

"Yeah, thank you. Perhaps I should warm up before our fights, too, to prevent that from happening again, hmm?"

"Sounds reasonable. And if it happens again, you can still use your magic..."
He started grinning.
"... or get a massage."

"Tony, I already told you that there's nopony who dares to properly do that."

"Pony? No. But I could."

Luna looked a bit bewildered now.

"Huh? Since when are you a massager?"

"Since today afternoon. I did not accept my 'limit' in that regard."

"Does that mean... you learned massaging... for me?"

"Sort of. It's something friends do, isn't it?"

"Yes! Definitely! You are right, it is just that it is... sweet... I mean, thank you."

"No problem, want one?"

"Now?" Luna asked incredulously.

"If you want to. We have almost an hour until dinner, that should be enough. Just take off your necklace, tiara and shoes and lie down... on the bed, I guess."

"Oh, okay."

Luna took off her jewelry and hopped onto Antonius' bed.

"Could you lock the door first?" she suddenly asked,
"I think it would be a bit embarrassing if somepony came in - especially if that somepony was my sister."

"Okay," Antonius said confusedly and locked the door,
"but why would that be embarrassing? Can't you get massages at spas? According to my information, there is nothing to it."

"Well, yes... but those ponies are professional massagers and this is one of those situation which are perfectly innocent if you know the context, but look totally strange if you don't... by the way, how did you learn massaging?"

"I read a book about it."

"A BOOK?" Luna shouted,
"you obviously spend too much time with Twilight! Do you know enough about our physiology at all?"

Antonius went up to Luna, nudged the center of her back with his index finger and stated:

"Pony."

"Oh dear. I somehow feel compelled to run away..."

As she made no sign to actually move, Antonius put his hands on her shoulders - probably a little less gently than a real massager would have.

"Since you are not running away, I guess I could start. Just relax now, and if you want me to stop, just say so. By the way, I'll accept screams of pain and the noise of breaking bones as a request to stop, too."

"You cannot imagine how relieved I am now."

"Oh, and please deactivate your mane flow during the massage, else I'll have it in my face all the time."

"Okay," Luna said as she made her mane follow gravity while keeping the night sky effect,
"let the massage commence."

Celestia was on her way to Antonius' quarters. She had thought about the Imperium's sources for promethium, and she couldn't get those gas giants out of her head. With the ponies' huge knowledge of weather and transfiguration spells, perhaps they could improvise something? That was what she wanted to talk about now.

As she approached his room, she suddenly heard an

"Ow!"

Luna? So her little sister was visiting him. They really spent quite some time together, but - as they said themselves - they were just good friends. Celestia still liked to tease Luna a bit with this relationship, and those weird accidents which happened to them made that quite easy and obvious.
Now, they were probably fighting again. They really were two of a kind, in a way. Celestia sneaked closer to the door and listened:

"Yeah, that's much better," Luna sighed contently.

Huh? That did not really sound like fighting...

"Just tell me how you like it," Antonius said calmly,
"remember that it is my first time, I don't have any experience."

Seriously, what were they doing?
Now Luna... what was that sound? A sigh? A moan?

"Oh, that's great! A bit harder, please."

Harder?

"Are you sure?" Antonius asked.

"Harder!" Luna answered.

Celestia started to turn pale. Then she shook her head. There was no chance that they actually...

"Oh, yeah! That feels so good! You're fantastic!"

What. The. Hell???

Celestia was shocked. She retreated until she bumped into the opposite wall.
No. Nonononono. That was impossible... but apparently happening now, right at that moment!
Should she do something? Stupid question; she couldn't and she shouldn't. Even if Luna was her little sister, she still was an adult mare.

Celestia turned around and started walking back to the dining room.
They were 'just good friends'.
'Just good friends' her flank!

"Okay, done!" Antonius proclaimed,
"now, what do you think? Was the time I put into acquiring this new skill fruitful?"

Luna kept lying on the bed, she just turned her head and said:

"Most fruitful. I can't remember the last time I felt that relaxed. Would you mind doing this regularly?"

"Not at all. Do you want to expand our training to 'warm-up - training - massage'? "

Luna smiled.

"I think I would like that."

Okay... so Antonius had just stipulated regular massages for Luna... he really was getting the hang of this friendship-thing, wasn't he? Even if it meant that Captain Sicarius would probably get a double heart attack if he ever got to know this.

"Luna," Antonius said,
"it's time to get up. Dinner will be ready in ten minutes."

"Oh, okay."

Luna slowly got up and stretched, then she got ready to leave and they went to the refectory.

Celestia was sitting in the dining room with Twilight and Spike. They talked about their research, but while Celestia had not been able to get that topic out of her head a short time ago, she now could barely concentrate on it.

Right in time for dinner, Luna and Antonius entered the dining room. She was smiling contently and he seemed to be in a rather good mood, too.
Well, at least they had fun, right?

While they were eating, Celestia did her best to keep a stiff upper lip, although her mind was still busy trying to predict the consequences of... the events.
She was actually happy when dinner was over and Twilight and Spike retreated to their room. She also bid goodnight and left the dining room. Then she noticed that she somehow did not know what she should do now.
Talk to Cadance, perhaps? It was her area of expertise, after all... No, she would not interfere.
She needed a distraction, that was it! She went to the library.

Celestia took a look around the large room. What should she read? Should she continue her search for information about mankind? Well, she was not exactly in the mood for that.

Her eyes fell upon a red marked door. The 'adults only' section. She smiled halfheartedly. At least that somehow fitted the topic and could probably distract her. She passed the red door.

Inside the much smaller room, Celestia started reading the backs of the books there. She pulled out some of them and looked at the covers or read the summaries, but she was somewhat absentminded. Of all the places she could go to find some distraction, why was she here? Could it be that she was a little bit jealous of her sister? No, nonsense. She was happy for Luna. If she thought about her last love...
Well, that was another story... long ago, far away.

She sighed, then she discovered an old book with a very unusual title:
'Proper care of horses'.

What?
Nopony would call a pony a horse, at least not in earnest. She pulled the book out of the shelf and started reading.
It really was about caring for equines, written in the style of a non-fiction book about livestock. It was a book written by mankind, it even had pictures that compared their anatomies!
Celestia could hardly believe it. There it was, a hint at humanity they had been looking for, placed in the adult section probably because it treated equines as animals. She started flipping through the book.

Keeping, feeding, grooming, harnesses... WHAT???
The pictures for this topic were... disconcerting, to put it mildly.
She had to show this to Luna. Now. She rushed out of the library, taking the book with her.

After Celestia had left, Antonius and Luna were alone in the refectory.

"Umm, Tony, did it occur to you that my sister was behaving a bit... strange?" Luna asked.

Antonius nodded.

"She seemed to be a bit uneasy. Everything she did seemed to be a little forced."

"I wonder what could be bothering her."

"Perhaps the failed attempts at creating a working fuel?"

"Possible... I'll give her some time. If she stays in that mood for too long, I'm going to ask her what's up. Now, let's leave. Do you want to join me in my quarters? We could discuss the warming-up we are going to implement."

"Good idea."

So they went to Luna's room and talked about various exercises to prepare ponies for training sessions.

"Those are exercises the ponies can do on their own: they are suitable for the PDF training. There are also some exercises we could do together for our training - and my sister's."

"I somehow doubt that she will be very excited about it."

"Oh, don't worry. Those exercises are actually useful, so she will participate..."
She started smiling.
"... and I can't wait for you to 'pull her leg'. Get it?"

Antonius scratched his brow.

"Yeah, I get it. Now, what are these exercises going to look like?"

"Wait, I'll show you."

Luna quickly took off her necklace, tiara and shoes and said:

"Okay, Tony, please get into position behind me."

Antonius did so and Luna continued:

"Now, put your left hand on my back in front of my tail and grab my right hind leg with your right hand."

She held out said leg and Antonius did as he was told.

"Now, gently pull my leg upward and make sure that my back stays in its current position. That will stretch my thigh-muscle. Just do not rip my leg off, okay?"

"Always this nitpicking," Antonius teased.

"Then goodbye, my dear leg. I hardly knew you," Luna sighed.

"I feel compelled to remind you that this was your idea. Shall I start now?"

"That's what I'm waiting for."

Now they started the exercise.

"Ah, that's right, keep my leg at this height," Luna instructed Antonius.

Then Celestia barged in through the door.

"Luna, I ha... ha... HUH?!?"

She started at Antonius and Luna, they stared back.
The following silence lasted for a bit, until Luna mumbled:

"Tony, I guess we should have locked that stupid door. Now, please release my leg."

Antonius did just that, then Luna cleared her voice and turned to Celestia:

"What is it, sister? Why are you intruding into my room like that?"

"If I were the only one doing the intruding here..." Celestia started, but quickly interrupted herself, took a deep breath and continued:
"No, that is your decision. But before you go on, you should see this!"

She opened a book she had brought along and threw it on the ground in front of Luna. She and Antonius looked down, wondering what had made Celestia that furious.

As Antonius saw the picture, he understood what was going on. A horse in... what was it called? A harness? Yes, that had to look particularly weird to Celestia - or any pony.
With a little fantasy, it had a bit of a similarity to the 'equipment' those cultists of Slaanesh he had fought once had used, at least until the Ultramarines had violently told them not to indulge in such perverted practices - by wiping them out.
To make things worse, the horse was hitched up to a cart and a human was holding its reins. Explaining this would certainly be a long and somewhat demanding task.

Then, much to his surprise, Luna started snickering.

"They surely have a... 'special' relationship."

Celestia stared at her and Antonius raised an eyebrow. Now this discussion became interesting...

"Luna," Celestia shouted,
"are you out of your mind? Look what this human did to that poor mare!"

That was a mare? How did she even know this? To Antonius, it looked more like 'generic horse #1'.

"She does not make an particularly unhappy impression to me," Luna stated.

Celestia gasped.

"WHAT? How could she not be unhappy? Don't you see it? The harness, the bridle! And the thing in her mouth! "

Okay, now things became seriously awkward.

"Who am I to judge her?" Luna answered calmly.

While Celestia was just staring at her, she picked up the book and started reading.

"Ah, that thing in her mouth is a 'bit' and it is a small device used to tell the horse what you want it to do."

"That does not make it better, Luna!"

"Well, Antonius already told us that horses in the Imperium are just animals... right, Tony?"

"Yes," Antonius quickly agreed,
"they are by far not as intelligent or sapient as you and are used as mounts, draft animals or livestock."

"Why the harness?" Celestia inquired, still angry.

"To pull that cart?" Antonius suggested.

"That explains just the middle part of it!"

"Girth, according to this book," Luna added.

"And the collar? And this thing across her rear?"

Antonius had no profound knowledge of horse harnesses, he had to come up with plausible explanations, but fortunately, it was quite obvious - at least in his opinion:

"Without the collar, the girth would slide back and hurt the horse if it started pulling. Without the other part, the girth would slide forward when going downhill or breaking and hurt the horse, too. So, all of this stuff is there to protect the horse from harm, even if it looks somewhat weird."

Celestia glared at him for a while, then she said:

"The harnesses we use to pull carts usually have just an open 'girth', as you call it. We don't get hurt."

Antonius had not even the slightest idea why that worked. Luckily, Luna opined:

"I think I know the reason for this. Here, our harnesses are kept in place by the same subconscious low-range telekinesis that enables us to pick things up with our hooves. This 'extended harness' is just the answer to having to live without magic."

Hey, that really sounded plausible! Wait... subconscious low-range telekinesis? That actually explained at lot...

Now Celestia turned to Luna:

"You seem to have an answer to everything, hmm? No, wonder, since you two..."

She suddenly stopped.

"We what?" Luna inquired.

"I... I've heard you..."

"You have heard us what?"

Celestia sighed. Her anger seemed to be getting replaced by embarrassment.
What the hell was going on?

"I wanted to talk to Antonius before dinner," Celestia said,
"I'm sorry. I didn't want to spy on you, but I heard you."

Suddenly, Luna burst out laughing.

"You really think we... HAHAHA!!! He just gave me a massage!"

Celestia looked completely dumbfounded.

"What?"

"A massage. I casually told him that I couldn't get a proper one from a pony, so he learned massaging, just to do me a favor, because of our friendship. I have to admit it is a bit unusual, but completely innocent. And you managed to turn it into... let us call it 'something different'. And then, you found this book and thought he wanted to force me into such a harness?"

She turned to Antonius:

"Hey, Tony, do you want to put me into one of those things?"

"WHAT THE HELL - NO!!!" Antonius shouted, taken aback by this idea.

Luna turned back to Celestia:

"See? Nothing to worry about here."

Celestia had turned crimson in the meantime.

"But... umm... those noises you made... " she said awkwardly.

"Noises? Well, he is an outstanding massager. And before you ask: he kept a safety distance to each 'delicate' part. Now content?"

"I... I'm sorry," Celestia mumbled,
"I think I better go now."

"I will guide you to the door," Luna smiled,
"in your current condition, you might miss it."

The two mares slowly walked to the door. Antonius was thoroughly relieved that this conversation was over, and that it had not been as bad he had worried it would become.
Then, he heard Luna whisper something to Celestia:

"Sister, I am really thankful that you care for me, but if Antonius and I wanted to start such an relationship, it would be a thing just between him and me and nothing of your concern."

"I know, Luna. I'm sorry. I just can't stop being your big sister," Celestia whispered back.

"It is okay. But I am all grown up, so please keep out of my relationships. By the way, the same applies to harnesses."

Celestia stared at her and Luna whispered while shoving her out of the door:

"Now get your dirty mind out of my quarters. Love you, sister."

Then she shut the door and started walking back to Antonius with a broad grin on her face.
Now Antonius stared at her.

"Let me guess, you've heard the comment about the harness," she said flatly.

Antonius nodded.

"Don't worry, I just wanted to annoy her a bit."

"I'm surprised you take this information that lightly."

"I am not really taking this lightly, but seriously: This is just a little... well... 'kinky' at worst, and that is nothing compared to the atrocities I have seen in Hope."

"You are fairly tolerant in that regard. Perhaps a little too tolerant. May I remind you of the danger that Slaanesh poses?"

"I have not forgotten that, but I also remember you allowing us to continue with our 'special' jokes. We will keep an eye on such activities - if there actually are any, I never heard of anything like that - and ban them together with our jokes as soon as it becomes necessary. Now, there was a human depicted in that book. That requires further investigation!"

Well, she was absolutely right with that last part, so Antonius agreed on changing the subject. They sat down on a carpet and looked for hints at mankind.

The book was another proof that mankind had been on this planet, but did not give them much information beyond that.

"Well," Luna said,
"at least now I know where some of our fashion comes from."

"Hmm, I've seen some dresses in Rarity's boutique that looked like based on saddles," Antonius confirmed.

"Yes, and a long time ago, we even used bridles - without the bit, of course, more like those 'halters'. I think my old bridle must be in one of my drawers... wait, I will show it to you. It is terribly out of fashion, but still somewhat beautiful."

Luna started searching through some drawers and from time to time, she flicked her tail. Antonius grabbed the book and looked up the meaning of this:
She was irritated!
This book did not tell the history of mankind on this planet, but it surely was useful... if it was right, but he could check this.

"Hey, Luna, are you irritated?"

She stopped rummaging and looked at Antonius.

"A bit. I cannot find that bridle, but why do you ask?"

"You flicked your tail a few times."

"Oh, interpreting my body language with the book, are we? Well, be advised that I am a pony and not more a horse than you are a... a... hmm, what creature would that be? Some sort of monkey, perhaps?"

"Not a bad guess. Humans and monkeys have a common ancestor. If you go back far enough, though, you will also find a common ancestor of humans and horses, especially since both are mammals. Anyway, I found that you ponies share some behavior patterns with the horses described in this book. This is actually quite convenient."

"Well, then interpret this!"

Luna playfully stuck out her tongue for a second, then she turned back to the drawers.

It took a few more minutes until she exclaimed:

"Got it! Just a second..."

When she turned to Antonius again, she had put on her bridle. It was made of delicate silver chains, almost like gossamer, gleaming in the light of the room. Between her eyes was a blue, tear-shaped gem, reflecting the incident light so that it seemed to glow.

"And?" she asked walking up to him,
"what do you think?"

"Well, you were right, it is... umm... very nice."

"I think there is something to it you will like even more. Please grab the chains on my cheeks."

"You want me to do what?"

"Just do it."

Antonius did as he was told to and Luna took up a stable stance.

"Now, drag me forward," she said.

"I'll rent apart your bridle."

"Trust me. Pull."

Well, if she insisted in him destroying her headgear...
He started pulling. Gently.

"Come on, more power!" Luna commanded.

Antonius pulled more vigorously. To his surprise, the delicate silver chains withstood that. He even was able to drag Luna forward, her hooves sliding across the floor, and the chains still did not tear.
She grinned.

"Okay, you may stop now."

Antonius did that and asked:

"Luna, what material is that? It is very durable."

"It is. We call it 'silversteel'. It is not only durable, but also very lightweight. Too bad it is very rare and also very expensive."

"How much of this silversteel do we have at our disposal?"

"My bridle. That's it."

"Can we acquire some more? This metal would be very useful for building armor and weapons."

"I am afraid I will have to disappoint you, Tony. We do not have any silversteel mines in Equestria. There is a mine in Saddle Arabia, though, and the bridle was a present from a prince from there."

"Can't we buy some?"

"We can try, but it is hard to get due to its rarity, and expensiveness. My bridle alone is probably worth more than the whole of Ponyville."

"Then it was an expensive present."

"Yeah, he thought he could convince me to marry him. I declined his proposal, but he still insisted that I keep it as a keepsake."

"Generous, but also a little weird, hmm? A bridle as a engagement present? Well, be that as it may, back to business: We should tell them what trouble this planet is in. Hopefully, they will supply us with silversteel voluntarily. "

"Well, even if they send us all of the silversteel they have in stock, it will still be barely enough for a dozen armors."

"Crap. Well, we will get along without it."

"Of course we will," Luna smiled,
"there is another thing you should know: There is also a metal called 'darksteel'. It not as rare or expensive, but it is heavier and it can dampen a pony's magical abilities. It is used for magic-resistant armor or to shut down an injured unicorn's magic."

"We don't have that either, do we?"

"Probably just a little bit in the hospital, and no, we do not have any mines, since it is only found together with silversteel."

"Hmm... that's quite a curiosity. Thank you for the information."

Luna took off her bridle, put it into her nightstand and walked back to Antonius.

"Now, Tony," she started,
"there is something I would like to ask you."

"Ask," Antonius said.

"Do you have any experience with the horses of your Imperium? Does your chapter use them, for example?"

"No, the Ultramarines make no use of horses. We use machines to travel larger distances, bikes or Land Speeders, for example. Some regiments of the Imperial Guard make use of horses for war."

"They ride them into war?"

"Yes. I have to admit, though, that the idea of a mount, a living creature to ride, is somewhat... odd to me."

"Odd? That is coming from someone who uses ancient mechanical vehicles, powered by some sort of continuous explosion of fuel made from gas giants?"

Well, Antonius had to admit, using a living mount certainly seemed to be easier, so he said:

"If you put it like that... each to their own, hmm?"

"I guess so, but I have to admit that I am curious how travelling with this Land Speeder will be. Are you curious how riding a mount would be like?"

"Well, I have to admit, yes, I find this idea somewhat intriguing. To think about it: there was a time when horses where the primary means of transportation on Terra. They were downright critical for the early human civilization. Getting a little insight into this phase would certainly be interesting."

Luna was a bit surprised. Despite all the human technology, Antonius was curious about non-technical mounts. Well, Luna could help him. After everything he had done for her, including learning massaging especially for her, it would just be fair, wouldn't it? Furthermore, there was a ring to possibly charging into battle together.

"Wanna try?" she asked with a smile.

"You have mounts? Where?" Antonius asked.

"Right in front of you."

It took him a second to realize what she had meant.

"You're not serious."

"No, I am Luna," she grinned,
"I cannot offer you a horse to ride, but you may sit on my back if you want to."

Antonius started laughing and shook his head.

"This is really a weird day: First, Stormy goes to spend the night at an unfortified location, then I have to prevent a poison joke intoxicated Zecora from accidentally denuding herself with a hair remover, then I learn massaging to optimize your training and apply my newly gained knowledge shortly thereafter. To top it off, your sister finds an ancient book about horses and calls me a pervert. And now you offer me the chance to mount you. Really, this day is just incredible!"

"Well, if you accept my offer today, it is only this day that will be weird and you can start tomorrow as a new, more normal day. You also do not need to worry about embarrassing yourself, since there is nopony else in the room. So, if you are curious, I suggest you just give it a try. Now, what shall it be?"

"Okay, I'm convinced," Antonius smiled,
"I just hope I'm not too heavy for you."

"Hey, I am an alicorn. Without your armor, I am sure you will be light enough. Now, take a broad stance so that I can get beneath you."

Now, Luna opened her wings, turned around and slowly walked backwards. Antonius was tall enough that she did not have to crouch, but she still concentrated on getting in the right position. When she had achieved that, she asked:

"Okay, Antonius, ready?"

"Pffpft..."

Huh? She looked upwards and saw the problem: Her mane was flowing into his face!

"Oops..." she said and made her mane follow gravity. She kept the night sky pattern again, though.

"Yeah, that's better," Antonius said.

"Now, slowly sit down."

She could feel the weight on her back increasing. Ponies usually carried things or foals that way, but this was the first time she had to put up with such a weight on her back. A bit to her surprise, it did not feel too strange. Finally, she closed her wings over Antonius' legs.

There she was: Luna, Princess of Equestria, serving as a mount. Antonius had been right, this was a weird day.

Antonius was downright fascinated. The feeling of sitting on a living mount was completely different from sitting in a Land Speeder. It was not even similar to riding a bike, although the posture was basically the same.
Of course, if he kept mounting a pony in perspective, he knew it was entirely pointless. Mounts were used because they were faster than their rider and/or had greater endurance, but here, none of that was the case. Despite this analysis, he had to admit that it still wasn't bad at all.

"And?" Luna asked,
"what do you think?"

"It's certainly an unique feeling," Antonius answered.

"Unique in a good way?"

"Yes, definitely. Unfamiliar, but not bad."

"Okay, then let us try something else. Hold on!"

Hold on? How was he supposed to hold on without hurting her?

Luna slowly started walking and Antonius tried to balance himself. It worked surprisingly well and soon, they had crossed the room a few times. Then Luna stopped and said:

"Do you know what is missing here?"

"No," Antonius answered.

Luna looked at him and grinned:

"Our armors, our weapons, and a villain of front of us!"

Uh-oh. She started to get a little excited. She looked forward again and shouted:

"Then, we could charge our foe together! HUZZAH!"

She reared up. And lost balance.
Antonius wanted to bring his feet down on the ground to prevent an ungraceful landing from happening, but unfortunately, Luna's wings prevented him from doing so, so they both toppled over and Antonius was lying on his back, Luna on his belly.
That was a tad awkward.

"Umm... should not have reared up, hmm?" she asked.

"Indeed," he replied,
"are you okay?"

"Yeah, I am all right... now, I think we should get up again and continue with our stretching, shouldn't we?"

"Agreed."

After some more exercises, Luna said:

"Well, I could just use another massage after this exertion..."

She smiled at him in an adorable - and a little awkward - way.

Well, her request was plausible, so Antonius agreed and started massaging her for the second time today. Somehow he could not get rid on the feeling that he would do this quite often from now on.

Luna enjoyed her massage. It really was astounding how good he was at that task... probably thanks to his hands. She started to understand Lyra Heartstring's fascination for those parts of a human's body.

After the massage, Antonius asked:

"It's time to retire. Do you want to keep the book, or may I take it?"

"You want to have a look at those 'nice' pictures, hmm?" Luna teased.

"Keep the book," he decided, said goodnight and left.

She chuckled. It was quite easy to annoy him a bit with such insinuations. Not very fair, but easy.
All told, they had become very good friends. None of them easily took offense at the other's humor and they got along exceptionally well.

Luna opened the book and accidentally found herself in the chapter about 'breeding'.
She made a face.
Great, now not only her sister, even books made fun of her. Probably the justified punishment for her teasing of Antonius.
Luna closed the book and put it aside. Her patrol was about to start anyway.