Antonius was surprised how well that had worked. He had expected more difficulties, but there were none worth mentioning, at least until now. He would stay wary, of course.

They made their way towards the waiting Applebloom, who ran to meet them.
The Space Marine could see Applejack's tension as her sister met the group. Before the young horse could say anything, the Applejack told her:

"You better return to the farm and do your chores, little sister. I'll return once we're done here."

"But, Applejack, I've already done my chores for today! That's why we were going to Ponyville, remember?"

Antonius could almost hear Applejack's teeth grind as she answered:

"Are you really sure, Applebloom? I think there's something you have forgotten."

Applebloom beamed:

"No, sis, everything done."

The little one obviously didn't get the hint. There was actually a bit of humor in this situation.

"Okay, little sis, come along. But don't bother our guest, Mr. Varus."

"Mr. Varus? Oh, we didn't introduce ourselves! I'm Applebloom, Applejack's sister!"

The Astartes nodded in her direction and said:

"Greetings, Applebloom, I am Brother Antonius Varus, Ultramarines second company, Imperium of Mankind."

Applebloom raised an eyebrow.

"Brother? Whose brother?"

"'Brother' is the abbreviation of 'battle-brother', a military rank among the Adeptus Astartes, which the Ultramarines belong to."

"Oh, you're something like a Royal Guard?"

'Royal Guard'? Perhaps the equivalent to the Imperial Guard, just for a monarchy. Antonius answered:

"I don't know what your 'Royal Guard' is, so I can't judge your assessment."

Applebloom smiled and started:

"The Royal Guard is..."

But she was interrupted by Applejack.

"We said 'no bothering', remember, sister?"

The little horse fell silent and followed them as they made their way towards Ponyville.
She walked on the Space Marine's right side, then changed over to his left, and back.

Suddenly, she asked:

"Mr. Varus, why do you have two cutie marks?"

Everyone stopped and Antonius asked:

"'Cutie marks'? What is a 'cutie mark'?"

Applejack and Twilight sighed, while Applebloom beamed:

"Cutie marks are magical symbols that appear on your flank once you discover your special talent! But you must know that, you have two, after all, a horseshoe and an arrow, although on your shoulders instead of your flank..."

Antonius stared down at the small creature.
'Magical symbols'? Like marks of Chaos? On his sacred armor? Heresy!
And the glorious insignia of his chapter a 'horseshoe'?

These had been quite severe insults, to him as well as to his chapter, but they had obviously been unintentional again.
He had to take a deep breath and use all of his self-control to stay calm.
He could, however, not completely hide the anger in his voice as he told Applebloom:

"These symbols on my sacred armor are NOT magic, little horse! And the one on my left pauldron is NOT a 'horseshoe'!
It is an Ultima, the insignia of my Chapter, the Ultramarines.
The one on the right tells you that I'm a member of a tactical squad.
There is nothing magical about that!"

Applebloom looked confused, and Applejack walked over to her side, clearly to protect her sister if necessary.

"You don't like magic?" Twilight asked,
"Did you have bad experiences with it? I can assure you, Mr. Varus, our cutie marks are not bad, quite the opposite.
And we are ponies, not horses, by the way.
Now, would you please be so kind to tell us why you don't like magic? I must admit, it's a bit hard for us to understand."

"Would the slaughter of countless billions of imperial citizens be enough for you to understand?"

Twilight paled, as well as the other ponies.

"W..what? Slaughter? Billions? THAT are your experiences with magic?
I can assure you, nopony would ever do that to you. It's... incredible. Who committed those atrocities?"

"The ruinous powers of Chaos. They use magical symbols to strengthen their followers with unholy energies. My people have been fighting them for over ten millennia."

Twilight gasped:

"Chaos? There are more like Discord? And even worse ones! Even he never did something that terrible."

"Discord?"

"A Chaos creature we defeated a while ago. We turned him into stone with the help of the Elements of Harmony."

'Elements of Harmony'? With the ability to petrify a Chaos daemon?
If Antonius could acquire those 'Elements' for the Imperium...
He needed to be as diplomatic and 'nice' as possible, perhaps he would get his opportunity.

"You ponies fight Chaos? Well, I guess we have a common enemy, then."

The ponies and the Space Marine started walking again, but this time, Applebloom stayed a bit closer to Applejack.
Quite sensitive, those ponies.

A short time later, they came to a fork in the road.
The right way led to the cottage Antonius had 'visited' earlier, the left way led to the town.
The two Apples said goodbye and took the right way, Twilight and Antonius proceeded towards the town.

As they reached the town limits, Twilight asked Antonius:

"Mr. Varus, I recognized that you got a bit angry earlier and I would like to avoid any... unfortunate situations.
I promise that nopony will try to harm you, and that we have nothing to do with Chaos.
So, if you should be offended by something, please stay calm and just tell me. I will do my best to explain everything to you. Okay?"

"Acceptable."

They entered Ponyville.

It was a nice little town, with more than just a few similarities to human towns around M2. Antonius could see residences of various sizes, lots of different shops and restaurants. There were only a few buildings with more than three floors. Together with the broad roads and the trees that were standing in multiple locations, the village had a rural, airily feeling.

Some of its inhabitants were outside, peacefully enjoying the sun, shopping or eating. It really looked like straight out of a storybook.

Some of this quiet atmosphere, however, was gone when the first ponies discovered the Space Marine.
A lot of them froze in place, just staring at him with big eyes.
Others ran away.
A trio of mares with pinkish and pale yellow coats screamed and fell unconscious.
Antonius turned towards Twilight:

"Ms. Sparkle..."

"Just call me Twilight, and yes, I've seen them faint. Would you please wait here while I make sure they are alright?"

Twilight left and looked after the mares.
Antonius looked around. Every pony he looked at turned away, or at least looked very nervous.

Or almost every pony. There was a mint colored unicorn, sitting on a bench, legs dangling down, who had a very big smile on her face. When she recognized that he looked at her, she frantically waved at him.
Well, that was strange. Not the slightest sign of fear, but pure enthusiasm. That could not be said of the cream-colored mare at her side, who looked quite skeptical.

Antonius had no idea what to do now. He was really not used to aliens waving at him.
He could just ignore the mare, but he was here to gather information, so he had react in some way.

It really was a silly situation he was in. Couldn't it have been a normal day?
The second company on one side, enemies of the Imperium on the other side, a short time later, the second company on the one side, lots of corpses on the other side.
That was a day for a Space Marine!
But no, he was standing in an alien town, surrounded by xeno-ponies, and a unicorn waved at him.

Still not really knowing what to do, Antonius hesitantly lifted his right forearm and waved back halfheartedly.
That triggered an immediate reaction from the unicorn, who jumped to her hooves and ran to meet him, her grin even wider.
The Astartes kept his eyes glued to her. What was she going to do?
The mint colored pony was almost in front of him as she began:

"Are you a human? You are a human, right? Please, please say you are a human!"

Antonius was completely flabbergasted. This pony knew humans? He answered:

"Yes, I am a human, pony. You have knowledge of humans?"

The mare beamed at him:

"Of course I have! I have read every story about you that was ever written! I am your biggest fan!
For a start, your hands are just awesome! Could you pretty please show me one of them?"

Antonius extended his right hand. The pony almost went crazy.

"That is so cool! With the opposite thumb and everything!
Who are you? Where are you from? Do you stay here for a while?
Oh, I completely forgot to introduce myself: I am Lyra Heartstrings. And welcome to Ponyville!"

Antonius could hardly believe it.
There was an admirer of mankind among these xenos! She was downright ecstatic to meet him! One of these ponies knew mankind and the glory it represented!
So he told her almost solemnly:

"Greetings, Lyra Heartstrings. I thank you for your welcome.
I am Brother Antonius Varus, Ultramarines second company, Imperium of Mankind.
As a member of the Adeptus Astartes, guardians of humanity, I must say it pleases me that you recognize the value of mankind."

Lyra hopped up and down like a rubber ball.

"That is so awesome! And you have an Imperium? That means there are lots of you out there! OH MY GOSH!"

"Okay, Lyra, just calm down."

The voice came from behind Lyra. It was the cream-colored mare. She turned to Antonius:

"I hope she did not bother you, Mr..."

"Antonius Varus! From an 'Imperium of Mankind'!" Lyra shouted.
"Isn't that awesome?"

"Oh, okay, Mr. Varus, my name is Bon Bon, and, you know, Lyra can be a bit... enthusiastic sometimes... especially when anything about humans is involved."

Antonius had to smile a bit beneath his helmet.

"No need to worry. I appreciate her enthusiasm about mankind."

Lyra finally stopped jumping up and down, but she still smiled when she asked another question:

"Mr. Varus, is every human as tall as you? I must admit, I always thought your kin was a bit smaller, at least it looked that way in the drawings I saw."

Drawings? Antonius had to see them as soon as possible.
Perhaps that and the stories that came with them could answer a few of his own questions. But first, the mare deserved an answer:

"A 'normal' human is about 1.7 to 1.9 meters, so about that size." He showed this height with his hand.
"As an Astartes, I am bigger than they are."

"Hello, you three. Glad to see you got to know each other." Twilight was back.

"Hi, Twilight!" the other two mares greeted.

Antonius took a look at the three previously fainted mares, then turned to Twilight:

"The three ponies are all right again?"

"Yes, they are. Although they fainted a second time when you introduced yourself to Lyra."

"That was not my intention."

"Don't worry," Lyra said, "They tend to faint quite easily."

After hearing that, Bon Bon nudged Lyra:

"Lyra, don't be rude.
Besides, I have to remind you that it's time for us to get back to work."

"Oh, right, I almost forgot. Bye, Twilight! Goodbye, Mr. Varus!
I hope to see you again soon, and maybe talk a little more!"

Bon Bon also said goodbye and the two left Twilight and Antonius, who continued their tour of the town.
Antonius had least expected this encounter to turn out like that, but it was a pleasant surprise.

Until now, the Space Marine had seen three different subspecies; the 'normal' ponies, the winged pegasi and the horned unicorns. Furthermore, there were obviously the common two genders.

He just wanted to ask Twilight about the diversity of the pony species, as he noticed something:
A unicorn had a bluish aura around his horn and a bag that hovered in front of him was surrounded by the same aura.
Was the creature using telekinesis?

"Twilight, please turn your attention to this unicorn." He pointed at the stallion.
"This unicorn is a psyker?"

"A psyker? I'm not sure what you mean. He is just using a levitation spell. Nothing extraordinary. And nothing dangerous."

A 'spell'. So this pony was a psyker, practicing heathen magic. Antonius had an unsettling thought he needed to voice at once:

"Is every unicorn capable of 'magic'?"

"Yes, though the individual skill differs.
Most unicorns are limited to basic telekinesis and a few other minor spells.
If a unicorns special talent is magic-related, they have greater capabilities regarding that talent.
My friend Rarity, for example, is a fashionista, she has pretty advanced telekinesis and the ability to find gems she needs for her dresses.
My special talent is magic itself, so I'm not limited to a certain range of spells, I'm more of an all-rounder."

"How many unicorns live in this town?"

"Around a third of the population."

So the whole unicorn subspecies, a third of this town's population, were psykers. And he was stuck in the middle of them, his guide being some kind of alpha-psyker.

Emperor help him.

Such an amount of psykers could only mean one thing:

"How many incidents do you have in this town?"

"Incidents? What kind of incidents are you talking about?"

What? They really had no idea of the dangers of the warp, although they were constantly using it? That was impossible, wasn't it?

"Madness, daemonic possession, being ripped apart and turned into a warp portal, that kind of incidents!" Antonius explained.

Twilight paled and stammered:

"What? No, why should... No. Just no. Nothing like that has ever happened! Using magic is really safe.
Even when a spell backfires - which is extremely rare, as we use magic sensibly - nothing that terrible can happen. So no. Definitely no."

That was strange.
Had these ponies found an alternative way of using the powers of the warp?
A way that was truly safe?
Intriguing.
Unfortunately, Antonius was no psyker, so he could not investigate this conundrum.
But this species really got more and more interesting.

As the tour went on, they came to a building Twilight called a 'spa', which had something to do with 'relaxing' and 'beauty'. Antonius was sure he would never see it from the inside, as it was not useful to him.

Directly opposite of this 'spa' was the town square with the town hall. Being not only in the center of the town, but also the biggest and highest building here, it had some strategic value, although Twilight didn't mention that fact.

A short time after that, Antonius saw a few construction workers who were busy repairing a house.
He thought of the 'giant creature' the ponies were talking about earlier.

"Twilight, how got these houses damaged?"

She looked a bit embarrassed as she answered:

"Oh, well, we had a little incident with a dragon three days ago.
Most of the damage is already repaired, these here are the last houses."

Dragons?! The legendary creatures were really piled up here.
Seeing what was left of the destruction, Antonius came to the conclusion that a dragon could probably be a threat, so he investigated:

"How often do such attacks occur?"

"It was the first time. And also the last, at least from this dragon."

"So you killed it?"

"No, we did NOT kill it!" Twilight shouted in horror.

After a deep breath, she continued with an a lot calmer voice:

"Sorry. It's just that... Don't worry.
We dealt with it. Without harming it. No threat from this dragon anymore.
It's kind of a long story. But we are almost at the library, where we will meet my friends."

That answer was not satisfying, but pushing her would not be clever. At least not now.

They arrived at a hollowed-out, huge tree with a door, windows and balconies.
The library.