Antonius and Luna passed Canterlot and Ponyville and headed straight to Zecora’s home. The Zebra was already expecting them and greeted as the Land Speeder came to a halt:

“Antonius, hello, it’s very nice to see you,
but where is Princess Luna, can you give me a clue?”

“Don’t worry, she is right here,” Antonius told her.

Then, he unbuckled Luna and got out of the Speeder with her on his arm.

“No comment,” Luna said sternly,
“do you have the remedy ready?”

Zecora smiled and answered:

“Of course, little princess, Twilight told me so,
I freshly made the remedy a few hours ago.
Now come, so that we can make you all right,
And turn you back into the great Princess of the Night!”

Now she quickly prepared a bath and Antonius put Luna into the tub. Luna submerged her little body completely, and just a second later, she started growing back to her usual size. The water she displaced flew over the edge of the tub, and when the process was finished, there was barely any water left at all; the tub was just full of Luna.

“Umm… a little help?” she asked with a slight blush, and Antonius helped her out of the tub with a grin.

“I guess now you have to get along with normal sized coffee again,” he quipped.

“Unless I borrow your mug,” Luna grinned, then she turned to Zecora:
“Thank you, Zecora. Once again, your help has been invaluable.”

“I like to help whomever I can,
be they animal, pony or man,” the Zebra smiled.

After saying goodbye, Antonius and Luna boarded the Land Speeder and a few minutes later, they entered the hangar below Canterlot. Celestia was already expecting them:

“Hello Luna, hello Antonius. It’s good to have you back.”

“Sister, we have only been away for three days,” Luna answered.

“Ah, your voice is back to normal.”

“Yeah, I made a full recovery.”

“Let us go to my quarters and discuss our trip tomorrow. I’ll have the servants bring dinner there.”

A short time later, Antonius and the princesses were in Celestia’s room and Luna retold the journey they had made. When they were done eating, they spoke about their trip the next day.

“Cadance will take over ruling Equestria in my stead,” Celestia told them,
“it can’t hurt if she gets a little experience in that field. I’ve also selected a few things I want to bring along on our ride.”

“Very well,” Luna said,
“I hope you do not mind me taking a look at those things. I want to sort out redundant luggage and optimize everything for transport.”

“Don’t worry, it’s not that much, but if you want to, do your optimization.”

“It probably wouldn’t hurt,” Antonius opined,
“stowing away the luggage for two people worked quite well, despite the fact that Land Speeders were not designed to carry much luggage. With the two of you on board, we don’t just need to bring along more gear, we also have less space to put it.”

“I guarantee, I will find a way to store everything away,” Luna assured him,
“I am really looking forward to this.”

“So am I,” Celestia smiled,
“I think, everything is clear now.”

“Tomorrow after sunrise, we will set forth on our trip,” Luna smiled back.

“After so many years, we will go on vacation together again.”

“Umm, princesses…” Antonius started.

You could barely call this mission a vacation, after all. Celestia and Luna seemed to think otherwise, though. They hugged each other - and started hopping up and down like excited little fillies?

“A nice camping trip!” Luna cheered.

“Princesses…” Antonius tried to interrupt them again to no avail.

“We’ll have a campfire, and marshmallows, and stories…” Celestia rejoiced.

“GIRLS!” Antonius shouted.

The princesses were still hugging each other, but now they both had stopped hopping and stared at Antonius with slightly startled expressions.

“I would not call it a vacation,” Antonius told them,
“we have a mission. We have to unveil the secrets the ancient base of mankind might hold.”

“Of course,” Celestia grinned,
“but there is no reason we can’t at least have a little fun on the way.”

The next morning, Antonius, Luna, Celestia and Cadance prepared the Land Speeder for the journey. Less than an hour after sunrise, it was refueled and loaded with Luna-optimized luggage.

“Now hop on board and we can start,” Antonius told them.

Celestia jumped onto the passenger seat and tried to buckle herself up. A little help from Antonius later, it was accomplished.

“Your turn, Luna,” he said.

“Umm… Am I supposed to sit directly in front of my sister? Back to belly?” Luna asked, tilting her head.

Celestia spread her front hooves and shouted:

“Of course! Come into my hooves!”

Luna turned to Antonius:

“Is there any chance I might sit in front of you? Look at that grin. I do not trust her.”

“Sorry, I need to operate the controls,” Antonius laughed,
“and there is no free space left. Just get used to the idea of a long sisterly cuddle.”

Now he lifted Luna into the Speeder and buckled her up, then he boarded the vehicle.

“Okay, sister,” Luna said,
“now, deactivate the flow of your mane and tuck it behind your back. Then, put on the goggles and we are ready to go.”

“Any additional orders, proposals, tips or requests?” Cadance asked.

“No,” Celestia answered as she followed Luna’s suggestions,
“you will do fine, Cadance. And just in case you need my advice, just use my vox I gave you. Luna and Antonius will be able to answer your call. Now, goodbye, and enjoy your time as the ruling princess of Equestria!”

They waved goodbye as the Land Speeder left the hangar and hovered down to the plains. Once there, Antonius accelerated and they rushed northwards.

“This is amazing!” Celestia shouted over the rush of the wind.

“Faster than your chariot, hm?” Luna shouted back.

“Yeah, but my chariot is less likely to explode.”

“The only thing to possibly explode is me if you badmouth human technology,” Antonius told her.

“Just kidding!” she answered.

“I know!” Antonius laughed.

About half an hour later, Celestia suddenly said:

“How about a little game of ‘I spy with my little eye’?”

“Seriously?” Antonius asked her.

“Come on, it will be fun! I spy with my little eye… something big, blue and a little grumpy!”

“That is too difficult,” Luna laughed,
“do you not think so, too, big, blue and a little grumpy Tony?”

Antonius sighed. He started getting an idea how the princesses’ ‘vacation’ would be like.

After a few hours - and some more ‘funny’ games - they arrived at their destination without Antonius going insane. It was early afternoon and they quickly found a suitable place to set up camp close to a mountain stream. There was a forest area nearby, too, as well as a grassy plain.

“Okay,” Celestia said as they left the Speeder,

“Antonius, Luna, take care of the tent. I will gather some firewood.”

She left and Antonius and Luna looked at each other.

“Guess we have our orders,” Antonius smirked.

“Yeah,” Luna grumbled,
“well, the tent is not going to set up itself, but I swear, if she continues doing this, I will do… something.”

“How about falling to our knees and praising her?” Antonius suggested sarcastically.

“Hmm… not bad for a start…” Luna thought aloud,
“Tony, just do what I do.”

Celestia returned with the firewood shortly after the tent was ready and continued commanding:

“Very well. Now, Antonius, get some water from the nearby stream. Luna, light the fire. I will unpack a few things.”

Antonius and Luna looked at each other again, then they fell down on their knees (Antonius didn’t count that, since it obviously wasn’t meant serious), bowed deep and Luna cried:

“We live to do thy bidding, oh mighty sunbutt!”

Antonius thought he had misheard. He nevertheless broke down laughing, while Celestia shouted:

“SUNBUTT???”

Now Luna jumped up and started running, her sister on her heels. They dashed across the plain, cackling like playing fillies. Celestia finally caught Luna and they rolled over the grass, still laughing like… fillies.

Now Antonius realized that this was probably their first vacation in a few millennia. The last thousand years, Luna had been banished. Before that - and after that, for that matter - they were both busy doing their duties as princesses. Damnit, it was really possible that this was their first vacation since they had been fillies.
Well, he should probably be lenient and let them play. He had to admit that it was pretty heartwarming and funny to watch them roll around, their manes flowing through the air… and wrapping around them? That did look a little unfortunate…

“Tony!” Luna finally shouted a few seconds after they had come to a halt,
“a little help!”

Antonius shook his head and walked over to them. They were tangled up in their own manes and tails.

“Are you doing this on purpose?” he asked with a grin.

“Less commenting, more helping.”

He picked up the pony bundle and brought them back to the campsite. After a few minutes of untangling and some confirmations how embarrassing the situation was, they were free again and took care of lunch.

“So, Antonius,” Celestia said when they were done,
“this is your mission. How shall we proceed?”

“At first, we have to find an entrance,” Antonius told her,
“I will examine the ground for possible entrances, you can fly over the area and look for other ways to get into the base.”

They did exactly that. Antonius was not lucky, though. On the ground level, there was no entrance to be found, just a few landslides. The one he and Luna had found earlier was big enough to obscure even a large door, but digging through the tons of rock would take a lot of time - even with the princesses’ magic - and probably cause more landslides. Doing so was his backup plan, but he preferred an easier route in.
It took them a few hours, but finally the princesses came back and Celestia told him:

“I have found a cave in, not too far away! There is a large room below it, and I don’t think it’s just a cave.”

“Very good,” Antonius grinned,
“this cave-in is worth a try. Can I reach it?”

“With some climbing. I think we better teleport there.”

“Okay. Ready to go?”

The princesses lit their horns and a second later, Antonius was standing next to the cave-in. He knelt down and inspected it. There was vegetation down there, as well as a few spots without any growth that showed the ground’s material.

“Looks like rockcrete,” Antonius stated,
“I think we found an entrance.”

“Huzzah!” Luna rejoiced.

“Great!” Celestia cheered,
“but may I suggest waiting for tomorrow before we enter the base? We should be well rested. There could be anything down there after such a long time.”

Antonius was eager to jump down and start exploring the base, but he knew Celestia was right. The princesses would not be very helpful if they mainly had to fight their fatigue, and he wanted them as a magical backup.

“Agreed,” he said,
“let’s teleport back to our camp.”

The princesses lit their horns again and brought them back to their camp.
After dinner, Celestia said:

“Well, Antonius, you have lived with us ponies for quite some time now. Tell me honestly, what do you think of us? Do you like it here?”

“You are certainly the kindest species I’ve ever met… Well, that doesn’t mean a lot on it’s own, but I can assure you that I’m actually enjoying my stay here, even if it’s not really voluntary.”

“You do?”

“Yes. It’s like a foretaste of the peaceful future my brothers and I want to achieve for mankind.”

“Isn’t persistent peace a little… boring for someone who is used to war?”

“I actually never had time to really get bored. There’s always something happening, and most of the time it’s something weird. I have quite a few examples from Ponyville alone:
One day, the owners of the bakery were running around town with their newborns. They stopped in front of me, regarded me for a few seconds, simultaneously said ‘no’ and continued running. I have no idea what that could have been about.
On another day, Pinkie Pie was leading some kind of parade through Ponyville, singing a song about smiling or something. A short time later, I heard her shout ‘this donkey is really, really bald!’. Again, pure weirdness.
No, it really doesn’t get boring around here.”

Celestia smiled and said:

“Yes, Ponyville is quite famous for the unusual things that happen there. I’m glad that you have settled in so well. Now, a few marshmallows, a nice campfire tale, and then we should go to bed to be well rested for tomorrow.”

“Excellent idea, sister,” Luna agreed,
“Tony, you surely have a story you could tell us.”

“I suppose you want a scary story?” Antonius asked.

“Not necessarily,” Celestia interjected,
“While I usually enjoy scary stories, I don’t know how scary your scary stories are, so please keep in mind that we need our sleep tonight.”

“Coward,” Luna grinned, then she continued:
“Okay, Tony, please nothing too scary.”

A non-scary story. From a Space Marine. Fat chance.

As Antonius pondered the princesses’ request, though, he remembered a story that would be fitting; in fact, it was one of his favorites:

“Okay, Luna, Tia, I think I know which story to tell you. The siege of Zalathras.”

“Siege?” Celestia asked,
“very gory?”

“You’ll barely find a 100% peaceful story in the Imperium, but this one is more about my chapter master, Marneus Augustus Calgar.”

“I think you already mentions him once. He is the reasonable guy, right?” Luna inquired.

“Indeed,” Antonius smiled,
“now listen:
On the edge of the Realm of Ultramar, there is a planet called ‘Zalidar’, its capitol is called ‘Zalathras’. It is a rural place, back then even more than it is nowadays.
Chapter master Calgar and his entourage were on their way there for a routine inspection when their Thunderhawk was shot down in an ambush by orks and crash landed far away from the city. Over the course of several days, they fought their way to the city, constantly attacked by the greenskins.
Once there, the small group of Ultramarines organized the defense of the city, maximizing the city’s output of weapons and ammunition and repelling wave after wave of enemies. It went on like that for weeks, and the ground beyond the city walls became plastered with dead orks and destroyed war machines. Unfortunately, the defending humans also suffered heavy losses and were low on just about everything when the ork warboss decided the time had come to attack the city himself.
So the creature ordered its troops to attack the city with everything they had to set the stage for it. More defenders fell in that brutal onslaught, until the main gate was guarded just by Calgar. He stood there and fought off the orks for one day and one night - all alone!
Then, the warboss finally showed its hideous face, and Calgar fought a duel with it. With his might and prowess, he killed the abomination and saved the city and the entire planet.”

The princesses stared at Antonius.

“What?” Celestia asked incredulously,
“he fought an entire army? Alone? For a whole day? And then he defeated its commander?”

“Yes,” Antonius answered.

“But… how? I mean, I know you Space Marines are tough, but this seems a bit… exaggerated.”

“Well, it’s the way the story is told. But I can assure you, Chapter Master Calgar’s prowess is legendary. I am in no position - and honestly also not very willing - to question it.”

“Well,” Luna opined,
“no matter if it is the whole truth, or a little… filigreed, it is still an awesome story of bravery, courage and honor. Thank you for sharing it with us.”

“You’re welcome, but now we should probably rest. Tomorrow will be a busy day.”

They extinguished the fire, then Luna cast her force field spell to protect the campsite and they entered the tent.

“Okay, Luna,” Celestia said,
“you packed our things, where did you put my bedroll?”

“Oh,” Luna answered,
“I just brought this family-sized bedroll for the three of us.”

“What?”

“The hold is quite limited. This bedroll takes up less space than three smaller ones. Furthermore, it can get quite cold around here, trust me. If we share a bedroll, it will be all snugly… I mean warm.”

Celestia glared at her and Antonius scratched his head.

“What about you two share the bedroll and I keep my armor on?” he suggested.

“You want to bereave us of our main heat source?” Luna asked reproachfully.

“Well… I’ll better go wash myself,” he mumbled and left the tent.

This night would obviously be a little different from what he had expected. Really, sharing a bedroll… well, Luna wasn’t wrong. It took up less space and the risk of hypothermia was greatly reduced. He just hoped the bedroll really was big enough for the three of them.
When he returned to the tent, both princesses were siting at opposing sides of it, ignoring one another.
Yay, this would be a fun night.

“Guess I’ll put on my pajamas,” he said and started taking off his armor.

“Okay,” Celestia replied,
“we’ll leave until you are ready.”

“Huh?” Luna asked,
“there is no real reason to do so. I mean, there is nothing we… Ow!”

Celestia had grabbed Luna’s ear with her magic and pulled her out of the tent.
Antonius suppressed a grin. He wasn’t sure if modesty in that regard was still necessary, since he had already been pretty armor-less around them. Damnit, Luna had been sitting on him when the damned Poison Joke had knocked him out! Well, Celestia obviously thought it was still appropriate, so he would take that as a guideline and adapt his behavior.

When he was ready, he called the princesses and they returned. Luna crawled into the bedroll, Celestia preferred a spot on the other side of the tent.

“Umm, what about avoiding hypothermia?” Antonius asked.

“You go and warm up my sister, I will be fine,” Celestia snapped and turned her back towards him.

“Yeah,” Luna retorted,
“that way, at least one of us will not freeze tonight!”

Oh, great. He was caught in the middle of some bickering-crossfire. He pondered if he could do anything, but was unable to come up with a suitable idea. So he just crawled into the bedroll, too, to the left of Luna. After some not entirely friendly ‘goodnight’s, it became silent in the tent.

Not for long, though. In the middle of the night, Celestia started stirring. She shivered and looked at the bedroll. After a second of hesitation, she crawled over and asked quietly:

“Antonius… umm… I have to admit that it is pretty cold now. Do you have a little space left for me?”

“I think so,” Antonius replied just as quietly,
“it just could get a little cramped. Luna is using up quite some space.”

Seriously, how could a creature so small in comparison use up that much space?

“It’ll be ok,” Celestia opined and tried to crawl backwards into the bedroll to Antonius’ left.

While doing so, she stepped on his shoulder.

“Do me a favor and get your hoof off my shoulder, it’s not a hoofboard,” Antonius hissed.

“Sorry, but it’s not easy getting into the bedroll.”

“Maybe we should wake up Luna so that she can make way.”

“No! I wouldn’t hear the end of it! We will let her sleep.”

“Then, may I suggest stretching out your hind-legs and pushing yourself in?”

“That way, I will drag my belly all over your side!”

“I don’t think there’s another way to get in. So swallow your pride and come in before you get a cold or my patience wears thin.”

So Celestia started shoving her body into the bedroll just as Antonius had suggested. He almost immediately realized that his plan wasn’t perfect, either, as he saw a sun approach his face. Perhaps the angle was a little unfortunate or whatever, but he soon experienced that the term ‘cheek to cheek’ did obviously not need to involve two faces.
When this awkward - but still fluffy - moment had passed, Celestia managed to push the rest of her body into the bedroll. Granted, she was lying half on Antonius, but she was inside.

“Now, goodnight, I guess,” she whispered with a small blush,
“can you sleep like that?”

“I’ll see,” Antonius mumbled.

“I am curious, too,” Luna suddenly said.

“LUNA!” Celestia shouted,
“how long have you been awake?”

“Long enough to be mightily amused,” Luna grinned as she turned to face them.

“Luna, you… well, since you are awake, move a bit so that I have a bit more space here.”

Luna did so - not without a grin - and soon the three of them had taken more comfortable positions. It still was a little cramped, though.

“I have an idea,” Luna told them,

“Tony, if you put your arms around us, the space conditions will certainly improve.”

“What?” Antonius and Celestia asked simultaneously.

“Of course, the arms will be out of the way,” Luna explained.

Yeah, whatever, that kind of made sense, so Antonius followed her advice.

“This is one of the things I won’t mention in my report,” he mumbled, having a princess in each arm, their heads on his shoulders,
“and now, goodnight.”

“Goodnight!” Luna and Celestia said and it became silent.

For a few minutes.

“Tony, are you awake?” Luna whispered.

That just couldn’t be true. He just wanted two well-rested alicorns for the expedition tomorrow, but they just wouldn’t sleep. Perhaps if he pretended to be sleeping?

“Asleep,” Luna mumbled.

Good.

“Hey, Cellie, are you awake?”

Damnit.

“Yeah, I am awake, Luna. What’s up?”

Double-damnit.

“You are not really mad with me, are you?” Luna asked.

Oh, of course, this was the perfect time to reconcile.

“Not really, Luna,” Celestia answered,
“it is a little embarrassing, but indeed nicely warm.”

“Yeah, he is nice, is he not?”

“And asleep, I hope.”

No, no one in this stupid tent was asleep!

“I think so,” Luna opined,
“he really is useful in many ways.”

Oh, thank you.

“Indeed,” Celestia snickered,
“although I don’t think he had this specific kind of usefulness in mind.”

“Probably not, but I guess he has done a lot of things lately he never had had in mind. Training us, for example. You have to admit that the training is very beneficial to us.”

“You are certainly right. We are better trained than ever before, and honestly…”

“Yeah?”

“I have noticed that, because of this training, my posterior is very well-toned now.”

WHAT?

“I have noticed the same about mine,” Luna snickered.

They really were talking about… okay, time to put an end to this!

“Yeah, yeah,” Antonius grumbled,
“in addition to being better able to fight Chaos, your butts also profit from an increase in attractiveness. Got that. Would you please finally start sleeping? There is still this base to explore, you know.”

Now, the princesses became silent and the resting began.
Finally. Antonius could stay awake for several days without suffering a decrease in performance, and while the princesses were remarkably resilient for ponies, they lacked this ability and needed their sleep. He would stay awake, though. How was he supposed to sleep with the two alicorns next to him, anyway?

As Antonius woke up the next morning, he realized that his plan to stay awake had failed - again.
Could he not stay awake when a pony was lying next to him? Seemed to be the case. Damnit. He hoped he was not beginning to loose his prowess because of the lack of fighting on this planet, but he knew he couldn’t do anything about it anyway. It was better to concentrate on the task at hand than to worry about actually harmless incidents.

It was still dark, so either the time for sunrise had not yet come or Celestia was still asleep. Or both.

Antonius felt a weight on his body. One of his bedfellows was obviously using him as an additional cushion. He took a look.
Luna was still lying at his side, it was Celestia who was lying across his body!
Should he wake her up? He had no idea what time it was, and with his hands full of princesses, he couldn’t reach for his data-slate to check. After so much trouble getting them to sleep, he would certainly not sabotage his success and wake them up prematurely.

He did not need to. Celestia stirred and nudged Luna with her hoof, waking her up.

“Morning,” Luna yawned, then she saw her sister lying on Antonius and started laughing.

“Glad you’re having such a good time,” Antonius deadpanned,
“but could you please take a look at my data-slate and tell me the time?”

“I do not need your slate to tell you: It is just a few minutes before sunrise, hence time to wake up my sister. Celestia, wake up!”

No reaction.

“Hey, sister, it is time to raise your sun!”

Celestia kept sleeping.
Of course. First, you barely got her to sleep, now, you couldn’t wake her up.

“Tony, perhaps you should try a more… physical approach,” Luna suggested.

“If you think that helps,” Antonius mumbled and nudged her back.

“Yeah, my mane is all natural, just a little magic,” Celestia mumbled and kept sleeping.

“Huh? That’s hardly the intended reaction,” Antonius opined.

“Try to slap her flank.”

“What?”

“Gently, of course. If that does not wake her up, we can still resort to less gently methods.”

“Well, okay, it’ll be on your head!” Antonius said and followed Luna’s advice.

Celestia snickered, but she slowly woke up.

“Oh, you are a… Antonius?”

“Yeah, I am an ‘Antonius’” Antonius told her flatly,
“though I think you could start calling me ‚Tony’ from now on, just like Luna. However, it would be very nice of you if you could raise all of your suns.”

Celestia raised her head.

“You are right,” she said,
“it is almost time, but tell me, how did you wake me up? I thought I felt…”

“Maybe it was just a dream,” Luna grinned,
“now you should really do your duty, sister.”

“Right!” Celestia agreed, slid off the Space Marine and crawled out of the bedroll, followed by Luna and Antonius.

Celestia raised the sun, Luna lowered the moon, and Antonius donned his armor. They got ready for the day and had breakfast, then they teleported to the cave-in they had found.

Luna was downright excited. Now, they would explore the ancient base of mankind! What kind of wonders they would find? What kind of discoveries they would make?

She looked at her sister, and Celestia seemed to be just as keen on this adventure as she was.

Antonius, on the other hoof, seemed to be rather calm as he took a look at his auspex. Of course, it was hard to guess his emotions through his helmet, but made a relaxed, but determined impression.

“Okay,” he said, looking down into the cave beneath the aperture,
“I could jump down, but we don’t know the condition of the ground. Perhaps it can’t sustain my weight. Could you lower me down with your magic?”

Luna and Celestia lit their horns and slowly lowered Antonius into the cave. He touched ground without problems. Then they watched as he inspected his surroundings, his bolter ready, and used the auspex again.

“All clear, and the ground is capable of sustaining my weight, too. You can come down, but please be careful,” he told them.

Luna jumped through the aperture, unfolded her wings and hovered down to the ground. Celestia followed.

“This is definitely not a natural cave,” she stated as she used a light spell and looked around.

“Indeed. I guess it’s some kind of abandoned storage depot,” Antonius said,
“now let’s find a way into the heart of this base. Luna, take the auspex.”

They slowly and carefully made their way towards a fairly big door. The ground and the walls were partly overgrown with lichens, and there were puddles of water everywhere. A few spiders and small reptiles were scurrying around, but nothing even remotely dangerous.

“This base is not in the best shape,” Luna mumbled.

“We’re probably talking about 15 millennia,” Antonius said,
“and we don’t even know if this base was ever build to last several millennia in the first place.”

The reached the door and Antonius examined it. It consisted of two parts which met in the middle and looked derelict, just like the rest of this depot.

Antonius removed a panel from the wall next to the door, revealing some sort of mechanism Luna could not identify. The only thing she recognized was a small lever. He grabbed this lever and started moving it repeatedly up and down. As he did so, the door slowly opened.

“Manual override, the emergency door opener,” he said,
“it’s a good thing that our technology is STC-based. A lot of similarities. Auspex?”

“The energy signature, but nothing new,” Luna reported.

They passed the door. Luna was using a light spell now, too, and looked for any kind of sign on the walls.

“Hey!” she shouted and ripped some lichen from the wall,

“with a little fantasy, this sign could say ‘STORAGE 15’! You were right, it is - or was - a depot.”

“Hmm. Interesting,” Antonius opined,
“we can read this. I wasn’t sure if they already used the Gothic language back then, but this seems to be similar enough. That means that - with a little fantasy, as you said - we should at least be able to read simple signs. Good.”

They walked along a wide and high hallway until they came to some stairs.

“Can you give me a heading?” Antonius asked.

“The energy signature is below us, towards the center of the mountain,” Luna answered.

Now they half walked, half climbed down the derelict stairs, using magic where necessary. The first level below their entry point was inaccessible, so they climbed another stair down. The next level was in a better condition and had another sign on a wall.

“‘ENTRANCE HALL’” Antonius read,
“let’s go there and hope they have some sort of map there.”

They followed the signs through more hallways. The amount of lichens and overall condition of the base varied, but this place was far from being inhabitable.
After a few minutes, they arrived at a great, partly collapsed hall. There was a desk with some equipment near the hallway they had come out of, and they walked over to it.

“A reception desk?” Celestia asked.

“Probably,” Antonius answered,
“this device on the desk seems to be a cogitator.”

He examined it carefully, then he stated:

“Defective. Try to find a map, or more signs.”

“There is one up here,” Celestia told them.

Antonius took a look at it and said:

“H-A-S… could you please remove the lichen?”

Celestia lit her horn and did so, and the whole sign became readable.

“HASTINGS BROTHERS
SCIENCE FACILITY ‘PHOENIX’
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT”

“Phoenix?” Celestia grinned,
“I’ve got to tell Philomena about that.”

“Intriguing,” Antonius opined,
“there is a Knight House Hastings on Rhoda Prime, near the western edge of the Realm of Ultramar. They claim to be able to trace their origins back to the time before the Age of Strife. Too bad we can’t ask them if they know anything about this base. Well, while this is certainly interesting, we still need a useful sign to tell us where to go next. Please keep looking.”

They searched the whole hall - as far as it was accessible - and fortunately found some more signs. Quarters, labs, assembly halls, and many more. Luna thought about the size of this base. It had probably been really big, with hundreds, if not thousands of humans living here. What did they do? How did they live?

As she pondered those questions, she came upon another sign. Like many others she had found, a lot of names were written on it, among them one Luna had no idea what it was.

“Tony, sister, please come here!” she called.

They were quickly at her side, and Luna said:

“Tony, do you know what the last name means? I have never come across this before.”

Antonius read it.
Then he did a double take.
Then he mumbled:

“Holy Terra! We have to follow this sign. Come, princesses. Let’s go!”

Even the distortion of his voice could not hide his excitement. He still moved carefully, but his determination seemed to have doubled. They had found something important, Luna just knew it, but what?

“Hey, sister,” she asked,
“do you what that is, a ‘STANDARD TEMPLATE CONSTRUCT SYSTEM’?”

Author's Notes:

After exploring the depths of my word processor's settings and preferences, I finally found a way to change the style of the quotation marks.
I hope it's better now.