Rarity had been busy preparing the library for the princesses' visit the whole morning, with Fluttershy's help, of course. There was not a single dust grain to be seen anywhere; everything was in pristine condition. She could almost see her - beautiful - reflection on the floor! Yes, everything in here was just perfect!

Suddenly, she saw a flash and heard the sound of displaced air.
Now, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Zecora were standing in front of her, together with the confused looking Antonius. They were all stained with... was that blood? Twilight was almost completely red.

"Wow, that was exhausting; the greatest distance and mass I've ever teleported!" she exclaimed.

Rarity noticed the angry glance Antonius casted at Twilight. A second later, he was standing in front of her, put his hands under her forelegs and brought her up to eye level.

"Now listen to me very carefully," he said with barely hidden anger in his voice,
"you will NEVER use your magic on me again without my permission. Never. Ever.
Understood?"

"Oh, right, you don't like magic," Twilight said, smiling sheepishly,
"I forgot that for a second. Err... sorry?"

"Just do NOT do it again."

Antonius put Twilight down, but he did not exactly look happy.

Nopony seemed to be injured, that was the most important thing, but what had happened? Why did Twilight teleport them back? Why were they stained with blood?
AND WHY DID THEY HAVE TO STAIN THE FLOOR???

"Aaaahh! Look what you are doing to the floor! Into the bathroom, you four! Now! I'll clean up this mess!"

To Antonius, it would forever remain a mystery how Rarity had managed to cram three ponies and him into that bathroom. Twilight had been right, it was pretty small, but it was big enough for the four of them to get clean again. When they had managed to get out again, they were expected by Rarity and the rest of Twilight's friends.

"So, now that you are not dirtying up everything anymore, tell us what in Equestria has happened to you," she said.

"Antonius saved Twilight's life!" shouted Rainbow Dash,
"I'd call it awesome hadn't it been that messy - oh darn it, I call it awesome nonetheless!"

"Saved your life?" Applejack exclaimed, turning to Twilight,
"Sugarcube, tell us what happened!"

Twilight told them the whole story - without the gory details.
Unfortunately, that triggered another group hug, again with Antonius in its center.

These ponies were not only keen on befriending everything, they were also crazy about hugs.

When Antonius was free again, Rainbow asked him:
"Hey, Antonius, you said you don't like magic, but didn't you use some magic to save Twilight? Or what was that beam of fire that... you know what it did."

"I did certainly NOT use magic, Rainbow. This beam of fire you saw was just the trail of a bolt."

"Bolt? I've seen bolts before but that was totally different."

"I don't think you have seen the type of bolts I use."

Having said this, Antonius released the magazine from his bolter and extracted a single bolt from it.
He showed it to the ponies.

"This is the type of bolt I was talking about."

"Is this a small diamond at its tip?" Rarity asked, her head popping up next to Antonius' hand.

"No, the material is called 'Diamantine'. It shares some physical properties with diamonds, though."

Rainbow eyed it carefully.

"Hmm. Does not look very spectacular," she opined.

"But we have seen what it can do," Twilight interrupted,
"what exactly is it and how does it work?"

"It is a self-propelled, gyro-stabilized, armor-piercing, mass-reactive explosive projectile. It is designed to enter the target and detonate there," Antonius explained.

"Yes, that is definitely what happened to the manticore," Twilight said quietly.

"T-That i-is... H-how can you be so cruel?" panted Fluttershy.

A bolt was too cruel in her opinion? Was there anything the ponies did not think to be cruel?

"Cruel?" he asked, an eyebrow raised,
"you may think that to be cruel, but it is something else: effective.
You have no idea what creatures we have to fight on a daily basis, Fluttershy. We have to use the best weapons available to prevent mankind from being overrun by forces you would not even dare to imagine!
If that means using methods you find cruel, we can't help it."

The following silence lasted a few seconds. The ponies were a bit intimidated and Fluttershy hid behind Applejack.

Friendly creatures from a peaceful world. They were not used to the truth about the universe. It was hardly their fault, though.
He was the first person not from this planet they had ever met, they had no way of knowing what was really going on between the stars.
Time to defuse the situation. Before Antonius could say anything, however, the silence was broken by Twilight:

"I get the impression that the universe is much scarier and much more dangerous than we thought it to be. I can't wait until the princesses are here, so that you can tell us more about it."

"I get the impression that you will not like what you will hear."

"Shading the truth won't make it better."

"That is indeed true, Twilight."

Now, Antonius turned to Fluttershy:

"And you can come out of your hiding spot. I already told you that you do not need to fear me."

Fluttershy's head appeared behind Applejack's, almost hidden by her mane.

"You are not mad at me?"

"No, I'm not. I just wanted to tell you that we are not cruel because we like it so much. It is simply necessary."

He smiled at her.

"You can't comprehend that, can you?"

"Umm... not really."

"Perhaps you will understand once you know the history of mankind and our current situation."

"Yes, that will be a very interesting conversation," Twilight said,
"By the way, might I keep this 'bolt'? I would like to examine it."

What? An alien, studying human technology? No. Nonono.
Time for another diplomatic answer:

"I have to refuse your request, Twilight. A bolt is way too dangerous."

He put the bolt back into the magazine and reloaded the bolter.

"Hmm... Okay, you're probably right," said Twilight.
"Okay, everypony, what about the preparations? Is everything ready?" she continued.

"Sure is, Twilight!" assured Applejack and pointed at the central table which was loaded with food, mainly cakes.
How the ponies could stand that amount of sweets was incomprehensible. Were they immune to sugar?

"And I have a special something for you, Antonius!" shouted Pinkie Pie,
"but that is a surprise for later!"

Oh. Uh-oh. What in the world could that be? Antonius was not sure if he wanted to find out.

"The telescope is ready, too!" exclaimed Spike, holding up said telescope.

"As you can clearly see, the library is in pristine condition - again," said Rarity, proud of her work.

Twilight was relieved.

"Very good, then, everything is done. The princesses will arrive in about two hours, so I can update my checklist and then work it off!"

"Or, you could relax," suggested Rarity,
"all of us could use a little relaxation now, especially you. I recommend going to the spa for an hour."

After a quick discussion, they agreed on visiting - respectively persuaded Twilight to visit - the spa, but not before she had written another letter to the princesses about their excursion.

Now, Rarity stepped up to Antonius. He was immediately alarmed.

"Well, Antonius, you really had a stressful day today."

"Not really."

"Oh, come on! An excursion into the Everfree, saving Twilight's life, getting stained with blood, that is definitely a stressful day.
How about a relaxing bath? Then you can talk to the princesses dew-fresh, clean and tidy."

A 'relaxing bath'? What the hell?

"That is not necessary. I don't need to relax, and because of my Mucranoid, I'm more or less self-cleaning.
Or is this your way of telling me that you think I'm smelly?"

"Err... no. Oh goodness, no! I just thought it might be a good idea to make the best possible impression on Princess Celestia."

A really nice excuse. Antonius would not fall for that, however. This mare just wanted to know how he looked like under his armor. Curious creature. He would not do her that favor.
A Space Marine without his armor was indeed still a Space Marine, but much more vulnerable. Antonius did not expect any attacks, though. He doubted that the ponies could get dangerous to him, but better safe than sorry.
Yet again, a diplomatic approach would be the best, and he already had an idea how to turn her down without simply having to say 'no':

"Well, Rarity, a bath surely is not a bad idea, but I don't think you have a tub big enough for me, so I have no other choice than to turn your offer down."

That should end this topic. Antonius was content. A rather brilliant solution.

"Would you take a bath if we had a suitable tub?"

Damned, that mare did not give up easily. He could continue, however; the ponies were just a third of his size, there was no chance they had a fitting tub.

"Of course I would."

"Promise?"

Huh? She surely was stubborn, wasn't she?

"Promise."

So, now this discussion should definitely be at an end.

But why was Rarity smiling?
And were some of the other ponies snickering?
And why did he have that feeling of certain doom?

"Would you please follow me?" she asked.

WHAT?

A few minutes later, the whole group was standing inside the Ponyville spa and Antonius knew his idea had been anything but brilliant.
In front of him was a giant tub, a pool for ponies.
Crap. It would fit him. That damned thing would fit him! Why did he not think of the possibility that they had pools?

"This should be big enough for you, don't you think?" asked Rarity with an extra-sweet smile.

"Yeah, it's big enough."

"Will you keep your word?" she wanted to know,
"I can assure you, you will feel better after the bath."

Yeah, yeah. Certainly.

"I am an Ultramarine. I always keep my word."

"Splendid! I will talk to Lotus and Aloe and get everything ready."

Rarity left. The others had already vanished into other areas of the spa.

Antonius wanted to kick himself. Of course, he did not mind the bath itself, that was just unnecessary luxury, but he was angry at something else:
He has been outsmarted by a pony. By a pathetic, little alien.
For the first time since he was on this planet, he was actually happy that he was the only Space Marine here. What a disgrace.
At least, he had learned a valuable lesson:
Diplomatic approaches were really not his strength. Furthermore, he had based his actions on mere assumptions. That was usually a lethal mistake, but here, it luckily had no real negative consequences.

While he was simmering, he watched two ponies preparing the bath and a giant screen, throwing nervous glances at him.
The bath would be ready soon.
Was there any advice in the Codex Astartes what to do in such situations?
None that he knew of.
So he would just try to handle this situation as one would expect from a noble Ultramarine: With due modesty - and as much dignity as possible.

"I hope you are not angry at Rarity," said Twilight, standing at his side again.

"No," he answered curtly.

"Just take it easy. You are among friends here."

Great. Even more 'friend'-ing.

The two ponies were now busy carrying towels and bath-towels behind the screen.

Twilight continued:

"You really deserve a little relaxation. You'll see, it's very enjoyable. Just see it as reward for saving my life."

"Hmm."

They really saw relaxation as a reward. To Antonius, it was a time of being useless.
Well, he was useless here anyway, so it did not really matter.

Perhaps he should see this whole situation with a bit of humor? It had worked last night when he had talked to Luna.
Perhaps that was a practicable way of not going nuts while he had to stay with the ponies.

At this moment, Rarity came back, still smiling.

"Well, Antonius, everything is ready. Be our guest!"

The Space Marine walked towards the tub and suddenly drew his chainsword.
He could hear the ponies gasp, then he just leaned the sword against the tub and vanished behind the screen.

"You know, for a moment I thought he would destroy the pool," said Rarity.

"You were not the only one," answered Twilight.

"Any idea why he did that?"

"Either he wants to keep his sword within reach, or he wanted to play a little prank on us. Perhaps both."

"Well, that's a good sign, don't you think?"

"Probably."

Their conversation was interrupted by strange metallic and other indefinable noises.

"Can we help you in any way?" Rarity shouted in Antonius' direction.

"NO," came back as an answer.

Twilight looked at Rarity, shocked:

"Rarity, I know you are curious, but please hold back a bit. I don't think he takes your enthusiasm very well."

"Come on, darling, are you not curious?"

"Of course I am, but I also remember what he told Fluttershy."

"What do you mean?"

"'As long as you respect me, you have no reason to fear me.' That's what I mean.
Can you imagine what would happen if he started thinking we disrespect him?"

"Oh... manticore?"

"Possibly."

"Oh."

There was a short silence after that. Rarity had never even thought that Antonius could hold all of this against her.
She turned to Twilight again:

"I'm sorry, Twilight, I was just so curious how he really looked like."

She saw Twilight's eyes widen as she stared forward and muttered:

"Then you should turn your head and take a look now."

Rarity's head spun around, and her jaw almost dropped to the ground. Antonius was standing there next to the screen, without his armor, just with a bath-towel around his hip.
Even without his armor, he still was a giant. He was a mountain of muscles that made even Bulk Biceps look puny in comparison.
Rarity had never been a fan of muscular types, but she had to admit, it fitted him somehow.
He did not have any fur on his body, just plain skin, just like his face. There also were more scars all over his body, as well as small dark holes on multiple spots.

"Err... sorry, Antonius, but what are these dark holes you have? Scars?" she asked.

"No," Antonius answered,
"these are the interface-ports for my armor."

"Come again?"

"The ports are used to connect my armor to my nervous system. That's how I control it and how I get its feedback.
The armor becomes an extension of the body that way."

The ponies looked at each other, completely at a loss for words. They already knew that Antonius had some sort of implants, but the extend of these implants was quite unsettling; connecting armor to your nervous system was not exactly a very nice idea.

When they looked back at Antonius, he was already in the tub, only his head and shoulders visible and had immediately started washing himself, muttering something about soap with the scent of roses not being part of their arrangement.

They went to the spa's loungers and laid down to get their treatments. A few minutes later, Antonius had finished and turned to Rarity and Twilight:

"So, I kept my word and took a bath."

He reached for a bath-towel.

"Not so hasty," Rarity told him,
"washing yourself is only half the battle... well, you know what I mean.
To really keep your promise, you've got to lean back and relax."

"Really?"

"Certainly."

"If you insist..."

"Oh, of course I do!"

Antonius really leaned back and put his elbows on the platform around the pool.

"Okay, I'm 'relaxing'. Content?"

"I will be if you keep relaxing for at least half an hour."

At this moment, Zecora came in again and greeted Antonius:

"Ah, it's good to see you relax after the battle,
this way, not only dirt, also anger will settle."

"Hmm."

He did not sound too convinced.

One after another, the ponies - and Spike - returned to the area with the loungers and the tub to get their treatments, the only one still missing was Pinkie Pie.

Between two of her treatments, Rarity walked towards the screen and turned to Antonius:

"Now that I think of it, you simply can't get back into that armor of yours before it has been thoroughly cleaned.
I could do that for you, if you want to."

He crossed the pool and grabbed its rim, next to Rarity.

"No, I do NOT want you to clean my armor.
Do NOT touch it.
Do NOT use your magic on it.
I will take care of it myself."

Rarity was a bit bewildered now, she had just wanted to help, after all.

"Antonius, I can assure you that I..."

She had to break off in mid-sentence. What she saw was more than just alarming. The other ponies saw it, too, and she could hear some gasps.
In the pool behind Antonius was Pinkie Pie!
How would he react to that? He would certainly not take it well.
He quickly noticed that something was behind him and turned around.

"What the hell?" he asked,
"what are you doing in the tub? How did you even get into it? There was neither a sound, nor could I feel a wave of displaced water!"

"I'm just taking a bath," Pinkie answered,
"the tub is big enough for that!"

Rarity almost had a heart attack. Pinkie had never been a fan of personal space, but now she was definitely overdoing things.
Rarity rushed onto the platform. Her horn lit up and she pulled Pinkie out of the tub.

"Pinkie," she said through clenched teeth,
"you should know better than to hop into..."

Unfortunately, Rarity lost balance on the slippery ground and fell face first into the tub, while Pinkie was sitting on the platform now.

"Hey," Pinkie shouted,
"why are you allowed to take a bath and I am not?"

Rarity did not hear that, however. She was completely submerged, water was in her mouth, nose and even in her ears. Her eyes burned and she had to close them.
She was slightly panicking, then she felt that something - or someone - grabbed her under her forelegs and quickly pulled her out of the water.

She spat and coughed violently. When she opened her eyes again, she saw Antonius, holding her at eye level, looking at her with a raised eyebrow but an otherwise deadpan expression.

"You know," he said,
"I think I should charge entrance fees for this tub."

What? Had she just misheard?
When the other ponies started laughing, she knew that she had not.
That was a great relief. Antonius was obviously not too much offended by this incident.

He sat her down on the platform and asked:

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, thank you for helping me, darling."

She cringed a bit as she realized what she had said.

"Would you please cease calling me 'darling'? At any rate until I'm back in my armor?"

Rarity blushed and stammered:

"Oh... sorry... I didn't mean to..."

"Don't worry about that. But I really think I have relaxed enough by now."

He grabbed his bath-towel, flung it around his hip and left the pool to vanish behind the screen.

Antonius used one of the provided towels to clean his armor and thought about his hosts.
He still had no idea how the pink menace had managed to get into the tub without him noticing.
Then, he got 'visited' by Rarity.
Well, it certainly didn't get boring around those ponies.

Furthermore, his assumption had proven to be correct: A bit of humor made his stay here more bearable.
It was a digression from the usual serious behavior of his chapter, but an acceptable one, especially as it had another perk: It created a relaxed atmosphere that would probably make the ponies more talkative. He was here to gather information, after all.

It took him a few minutes to get back into his armor. Once he was done and his armor's cogitator had told him that all systems were operational, he stepped out of the screen's cover and into the spa, where he immediately recovered his chainsword.

The ponies were about to finish their treatments and Rarity greeted him with a smile:

"Hello Antonius! Have I been right? Do you feel better now?"

"I did not feel bad in the first place, but a bath certainly has its perks."

"Of course it has! You could do this regularly, if you wish!"

Now the spa ponies approached him and said:

"Well, if you want to come here again, you are always welcome, but please make an appointment the next time, so that we can reserve the spa for you.
It was pure luck this time that you were the only customers."

Now, that was interesting:
First, these two mares had been afraid to him, now, they invited him to come again.
They were like Moonlight: quickly to adapt to new situations and lose their fear.

Finally, Antonius, Zecora, Spike and the ponies said farewell and left the spa. Zecora said goodbye and headed home, the others went back to the library.
The princesses were about to come, after all.