*POV 1st person Nova*

We were all running along a relatively straight road, whilst we were doing so, we were also telling Dazaethuer about ourselves.

“What about her” he asked, nodding towards Nightmare, who was flying quite a distance above us to rest her legs

“That’s Nightmare Moon” I said “long story short, she tried to take over our country and now she’s serving alongside us before paying for her crimes”

“care to elaborate?” he asked.

...

*flashback*

Twilight stood in front of a defeated Nightmare Moon.

“We’ve finally defeated you, Nightmare Moon” Twilight said “and now, I’ll make sure you never threaten Equestria ever again” she then lifted up a hoof directly above Nightmare Moon’s head “prepare yourself, for the reckoning and the cleansing fires…” Nightmare Moons pupils shrank to pinpricks.

“Spare me please!” she begged.

“Of a…” Twilight then brought her hoof down and pressed it against Nightmare Moons nose “BOOPTISM!” she then began to chant “The power of Celestia compels you. The power of Celestia compels you. The power of Celestia compels you. The power of Celestia compels you” Nightmare Moon sighed.

“You do realise how ridiculous you sound right now, right?” she asked as Twilight continued to chant “as if this’ll do anyth...” a pop echoed out and in the place of Nightmare Moon now laid Luna.

“Well I’ll be” she muttered in amazement, as Twilight beamed.

*end flashback*

…

“THAT’S NOT HOW IT HAPPENED!” Nightmare shouted as I finished my version of the story.

“what’s her sentence?” Dazaethuer asked, everyone went silent and looked away from myself and my mother.

“she tried to bring eternal night on our world” my mother said “keep that in mind when I tell you that if she cannot convince the gods that she is reformed, then her sentence is execution” she then charged on up ahead.

“I take it I touched a nerve” Dazaethuer said.

“it is one of the topics that even we don’t talk about” I said “while she is guilty, she is genuinely remorseful for what she did, and I don’t want to lose any more family, not again”

“Again?” he asked.

“My Human father” I said, before taking off. I needed to rest my legs. I soon levelled off next o Nightmare “how are you doing, sister?”

“So you already consider me a sibling?”

“Have you met my family?” I asked “I have about seven separate families under the same house”

“But why get close to me when I’m doomed to be executed anyway?” she asked, making eye contact with me.

“Because if I’m going to stand by your side and make sure they don’t hurt you” I said “Like it or not, you’re my little sister, and I’m going to protect you, no matter what”

“Even if that means defying your fellow ‘gods’?” she asked.

“Yes” I said “Because you’re a part of my family, and a leader protects his own” Suddenly Dazaethuer shouted through his come link.

“MOVE, NOW!” acting on instinct I barged into Nightmare and pushed her out of the way, just as a massive black mass dived below us. We both began to fly as fast as we could, I looked down and stared in awe at the creature, it looked ever so vaguely like a bat with four wings, but its sheer size dwarfed even the largest dragon back home. It was climbing back up. “get moving, Nova, if it gets you there won’t be anything left of you”

“We have wings, not jets” I said, before banking quickly to avoid its massive jaws “I can accelerate rapidly on take-off, but once I’m in the air, that’s a different matter entirely, besides, I am not leaving my sister behind” I then turned to Nightmare “I need you to fly as fast as you can, I have an idea”

“Whatever you two have planned, you better do it quick” Dazaethuer said “the capital is just around mountain”

“I hear you” I said, we both began to put all the spare energy we had been reserving for the final stretch into flying as fast as we could. We banked around one of the massive mountains and a city that put Canterlot to shame came into view. This was where my plan came into effect. I suddenly angled my wings, banking and pulling up into a stall before turning to one side until I was facing the side bat-like creature as it flew past me, I then began to unleash a volley of offensive magic along the side of the beast until I was directly behind it. I then charged up all my magic before unleashing it in one blast. The beast went limp before tumbling to the ground far below. Leaving a small crater in a large field

“Nice one, Nova!” Autumn called.

“Yeah, just like you thought me” I said, banking around to meet back up with them, Nightmare followed suit “I also added my own personal touch to it” Dazaethuer chuckled.

“Our fighter pilots could sure learn a thing or two from you” he said

“We can do that after I’ve spoken to your king” I said.

“I wouldn’t speak too soon” he replied, suddenly I heard the unmistakable buzzing of a prop-driven aircraft and a large aircraft, almost like a WW2 era fighter plane, but totally alien in design, flew next to us. The pilot’s jaw was hanging wide open at the sight of us and I nodded and waved a hoof before descending towards the ground.

*POV 3rd person*

Sombra was walking through the forest alongside a flowing stream.

“Sombra” a baritone voice called, he looked around in confusion.

“Who’s there?” he called, he looked into the stream and saw a shadowy cloud with piercing green eyes that seeped purple smoke staring back

“How long do you think you can keep me at bay, Sombra?” it asked “a week, a month, a year?”

“I have no need for you any longer” Sombra said, continuing to walk along the river.

“Oh, don’t make me laugh” the shadow replied “without me, you would be nothing but dust, Sombra, or did you forget it was I who you made a pact with when you enslaved those crystal ponies” Sombra felt his vision distorting.

“Get out of my head” he hissed.

“Just think, Sombra” the shadow said, leaping out of the river “That bastard prince and his pathetic mother are hundreds of miles away by now, the ship is leaderless. It would be oh so easy to take it for yourself, you could be the ruler of an entire planet, and then? Well, who knows, how about a little…galactic conquest to break up the day?”

“Enough! Diabolus!” Sombra shouted “I am done with you, there are more important things than our own personal gain”

“Very well” Diabolus said, chuckling “You can have your pathetic little war, but I will be hanging over your shoulder always, Smokey Quartz, and just when you think you are safe, I will worm into your cold, black heart and rip it out of your chest, your soul. Is. MINE!” Diabolus then dissipated and Sombra was left standing there in shock.

…

On a ridge, high above the stream where Sombra was, stood two grey skinned Reptaurs, they had a much more primal look to them, and were astride large, 8-legged canines of some sort. One turned to the other.

“Gonera nazar tor nashar Funhurha” he said, before they both turned and charged away from the ridge.

*POV 1st person Nova*

We entered the gates of the grand mountainside city and I opened my saddlebag, letting Osiris slither out. Minion did the same with his saddlebag and a massive dog with a great big black and tan woolly coat leapt out, this huge dog was a Tibetan Mastiff, and it stood as tall as any ordinary pony. The city seemed to be carved out of the mountain itself and comprised of stone grey buildings, all of the citizens were similar to Dazaethuer in appearance, except the adults were tall, about 15 foot for some of the older individuals, they were all staring at us, wide eyed.

“How long do your kind live for?” I asked Dazaethuer.

“about 3000 years” he said, shrugging. We all gaped in astonishment “your kind don’t live that long?”

“Between 70 and 150 for ordinary ponies like my honour guard” I said “but Alicorns like myself are immortal” suddenly a tall Reptaur (yes, that is their actual species name, or rather, the English translation) in metal armour and wielding a rifle galloped up to us.

“Sien zere, hawaf!” he called. He regarded us with curiosity, before focussing on Dazaethuer, who took off his headset.

“Hie zere, Kreechafskopeton Hiegera” Dazaethuer said nervously “Ick bein nazar” the other Reptaur shook his head.

“Knochte deeze Zeete” he said “Sien sinden pate tor dan Alairkung” he then stepped turned to us “Wailtche est vask unteermahe heire? Fram vask skrade sien sinden krigouren” I tossed a headset over to him and he caught it before looking at it in confusion. I rolled my eyes before gesturing to the one I had on and he reluctantly put his on.

“I don’t speak your language” I said “this is the only way we can communicate with any efficiency”

“Very well, speak quickly” he said.

“We come from a far off land and we wish to speak with your High King” the Reptaur scoffed.

“My kind has travelled all four corners of the world and no one has ever seen anyone like you” he said.

“Okay then” I said, dead panning “We’re aliens…from space” he held a straight face for about half a second before bursting out laughing. I rolled my eyes before summoning a great column of fire above me and manipulating it into a collection of memories of my journeys: The Equestrian Princesses, the Griffins, The Covenant and the Spherus Magnans. I dispelled the flames and began to advance upon the centurion.

“We have been running through the snow for 7 days to speak to your king because we decided to respect your customs, we could have simply flown here on my 1000ft long spaceship but we didn’t, so I would at least expect you to let us talk with your high king” he simply nodded dumbly and looked at us all, wide-eyed.

*POV 3rd person*

The two scouts were on a decaying hilltop outpost, filled with a large number of Stadhoutes and their riders, looking out over the landscape was a very large pure white Reptaur.

“[Leader]” one of them said. His voice filled with fear “[whilst out of patrol we discovered creatures…beings from beyond this planet]” their leader held up one of his hands to silence him before turning to face the scouts, he had blood red eyes and the entire left side of his jaw and part of his face as covered in metal plate. He began to walk towards the scout, stopping to absent mindedly scratch the ear of his own Stadhoute.

“[You are quick with your report as always]” the leader said, walking towards the scout. Suddenly a metal, bipedal being with four arms stepped out from the shadows: Taag ‘Ngreeda “[but you are still…too late]” he then gave a roar before picking up the scout by the neck and flinging him into a pit, where he was quickly set upon by several Stadhoutes who made short work of his body.

“[You have no tolerance for failure, Gathgulra]” Taag noted “[I have a feeling our alliance will be a strong one]”

“[Just promise me you can provide my army with your technology]” Gathgulra said.

“[That can be easily done]” Taag responded, as his new battle steed, a large, armoured Stadhoute, plodded over and he climbed onto its back “[I am a Sangheili of my word, just promise me you can provide me with the troops]”

*POV 1st person Nova*

After being escorted by Captain Hiegera to the palace of the high king, we were told to wait outside the throne room. The captain turned to us.

“You are royalty, correct?” he asked, addressing myself and Autumn, and to a lesser degree Glück and Depth Charge. The four of us nodded “It is customary for Royalty like you to not bow, doing so would be like saying you are lesser than our high king”

“Thank you for the advice” I said, before passing another headset “if negotiations go successfully, you can expect traders to start arriving in the near future” he nodded before opening the door to the throne room and stepping inside before shutting it behind him. I suddenly rounded on Dazaethuer.

“Care to explain why the soldier wasn’t too happy to see you?” I asked.

“I may or may not have knocked over a statue of the high king” he admitted “and I may or may not have gotten banished for it”

“Fucking great” I muttered, as the door to the throne room once again opened and Captain Hiegera walked out.

“The king will see you now” he said, as the doors began to open, revealing the throne room inside. Next Chapter: Chapter 11 Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 28 Minutes