*POV 1st Person Nova*

My vision was filled with the purest of white light and I felt extremely disorientated, I felt like I was falling, but at the same time unable to move. I began to panic.

“Calm yourself, Nova” I heard my Mother say, the light faded until I could see clearly again, I was stood with my Mom in an endless void, akin to standing in the middle of a nebula, with stars twinkling all around.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“This is a place know to us gods as the Nether-realm” She said.

“I thought Nether was associated with places of punishment like Hell” I said in confusion.

“And you would be correct” she said “But that is merely a small part of the whole of Nether-realm; like a single star in the entire universe. The Nether-realm is the spiritual dimension, just as the Multiverse is one of many physical dimensions. It is a place where higher beings like gods can communicate without traveling. It is also where Luna watches over the dreams of her ponies. Here, you are never truly far from other gods”

“Why have you brought me here?” I asked.

“Partly to introduce you to this realm, as a way of beginning your training” she said.

“of…?” I asked, motioning for her to continue.

“What role do you think you would play as a god, Nova?” My Mother asked.

“I don’t know, I never really considered” I admitted.

“As a god, it will be your duty to keep balance to your warrior element, and to ensure vast conflicts like the current one is never won by evil” she explained.

“So, I’m a god of fire and war” I said.

“If you want to think of it like that, yes” My mother said, nodding “Now we need to commune with the other gods, to see if they will assist us in our cause”

“Good luck with that” I said, I might be new to this, but even I knew that you couldn’t rely on a lot of gods these days. My Mother sent out a beacon with her horn and one by one, countless different gods and dieties began to appear, from all manner of religions: Pagan, Wiccan, Norse, Muslim, Christian, Equestrian, you name the religion, they were there, even gods and higher beings that didn’t fall under any religion, speaking of which.

“Well, I must say I am impressed” said a humanoid being with Purple skin “such a tiny, insignificant mortal such as you becoming a god, why, that must make you one of the most powerful fictional characters of all time, I’m actually rather proud”

“Save it, Hades” My Mother snapped “Fellow beings, I have summoned you all here for a matter which I’m sure you are all aware of”

“Ah, yes” The reaper said “’The War’, I have been worked to the bone recently ferrying countless souls to the afterlife, no thanks to your son, here”

“Would you rather I did nothing and just stand back as entire worlds burn‽” I exclaimed in protest “I may be new to this, but there are armies out there, if the Conquest alliance were to succeed, not even you gods would be safe. Or did you forget that Lucifer’s Dæmons are already rallied to their side?” every god with a physical form turned towards the aforementioned fallen angel, who was stood off to one side, surrounded by a ring of hellfire. His form resembled an angel with black wings.

“Don’t bring me into this, whelp” he said “I have my reasons, and if you try to stop me I will make eternal damnation seems like a life of luxury”

“Don’t you dare threaten my son” My Mother said, stepping forward.

“I can do what I want” Lucifer said, smirking “And you can’t do anything to stop me, either”

“They might not” Hades said “but I can”

“You are playing a dangerous game” Lucifer said.

“Please” Hades said, rolling his eyes “don’t talk to me about playing dangerous games” once they had stopped bickering we got down to business, which involved asking which gods were on which side. Surprisingly, Hades sided with us, most; if not all of the Equestrian, gods also sided with us, and for the rest it was hit and miss. Eventually there was but one entity left, a pitch-black Alicorn with a smoke-like mane and tail.

“Nightmare?” my mother asked. What most, if not all people didn’t know was that Nightmare moon was a separate entity to Luna, and actually her twin, though Luna was practically estranged from the Dark Alicorn. Lucifer looked at the Alicorn expectantly. All was quiet for some time, for how long, I was not sure, but eventually the Alicorn sighed and hung her head.

“I can’t possible expect you to forgive me for what I have done” she said “But I am asking you to, and I beg of you to give me a second chance, so that I may redeem myself”

“You do know that afterwards you will still have to pay for your crimes?” our Mother asked.

“I accepted my fate long ago” Nightmare Moon said “It was merely a matter of time” with that, the meeting was concluded and one by one all the gods began to disappear, until Myself, my Mother and Nightmare Moon were left.

“Shall we?” Mother asked, myself and Nightmare Moon nodded and our mother’s horn began to glow, before teleporting us out of the Nether-realm and back into existence in Canterlot Palace. Before I had even opened my eyes I heard a commotion right next to me, I turned to see Nightmare pinned to the floor by Rainbow Dash and Applejack.

“We’ve got you this time, Nightmare Moon!” Rainbow snarled at Nightmare, who now looked a lot younger, comparable to Luna when she was younger, she also looked terrified.

“Rainbow, Applejack!” I shouted “Please get off of my sister”

“But it’s Nightmare Moon, she’s here to bring eternal night”

“Have learned nothing from the past year few years‽” I exclaimed “What about the Brotherhood? Or Discord, or even Sombra and Tirek‽”

“It’s still Nightmare Moon!” Rainbow shot back.

“All I see is two fully grown mares about to attack a scared and defenceless filly” I said, struggling to control my temper, which was nearby at the best of times “Now get away from my sister before a make you” their ears pinned back and they quickly stepped away, and I walked over to Nightmare.

“What has happened to me?” she asked, her voice much younger sounding “I am a mere child”

“I can answer that?” my Mother said “I had no other option but to physically and mentally regress you back to your teen years”

“Why?” Nightmare asked.

“There is no other way that the gods would allow you to walk free” my Mother said.

Hang on” Twilight said “how can Nightmare Moon exist separate from Luna, I fought she was a part of Luna”

“Nightmare is Luna’s twin sister” my Mother explained “people think that Luna became Nightmare Moon when Luna was actually imprisoned by Nightmare Moon shortly before she attempted to bring eternal night”

“They why did the elements send her to the moon and not bring Luna back?” Rainbow asked.

“Because the spell I used to imprison Luna was too strong for the Elements to break” Nightmare said, standing up unsteadily “Celestia had to wait 1000 years for the spell to weaken, only then could the Elements of Harmony release Luna and imprison me in her place” suddenly the tone of the throne room was shattered by my comlink activating.

“Nova” Minion said, it sounded like he was trying not to laugh “you better get your arse over to the Defiance as soon as possible, you aren’t going to believe this”

…

“Alright” I said “let me get this straight, you are a race of sapient, semi-indestructible tanks that exist for no other reason than to fight each other, and you want to join us on our quest?” in front of me was hundreds, maybe even a couple thousand human tanks from the WW2 era, from many different countries.

“Jawohl, mein Führer” a MK-IV Panzer called, it’s headlights flashing.

“Don’t call me that” I said, glaring at the Nazi-built war machine. The tank actually seemed to shrink under my glare, if that was possible.

“I say we let them come” Minion said quietly “you know as well as I do that they can be a big help”

“They are sapient tanks” I deadpanned.

“Exactly, they are self contained, self propelled, smart tanks that we can send into situations where no living creature can safely go” he said, listing off on his fingers.

“Alright, but only for you” I conceded, before turning back to the tanks “Very well, machines, you may aid us in our quest, but I have two conditions; first off, all of you are to remain in the hangar unto needed. Second, send a scout back to your world, the rest of your armoured brethren are to aid the Terran Union Army in the fight, and will be repainted and marked as such, along with the rest of you. From now on, you follow my orders” all of the tanks voiced their affirmations, which was odd, to say the least. I turned to Minion.

“If you don’t mind, I’m going to spend hat little time I have left on this Planet with the princesses” and with that I turned and began walking back to the palace, turning into my Alicorn form without breaking stride.

*POV 3rd person*

A few hours later all of the tanks were safely stowed in the colossal hangar of the ship, which was now practically full. Minion was going over the many different tanks, there was that many tanks that he wouldn’t have time to see them all on foot, so he’d enlisted the help of a Hetzer; a small, german tank destroyer, they were small, fast and light on their feet, and they had a mean gun to boot. He was currently sat on the rim of the commander’s hatch, they were looking through the heavy tanks

“How do you tanks see?” Minion asked “And how many of you are there?”

“Du know radar?” the tank asked, Minion nodded “sort of like an advanced version of that, in colour, ve can see all around. Und as for numbars, zere are about…wie sagt man?…five billion tanks” Minion’s eyes went wide.

“That many‽” Minion asked in surprise.

“Jawohl!” the tank said, they rounded a corner and Minion found their path blocked by the mother of all tanks.

“Jesus fucking Christ‽” he exclaimed.

“She’s quite an impressive tank, nien?” the Hetzer asked.

“That’s a she?” Minion asked “what even is she?”

“A Panzer sieben” the Hetzer said.

“In ‘Englisch’, please?” Minion asked. The Hetzer made a sound approximating a scoff

“You know it as a ‘Maus’” he said.

“Well, I do believe that covers the heavy firepower” Minion said “Alright, take me back to the entrance, we can start getting the tanks stripped of paint and refitted” as they turned and drove away, they failed to notice a much larger tank tucked away in the corner of the hangar.

…

When minion got back from inspecting all of the tanks, he ordered for them to be re-armoured and rearmed, with modern weapons, and Protosteel armour. The smaller tanks were to be made the highest priority, as they would be the quickest, in the meantime, the rest had the flag of Equestria painted over the pre-existing emblems, and tanks began to be assigned to battalions and divisions, with the different ‘nationalities’ of tanks being spread as evenly as possible. Each tank was given a unique designation, such as a slogan, fraise or even a name. They were also given individual numbers, set by class or line, for instance, a panzer IV would be given a number like ‘Pz4-194’. Any flaws in the tanks were to be addressed on the way to the next planet, for instance, the Panzerjäger Tiger (P) also known as the ‘Elefant’ was known for having a slow travers speed, due to the turret being ‘hull-locked’, so they were to be rebuilt with rotating turrets.

*POV 1st Person Nova*

I was stood in the dry-dock whilst the crew made final preparations to leave.

“It’s going to be odd, not having you around anymore” Celestia said.

“Well, you know me, always coming back” I said.

“Just…try not to do anything too brash or foolish” Luna said.

“Don’t worry, out mother will keep both me and Nightmare Moon in line” Luna glanced at her twin, who was currently sat some distance away, facing away from us and watching the crew working, she seemed to emanate an aura of despondence.

“Watch over her for me, brother” she said “regression is never good for an individual’s self-esteem. She’ll  be in a dark place right now, be the sibling that we failed to be”

“I will” I said, before pulling them both into a hug, after a few moments I pulled away and stepped back “I better get going, I’ll keep in touch” the nodded and I began walking back to the ship, stopping to walk back with Nightmare along the way. I suddenly stopped and looked towards the palace before casting a spell, a few seconds later Osiris materialised next to me and we continued towards the ship. No sooner did we get on than the ship began leaving, bound for the stars and worlds unknown.

Next Chapter: Chapter 9 Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 46 Minutes