While Praeratus and Celestia where talking on his ship about how she died, Luna, Twilight and the others (including Starlight Glimmer, who had joined them) had their hands full with the citizens of Canterlot, who had gone into a mass panic after what happened yesterday (although technically speaking it was still 'yesterday'). And that was before they realized that Celestia wasn't with her fellow royals and friends.

'If only Celestia were here. Heck, if only Praeratus were here. At least he would scare them into submission by just glaring at them.' Thought Luna morosely while watching Neighsay speak in front of her throne to the gathered crowd.

The Princess of the Night, who at the moment was staring at a brewing riot, didn't know what to do with her ponies or how to calm things down. Twilight tried to deliver a speech of some kind, but they outright ignored her . Discord did some of his 'antics' to distract them alongside Pinkie Pie, but they mostly ignored him too. Fluttershy could have tried to calm them down (she was better with animals, but who knew), but she was already shy with level-minded crowds, this one was simply too much for her. The guards tried to impose some sense of order, but they were ignored too.

And finally, there was herself. Their other monarch, who could move the moon, drag an entire town to the dreamscape, and fight her sister on equal ground. And yet, when she ordered them to calm down, told them that Celestia was fine, and even screamed at them with the Royal Canterlot Voice... they didn't stop. Heck, if anything it made the situation worse, making them think she was 'in cahoots with the dragon'.

And that was before Chancellor Neighsay came to the scene (literally in his case, since he teleported), demanding to know the whereabouts of Celestia and to Discord to be turned to stone again, thinking that the chaos was of his making and that he waited for after the defeat of the invaders to show his true colors (which naturally made the draconequus angry, but didn't do anything to not make things worse) and speaking ill of Praeratus, calling him the vanguard of an alien invasion.

“'Vanguard'?” Repeated Discord (and briefly turning his head into Neighsay's) in a mocking tone before getting serious. “He's an entire invasion force! But one that is in OUR side! Somepony should shut him up before he crosses a line!”

“And what do you think we should do about him, Discord?” Replied Twilight, who was occupying Cadance's seat. Spike was sleeping in her parent's house alongside the CMC. In any other instance he would have been with her, but after the attack of the frenzied monsters mere hours before she thought it would be better if he slept.

“I don't know, maybe just order him to shut up? He's just some glorified teacher that knows how to scream, not a real politician.”

“He's still a noble, a high-ranking one, and the head of the Equestrian Education Association.” Explained Luna, although not with a understanding tone. She too was getting tired of him. “As much as I dislike him, he's simply worried about what happened and what could happen to Equestria.”

“Well, yeah, but one thing is being concerned about your country and another is insulting someone who might be even more powerful than me and that doesn't feel queasy about actually killing.”

“Pff, he's just some alien.” Replied Rainbow Dash. She was obviously still furious at Praeratus for not just shattering half the bones of her body and her wings, she was also angry at having made her bite her arms.

“Yeah, but an alien that is probably just as inmune to magic as the monster that attacked and strong enough to lift a metal space thingy with his bare hands. He probably has more muscle on his biceps than Applejack in her entire body. No offense.”

“Ah'm not offended, ya're right about him.” Replied the cowmare. She was still amazed at the feat of strength Praeratus displayed.

“And that's not taking in account the building he lifted to take out that Ursa Major!”

“You could have done that by just snapping your fingers.” Said Queen Novo.

“No, I could have not!” Exclaimed Discord, insulted by what she said.” Didn't you heard what I said th the guy? I was a jerk a thousand years ago, and I am still a jerk, and sometimes I'm proud of it. But to use my powers to kill living beings? I'd never do that. I'll annoy, brainwash and even hurt other creatures, but I'd never kill.” He then thought it over and muttered: “Although I was thinking of similar alternatives when Chrysalis kidnapped us, like turning her into an actual bug and throwing her in a cave full of bats. Don't look at me like that, she'd have it coming.”

“What about that stained glass window showing you dangling ponies over a fire?” Questioned Rarity, making Discord gasp and glare at her.

“I made them dance ABOVE the fire like puppets, not INTO it like those histories full of cannibal natives!”

“It doesn't matter, we can't do nothing but let Neighsay speak.”

“Well, why don't we tell him that Praeratus... well, brought Celestia back, if you know what I mean.” Suggested Discord.

“And make Canterlot fear him even more than they already do?” Replied Luna. “They are already scared of the fact that he slayed an entire army of frenzied monsters, an Ursa Major and an invincible alien monster by himself, they'll go into complete chaos if we told them he can resurrect the dead!”

“Wait, he really did that!?” Asked Starlight in an amazed tone before being shushed by her friends.

“Don't say it out loud Starlight!”

“Weren't you paying attention before when we told you guys about it?” Asked Twilight

“No, not really.” Admitted the light purple unicorn, making the alicorn sigh in exasperation. Luna didn't even look down at the personal student of the Princess of Friendship, tired as she was after all she had been through.

However, what the Chancellor said next shook the blue alicorn off her weariness.

“And that's why we must attack the dragon and its beast before they attacks us!”

“WHAT!?” Shouted Luna while getting off her throne, scaring everypony present. “Absolutely not! I will not let you alienate ourselves from the only one who can stop the demons!”

“Yeah, he was a bit of a meanie, but we did attack him because of a dumb misunderstanding!” Agreed Pinkie Pie.

“And don't forget, he killed dozens of manticores, hydras, bugbears and a freaking URSA MAJOR!” Screamed Discord. “, to save the city. Granted, it didn't look like he was putting effort into it, and several ponies still died, but if not for him a lot more would have been done for. Oh, and he also killed the demon. With his dog's help, but he killed it. Also, where were you when the Storm King invaded, uh!?”

“Knocked unconscious and thrown into a dungeon after trying to defend a group of students from his minions!” Shouted Neighsay angrily, making Discord feel ashamed and whisper 'Oh'. “Where were YOU during the invasion!”

“Hiding because the last thing we wanted at the moment was an even worse maniac with even more magic at his disposal! Which thanks to Praeratus didn't happen.”

“And he also saved my sister from a certain doom.”

“If that's really the truth, then why doesn't he let her leave?” Questioned Neighsay.

“We told you already, he said that she needed to rest after saving her.”

“Didn't you think for a moment that hey may haven't been sincere? I'ts an alien, not from this world! It may have nefarious plans for her!”

“I saw my sister with her wings teared out, her belly cut open and showing her innards, and her mouth bleeding, all of it with my own eyes, so yes, I'm pretty sure he was sincere! And if not for him we wouldn't be having this conversation, or worse, we would be ripping each other apart! And his names is Praeratus, not 'it'! Remember that.” Said Luna, remembering perfectly what nearly happened to her when she commited the same error.

“It may be so, but do we know anything about this... Praeratus aside from his capacity for destruction and the fact that he's not from Equus?”

“He came to the planet to take out the demons, he even said it was a task from his government, the Confederation.”

“And do we know anything about the demons? If they're actually demons.”

Luna sighed. She'll had to tell them some of the truth.

“They aren't demons, they're aliens too, and apparently artificial ones. They came to Equus two hundred years ago. One of them escaped its metal prison and slaughtered the Royal Army to the last stallion. My sister only survived because it was tired after killing so many, so fast.”

“And so you didn't think that maybe he may be here to corroborate if the 'weapons' accomplished their mission? They could have been sent by this 'Confederation' to destroy every living thing on Equus for them to use!”

“He said it was a mistake that they were on our world Neighsay!” Replied Twilight, making the Chancellor scowl at her.

“Why are you defending that brute? If what you said before is true, he nearly ripped your head off for a simple mistake!”

“That 'simple mistake' is the reason that Praeratus is still on Equus and the monsters are still a threat!” Screamed Twilight in an angry tone, surprising Neighsay. “I grabbed his weapon to see what made it shoot heat rays, and accidentaly hit one of the monsters, which were stunned after being expelled from the storm guards they had possessed before to fight Praeratus. This shook them out of their daze, and they escaped the city.”

“And what about the Element of Loyalty?” Continued Neighsay, pointing at the heavily bandaged and casted Rainbow Dash. “He put her in that condition and broke her wings, which is a henious crime by itself! And that's not counting those storm guards he slaughtered alongside his beast, here and in the village of Detrot! They may have been evil, but they didn't deserve to die; they didn't even try to hurt the Elements, just capture them!”

“'Didn't even try to hurt the Elements'? “Scoffed Rarity in contempt. “I'm pretty certain they wanted to do something worse than poking us with their spears all the times we were at their reach. They only wanted Twilight.” She whispered to Applejack and Pinkie Pie, who nodded in agreement.

“Erm, girls...” Said Rainbow Dash in a concerned tone. “Did you heard that?”

“Head what?” Replied Applejack.

“Hush, things are getting hot here!” Pinkie Pie whispered to the two.

“And Queen Novo!” He turned to the Queen of the Hippogriffs, who was glaring at him. “He would have killed your daughter when she was just trying to help the Elements rescue Princess Twilight!” Despite his apparent concern, the group could clearly heard the disdain in his voice. Novo was about to give him a piece of her mind when her daughter cut her off before she could speak.

“Hey, I'm here you know!” Said Skystar. “And yes, he would have killed me and the others if not for Spike, but that was because we attacked him.”

“And why did you attack him?”

“Because he would have killed Capper, our abyssinian friend, if we hadn't. AndhewouldhavekilledCapperbecausehethoughthewaswiththeStormKingandbecausehesaidhehatesslavers!” She said the second sentence before Neighsay could speak again and so fast that she was outright unintelligible.

The Chancellor said what everyone had in their mind.

“What? Excuse me, what did you just say?”

Queen Novo coughed in an awkward tone.

“She said that Praeratus attacked this Capper because he probably thought he was part of the Storm King's army, and since the Elements were chained to a cart and pulling a giant cake he probably thought they were his slaves.”

“And I said it that fast to shut you up, you jerk!” Exclaimed Skystar while flying up to Neighsay's face. “You have done nothing but insult Praeratus and saying that he's an evil alien waiting for the right moment to conquer us, something he's not because if he really were evil he would have done so already and without any trouble!”

“Sorry, but I find hard to believe that somepony that posseses powerful magic and weapons and that came especifically to kill some monsters that came from space too is genuinely good.” Replied Neighsay, glaring at the annoying hippogriff. “And please get out of my face.” He then grabbed Skystar with his magic and moved her back to the group.

“Hey, don't you speak and touch to my daughter like that!” Shouted Novo while stomping towards the Chancellor before the others could stop her.

“She was violating my personal space, and it's not like I hurt her. And now that I remember, didn't you try to drown Princess Twilight and the Elements when they tried to borrow your Pearl of Transformation?” Claimed Neighsay in an even angrier tone.

Novo stopped cold.

“A-and what if I did uh!?” Stuttered the suddenly-nervous hippogriff.

“MOM!” Screamed Skystar. “Dont' give him a reason!"

“I only did that because Twilight tried to steal it instead of asking for it nicely!”

“And yet instead of throwing her into prison, you turned them back into ponies when they were still in Seaquestria, underwater.” Said Neighsay, putting emphasis on 'underwater'. “You would have drowned the heroes of Equestria for a simple misunderstanding!”

The crowd behind him, which at that moment had been silent (relatively speaking that's it), exploded into an uproar when they heard that.

“Uh oh...” Said Pinkie Pie.

“Princesses, they're starting to get violent!” Said one of the guards guarding the throne.

“I betrayed her trust and that of her entire kingdom thinking that I had to save Equestria at any cost, rather than asking for it nicely!” Responded Twilight (who got angry when she heard Neighsay refer only to her and the girls, not Spike) to defend Novo. “And how do you know about that!”

“When its about the security of my kingdom, I'll do anything to know, and I have my sources.” Replied Neighsay in a matter-of-fact tone. “And do you believe that your action should have been ended in cold blooded murder?”

“Well, no, but-”

“But nothing, you could have killed them and ruined our chances to restore the petrified princesses and defeat the Storm King!”

“Well” Whispered Discord to Fluttershy, who through all of that had been silent “, I don't know about you, but I think that Praeratus would have solved the latter anyway. Hey, question.”

“Yes Discord?”

“Why did you try to save that Ursa Major? I know you like animals and living creatures of all kinds, even the dangerous ones. But that one had been turned into a walking disaster by those things. Heck, you didn't say anything when he killed at least a hundred animals that were just as innocent as it was.”

“I know.” Acknowledged Fluttershy sadly. “But Ursa Majors are near their babies all the time, and seeing one without an Ursa Minor nearby worried me. I thought that I could use that as a way to bring her back to her senses until...” She didn't continue, but Discord knew what was she talking about.

“Shy, didn't you heard what Praeratus told you, that the Ursa probably killed her cub?”

“I did, and I think I knew it in my heart, but I simply didn't want to believe it at the moment.” Replied the yellow pegasus while looking down in sorrow.

Discord looked ruefully at the sad pegasus. He would have asked her about the other animals that Praeratus and his 'dog' had killed, but decided against that (and he was sure that, as much as an animal lover as she was, she didn't care for manticores, cockatrices and other monsters; she did still care about them, but he cared more about others, even though most weren't as inherently dangerous as an Ursa for the simple fact that none could send a pony to the other side by simply stepping on them). He put his arm over Fluttershy's shoulder to comfort her.

“Sometimes we can't get what we want you know. And as much as it hurts me to say this, Praeratus did the right thing by killing that Ursa. It was simply too far gone to help it. Something that big can squash ponies by sheer accident, imagine how many if it had activelly tried to do so. Putting it down was the best solution.”

“Yes, and I understand, but that doesn't mean I have to be happy with it.”

“I know, but look at the bright side, instead of suffering a horrible death by starving, which I'm pretty sure it would have happened to it because it was simply to mad to try and eat ponies, Praeratus gave it a quick yet painless death, as gruesome as it was. Besides, the bear must be right now in a better place.” He was tempted to say that the cub may be alive, but that one was much more difficult to believe. But hey, at least Fluttershy slightly less sad.

“Discord?” Asked the kind pegasus, looking up at him.

“Yeah?”

“Remember Praeratus' ship?”

“How can I forget? A real starship, black as night and possibly heavier than any living thing on Equus, yet clearly capable of flight?” He said while putting his arms in an overly dramatic way. He was, however, genuinely awed by the ship.

“And covered in monsters.” Replied Fluttershy.

Discord deflated (not literally in this case), remembering the relief-like carvings covering the black ship.“Ah, yeah. Quite a lot of them too, and most of them were pretty darn scary. Why would he cover his ship with something like that? To scare others during Nightmare Night? Now that I think about it, do aliens celebrate Nightmare Night?” He wondered while stroking his goat beard.

“Or maybe it's some kind of way to remember what monsters has he killed.” Replied Fluttershy.

Discord looked at her and thought it over. It actually made some sense (if Praeratus was really a monster hunter, he would need something to remember what and how beasts he had slain, especially since he was some kind of special hunter for his government), but even then, why would he cover his entire ship with carvings depicting giant bugs, dragon-like beasts, golems lupine reptiles and outright freaky aliens instead of simply making a photo of them (aliens had to had photography)?

Fluttershy then looked at where Chancellor Neighsay and Queen Novo, and her eyes widened in shock. Discord followed her gaze and understood why she did that. The two had started to actually scream at each other during their arguing, one saying that he was a useless stallion and the other that she was waiting to invade Equestria with her army. Worse, Luna had joined in to aid Novo, with her RCV (Royal Canterlot Voice) making the throne room tremble, yet doing little to stop the soon to start brawl.

“Uh oh.”

“Your species has done nothing but give us trouble! Guards, arrest her and throw her to the dungeon!”

Yelled the unicorn to the nearby guards, who moved to do it.

“Touch me and I'll throw YOU to Hippogriffia's dungeons!” Replied Novo while glaring at the stallions, scaring them with her furious gaze. “And I'll do it with five thousand angry hippogriffs!”

“See!?”

“BOTH OF YOU, STOP THIS MADNESS!” Shouted Luna to no avail while trying to physically pull back Novo alongside Skystar.

“Mom, stop!” Cried the hippogriff princess while pulling with Luna, without success.

“Twilight, do something!”

“But what!”

Things would have had a turn for the worst, with Novo managing to free herself from Luna and her daughter and Neighsay illuminating his horn, when suddenly...

RRAAAAAHHRRR!

It was a roar, but it wasn't like any roar they had heard before, sound more like a thunderclap than a roar from an animal. And it was loud, so loud that the remaining stained glass window (which for some reason had survived Praeratus' previous attack that vaporized the Storm King unlike all other windows in the castle) shattered in a thousand shards.

What they did know, however, was that the roar came directly from the entrance of the throne room. Twilight, Neigshay and the others couldn't see at first what could have made a roar like that. The assorted crowd of nobles and commoners, on the other hand, parted to let them see a sight that gave them all a combination of joyouness, awe, awkwardness, fear and terror at the same time.

Joyousness because Celestia, the loved Princess of the Day, was standing right there with them, although with a frown decorating her usually smiling face.

Awkwardness because Celestia was dressed ina very tight white dress that, although fully covering her body sans forearms, was clearly tight on the chest and hip areas.

Awe, because right next to Celestia stood Praeratus, wearing simple clothes (a black tank-top and white short pants), very different from the armored black armor he wore the previous day, and yet still emanating an aura of respect.

Fear, because Praeratus was glaring at them, with the intimidation factor enhanced by the fact that he was the largest 'stallion' in the room (Discord was two feet taller, but nowhere as robust nor wide-shouldered as the dragon-like alien) and having only one eye open (which made him unnerving to many because instea of the slitted pupils of a dragon he had rounded black ones in white sclera, like a pony).

And terror, because right in the middle of the two stood Praeratus' beast and the creature that made the mighty roar heard mere moments before: a dog-like animal with protruding fangs, bony ridges and brown fur at least as tall at the shoulders as a pony and probably weighing a full ton, all of it pure muscle. And it was looking right at Novo and Neighsay. It wasn't glaring, snarling or even baring its teeth at them, though; it was simply staring at the pair directly (maybe with a bit of curiosity), which was unnerving given the furious-sounding.

Praeratus simply looked at the beast with a smile and petted it's head affectionately.

“Good job Cyranus!” Said the dragon, prompting a happy bark-like sound from 'Cyranus'.

Celestia gave a small cough, bringing the attention of those in the throne room to her.

“Could somepony explain to me what is happening here, please?”

“Tell me one more time please; are you sure that there are no side effects of coming back to life using the Med-Pod?”

“Yes.” Said Praeratus in a jaded tone, tired after saying 'Yes' to the same question fifteen times already. “And please stop asking me the same question over and over again, it's getting repetitive.”

“Sorry, it's just... I died and came back to life! That's a bit difficult to swallow you know!” Replied Celestia.

“Just leave it at that then.”

After telling Celestia of how she died only to be revived, Praeratus decided that it was time to bring her back for several reasons:

First: her subjects were getting quite anxioux by the absence of their other princess.

Second, he wanted to recover the pod of the bioweapons. Maybe he could find something that could help him, and he didn't trust the locals with it.

Third: Chancellor Neighsay (that was how the obnoxious unicorn was called) started suggesting to attack his ship and both take Celestia back by force and arrest him (as if), and judging by the reactions of the group that spoke on his favor and the increasingly riled up crowd in the throne room, he might actually convince them to do it. Better shut him up by bringing Celestia and with a show of force.

However, he didn't think that the citizens of Canterlot would react well to a black ship bigger than a hous landing on their city, so he decided to grab the car again.

It wasn't really a car though, despite being a wheeled vehicle and a military variant of an actual car line. It was actually a H-21 Wedge, a light armored vehicle used for reconnaissance and flanking, capable of reaching over 70 miles per hour and able to be customized to carry a wide array of weapons including machine guns, laser cannons, RPGs and autocannons. The one owned by Praeratus only had the standard machine gun (which fired hypersonic 8mm bullets at a rate of fire of 525 rounds per minute), but he could change the loadout when it suited him (although he only had a grenade launcher and a laser beam cannon, limiting it a bit). It could also carry a small cloak generator, a shield generator, and other gadgets that could be useful for xeno-hunters, plus modified engine and, in case of emergency, it could use liquid as fuel, urine included.

The most important feature for Praeratus, however, was that it's suspension was strong enough to let a large gorgonops ride on its backseats (and if the situation required it, a power armor-wearing therawyrm) without sacrificing too much speed.

“What is this?” Asked Celestia when Praeratus grabbed the belt of her seat. It looked awfully a lot like a...

“It's a seat belt, a safety device used to keep a passenger on their seat. That way you don't get hurt if the car hits something in the road or crashes.” Explained the therawyrm

“Oh! We have them too actually, but we call them safety belts.”

“The-ra-wyrm, ter-a-wyrm,” Shrugged the xeno-hunter before trying to strap it on Celestia... and realizing that her breasts were on the way. He sighed. “This might be a bit more complicated than I thought.”

“Allow me.” Said Celestia before grabbing the seat belt and illuminating her horn. Praeratus watched on as her breasts went from being as big as her head to a much smaller size, allowing her to put the belt on. Praeratus also saw Celestia give a small smile of satisfaction.

“You really don't like having those, don't you?”

“No, but was gifted with them and so I have to live with them.”

Praeratus shrugged at that. If she wanted to keep her tits big even when she could change their size, then he didn't have the right to complain, not that he would complain of something that didn't involve him at all.

“Fine by me. Are you ready to leave Celestia?”

“Yes.”

“And you Cyranus?” He said to the gorgonops laying on the back of the car, who snorted as if to say 'Yes'. “

“Good.” With that he started the engine, pressed the button that opened the hangar door remotely and drove out of the ship and towards the city below.

While they drove down the road, Celestia thought to pass the time by playing a game.

“Praeratus, would you like to play Answers and Questions with me?”

“Sure, why not, although it won't take us long to arrive to Canterlot.”

“Why does your vehicle use wheels instead of flying or walking? I always thought that aliens didn't use use the wheel.”

“Well, we do have hover vehicles in the Confederation, but if for some reason they malfunction they drop like stones, which always ends in injury and even death if they fly too high. Besides, they usually have to be light enough to be able to fly, something wheeled vehicles don't have to. Plus, the recoil from mounted weapons is a bitch to control in a vehicle that is not in direct contact with the ground, especially on the move.” Explained Praeratus. “Well, I've answered your first question, I think it's my turn.”

“Of course.”

“How many sapient species live in Equus?”

“Well, aside from ponies, dragons and hippogriffs, of which you already know, there are yaks, changelings, griffons, yaks, breezies, minotaurs, deer, diamond dogs and many others." Said Celestia. Praeratus could have noted that there were actual animals with those exact names and similar looks, but decided to keep it for himself (especially since therawyrm were also animal-like). "Why do you ask me that?”

“To finally confirm it.”

“What do you mean with 'it'?”

“That your world is indeed an anomaly. Hell, your 'system' is: multiple species living on the same planet, strange psionic-like energy that for example allows flying mammals to fly with tiny wings, amongst the lowest gravity ever recorded, geocentrism, unanchored celestial bodies that are also tiny-”

“'Tiny'? What do you mean by that?” Said Celestia in a puzzled tone. She wondered about their size, but didn't ask what 'unanchored' meant, or 'heliocentrism'?

“The moon and the planet are not the smallest celestial bodies I've ever seen, but the sun's is not just smaller than the smallest star recorded, it's the first one I've seen that is smaller than a planet. Even gas giants are at best as big as stars.”

This made Celestia look at Praeratus in shock.

“Wait, are you telling me that my sun is a star? And just how small is my sun?”

“Celestia, all suns are stars. Those stars you see in the night sky? All suns. Well, nearly all of them, and not all of them bring light to planets.” Replied Praeratus. “As for how small, it's just as big as the moon, which has an aproximate radius of a thousand kilometers, although both are rather close to Equus. In contrast, the most common stars, the class M, are hundreds of thousands of miles wide on average, yet millions of miles from the planets on its orbits.”

Celestia could only say 'Woah'. That was definitely bigger than her sun! On the other hand, she didn't want Luna to find out that, technically, she was the ACTUAL Princess of the Sun.

“That may be impressive at first, but I've seen bigger than that. MUCH bigger. Well, it's your turn now.”

Celestia shook off her amazement and said her question.

“Why are you so strong? There are no ponies strong enough to copy the feat you did yesterday with that thing, and I doubt you use your psionics to do it.”

“Mainly for three reasons. One, I'm a therawyrm, and we are strong thanks to evolving in a high-gravity planet; in fact, Kharan is amongst the planets in which life evolved with highest gravity. We have thicker bones and skin, and much more muscle mass than other species of similar size, although larger species, like the ogyr, are still at least slightly stronger. Two, the suit I was wearing at the time made me twice as strong as I already was, so technically I was cheating a bit.”

“And the third reason?”

“As I told you before, I'm a Centurion. Centurions were the elite troops of the Confederation, a regiment composed of of genetically engineered therawyrm. We were modified in vitro to be stronger, faster, tougher and overall superior to most other soldiers. Hell, the so called 'Gene Warriors' are simply watered down Centurions, since they have neither the training nor the equipment, and none of them are therawyrms to boot.”

“Wait, in vitro?” Repeated Celestia in shock. “You were bred on a vat!? Why would they do that!?”

“Yes. It was necessary though. Those were rough times, and the Confederation needed a new kind of soldier, one that could live through several hundred years of pirate attacks, terrorism and hostile governments. Besides, we didn't have mass casualties until...” Praeratus' voice trailed off a little before he continued: “Until the Hegemony War. The regiment had a thousand men and women when it was formed; a thousand brothers and sisters bonded by blood and battle. Only a hundred died throughout the eight hundred years before the war, which was sad yet normal when you take in account that we never lost a battle. But after the treaty with the Hegemony, there were only twenty five of us left. Two centuries later, I'm the last living Centurion.” Given the tone with which he said that, he was clearly bitter about the fate of the other Centurions, yet also tired. And since he just called them 'brothers and sisters'...

“Oh, you poor thing.” Sniffed a misty-eyed Celestia. She had heard sad stories throughout her life, but this was by far the saddest. The fact that Praeratus, unlike ponies who would be already crying when remembering something sorrowful of their lives, simply had a melancholic look when he remembered that made it worse.

Praeratus turned to the teary Celestia and wiped a tear off her carefully (and without looking away from where he was driving to).

“The past is the past Celestia: what happened, happened, and it cannot be changed. They fought to do what they loved most, protect the Confederation from enemies that wanted to destroy it and enslave its people.” His gloomy stare became happier. “Besides, as long as I remember them they are not dead to me. Plus, the regiment has 100 feet tall memorial back on Kharan. No greater monument has been built.”

“Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?”

“Yes. And let's be sincere, by comparison you have worse problems right now. Besides, we are approaching Canterlot and the ponies won't like to see their princess upset.” He said softly, earning a nod from Celestia.

The Wedge entered the city, scaring the ponies who were outside their homes to see what made the strange growling sound. Soon, they were outside the palace.

Praeratus stepped out first, followed by Celestia (who dispelled the size spell to restore her large bosom) and Cyranus. Naturally, the nearby group of twelve guards reacted badly to the 'dragon' standing beside their princess.

“Dragon! Stay away from the princ-ACK!”

Praeratus didn't waste time to grab them and bring them to him, unable to even struggle.

“Praeratus!” Exclaimed Celestia in shock. “Those are my guards!”

“Don't worry I'll make it quick.” He said to her before turning to the 'guards'. “You come at me with those pointy sticks again, I'll shove THIS” He said while his huge, muscular fist that was as big as their heads. “, up where the sun doesn't shine and tear out your guts.” This made them scream/yelp/squak in horror “Or snap your backs and let my gorgonops bite your muzzles off, which by comparison would be merciful. Understoon!?” He screamed, earning what apparead to be nods from the paralyzed guards. “Good.”

With that he slammed them on the ground hard enough knock half of them out (and break some muzzles and jaws), with the other half sitting in the ground and groaning, too pained to move. He turned towards Celestia to see her glaring daggers at him.

“What's the matter with you!? They were simply worried about me!”

“Celestia, nobody, and I mean nobody, comes at me with a weapon, no matter if its a simple blade on a stick or a bread cutter, and walks away unscathed.” He replied, making Celestia huff. “Oh c'mon, they're not even crippled!”

“You're impossible.” Huffed Celestia. In another occasion she would have been furious at this treatment of her ponies, but after the events of the previous day she knew that Praeratus was actually being tame with them. Besides, even she got tired of the... 'enthusiasm' and bigotry of her guards. That said, he could have just settled in threatening them instead of also injuring them.

“SILENCE!” Screamed a thunderous voice from inside the palace (one that Praeratus recognized), scaring the ponies that were outside.

“That was Luna!”

“Looks like that chancellor of yours is pissing her off.”

“Neighsay doesn't exactly respect her after... well, I'll tell you another day. For now let's concentrate in stopping my sister from making a mistake.” Before she could enter the palace, however, Praeratus stopped her.

“Wait!” He went to the Wedge, locked the doors and went back to Celestia. “Had to make sure the car was secure, don't want it to be gone when we're back.” He said while both entered the palace with Cyranus behind him. Praeratus already knew the way to the throne room after exploring the palace with the drone, so Celestia didn't bother telling him where to go.

“I doubt that my ponies would steal from an alien that stopped an army of monsters and an Ursa Major by himself.”

“I'm too paranoid to believe that. Once I left it with the laser beam remote control on, next thing I know I'm getting arrested for vigilantism and finned for littering.”

Celestia didn't want to know, but shed had a faint feeling that the littering part probably had to do with ashes.

Soon they reached the throne room, but were unable to enter due to a literal sea of ponies blocking their way. And despite the racket they mounted, the pair could still hear and see (they were both taller than the crowd) what was happening at the front, with Queen Novo and Chancellor Neighsay about to tear off each other, even with Luna and Skystar restraining the former.

“This looks bad.” Muttered Praeratus while glaring at the tall unicorn with the goatee.

“BOTH OF YOU, STOP THIS MADNESS!” Screamed the blue alicorn.

“We have to do something!” Cried Celestia. However, before either of them could do something, Cyranus got ahead of them in that regard.

He roared.

Gorgonopsi were well known across the galaxy for several reasons, one of them being their roars. Given that Kharan was much larger than most other planets (which also explained it's heavy gravity), and that gorgonopsi required large territories to live (they were quite antisocial), they had evolved with large larynges and square-shaped vocal chords which provided them with a louder call without putting more pressure on their lungs. Their roars were so powerful that they could be heard from a distance of over 12 kilometers, significantly more than a lion's. They roared to warn their families, attract females and scare away competitors and rivals, but at close distance it could be used as a way to stun prey (although it was still unknown if it was because it was that powerful or because the prey was scared shitless), making them the most awesome (and annoying) alarm on the Confederation. What could be better than an alarm that was loud enough to break every single window in your house tough enough to withstand weapon's fire from most trespassers and big enough to bite said trespassers in two?

There was also the fact that sounds are affected by gravity, and so the roar of Cyranus was simply deafening for everyone in the throne room minus Praeratus (although not just because he had stronger ear drums; years of fighting alongside tanks and ship engines simply made him accustomed to very loud sounds).

Naturally, when the gorgonops roared at the top of his lungs, the ponies closest to the trio went momentarily deaf. The rest simply parted sideways, both because of fear and because they simply weren't capable to stay in place due to the pain in the ears. This allowed those at the throne and in front of it to look at the newcomers.

Praeratus spent five good seconds glaring swords at the now-spooked Neighsay before smiling down at Cyranus and petting him in approval. Even though he trained him to not do that during a hunt, it was pretty damn useful during a hostage situtation or even in a firefight. Besides, he simply loved hearing his friend roar to show his might.

“Good job Cyranus!”

Celestia, deciding that it was time to get some answers, coughed to get the attention of the throne room and spoke.

“Could somepony explain to me what is happening here, please?”

Neighsay makes his appearance, nearly starts a war and gets a first look at two aliens that do not like him at all (well, one doesn't, but the other is like a dog and dogs reflect their owners). On the plus side, Celestia has finally returned to Canterlot and rendered Neighsay's arguments about attacking Praeratus to save her moot.

Comment to say how do I do and how do you guys think I could improve the story. How is it doing for now?

Last chapter for July, but I think I can upload the next one before 15th of August, or maybe earlier if I can get 2000 words per day (I write the fic once per two days).