Celestia stared at the therawyrm with wide eyes, shocked by his outburst. Or, more accurately, by what it meant.

She knew he was quite fond of her, since he had let her sleep on his ship from the day he arrived, but to hear it from the usually stoic therawyrm... The fact that his stoicism was mostly disturbed by moments of wrath or even shock made it even more, well, shocking.

“W-what did you just say?” She managed to sputter in her shocked state.

“I said I care about you, and that son of a bitch had the guts to insinuate I raped you. I don't take it well when people insult me and my friends like that, and you are one of the few friends I have here Equus.”

“What!?” Twilight, who had exited the living room less than a minute before, entered it again when she heard Praeratus he had few friends. “What do you mean with 'only friend'!?”

Praeratus looked at her with a mix of annoyance and anger.

“Twilight, I clearly said 'one of the few', not 'the only one'.” He growled. Twilight suddenly remembered herself, Spike, Princess Luna and possibly Novo.

“Oh... I'm sorry.” Twilight apologized, smiling sheepisly at her own error. Behind her, Novo, Ember and Thorax entered again in the room since they saw Twilight do so and didn't want to be left out of whatever would happen next.

Praeratus glared at her one last time before looking back at Celestia. “I know I went too far with Aspen, and I admit I have an anger problem, but what was I supposed to do, let him insult and slander me and get away with it? I am goddamn war hero from several galactic conflicts that deserves respect.” He didn't say that the 'anger problem' started when he came to Equus, but he didn't believe they needed to know that.

Celestia sighed. “I don't know, you could had just screamed at him, shook him around a little, at most a punch, not beat him to within an inch of his life.”

“I don't think it was that bad. “Interjected Novo. “I mean, Praeratus might have gone overboard with Aspen, but he was threatening to get inside his ship and house to get to you, plus the defiling thing.”

“And called me and dragons in general mindless beasts.” Agreed Ember. “I don't care if he dies, I've worked my tail to make dragons be actually friends with each other and other races, and I'm not goint to let a dumb moose undone all I've accomplished. Heck, he also insulted the hippogriffs and the changelings!” She said motioning to Novo and Thorax.

“Really?” Said Praeratus and Celestia simultaneously, earning nods from both. Nods they didn't see because both looked away from each other (and Celestia even blushed) when they realised they had said the same word at the same time.

'Did I do what I think I did?', Celestia thought, not knowing Praeratus was thinking the same thing.

“Yes. I don't remember when, but it was just before you came out.” Said Novo angrily. “That jerk had the gal to call the hippogriffs traitors and cowards for not holding our own against the Storm King's forces when he came, blaming us for the fall of Equestria despite the fact that his armies didn't even know deer existed. Well, that or they didn't consider them a threat, I'm not really sure.” She admitted. “And don't get me started on what he said about changelings.”

Despite being calmer, more rational and overall much more friendly than his older brother, Thorax was still the king of the reformed changelings, who had it even worse than dragons with other races, and even he had limits of how many insults to his race he could tolerate in his presence.

“What did he say about changelings?” Demanded the Changeling King.

“That you were still the evil vermin you were in the past and that you were just bidding your time under a veneer of 'goodness' to fool the ponies and attack Canterlot again.”

Thorax, naturally, fumed at this. “That's rich coming from him, since at least Chrysalis was actually defeated when she attacked. When HE attacked, the princesses let him go away after Twilight solved whatever was the problem” He turned to Celestia and Twilight. “, right?”

Both alicorns nodded. “It was either that, or face actual war, and frankly we didn't want to fight one.”

“Because the Royal Guard is a pathetic, cowardly lot of useless clones that tries to look tough but crumbles when their opponent can actually fight?” Snarked Praeratus. Even after a month and a half, and while most guards were at least respectful of him, there was still some 'friction' between some of them and Praeratus, no helped by the fact that not only he refused to bow to royalty, but at one point even ordered one of them to salute a war hero and former officer of the Confederal Military when he asked why they should respect him; when the stallion refused, he said that was why he would never recognize any authority that wasn't part of the Confederation, much less one that couldn't even get to space.

Suffice to say, the other guards didn't like him, and the same was true for Praeratus, but nothing else came from that incident.

With all that said, the guards were capable of fighting; it's just that it had never fought; most of the time she, her sister and the 'heroes' of the time solved the problem.

“And because it wouldn't be a war if we decided to attack. You know how powerful are me and my sister, we raise and lower the Sun and the Moon.” Celestia said.

The others looking at Praeratus, as if expecting a response.

“What?” He asked before he got the memo. “If you are wondering it, no, I can't raise the Sun nor the Moon with psionics.” The four were about to sigh in relief when he admited. “But... both of them are only a thousand kilometers wide, and while the Moon is completely solid the Sun has less mass than a planet of the same diameter, so who knows.” He said, making them look at him in a bit of fear. He was pretty sure he couldn't move either celestial body, but as he just said, who knew?

“You were joking, right?” Asked Ember.

“No, I really don't know if I can do that. I probably can't but, well, who knows?” He said shrugging.

It was at that moment when Novo realized what might have been the problem.

“You know, I think I know now why Aspen is so distrustful of you.” She said to Praeratus.

“Mmm?”

“Your attitude.” Deadpanned Novo, earning glares from everyone but Praeratus. “What?”

“Queen Novo! That's not nice to say.”

“Maybe, but it's true.” She replied before turning to Praeratus. “Look big guy, Aspen and that Gnasher dragon were jerks, but so were you. From who wants to save us from space monster you're quite happy to fight back when attacked or even more, given that Aspen didn't do anything but speak before you broke him. Also you broke that dragon's ribcage before he could fry you.”

“Just because the Confederal Senate sent me to save you doesn't mean I have to have the higher moral ground.” He said, remembering pretty well the atrocities he commited during the Hegemony War. He was only allowed because he was a Centurion and because, at that point of the war, soldiers who at least tried to be professionals were the exception.

“And that also doesn't mean you have to remind us how outmatched we are every time somepony ticks you off, even in defense of others.” She said while looking at Celestia and smiling coyly.

“What does that have to do with my attitude?”

“Let me rephrase myself: you're a powerful, god-like alien that owns a ship that can travel the galaxy in the drop of a hat and probably has enough firepower to turn the Dragon Lands into ashes. Yet you're also a jerk that at best insults back when insulted by ponies and mauls them at worst.”

“So?”

“Those guys that insult you to get a rise from you? That's exactly what they want.” Explained the hippogriff.

“I made pretty damn clear that when I'm kicked I don't turn the other cheek, I kick back.” Said Praeratus. “It's not my fault that those zabs don't get I'm not the passive type.”

“Which brings me back to the original question. This may sound outlandish, but I think that Aspen wanted you to kill him.”

Every creature in the living room, sans Praeratus, looked at the Hippogriff Queen in shock.

“N-novo why do you think that!?” Exclaimed Celestia.

“To make other creatures fear him. Think about it; they heard about Praeratus' power, brutality and short temper, but haven't actually seen them in pony until know. Aspen, who thinks he has been spied upon, wants you to finally lose your temper and kill him, demonstrating that you're an evil invader and that the 'good' races have to rally to fight you off.”

“If he were sensible, he would wonder just how many would I kill before going down, and how. Hell, I wouldn't need to actually fight, just bombarding them with the ship would suffice.” Said Praeratus.

“Yes, but I as I have just said, that would only prove his point about you being evil.” Novo pointed out.

Praeratus narrowed his eyes at her, but Celestia grabbed his arm before he could retort.

“Praeratus, she's right, you can't just react like that when they insult you. Doing that would be like letting them get away with... well, whatever they do to anger you.”

Praeratus grunted and closed his eyes. She was completely right, especially since unlike random ponies Aspen was a king. A king of a practically nonexistant kingdom, but a king nonetheless, and he had some influence on the planet. Not enough to actually do anything, but enough to make others think.

It was at that moment when Twilight gasped and clapped her hands with a smile.

“I think I have an idea AND a solution for our problem!”

Guys, I'm terribly, terribly sorry for the shortness and lack of quality of this chapter, which is basically a bridge one, but I'm getting busy with other things. Don't worry, the next one will be at least longer.
Next chapter we will officially transitionate to Season 8.