After leaving Celestia sleeping on the bedroom, Praeratus went to the cockpit (the closest place on the ship to a personal room; he either slept on the pilot's chair or the couch. He no longer slept on the bedroom), took off his xeno-hunting suit to get something more comfortable while on his ship (a simple tank-top the same color of his skin and white short pants) and dozed off for a few hours, although not just to rest: normal sleep aided the healing of a normal body, and thanks to Praeratus' enhancements and a meditation technique his body could recover even faster.

After waking up and noticing that it was daytime already (probably the other princesses moved the sun; he would investigate of how and why later) he made sure that the 'Thing' was still hidden and safe (he didn't want to take risks with Celestia on his ship, even if they were alone), watched a recorded documentary of the Hegemony War on the kitchen for another hour, and decided to scout the planet a bit more with the drone. More accurately, he needed to know if the bioweapons were still hiding at the forest. The reveal that they may be sapient to a degree had complicated things, and he'll had to take them out before they could reproduce and begin using more refined tactics. What they did minutes before in Canterlot was bad, but he was pretty sure they would do worse in the future if he couldn't exterminate them in time.

Sitting on the couch with the drone controller in hand and Cyranus at his side, Praeratus activated the holographic screen and started the thing. However, rather than sending the drone directly to the giant forest, he decided to check the damage done to Canterlot first. He wanted to make sure that nobody else had died during the attack, wanted to see if there were surviving animals. Besides, it would take only a couple of minutes at best, he could afford it.

'It's not like the things know that I know where they are hiding.' Thought Praeratus while sending the drone inside the surprisingly intact city. There were a couple wrecked buildings there and there, and quite a lof ot traumatized people, but for what he could see the only confirmed deaths were the ones he saw petrified and crushed and that poor devil that ended as bioweapon chow, so aside from that the city was okay. The real problem would the the inhabitants. They may have seen (and experienced) devastation no much different from this, but he doubted that any of them had seen that level of slaughter, or any kind of slaughter for that matter. Most were still terrified by what they'd seen, horrified by the aftermath, or depressed by some reason he didn't know (maybe the had never suffered so much in so little time?). At least they were helped by the others, Luna, the group of flyers and Discord included.

A rather big crowd, however, was blaming him for causing this, and one of them (a tall, white unicorn with a black mane and a goatee; judging by the fact he was wearing a fine, red robe and some kind of medal on his chest, he was probably nobility, wizard or some other fairy tale crap) even claimed that he was cahoots with the bioweapons, that he was the one who brought them here (which was a total lie, especially since at least Luna and Twilight knew the truth, and by extension their friends too) and that he kidnapped the princess of the sun to do nefarious things to her (despite Luna announcing to the crowds that he saved her; however, she didn't say that he actually resuscitated her from death, probably to not scare them further or give them the wrong ideas about what he could do).

“If not for me you would had been their dinner, you ungrateful little zab.” Growled Praeratus. Cyranus, sensing the therawyrm's anger rising, went to him and nuzzled his arm; Praeratus, exhaling to calm down, petted the gorgonops to return the gesture. Cyranus always did this when he felt Praeratus losing his temper and, although it didn't happen that much (once or twice per year, mostly due to ungrateful clients, annoying cops and assholes in general), the xeno-hunter always felt thankful when the gorgopnops did this.

“Thanks boy. I needed that.” Thanked Praeratus while petting Cyranus, prompting him to grunt in joy.

Even though the former Centurion understood why these idiots still distrusted him, he still wasn't happy by it. Then there was the fact that, aside from from Luna, Spike, Twilight and the rest (minus Rainbow Dash that is, and even then he was pretty sure she respectec him at the very least), none of the natives felt grateful towards him for saving them, their leader and their city. Praeratus wanted simply to let it slide, but after hundreds years of being thanked by thousands of people of all kinds (from entire ceremonies before, during and at the end of the Hegemony War as a Centurion to simple hugs and gifts as xeno-hunter), he couldn't help feel a bit... 'slighted' for their attitude towards their saviour. Especially when that unicorn spoke about Celestia. Why the hell would he do anything to her after saving (and resurrecting) her several times in a single day?

He thought it over and let the thought slide: he saved Celestia several times, all of them with Twilight as a witness and two with Luna, and those two were the princesses. Why would the common folk ever believe that guy? They couldn't be that naïve or stupid.

Moving on, he brought the cloaked drone over the forest and, after reaching the forest in twenty seconds (the drone could fly to nearly supersonic speeds), he began surveying the place in search of the bioweapons.

Nothing. Aside from a noticeable lack of predatorial wildlife (of which he knew the reasons) and weirdly enough a few villages populated by deer-like beings (still living deer-like beings), he couldn't see where could the bioweapons be.

Grunting, Praeratus activated the infrared sensor of the drone to try and see something through the trees. Nothing again.

'Easy Praty, the things have only been free on the planet for just one day. They can't be far.' Reassured Praeratus to himself.

As he changed cameras and flew the drone, though, the previously calm therawyrm began to despair. Motion detection, sound detection, x-rays, psionic detection... There was nothing on the sensors!

“C'mon, c'mon, where are you hiding you freaks!?” Shouted Praeratus in desperation. Where the hell could the things be!? He used all sensors and yet they still evaded him. Not even the most effective natural camouflage could have hidden them from hunting drone! The only option left was...

'HELP... HELP... HELP'

“Of course.” Mumbled Praeratus while laying back on the couch and grabbing his muzzle in annoyance. “The thing was calling for help, and the others listened. But instead of responding, they moved, and since they literally came out of containment less than six hours ago, they wouldn't have needed much time. At least those deer will be safe. For now.” However, he realized something was amiss. “Yet I didn't feel it using its psionics. How did they heard that?” He knew of several animal lifeforms that could use telepathy by various means without the capacity of using psionics, but their ability had a reach of a mile at best, and even then...

His chain of thoughts was rudely interrupted by a femenine, very loud scream (to the point that Cyranys got startled and looked everywhere) coming from inside the ship. It was Celestia, and apparently she just woke up. However, whereas others would have jumped to their feet and ran off to see what made her scream, Praeratus simply set the drone in 'stand-by' mode and got up from the couch. He didn't see why would he worry: she was well inside the ship and near him, it was impossible for anything from outside to enter without him knowing (or it through the now-active defenses for that matter), he would have detected something entering with minimal effort if he wished to, and barring all that he still had a healthy and well trained gorgonops who would have reacted to unwelcome visits (and knew how to deal with them).

However, he was confused as to why did she scream. He supposed she woke up because she had a nightmare, but most of the time nightmares didn't make sleeping people wake up screaming at the top of their lungs (he would know); it was touching them that made them scream. Of course, she was a special case given that she had some trauma and had been dead for a few minutes.

Praeratus, busy as he was thinking about Celestia, didn't see the alicorn stepping out of the bedroom until she slammer her face on his chest. The former Centurion watched with a mix of worry and amusement as Celestia moaned while caressing her muzzle.

“Ow! My poor muzzle!” Muttered the alicorn with a muffled voice. “How can Praeratus even move through such a narrow ship!”

Praeratus chose that moment to speak.

“Well, for starters it's not so narrow.” Replied Praeratus with a smile.

Celestia stopped moaning and looked up slowly at him with wide eyes.

“Hi?” Said the princess in a sheepish tone.

“Hi, I suppose.” Replied Praeratus while offering his hand to Celestia to help her stand, and accepted the gesture. “Are you okay?”

“Yes!” Replied Celestia while looking away from him. “I mean no! I had a nightmare, and, well...” Her sheepines turned into fear.

“I heard you screaming. Let me guess, it involved the bioweapon attack, am I right?”

Celestia sighed dejectedly.

“Not exactly, but it had them. Throughout my long life I have had many nightmares, but it's the first time in a hundred years that the nightmares involve death, blood and...” Celestia didn't say more, but Praeratus knew she would have said 'demons'.

“First time?”

“I had nightmares for decades after killing the first monster. Fortunately I stopped having them a hundred years ago, but with what happened today, I fear I'll start having them again. My sister, Luna, actually asked me before if she could helpe me with the issue.”

“Your sister? You mean Luna?” Celestia nodded. "She can enter the dreams of others? Fascinating.” Said Praeratus in an interested tone. Psionics could do that too (hell, he could), but it took practice and finesse.

“She's not only the Princess of the Night, she also makes sures that my little ponies don't suffer in their dreams, mostly by making them face their fears.” She then looked down in sadness. “Unfortunately, I fear that the events of today have traumatized the inhabitants of Canterlot too much.

Praeratus couldn't avoid but grunt in displeasure.

“They're lucky it was only one.” He said in a matter-of-fact tone before he could think and stop himself. Dammit, now he would look like an insensitive asshole to the local that liked him the most!

'Wait. Why did I think that?'

Surprisingly, however, Celestia didn't seem angry (or surprised) at all with what he stated.

“I know.” Sighed Celestia. “You're a space warrior, surely you have to have fought worse things out there than just some monster, or even a dozen of them.”

“Yes.” Unfortunately, the 'worse things' were tank platoons, enemy psionic attacks and warships manned by people that used their brains, not vat-grown attack animals (except the giant ones, but the Hegemony's titanic beasts were biologcial weapons too) that simply charged forward (except the bioweapons). “Although that one wasn't a pushover either; if not for Cyranus I would have been killed.”

Deciding that it would be better to change topic to distract Celestia from her worries (at least until he took her back to Canterlot), Praeratus remembered that she was nearly naked; nearly, because she had made a makeshift tunic with the sheets of the bed.

“What do you think your subjects will think of you if they saw wearing that?” Said Praeratus while gesturing at her 'clothing'.

Celestia's reaction was inmediate: she promtply blushed at his comment and hugged herself to show less of her body.

“W-well look who's talking! Is as if you were bare-chested with that shirt!” Stammered Celestia, although Praeratus could see a small smile. Seems like his plan worked. And since she was the first person on his ship since ten years, why not prolong it?

“You're saying it as if it were a bad thing.” Replied Praeratus with a chuckle before hearing a growl coming from Celestia's belly. “You must be starving with all the action of yesterday.”

“Wait, yesterday!?”

“Or today or something, I don't know how you fellas manage to even have an stable schedule when the star and the moon are the ones orbiting the planet. Cyranus, come here boy!” When the happy gorgonops reached the pair, Praeratus said to him. “Cyranus, take the pretty lady to the kitchen.”

“Pretty lady?” Repeated Celestia

“He doesn't actually know you yet. Anyway, I'm going to find you some clothes while you're in the kitchen.”

Cyranus, feeling that Praeratus was happy, grabbed Celestia by the arm (obviously without actually biting her) and gently pulled her like a dog (alright, she was actually dragged on the metal floor, but her arm was ok) to the kitchen.

Praeratus chuckled at the sight and entered the bedroom to find some clothing for the alicorn, all the while thinking about why did he act like that.

'Maybe because she's the first person you've invited in the ship? Granted, she was more of a corpse than a guest, but you're treating her pretty nice.' Thought Praeratus while opening the wardrobe and searching throught to find something he thought would fit Celestia nicely, a white dress her size (although it might be a bit tighter for her in the chest and hip department) that she could put on . He always kept it for sentimental value, but now it would have a use.

'Just like she would have wanted.' Thought Praeratus morosely before shutting the closet door.

The kitchen Celestia was brought to, in contrast to the bedroom she slept in, was actually quite comely (although clearly hundreds of years ahead of any kitchen on Equestria, if not Equus), with cupboards, a large fridge, oven, a table with four chairs, dishwasher, a smaller oven on the counter... What attracted her attention the most, however, was the clearly artificial (as in, no magic involved) hologram that came from the table.

What it displayed, on the other hand, was anything but amazing: a large battle (and given the black void and countless stars in the background, it was in space!) between two 'fleets' of hundreds of starships firing at each other with magic bolt-like weapons, rockets of some kind and genuine laser beams; many of the ships had some kind of shield, but just as many were destroyed. There was a voice saying something, probably talking about the participants, but it was speaking in an unknown language Celestia had never heard before.

'These have to be the worse things Praeratus talked about.' Thought Celestia while watching the display. Just a second later the images changed, showing the point of view of a soldier (clearly from a camera of some kind) firing some kind of raygun towards a incredibly tall building (its top didn't reach the clouds, but it was clearly taller than most buildings in Equestria) covered with some kind of beehive-shaped shield, clearly different from the magic shields conjured by unicorns.

The soldier was firing from the interior of another, not as tall and ruined building alongside dozens of other other soldiers, all of them wearing futuristic armor that covered their heads, with with many of them belonging to different races (some were either 6 feet tall with pony-like physical complexion or 4 feet but wider than most ponies, other were 12-15 feet tall brutes carrying huge weapons with two hands, and a few that for some reason didn't have helmets were the dragon-like race of which Praeratus belonged to, although none of them was black; they were either gray or brown, instead of being multicolored like the dragons of Equus. None were as tall as him as well). The battle kept going like that for a few minutes, with neither side able to gain the upper hand on the other, even when even more powerful weapons entered the fray.

That was until another soldier, a lithe, pointy-eared and hairless ape, walked out of the building. Unlike his colleages, the soldier wasn't wearing actual armor, and the only weapon he had (or something that looked like a weapon) was an L-shaped object hanging from his hip. The soldiers on the building must have noticed him, because a shield flared around the warrior to protect him from their attacks.

Celestia expected the soldier to use himself as a distraction so that his companions could attack the enemy. She didn't expect what actually happened.

The soldier raised his arms towards the building and, suddenly, an eerie purple glow emanated from his body. The energy the soldier made was then condensed into a sphere of energy on his open hands that he threw towards the shield at great speed, all of it under increasing attacks from the enemy. However, just as the sphere was about to hit the shield, the soldier to whom the camera belonged ducked alongside his fellow soldiers, which was for the better because as soon as they did that a powerful wave of purple energy rattled the building they were in. After the building stopped shaking, the soldier rose from his position and looked at a cloud of debris covering the shielded building. Or more accurately, a cloud of debris covering the spot where the shielded building was before.

Celestia watched in amazement as the cloud dispersed completely and confirmed what she was seeing: the enemy building had been utterly demolished! And by a single warrior no less! Sure, she had seen greater destruction before in Equus, but it came from powerful magic-users like alicorns, powerful unicorns and certain creatures (like Tirek). She already doubted Equus capacity to defend itself when she saw Praeratus kill an Ursa Major by casually flinging an entire bucking building at it (although to be fair, he had already shot the bear in the knee with his raygun), and THAT was only after probably spending a good deal of his 'psionics' killing the horde of frenzied monsters that came with the gigantic bear.

Another terrifying thought came to her mind: what if Praeratus wasn't the most powerful 'psionic'?

So engrossed was Celestia on her thoughts that she didn't realize the aforementioned alien warrior had been watching her for a few minutes.

“There you are.” Said Praeratus suddenly, startling Celestia and making her neigh.

“P-praeratus, that was not nice!” Exclaimed Celestia, looking back and watching Praeratus (with a netly folded dress hanging from his arm) enter the kitchen and give her the dress. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Put it on, I won't have a woman wear a sheet of all things in my home.”

“Wait, in front of you!?” Exclaimed Celestia in shock. What did he think she was!?

“Why not? I won't stare.” Said Praeratus. He already knew (well, supposed, but this confirmed it) that ponies valued their privacy when dressing, but he feigned ignorance to have a laugh.

“Because it's rude! And why did you made me come to the kitchen when I could have stayed on your bedroom to dress myself?” Asked Celestia in an angered tone.

“Because I'm still a man and sometimes I don't think ahead?” He said, earning a glare from the unamused alicorn. Oh, c'mon, don't look at me like that. Besides, I want to make the beed.” Replied Praeratus while handing her the dress, after which he turned and closed his eyes. “Go ahead, I won't stare.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

Snorting, Celestia took the sheet off and put the dress on. It was a bit tight (making her breasts look even bigger than they already were, and her hips stick out more), but aside from than that it fit like a glove. She did wonder why did Praeratus have a dress when he lived alone.

“Well? Can I open my eyes?” Asked Praeratus, with his back still facing Celestia to give her privacy.

“Yes.”

The alien turned around and looked at the alicorn.

“Well? How do I look?” Asked Celestia.

“Pretty good all things considered, although I should have accounted on your...” Praeratus touched his own chest to drive the point home, which made Celestia sigh.

“Yes, I know, my breasts are huge, I know that already. “Said the alicorn, embarrased and looking away from Praeratus.” They make me feel clumsy, they're very sensitive, sometimes they cramp, I suffer back aches, I have to order special bras, and most mares are jealous because of them. One day I reduced their size to feel normal for once, but at the end I returned them to their size it because I didn't want to be an hypocrite when one of the things I preach to my little ponies is 'be yourself'.”

Celestia looked back at Praeratus, hoping to hear some kind words from him, but instead saw him watching the hologram with a grim expression in his eye.

“Damn it, I should have shut it off.”

Celestia heard a frightening roar, screams and weapon discharges, and looked back at the hologram to see a group of soldiers shooting at a monster (some kind of huge hybrid between a crocodile and a bear which, comparing sizes, had to be at least twice as big as a dragon, and at least thrice as heavy)... that, to her horror, had a vehicle full of alien children (screaming alien children) clutched on its claws.

“Oh my goodness!” She exclaimed when the monster spit a literal river of acid towards a group of soldiers, dissolving them and making them scream in agony. The monster then brought the vehicle to its mouth, eliciting more screams from the children trapped inside. Celestia covered her eyes with her hands, unable to see the demise of the innocent boys and girls, but Praeratus pulled her arms down.

“Don't worry, the kids were saved in time.” Said Praeratus while pointing at the hologram. “Look.”

Sure enough, another soldier (a 7 feet tall behemoth covered from head to hoof in a much more impressive and complex-looking armor set colored blue) literally flied into the scene and, to the astonishment of Celestia, drop-kicked the monster's jaw and snapped it, forcing the creature to release its prey. The children were safely caught by a red aura that moved the vehicle away from the fight, which lasted little more than thirty seconds thanks to the arrival of the warrior and two huge, elephant-like vehicles with cannons instead of trunks.

'So that's how aliens fight. How awful. But at least the children are safe.' Thought Celestia in relief when the display changed to a group of soldiers releasing the crying children from the wrecked vehicle. The image then changed to a huge spacecraft firing a beam at a planet. It didn't destroy it, but judging the expanding shockwave it must had leveled a landmass.

“Such destruction... What kind of war causes so much death?” She asked sadly to Praeratus, who grunted.

“The Hegemony War, a hundred-years long war between the most powerful galactic entities that ended only two hundred years ago, and the first conflict in which the Confederation fought an enemy that had the will, the power and the weapons to threaten us.”

“Us?”

“I consider myself part of the Confederation, and they were the ones who tasked me with the erradication of the demons.”

Celestia kept watching the recording, lost as she was watching the armored warrior fighting the soldiers of the 'Hegemony'. Even its name sounded evil.

“That Centurion was me.” Praeratus said suddenly.

“W-what?”

“That soldier over there.” Said Praeratus, pointing at the same warrior from before, who now was lifting a heavy armored vehicle and using it to cover himself. “I am him.”

“You fought in the war? You must be pretty old then.” Said Celestia.

“I was already an adult before it began. Well” Said Praeratus while walking to his fridge and opening it.

“, you must be pretty hungry after all the action from yesterday. Here.” He said while laying a plate with a sandwich on it. “It's spinach.”

“Thank you.” Thanked Celestia before taking a bite of the sandwich. It wasn't exactly the tastiest food she had ever eaten (much less cake), but it wasn't bad either. “Aren't you going to eat something?”

“Nah, I'm not hungry. Besides, most of my diet consists of meat-based products.”

Celestia stopped eating and looked at him wide eyed. Praeratus huffed.

“Celestia, don't look at me like that; I'm an alien, not a pony, I don't share your diet. If I don't eat meat I die, period. Well, not exactly, but my species has to eat more meat than plants or we die.”

“What, no, no, it's not that you eat meat! Hippogriffs and griffons eat fish. It's just... I thought you'd eat gemstones.”

Praeratus gave her a puzzled look.

“Why the hell would I eat gemstones. I mean, therawyrms can, but even if the shards didn't wreck our innards we wouldn't be able to digest them.”

“So, you're three hundred years old?” Continued Celestia, wanting to talk about something else.

Praeratus looked at her again, this time with annoyance.

“Celestia, do I look that young to you? I've been a soldier for seven hundred years!” He said in an offended tone, although she could see he wasn't actually angry at her, just annoyed.

“W-what!? You're over seven hundred years old!?”

“I'm over a thousand years old! Eleven hundred thirty nine to be precise. I'll be forty in a couple of months.”

Celestia gaped at him. He was older than her!

“A-are you old by your species' standards?”

“Not at all, we're only seniors when we reach fourteen hundred. Hell, even then we're pretty active unlike other species.”

“Fourteen hundred... Ponies in general can live to two hundred years.”

“That's not so bad, most species in the Confederation have similar life expectancies. Hey, now that we're talking about lifespans, how old are you Celestia?”

Now it was Celestia's turn to be annoyed. How rude was he!

“I thought it was impolite to ask a lady her age?” She said while scoffing and crossing her arms.”

“Not where I come from. C'mon, I told you mine, you tell me yours.”

“Alright, I'm eleven hundred twenty nine.”

“Well, you look pretty good for someone of your age.”

Celestia smiled at this compliment (and unbeknownst to her she also blushed a little).

“Well thank you.” She said before taking another bite from the sandwich

“And also for someone who died and returned to life just a few hours ago.”

Celestia choked on the piece of sandwich when she heard that.

Well, it seems that the 'Romance' part of the story has reared its head. As well as that, it has become clear (or at least more obvious) that this is a crossover with Stellaris, and I will introduce even more 'things' from the game in the future. Bad things.

Can I get more commentaries and likes please?