The relative quiet of Library Alexandria was replaced by the terrific blare of a horn. The machines residing inside of the Library began to scream and shift, the mechanical pieces of the living knowledge bank becoming aware of the situation taking place north of it.

"Vital signs of Rank Thirteen Conquistador Sevilin Jacobs: critical. Severe damage taken to Sanctifier Armor. Chance of survival: nineteen percent," the male voice droned. The female voice replaced the authoritative tone almost instantly.

"Code Scarlet. Scanning for Sevilin Jacobs. Jacobs located. Dispatching medical personnel and military aid immediately."

Queen Chrysalis sat at the long cherry wood table in the Dining Hall of Sevilin palace. She poked at some books she had read recently that were written in Sevilin's hand. He had made a point of transliterating many of his species' works, this one being The Iliad.

Frowning deeply, she shifted in her seat, and a huge rumbling sound shook the halls. Looking down at her rump, she scowled and got up. While walking through the outermost walls of the palace, where many windows let in the early morning light, she saw in the sky a golden shape with a white contrail behind it soaring away from Sanctuary.

Puzzled, she teleported outside and flew above the confused civilians below. The golden form was far too fast, and before she could ensnare it in her magic, it was gone, tearing its way through the sky and making good time.

Chrysalis, concerned as she was, turned her attention to where the mysterious object had come from. Following the trail of expanding smoke, she noticed the top of the mountain behind Sanctuary was slightly charred.

Making her way up the side of jagged cliff, she looked down upon Sanctuary and its inhabitants. The yellow glow of happiness radiated from the city, now more than three times the size it once was when Sevilin had begun its construction with the Alloy Dogs in the area.

However, along with the warm yellow buzz was the underlying static of blue-grey worry. No doubt many of the citizens had a brother, sister, mother, daughter, father, son, or friend who had stepped up to assist Sevilin. Chrysalis herself was worried sick for the human, and had been reading many of his peoples' books in an attempt to take her mind off of him.

All it did, however, was raise more questions about his origins and more concern for his well-being. The stories she read presented heroes, but much of the time the hero would sacrifice himself or herself to ensure the safety of those they cared for.

His culture, according to his literature, was filled with trickery, treachery, vengeance, war, love, passion, friendship, and sacrifice. They laughed, cried, loved, and despised. They could kill, they could save, they could build, and destroy. Chrysalis had never actually asked Sevilin many personal questions, as he had never exactly delved into others' personal matters much.

"You trust everyone. You love so much. But why?" She thought back to the characters in the stories. The antagonists and their changes of heart, their attempts to better themselves through others. From committing terrible sins to redeeming themselves through good. "What are you making up for?" She paused, looking at the smoldering black spot at the top of the mountain.

"What did you do?"

"Emperor Nero! You are to surrender the Library and your people immediately! Failure to comply will result in the complete annihilation of your fleet, civilians and military personnel alike."

Emperor Nero leaned back in his throne aboard the Emancipator, the star ship in Gloria Romae. His vibrant blue eyes locked with those of his enemy.

A'earias Lichent, Grand Dictator of the planet Xerothan. As the main representative to the Third Celestial Quadrant Coalition, he had encountered the humans after the genocide of the Siftraw race.

The Coalition, made up of six powerful races with huge spheres of influence, became highly disturbed of the humans' advances upon their systems, and made their protests heard.

The humans, as prideful and powerful as they were, argued against the Coalition feverishly. As a challenge to their power, the humans started an arms race against the Third Quadrant.

While the seven races built up their armaments, the humans made plans.

On the planet's fourth rotation around its sun, Untraeo was attacked. The Untra race was taken off guard, their forests incinerated by the humans' weapons. Suddenly realizing that they were technologically outmatched, the Untras cried out to the Coalition, which took to heart the humans' previous actions upon foreign races.

Mobilizing themselves, the Coalition rose to the challenge, and the two opposing forces began increasing their spheres of influence using propaganda and military strength. The struggle lasted for decades, neither side refusing to budge, and the supposedly small human force known as the Roman Empire showed massive amounts of tact and negotiation with races they deemed to be beneficial.

While the Romans pushed into Coalition Starspace, the Xerothans were left with no other choice. On the Roman Calendar, August nineteenth, fifty-three twenty one at nine in the morning, Planet Earth was scourged by a Pandora-class super weapon.

The space-bound Romans and their colonies, shocked, were dealt with swiftly. In their stunned state, the humans were open to attack and sabotage. Earth was gone.

Now Emperor Nero LIII stared into the strange eyes of a familiar foe. Both beings glared at each other with readily apparent hatred and angst. Lichent's eyes had three slits organized in a pyramidal structure around his pupil, and he lacked a visible iris while the rest of his eye was a deep green color.

His maroon eyelids blinked momentarily, and he touched the horn on the right side of his head, sighing angrily. "Why did you have to push us, Nero? Why did you commit the crimes that you did? Just please, answer me that."

Sevilin watched his Emperor stand, the great blood-red cloak billowing behind him. He stepped forward with a golden boot, and stared right into the eyes of the enemy. "I owe you nothing."

The Emperor turned to Sevilin, who stood to the right of the throne, silently watching the altercation from behind its golden glory.

"Sevilin! Get your team and prepare to engage! They must not take the Library!"

Sevilin looked down upon his Lord and nodded his great horned head. He summoned the remains of his team, his friends.

Standing in the hangar, he watched the titanic fleet they were about to face down. Seven ships that clearly rivaled any Jupiter-class ships, twenty ships with far more firepower than any Mars-class, and at least a hundred other well-armed battle cruisers.

"Well then, I guess we get to witness the end of the Empire, huh?"

Sevilin looked down at DeShurio, whose Mantis armor gleamed in the industrial lights of the hangar. The man chuckled, shook his head, and looked out towards the amassed force.

"Do you think that there might be an afterlife?" DeShurio asked cautiously, almost breathlessly. Sevilin closed his eyes inside of his suit, just barely keeping the tears back.

"We proved that the existence of any supernatural beings were impossible long ago," Sevilin replied. He turned his head away while Henry's own lowered. Sevilin watched the slimmed suit of Keeting approach.

She strut towards them as daintily as always, her silver and obsidian armor flexing its durable Plentium-carbon hybrid wing-blades in the process. Behind the single, glowing blue dot that made up her visual interface, Sevilin knew she was smiling sadly. She stopped next to the huge suit that Sevilin occupied and leaned against him.

"You know, it's kind of poetic when you think about it," she said slowly with that sweet, melodic voice. Sevilin choked before speaking.

"How so?"

"Remember that Jesus guy? 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you?' We probably should have listened."

Sevilin had tears leaking out of his eyes, the spent water collected by his suit for later use. Not that there would be one…

"I love you guys," Henry murmured. Marcy wrapped her arms around Sevilin, and Henry did the same. Soon enough, they all held each other.

"I love you too," Marcy whispered.

Sevilin cried openly, and the hangar doors opened.

"Apply more force! He's been inside since the battle!"

A medical mare applied more pressure to the metal of the suit, which was severely rent and twisted from the overwhelming pressure of the rubble. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had each attempted to pry the suit off of him, only getting a few inches at most with their strongest efforts.

Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy looked on at the medical team milling about Sevilin's mangled and battered form. He was barely breathing, and a quick magical check had confirmed multiple contusions, fractures, breaks, and internal bleeding. Light healing magic was applied, but if fully healed while inside the suit, he would suffer bent bones and incorrect alignment.

Even the second skin he wore had proved difficult to peel off until they used salt water. Forcefully pulling out the material leading to his brain was deemed unsafe, and so it had been cut around and a patch of red material was left on his upper lip.

Now his left arm and shoulder were free from the suit, and the team was already creating a plan for the other side of his body.

"The armor is keeping him intact, thankfully, but at the same time its cutting off circulation to his left leg and right arm. His cranium is safe from major damage, as he suffered only a mild concussion. His jaw, however, is completely shattered. We can't salvage anything from his lower jaw, and he may never speak again," the medic rattled off quickly.

"Oh, my…"

"Don't worry, Fluttershy, I'm sure he'll be…" She trailed off while she watched the field staff work, their magic and strength proving futile in the effort to bend the metal of his suit. Sevilin's jaw hung open and was split along the right side, showing protruding white bone that slowly became stained with his blood.

The field medic noticed this and shouted to a nurse. "I told you to get coagulants on that an hour ago! What is everypony doing?"

"Fifty more CCs of blood, stat!" The head surgeon mare shouted orders over the slight clamor of the palace. After the rubble had been cleared, Cadence and Shining Armor had urged the Princesses to bring the injured inside.

Wounds were revealed beneath hasty bandages and shrouding talons. Patches of fur and feathers were cut away, giving way to gashes and bruises. The surgeon, however, was hurrying to save a pegasus stallion. His right foreleg was gone, torn from its socket, and he had begun going into shock.

"Faust dammit!"

Several of the staff moved about to mend the broken bodies of the soldiers back together, using all manner of healing potions and spells. After the death of Sombra, Rainbow Dash had flown ahead, and almost immediately turned back.

The gore and viscera that had been spread across the snow was beginning to dry by now, and Princess Luna was tallying the dead, a deed Celestia never had the stomach for.

"Patient stabilized, good job team." The group then rushed to another mare who had begun violently thrashing against her restraints.

Noble Force watched the scene with some sadness, but he could understand… just barely. The pegasus shifted his left forehoof, but halted before he could roll his shoulder. After an examination from the field medic, it turned out the wreckage he was hit by had bruised his collarbone and fractured his left forehoof slightly.

Silk Shot was better off, suffering only some scratches and quite a few bruises from high-impact blows. His hearing in one ear was weakened, but it wasn't significant enough to be deemed crippling.

Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity had taken to assisting however they could in the makeshift medical clinic. Rarity and Pinkie Pie hadn't done well with the more grievous wounds, and Applejack could only handle so much.

After a missing wing, the farm pony hurried out of the room designated for emergency treatment. Rainbow Dash had taken to assembling a search party for any Crystal ponies that might have gone missing during the fighting.

After all the ponies were present and accounted for, however, she found herself back with Twilight and Fluttershy, examining the larger-than-life extraterrestrial inside the prison of space alloy.

"He's losing an awful lot of blood, poor thing…" Fluttershy's expression saddened, and Twilight put a reassuring hoof across the pegasus' neck.

"Everypony's doing everything they can, Fluttershy," Twilight spoke softly into her friend's ear. Rainbow Dash paced about Sevilin's body, curiously inspecting the pointed ends of his fingers.

"Did he really go hoof-to-hoof with Sombra?" She leaned in close, only to be shooed away by a mare tending to his jaw. "There's no way…"

Twilight gazed once again at the twisted metal and the equally-twisted body of Jacobs. "Princess Cadence said she saw him fighting the King head-on. She said that Sevilin's magic overpowered Sombra's at one point, and that the blast was like nothing she had ever seen before." Twilight gestured a hoof around the group. "Whatever Sevilin did wound up severely wounding Sombra and destroying the town square."

Rainbow looked back at the human man. "So that huge light… was him and Sombra?" She took a step back. "Twi, you said he didn't have any magic."

"That's what he said! He said that his race abused technology for… war…"

Rainbow Dash quirked an eyebrow. "He said that?"

Twilight shook her head. "No! He wrote that, in his journal. He had written, 'While I still long for my friends, I do not mourn the Empire and its abusive misuse of military technology.' He wasn't talking about the Crystal Empire, or the Griffins! He was explaining his own race! He comes from an imperialistic society, an advanced one at that, if his weapons are of any testament. Which means he served under an Emperor! Emperor's are bound to keep important historical documents with their people, so that means that Sevilin must have some primary documents back at Sanctuary!"

Twilight shivered with excitement. "We'll be able to know so much about his people! Can you imagi-!"

A thunderous roar drowned Twilight's excited statement out, and everypony's ears flipped down in a desperate attempt to shield themselves. Twilight looked up, and saw the massive shape of a threatening golden form wrapped in designs of red and white.

Large cylindrical shapes on either side of the chariot-shaped object hummed powerfully, and the monstrous shape halted its rapid movement directly over the battered man. The medical team, frightened by the advancing creature, fled to the palace to fetch any standing soldiers.

Rainbow Dash darted to Twilight. "TWI! WE GOTTA GO, COME ON!"

Twilight Sparkle, stunned by the arrival of the machine, nodded dumbly and let herself be pulled along by her chromatic friend.

Lightning Dust exploded from a window in the palace, darting straight to Sevilin. Orion ran out from the shattered doorway, following in her wake, behind him a squad of Praetorians.

Lightning Dust placed herself between her Lord and the brilliantly bright machine. It halted in mid-descent, and regarded her with a black, bulbous eye, a blue pulsating dot watching her soullessly. A crackle later, and the beast spoke.

"Move away from Conquistador Sevilin Jacobs immediately," it said with a strong, feminine voice. Dust lowered into a combat stance, staring right at the blue eye.

"I won't let you, whatever you are, hurt him."

Several shields surrounded their master, and Orion pointed his weapon directly at the foe. "Ditto."

The machine responded in kind by deploying its many weapons, the sliding panels revealing the grand armament it brought. "All offensive systems online. Move away from Conquistador Sevilin Jacobs immediately. Failure to comply will result in the deaths of… eight living beings, bar Conquistador Sevilin Jacobs."

Lightning and Orion glanced at the heavy weaponry. The same tubes that Sevilin had used were mounted on either side, or rather three were on either side. Two long-barreled weapons swiveled to and fro on the undercarriage, and the blue eye began to glow ever more.

Dust lowered her stance, preparing to pounce. "I would give my life to protect Lord Sevilin…"

The machine's thrumming halted, and the weapons that had begun charging joined the cease-fire. "Repeat statement."

Orion tilted his head. "Huh?"

"Repeat previous statement, sea-green aerial equine."

Dust straightened up, puffing her chest out. "I would die to protect Lord Sevilin Jacobs' life, be it from a soldier or from a demon!"

The machine hovered closer to her, the blue blinking dot regarding her with interest. The eye suddenly focused on Orion, and the hulking machine flew closer… and lower.

"And what of you? State allegiance."

"To Sevilin…"

The machine paused, then sheathed its weapons. "Clear the area, medical assistance for Conquistador Sevilin Jacobs has arrived."

A smaller, gleaming white machine with a more slender appearance speedily approached the group. "Do you have any idea how long that flight was? My thrusters are sore just from watching the ground fly past! I shouldn't have to watch the dirt, ew!" It spoke in a more chipper, friendly male tone.

"Hello! Would you kindly move so I can save my master's life?" The Praetorians did so immediately. "Thanks, chaps! Now skidaddle, don't want any contaminants and whatnot."

Everyone but the two machines cleared the area around Sevilin.

"Welp, this is pretty bad. AMA, sweetie, could you pop this tin can?"

The much larger machine produced two conical shapes that radiated electricity. The two objects fired faint blue tethers to Sevilin's armor, and began peeling it off rapidly, like tin foil.

The stripped alloy hybrid was thrown away to the side, the heavy material hitting the ground with a solid THUNK.

Sevilin's body was badly lacerated and covered in bruises.

"HOLY TITS! What'd you guys do, throw him in a bouncy castle filled with live dynamite? This'll take me weeks to fix, if not months!" The little bot began coating Sevilin in a blue flickering light, coating his body several times. It continued to blabber on.

"I mean, I've seen him tear through countless spooks in the past, with barely a scratch on him!" The medical robot turned toward the stripped away suit on his little jets of energy. "Oh! That's why! He wasn't even using the Conquistador! Oh, funny story about how that got its name, it starts a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away!"

Long ago, in 8th century, Rome survived the fanatical onslaught of Christian zealots. Finally quelled, Emperor Augustus III executed the last remaining Christian personally, forever ensuring Rome's dominance.

New nations had already begun to grow and shape themselves, with the Slaviiks and Neo-Asiatics to the East, and the Spaniards to the South-West. Thirsting for dominion, the Great Emperor Augustus slowly spread the unstoppable Roman armies into Slaviik territory, while using scouts to determine the Spaniards' use.

Surprised at what they found, the scouts returned to report a thriving political, economic, and communal system in operation. With a weak military, however, the Romans began salivating over the promise of new territory and a perfect access point to the sea.

Taking the first opportunity they had, the Romans sent a Legion to demand Spain from the natives, and quickly acquired them as a tax-paying territory. Slow culture infusion would soon convert all of Spain's population into Romans. However, in this time, the Romans grew fascinated with the Spanish language and courageous events they held.

Mostly to do with bulls, the Spaniards would face down the burly beasts with a blade, or challenge their speed by outrunning a stampede of the raging cattle through the city streets.

Enamored with their seemingly courage-filled culture, the Romans began deriving elements from their society to be used in their own. For centuries afterward, the Romans continued to study and dissect the cultures and languages of any nation it had owned or conquered, keeping tabs on the world as they grew.

"That's… an amazing story," Twilight finally commented, suddenly regretting not having any note-taking materials on her person at the time. Or would it be 'on her pony'? Bah, screw it.

The sleek, white pill-shaped machine didn't look up from its work, but hummed happily.

"Yes, I do suppose it's pretty good, huh? Too bad us Romans wound up basically killing everyone off anyway."

The beings assembled there did a double-take. "W- what?"

"Oh yeah, us Romans are some downright nasty sons-a-bitches! Genocidal, warring, fear-mongering, power hungry monsters! Of course our music is grand and our theatre is absolutely marvelous if I do say so myself, but… There is a certain art in war that Romans seem to carry and perform so well."

"But Sevilin is-"

"WOAH! Hey, AMA, help me stabilize him NOW! He's suffering a seizure, outside source! He's being provoked. Scanning brainwave patterns immediately." While the behemoth machine loomed over Sevilin and attached cables to the sides of his head, the pill machine went quiet.

After several seconds, he stated, "Sevilin is experiencing heightened brainwave activity."

"…"

Twilight rolled her eyes and addressed the group with a casual wave of her hoof.

"He's dreaming." Next Chapter: Chapter 11- ...Made of This Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 7 Minutes