"Balance must be restored!" boomed the voice of Cost and Caution, one of Three Rogue Suzerains. the last of their kind. He turned his right eye to face the Suzerain of Propriety, who was seated (as was proper) several steps lower than himself, and continued. Ruffling his multi-hued feathers, he clacked his beak once and said, "Only We, on this vessel, have truly retained what it means to be Gooksyu-Gubru!" He raised his voice and addressed the room at large. "Only WE, will restore our Race to Its former Glory!" All assembled, Gubru, Kwackoo, and other servants alike all raised their voices.
"Zoooonnnn!!"
Cost and Caution turned his left eye to the Military and demanded, "Status on the Tymbrimi traitor? Traitor to the Races! Traitor to the Galaxies!! Has it been found?"
The newly-gendered General clacked his beak in response and replied, "The traitor's engines were damaged in the attempt to capture it, and left a trail that was clear to follow." He bowed. "This vessel will reach its destination in three days' time."
"Signal the rest of our fleet to join us once we have achieved success!" He addressed the vast room again. "And then the destruction of the Tymbrimi and their k'chu-non allies will commence!"
"Zoooonnnn!!"
Bincaltha was barely over the shock of her com signal's input when her vessel was suddenly surrounded by light! She shielded her eyes and looked out, only to see dozens of the natives clustered about, some standing and pointing what looked to be primitive weapons, and others hovering in the air! A purple being raised its voice and called out in its language, and her shock intensified as she recognized it as a slightly changed, but passable version of GalSeven! How...how could these beings on a far-off, uncharted world be speaking a Galactic language?!
The purple being repeated its command, so she stood, unlatched her door, and stepped outside. Immediately, she could feel the tension in the air increase, as well as that anomaly from before she'd been unable to place, but now was highly concentrated. Whatever it was, it seemed to radiate from these beings, and as she drew her attention to the purple being, it seemed to emanate most strongly from it. Bincaltha raised her hands to shoulder height in the universal gesture of compliance, as the creatures leveled their weapons and stepped forward but at a sharp word from the purple one they stood back and waited. It slowly approached her, and announced, "I am The Princess Twilight Sparkle. Who are you and what are you doing here?"
Bincaltha swallowed, then slowly bent to one knee. "I am T'yn challa' Thrii Bincaltha, Daughter and Scioness of the House of Chani, of the Tymbrimi. I was being pursued by the enemies of my House, and crashed landed on your world. It was not my intention to cause alarm or to pose any danger to you or to your subjects, Your Highness."
Twilight studied her silently, then asked, "And these...enemies...who are they? Do they pose a threat to us?"
Bincaltha's tendrils waved uncertainly, which made several of Twilight's guards tense. "I...do not know, Your Highness. I do know that they are quite hostile towards myself, and will not stop until I am captured."
At this, Twilight frowned. "Do they know where you are?"
She nodded. "According to my instruments...they are on their way here. They will arrive in three of your days' time at the very least."
The Princess grew silent, then said, "Please wait a moment," then turned away and approached what appeared to be a group of ordinary-looking beings who were not arrayed in armor as were the guards: there was the pink one she'd seen earlier, a yellow one with wings, an orange one, a white one with the same bony protuberance on its forehead as the Princess, and finally a blue one with a multi-faceted shock of follicles upon its head, along with wings.
There was also a hooded one with striped fur and a penetrating stare, who was slightly larger than the six, who never took its eyes off of her while the others spoke together. Even though that one was clearly not of her species, she could almost feel the lurrunanu, the "enticing of suspicion," emanating from it as it continued to stare at her. Bincaltha resolved not to turn her back on that one.
"Well, girls...you heard her: what do you all think?"
"Ah say we find out more about these here "enemies" o' hers," said Applejack. "Ah shore don't like the sound o' that, especially if'n they're a-comin' here!"
"AJ's right!" said Dash, smacking her hooves together as she hovered next to them. "If these things want a fight, we gotta be ready for 'em! I say we get the Elements together and blast 'em as soon as they show up!"
"That...might be a bit premature, dear," said Rarity. "How do we know they'll be hostile to us?" She turned and looked briefly at the alien, then turned back to her friends and lowered her voice. "Perhaps...they'll simply content themselves to taking her, and be on their way? As far as I see it, this conflict of theirs doesn't seem to concern any of us...so why should we get involved?"
Twilight nodded. "That's an excellent point, but I'm not comfortable with the idea of a sentient creature being captured by a hostile force...even if we don't know all the factors...yet."
Pinkie raised her hoof, "If it helps, she's not the "bad" thing my Pinkie Sense was warning me about earlier, Twilight."
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "She's not?" Pinkie shook her head.
"No...I'm still getting strong feelings from her, but none of them are bad...at least...they're not directed at us." She stared long and hard at Bincaltha, who felt her stare and returned it, then she addressed her friends once more. "She's very afraid of these enemies, and has been for quite a long time...and I think...they won't be very friendly to us, either."
Just as Twilight was about to speak further, Fluttershy spoke up and said, "I...I think we should help her. She seems nice...and...if it were any of us, lost on another world...I would want to be helped."
Twilight bowed her head and went silent. Finally, she said, "This is too important for us to decide on our own. I'm going to order she be taken to Canterlot, and speak to Celestia and Luna." Just as she was turning to deliver this message to the alien, she was stopped by Zecora, who had kept her distance but had been watching the Tymbrimi the entire time.
"Your Highness, please? A word with thee?"
Twilight halted and looked up at her. "Yes, Zecora?"
The Shaman nodded at the Tymbrimi and said, "This creature is not who she seems; I saw her change by unnatural means..."
Twilight's eyes widened. " 'Change?' Change how?"
Keeping her gaze on the alien, she said, "She altered her body when she came from her ship, and then into the night she did quietly slip." She looked at the Princess and added, "If I had not seen it with my own eyes, we would have no way of telling the ways she could lie." Twilight looked at the alien with new eyes at this news, and then her brow furrowed even further when Zecora bent down, pointed at something on the alien's belt with a hoof, and whispered in her ear.
Stepping back up to the now-standing Tymbrimi, she said, "What is that on your hip?" Bincaltha was startled, but as she instinctively reached for it, Twilight raised her voice and said, "Don't move!" Lighting her horn, she enveloped the alien in her magic and completely immobilized her, as the Tymbrimi's eyes grew wide.
"How...how are you...doing that?" she whispered in awe. But Twilight stared back at her, now unfriendly. Removing the object from her belt, she levitated it in front of the female's face.
"I asked you a question: what is this thing?"
Bincaltha looked at her, then to the assembled, then back to her. "It...it is purely for defense, Your Highness. I...should have said."
She grimly nodded. "Yes. You should have. You've been standing here before my ponies, with my friends, holding an unknown weapon, and yet you said nothing." She looked back at the Shaman, and then turned back to her and said, "Is there anything else about you we should know?"
Almost completely in shock, she stuttered, "I...I do not know what you mean...Your Highness!" She swallowed and added, "...but I will answer any questions you may have, that I promise you!"
Twilight held her aloft for a few more moments, then released her and said to her guards, "Bind her and take her to Canterlot; we will see what Princess Celestia has to say to her."
Bincaltha stared in awe about her as she was led to the throne of the Ruler. The ceiling was high, and soared above her, with guiled tapestries on the stained glass windows adorning the walls on either side of the Grand Throne Room. The floor was marble, shot through with seams of purple and gold, with a thick, carpeted runner that led up to the throne to which she was being taken. Before her sat two beings in like appearance to the purple one who had captured her, though the White One was much larger, and even from the distance Bincaltha could sense Her aura was many times stronger. To that One's right saw a smaller, but no less intense darker One, Who's gaze was the match of that hooded being from out in the forest, both piercing and direct.
But what truly caught her attention was the presence of other, apparently sentient beings in attendance: there were creatures who resembled the ones who had taken her, but with wings made of leather, slit pupils, and sharp canines. These were arrayed in armor as guards, but their trappings were darker and more...militant, as were their weapons. She almost stopped walking when she noticed among them one who could have passed for a Gubru...from the face, at least. This one had the body of a feline predator but the beak, talons, and wings of an avian. She continued walking before she could be ushered further, but her mind was in turmoil: how many k'chu-noni did this planet hold?!
The Cosmic implications were astounding! Within the governance of the Five Galaxies, a Great Race that possessed a number of "client races" increased Their status among the other Races, so the more One...controlled, if that was the correct term, the greater the status of that Great Race. She shut her eyes as the tutsunucann formed unbidden through her tendrils, while trying to force down the "dreadful expectation" that suddenly sought to overwhelm her.
If the Ones pursuing her discovered this planet had a host of k'chu-noni, they could potentially lay claim to it and increase Their status, thus becoming even more powerful...
Bincaltha opened her eyes and shuddered. As the only member of her species present, she could legally claim this world for the Tymbrimi...an act she knew her Enemies would never allow.
If her life had not been forfeited before, there was now no chance of her survival once they arrived.
"My protégé informs Me you are called...T'yn challa' Thrii Bincaltha...and that you are of the Tymbrimi race, is that correct?"
Bincaltha bowed and nodded. "Yes, Your Majesty, all correct." Though the White One's voice sounded gentle, the young female was still on edge, both from her earlier conclusions and from that...display of unknown energy that the purple One had used to hold her captive, an energy she could sense all around her...but emanating most powerfully from the One before her.
The One smiled. "Then, you may address Me as Celestia." She indicated the One to Her right. "This is My sister, the Princess Luna, Co-Ruler of this land of Equestria. How did you come here, and what is your purpose?"
Bincaltha shifted the shackles binding her wrists and said, "Of that... I am not certain, Your High---" she started, but changed at the look she was given, "...Celestia. I was being pursued by Enemies of my Race, when I instructed my ship to take me to the nearest habitable planet." She paused and looked around the throne room at all the creatures watching her. "Your planet, indeed this entire System, does not appear on any known chart or history, so I do not know how I was able to reach you. I am not an expert in warp travel, but if I were to guess I must have gone through a heretofore-unknown pocket of folded space, to be able to have traveled so great a distance."
Celestia's smile grew brighter. "Fascinating!" She looked past the alien to her former student, and laughed, "Twilight, this sounds like something in which you would like more information!" But before Twilight could answer, Celestia held up a hoof. "In due time." She lit her horn, and said, "I believe we can do away with those restraints," as with an audible >click!< they fell off, and she levitated them to the nearest guard. She then arose and descended the Throne. With a nod of Her head, she said, "Walk with Me...let us speak in private." She looked over Her shoulder and said, "Luna, come join us," and then smiled down at Twilight as She passed her and said, "You may come as well!"
"This is going to be very interesting!"