> Prisoner and Savior: Part 2
>  by efug25g
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 16: Planning Treason or not?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

During the time when the strange purple pony froze everyone inside the ship under lockdown with its strange powers coming out of its horn, Ash felt it flowing through her as she froze in horror not knowing what is happening. The female Mandorian freaked out in fear that it may be her end. The next thing she knew is that the pony slowly unfroze her as she almost collapsed on the ground while bleeding from her left hoof. Unfortunately, as most of the Sectaniums retreated from the ship they were about to capture, Ash got caught up in the chaos unable to keep up with them. Before she knew it, Ash gets knocked out by an unknown creature from behind, making her fall flat face on the metal floors.

In the present, after the ship departure from the Mandor Fueling Station, they continued on their course towards Equestria. Twilight was carried by Zeck to the medical ward through the ship's hallways. Along the way, most of the crew members secure the ship of any stragglers. As soon as they entered the ward, Twilight was about to protest. However, because she isn't familiar with this ship, Twilight can't go against Zeck's decisions despite being the ruler of Equestria. Other than that, the pain from her injured hoof is slowly getting worse as Twilight could not move it too often. The next thing she knew, Chimone appeared from outside of the medical ward with a medkit in his lower right hand.

Once Zeck set Twilight down on a hospital bed, Chimone took out several medical supplies from a medkit. One of them happens to be a small, white dress wrapping bundled up in a roll. The other was a pair of tweezers. As Chimone came closer to Twilight, Zeck stood up and gave the four-armed alien some space.

"Twilight, can you please show me your hoof?" Chimone asked.

As soon as Twilight raised her injured hoof, Chimone used the tweezers with his upper right hand. 

"Do you need anything before I can treat your injuries?"

"No, I'll take my chances." Twilight reluctantly said as Chimone prepares to do the operation.

As he puts his tweezers closer to her hoof, Twilight grunted in pain while trying not to scream as she felt the tweezers enter into her flesh. During that time, Twilight immediately gripped onto Zeck's left hand with her other hoof while trying to let out the pain.

Zeck grunted at the same time as he felt a bit of pressure on his hand caused by Twilight's uninjured hoof. He couldn't tell which part of Twilight is more pressurized, her powers or her physical strength. Either way, he gritted his teeth in little agony while being forced to kneel when using his right hand to pry her hoof off him, thinking that his hand is about to break. 

"Ugh. Ow! I think you can let go now, Twilight! He's already done."

Upon seeing Chimone remove the tweezers from the wound on her other hoof, Twilight lets go of Zeck's hand as she took a few deep breathes. At the time, Chimone used the dress cloth to wrap around Twilight's injured hoof to stop the bleeding.

For Zeck, he took a closer look at his squeezed hand. Thankfully, he didn't have any broken bones on it. However, he still felt a bit of stiff pain coming from it as his hand turned red, showing a small hoof mark on it.

"T-Thanks, Chimone." Twilight said, feeling relieved that her injury was treated at the moment.

"No problem, your Majesty. But seriously, did you really have to confront that Warrior by yourself? Imagine if he had you under his mind control. It would've got worse than just getting shot at." Chimone replied, before scolding her of her actions.

"Sorry, Chimone, but I already fought with people like them even before I became like this." Twilight retorted in a stern voice. "Anyway, where is Xul?"

"She'll be coming too, your highness. Thankfully, she was just out cold when they attacked us." Zeck answered briefly before turning towards Chimone.

"Kcez, nac I keaps ot uoy edistuo?" Chimone told the Captain.

Upon hearing Chimone's voice, he got up on his feet before leaving Twilight and Xul in the ward to recover.

After Zeck and Chimone left the Medical ward, Twilight turns to see Xul sitting on her bed holding her head with her left hand as if she had a big headache.

However, Xul immediately got back on her feet before going up to Twilight.

"I think they're both up to something, Twilight. " Xul told her before she left the medical ward, leaving Twilight confused.

In the hallways, Xul took out a small device from her pocket before making her way towards where Zeck and Chimone are at.



Inside the briefing room, Zeck and Chimone decided to make a private conversation.

"I still don't know why would she be the one ruling over her own homeland. Something doesn't seem to add up." Chimone pondered, going over the results of her immediate actions. "I mean, she looks pretty young for an alien monarch. If our fellow UFF leaders see her in-person, they may not take her roles very seriously since we don't have enough evidence to prove that she is worth anything to them."

"Her supernatural, inhuman powers are one thing but she didn't even tell anyone what to do yet." Zeck replied. "Not that it matters, we all should be grateful that Twilight freed us from Terram. We all owe her this much. I'm pretty sure that her fellow ponies all respect her when she was able to get along with them first, before gaining that much power back on her planet."

"That's not what I'm getting at. She didn't even pulverize those interlopers when they attempted to take over our ship when she had the chance. She hasn't resorted to any authoritative control yet." Chimone snapped at the UFF Captain as he shook his head in negativity. "Whoever made her ruler must have some foolish, naive votes aiming towards her. The other higher ranking UFF commanding officers may not be able to see Twilight as a important ally like we did. In fact, they may try to order us to take over her planet by force, using it as a base of operations while holding Twilight hostage."

"That may be a bad decision to make by the higher authorities. If she finds out about this, Twilight might......." Zeck retorted before Chimone interrupted him.

"Sorry, Zeck. I think Equestria needs a better leader. I don't think she can help us if she let those enemies off easily like that." Chimone concluded. "She may not be that powerful than she looked. Besides, I know how the leaders of my race handle their enemies whenever they see them. So, if they aren't convinced that she is any use to them as well, then once we reach her homeland, we're going to do this my way, not your way. After all, I was once the Royal Consort of the Queen that used to rule over my homeland until she was assassinated by the Sectaniums."

"You cannot be serious, Chimone." Zeck said, angrily at Chimone before being interrupted by another alien who is part of the UFF. "We told Twilight that we already pledged ourselves to treat every alien race nicely as well as helping free innocent lives from the Sectanium Empire. Also, we'd promise that we'd keep Twilight safe and that we'll discuss how we can help defeat the Sectanium once we arrive in her homeland, didn't we?!"

"Maybe so, but we still need to consult all of this with the other UFF rebel leaders as soon as we meet up with them at their nearest military port in our territory." Chimone said, going back on their promise with Twilight. "It's still possible that our fellow rebel leaders will not agree with Twilight being the leader of her own ponykind."

"That's the last thing I would want to expect. Well, I hope it doesn't come to that!!" Zeck wagered.

In a surprise, the UFF alien appeared right behind Zeck in a worried expression.

"Captain, we're receiving a message from the Sectanium Empress." The alien reported in.




At the ship's command bridge, the men operating there hear the doors open up as they see Captain Zeck and Chimone appear before them. Once both of them enter the bridge, the operators saluted the Captain as one of them opens up a huge, wide screen in front of them.

As the screen appeared, an large image of a female Sectanium alien is seen with an angry look on her face. In Zeck's theory, she felt totally flabbergasted and frustrated for a very good reason. 

She was seen with red-purplish skin and is wearing a black royal gown reaching down to her ankles. She has a golden circlet on her head and has two huge diamond-like earrings hanging from both of her sides. As she makes her announcement to Zeck on the screen, the Empress makes her question loud and clear.

"This is Empress Vanista Rantu of the Sectanium Empire. Are you the real Captain of the ship?" The Empress asked sternly towards Zeck Stone.
> Chapter 17: Twilight's mock warning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Inside the ship's brig, Ash slowly snaps out of her consciousness only to see the purple pastel horse with a bandaged leg appear before her outside of the cell. When the female Mandor tried to get up, she finds herself inside the cell with a chain wrapped around her left ankle. As she looked around, Ash realized that she is now being held prisoner onboard this ship.

As for Twilight, she was already warned in advance that the Mandors are in league with the Sectanium for only Faust knows how long. As much as she thought about trying to form a friendship bond with a few Mandors, Twilight is still hesitant since they don't understand her language yet. Because they allied themselves with her captors, Twilight feared that very soon she will be forced to fight them as she would fight against the Sectanium that threatened her recently. So, Twilight cautiously approached Ash with her horn lightning up again, with her wings stretch apart. Xul appeared from behind Twilight as she held the activated translator in her hands. Before Twilight had a chance to say anything, the female Mandor felt a frightful chill crawling up her spine as she started out her conversation.

"L-Listen EQ-3. I don't know why are you so obsessed in trying to get away from us but it's going to get worse if you keep resisting the Sectanium Empire." Ash reluctantly told the purple horse, making it growl and snort with anger. "I-I mean, the Sectanium Empire is known as the superior race above all others for they believe that freedom leads to suffering."

Refusing to accept any of it, Twilight snarled in fury as she approached further towards the imprisoned Mandor. Upon seeing such a hostile gesture, Ash started getting more and more nervous.

"Seriously EQ-3, what's your problem?! I-I mean, I already saw what you did back there before I got caught. You may have got the drop on one of our Sectanium warriors, but the rest their entire fleet will be hunting you down. They are famous for their mind-controlling abilities and all it takes is for them to look at you in the eye before you're finished. So, you might as well surrender to them while you still can."

Twilight sneered at Ash while lighting up her horn.

"You have to understand. You've got nowhere to go, nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide. So why are you trying to foolishly fight back against the Sectanium Empire?!" 

With sudden response, Twilight finally blew a gasket as she slammed on the cell with very loud, excruciating force with both of her front hooves, letting loose a small shockwave that caught the female Mandor off-balance. 

*POW!*

Upon impact, Ash felt a powerful, physical force that shook the entire cell she is in as the Mandor fell on butt in a shocking yelp. As she groaned in pain, she looked up to see EQ-3's eyes lit up in a glowing white light white clenching her teeth in fury.

"SPARE ME YOUR EXCUSES, YOU UNGRATEFUL, NO-GOOD, LOWLIFE, PIECE OF TRAITOROUS HORSECRAP!!!" Twilight shouted in a Royal Canterlot voice, which is processed and understood thanks to the Translator Xul is using. 

Upon hearing such intense loud noise coming from the translator, both Xul and Ash jolted in total fright as they almost covered their ears in agony. Grunting from minimal pain from her ears, Xul felt surprised to think that Twilight would respond in such a palpable effect.

"T-Twilight, please not so loud." Xul told the purple alicorn in a calm voice.

After taking a deep breath and with her eyes turning back to normal, Twilight resumes her conversation with the activated translator, this time with her normal voice.

"Honestly Mandorian, I haven't really did anything wrong to deserve that horrid fate on Terram and everypony in my kingdom is worried sick of me!!" 

"Did you just say 'kingdom'?!" Ash gasped in confusion. Her eyes widened with horror before realizing that she and her allies are making a big mistake for some crazed reason. "What a minute, you're not saying that........"

"Well where I came from, there is no such thing as 'Superior race above all others'; not from the way I see it. There's always the first time for everything; that's what every pony would say!!" Twilight added in. "Slavery?! False imprisonment?! Mutilation?! What a horrible way to live by!!!! Other than that, you do not have the right to address me by such a stupid name like that."

"Uh, Xul? Who the hell is this gal???" Ash asked the female Sectanium, not understanding where the purple sentimental horse is getting at. Not getting an answer from Xul, Ash asked the pony directly.

"I mean, just who do you think you are talking to me like that?!"

As Twilight took a deep breath again, she turned towards Xul if she can finally reintroduce herself in front of the captured Mandor. In silence, Xul nodded at Twilight as if she gestured "yes."

"My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle. The alicorn ruler of Equestria!!!" The purple alicorn spoke in a moderate Canterlot voice, surprising Ash. "And NO!! I will not surrender before any hostile alien, neither will I let them do to my people what they tried to do to me!!!!"

Upon hearing it loud and clear, Ash's face totally drained into a paler green color and she started sweating profusely. At the same time, Ash's jaw dropped all the way to the floor with her eyes widened with total shock and disbelief.

"WHAT??? N-No way!!! T-T-That's not......" Ash stuttered in fear over what EQ-3 just said through the translator. "You can't be serious gal."

The moment Ash turned to face Xul, she tried clarifying about what Twilight just said to her.

"S-She's not being serious is she, Xul?! Tell me she isn't!!!"

"Sorry, Ash. If what Twilight is saying about herself is true, then we will have to answer to her people once we reach her homeland. I already had several other guesses beforehand, but now that she mentioned it, after Zeck told me what she told him, it was all a big mistake dragging her into this mess. " 

"B-B-But why??"

"Let's just say that I was fairly elected unanimously by my own ponies due to my undisputed heroism, honor, and friendship." Twilight said briefly before walking towards Xul with a huff. "Anyway, do you really wanted to fight for the Sectaniums?!"

"Don't even think that this will be over so quickly, your royal stubbornness. The Sectanium Empress will have your head if she finds out about this. Your planet will be hers and she will make you pay dearly for humiliating the Empire. Besides, I'm just doing this all for the money. After all, if it's what the Empress wants, it's what she will get." Ash shouted back, bluntly.

"Money?! HA!! A likely story!!" Twilight sneered. "Empress, you say?! I take it she is the one ruling over the Sectanium race, eh?!"

"You better believe it, young lady!!" Ash hissed. "She'll stop at nothing to get what she wanted, even if she were to take matters into her own hands."

"Anyway, whoever this Empress of yours is, she can't hope to beat me that easily because she's isn't the only selfish tyrant I fought for I already faced others like her in the past."

"We'll see about that, Princess!!" Ash leered as she sees Twilight leave the brig.

As for Xul, the moment she sees Twilight disappear out the door, she went up to Ash's cell before retorting the latter.

"Sorry for letting Twilight bring all that up, but when I heard who she really was, I knew I should feel pretty ashamed of myself. Well, we both need to know the truth behind Twilight's sentimentalism sooner or later. So, once we reach Equestria, you and I both owe Twilight's people big time."

"W-What if she's lying?!" Ash asked, thinking that it's just another excuse for Twilight to scare her and her allied race. "This has to be some sort of trick, right?! S-She's just making all that up to scare the living crap out of us, have us beg for mercy, and enslave us in the end, right?!"

"Really?! After how she escaped from the Inspection Room, how she helped a dozen prisoners of war escape, how she spared me despite the way I treated her when I was just working undercover, and how she gave that Warrior a shock and slammed her shield barrier at a large group of guards? Do you really think she'd be lying after pulling all of those stunts so far??!!!"  Xul snapped back at Ash. "Never in all my years have I seen such an alien creature pulling off that many stunts and lived. In fact, something is telling me that Twilight had no need for any slaves to serve under her will."

"You mean, you're going to let her get away with that?!"

"I'm sorry, Ash but maybe if the Empress came to her senses when she still had the chance and listened to me right from the start, none of this would've happened!!" Xul retorted. "If she did, I wouldn't have betrayed her and left her homeland in disgrace."

"You're a fool, Xuliana Lilith Sona!!!" Ash hissed, saying the traitorous sectanium by her full name. "The Empress pays us a lot of money doing jobs like that!!!"

"Well, I'm not going to put up with the Empress' crazed antics any longer. Besides, if Twilight were able to do what the Empress could not, then I might as well have to convince her and the rest of my people to start all over again. In fact, pretty sure the Mandors, like yourself, will have to start over again too. Think about it!!" Xul said, ending her conversation with Ash.

Feeling lost from what Xul just said, Ash muttered in self-pity as she sees Xul leave the brig.





Back on the bridge, the face of the Sectanium Empress glared aggressively, from the screen, at Captain Zeck while asking him a question.

"Are you the real captain of this ship?" The angry Empress asked before bellowing in anger. "Answer me!!!"

"Yes, I am. What's it to you, lady?!" Zeck sneered.

"Watch your tongue, boy!!!" The Empress shouted furiously. "I just heard about the incident that occurred on one of my prison facilities. My men that were at that Mandor Fueling Station were running scared after being mysterious struck and traumatized by an unknown force. Worse, one of my warriors suffered a cardiac arrest after being struck by some strange alien creature amongst your crew. So, I had to recall them back to the capital. Well, guess what?! My patience is wearing thin. You and your foolish band of traitorous misfits are already sitting ducks out there. Yet, you dare try to escape from the grip of my best soldiers and Warrior, will you?!"

"So what if I did?! Well, I've got news for you Empress. We, the UFF, have came across a very powerful ally alien that won't really give up without a fight. Better yet, we are already underway of bring her back home to where she belongs first and it is done for a very valid reason."

"You expect me to believe that?!" The Empress sneered as she narrowed maliciously towards Zeck as her face gets closer to the huge screen. "What makes you think that this alien you speak of is going to be more than a match for me?!" 

"You'll see very soon, Empress. That's right, you will all see!!" Zeck cackled, annoying the Empress.

Fuming, the Empress growled in frustration for not having her men recapture the prisoners that escaped from Terram. 

"I can't wait to get to the bottom of those series of unfortunate, unexplained events. Well, you better brace yourself young man. I'll hunt you down, along with your ilk if it's the last thing I do!!!!"

It was the last thing the Empress shouted before the huge screen disappeared from the bridge.

"Hey, Zeck! Who were you talking to?" A curious little voice spoke from behind the UFF Captain.

Surprised, Zeck turns around to see Twilight standing in front of the entrance, showing a cute facial expression with her eyes widen with curiousity. At the same time, Xul stood next to Twilight with the translator dangling on her belt.

"Oh, um. That was the Empress of the Sectanium Race. She was furious over what happened back at that Mandor Fueling Station." Zeck spoke, sweating nervously.

Upon hearing it, Xul's eyes widened with anxiety as a drop of sweat came down the side of her head. 

"The Empress?!" Twilight clarified. She couldn't tell if she were to be scared or nonchalant. However, when Xul came up to Twilight, she shook her head at the alicorn pony.

"Twilight, please. Let's not mentioned that here." Xul told the pony in a fearful tone. 

"Are you sure?!" Twilight asked the frightened Sectanium woman. "Well, I do need to make sure that my ponies know who they will be dealing too."

"I'll explain later!" Xul reprimanded. "For now, we have to get as far away from the Sectanium territory as possible."
> Chapter 18: Private Meeting at the UFF Spaceport
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In 6 days of traveling through the Contarium System, Zeck's ship has finally made it out of Sectanium territory and reached the closest UFF port which happens to be a small space station orbiting around a dark-green planet. 

Upon seeing the planet in his sights, Zeck makes his announcement on the PA.

"Attention all aliens and crewmembers. We have arrived at one of the UFF military ports on planet Xarilius. Please stand by as we will prepare to dock for resupply and debriefing."

Upon hearing Zeck's announcement, Twilight still isn't able to understand to much of the voice coming from the public speakers. However, Xul is able to relay the message using the translator just so that Twilight doesn't freak out or feel too worried. Twilight is still feel nervous to think that she might meet up with new creatures from the UFF at the military port. It's a shame that Twilight is the only pony alien onboard Zeck's ship that still couldn't stay social very often due to the language barrier. Xul may be carrying the translator while escorting Twilight on the ship, but no one else is carrying the translator other than the Sectanium woman.

"Are you feeling nervous, Twilight?!" Xul asked, showing some sympathetic concern with the alicorn pony. 

"Well, I'm not sure if they would take me seriously." Twilight said, feeling a bit anxious.

"I'm pretty nervous too. I may be a spy working for the UFF but it's not easy for me to fit right in since they still despise most of my people of their tyranny." Xul added in. "I hope you could forgive me for everything that happen when you were brought into Terram."

"As much as I accept your apology, I'm not the only pony here that you need to beg for forgiveness to." Twilight said, sternly. "I already have other ponies who declared their loyalty to me. So, they will be expecting an apology from you and Ash later on. Also, they may want answers over the story of your so-called ruler as well."

"I understand. Though, I just wish it wasn't like this!!" Xul said, feeling self-pitied by the sins of her people. 

"Now that you mentioned it, I did hear a bit of mumbling earlier as if you had problems with this so-called Empress in front of Ash, right?!" Twilight asked, clarifying Xul's conversation with Ash. "If that's the case, why would you be helping us instead of her even though you're a Sectanium as well? Because, Zeck still hasn't understood why did you betray them."

"Perhaps, I can explain things about the Empress too!" Another female voice spoke from behind Xul, surprising Twilight by the sound of her voice.

As the female alien appeared in front of Twilight, she is seen as another female Sectanium on Zeck's ship. Unlike Xul, she has a yellow-skin color. Earlier, she happens to be one of the prisoners that Twilight also freed. Once she was onboard Zeck's ship, she discarded her prison jumpsuit with a much more better set of clothes. As of now, she was wearing an orange, sleeveless dress with blue shoes. Unfortunately, despite how pretty she is with both body and what she is wearing, Twilight notices a disturbing appearance. For some reason, the female Sectanium has scars all over her bare shoulders, arms, and legs. Worse, she was bald with nothing but a massive red burn mark on her head.

"Who might you be??" Twilight asked, feeling a bit nervous to meet another Sectanium under the same roof.

"My name is Pamela Kimi Herath. You must be Twilight Sparkle. I also happened to be another Sectanium on this ship."  The female alien said, introducing herself to the purple alicorn.

"It's been a pleasure to meet you, Pamela." Twilight said with a happy squeal.

"No problem. But you can call me Pam for short; that's what most of my friends address me as." Pamela said, expressing herself personally before noticing Twilight's adorkable smile.

What a cute little pony!!! Pam thought.

"Where do your loyalties lie, Pam?" Twilight asked in a curious manner.

"I don't know anymore. I used to serve in the Sectanium Army as one of the Empress's finest soldiers while under Trine's command but just like Xul, I betrayed them both." Pam said, in a fearful, reluctant tone.

"Really? Why??" Twilight asked further.

"Well Twilight, the Empress isn't always this tyrannical or ruthless; she didn't really meant to enslave any creature or dominate any planet. She was almost just like you, Twilight; to think that she would rule over her homeland when learning how to get along with other nations peacefully. Not for her, however. She couldn't really do what you did when she ruled over the Sectanium race back there." Xul replied back. "Look, we'll tell you everything we know but only in your private quarters alone."

"Wait Xul, did you say that she is like the Empress?" Pam asked, trying to clarify with Xul's speech with Twilight. 

"Sorry Pam, but I learned from Zeck that she's actually a pony princess ruling over her own homeland Equestria." Xul explained to Pam briefly much to her astonishment.

"Wait, what?! Seriously??" Pam exclaimed.

"You heard her, Pam." Twilight said, pointing out her life's purpose to the yellow-skinned Sectanium. "I'm not abandoning my friends or my subjects just because of some foul alien Empire."

"Well, I'll be. It's an honor to meet you, your majesty!!" Pam said, taking a bow towards the young alicorn.

"You don't actually need to call me that. Just call me Twilight." Twilight said, as she made a small blush across her face. 

"I understand. Thanks for the acquaintance, Twilight." Pam replied, feeling a bit confident in socializing with the alicorn.

"Anyway, what we you two saying about the Empress again?" Twilight continued, allowing Pam and Xul to resume their story of Empress Vanista.





While Xul and Pam did their best to explain Twilight her story before running into her on Terram, Zeck switches the communication lines in hopes of reestablishing contact to the military port in front of him and his ship at the command bridge. 

"Military Port 53FR. This is Captain Zeck Stone of the Blue Lightraider. I have arrived outside of the UFF port. Requesting our ship to be docked!"

In the next minute or two, Zeck could hear a male voice coming from the communication channel he is currently using. 

"Captain Zeck, this is Commander Fenirius Vreni of Military Port 53FR. I accept your request. Please proceed into dock station 19. Our fighters will safely escort you on the way there." The male voice spoke.

"Thank you, Commander." Zeck replied as he ordered the helmsman to proceed towards the Military Port, decreasing the ship's speed to a minimal. 

Several meters outside of the loading docks, Zeck's ship known as the "Blue Lightray," has slowly proceeded into the military port's hangar bays while being escorted by a squad of small fighters. All around the military port, several UFF ships are seen docked in both left and right which all happen to be very similar to that of Zeck's ship. Most of them are standing by, while its crew members and their ship captains remained on guard for any suspicious activity outside of the military port. 

Once the ship was 5 meters closer to the Dock Station, Zeck turned off the ship's engines while the bridge connector latches itself onto the ship's starboard side.

"Captain, we have landed at dock station 19!" One of the ship's operators reported to Zeck.

"Good work, men. You all take five. Me and Chmone will be attending a debriefing with the other UFF leaders inside the military port."

"Yes sir!!" All of the crew members acknowledged in unison, feeling relieved that they're out of enemy territory for now.

While seeing most of his crew men leave the bridge, Zeck and Chmone head down to the exit of the ship only to be greeted by two other UFF leaders.

"Captain Zeck, it's been awhile hasn't it?" A deep, gruntled voice spoke in front of him and Chmone. "I never thought you'd still be alive after being held prisoner for three months."

He was seen as a tall, 10-foot, wolf-like humanoid alien with brown-grey fur all over his face with big furry claws seen as his hands. He is wearing red coat uniform with black straps around his waist. He was also wearing a gray-blue beret on his head and is armed with the same projectile weapons as Zeck is. On his shoulder, he has a red patch embroidered with the "UFF" insignia on it. Zeck recognizes the wolfman alien species as one of his fellow starship captains serving under the UFF.

"Fenirius, I-I...." Zeck replied before he was immediately smacked in the face by one of the UFF Leaders standing on Fenirius' left.

"Captain Zeck Stone, what the hell were you thinking back there?!!" An elderly human approached him in a stern voice, glaring at Zeck with disappointment. "Your reckless act of violating direct orders has left you POW for like three months ago."

The older man is seen wearing a white, naval dress uniform with red linings and has several ranking patches on the upper right of his uniform. His face is filled with old wrinkles and has a long scar on his left cheek.

"Admiral Wellington, please!! I was just helping our people escape from the Sectanium Fleet after they took over one of our planets we were struggling to defend when it went down south."

*Flashback: Three months earlier*

In the orbit of the red planet, a space battle was occurring right outside of its doorstep as several Sectanium warships are closing in on three UFF battlecruisers. In the middle of the fight, the UFF captains are ordered to keep the Sectanium Fleet at bay while the inhabitants of the planet are leaving in droves via dropships. However, the fight is slowly turning against the tide as one of the Sectanium warships started firing a barrage of heavy laser cannons at most of the drop ships leaving orbit.

"All units, fall back. Escort the dropships at once!!!" The Admiral's voice spoke on the public speaker on all three battlecruisers.

As the battlecruisers reversed their engines, they stayed closed to the fleeing dropships. However, they did not realize that the Sectanium warship armed with the laser cannons is making every accurate shot count as they are destroying more innocent refugees instead of letting them escape their demise.

In one of the UFF battlecruisers "Blue Lightray", Zeck Stone, who was wearing his naval uniform at the time, notices that the escaping refugees aren't going to get away in time. So, he ordered his men to ram at the warship that is firing its laser cannons at the escaping refugees.

At the same time, Zeck's ship is immediately received a call from one of the other battlecruisers.

"Captain Zeck, what are you doing?! Get back into formation!!!"

"Sorry, Admiral but their firing upon our dropships overhead. I'll distract them, you get the rest of the refugees to safety."

"Don't be a fool, son!! Get back into formation. That's an order!!!"

Ignoring the Admiral's orders, Zeck's battlecruiser rammed right into the Sectanium warship at full speed. Upon impact, the battlecruiser opened fire at the warship's heavy laser cannons at point-blank range with its missiles and ballistic cannons. In just minutes, the laser cannons are completely destroyed, making the warship completely crippled and stripped of its weaponry.

At first, Zeck was able to succeed in taking down the warship that nearly massacred the surviving refugees. However, in the next minute or so, the other Sectanium warships all armed their weapons at Zeck. The Captain desperately activated the ship's shields to ward off as much enemy firepower as they could before regrouping with the rest of the UFF fleet. 

However, as soon as the enemy ships stopped firing upon Zeck and his crew, one of the warships immediately activated a tractor beam that restrained his ship from moving any further. Before Zeck knew it, his ship gets boarded as her hears shots being fired from the corridors outside of the command bridge. 

As soon as he took out his firearm, the Sectanium Warrior appeared at the doorway to the bridge and engulfed the entire area with a massive, screen of light. The moment Zeck felt the light engulf him, he losses his consciousness as he immediately dropped his weapon. All of this occurred before he was locked up on Terram. 

*End of Flashback.*

"Well, you may have gotten most of our fellow refugees out thanks to your heroic actions. But it doesn't change the fact that it was a reckless plan of action." Wellington added in, scolding Zeck further. "I would've have you demoted for charging at the enemy ship head-on without my permission. Besides, I already tried contacting your ship after they got a hold of you and your crew but with no effort. What's worse, more enemy ships have arrived from the Mandorian Fleet. So, I had no choice but to pull out our remaining ships away from our conquered planet. Thankfully, I was notified by the operator of that message that you just recently sent here."

"With all due respect sir, he was able to escape from Terram in one piece, didn't he?" Fenirius said, proving to a point.

"Silence!!!" Wellington snapped, making the wolf commander flinch in fear. "Since, your efforts, however, helped saved most of the escaping refugees and that you finally hear yourself out to our comrades, I will let this slip by. But, next time notify me in advance before pulling anymore reckless acts."

"Yes sir, it won't happen again!!" Zeck said, bowing down before the Admiral.

"Now then, let's go over a debriefing inside the military port, shall we?!" 





Inside the meeting room at the military port, Zeck and Chmone are sitting in front of Wellington and Fenirius. On the left, there is another alien that happens to be another commanding officer of the UFF, who is a female creature that isn't like Xul or Chmone. 

The female alien happens to be a pink-skinned alien with big yellow eyes and long strands of tentacle-like hair appendages coming down from the back of her head. She is seen with long, skinny arms and legs, which are also pink. Just like Admiral Wellington, she is wearing a UFF naval uniform, except that hers is with a magenta-yellow color. She is sitting down with both of her hands held onto each other while looking at Zeck in a calm manner. She happens to be a medusa-like alien species that formed their allegiance to the UFF after being raided numerous times by the marauding Mandors in the southern sectors of the Ramton.

The female commander addresses herself to Zeck and Wellington as Lady Calaria Monet, Captain of the Battlecruiser "Star Banshee." Her name is seen on her badge. Just like Julius, she too is wearing a naval uniform which is dark-red.

On the right of Wellington, Fenirius is seen sitting down as well while putting both of his grey claws on the table in a formal setting.

"Okay everyone. Now that we're here, we might as well go over what happen over the past two months during the time Zeck was captured by the enemy." Wellington spoke, who became the first to start his announcement to his fellow UFF officers.

"Right after we got most of our drop ships away from the battlefield outside Planet Vinclair, I was able to help escort our surviving refugees to my planet, gaining approval from our native government to seek sanctuary for now." Captain Calaria explained. "So far, we hadn't faced off any attacks from the enemy fleet for a couple of weeks."

"That's good to hear, Calaria." Wellington replied, congratulating the Captain Monet for her actions. "I did manage to get the surviving Battlecruisers at the Military port near Calaria's planet for refueling and resupply. Other than that, the other planets in our territory as still having fragile defenses and security. We still have 28 battlecruisers and 2,455 fighters and troops holding out the defenses so far. Unfortunately, we haven't made enough recruits yet. Our Fleet is slowly taking losses every time we fight against the Sectaniums and Mandors."

"The worst part is, I received reports from my spies that the Sectanium Empire has deployed 12,000 soldiers and 50 Warriors onboard 300 warships from inside their territory. The Empress is making a statement of trying to finish us off as soon as she is ready." Fenirius told the group.

"So Zeck, about this alien named Twilight. Do you think you can explain to us what kind of alien she is? More importantly, why would you think she can help us even out the odds against the alien invaders?" Wellington asked, getting straight to the point.

"Well Julius, this is going to sound pretty crazy. You all may have a hard time trying to understand this but she was the real reason why me and my remaining crew were able to escape from Terram safely." Zeck said, feeling pretty anxious on what is he going to bring up in front of his fellow officers. "She did accepted my hospitality onboard my ship so far."

After a few minutes of explaining, the officers felt totally confused on what is Zeck and Chmone are getting at. In fact, the Admiral himself isn't really what to make of this "Ruler of her Native Homeland of Equestria." Instead, he just made a spit take out of drinking a sip of his favorite wine on the table our of disbelief.

"You're joking, right?! You expect to believe that some alien leading another country would get involved in helping our rebels push back the invaders. All because she displayed some strange powers on Terram that you aren't able to comprehend yet?!" Wellington asked, trying to get all of Zeck's facts straight.

"She may have been pretty reckless facing off one of the Sectanium Warriors at that Fueling Station back there, but she gave all those miscreants quite the scare. I would never been able to make it here if it weren't for her." Zeck added in.

"Are you sure we can trust this Twilight?!" Fenirius grunted in anxiety at Zeck, who is feeling nonchalant and confident.

"If we can learn from her and her kind and how we can counteract the Sectanium's mind controlling abilities, we might as well take our chances with her."

"Does anyone else have any other ally aliens that might help us turn the tide?" Wellington asked Julius and Monet.

After a few minutes of silence, neither Fenirius or Monet could come with any other ideas.

"Zeck, can you bring in Twilight? I do want to see her myself if she is even worth forming an allegiance with." Wellington said, giving out orders to Captain Zeck.

"Right away, sir!!" Zeck acknowledged as he stood up from his seat and saluted the Admiral.

As for Chmone, he felt a bit nervous on how would they react when seeing Twilight. He feared that if they see her as an ordinary pony, they may start laughing at them as if he and Zeck were both fools to make up such a hoax. Worse, they'll try to throw out Twilight as if she were to be useless trash.
> Chapter 19: UFF Admiral Wellington
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After hearing about as much as she can about the Sectanium Empress, Twilight felt a bit paranoid on how to show the tyrannical ruler of the Sectanium Empire the error of her own ways. At the same time, Xul started sobbing to herself as tears came down her eyes while covering her mouth with both of her hands. 

For Pam, she was feeling horrified and traumatized after experiencing her just desserts after going against the Empress of the Sectanium Empire. She even held both of her shoulders while shuddering just thinking about her terrible past.

"I'm so sorry to hear that, ladies." Twilight said with sympathy for both Pam and Xul.

"I'll never forgive her. I mean, I couldn't even forgive myself after for what she did to my friends back at the Sectanium home world."  Xul sniveled, as she closed her eyes, unable to look at Twilight any longer. "I-I just got them all killed. And Vanista, s-she wasn't my friend anymore, she turned into a crazy, selfish witch."

"And besides, she wasn't the same Empress I knew anymore. She completely changed all because she couldn't handle all of that political stress with our neighbors." Pam added in, much to her grief. "I knew I should've thought twice before joining the Sectanium Army back then."

Before Twilight had anymore questions for either Xul or Pam, she heard knocking coming from outside her private quarters.

"Twilight, are you in there?!" Zeck said.

"Sey!!" Twilight replied, in a clear small speech.

"The Admiral of the UFF Fleet wants to see you inside the Military Port!!" Zeck continued as he entered Twilight's private quarters.

As for Xul, she handed the translator to Zeck just when Twilight went with him down the hallways of the ship. The moment she went through the exit of the ship, Twilight sees another cool scenery outside of Zeck's Battlescruiser. 

After seeing Twilight disappear with Zeck, Pam couldn't help but feel just as curious with the live she is living by too.

"Do you think she can help us start over again, as the Princess of Friendship?" Pam asked Xul.

"I sure hope so since we don't have anywhere else to go." Xul replied, hoping for her and Pam to find a better life. "We're both traitors and outcasts of the Empire after all."





All around her inside the UFF Military Port, Twilight could see more ships hovering inside the docking bays and more creatures working inside and outside of the station. The alicorn notices that some of the creatures working are all humanoid creatures like Zeck and Chmone. Though, she did take notice that there are other aliens who Twilight still isn't familiar with. They are seen as wolf-like humanoids who couldn't help but sniff at each other before they started talking amongst themselves. While others happen to be aliens that have creepy yellow eyes with tentacle-like hair appendages on their heads.

Some of these new alien species happen to be doing their job as if they are workers, while others are standing up against the walls in front of Twilight as if they are guards. Unlike the ones from Terram, the guards are all dressed in naval uniforms while holding strange objects up with only one hand as if they are some sort of strange weapons. The moment they see Zeck, they salute him as they let him and Twilight pass through the door they are guarding. Through the door, they enter the hallways beyond the docking bays. 

While Twilight continued to look around, she sees other creatures walking past her and Zeck while holding documents and books that looked pretty interesting. Also, Twilight spotted another room to her left that looked like a huge library, much to her interest and glee. However, Zeck told her to stay close and not to wander off for any reason. Twilight pouted over the fact that she still wanted to understand more about this place by reading the books here. But all of that have to wait, since Twilight is still not familiar with the place that she is in. 

During her trek, Twilight felt her injured hoof a bit stiff after that scuffle she had with the Sectanium guards and the Warrior. However, despite the pain from her injury, Twilight did her best not to worry too much about it as she walked normally next to Zeck through the UFF military port.

In just a few minutes of walking through the hallways, she sees through the glass windows on her left. Twilight sees other creatures having lunch inside some sort of cafeteria, similar to the one in Terram. She couldn't help but feel hungry after being on the run for quite a while with Zeck and his crew. Her stomach was growling, which was heard by a uneasy Zeck.

"Are you hungry, Twilight?" Zeck said, feeling concerned for the young alicorn.

"I don't know how it's been since I last ate." Twilight said quietly, feeling nauseous.

"Well, we're mostly in outer space. So, it's hard to ration food here because of the lack of gravity. We mostly lose our lunch whenever we take off into space. It's just how it is."

"What kind of food do you think they have up here?!" 

"I'll go check. Wait right here!" Zeck said, as he told Twilight to stay outside of the cafeteria.

While standing outside, Twilight looks around for a few seconds only to see several female aliens talking among each other, oblivious to her presence. One was a female wolf-like humanoid with black eyelashes and whiskers on her face and one is a younger alien with green, tentacle-like hair appendages. 

In the next minute, Zeck appeared with a tray of fruit. Seeing this, Twilight didn't hesitate as she used her magic to hold one of the fruit in place. She held what is like some sort of apple, which is familiar to what she saw in Sweet Apple Acres. The moment the apple came close to her mouth, Twilight chomped on it vigorously, attracting unwanted attention from the group of female aliens nearby.

"Ew, what the hell is that thing?!" The tentacle-hair like alien said in disgust.

"What is that strange little horsey doing here??" The female wolf-like alien added in, noticing that it had a horn and pair of wings on its body.

"Mind your own business, ladies. She's with me!!!" Zeck snapped at the ladies.

"Zeck??" The third female alien exclaimed. "Is that you?!"

"Sonja??" Zeck gasped, noticing a person that he recognized.

Among the group of female aliens, the one who called out to Zeck happens to be a human too, who is wearing a white long-sleeve dress with a green lace wrapped around her waist. She wore black high heels and has a maroon hair color tied up as a pony tail behind her head.

"You idiot!!!" The female human gasped in delight as she hugged him, with tears coming down her eyes. "Admiral Wellington told me what happened during your last mission. I thought I would never see you again!!!"

"I know, I'm sorry Sonja. I thought I was a goner." Zeck apologized as he hugged her back.

Twilight couldn't help but wonder why was that female alien human so concerned with Zeck. In silence, she walked up to Zeck form behind before making her speech.

"Zeck, who is she??" Twilight asked, giving Sonja and the other female aliens quite a shock.

"What the?? This horse can actually talk???" The Wolf alien spoke in fascination.

"Oh, ladies. This is Twilight Sparkle. I have orders from Admiral Wellington to bring her in." Zeck told the female aliens briefly.

Oh my god. She's so cute!! The female tentacle-hair alien thought, despite how it ate that Apple Zeck gave her.

"Twilight, this is my wife, Sonja Stone. She works in different places whenever assigned to by her manager. She happens to be a journalist, that makes reports about the war between the UFF, and Sectaniums, and the Mandors."

"Pleasure to meet you, Sonja." Twilight chirped with delight while reaching out her hoof towards the young woman.

"What planet are you from, Twilight?" Sonja asked with curiosity.

"I'm from Equestria. The prestigious, honorable kingdom of ponies and creatures living side by side as friends and equal citizens." Twilight explained briefly. 

"Equestria? I never heard that before." The female wolf humanoid alien muttered to herself.

"What do you do there?" The tentacle-haired female alien asked as she came next to Sonja.

"I'm afraid that's not my place to say. But, I will assure you ladies that I'm going to be playing an important role with the UFF very soon in the war." Twilight said, not wanting to give out her government role to a random person out of fear that she might get compromised.

"Sonja, do think you can meet me near my ship?" Zeck said, making a request to his wife. "I do need to tell you something about her later on."

"Sure thing, Zeck. I see you around." Sonja said, accepting Zeck's request as she gestured her friends to follow her from behind. 

As the three female aliens disappeared past Zeck and Twilight into the hallways, he and Twilight moved on closer to the briefing room. Twilight couldn't help but feel a bit nostalgic for some unexplained reason. It may not be easy trying to convince Zeck's superiors that she is worth helping out. Before long, the doors opened up before Zeck and Twilight leading straight into the briefing room where the Admiral and the other two captains are waiting for them.

Once they stepped into the room, Wellington was the first to notice Twilight's presence. She tried to make a friendly smile on her face. Unfortunately, the Admiral didn't think twice before making his prejudicial judgement in front of her and Zeck. In fact, the other UFF leaders apart from Zeck and Chmone frowned in disappointment upon seeing Twilight in-person.

"What the heck is this??" Wellington asked, feeling confused over what Zeck just brought in.

"Zeck, what is this pastel horse doing here??" Captain Monet asked, feeling confused and offended.

"This is Twilight. I told you all about her, didn't I?!" Zeck said, trying to stay cool.

"Are you kidding me?!" Commander Fenirius said, growled in confusion. "It's just only a pastel horse. I'm expecting more."

"Well, she's not just any ordinary pastel horse, guys. Please everyone, I can explain." Zeck exclaimed, trying to get to the point.

"You already explained enough, young man. I'm expecting something more about your allied alien friend, not just some random little animal." Wellington sneered, with Monet and Fenirius following suit. "She doesn't look like an alien leader to me!!!"

"I wouldn't judge her too impulsively if I were you. You guys aren't even there when it all happened!!" Zeck protested in a panicked tone.

"Zeck is right guys. She's not who you think she is!!" Chmone added in, supporting Zeck's claims.

"A likely story, Chmone!!" Monet snorted at the four-arm alien. "What makes you think that thing is useful anyway?? I'd say we get that thing out of here!!!"

"Monet's right. You're an imbecile, the both of you!!" Fenirius snarled as he glared at Zeck and Chmone with narrow, angry eyes.

"Guys, please. Let me explain!!!" Zeck protested, but to no avail as Fenirius and Calaria stood up from their seats with hostility towards Twilight.

"Monet! Fenirius! Restrain that thing at once!!!" Wellington ordered, not listening to anymore of Zeck's protests.

"ADMIRAL!! NO!!!" Zeck shouted in a panicked tone.

Just as the two UFF Leaders advanced towards Twilight, Fenirius snarled as he raised his claws up above his head as if he is about to strike with sheer force. For Monet, she glared profusely at Twilight with her razor sharp teeth showing while pulling out her weapon from her holster. However, before either of the advancing alien rebel leaders could take Twilight down, something else catches both of them off-guard, much to the shock of Wellington, Monet, and Fenirius. 

For Zeck, he stepped away from  Twilight for he knew that its not going to end well if they were to defy her.

"Here we go!!!" Chmone muttered.

Twilight didn't understood what the other UFF officers are saying to Zeck and Chmone, but judging from their ranting towards both of her new friends, it didn't look like that their fellow officers are going to take her seriously. Instead, they were approaching her as if they're going to restrain or hurt her. So, Twilight knew she had to do something to make them come to their senses, like what she did to Zeck when she first met him in Terram. With that said, Twilight came up another crazy, wild idea to get their attention.

So just when the wolf-like alien and the tentacle-haired alien are about to close in on Twilight, she finally snapped at them as her horn lit up and when her eyes turn into white, narrowing both of them in anger as she glared at the two.

"BUCK OFF!!!!" 

Twilight jumped up high as she spread out both of her wings, before flying straight at the two aliens like an lighting bolt. In close proximity, she instantly fired a widespread, blinding flash that showered Fenirius in the face. 

"GAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! M-M-My eyes!!!" Fenirius howled as he felt his face and furry mane started burning, forcing himself to cover his eyes with both of his paws, unable to look for the moment.

*POW!!!*

In the next instant, Twilight immediately punched the wolf-like alien in the face as she made him bleed out by the nose before he fell down.

For the second alien advancing towards her with her weapons, Twilight charged up her horn again. This time, she fired a huge lighting bolt that gave Monet a shock of her life, hitting her in the face. 

*BZZZZZZZZ!!!!!*

"EEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKK!!!!" Monet shrieked, realizing that her tentacle-like hair stretched out like spikes filled with an electrical current. "M-M-M-MY HAIR!!!!!" 

Upon getting struck by Twilight's powers, Monet screeched in terror as she was forced to drop her weapon immediately. In the next reaction, Twilight used her magic again and this time, she grabbed onto one of Monet's ears and twisted it, making her scream very loud in more pain.

"OW! OW! OW! OW! OWWW!!!! S-S-S-STOP!! PLEASE!!! MOMMY!!!" Monet cried as she felt herself being pulled down to the ground by her ear with Twilight's magic.

After that, Twilight stomped on top of Monet's head with both of her hooves before the female alien grunted in pain.

*STOMP!!!*

As both of the aliens collapsed on the floor in agony, Monet and Fenirius squirmed on the ground while clutching onto their bruises. Upon seeing all of this, the Admiral started panicking as he stood out from his seat.

For Chmone, he smacked himself on the face over the fact that they didn't listened to him and Zeck right after they warned them about Twilight.

"SWEET MOTHER OF VENUS!!!" Wellington exclaimed in terror as he frantically attempted to pull out a weapon from his side holster. "W-What the hell did that thing do??"

However, before he had the chance to aim his weapon at Twilight, she flew straight at him, ramming into him with both of her hooves on his chest. In a sudden impact, Twilight slammed the Admiral up against the wall and holding him by the neck with her left hoof, making the Admiral incapacitated as he felt her hold him by his throat. In an instant, Twilight was about to punch him in the face with her right hoof. Just as Wellington closed his eyes, he can only hear the hoof making a loud bang on the wall a few inches from the left of his face. As a result, several workers on the other side notice that a small hoof has made a huge dent on the wall from inside the briefing room, reaching out less than half a foot in length, startling the latter.

Zeck and Chmone both just stood there and nearly flinched as Twilight just snapped at the three commanding officers. It's bad enough they were both held up by Twilight's magic while they were still at Terram for not paying any attention to her. 

The moment Wellington slowly opened up his eyes, he can only see Twilight glaring at him with a stern look on her white eyes. The Admiral felt very afraid that Twilight might crush his windpipe in an instant, even though she didn't. As soon as she lets go of Wellington, Twilight flew backwards before landing on all fours on top of the floor. Wellington started coughing for a few seconds, after being strangled nearly to death by Twilight and almost loses his airways.

"I warned you all, didn't I?!" Zeck spoke, scolding the UFF officers of Twilight's sudden reaction. "Because of her natural born powers as a reigning alien monarch, there's no telling how many more surprises she have up in her sleeves. So, if I were you, I'd be very careful around her from now on."

As Twilight's eyes reverted back to normal, Commander Fenirius and Captain Monet were able to regain their eye sight as they slowly got back up on their feet. Though, they still felt swollen from the aftereffects as they both feel minor bruises on  their faces and with smoke billowing from their hair and mane. Zeck activated the translator once again before the alicorn makes her speech to all three UFF officers.

"Sorry, every creature. I never wanted to do this but you're all in no position to jeopardize me of my life's purpose in Equestria." Twilight shouted in a Royal Canterlot voice, surprising the Admiral and the two disoriented UFF leaders. "Just be grateful we are not Equestria right now when this happened. If we were, I'll have you three arrested immediately for attempted treason!!!"

"Wait!! You can actually talk??" Wellington gasped in confusion.

*BAM!!*

Before Twilight could respond to the UFF Admiral, a security team came in through the door into the briefing room to investigate the unexpected occurrence. They all burst in with weapons at the ready for any incursion or threat inside the Military Port.

"What the hell is going on here?!" One of the Security guards asked frantically as he held his weapon in both of his hands. "Admiral! Commander!! Is everyone okay??"

"E-E-Everything is f-f-fine, s-staff sergeant!!" Wellington responded in a startled manner. "You may all return to your posts."

As the security guards looked at each other, they put away their weapons and leave the area without anymore questions or concerns.

For Wellington, he turned his attention back to the purple alicorn; the same goes for Fenirius and Monet.

"H-H-How the heck did you do that??" Monet said, feeling totally traumatized by such a unbelievable act of aggression and brute strength. 

"Well, they taught me a lot of skills revolving around my magic back from where I came from and I already studied under the tutelage of the best teachers that Equestria has to offer." Twilight said as she reverted back to her normal voice before referring her actions to Zeck and Chmone. "Look everyone, I already helped free your friends from Terram recently and this is how you repay me?! By having me restrained and thrown out of here as if I was useless trash?!! WHERE THE BUCK IS YOUR HONOR??!"

"Okay! Okay! I get it!!! Look, I'm terribly sorry about that, Twilight. I-I-I had no idea, honest!!" The Admiral replied in as he shuddered in fright. "I guess we all got a little carried away here."

At the same time, both Fenirius and Monet apologized to Twilight as well before bowing down to her in trying to beg for forgiveness while trying to recover from their blunt trauma.

"I accept your apologizes." Twilight said with a smile on her face as she slowly walked towards the table in front of the UFF officers.

"Did you just say that you freed our fellow officers from Terram?!" Fenirius asked Twilight. "B-but how??"

"When I was still in school back at my homeland, I did learn several counter spells that helped reverse the malice effects caused by the slave collars that they were wearing. Of course, it wasn't easy using counter spells since I had to put up with several trial and errors over the past several years, but I already knew what I had to do in order to escape from Terram completely." Twilight explained as she summarized her actions recently. 

"You mean, you deactivated them all?!" Monet gasped in total shock, with her yellow eyes widened.

"You heard me!! As a matter of fact, I used what magic I had at the time to disable the collar around my neck, fooling my captors before I made my escape." Twilight replied in a serious tone. "Besides, it will take more than just a filthy Prison, Mining Facility to break some pony like me down!! After all, I know how to deal with dark magic whenever I see it."

That must've explained why I was able to regain my senses while I was still stuck on Terram! Zeck thought, after going over what happened on the day he first met Twilight in the prison sleeping quarters. She actually used some sort of magical cure to free me and my crew before we reclaimed our stolen ship.

"Very well. Now that she proved her point here, I'd say that we all should give Twilight a chance." Wellington told all of the UFF leaders, satisfying Zeck and Chmone at last. "Let's all have a sit down before going over her side of the story."

As everyone finally take their seats all around the map table inside the briefing room, they take a few seconds of their time before resuming their meeting with Twilight of Equestria. For Zeck, he placed the translator on the table so that everyone can hear what Twilight has to say during the meeting.

"Introduction time, every creature." Wellington announced. "Aside from our foolish actions earlier, let's get down to business. Twilight, my name is Derek Wellington, Admiral of the UFF Naval Fleet. For the other commanding officers with me, on my left is Captain Calaria Monet of the Battlecruiser Star Banshee. On my right is Commander Fenirius Vreni, he's currently in charge of the garrison all around this Military Port. From what Captain Zeck said about you, I must say you really are quite an impressive, unpredictable alien, aren't ya?!"

Twilight couldn't help but blush for a while when making an embarrassed smile. No matter, she still did her best to stay formal in front of the rest of the UFF officers. In the next speech, Monet was next to speak with Twilight Sparkle.

"So Twilight, are you really the one ruling over your own homeland as an alicorn princess?" Monet asked, readdressing Twilight's background.

"That's right, Monet." Twilight said with happy glee. "Then again, it wasn't easy to do something like that. However, I already came a long way while under the guidance of my teacher and mentor, Mistress Celestia."

"Mistress Celestia??" The UFF officers said in unison.

"Now that you mentioned it, I still haven't get to ask you this, Twilight: Who is this mistress Celestia?" Zeck asked, hearing the same word when having his first real conversation with the purple alicorn pony.

"Celestia used to be one of my best teachers back then. In fact, she was the one who made me Ruler of Equestria. Trust me, guys. I didn't really asked her for any of that, she asked me. I know you're all going to find this hard to believe, but if any of you happen to speak to her about my story in-person then you'll all understand." Twilight continued on.

"You mean, Celestia taught you how to fight like that??" Monet asked in a nervous tone. 

"I guess you can say that, Monet. In fact, I already studied various battle spells while under the discipline of several of Celestia's battle mages." Twilight explained briefly. "So, I already faced worse than just a bunch of insensitive aliens."

"I see. Anyway, if you're really are being honest with yourself then I can't help but wonder." Wellington replied, trying to answer another question. "When was last time you remembered anything, before you got captured by the Sectaniums?"

"Well Derek if you must ask, I think it happened like 13 days ago." Twilight said, trying to explain as much as she could. "At the start of my reign, for a couple of months so far, I spend most of my time doing paperwork and managing most Canterlot while inside the palace."

"Canterlot?!" Derek asked, feeling interested on where this is heading.

"The Capital City of Equestria. I grew up there as a unicorn." 

"Wait, you're actually a unicorn living in Canterlot?" Monet asked in curiosity.

"Was a unicorn in Canterlot!!" Twilight replied to Monet. "It's a long story. Anyway, getting back to the point. I did manage to establish the Council of Friendship so that they would help me manage most of the areas outside of Canterlot but inside Equestria's borders. They all happened to be closest friends of mine. However, they all live in Ponyville most of time and I don't; I never really did leave Canterlot no matter how far I got. So, I had to do my best to stay in contact with them every month."

"Is anyone else helping you in Canterlot than just yourself?" Fenirius asked.

"There is Spike. He and I both grew up together in Canterlot as siblings. As a matter of fact, he and I have been helping each other out for a long time ever since we were kids. So as of now, I personally nominated him as my Royal Advisor. He's usually there for me whenever I have trouble handing some of my royal duties. There is also several other nobles who supported me in the palace as well; trust me, they all know me very well, just like Celestia does."

"It seems that you're already well-prepared, huh?!" Monet grinned with interest.

"Yeah, I was doing pretty well in handling Canterlot and its government, always keeping things well-organized. At least that's how it was until one day, after lowering sun to make way for the night, I received a report from Raven Inkwell, Canterlot's Senior Informant." Twilight said, finally getting straight to the point. "She told me that some UFO has been sighted in the Everfree Forest. I was too tired to investigate the strange incursion during that time, so I sent in some of my guards who are currently on night shift instead. They promised that they'll report back to me if they see anything out of the ordinary during their investigation at the Everfree Forest. Sadly, that didn't happen!!"

As Twilight frowned at herself, Zeck was feeling anxious over where she is getting at.  

"So what happened instead?" Fenirius asked, trying to get further into Twilight's story.

"After several hours of sleep, Raven came knocking on the door outside of my royal chambers saying that the guards I sent forth haven't came back yet. She was started to get worried over the lack of the palace's night security. I had no choice but to investigate the matter myself since every creature in the palace is still fast asleep, especially Spike. So, I took my chance as I drank one sip of cold coffee before quietly flying down to the Everfree Forest to look for my missing guards. While taking flight in the middle of the night, it was too dark to see in the Everfree Forest so I landed on the ground and cautiously lit up my horn before walking through the forest. When I finally found my night guards, they were all laying on the ground totally incapacitated and out cold. Before I tried to wake them up, I was suddenly ambushed by an unknown force lurking in the shadows behind the trees. I was getting shot at from left and right as I took up to the skies, while trying to block incoming enemy fire with my shield barrier. I couldn't really see who was shooting at me since it was still dark. So, I tried flying back to the castle as fast as I could to warn the rest of my guards. Unfortunately, I didn't make it back to Canterlot in time. Instead, some huge missile-like projectile came out of nowhere and struck me from behind as it blew up, the moment it hit me. I felt a burning shockwave running through my body as I fell down from the sky before blacking out. The next thing I knew, I was stuck in a strange prison facility on Terram moving these huge boulders around with my head while wearing this filthy, stretchy prison jumpsuit and this metal collar around my neck. The rest of the story, you already know."

After hearing Twilight's story, every creature gasped over such horrified shock and awe. In just a few minutes of silence, Derek Wellington finally makes his statement over the situation that Twilight was in.

"That was pretty terrifying!!" Monet exclaimed over the horrors that Twilight just went through.

"We're really sorry to hear that." Admiral Wellington said with sympathy over a distraught Twilight. 

"So you see guys?! After how they mistreated me at Terram, I was horrified, upset, confused, and traumatized to think that I would meet a fate worse than death. Because I'm not in Equestria right now, I still haven't made contact with most of my pony friends or any of my men yet, other than Luna."

"Well, that was quiet a living nightmare you had there princess." Zeck exclaimed with astonishment and terror. "Well, you're not the only one here who got locked in Terram unable to establish contact with your followers."

"Really, Zeck?!" Twilight spoke with interest, before letting him hear his side of the story.

"There was a brutal attack upon one of the planets that were struggled to defend. Unfortunately, the enemy ships were overwhelming our outer space garrison. We were not able to defend that planet any longer. So, we were forced to abandon the area to the enemy as we ordered the planet's inhabitants to escape pronto via drop ships. Even though most of them are in the air, one of the Sectanium's warships started opening fire upon the drop ships, taking out droves of innocent civilians right off the bat. So, I ordered my crew to commit a mad dash with our ship at them just to keep them away from firing upon the escaping refugees." Zeck explained, feeling embarrassed for his actions in front of the disappointed Admiral. "Just like that, the enemy captured me and my crew the moment they ensnared our ship. I wasn't able to establish contact with the rest of the UFF Fleet until now."

"Well, I guess that makes a lot of sense." Twilight pondered.

"So Twilight, did you say that you haven't made contact with your men yet?!" Calaria asked, clarifying over Twilight's speech.

"Yes. My night guards are one thing. But I have some of Equestria's best warriors and heroes waiting for me back at Canterlot." 

"Who are they, exactly?" Zeck asked. 

"They call themselves Equestria's Royal Guard. They happen to be Equestria's main military force so far." Twilight explained briefly before getting into details. "Zeck, remember how I told you about the three pony races living in the same land that I am?"

"Yes. Why?" 

"The Royal Guard also consists of all three pony races."

"This ought to be interesting." Derek thought. "Do you think you can explain a little bit about them?"

"Sure thing, Derek." Twilight said, with a happy grin on her face. "The Earth Pony Guard are the brute force of Equestria's military. They're usually deployed into the front lines as the army's Spearhead formation. They're mostly strong enough to break a creature's bones with their huge hooves without hesitation."

"That does seem harsh." Calaria thought.

"Next, there is the Pegasus Guard. They take flight into the air before dive bombing into the enemy with high velocity for some of them can fly faster than an ordinary pegasus would. They function as Equestria's airborne troops. Sometimes, they're pretty hard to hit when they fly around in the sky while out on the battlefield."

"Sounds pretty flexible of them." Fenirius said, feeling amazed by such details.

"Last but not least, there is the Unicorn Guard. I wouldn't waste too much time mentioning them. All I can say is, they all possess magical abilities similar to mine. They do their part as Equestria's battle mages, giving both the Earth pony and Pegasus Guards magical fire support from behind their ranks."

"How long has it been since they were serving under you?!" Derek asked.

"They've been aiding us Equestrian ponies for a long time ever since Celestia and Luna faced total isolation." Twilight answered briefly. "They mostly carried melee weapons of all sorts, such as spears, lances, and swords."

"What about ranged weapons? Do they have any of that?" Zeck asked further.

"They mostly have crossbows and cannons in their possession as well." Twilight replied, feeling nostalgic.

"I think your men may need help in fortifying Canterlot's defenses because the Sectanium Empire and the Mandors will be sending in drop troops armed with blasters and heavy sniper rifles that will knock your guards off their feet." The Admiral suggested to Twilight. "Also, the Sectanium Warriors have the ability to use mind-control within a range of 10 yards on sight. Do you think you have something that might counteract their abilities?"

"I think I might!!" Twilight grinned as she held both of her hoofs, squealing with delight and confidence. 

"Then, we might as well consult this with the rest of your commanding officers once we reach Equestria." Wellington said, noticing Twilight's eagerness to help out. 

"I do my best to address your request with my friends and my ponies once we get there. Then again, I can't guarantee that they will accept your allegiance of friendship." Twilight acknowledged.

"I understand. No matter, we will work something out with your people when that time comes." Admiral Derek announced to Twilight before concluding the meeting. "In the mean time, we'll depart as soon as all of our ships are ready to go!! Meeting dismissed everyone."





Meanwhile back in Canterlot.....

During the 6 days while Princess Twilight Sparkle is still outside of Equestria, most of the Mane 5 and Spike spent most of their time trying to help Celestia and Luna maintain law and order around the city. However, with each passing day, they're all starting to worry that something bad is going to happened to Twilight if they don't take action. So, they took their chance before leaving the palace. 

Before that, Celestia notice that the Mane 5 is packing up their bags and arming themselves with whatever weapons they can find from their homes, such as spears, hammers, flails, swords, and cannons. So, she came up to them from behind in a worried expression.

"Hold up, every pony. Where are you all going?!" Celestia asked.

"Sorry Celestia, but I'm having a very doozy feeling that something terrible and dreadful out there is trying to stop Twilight from making it back home!!" Pinkie said, feeling herself shake violently.

"I hate to admit it Celestia, but we all know that Twi needs us the most. We all felt horrified to think that we won't be hanging around with Twilight too often." Rainbow Dash added in. "Whoever these guys are helping her out, they're taking too long. Something must be done because I'm not so sure they can be trusted."

"Pinkie and Rainbow are right, dearie." Rarity told Celestia. "We don't know how long the poor darling will last out there. If they're going to find Twilight, then so will I."

"Are you sure you girls want to do this??" Celesita asked further, showing concern for the Mane 5. "It may be dangerous heading out there off-planet."

"I don't think we have a choice Celestia." Fluttershy added in. "If what Luna said about Twilight being ponynapped is true, then we will have to take our chances. This may be our chance to make up most of the time we aren't there for Twilight. She needs us since we're her friends."

"Tia, I would also want to volunteer in aiding the Mane 5. This time, I'll travel with them for real, not through the Dream Realm." Luna said as she appeared with a backpack wrapped around her back. "We're all doing this for Equestria!!!"

"But Luna, you can't leave me here. You're my one and only sister. If anything happens to you and Twilight, all of my efforts of retirement will be ruined and I'll be......" Celestia pleaded in denial before having a Luna's hoof held up to her mouth.

"Tia, it will be okay. I'll be helping them bring Twilight back, whatever the cost." Luna said, feeling determined to help the new Ruler of Equestria head back home by any means necessary. 

"Spike, you stay here with Celestia and the guards, okay?!" Luna told the little dragon royal advisor.

"I'll do my best Luna. Please, just try to be careful out there!" Spike replied, with a concerned look on his face.

As Luna and the Mane 5 left the palace, they went through the city gates where Discord suddenly popped out of nowhere.

"Hello every pony, I see you're going on an expedition, huh?!" The Draconeques pondered with a huge grin on his face. 

"How long we ya standing der, Discord?" Applejack said with her eyes widened with surprise.

"Long enough, Applejack. I heard everything from Moonbutt!!!" Discord replied, lifting one eyebrow. "So, you want to find Princess Twilight do ya?! Well, I do have an idea where she might be!!!"

"Are you sure, Discord?! Twilight could still be somewhere far away!" Fluttershy asked her friend.

"Not to worry my dear Fluttershy!! Luna did told me where to look after she left the Dream Realm." Discord smirked as he clapped his hands together in sheer confidence. "In fact, I have a plan."

With one snap of his fingers, Discord summoned the bewitching bell whom he has on his yellow claw.
> Chapter 20: Surprise attack. Luna's Intervention
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Discord tear a rift through the reality, he let the Mane 5 and Luna enter into the Chaos Realm as he directed them to outer space. Celestia can only watch as she bid farewell to the ponies and Discord in hopes of helping Princess Twilight making it back to Equestria while still standing at the balcony of the palace in Canterlot. Once she sees them disappear through the rift, Celestia started to have tears come down her eyes out of worry. 

As Celestia wiped her tears from her face with her hoof, Raven Inkwell appear behind her in a terrified expression.

"My lady!! We received a report that most of the night guard sent by Princess Twilight several nights ago have been found badly injured in the Everfree Forest. Even though most of them are still alive, they claimed that the unit was ambushed by an unseen force." Raven explained in a terrified expression on her face. "Captain Fizzlepop was among them."

"What??" Celestia exclaimed in horror, realizing that it might be a clue that led to the new threat aiming directly at Twilight Sparkle. "Take me to them. I need to ask some questions about their situation."

"Yes ma'am!!" Raven acknowledged as she led Celestia away from the palace's balcony.





Meanwhile back at the UFF Military Port, Chmone was ordered by Zeck to get the ship resupplied before they make their departure to Equestria. As for Calaria Monet, she was tasked by the Admiral to have her ship ready to jump into hyperspace to rendezvous with the other UFF ships in the other planets inside their territory to set a course to Equis' orbit. 

As for Zeck and Twilight, they made another tour around the military port to kill some time off while Chmone resupply the ship with more ammo and weapons for the crew and for the ship's armaments.

When Twilight went back the way she came, she makes her way back to the library while being escorted by Zeck Stone. As she asked if she can see the library, Zeck replied with a "Yes." But what Zeck didn't expect was that the alicorn pony would start going overboard.

As Twilight entered the library within the military port, her eyes widen with total excitement. 

"This is so amazing. SO MANY BOOKS!!! I wish I could take them all with MEEEEE!!!!" Twilight exasperated crazed joy. "OH MY GOSH!!! I-I-I-I-I can't even.... EEEEEEEEEE!!!!"

In an instant, Twilight squealed in excitement as flew up on the second level over the railings before looking at one bookshelf on her right; at the same time, she started drooling profusely.

When seeing this, Zeck had a big drop on the back of his head for he couldn't tell whether to laugh or stare at the excited Alicorn while she was levitating several books with her magic. For the other people inside the library, they were all staring at the alicorn in a startled manner.

"What the heck is that thing doing, fluttering around here??" One of the alien said, not even understanding why is the little pony being so uppity.

As Twilight started squealing with delight, she took like 10 books to read at the table nearby while Zeck came up the stairs to the floor that she flew too. 

Man, that Twilight sure is quite a nutcase when seeing all those books here. I wonder why would she be so excited when inside a library. Zeck thought to himself, not being able to come up with anything to say in front of Twilight.

"Uh Twilight, are you okay?!" Zeck asked, feeling confused over the purple alicorn's postive behavior.

"Oh, yes. I-I-I can't help see all of these new books about technology and science. It's just so fascinating, wouldn't you say?!" Twilight said, grinning in an exaggerated manner. 

In the next second, Twilight started panting repeatedly while huffing and puffing like a maniac before taking a breather and getting back to her personal reading session.

"Are you sure you want to stay here for awhile?" Zeck asked. "You do realize that we need to leave once my ship is ready for departure, right?"

"Yes sir." Twilight panted. "I won't go anywhere."

"Good to hear. I will be outside in case you need me for anything else." Zeck said before heading at the exit of the library.





Somewhere 20,000 kilometers in space......

The Empress' personal flagship is seen leading a fleet of 12 Sectanium Warships heading towards the Military Post that Zeck headed towards. Right after the failed attempt to recapture the prisoners that escaped at the Mandor Fueling station, Empress Vanista has ordered her personal fleet to be prepped before they resume in pursuing Zeck's battlecruiser. 

The Empress' flagship is seen with a huge circular insignia that symbolizes the Sectanium Royal Family. It was a huge circle that has the face of a Sectanium Noble with two smaller objects inside it seen on both sides of the face. On the right inside the circle is a golden eye and on the left is two black blades clashing into each other. The golden eye represents the power to dominate and control. For the black blades, they symbolize superiority and might. The circular insignia is printed on a flag that is flowing above the flagship's command bridge.

From inside the bridge, the Empress is seen as a tall, skinny humanoid alien with an elongated crown filled with black and blue jewelry. Just like before, Empress Vanista Rantu is seen with red-purple skin on her hands and face. She is standing while wearing her black, regal dress that covered her feet as it was dragging through the floors of her ship. 

As she surveyed all around the bridge, Vanista kept a close eye on where the fleeing UFF ship is last seen. The Captain commanding her flagship happens to be none other than Trine Grethal, who was one of the guards at Terram before the prison outbreak. Shortly after learning of their failed attempt of recapturing Zeck's ship, Empress Vanista has ordered Trine to be recalled back to the Sectanium capital as he was issued to commandeer her personal vessel to help her surviving guards to hunt down the escaped prisoners of Terram. 

Throughout the 6 days of hiatus, Trine prepped Vanista's personal flagship before departing to the location where Zeck's ship was last seen. Thanks to Vanista's scouts, they were able to locate Zeck's ship in UFF Military Port 53FR. 

"Empress, we are now 500 km heading towards the UFF military port your highness!!" Trine said, making his immediate statement to Vanista.

"Excellent, Trine. Get our troops ready. I want to see that foolish Zeck Stone wriggle like a worm on a hook!!" Vanista ordered as she started cackling to herself maniacally. "This time, I'll make sure no one will stand in our way. I going teach the entire galaxy not to make us suffer ever again!!!"

"Yes, your majesty!!!" Trine acknowledged as he carried out the Empress' orders to the rest of the soldiers onboard the flagship. 

Behind her, a Sectanium warrior appeared before her. Unfortunately, due to the unexpected fiasco he had with EQ-3, the warrior is now seen with his attire totally burned out and his skin has turned into a burnt version of himself. Before being struck by EQ-3's strange powers, Rantu had brown skin. Now, his skin turned into a charred-red color because of his nemesis. Though, he still has his silver pin on his right shoulder, which symbolizes his part as a mind-controlling warrior. 

"Are you feeling okay to go for another round, my dear Lord Hampt?" The Empress asked, showing concern over the burnt warrior.

"I hope I am!!" Hampt said, in a disgruntled mess which is followed by a angry snarl. "I can't believe that strange little purple horse back there actually gave me a painful shock therapy. If I ever ran into that thing again, I'll break her skull like a twig!!!"

"Not too worry, Hampt. You'll still get your second chance to shine!!" Trine smirked in a sly manner. 

"So Trine, about that message you just sent me written by Xuliana Sona, it's not true is it?! Was she the one who...?" Vanista asked before getting an answer immediately from the red-skinned Sectanium.

"If my hunch is right, then there is a chance that Xul is a mole sent by someone in the UFF to sabotage one of our prison facilities." Trine replied, in disappointment. "Ever since we carried out your Royal Decree of Massive Conquest, Xul left our army and hasn't been heard from until a few years later. Right after we built those prison facilities in the planets that we have conquered, she was seen again but she ran off when we tried to make contact with one of our warriors."

"I think that Xul is up to something!!" Vanista hissed. 

"I did remember seeing her back at the Mandor Fueling Station. We were able to see through her lies. I was about to capture Xul for questioning but thanks to EQ-3 it was easier said than done." Rantu said, explaining his point of view.

" Captain Trine. Lord Hampt. Once you board that UFF Military Port, your orders are to bring both Xul and EQ-3 alive. I do need to interrogate them both on who they are and why would they be trying to resist us." The Empress said, as she pulls out another translator from underneath her gown, which is very similar to what Zeck currently has.

"It will be done, my lady!!!" Both Trine and Hampt acknowledged in unison as they bowed down before the Empress.

As they disappear into the corridors behind the throne room, Vanista smiled at Hampt that she still remain not just loyal to the Sectanium Empire, but also became her first love.





Back inside the UFF military port, Twilight went through 5 books in just 30 minutes while taking notes on what new histories she has discovered while reading them. At the same time, she has also uncovered more knowledge of new technology that can prove beneficial to her country but only if she had the money and approval from the outside vendors.

No matter, Twilight couldn't help but smile while reading in silence while Zeck stood from the first floor of the library. He couldn't wait to see what did Twilight learn from reading most of those books on the table. During the time Twilight was reading, Zeck went to a nearby locker room to find his name on one of the lockers. As soon as he saw his signature, Zeck took off his prison jumpsuit and put on his naval captain uniform. Zeck is now seen wearing a naval light-blue dress uniform with golden epaulets and a communicator attached to its left shoulder blade. Soon after, Zeck went back to the library to keep watch over Twilight who is still reading the books she has on the table in front of her. 

In a few minutes later, the Admiral came up to Zeck before looking at where Twilight is at. In a questionable manner, the Admiral couldn't understand why would a horse be so obsessed in reading books in a library.

"You don't see that happen everyday." Zeck muttered nostalgically.

"I hate to admit it, but she sure is one strange, alien princess isn't she?!" Admiral Derek thought. "I do wonder what kind of school did she attend to in Canterlot when learning all of those aggressive stunts back there."

"Well, maybe you could tag along with me onboard my ship because as soon as Chmone finished prepping Blue Lightray, we'll be jumping into hyperspace towards Twilight's planet." Zeck said as he makes his suggestion to the Admiral.

"That's exactly what I'm planning to do. Say, did you run into your wife here?" 

"I did, why?" Zeck asked.

"Well, Monet brought her here with me before we planned to meet up with you at our debriefing." 

"I hope she is at my ship!" Zeck pondered. "This place may be too dangerous to hang out if it gets attacked."

Speaking of which, the entire military port started rumbling in a violent shake. In the next second, alarms started blaring all over the complex as the lights are flashing red. As the alarms started ringing, Twilight freaked out a bit as her wings started flapping in a frightening display.

"Attention all personal. This is Commander Fernirius speaking. We are under heavy attack by Sectanium Forces. This is not a drill. Please proceed onto the ships for evacuation. I repeat!! Please proceed onto the ships for evacuation!!!"

"All UFF Security Forces, please prepare for counterattack!!!"

Upon hearing the commander's voice from the public speakers, Zeck frantically ran up the stairs to get Twilight.

"Twilight, the military port is under heavy attack. We have to hold them off until our ship is ready for departure!!!" Zeck told Twilight.

"I'm on it!!!" Twilight replied as she gathered up her notes and used her magic to teleport all of the books back on the bookshelf in an instant.

As Zeck ran out of the library, Twilight spreads out her wings and flies down right behind the captain and the admiral who is on the run with them both..

"Say Twilight, do you know how to use any other weapons than just your magic?" Admiral Derek asked.

"Mostly melee weapons, since my brother and Celestia taught me how to use them during sparring sessions." Twilight reluctantly said. "Well, my battle spells are the only thing that keeps me alive during a fight first defense, then offense."

"Well, it's never to late to learn, eh?" Zeck said as he handed Twilight a bladed weapon secured inside a scabbard; at the same time, he pulled out his blaster.

"This is a machete, it's very similar to that of a sword which is used by commandos when trudging through the dense forests and swamps. You may need that just in case."

"Thanks, Zeck." Twilight said, as she grabbed the machete with her telekinesis magic. As she put the scabbard on, she wrapped it around her body with the weapon on top of her back.

While running through the corridors, the two UFF officers and the alicorn princess could see from the glass window panes that several UFF battlecruisers and fighters have already begun engaging the approaching Sectanium Fleet in space. As they were shoot each other, the ships from both sides are bombarding each other with laser blasts and machine gun fire. During the space battle, Twilight notices that a wave of huge carriers with short wingspans are heading straight for them. For Admiral Derek, he knows who they are in an instant.

"Your majesty, get back!! Those are Sectanium transport shuttles!!! They're boarding us!!!" Derek told Twilight as he stood in front of the alicorn, pulling out a blaster from his holster. 

Snarling for a fight, Twilight lit her horn up as she is ready for a fight of her life. The last two battles, she was cowering in fear. But this time, Twilight is eager to do whatever it takes to survive now that she is getting good at subduing her enemies in space. However, she still needs to watch out for anymore Warriors that will stand in her way. Zeck already warned her earlier that if they used mind-control on her, it's all over.

"Zeck! Are you there?! Zeck, please come in!!!" A female voice spoke from Zeck's communicator, which is on the chest of his uniform.

"Sonja, its me. The Station is under attack. Where are you?!" Zeck replied frantically. "Are you at the ship?"

"No, I'm not. There's a lot of workers running scared at the docking bays, I can't make it to the ship with all of them crowding over to me."  Sonja's voice spoke in a panic. "Please help me, I'm at the docking bays when the alarms went off."

"Hang in there, my love. Me and Twilight are coming to you right now!!!" Zeck said, fearing for his wife's safety.

Right after Zeck ended his transmission with his communicator, an explosion occurred right behind him, Twilight, and Derek. 

*BOOM!!!*

The moment they turned around, all three see the front end of the Sectanium Shuttle puncturing through the hull of the space station. As soon as the Shuttle opened up its front hatch, squads of Sectanium troops came flooding into the station and opened fire at every UFF security guard and worker in the vicinity.

"ALERT!!! Sectanium troops have entered the Military Port!! I repeat, Sectanium Troops have entered Military Port. All UFF security personal engage at will!!!"  The public speakers announced.

As the enemy troops turned their sights at Zeck, Twilight, and Derek, they all opened fire with their blasters, forcing the trio to hid behind some pillars. In retaliation, Zeck and Derek opened fire with their blasters while Twilight raised her shields up high before flying away from the gunfight.

However, more Sectanium Shuttles came barging from outside right in front of Twilight forcing herself to try another method. She knew that there will be no holding back now that she is the ruler of the Equestrian ponies. So as of now, Twilight makes her move with several more of her battle spells. 

Just before any of the Sectaniums from the shuttle in front of her opened fire, Twilight charged up her horn and fired several big arcane blasts of her magic at them, creating small explosions that sent them flying right off their fight. She also hurled fireballs, and lighting bolts with all her strength in keeping the enemy away from her and her friends. Behind her, Zeck and Admiral Derek opened fire with their blasters only taking out several of them before they were backing away towards Twilight.

However, the terror is still stalking the three in between as the UFF security guards are struggling to rescue as many workers as they can while shooting back at the attackers coming out from the Sectanium Warships. During the fight, they had most of the workers evacuate the station via drop pods which were sent straight to the planet they were supposed to protect. 

After blasting away 5 more Sectanium guards with her magic blasts, Twilight activates a massive shield wall that she is pushing forward while fighting their way to the docking bays. The moment they see Twilight activate her shields again, Zeck and Derek are staying very close to her while hurling flashbang grenades at the advancing Sectanium guards coming in from behind.

The moment the grenades went off, the Sectanium guards were met with a big flash that left totally disoriented as they were unable to fight back.

"Which way is the docking bays?" Twilight asked Zeck as she lowered her shields. 

As soon as she cancels out her shield spell, Twilight zapped the disoriented guards with a chain-lighting spell, electrocuting them before they fell on the ground out cold.

"To the 3rd floors." Zeck replied as he fired another shot at a enemy guard on his right. "We are at the 4th floor now!!

"Alright, then. Let's move forward!!" Twilight said, as she flew towards the flight of stairs, with Zeck and Derek following from behind.





Somewhere nearby, in the Chaos Realm.......

Discord and the Mane 5 are riding on top of a giant stag beetle while navigating through the realm as they went from door to door leading to separate planets out in the Temar Galaxy. For Luna, she was seen flying alongside the Giant Beetle while lighting up her horn as she is trying to track down Twilight's signal.

At first, after going opening every door, they were not able to find Twilight's signal from the other side. However, Pinkie's back started to itch while shuddering as the group got closer to the red door which happens to be part of her Pinkie sense.

"U-u-u-u-u-u-uh guys?! I-I-I-I can feel something bad happening behind t-t-t-t-t-t-that door!!!!" Pinkie said vibrating violently.

"Well, there's only one way to find out!!" Applejack said, as he used her right hoof to open the door.

As soon as Applejack opened up the door, the Mane 5, Luna, and Discord see a group of ships attacking a strange space station in a distance away. 

Before long, Luna's magic started beeping at an alarming rate. She can sense Twilight's signal nearby. 

"Girls, I think Princess Twilight might be somewhere inside that building!!" Luna exasperatedly.

"Wait, if that's true then........" Rainbow said, as her eyes widened with shock. "HANG ON TWILIGHT WE'RE COMING!!!!"

"Rainbow Dash, wait!!!" Luna screamed out to the blue pegasus.

Unfortunately, Rainbow didn't stand around the listened to Luna as she unfurled her wings and flew straight towards the space station in a flash.

"Jumping gun, aren't we?!!" Discord muttered, after seeing Rainbow disappear towards the space station. "Hang on, every pony. We're going to head into a chaotic fight for our life!!!"

Without another second to spare, Discord smacked the huge Stag Beetle in the butt as he ordered the insect to fly full speed towards the space station.





In the continuing chaos, Sonja was struggling on her feet while hearing panicked screams echoed throughout the docking station. At the same time, she can hear laser blasts coming from outside of the interior walls of the hangar. Worse, most of her journalist team is nowhere near her, either they may be dead, hiding, or captured by the enemy.

In a panic, Sonja tried desperately to make her way to Zeck's ship. Unfortunately, she sees several Security guards and workers get shot down by the Sectanium soldiers storming through the large hangar. In a frantic reaction, Sonja grabbed a blaster from a nearby, dead security guard and opened fire at one of the enemy soldiers advancing towards her. However, there were Mandorian grunts that emerged from one of the enemy shuttles that breached the military port and returned fire with their short-handheld blasters, forcing Sonja to cower behind several, metal boxes. 

The Mandor grunts are seen as green-skinned alien beings wearing padded armor covering their bodies and limbs. As they are shooting alongside the Sectanium soldiers, they moved in to secure the military port in hopes of disabling the defenses all around the complex.

Fearing for her life, Sonja hid behind the boxes while holding head down with both of her hands, with one of them holding the gun.

Zeck, where are you?! Please, help me!!! Sonja muttered to herself as she continued to hear several more blasts coming from outside of her cover.

Just as one of the Mandors appeared right behind Sonja, she screamed in terror as she frantically aimed her gun at the alien. Unfortunately, the Mandor already could see it coming as he grabbed Sonja's gun arm and smacked her across the face, knocking her to the floor before aiming it at her.

As she looked up while holding her bruise with her left hand, Sonja could feel a cold, frightful chill as she started sweating in fear. 

"Give it up, human. There is no escape!!!" The Mandor grinned as he glared at Sonja intensely.

"Please, just let me go!!!" Sonja whimpered as felt hurt, begging for mercy.

Just before the Mandor is about to shoot Sonja, he gets blasted in the back by a magic bolt from Twilight, who just appeared in mid-air. The impact from Twilight's bolt sent the screaming Mandor flying into a pile of crates, knocking him out cold as Zeck appeared and grabbed Sonja's arm before pulling her back up her feet.

"Zeck! Twilight!" Sonja said, feeling relieved for a moment.

"Don't thank me yet, Sonja. We're not out of the woods." Twilight said, as she cast another shield wall and slammed it into a group of Mandors.

*SLAM!!*

As the shield wall rammed into the Mandors, they were knocked off their feet as they fell off the metal floorings to their deaths.

For Zeck, he ran with Sonja straight to his ship while holding her arm in trying to protect his wife from the Sectaniums and the Mandors.

For Admiral Derek, he ran with the two humans while shooting at the enemies behind him, with Twilight flying a few feet above him.  

"Chmone, is our ship ready for departure?" Zeck said, while activating his communicator. "Anytime now will do!!!"

"The ship is ready to go sir!!" Chmone's voice spoke from the communicator.

"Start the ship's engines now!!! Disconnect all mooring lines. We're leaving at once!!!" Zeck ordered.

"Yes, sir!!!" Chmone's voice replied before the communicator went static.

As Zeck's ship is powering up, the entire docking bay started rumbling in a violent effect. 

Just as Zeck, Sonja, Derek, and Twilight are 10 meters away from the ship, another enemy shuttle barged right in front of them from the outside. The shuttle stopped in-between them and Zeck's ship.

The moment the shuttle opened up its hatch, a platoon of Sectanium Soldiers led by Trine appeared before all four of them, aiming their blasters.

"END OF THE LINE, REBELS!!" Trine shouted as he aimed his gun at Zeck and Sonja. "This is your last chance. Surrender or die!!!!"

"I'm sorry, Twilight, Sonja. I don't think I can keep either of you safe anymore." Zeck said, apologize to the alicorn princess and his wife one more time.

"It's okay, Zeck. As long as I have friends that are worth fighting for, there is nothing that you and I can't do together." Twilight said.

Not getting what the little pony is saying to Zeck, Trine spat at both of them as he and his men approached the rebel group.

"Zeck Stone, you and EQ-3 are mine!!" Trine smirked with triumph.  "Any last words?!"

"OHW ERA UOY GNILLAC 3-QE???" A familiar tomboyish voice shouted out loud.

"Who said th--" Trine asked before his speech gets interrupted by an unexpected attack from an unknown source.

*KA-POW!!!!!*

In a sudden flash, a rainbow-like blur came out from the right and struck at Trine by what it appears to be a frontal hoof punching him squarely in the jaw!!! In an instant, Trine was knocked out sky high as several of his teeth broke out of his mouth, followed by a squirt of blood. As a result, the red-skinned Sectanium Guard Captain was sent flying into the wall on the left of the hangar and collapsed on to the floor out cold, much to the shock of the entire Sectanium platoon.

"CAPTAIN!!!???!!!" One of the Sectanium soldiers shrieked, upon seeing his commanding officer go down in an instant.

"What the hell just happened??" Another Sectanium guard gasped in horror.

Derek, Zeck, and Sonja were totally confused at not knowing what just happened in front of them. For Twilight, however, she knew that rainbow blur from anywhere as she smiled with delight and relief.

In the next second, after the rainbow-blur stopped in its tracks, another pastel horse appeared before Twilight with tears coming out of her eyes. It is seen as a light-blue pony with wings, bearing the cutie mark of a cloud with a rainbow-bolt. As soon as it landed on all fours, Twilight was the first to announce her presence.

"Rainbow Dash!!!" Twilight cheered with happiness.

"Oh, Twilight!! I missed you so much!!" Rainbow Dash cried with joy as she hugged the purple alicorn with tears coming down her eyes. "Where have you been? It's been so long since we last met!!"

Rainbow Dash?? Zeck, Sonja, and Derek muttered in shocked unison.

"I'm sorry, Rainbow. It's a long story!!" Twilight said back while hugging the blue pegasus back.

After a second of embracing each other, Rainbow lets go of Twilight and wipes away her tears only to see a group of hostile Sectanium creatures staring at them with their weapons in their hands.

"Hey Twi, are those guys....?"

"Yes, Rainbow!!" Twilight growled as she took out her machete with her magic. "Those monsters are the real reason why I didn't show up in Canterlot. Where are the others?!"

"They should be here by now!!!" Rainbow told Twilight as she leered at the Sectaniums with an aggressive stance.

"Lord Rantu, we have a situation. Captain Trine is down. I repeat, Captain Trine is down. We have an interloper!!!"  The Sectanium Guard Sergeant shouted on his phone.

Before any of the Sectaniums could engage Twilight and Rainbow Dash, they hear another breaching noise coming from where Rainbow came from. This time, it's not one of their shuttles. Instead, a giant stag beetle barged in and landed on all fours as four other ponies came off from its back. Even though the Sectaniums didn't know who those ponies are, Twilight does for she embraced all of them for a minute before they all turned their attention towards them. They can see all six ponies snarling and glaring at them with hostility in their eyes, which isn't a good sign.

"Make that a group of interlopers!!" The Sergeant clarified.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE YOU FOOLS!!! NEUTRALIZE THEM ALL!!!" Rantu shouted back in an angry voice, startling the Sectanium Sergeant.

"Y-Yes sir!!" The Sergeant replied as he took out his blast and aimed it at the ponies and the three rebels. At the same time, the rest of the Sectanium soldiers aimed all of their weapons at the same group of targets.

"FOR THE KINGDOM OF EQUESTRIA, ATTACK!!!" Twilight roared in a Royal Canterlot voice as she and Rainbow spread out their wings and zeroed into the hostile creatures while Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie charged head-on.

Upon noticing that five of the Equine ponies are rallying towards the Princess of Friendship, Admiral Derek and Captain Zeck realized that they must be the very same ponies that are Twilight's closest friends. In that case, the Admiral sees another opportunity as he gave out another order to Zeck and the remaining UFF Security guards nearby. As for Zeck, he immediately got his wife safely onboard his ship before getting back into the fight.

"All UFF military personal, give our Equis allies covering fire!!!" 

"YES, SIR!!!" The UFF guards acknowledged in unison as they aimed their guns at the Sectanium soldiers.

The UFF guards opened fire with their blasts as they avoid hitting the Equestrian ponies while taking down several of the Sectanium soldiers.

As the Sectaniums opened fire with their weapons at the charging ponies, Twilight and Rainbow made evasive maneuvers while flying high, dodging every whizzing laser before they struck again with their magic, weapons, and hooves. 

In a fast, blurring speed, Rainbow spun around in a fast-circular motion as she created a huge rainbow tornado that headed straight towards a group of Sectanium soldiers. In a panic, some of the Sectaniums started to run for their lives when it was hopeless. As Rainbow's tornado closed in, the aliens got sucked into its vortex and screamed in terror when they were sent spiraling upwards straight into the hangar's ceiling before falling straight down to their demise.

As she flew towards them at the same time, Twilight slashed at those that didn't get struck by Rainbow's tornado with her machete, cutting down several of them while punching one with her hooves.

Rarity grabbed Applejack and hurled the orange earth pony into the middle of the enemy group as she spun in a 360 degree, kicking every single one of them with her hind hooves. Every creature that got to close to Applejack were kicked upside the head, catching most of them off-guard. Just when one of them aimed his weapon at Applejack, she pulled out a huge flail and swung it at the creature's face, bashing him out of commission as he fell face flat on the floor. After that, she took out her lasso with her tail and wrapped it around another Sectanium guard in the torso. With one tug, Applejack hurled the ensnared creature into a group of them, knocking them all at once.

As Rarity jumped up high, she body slammed a Sectanium guard on top of his head, lifting him up with both of her hooves and hurled him at 3 guards, sending them all reeling on top of each other, groaning in pain. After taking care of the four guards, Rarity fired some of her magic at the other Sectanium guards in anger and fury.

"NO ONE MESSES WITH PRINCESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE!!!" Rarity shouted at the top of her raging lungs. "ROTTEN FIENDS!!!"

"Hello, meanies from another planet. Are you ready for a spin???" Pinkie cackled as she made a grin as wide as a huge banana.

"What??" One of the Sectanium guard stuttered in confusion. Before he knew it, he and 5 other guards were standing on top of a huge round platform with a wooden pillar in the middle that came out of nowhere.

The moment the platform started spinning, it spun faster and faster. It spun so fast, that the guards on top of it were forced to hold onto something for they aren't able to shoot the pink pony without maintaining their balance. As for the Pink pony, Pinkie Pie is sitting on top of the tall pillar in the middle of the platform while holding a microphone with both of her hooves. Just like that, Pinkie Pie started singing very loudly that most of the Sectanium guards were forced to cover their ears while trying to hang on with the platform spinning continuously.

"YOU SPIN ME RIGHT ROUND BABY!! RIGHT ROUND!!! WHEN YOU'RE GOING DOWN!! WHEN YOU'RE GOING DOWN NOW!!!" 

As they felt the fast spinning and the loud singing at the same time, the Sectanium guards were immediately falling into disorientation, unable to shoot at Pinkie Pie.

"GAH!!! It's too loud, I-I-I-I can't stand it!!!"

"ARGH, MY MIND IS SPIRALING INTO CHAOS!!!!"

"MAKE IT STOP!!! MAKE IT STOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!!"

"WHEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" Pinkie cheered as she was having fun spinning the roulette endlessly.

In the next second of fast spinning, all five creatures were met with a barrage of confetti cannons shooting at them from all sides, making them cower in dismay.

With the ponies and the UFF engaging the Sectanium forces onboard the UFF Military Port, Fluttershy spots the enemy guard Sergeant frantically giving out orders since his Captain is down. Before long, the yellow pegasus approached him from behind without being notice. By the time the Sergeant spots Fluttershy, she glared at him with a frightening stare.

"IS....THIS....WHAT...... YOU......REALLY.....WANT???" Fluttershy screeched in a demonic voice. "WHERE IS YOUR HONOR??!!!"

After Fluttershy screamed at the Guard Sergeant, she immediately strangled him with both of her hooves in demanding a straight answer from the violently, shaken Sectanium.

Even though the Sergeant can't understand a word the yellow pegasus said, he was pleading for mercy. In just a few seconds of strangulation, Fluttershy finally lets go before he collapsed on his butt. After sweating and panting in fright, the sergeant was begging for mercy.

"I'm just following orders. Honest!!!"

As Fluttershy looked closely at his cowering behavior, she glared at him for a few moments before making a loud, furious statement.

"You better not defy our ruler again, young man. Or so Faust help me, YOU....WILL..... FACE.......EXECUTION!!!! UNDERSTAND?!!!!!"

After nodding his head in a panic, the guard sergeant ran away, screaming like a big baby before Fluttershy sees him disappear deep into the space station.





Upon seeing all of his fellow Sectanium guards get beaten down by the group of ponies and UFF security guards, Lord Hampt is getting totally agitated by such a excruciating loss. No longer willing to stand around anymore, Hampt immediately gets out of the shuttle and prepares to activate his mind-controlling powers in hopes of freezing and controlling all of the ponies in front of him. 

However, something unexpected happened in which catches Hampt off-guard. Just as the Warrior stepped onto the metal floor, he sees two more of his fellow Sectanium guards get blasted away by a medium-sized dark blue horse with wings and a horn. Before he had a chance to use his mind-controlling powers on the dark-blue horse, Discord makes his appearance in front of the Sectanium Warrior and brings forth a strange, green bell filled with a ominous green aura.

"What the hell is....?" Hampt said, feeling confused as he is met with an unexpected twist of fate.

The bell started floating in mid-air as Discord aimed it at the Sectanium Warrior. With a loud ring chime, the bell opened up a huge, yellow vortex as it immediately struck the Hampt dead on.

Hampt started screaming in horror as he felt his mind-controlling powers started draining from his entire body. In the aftereffects, Hampt collapsed on the metal floor as he finds himself helpless not before the strange draconneques creature, but also under the mercy of an angry dark-blue pony.

"OUY TOG EMOS EVREN, GINMOC RETFA RUO ROSSECUS!!!!" The dark-blue pony shouted in angry as she held Hampt with her strange powers.

Without holding back, the dark-blue pony transformed a nearby rubble into a very long chain and immediately tied Hampt up with it, considering that he will be taken prisoner by the enemy of the Sectaniums. At the same time, Luna gagged Hampt with a huge piece of gray scotch tape and wrapped it around his mouth, silencing him temporary.

As Luna turned around, she sees Captain Zeck staring straight at her with total amazement after seeing such a beautiful pony with flowing, gradient dark-blue mane.

"A-A-Are you Luna?" Zeck asked, who still has the translator on and dangling next to his belt. I must be dreaming; s-she's so pretty.

"Yes, I am. You must be Zeck Stone." Luna replied.

"It's an honor to meet you, ma'am." Zeck said as he made a small bow before the dark-blue alicorn.

"We'll save the introductions later. Right now, we only came here to help Princess Twilight get back home." Luna retorted as she dragged the incapacitated Sectanium Warrior across the floor with her chains.

As he see Twilight's fellow Equines fight valiantly against the Sectanium Soldiers, Zeck couldn't help but feel totally amazed and very impressed by such heroic teamwork. Even better, he sees that the yellow and blue pegasuses are somehow helping the workers flee to the nearby UFF battle cruisers unscathed, despite not being able to understand them from a distance away. As much as he wanted to thank them for helping his people escape, Zeck had to hold it for another time since has a battle to finish here.




After seeing that their Guard Captain, their Sergeant, and their Warrior are all defeated by the combined might of the Equis ponies and the UFF security guards, the remaining Sectanium guards ran back to their shuttle before they retreated back to the Sectanium Fleet in disgrace.

Just when the ponies are about to rejoice in seeing Princess Twilight again, more Sectanium Warships continued to open fire upon the military port, making the interior area around them shake violently as explosions are erupted all around them. Additionally, much of the ceiling inside the hangar started to come down as it is a sign that the Military Port is lost, despite their triumphant victory. 

"Everyone, to the ships, now!!!" Admiral Derek ordered as he was the first to proceed onto Zeck's battlecruiser.

Upon hearing the Admiral's orders, the surviving UFF security and military personnel withdrew from their fight with the attackers and went onboard the battlecruisers before they took off immediately, abandoning the entire station.

Even though most of the other ponies didn't understand what Derek just said, Twilight relay that order to them. Upon hearing Twilight's relayed orders, the Mane 5, Luna, and Discord attempted reach to Zeck's ship with the giant beetle and the captured Sectanium Warrior in tow. However, before any of them got closer to Zeck's ship other than Twilight, they all get blocked by a pile of collapsing rubble that separated Twilight from the rest of her friends, her predecessor, and the Draconneques.

"Guys, hang in there. I'm going to get you all out!!!" Twilight said as she tried to lit up her horn in hopes of teleporting them all the way to her side. However, Luna reached out past the rubble and towards Twilight's horn, tapping it with her hoof to cancel out her spell.

"No Twilight, you have to head back to Canterlot as soon as possible. You already promised us that, didn't you?!" Luna shouted back at her.

"I can't leave any of you here. They'll do to you all what they tried to do to me. Besides, we just found each other!!!" Twilight said, as she tried to lit her horn up. However, after all of that fighting and all the magic she had used just now, Twilight is starting to feel exhausted as she started panting heavily.

"It's okay, Twilight. Just go!! We'll meet you back at Equestria!!!" Applejack added in. "We'll be fine!!!"

"Twilight, please hurry. We're leaving now!!" Zeck shouted out as he is seen inside the ship.

As she sees more Sectanium guards approaching her friends from behind, Twilight had little choice let since she doesn't have enough energy to teleport any of her friends onboard Zeck's ship like she did with the prisoners that she helped escape. So, Twilight makes her one and only choice left.

"Every pony, please come back home safe!!!" Twilight begged as she unfurled her wings and flew towards Zeck's ship.

Before Zeck closed the doors to his ship, Luna had one more thing to say first.

"Zeck, until she is back in Equestria, I'm personally holding you responsible for Twilight's safety. If anything happens to her, I'll chase you down to the ends of space!!!"

"Y-Yes, ma'am!!" Zeck said, feeling a bit nauseous over what Luna told him.

As the Mane 5 and Luna see Twilight disappear onboard Zeck's ship, with the latter closing the ship's doors it fired up its engines as they see it leave the hangar before heading out into space. In the next second, the ship entered into hyperspace and disappeared from sight.

Feeling relieved that their friend Princess Twilight has escaped safely once again, the Mane 5, Discord, and Luna did their job successfully.

"Okay girls, we managed to get Twilight out. Now, let's bring this jackwagon of a traitor back to Canterlot!!" Applejack said, as she hauled the captured enemy alien on top of the large stag beetle with the chain. "He needs to answer for his crimes against Princess Twilight."

Heeding Applejack's words, the ponies and Discord went on top of the Stag Beetle once again, ignoring the Sectanium's muffled angry voice.

Just before the Sectanium guards came closer to the ponies onboard the huge insect, it flew away in a jiffy. After seeing them disappear a white flash, the Sectaniums started cursing themselves for failing to complete their capturing mission carried out by the order of Empress Vanista, aside from conquering another planet and taking down a UFF military port.
> Chapter 21: Homecoming
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Although they were able to conquer another planet as well as disabling the defenses all around the UFF Military port, most of the Sectanium commanding officers and guards were defeated under hands of a group of Equine ponies during their fight with them and the UFF forces. As of now, the remaining Sectanium Soldiers turned to face the Empress onboard her flagship in disgrace. The moment the Sectanium Guard Sergeant made a full report of their personal losses, the Empress snapped right in front of him and his fellow soldiers. 

"ARE......YOU.......KIDDING ME????!!!!" Empress Vanista shouted in a frustrated, furious tone. "YOU ALL JUST GOT BEATEN BY A GROUP OF PASTEL HORSES?? JUST HOW BRAIN-DEAD ARE YOU ALL??!!!?"

"W-W-We're sorry your highness!!!" The frightened Guard Sergeant stammered. "We never saw it coming, honest!!!"

*SMACK!!!*

Fed up with such excuses, the Empress hit the Sergeant in the face with her right hand without hesitation. Feeling the full brunt of her hand, the sergeant fell down as he whimpered in agony.

"SAYING SORRY ISN'T GOING TO HELP RECOVER OUR LOSSES!!!" The Empress shouted again, scolding the Sectanium Guard Sergeant for his failures.

Just as the Sergeant struggled to look up to the Empress, she pulled out her gun and shoots the Sectanium in the head as she initiated a disciplinary action. As the Sergeant fell on the ground dead, with his head blasted in between the eyes, the Empress turned to face the rest of the Sectanium soldiers kneeling before the Empress in fear.

"Look everyone, we may have taken over this UFF Military Port. We have may conquered this planet without anymore resistance. But it doesn't change the fact that Captain Trine is badly injured during our takeover. Most of the enemy defenders, workers, and civilians have fled with their lives. We were not able to capture the commander of that space station in time before he escaped nor were we able to recapture our designated targets. What's worse, Lord Hampt is captured by the enemy!!!!" Vanista continued as she is still trembling with anger towards remaining Sectanium soldiers and Mandor grunts. "I should just kill you all for not protecting my best commanders and warriors. Without them, we will not rid ourselves of our suffering under the hands of those that wouldn't stop humiliating us."

The Sectanium soldiers couldn't help but stare at the Empress in a state of shock and horror, forcing themselves to keep their mouths shut.

For the Empress, she takes a feel deep breaths before her royal advisor came up to her from behind. The Royal Advisor is seen wearing yellow-green robes and is carrying a bag full of his scrolls that he uses to initiate royal decrees the Empress has to offer. Apparently, the advisor happens to be another Mandor who is currently looked down upon most of the Sectaniums onboard the Empress' Flagship.

"Your majesty, we just managed to sent in some scouts to stay track on Zeck's ship. We'll keep an eye on them first before we attack them again. Besides, the only way we can beat them is by using their power against them."

"You hope you had the right idea or else I will toss you into the airlock!!!" The Empress snarled at her royal advisor."Our superior race is supposed to be untouched. Well, I'm getting a strange feeling that we Sectaniums may have bear witness to another race that is likely competing with our power. I hope I'm wrong."

"You there!!!" 

The Empress shouted as she pointed her finger to another Sectanium Guard. This time, its a female Sectanium officer who is seen as a red-brown skinned alien wearing a gray officer's uniform and a black beret on top of her head. 

"Yes, your majesty?!" The Female Colonel spoke.

"What is your name, soldier?"

"My name is Colonel Dialuria Janus." The Female Sectanium Officer spoke, still shivering in fear before the Empress' fury.

"Colonel Janus, you are in charge of helping the scouts investigate the sentimental race of pastel horses helping out the UFF. You will deliver to me as much as information as possible about them but do not engage them unless I say so. Is that clear?!" 

"Yes, your majesty." Colonel Janus said, saluting the Empress in acknowledging her orders.

"Good, now get out there!!!" The Empress ordered, making the Colonel dash out of the throne room without another word, but not before making another statement. "While you're at it, please let me know where did they take my Royal Consort!!"

"Yes, ma'am!!" Janus acknowledged before running out of the Empress' throne room.

After seeing Janus disappear from her sights, Empress Vanista came up to the window to look at the constellations in space.

"Lord Hampt!!" Vanista sniffed. "I'll be coming for you, my love!!!"





Back in Equestria......

In the Canterlot Hospital, Celestia and Raven Inkwell appeared in one of the floors of the medical center only to see a group of injured guards being treated of their injuries. As Celestia takes a good look at everyone of them, she sees the guards with legs and their lower abdomens wrapped up in bandages. At the far end of the room that she is in, Celestia sees that Tempest has a huge bandage wrapped around her head and with one hoof wrapped around in a sling.

"Tempest, are you okay?! What happened to you all??" Celesta asked, showing concern for the guards loyal to Princess Twilight.

"Celestia, me and my team got ambushed at the Everfree Forest, the moment Princess Twilight ordered us to investigate the unknown incursion in the middle of the night." Tempest said, trying to take a breather.

"Did any of you know who it was that attacked you?!" Celestia asked in a worried expression. "Did any of your men take a good look at them?"

"W-W-We're sorry, Celestia. I did my best to keep our guards in line as they closed in ranks but they hurled some sort of explosive that sent all of us packing. I tried to use my magic against our attackers but we were overwhelmed and I was seeing stars." Tempest added in.

"I'm afraid that was my fault, Celestia." Raven Inkwell reluctantly said. "I-I told Princess Twilight of the incursion and notified her of that the guards who are on night shift didn't come back. So, she took off immediately to go find them."

"That must've explain why she disappeared from Equestria without warning. But still, did any pony else saw Twilight during that night?" Celestia frantically asked the other guards who just woke up. "Did any pony see or hear anything??"

As every pony turned to face Celestia, they all stood there speechless as if they couldn't come up with any answer. 

"Sorry, every pony. I can't help it but worry about what is happening to Twilight out there." Celestia said as she closed her eyes in feeling lost.

"I know how you feel, Celestia." Spike said, trying to comfort the depressed white alicorn. "But I'm sure the other girls will help lead Twilight back home."

In the present, 6 days later.......

"Lord Spike!!" One of the Royal Guards spoke out loud as he appeared from outside of the throne room. "We have received word that the ponies accompanying Lady Luna have returned and they brought a prisoner with them!!"

Upon hearing the guard's immediate report, Celestia and Spike looked at each other as they both smirked with delight over the fact that they are going to have fun with their new prisoner very soon.

"Bring him to the palace!!" Spike ordered the Royal Guard.

"Yes, my lord!!!" The Guard acknowledged as he bowed towards Spike.





Somewhere out in space, a few clicks towards Temar which is the galaxy that Twilight's planet is located at, Zeck's battleship was moving fast in hyperspace. Inside the ship, Twilight turns to see Zeck, Sonja, and Derek with shocked looks in their eyes.

"Twilight, those ponies with you? Are they really....?" Derek asked in awe after seeing what happened before they escaped from the wrecked Military Port.

"Yes Derek, they were the pony friends that I was talking about earlier." Twilight said, in a cheerful voice. "If they were to find me at a place like that, that could only mean that my home planet is not much further."

"That was really amazing, the way your friends fought our enemies for us." Zeck said, feeling a bit excited.

"I know right?!" Twilight grinned with confidence. "This isn't the first time we fought enemies together, neither will it be the last. Besides, we always did our best to protect Equestria from threats like that."

"I see what you mean." Sonja replied with amazement. "So, this Rainbow Dash, was she...?

"Yes, Sonja, she is one of my best friends I had most of the time. Formerly known as the Element of Loyalty. Now a full-class Wonderbolt Commander-In-Training." Twilight said as she explained to Sonja briefly about Rainbow. "She happens to be a Pegasus mare."

"What's a Wonderbolt??" Sonja asked out of curiosity.

"It's a lot to explain. I'll show you all when we reach Equestria." Twilight said, not wanting to give out too much info.

"Our next destination is Equis." The helmsman announced from the PA speakers. "ETA will be one hour."

"So Twilight, are you nervous in coming back home?" Zeck asked.

"Of course I am. I still have a lot of paperwork and royal duties to take care of with Spike." Twilight replied, feeling a bit nervous.  

"I know what you mean." Xul said as she and Pam appeared from the hallways of the ship. "I don't know how will I react if your subjects see both of us in plain sight."

"Yeah, we're all feeling pretty nervous in meeting with your people, Twilight." Pam said, in reluctant voice.

"Hey, what are those two Sectanium Woman doing here??" Sonja said, noticing the strange colored-skinned aliens in a flabbergasted tone. "Zeck, didn't you tell me that the Sectaniums are evil aliens back then?! If so, why are they on board this ship??!?"

"It's okay, Sonja. They maybe Sectaniums too, but they're not our enemies!!" Twilight said, as she referred Sonja back to the time that she met both of them. "They both told me otherwise."

"What makes you say that??" Sonja said back, not getting Twilight's statement about Xul and Pam.

"I had some issue in doubt with them too, but they already said it themselves." Zeck added in, supporting Twilight's claim. "One happens to be some sort of spy working for the UFF and the other was locked up in Terram because of her so-called treason against the Empress herself. It may be hard to believe, but there's always the first time for everything."

"A spy and a traitor??" Sonja said in confusion. "You mean they both betrayed their own alien race?? I don't understand."

"It's a long story, miss." Xul said, greeting Sonja up front. "My name is Xuliana Lilith Sona, but my friends call me Xul for short. And this lady beside me happens to be an old friend of mine, Pamela Kimi Herath."

"You can call me Pam instead, if you like." Pamela spoke right after Xul's short conversation with Sonja.

"My name is Sonja Willis Stone. I'm Zeck's wife!" Sonja said, giving both Sectaniums a surprising introduction.

"Oh my. Well, that is quite a surprise." Xul said in a shock.

"Okay, ladies. I'd say we might as well rest up before we reach Twilight's homeland, wouldn't you say?" Zeck told the group of strange alien ladies, female human, and the alicorn pony.

Ending their conversation, Xul and Pam went with Twilight as the alicorn princess makes her way back to her private quarters.

As for Sonja, she went with Zeck to the Captain's quarters. Though, she couldn't help but feel just as amazed that a group of pastel horses could actually do that no other horse could on earth.

"So Zeck, when did Twilight get on board this ship?" Sonja asked out of curiosity.

"Well my dear, she was with me the whole time after we all escaped from Terram. There's also something you should know about her....." Zeck answered before getting straight to the point over what he learned from Twilight.





At the command bridge of Zeck's ship, Admiral Derek is seen trying to reestablish contact with Captain Monet and Commander Fenirius after being forced to abandon their Military Port to the enemy. For Chmone, he is now steering the ship on course towards Equis via Hyperspace.

"Commander Fenirius, are you there?! Please respond!! This is Admiral Wellington. Can you hear me?" Derek spoke on the communication channel.

In a few minutes, Derek could hear static until he finally gets a response from a grunting, howling voice.

"Admiral, this is Commander Fenirius over. Me and my men have safely escaped and is now onboard Monet's Battlecruiser."

"Where are you now?!" Admiral said, feeling relieved that his fellow officers are still alive and kicking.

"We're on our way to UFF HQ in the Rambon Galaxy. We'll be gathering as much of our forces as we can before we meet up with you at Temar via hyperspace."

"Good to hear. Don't take too long. The Empress will be hunting us down after recovering her men from the fight at Xarillius." The Admiral ordered while holding the phone up to his mouth. 

"Understood, sir. We won't fail you!!" Fenirius' voice replied back before Derek ended his communication channel with the commander.

"So Chmone, is everything ready once we reach Equis?" The Admiral asked the four-armed alien in front of him.

"It will be soon, sir." Chmone replied positively. "By the way, I heard what happened when Twilight's friends made a brief heroic intervention back there. Did you get a good look at them?"

"I did, Chmone. Man, they were actually really amazing than they look!!" Derek responded in such awe. "I can't wait to meet the other government officials running Twilight's country."

"Me too, man. This war is getting much more interesting." Chmone thought.

"Well, we may have been pushing our luck. Since the Empress' flagship was seen amongst the fleet when they attacked us back there, we do need to help Twilight's people prepare for battle as soon as the Sectanium Armada reaches Temar." The Admiral pointed out, remembering everything he saw during the attack upon their military port.

"Let's hope they will accept our allegiance." Chmone said, before he turned towards the space in front of their ship.




Meanwhile back in Equestria......

As the Mane 5 and Luna returned to Canterlot via Chaos Realm, Discord appeared from behind as he and Applejack are pulling the captured alien both by the chain and by the earth pony mare's lasso. 

Hampt's POV:

Despite all his efforts, Lord Hampt struggled helplessly as he felt the relentless strength of the earth pony dragging him through the streets of what it appears to be a white city with tall buildings all around him while making muffled screams and curses at his captors. 

At the same time, Hampt sees all sorts of colorful ponies appear left and right as they show up from all sorts of various buildings inside Canterlot. Despite having such a cute appearance, the ponies are hurling furious curses, insults, and scorns as they angrily threw all sorts of pastries, fruit, and cake at the restrained, gagged alien. When getting hit, Hampt could feel all of those thrown food splattering all over his uniform.

While struggling to look around him despite getting hit from all the food thrown at him by the angry pastel horses, Hampt spots purple regal banners and a familiar purple pastel horse seen on everyone of them. He recognized them all as EQ-3, the very same pony that escaped from Terram and the very same pastel horse that he was ordered to recapture. 

Despite seeing all of those banners along the way to the center of town, Hampt couldn't understand what to make of it. However, he is starting to have a very bad feeling that something didn't seem right seeing EQ-3 on every one of them.

The moment the five pastel horses dragged the captured alien into the palace courtyard, he was also met with a platoon of ponies clad in strange guard armor carrying spears and round shields, glaring at him with anger in their eyes. As soon as the ponies stopped at the front entrance of the palace, Hampt felt the orange pony hurling him towards the feet of a tall white horse with a flowing colorful mane and a small green lizard with wings protruding from its back. At the same time, more ponies clad in guard armor showed up behind the two aliens, aiming their spears and crossbows at Hampt's face.

Although, he couldn't understand what most of the other ponies are saying to the tall white horse and the little winged lizard, Hampt's eyes widened with fear as he is getting a bad feeling that EQ-3 isn't who he thinks it is. He started sweating underneath his gagged breath as he was held up by two other ponies in guard armor with their strange telekinesis powers.





"It seems that you girls were able to help Princess Twilight teach those wretched creatures a lesson, didn't you?!" Celestia replied, feeling impressed that the Mane 5 are finally able to take action against this new threat.

"You bet, Celestia!!" Rainbow smirked in triumph. "Those varmits got what they deserve, especially after I bucked their commanding officer into submission!!!"

In a snicker, Rainbow started laughing his head off for some unbelievable reason. 

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! You should see the looks on all those vile creatures after I decked their officer back there!! It was so priceless, I couldn't resist!!!" The blue pegasus cackled, as she pounded both of her front hooves on the floor.

After hearing Rainbow's success and laughter, Celestia turns toward the tied up alien who is still muttering underneath his muffled breath.

"Is this one of the creatures responsible for hindering Twilight's way back home?!" Celestia said as she glared at the gagged Sectanium.

"Yes, indeed." Discord said as he walked towards him. "I sense that this thing is carry a strange but devastating power that will be our downfall. No matter, I was able to drain him of his magic with the Bewitching Bell before he had a chance to strike at the Mane 5."

"Good work, Discord." Celestia said, congratulating the Draconneques as she grabbed the Bell with her yellow, glowing magic. "I'll take that thank you very much."

After putting the bell away inside her bag, Celestia approached the captured Sectanium, her eyes narrowed in fury for a few minutes before announcing her statements.

"I don't know where you come from and I don't know what you want from her, but we will not let you hurt Princess Twilight Sparkle in front of any of us!!!" Celestia snarled at the Sectanium. "Oh sorry, you've got something to say, twinkle toes??"

As Celestia pulled out the grey tape covering up his mouth, Hampt grunted in pain before he felt his hair being pulled by Celestia's hoof.

"I-I-I don't know what you're saying? I don't know what you're talking about?? What is this place?? W-W-Who are you people??" Hampt said, stuttering in total confusion on what is happening around him.

"Celestia, allow me!!" Fluttershy said as she took a deep breath before approaching the tied up creature. Celestia drops the creature onto the floor in front of Fluttershy as it cowered helplessly before the stern pegasus. "Okay, mister Sectanium or whoever you are. I do have some questions for you. Are you ready to answer them all?" 

"W-Wh-What are you talking about, horse?" The Sectanium warrior spoke, feeling confused being interrogated by a yellow pastel horse. "Who are you people??"

"We happen to be the honorable ponies of the Kingdom of Equestria. And the current ruler governing our land right now is Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship and one of my closest friends." Fluttershy replied, making the Sectanium more confused. "Why are you trying to take Twilight Sparkle away from us?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I-I don't know any Twilight Sparkle. I don't know any ruler governing this place!" The alien creature rambled on in total fright. "I-I-I-I don't know any Princess of Friendship, honest!!!"

Not having it, Fluttershy nodded at Discord as he summoned a plastic bag with just one snap of his fingers before the yellow pegasus grabbed it with her teeth. Not a moment too soon, Fluttershy wrapped the bag around the creature's head, making him suffocate as he struggled for air.

"You don't know, after we saw you and your people try to attack Twilight??!!" Fluttershy snarled before she screamed at the Sectanium Warrior. "ARE YOU REALLY THAT BLIND AND STUPID????"

While Fluttershy shouted out loud, she pressed both of her hooves onto the Sectanium's face while holding the plastic bag in place tightly before lifting the bag up above his head.

"Please, mercy!! I'm just a professional doing a job." The Warrior whimpered, feeling out of breath as his face turned bright red.

"We can keep this up until you answer my question or until I make your lungs burst!!" Fluttershy growled in anger as she put the bag over the creature's head again. "Why are you trying to take Twilight Sparkle away from us?!"

In the next minute, Fluttershy lifts the bag up again for the second time only for the Sectanium Warrior to come up with a blunt response.

"P-P-Please!!! Don't do this!!!" The Warrior pleaded while out of breath. "Y-Y-You don't understand. I-I-I......"

"We don't understand?!" Fluttershy snapped as she threw the bag away and held the creature with both of her hooves. "Of course we do. BECAUSE IT'S PRETTY BUCKING SIMPLE!!!!"

In frustrated fury, Fluttershy shook the powerless warrior violently back and forth in demanding answers from him.

"When Twilight disappeared, our entire country is suffering under a great deal of pandemonium!!! There were crazed ponies rioting in these streets of Canterlot, attempting to storm into the palace by force in stealing Twilight's crown!! Worse, our Royal Advisor was struggling to help the Royal Guard maintain law and order without Twilight!!! All of these unfortunate events are happening in Equestria because of YOU!!!"

"S-S-S-S-Stop.P-P-P-P-Please!!! I-I-I-I....." The shaking warrior begged before his interrogation was interrupted.

"Lord Spike! Mistress Celestia!!" A white pegasus guard appeared as he came down from his flight. "A huge, unidentified ship has been spotted 200 meters outside of Canterlot."

"Where?" Both Spike and Celestia asked in unison.

"This way!!" The guard replied as he led Spike and Celestia to where he saw the ship.

All at once, the Mane 5 followed Spike and Celestia from behind. As for the tied up warrior, he was grabbed immediately by several guard ponies once again, feeling confused on what they're doing.

As soon as they reached to the outer walls of Canterlot, they spot another strange ship hovering in orbit. At first, Celestia thought it might be where that vile creature came from. However, the Mane 5 and Luna recognized it from a distance away.

Just as the unicorn guards at the garrisons charged up their horns and the earth ponies readied the cannons in their guard towers, the Mane 5 shouted at them to stand down.

"Every pony, wait!!!" Fluttershy shouted, who was the first to react. "Don't shoot. We saw Twilight get onboard that ship!!!"

Not listening to Fluttershy for a moment, one Cannon team from a nearby guard tower fired a shot in which made a minor scratch on the huge ship heading their way. At the same time, a army of Pegasus guards flew towards the approaching ship as they escorted a fleet of Royal Airships alongside them, all armed to the teeth.




At the same time when the Mane 5 brought in their prisoner at Canterlot......

At the end of the hyperspace jump, Zeck's battlecruiser has finally reached its destination. Rather than seeing the orbit around the Equis Planet, Zeck and Derek sees a clear, blue sky, lush green forests and foothills, and a tall mountain where a large, white city of gold linings appear before them from inside the command bridge.  

Zeck makes his announcement on the public speakers throughout the entire ship.

"Attention all crewmembers and aliens. We have arrived at the planet's surface of Equis."

At first, Twilight is relieved that she is now home at last while seeing all of Equestria from the command bridge. However, before she can thank them, they all hear a loud bang coming from the white city of Canterlot. In the next second, ship's exterior hull was hit.

*BOOM!!!*

As the command bridge shook, most of Zeck's crewmembers, his friends, and Twilight felt the violent vibration happening all over the ship. In everyone's shock, a swarm of Pegasus guards and Royal Airships appeared in front and all around the ship as they aimed their crossbolts and bombard cannons at the Battlecruiser.

In the middle of the formation, a Grey Pegasus Guard Captain with the black mane and tail is seen flying in the air while holding a megaphone with his right hoof before speaking through it.

"Attention, unauthorized vessel. This is the Equestrian Royal Airfleet. Do not proceed any further. You have no permission to enter Equestria's airspace. Turn your vessel around or we will shoot you down!! Turn your vessel around or we will destroy you!!!!"

Even though no one in this ship understood what the pegasus are saying, Twilight is the only pony that does. Twilight knew what she had to do as she went up to the console and makes her presence known via speakers.

"Twilight? What are you.....?" Admiral Derek said, spotting the alicorn grab the microphone with her magic before Zeck stops him as the captain reached his hand in front of him.

"It's okay, Admiral. I think she got this!!!" Zeck told the Admiral, knowing that the ponies will likely listen to Twilight.

"Captain Blackwing!! This is Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria. Stand your men down!!!"

"Princess Twilight?! I-I-Is that you??! Where are you??" The Captain spoke back through the mega phone.

"I'm onboard this ship. And the creatures inside are not our enemies. They're all with me!! So stand your men down!!!"

In a few seconds after hearing Princess Twilight's orders, the Captain felt hesitant that it's just going to be a trap. But if not, then he has to make sure that the ruler of Equestria can come out unharmed by the visitors.

"All forces stand down!!!" The Pegasus Captain spoke to his fellow guards and the crewmen of the airships behind him. "Her royal majesty is here!! Let them through!!!" 

As the pegasus guards and the royal airships withdrew their weapons, Admiral Derek sees it as a signal to order the crew to proceed further towards Canterlot.





As the ponies see the UFF battlecruiser loom overhead above the city of Canterlot, they all gasped in awe while its shadow covered the entire city, blocking out the sun and the clear, blue sky above it.

They all stood there speechless as the ship stopped right above port, left of the palace courtyard. As Celestia and Spike looked upwards to the unidentified ship, they see it escorted by four Royal Airships and a platoon of Pegasus guards.

"Is that ship....?" Celestia muttered before Luna appeared next to her elder sister.

"Yes, Tia. We just saw Princess Twilight get onboard that ship back there." Luna told her sister as the Mane 5 came up to the white alicorn.

"I-I-I-I don't believe it." Celestia gasped as tears are slowly coming out of her eyes.

The moment the ship landed at port, the tied-up Sectanium Warrior's eyes bulged out in horror upon realizing that a UFF ship has made a clear landing without any further incident.

"T-T-This isn't good!! The UFF has reached out to another planet before we could!!" The Warrior muttered in horror.

As the ship opened up its front lander, the Royal Guards surround it as they held up their spears in a cautious formation.

"Whoever is in there, come out with your hands up!!!" A unicorn Guard Captain shouted as he lit up his horn with magic.

 (0:34 to 1:49)

In just a few seconds, Twilight finally appeared before them as she cast a spell on herself. She is now wearing her Royal Gown as she approached the Royal Guards dauntlessly.

"TWILIGHT!!!" Celestia wailed as she flew towards her, hugging the purple alicorn tightly in happiness. At the same time, Spike flew towards Twilight as he embraced both her and Celestia at the same time.

"Oh Celestia! Spike! I missed you both. I'm so sorry. I didn't want to...." Twilight whimpered while being embraced by her former mentor.

"It's okay, dearie. It's okay!!" Celestia said, comforting the distraught purple alicorn. "I know. Raven told me everything."

"We're so glad you're okay, Twilight." Spike soothed.

Upon noticing Twilight's injured hoof wrapped in a bandage after her embrace, Celestia lights up her horn as she aimed it at her wound. With one small flash, Twilight's injury is gone. Upon seeing what just happened from the command bridge, Zeck and Chmone felt totally amazed by such a unexpected healing power coming from the tall, white mare. 

After Celestia cast her spell on Twilight's wounded leg, the purple alicorn pulled out her dress wrapping, revealing that she is no longer bleeding from her hoof anymore, much to her relief. As soon as Twilight turned to face her guards, they all withdrew their spears and bowed down before the Ruler of Equestria. 

"Welcome home, your majesty!!" The unicorn guard captain exclaimed as he bowed before Twilight too.

All the other ponies surrounding the palace courtyard have also bowed down to Princess Twilight as well, considering that they are no long worried of running the country without a ruler. As Twilight took all this for granted, she smiled before making her announcement to her fellow ponies and her friends in Canterlot.

"I'm sorry for keeping you all waiting, every pony. There is so much to do right now, but first I want to introduce you all to our new friends and guests that came from beyond the stars." Twilight said, as she made her announcement to every pony at the palace courtyard.

Right behind her, Zeck, Sonja, Derek, Chmone, Xul, and Pam appeared from the ship as they made a greeting bow too while Zeck held the activated translator in his right hand.

"Friends of the UFF, welcome to Equestria!!!" Twilight Sparkle said, allowing her new friends to introduce themselves to her pony friends, Celestia, and Luna.

"Well, I never thought you'd all make it so soon." Luna said, feeling a bit surprised.

"I-I-I don't know how to thank you all for bringing Twilight back." Celestia said, while sniveling with relief as Zeck could hear her robotic voice through the translator.

"It's nothing really. Since she helped us escape from Terram, we all owe her this much anyway. You must be Mistress Celestia. It's a pleasure to meet you." Zeck said, accepting his condolences to the tall, white alicorn.

"Twilight, we also brought our prisoner here too. I hope you don't mind showing him the error of his ways, do you?!" Luna said as she turned towards the Sectanium Warrior who is still tied up, muttering in self-pity.

As the purple horse approached the Sectanium Warrior with anger in her eyes, Hampt gasped in horror upon seeing that she is now wearing a Royal Gown of her own, unlike what the Sectanium Empress wore. Before he knew it, the blue winged pony takes off her crown as she and the white, winged horse used their magic to turn it back into fused, golden crown as they both placed it on top of EQ-3's head. Realizing a sudden change of events around EQ-3, Hampt started to shudder cowardly before the purple pastel horse. 

When Zeck raised the translator up above her head, Twilight glared at the Sectanium Warrior making the vile creature sweat underneath his breath. In fact, Hampt will soon face more than just being strangled with a plastic bag over his head. 

"EQ-3? W-W-What the hell is this??" Hampt stammered before he was smacked by a hoof coming from one of the guards holding him up.

"Watch your tongue, you rotten fiend. That is no way to talk to our Ruler!!!"

"Ruler? Wait a minute, you're not saying.....?!" Hampt muttered in fright as he is forced onto his knees in front of the purple pastel horse.

"You might as well beg for mercy before her Royal Majesty, Princess Twilight Sparkle, the honorable Ruler of Equestria!!!" The Unicorn Guard Captain spoke out loud. 

Upon hearing what the pony clad in guard armor just said, Hampt's mind went totally blank with shock and fear in his eyes. After seeing all those banners of EQ-3, he never realized that she is actually the one governing this entire land. In such disbelief, Hampt's remained totally speechless not even realizing that this is exactly why the ponies wouldn't stop tormenting him out of his wits. In fact, he never thought that it also the real reason why Twilight gave him a total shock that nearly ended his life back at the Mandor Fueling Station. 

"Y-Y-You? You're actually the ruler of these lands??" Hampt gasped in confusion. "I-I-I thought you'd be taller!!!"

"Tall or not, I already came a long way to earn my place among my fellow ponies and I'm not going to give up this country to the likes of you or your filthy Empress!!!" Twilight snarled as she held him up 10 feet above her with her magic. 

"I-I-It's not over yet, your royal craziness!!!" Hampt snapped back at her while wiggling helplessly underneath his restraints. "Empress Vanista will have you beheaded for this, the same way she behead all those alien leaders that stood against her. Your land will be hers!!! You will all burn before her very eyes. I swear it!!!"

Ignoring the Sectanium Warrior's loudmouth, Twilight puts another gag on his mouth before ordering the guards to lock him up in the palace's dungeons. Also, she ordered another group of guards to secure another prisoner onboard Zeck's ship too.

When two unicorn guards went inside Zeck's ship they came out a moment later as they dragged a wailing Ash by two chains wrapped around his green skinned body.

As Ash disappeared into the palace while being escorted by the guard ponies, Twilight takes a deep breath before turning to face her fellow ponies and her friends from the UFF.

"Alright every creature, now that we're all here, I'd say we might as well take a break after our long journey." Twilight announced to all of her friends. "Once we rest up, then we'll discuss how we can win the war against the alien invaders."
> Chapter 22: Xul's story part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When most of the UFF officers and personal put the ship on hover mode behind the Canterlot Palace, Twilight and the Counsel of Friendship went inside the throne room to discuss their allegiance with the UFF, they all immediately agreed to help them out because if the Sectaniums got this close to Twilight on the day she was captured when this whole madness started, then no pony or creature in Equestria will be safe from them. 

However, for Luna, she is still feeling skeptical over accepting the UFF allegiance fearing that they'll just take advantage of Twilight's power for selfish interest. As for Celestia, she did her best to convince Luna that the UFF will help protect Twilight and all of Equestria from the invaders since it is Twilight's duty as the Princess of Friendship to help serve and protect her friends from any impeding threat heading their way. In Celestia's point of view, if it hadn't been for UFF, she and all of Equestria will never see Twilight again and Celestia will be forced to find another successor to Twilight's throne which may be nearly impossible to accomplish.

After her meeting with the Counsel of Friendship, Twilight needed to plan several more schedules in meeting with Equestria's Military Officers, the Nobles of the Canterlot Elite, and the Pillars of Equestria at later dates. Apparently, Spike helped her out make plans for the meetings at certain times in only for two days inside the Canterlot Palace.

After she lowered the sun once again and raised the moon with the amulet, Princess Twilight had her new guests rest up in the guest rooms inside the palace's upper floors, while Pinkie Pie prepares a welcoming party for the heroes that brought Twilight Sparkle back home safe and sound. For the Mane 5, they stayed in the palace too for they wanted to help Twilight deal with the invaders before this whole madness starts all over again. 

For Celestia and Luna, they moved all of their bags from Twilight's room before the two elderly alicorns shared the same guest suite inside the palace as Twilight finally came back to her Royal bedroom chambers.

During the time Zeck, his wife, and his comrades are hanging around inside the guest chambers while holding the translator latched onto his belt, Xul and Pam are under heavy escort as they are led to another guest room at the end of the palace hallways. At first, Xul and Pam were afraid that the ponies of Equestria may not see them as friends, not after what happened to Princess Twilight on Terram. However, just like Twilight, Fluttershy did notice that they both felt bad because of the sad look in their eyes. She is certain that very soon, Fluttershy will have a talk with both Sectanium women about their side of the story before their race declared war on the entire universe. After seeing Xul and Pam go inside their guest room, Fluttershy stayed close by before falling asleep inside the guest room adjacent to theirs.

When the news spread out of Princess Twilight's return from her royal hiatus, most of the ponies and creatures in Ponyville, the Crystal Empire, the Dragonlands, and in the Changeling Kingdom are all rejoicing. In fact, Shinning Armour and Cadence are eager to head down to Canterlot to see Twilight again. For Twilight's parents, they were eager to see her as well. However, they all have to wait until morning before then since Twilight needs to rest inside the palace where she currently lives right now.





As the rooster started crowing next morning, Twilight appears from the balcony outside of her royal chambers as she raised the sun with the amulet. Now that she is finally awake and well-rested, Twilight sits on top of her throne while wearing her golden crown on her head and her wearing her royal necklace hanging on her chest. In such a short notice, Twilight looks over several of her paperwork that hasn't been checked off yet due to her absence from the throne. For Spike, he came out from the other room opposite of Twilight's room. 

"So Twilight, do you have anything in mind right now?" Spike asked.

"Well Spike, I said I was going to discuss how will we plan to help our new friends deal with the alien invaders if they enter Equestria, aren't we?!" Twilight replied, remembering Zeck's request one the day he first spoke with her via translator.

"So that Zeck guy, did you really think you'd escape captivity without him?" The Royal Advisor asked.

"I probably wouldn't since I was the only pony to be brought to Terram against my own will. Besides, he already knows the full layout of the prison that I was held up at. In fact, I was able to start off using several transfiguration spells, turning a few objects into essentials that allow Zeck to draw out the plan for all of us to understand. Even though Fluttershy wasn't there to help me talk to them when it all happened, I did my best to point out things and write notes for them."

"I see." Spike pondered before asking Twilight about Xul and Pam. "Speaking of which, I thought you said that the Sectaniums are our new enemies. If so, why are those Sectanium ladies staying with us?"

"Well, they aren't as bad as they look." Twilight said back in a confident tone. "They may be former soldiers of the evil alien empire, but they both have serious doubts with the ruler that they used to be commanded by. I mean, they already told me everything about their Empress and they were forced to do things they aren't really proud of."

"What do you think they're going to do, once we deal with this new threat from space?" Spike asked.

"Who knows?! It's their choice to make, whether they can stay with us and learn from our culture or they can leave to help restore their homeland to its former glory." Twilight imagined.

"Anyway, we have a tight schedule to setup for our meetings with the rest of Equestria's government officials and with our neighbors at Mount Metazoa." 

"What about breakfast?" Spike asked, not willing to do their job without an empty stomach.

"I already had a small early breakfast of pancakes before every creature was able to wake up." Twilight responded briefly. "Come, Spike. We both have work to do at the Convocation!!"

Eager to help protect Equestria, Twilight and Spike both flew together as they make their way to the airship before departing to Mount Metazoa before attending their meeting with their allied rulers.





Somewhere above the Everfree Forest, a cloaked scout ship is hiding from plain sight as it makes its landing near a swampy section of the area. Once the ship docked itself, a small team of Sectanium scouts disembarked. They are all wearing camouflage uniforms, equipped with silenced rifles and small trench knives. At the front of the team, they are led by Colonel Janus of the Sectanium Army. 

Janus still remembers that the last time she and her team were on a mission was actually here in Equestria; they were doing their part as a set-up team back then. In the past several campaigns, they were dispatched further into the Temar Galaxy to locate planets that the rest of the Sectanium Fleet can use to establish more bases of operation. In fact, they were about to pinpoint a location to establish a base of operations in the Everfree Forest in Equestria. Unfortunately, their operation gets interrupted by an approaching presence of ponies wearing royal guard armor. 

Twilight, Tempest, and their guards never realized that it was actually Dialuria Janus and her set-up, scouting team that ambushed them all during that same night. As a matter of fact, Janus knew that they were going to give away their position as soon as they see them in their sights. So, in order to silence them, Janus' team was using EMP laser rifles and electrical grenades to shock and paralyze the pony guards and Tempest, knocking them all out cold. Just when they were getting ready to leave empty-handed, one of her scouts also spotted Twilight enter the Everfree Forest.

Not wanting any witnesses near the scene, Janus and her team tried to shoot her down from the sky with their laser stun rifles only for the purple pastel horse to dodge every single one of them and let loose a shield bubble that blocked most of their laser shots. Not wanting the pony to get away, Janus took out a missile launcher that shoots out silent, shockwave missiles at their target. As they struck the flying purple horse, they see it falling 25 meters in a clearing outside the Everfree Forest. They silently ran towards it and hauled it away due to the fact that they wanted to use the strange winged, horned pony as a living experimental slave and test subject. However, now that the purple horse has escaped and made several unbelievable tricks against their fellow Sectaniums, Janus can only hope that she will not engage the purple horse again without being spotted during her current mission.

As of now, right after they trailed behind Zeck's ship unnoticed, they veered away from their course as the Sectanium scouting party sees them approach a nearby city without hesitation. Not wanting to get exposed, their Scout ship steered towards the Everfree Forest while still underneath their cloak and flew below the trees before laying low until sundown.

During the night when every creature is fast asleep, the team of Scouts make their way through the forest while under their camo cloaks and aiming their guns up front. As for Janus, she uses a GPS to keep track on Zeck's ship after she placed the tracking bug on it; it was on the day that Zeck's ship was brought into Terram when they hauled him and his crew into prison.

In several hours of navigating through the forest, they reach the main entrance of Canterlot. Apparently, Janus takes out her binoculars only to see a platoon of strange ponies clad in armor and medieval weapons guarding the main entrance and patrolling the walls surrounding it. Above them, she also sees three guard towers armed with bombardment cannons. Realizing that it is impossible to sneak past the front garrison, Janus and her team stay hidden until they find another plan to infiltrate Canterlot.





Two days later, when Twilight continued to attend royal meetings about forming an allegiance with the UFF via the Convocation at Mount Metazoa, the palace attendants notified every pony and creature that the breakfast banquet is ready in the dinning room. On the way to the dinning room, Chmone noticed that Twilight hadn't shown up yet.

"Is Twilight going to be joining us at breakfast?" Chmone asked, noticing that the Princess of Friendship as yet to appear before them in the dinning room.

"Not yet." Zeck said, reminding Chmone what she just told him on the first day he used the translator on Twilight. "She already said it herself that she needs to speak with the other government officials."

"I see. Well, let's hope she'd be here very soon." Chmone replied, feeling anxious to hear Twilight's verdict. "It's been two days since she left Canterlot to another place for her so-called meeting."

Stammering for a bit, Chmone and Zeck turned to Celestia before asking about what is Twilight up to at the moment.

"Celestia, where did she go to speak to the other creatures outside of Equestria again?" Zeck said, being the first to ask the former princess.

"At Mount Metazoa, we hold a huge assembly for all of the leaders from around our world. It's been a while since me, Luna, Cadence, and Twilight were there. We prefer this as the Convocation of the Creatures." Celestia replied in a brief manner. 

"Convocation of the creatures?" Xul exclaimed with interest.

"It's been a while since me and Tia were there. Now that we both retired, we no longer have any authority to attend to the Convocation anymore." Luna added in. "It's sad really but its for the best at least."

"Is that where Twilight would speak to the rest of most her friends and allies at?" Zeck clarified.

"It certainly is, Zeck." Celestia replied in a positive response. " In fact, I'm sure Princess Twilight already apprised her allied neighbors of her current situation by now. Raven did notify me and Luna from her scroll that Twilight will be back sometime this morning."

By the time they all arrived there, they see that the pony servants and cooks have already prepped their breakfast two hours before Twilight raised the sun with her amulet. On one long row of tables in front them, they see an assortment of fruits, veggies, pastries, cakes, pancakes, and pitchers of Apple Cider placed on top. Before any creature could take their seats, the ponies notice that Pinkie Pie is missing.

Rainbow Dash couldn't help but cackle to herself, knowing that Pinkie Pie is getting ready to give them all a welcoming surprise during their stay in the palace.

"Sorry every creature. Pinkie can be so random in almost any way." Rainbow snickered as she cleared her throat before making phone call impression.

"Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Hellooooooo!!" Rainbow called out in a rhythmic beat. "Any pony ho....."

In a sudden explosion of confetti from, Pinkie Pie came crashing down from the ceiling and landed straight on top of Rainbow Dash, giving every creature a total shock.

"SURPRISE!!!!" Pinkie smiled in a ludicrous manner as she bounced off Rainbow Dash. "BREAKFAST IS SERVED!!!!"

For the rest of the Mane 5, Celestia, Luna, and the UFF, they all stared at Pinkie Pie with their jaws hanging a few inches lower in startled shock.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAA???!!!" They all exclaimed in confused unison.

"Hehehehehehe!!!" Pinkie gigged. "This is my way of starting a breakfast banquet to every creature here. DIG IN!!!"

"Hahahahaha!!" Rainbow laughed while laying on the ground with her back. "Pinkie Pie, you're so random!!!"

Just like that, Zeck, Chmone, Derek, Sonja, and Xul started giggling at the same time when seeing Pinkie pull of a stunt in front of Rainbow Dash.

As they all sat at the seat of their choose, Zeck, Sonja, and his fellow UFF crewmembers sat across from where the Equestrian ponies are sitting at. When they were the first to try out the food the ponies provided them, Zeck tasted a slice of cake, giving him a really wonderful scrumptious impression. When Pinkie first see it, she made a wide smile followed by a squee of joy. For the rest of Zeck's friends, they were able to get dig in first before the ponies munched on the food at the table second.

In a few minutes of breakfasting, the Mane 5 introduced themselves to the UFF officers while they, Celestia, and Luna told them their side of the story starting all the way back when they first met Twilight, way before she became the Ruler of Equestria. At the same time, the Mane 5 also explains a brief history of their background as well while telling their new friends about all of the adventures they had with Princess Twilight. When they all finally understood what Twilight has been through up until now, Zeck felt even more impressed of how the Magic of Friendship guided the purple alicorn to fulfill her destiny when they all defeated Equestria's old enemies one more time. Sonja became the first to praise Twilight's story.

"That was such a beautiful story."

"Well, if I didn't know any better, I would've thought that you girls all gave Twilight really good impression and confidence to step up in a really top, governmental rank here." Zeck added in, feeling even more impressed over how Twilight made her accomplishments.

"I know, right?!" Celestia said. "It may not be smart of me to let a little pony like Twilight Sparkle to rule over such a big country, but it was already the right thing to do since Luna and I are not able to make good royal decisions very often since we faced a 1,000 year old rift."

"So Celestia, were you still afraid of how Twilight will rule over Equestria after you and your sister retired from the throne?" Zeck asked, feeling concerned over the future Twilight is going for.

"Yes and no." Celestia replied hesitantly. "Sure, there was other protege students that became ambitious in the past when I brought them underneath my wing before I brought Twilight into my study. But for Twilight, she was a lot different from the rest of the students that came before her. She already proved herself by understanding the magic of friendship when I sent her to Ponyville to live with her friends for awhile; that is before I called her back to the castle on the day of her coronation."

"Well, I wish the Empress Vanista could do what Twilight did." Xul thought in a depressing voice.

"Now that you mentioned it, who is this Empress you speak of?" Fluttershy asked, giving both Xul and Pam the shivers.

"She.....She......We all used to be great childhood friends back then; me, Pam, and Vanista. We used to call her Van for short." Xul hesitantly said.

Upon hearing what Xul just reluctantly said, the rest of the ponies and the UFF officers all gasped in shock as they turned towards her and Pam.

"Hey wait? Did you just say that you and Pam used to be friends with the Empress?" Rainbow gasped as she spit out her Apple Cider.

"We used to." Pam clarified. "Our Sectanium race isn't always this cruel and the Empress wasn't that evil back then. Not from the way me and Xul used to see it as. In fact, we Sectaniums are once a proud, neutral race that live in a very rich kingdom in our home planet Sacreus."

"I'm not following with this!" Zeck said, not understand where Xul and Pam are getting at. In fact, Chmone, Sonja, and Derek have all nodded in agreement with Zeck's response.

"We already told Twilight what has become of our Empress before me and Pam were forced to move against our old friend." Xul continued. "Of course, she was horrified to think that our friendship with the Empress has its limits."


"Our race was just a neutral kingdom and Vanista, who is next in line to be our queen, is just trying to find ways to avoid making our people suffer as well."

"Then, why are they making the other creatures outside of their homeland suffer instead?" Celestia added in, feeling confused over the Empress' cruel deeds. "Why are they taking all this slavery and suffering out on our beloved Princess Twilight blindly? They don't realize that by doing so they are going to start a war on our people very soon. That's the last thing I would ever expect!!"

"Yeah, like what Celestia said." Zeck feeling confused on where Pam and Xul are getting at. "That still doesn't explain why the Sectaniums and Mandors are evil beyond reason, let alone explain why they hate every creature."

"There was several problems that Vanista couldn't really deal with, especially when relying on the aid of her faithful advisors and from us, both personal and political." Xul said, trying to get into the start of the Empress' story.

"What happened to the Empress that made her this cruel??" Fluttershy asked trembling in anxiety.

"It all began 25 years ago, during the time when our Sectanium race was a neutral alien kingdom that formed a bond with Earth as part of their republic. We never really declared war on the humans, we were at peace with them for several generations. We even traded resources with them."  Xul said as she explains the past revolving around her, Pam, and Van. "I maybe a Sectanium, but I was born on Earth's soil when my Sectanium parents migrated there. We all met each other during our first days of attending school on Earth.......




25 years ago....

On Earth, a few hours before sunset......

In a green meadow, Xuliana was the first to appear as a little blue-skinned girl running through the grassy areas while wearing a yellow tank top and skirt. She is currently 7 years old at the time and was laughing while kicking the ball to one of her friends Pam.

Pamela was seen with a wearing a little sleeveless red dress. Just like Xul, she is also 7. She makes her next move when kicking the ball back to Xul out of fun. They were both playing soccer as kids before Vanista came up from behind them both.

Vanista was as a 6 year old sectanium girl that happens to be the one and only princess of the Sectanium Kingdom. She is seen wearing a yellow sundress that shows her bare, reddish-purple skin shoulders. Despite her royal life, Vanista still wanted to have a bit of freedom and fun with her friends on earth thanks to her caretaker. As of now, she wanted to go in-between the two in trying to kick the ball away from them.

They all laughed together as if they're three peas in a pod. After a few minutes of playing ball, they all collapsed on the grass out of exhaustion, still giggling.

"Hey Xul, what do you want to be when you grow up?" Pam asked as she turned to face the laying blue-skinned Sectanium girl.

"I want to be a field agent in serving the Sectanium's Secret Service!!" Xul said, gleefully. "What about you Pam?"

"I want to be a soldier too, just like my father and my grandfather."

"You know, I was been interested to help my family improve our race to become just as great like any other race, wouldn't you say?" Van said to Xul and Pam.

"Is it because your father and mother wanted you to take over after them?!" Xul asked Van.

"Well, I already told you girls that I came from a long line of Sectanium Royals. I only came to Earth because my father sent me to school here to study about humans first. My mom and dad is still settling several disputes with the trading guilds coming in and out of Secreus. So, they left me under the care of one of their trusted caretakers while staying on Earth." Van continued. "I mean, when I get older I will have to study under the guidance of my parents if I were to ascend their throne as the new Queen of the Sectanium Kingdom. So, once I leave their school, I will be heading back to Secreus to attend to a Private, Royal Academy there to study politics and social governing."

"That must be quite a huge deal, isn't it?" Pam thought.

"I'm still afraid of how will work out." Van murmured.

"It's okay, Van. We'll still help you out since we're friends." Xul said as she smiled at Van. "We all dream about become part of the same Sectanium government, right?!"

"Maybe so, but my father reminded me that I will be doing that most of my friends cannot." Vanista explained. "However, I'll still let you all serve under me if I ever become Queen, if that's what you want."

"We'll do anything for our friend." Xul said in a cheerful tone.

"Same here. Anyway, it's getting dark. We all have to head back home." Pam said as she got up on her feet first.  "See you all at school, girls."

After they see Pam disappear from the meadows, Xul gets up second as she takes the ball in her hands.

"Do you want me to walk you back home, Van?" Xul asked the little Sectanium Princess.

"Why sure. It's a little scary to walk during the sunset." Van replied in a positive manner.

Along the way home, Xul and Van were trembling anxiously as the sun disappeared on the horizon when the sky turned dark. Before they knew it, Xul and Van were confronted by a group of teenage human boys who glared at them with animosity in their eyes. At first, Xul told Van not to pay any attention to them. 

However, the boys refused to let them pass as one of them went up to Van.

"Hey red face princess, where do you and blue face are going, huh?!" The boy sneered in amusement. "Are you taking a bloody makeup or what??"

"None of your business!!" Van said, taken back by the boy's rude remark.

Unfortunately for her, the boy shove Van to the ground while the other two held Xul by her arms.

"Too bad! red means failure. We already know who you are. But that doesn't mean you can control us, loser!!" The second boy said to Van.

"Who said anything about control?" Van said, whimpering as her knees got scrapped by the concrete floor while her clothes got a little dirty stain on them.

"You think you're tough as your parents? They can't even show any force from where they came from!!" The boys laughed, making Van angry.

Just when Van attempted to shove the first boy back, she was met with a big punch to the face, knocking her to the ground again. This time, Van was wailing as she held her head with both of her hands as a bit of blood came down her head.

"VAN!!!" Xul cried as she struggled helplessly while under the grip of the other two boys.

"What a crybaby!!" The first boy stood in front of a sobbing Vanista before turning towards Xul.

"And you, why are you even hanging around with this little loser. You know that she can't really do what her parents did right?!" 

"Why would you think that?!" Xul snapped at the boy.

"Weirdos are just not worth listening too, like you!!" The bully said as he smacked Xul in the face, making her fall to the ground.

"You and your skinned-colored friends have no place anywhere on Earth." The bully teen boy said to Xul and Van. 

As the boys started laughing at the two Sectanium girls, they walked away in triumph. For Xul, she knew that it is not worth listening to those stupid boys. When Xul tried to get Van up, she sees her whimpering as tears came down her eyes.

"Don't listen to them, Van. They don't know anything about us." Xul told her red-purple skinned friend. "Are you okay, Van?!"

"NO, I'M NOT!!!" Van screamed as she snapped at Xul.  "I wish I wasn't sent to Earth from the start. Why can't I start going to school at Secreus first?!"

"It's okay, Van." Xul said with sympathy. "We just need to move on and adapt. Besides, my father told me that there is always a balance between good and evil, as well as light and dark."





After a few minutes of whimpering, Van felt comforted by Xul despite feeling a big bruise on her face. Without worry too much, Xul continued to take Van back home before she went back to her parents to rest up for the next day. Unfortunately, on the next day, as soon as she started another day at school,  Xul bear witness to something she didn't expect from Val.

Outside of the school, Xul's eyes widened with horror as she sees Vanista slamming a shovel on top of the same bully that tormented her last night.

"VAN!! STOP!!!" Xul shouted in a panic, thinking that Val is going to more worse than her bully did. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING??"

*BAM* 
*BAM*
*BAM*

Before Xul could intervene with her friend's fury, another person came from the school's entrance.

"HEY!!! NO!!! NO!!! NO!!!!!!" The principal screamed as he grabbed Val by the stomach while the bully's mother pulled her son away. 

At the same time, several security guards pulled the shovel away from Van while the bully's mother comforted the injured child while sobbing in her arms.

"I WISH YOU'D JUST DIE!!!" Van shouted at the bully teenage boy in anger while squirming underneath the principal's grip. Just like that, Van gets dragged into the principal's office to face disciplinary action against the school's no-violence policy.

Shortly, Van was expelled from school for her violent behavior on another student. As for Xul, she stood outside feeling horrified upon witnessing how Van snapped at her human tormentor. When Pam came to the school's entrance, she notices that Xul was shivering in fright from her experience earlier.

"Xul, what happened?!" Pam asked, feeling concerned for her blue-skinned friend.

"It was Van. Last night, she got bullied by a group of kids. I thought for sure I can comfort her before taking her back home. But Van, she....she......."

Just as soon as Xul told Pam about what Van did to that kid in front of the other kids at the entrance, Pam's mouth went wide open as if she was shocked by such a violent act of revenge.

"Van. H-H-How could you?!" Pam murmured.

After school, Xul and Pam went to see Vanista at home. As soon as they got there, Vanista was seen sitting at the stairs near the front door of the house of her caretaker. Once they went up to Vanista, Xul asked her why.

"Van, why did you do that? That's very uncivilized and unacceptable." 

"H-H-He asked for it. Besides, he was about to shove me again at the school's main entrance." Van said, quivering in rage. "M-My father did lecture me that if you want to show them who's boss, you have to learn how to be aggressive and diligent first."

"Not like that!!" Pam shook her head in denial. "I mean, even though what they did is wrong, that is no excuse for you to smash that kid in the skull with a shovel."

"You know what, just leave me alone!!" Van said as she stood up from the stairs and went back inside. "I'm not in a mood."

Before Xul could say anything, the caretaker appeared in front of her and Pam as she ordered them to leave at once. Without another word, Pam and Xul walked down to a nearby park to discuss the matter to themselves as they both sit down at two seats while facing each other on the table close to them.

"I don't know how is she going to live her life if Van were to do something like that in the future?" Xul said to Pam.

"Well, she still has a lot to learn about politics and socializing, just like we both do." Pam replied. 

"She definitely needs help." 

"Well, do you have any other ideas?" Pam asked, trying to have Xul come up with suggestions.

"We might as well stay close to her, you and I." Xul said, coming up with one suggestion. "We might as well forget about everything else, other than homework and being late for dinner."

"Well, when I first met Van, she was an emotional disturbed girl who had to put up with strict discipline by her father the King. Even though our Kingdom is a neutral nation, my father told me scary ghost stories revolving around dark secrets within the palace. Rumor has it that the Sectanium Royals are hiding a source of dark power within the palace's underbelly. Some say that the Royals in Sacreus will not use it, until the Sectanium Kingdom is starting crumbling away." Pam said, giving Xul the shivers. "They said that this dark power will be used as a last resort when all other political options and decrees have failed to keep our country alive."

"Are you saying that Van might use this dark power to make them obey her if she can't reason with anyone anymore?" Xul exclaimed. 

"Well, I hope not. It's just only a rumor. We can only make sure she isn't out of our sight as long as she is attending school with us." Pam said, trying not to let the rumors get to her and Xul.

Next week, Van attended to another elementary school on Earth. This time, Xul and Pam begged their parents to get transferred to the same school that their Van is in because they wanted to give her full support and restrain her from resorting to anymore violent behavior. 

At first, their parents didn't want to transfer their daughters to another school since it is costly. However, after telling them what happened before Van was kicked out and that they wanted to make sure the incident doesn't happen again, they finally accepted their request. 

Though, they will be doing volunteer work for them at the jobs their parents are currently working at in return. Regardless, Xul and Pam did their best to repay their debt while watching over Van at school. Van immediately apologized to Xul and Pam the moment she saw them again at their second school. After that, their friendship has resume and there has been no incident for the next 8 years.

As soon as Van finally finished elementary school, she was sent back to Secreus for more lectures inside the Sectanium Royal Academy at age 14. For Xul and Pam, we they turned 15, they went to a private school that houses Sectanium students studying more about life on Earth and its past history, as well as making more friends with the other students there. It was disappointing that they have to see Van go to another school back at the Sectanium Homeworld. No matter, Xul and Pam still stayed in touch on their emails while checking their personal laptops.

On their first day at their private school, Xul and Pam are now wearing green-grey school uniforms with skirts reaching down to their knees and are wearing black dress shoes while carrying their backpacks on their shoulders.

They met other Sectanium students at their first history class. As Xul and Pam introduce themselves up front, they are greeted by Trine, Dialuria, Ash, Mrenix, Piulius, Fulkrim, and Quasi, who are also wearing the same private school uniforms as well. They had fun learning about the history of the Sectanium timelines, as well as playing soccer ball and baseball.

Most of the time after school, they all meet up in the library to check on how Vanista is doing at the Royal Academy in Secreus.

When Xul went up to the computer, with most of her friends standing behind her, she types up her message before sending it to Van's email.

Hello, Van. It's me Xul. Pam and I wanted to say hi as well as seeing how you are doing in the Royal Academy. Are you okay studying there on your own? Did you make any new friends there? We also made new friends our Private School. I hope we can see you again very soon. 

After finishing her message and sending it to Van's email inbox, Xul waited for 10 to 30 minutes to get a response from her long-waited friend. As soon as receives a message from Van, Xul was excited to read it. However, Xul didn't expect Van's response to be something like this:

It's been so long, hasn't it Xul. I'm still having trouble trying to make new friends without you and Pam helping me out because they were pretty jealous of my family's royal lineage. Ultimately, the only friend that I had that stood up to me is Hampt Yuan Trelson. He is the son of a famous Sectanium Noble Family that gave my father full support during his reign.

In the next part of Van's message, Xul read what it felt like a love story:

I don't know why but for some reason, Hampt wanted to make my life happier so that I will not suffer. He invited me to dinner after attending the Royal Academy. We had bread and delicacies. It was like I am living a romantic dream unlike any other. He even thought of me as a lovely flower that will always keep blooming no matter how cold or how hot the season are. It's as if he is in love with me. I don't think I can resist his charms. To me, he was an honorable inspiration of what my father would expect from me. I'll stay in touch with you all, hopefully we'll meet again back in Sacreus.

Upon reading the second part of Van's message, Xul and her friends couldn't help but feel awed by such a romantic experience that Van had.

"Well, it seems that Van may be able to find happiness already." Pam thought.

"I can only hope it doesn't get worse after this." Xul said to herself.





"Hold the phone!! Are you saying that the Sectanium we just captured back there is actually.....?" Luna exasperated. 

"Yes, Luna. His name is Lord Hampt. He isn't just any Warrior that the Empress handpicked from her army, he was Vanista's first Royal Consort!!" Xul told every creature briefly. "Yes, he was the very same Warrior that I ran into back at that Mandor Fueling Station before he put me in a trance."

Upon hearing the first part of Xul's story, every pony and creature gasped at what they had done to the Warrior. But before any of them can make objections, Xul still continues more about Hampt's situation.

"The real reason why he became a Warrior because he already knew the pain and suffering that Vanista had to put up with before she self-proclaimed herself as Empress of the Sectanium Empire. Other than that, Vanista isn't the one who suffered because of her unique skin color. In fact, it wasn't just about our appearance that the other races felt offended by in the past, but its also when......"
> Chapter 23: Xul's story part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After spending 4 years studying in their private school on Earth, Xul and all of her friends have graduated with honorable scholarships before they are transported to the Sectanium Homeworld of Sacreus via transport shuttle. As of now, Xul and her friends are now 19 years old when they all went their separate ways in supporting the Sectanium government. 

As soon as they arrived at Sacreus, they find themselves in the Sectanium capital city of Krenthal. When they all looked at the windows of the shuttle they're in, they are all amazed to see a whole new world filled with tall, futuristic buildings and hovering spacecrafts flying in straight lines. Down below, they can see dark-red mists flowing below the moving spacecrafts. They could also see various, large landing platforms and balconies that allow the Sectaniums to safely land their spacecrafts and shuttles before letting the passengers enter or exit the buildings in front of them. 

Up ahead, they are able to see the Sectanium Palace from a mile away. It was revealed to be a very tall citadel painted in a dark-red color . It also had towers that reach up to the sky. The citadel is surrounded by walls painted in black. Upon seeing the huge, wide tower in the middle, it had huge banners and flags bearing the emblem of the Sectanium Royal Family crest raised up high. The crest shows a black circle. Inside it, a yellow eye is seen at the top edge bellow the circle and two black blades clashing into each other at the bottom above the circle's edge.

After getting a good look at the Sectanium Palace, their shuttle passed it as it continued to drop-off Xul's and Pam's friends to their destinations. As soon as they got off the shuttle, Xul and Pam bid farewell to most of the their friends as they make their way back home to start another life in Sacreus. Though, they all still did their best to make contact with each other on social media and on the phone as they handed each other their contact information before they left.

For Xul and Pam, they both were sent to the palace barracks since they both enlisted themselves into the Sectanium Royal Army as fresh meat cadets. They want to join the army so that they can continue to help support their friend Vanista. Once they safely landed at the platform in front of the palace, a drill sergeant appeared before them. He is seen as a very tall 6ft Sectanium male officer wearing a green, military uniform and a tan cap who is hold both of his hands behind his back. 

Xul and Pam aren't the only ones who enlist themselves to the army as cadets. In fact, about 1,000 cadets, including Trine and Dialuria have also came out from the other shuttles that have landed next to the one that Xul and Pam came out of. As soon as the cadets stood up straight, they hear a loud, introducing rant from the drill sergeant.

"ALL FRESH MEAT!! LISTEN UP!!!" The drill sergeant shouted out loud looking at the group of cadets sternly. "YOU ARE ALL NOW UNDER CUSTODY OF THE SECTANIUM ARMY. Are you really eager to become part of the Sectanium Leader's finest soldiers?"

Before anyone could answer, the drill sergeant makes a negative statement.

"NO!!! YOU LOWLY MAGGOTS HAVEN'T LEARNED ANYTHING YET!!! IF SO, YOU NEED TO IMPRESS ME BY FOLLOWING ORDERS WITHOUT QUESTION!! FOR THERE WILL BE NO EXCUSES!!! NO PARDONS!!! NO EXCEPTIONS!!! AND NO SLACKERS OR LAZY MAGGOTS!!! YOU WILL ONLY SPEAK WHEN SPOKEN TO!!!"

As the Drill sergeant walked past the first line of cadets, he turns to see Xul, Trine, Pam, and Dialuria standing tall at the edge of the line.

"You all better pay attention well, you big babies because YOU LOOK AWAY FROM ME WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU AND I WILL RIP OUT BOTH OF YOUR EYES AND EAT THEM FOR BREAKFAST!!!!"

In one or two huffing and puffing, the drill sergeant continues to go over the rules inside the military barracks before he leads the Sectanium cadets inside the complex.

"Tomorrow, you will all start your basic training at the field. So, I want all of your asses ready before then. DISMISS!!!"

Startled by the rantings of the drill sergeant, the four Sectanium cadets went to their separate bunkers inside the sleeping quarters apart from each other. Throughout their basic training, Xul and her friends undergo a series of excruciating exercises for 25 days while wearing white t-shirts and black sweat pants as part of their cadet apparel. During that time, they all sweated like pigs under the hot weather of 100 degrees Fahrenheit while their training clothes get drenched in a sticky, wet stench. As much as Xul wanted to stop, she didn't because she wanted to impress her friend Vanista so that she will aid her in the future. 

While on break, Xul went to another computer inside the military library to reestablish contact with Vanista and Hampt. After explaining to Vanista what she recently been through in military training, Xul learned that Van is now learning proper regal, etiquette and  leadership by her mother, the Queen. For Hampt, he was personally taught by his father in how to handle politics and sociology with the other nobles his family was close to.

Unfortunately, Xul was also told by her friend that Vanista was receiving all sorts of cyberbulling and hate mail on her inbox for no apparent reason. For that matter, Vanista didn't bother with using social media anymore and deleted all of her online social accounts, except for one private account that she is currently using to stay in contact with Xul and Pam. It's a shame that Xul and Pam will not be seeing Van for awhile until they complete their military training in the Sectanium Army.

In the next 45 days of military exercises, Xul, Trine, and Dialuria undertake separate specialist training exercises.

Xul finally earned her place in the military as a covert ops infiltrator. At that time, she spent most of her life in that field doing stealth missions, sentry guard duties, undercover missions, and reconnaissance.

Trine and Dialuria went into an officer training program, in hopes of carrying out the command of the Sectanium Kingdom.

For Pam, she remained a soldier guarding the palace in which Princess Vanista currently lives in. 

All at the same time, they learned how to shoot a gun, how to initiate hand-to-hand attacks, and how to defend themselves against anyone that threatens their people. By the time Vanista turned 18, she was taught how to use a sword and a gun in case anyone tried to threaten her up close and person. However, Vanista may not be able to fight very often since she is under the protection of Trine, Dialuria, Xul, and Pam.
After they finished their specialist and military training all four Sectanium army cadets are immediately called to the Sectanium Palace. As new soldiers guarding the palace in Krenthal, Xul and her fellow soldiers are seen wearing red guard uniforms. In addition, they have black combat armor vests, knee pads, and boots used for physical protection on the battlefield. For their armaments, they are all equipped with blaster rifles, handguns, and 4-inch combat knives.

As for Mrenix, Piulius, Fulkrim, and Quasi, they were able to show up at the palace after they graduated from a governmental university in another Sectanium city called Muressan. Mrenix became a researcher for developing weapons and technology for the Sectanium Government. Piulius became a court advisor in the palace. Fulkrim and Quasi became diplomats to help Vanista and her family carry out the peaceful trade between the other planets.

For Xul, she lived in an apartment close to the Sectanium Palace while spending most of her time responding to various missions in infiltrating enemy territory. So far, they mostly keep the peace so that Vanista can continue learning how to perform her Royal duties around the palace. 

As soon as Van turned 26, and that Xul, Trine, Dialuria, and Pam all turned 27, Vanista's parents passed away. Their servants discovered that Van's mother and father had lung cancer after they came back from their trip in a gaseous planet called Hyantis. It turns out, they both accidentally inhaled a purple smoking vapor that contains painful chemicals that makes the victim unable to speak or breath in just 6 days, if left untreated. The only reason they arrived on Hyantis is because they want to see the new chemical resources that will be used to supply the fuel for their spaceships. Unfortunately, one of the resources collectors had an accident when carrying a crate full of purple gas in separate vials on board the Royal Family's personal shuttle. Van's parents died as soon as they got off their personal shuttle in front of the palace before the doctors even arrived.

It broke Van's heart for a few days before they hosted an indoor funeral at one of their chapels in Mt. Tillswerm, which is 200 miles east of Krenthal. As Van, her servants, her housemaids, and advisors are sitting down at their seats in front of the two coffins. Both of the coffins are seen with Sectanium Royal Insignias with brown wreaths placed on top of them. For Xul and the rest of the Sectanium Army officers and soldiers, they all stood at the right of the two coffins as they made ceremonial firing shots up into the sky.

In just four hours of ceremonial fire, the Sectanium soldiers are ordered to move to the rear of the seat rows and the crowd as the reverend makes his funeral speech in front of Vanista. 

"Friends and Family, we are gathered here today to bid farewell to the King and Queen of the Sectanium's 6th Royal Family. We may miss them dearly, but their spirits will bless their daughter, heiress, and successor with the power of their royal lineage. With them gone, King Drasilius Rantu and Queen Miguelia Rantu have joined with their holy ancestors and their predecessors. It may be heartbreaking, but their deaths will not be in vain for we will remain strong and superior. We will honor them both by carrying on their royal legacy without anymore grief. Let us pray for a new era with our one and only heir to the throne."

After making his speech, the reverend leads Princess Vanista to her parents' coffins as she placed a bouquet of flowers in-between them.

"Mom. Dad!" Vanista said, as tears came down her eyes. "Thank you for everything. I'll do my best to help the very same kingdom you all worked so hard for stay strong in years to come."

As she closed her eyes, Vanista placed the bouquet in front of her father's coffin before they buried it and her mother's coffin 6 feet underneath the grey soil.

After both of the coffins disappear into the ground, Vanista turned to Xul and Pam, still crying in silence.

"Xul. Pam. Please, help me!!!"





One year after the funeral of Vanista's parents, they uphold a coronation for the new ruler of the Sectanium Kingdom. They all now address her as Queen Vanista. At the start of her first royal decrees, Vanista, who is now 28 years old, went back to Earth to help maintain and enforce the trade between the humans and the Sectaniums. Unfortunately, it didn't end the way she wanted it too as the humans are still hurling discriminating insults at Vanista and her fellow Sectanium Nobles.

It turns out that after her parents died, the humans put an end to the trade between them and the Sectanium race, much to Vanista's grief. They made lies that the goods the Sectanium offered are tainted with their diverse skin color. It wasn't the least of her worries, they told Vanista that their investments on Earth have all went bankrupt due to several riots that destroyed most of the Sectanium facilities and education centers all around the planet. The humans on Earth thought that they are finally free from the cruel grip of the Sectaniums, despite Vanista protesting that they aren't evil. Not listening to any of her speeches, they threw rocks at Vanista, forcing her to leave Earth in disgrace. In fact, all of the Sectanium immigrants are forced to leave Earth ever since their secure trade routes from Secreus has been terminated. 

Back at the palace in Secreus, Vanista is also notified by Trine, Hampt, and the rest of her advisors that the peaceful trades that functioned for past generations with the other alien races have been shut down immediately after learning of the death of her parents. Worse, the other alien races thought that Van was too young and not regal enough to carry out her mother and father's will. Instead, the other races are taking advantage this by attacking and forcefully driving out all the other Sectaniums that migrated on their home planets much to her frustration, even Xul's and Pam's families are driven out from their homes on Earth.

In fact, the other Sectaniums are also being discriminated against by the humans and the neighboring alien races for reasons that Vanista didn't understand. It's just like during her childhood days all over again, except that it's not just their skin color, it was the heavy economic cost that led her to get overwhelmed by such political problems. Vanista tried other ways to help her rebuild her peaceful relationship with the alien races. She even tried to offer them resources that her people haven't used yet and food crates that aren't shipped when they were already harvested and secured for storage. Unfortunately, about 100 alien races all over the Rambton Galaxy, in which Secreus is in, have denied Vanista's request.

Outraged by such a heavy rejection, Vanista was breaking down over and over again for not being able to carry her mother and father's legacy. For Xul and Pam, they both tried desperately to convince Vanista that there is always more methods to try when resolving the lack of trading between planets; they still have rich economy in their planet that they can still use. 

However, after one year of harvesting resources in Secreus without reestablishing anymore interstellar trade, most of the Sectaniums are suffering from a great deal of sickness and death for they could not create medicine and good drugs without the resources they needed from earth and the other planets they used to conduct trades with before they were forced to shut down; this was also the real reason why Vanista's parents and her ancestors tried every method to keep their trade routes intact for a very long time. It turns out that they trade some of their resources to other planets for the materials they need to develop medicine over the years. 





All of the ponies, Zeck, Chmone, Derek, and Sonja were all astonished by such an unseen consequence that the Sectanium Race was forced to bear. In a moment of silence, Celestia stood up to Xul before clarifying what she and Vanista have been through.

"So, let me get this straight. Ever since her parents died and that she ascended the throne as their ruler, Vanista was already falling apart in her royal duties before it even started, all because they lost their peaceful trade rights with the other planets leading to a plague that is destroying their planet from within?!" Celestia said, trying to summarize what Xul is saying in her side of the story.

"Because Vanista was still young at the time of her coronation and that she didn't finish all of her regal lessons from her parents before they died from sickness, every creature other than us Sectaniums thought she was weak and inexperienced!!" Pam said, making everyone other than Xul even more shocked.

"Well, they did say that Vanista's Royal Family have already maintained their trade to gain resources for over the past 8 generations. I mean, we already provide Earth and other planets our food and water in exchange for medicinal herbs and medication. During that time, we used all of their traded goods to create our own medicinal drugs to help suppress the unknown plague that occurred ever since the first age of the Sectanium Race." Xul added in. "Now that all of our trading rights have been stripped of by our former vendors out of racial prejudice, Vanista did the unthinkable. In fact, what she did changed our entire alien race forever."





Just when all hope for Vanista seems lost, she kept hearing dark sinister voices every time she slept in her royal chambers. They are telling her that there is another power source that can help the Sectanium Race maintain their superiority. Eventually one night, Van finally got out of bed and followed the mysterious voice while walking through hallways alone. 

During that same night, Xul, Trine, and Pam, who are all on guard duty, saw Vanista, who is now wearing a sleeveless nightwear, inside the same palace hallways. 

"Uh, Van. Are you okay?!" Xul asked, feeling concerned for her troubled Queen. 

Not giving Xul an answer, she ignored her as kept walking through the hallway and going down the stairs until suddenly, Van spots a brick wall with a floor panel in front of it, which has a big yellow eye design on top of. 

Press the panel, Queen Vanista.  

The omnious voice spoke inside Van's head. In a sudden response, Van stepped on top of the floor panel as the brick wall in front of her opened up, surprising both Xul and Pam.

After the brick wall made an opening, a dark cavernous passageway has been revealed with a line of torches hanging on the left. As Van grabbed one torch nearby, she head down before the other could follow her from behind.

"Van, wait up!!" Xul called out to her as she tripped over a few rocks.

Immediately, Xul fell down first down the passageway with Trine and Pam following her carefully.

"Xul, are you okay?!" Pam said, showing concern for her Sectanium friend.

"Uh guys, what is that??" Trine asked as he sees something huge, glowing in an ominous red light in front of Vanista. 

Just as Pam helped Xul on her feet, they both see what Trine and Van are seeing right now. Xul's eyes widened with a horrified feeling that she sees something that will change the lives of the Sectanium race forever. For Vanista, she hears the same dark voice that led her into this dark area of the palace, this time the voice became stronger as she is standing in front of its main source.

Vanista, please. Let us help you carry on your duties as Empress!!! Let us help you save your planet from suffering!!! Let us help you get your revenge on those that made you suffer when outside of your homeworld.
> Chapter 24: Xul's Story part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

What Xul, Trine, Pam, and Vanista saw before there eyes is a massive red orb in the shape of an eye. It was glowing in a ominous gold aura and its orange ray of light was shinning down upon Queen Vanista, making her locked in a trance.

Not sure what is going on, Xul tried to make Van snap out of it.

In Van's mind, she can see another opportunity to change the future of the Sectanium race through another twist of planning and scheming. She started to make a creepy smile as her eyes started glowing in a bright yellow light. In the next minute or so, Van's eyes suddenly changed back to normal. Not know what just happened, Xul walked up to Van before showing some concern over what that big orb did to her.

"Van, are you okay?" 

"Oh, funny you should say?! Well guess what Xul, I think I have the most brilliant idea ever!!!" Van said as she made a very wide, but creepy grin at Xul and Pam.

Later in the afternoon, after Xul, Pam, Vanista, Hampt, and Trine got some sleep after the strange occurrence last night, the young Sectanium Queen came into the meeting room to plan out some wild ideas coming out of her head. At the same time, they all assembled at the meeting room as they sat in front of a huge round table to go over what Vanista has in mind. Vanista is now seen wearing her regal gown once again, while the rest of her guards and Hampt are wearing royal guard uniforms.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it is today that we shall reclaim some of the planets that we have lost control of since our trade routes have been permanently halted." Vanista announced. "I have assignments for everyone of you to carry out this new campaign. I already put your armies on stand-by. They will be waiting for your orders from here on out!!!"

As Vanista passed out the flyers of the assignments to all five of her closest friends and subordinates, they quietly read them in private before some of them grinned with another opportunity bestowing upon them.

"I never seen Vanista this confident before!!" Hampt thought to himself as Vanista smiled at him.

"By the way, Hampt. I suppose you might as well try out your new power first!"

"What??" Hampt said, feeling a bit confused before Vanista did something that no other Sectanium could expect.

Suddenly, Vanista's right hand lit up in a glowing, yellow light as she aimed it at Hampt in the head. Before he knew what was happening, Vanista fired the yellow light at Hampt's forehead. Instead of feeling pain, Hampt was somehow feeling an yellow energy surge flowing through his body. In the next second, Hampt's body started to undergo a transformation before he was surrounding by an explosion of light that engulfed the entire room, making everyone cover their eyes as they shield themselves away from the blinding light. 

Just when the light faded away, Hampt is seen again not hurt. However, everyone notices something different about Hampt that none would understand other than Vanista herself. Hampt is now seen with another eye in-between his two normal eyes. In a stranger effect, Hampt's third eye started glowing yellow making everyone surprised in the same room they're all in. 

"W-W-What just happened??" Hampt said in a confused tone.

"You have been granted a new kind of power, Hampt." Vanista grinned with excitement. "Why don't you give it a try on someone?"

Before long, Hampt turns toward a low-class servant who is just standing next to the doorway. As he glared at the servant, his third eye started to shoot out a yellow beam at her, startling the target as she froze in place while her body was moving on its own against her own will. When Hampt uses his mind-controlling ability to order the servant to walk out of the room, she actually did without hesitation and without question while underneath a trance. After the servant left the room, Hampt disengages his new-founded ability as he smiled a bit after learning that he can control people with his newfound ability when he walked up to the afflicted servant.

"Impressive, isn't it?!" Vanista grinned. "What do you think, Hampt?"

"It feels accelerating!!" Hampt said in a positive manner.

"You will be the first of our new specialist Sectanium elite guards that can mind-control people to their will, known as the Warriors." Vanista announced as she gave Hampt a silver pin, in which has an eye on it. "I'll also be recruiting more Warriors from the Sectanium army; likely those who happened to be upper-class military officers that is."

"You won't regret this!!!" Hampt said as he shook Vanista's hand in a proud manner.

"Good to hear. Now let's go reclaim some planets, shall we?!" Vanista smirked in an evil manner.

Upon seeing all of this before their very eyes, Trine felt both amazed and startled by what Vanista did to Trine. As much as he wanted to object by a twisted turn of events, Trine knew that if Vanista wanted to use this new power to help the Sectanium Race survive then it will be something to maintain their superiority. 

However, Xul and Pam felt a dreadful chill that mind-controlling people may not be a good idea. Unfortunately, because they're both soldiers of the Sectanium Army, they either stay silent and follow orders, drop dead, or leave and never come back. 





"That's a bit of a scare." Celestia murmured in fear. "To think that this strange, red orb would grant your corrupted Empress powers to recruit Warriors before having other creatures bending them to their will??!!"

"I know right?!" Xul said. "Well, anyone who feels the pull of those Warriors may or may not feel excruciating pain. It all depends on what the Warrior would want to do to us. However, in the aftereffects of using their powers, they can be a big headache for most of us, regardless."

"So, do you think you have any idea of how to counterattack their abilities?" Pam asked, fearing that the ponies may not be any match for the Warrior's mind-controlling abilities.

"Well, the bewitching bell is one thing. But I think Mage Meadowbrook and Starswirl the Bearded may also have some tricks up their sleeve as well since they both have the knowledge and experience in taking care of that dark magic." Fluttershy replied with a soft tone of voice. "In fact, Mage Meadowbrook may be able to help out with the plague at your homeland if they give her a chance."

"They will help out if Twilight was able to convince them both in helping you guys out." Luna pondered, feel a bit anxious.

"If they gained the power of mind-controlling, what happened next?!" Celestia asked before Xul continued with her story with the Empress.

"Well mistress, Vanista started to abuse her new powers when we carried out all those mission assignments she handed to us in like, 3 years later." 




Over the past three years after Vanista, who is now  31 years old, gained the power to recruit Warriors, she had a few of them accompany the Sectanium Guard platoons that Trine, Xul, Dialuria, and Pam are all in. Even though Trine and Dialuria was able to put up with the Warrior's presence, Xul and Pam weren't proud of themselves over such a brutal planetary conquest.

Despite how they are meant to serve and protect the Queen of the Sectanium race, Xul and Pam were actually being forced to commit the several sins that may not be that forgiving. So far, about 20 planets have been conquered with little or no effort thanks to the warriors within the Sectanium Army. Unfortunately, Xul and Pam are both starting to lose their honor bit by bit as they ended up crossing too many lines with the innocent creatures they were ordered to neutralize.

In one scenario, Xul winded up killing a alien tribal warrior when it was actually just a young woman taking care of a young child that was already dead. Horrified by what her race has become, Xul felt shaken and sad over the fact that Vanista is trying to turn her into a heartless monster. Ironically, Xul never wanted to hurt anyone even as a soldier. She just wanted to fight to help maintain peace and honor to her friends. 

Back on Earth, Vanista ordered her army to reclaim some of the areas that her father lost his grip on. In an instant, Vanista's army started burning every large city with the aid of her Warriors and her fleet of warships as they fired all sorts of laser cannons, missile launchers, and mind-controlled waves. The human soldiers on Earth were quickly overwhelmed by a massive tide of alien warriors and soldiers; it was a total massacre. Worse, most of the political leaders all over Earth didn't escape in time when the Warriors reached their homes; they were all immediately assassinated after being held under their mind-controlling powers. After that, they blew up most of the government buildings all around Earth, considering that the planet is now conquered and taken over by the Sectanium Army. The rest of the surviving the humans fled into space to parts unknown via space shuttles. 

Even though the Sectanium Army was already victorious, Xul wasn't proud of herself when she was forced to raze down the very same planet that used to be her home. After seeing that most of Earth razed, most of the human survivors that didn't escape in them were already held under the grip of the Sectanium Warriors as they dragged them onboard their prison barges before hauling them back to Sacreus as slaves. Even though Xul did her best not to show any personal feelings while serving in the Army, she still doesn't think that this was the right thing to do. It may Xul question herself over who is really the villain and who is not.

Sadly, Xul was totally devastated by what Vanista is attempting to do. To make matters worse, after reestablishing their territories on Earth. They built their first prison, mining facility in Satria, which is located 12km east of Secreus. Once that is done, the Sectaniums transported all of the human slaves at Sacreus to Satria where they will spent the rest of their lives as brainwashed prisoners working in the mines deep within the planet's underbelly.

In just several months later after the conquest on Earth, Vanista reorganized the Sectanium Kingdom into the one and only Sectanium Empire, proclaiming herself as Empress Vanista Rantu. She announced it all to herself so that the Sectanium can remain unchallenged by any other race and remain superior so that no other race can humiliate them ever again. 

In Xul's horror, Van's powers went way beyond her expectations as her old childhood friend is getting corrupted ever time another planet has been conquered. At the same time, Xul was forced to bear witness of her fellow soldiers experimenting and mutiliating innocent lives in Satria, much to Vanista's insane amusement .

Xul realized that Vanista will never stop conquering and enslaving the entire galaxy after they took over most of the planets within 500km of Secreus. In fact, after every unfortunate event that she has been through as the ruler of the Sectaniums, Vanista announced to all those who are loyal to her that freedom will lead to humiliation. Humiliation will lead to frustration. Frustration will lead to hate. Hate will lead to suffering. So in short, freedom leads to suffering.

So far, about 75% of the entire Sectanium race agreed with Vanista's decrees. For those that refused to believe it, they were planning to start a rebellion against the tyrannical Empress. However, they were no match against the group of Warriors that were seen guarding Vanista's palace. About 100 Warriors are selected from the Sectanium Army ever since Vanista declared herself Empress. With a group that big, it can only mean one thing. Empress Vanista is no longer a honorable, well-mannered ruler. By conquering the other planets and enslaving its inhabitants, she insisted on tormenting the entire galaxy of every alien creature the way they tormented her. Therefore, there is no one strong enough to oppose her at that time.





When Xul turned 32, she can no longer put up with Empress Vanista's massive conquest all over the galaxy anymore. So in the hangar underneath the palace, Xul decides to prep her spacecraft before leaving Sacreus for good as she resigned from the Sectanium Army, fueling it and storing her bags inside its cargo. Before Xul could leave her home planet, she met with Pam one more time.

"Are you sure you want to leave us, Xul?" Pam asked, feeling concerned over Xul's future outside of the Sectanium Army.

"Sorry Pam, but she's corrupted and I have no intention of following corrupt rulers." Xul said in disgrace. "Besides, I can only hope to start a whole new life away from taking advantage of the innocent and the helpless."

"There may still be time to convince Vanista to stop this foolishness." Pam said, not believing that Van is a bad person. 

"Do you even know what she said to me the last time I faced her?!" Xul snapped at Pam before apologizing for her rude reaction. "I-I-I-I-I can't even......I-I-I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO ON SACREUS ANYMORE!!!!"





Flashback: Two days earlier.......

When Xul went back to the palace after completing her 12th assignment in conquering the planet Korplanis, she angrily stormed straight into the Empress' office and confronted Empress Vanista up front before she was about to leave.

"Vanista, I don't think we can keep us with this!!" Xul said in an angry voice.

"Why not?? You should be grateful that our mind-controlling abilities made things more successful in reclaiming all the lands that have been lost ever since my parents passed away." Van replied in confidence. "Wouldn't your parents be proud of you for following orders from your superiors?!"

"Yes, but not through such a selfish method. Besides, didn't we try to share our freedom in not letting anyone else suffer?" Xul continued with her protest. "I mean, we just destroyed our second home on Earth!!"

"Freedom?! HA!! You don't even know that freedom has its consequences. Ever since we were living on Earth, I was always struggling in trying to find my own freedom when those rotten humans keep harassing me and for what?!"

"It's all in the past, over and done!!" 

"Past or not, do you really think we, Sectaniums, can be accepted when leaving our planet to find a better future?" Van hissed, taken back by what Xul said to her.

"Just because they kept rejecting us, that doesn't mean it will be the end of everything. You're going to become just as worse as those that were hurting you and your family's reputation. I know the rest of your parents and your ancestors wouldn't want this to happen, right?!"

*SMACK!!!*

The only response Xul got was a big smack in the face as she staggered back a few feet away from Empress Vanista. Feeling hurt and horrified by what her old childhood friend has become, Xul held her bruised face by her right hand as she felt a red hand print on it

"DON'T YOU DARE MENTION MY FAMILY IN MY PRESENCE, XUL!!!" Vanista shouted out loud, starling most of the servants and guards behind her.

"Face it, Xul. We never belonged on Earth, we never belonged anywhere else outside of Sacreus. In fact, if we can't live peacefully with the humans or with any of the other aliens socializing with them without being prejudiced, then they don't even deserve their own freedom either." Vanista hissed as she glared down at the female blue-skinned Sectanium. "They will all beg for mercy once I have the entire galaxy under grip of our Empire!!! After all, they're the real reason why we couldn't save some of our people from succumbing to the plague in Sacreus."

"You....You....You can't do this!! You can't blame them for our health problems in Sacreus!" Xul said, pleading the Empress to stop. "If we could just start over again in finding someone who can rid our planet of this plague, we might be able to......"

*SMACK!!!*

Before Xul could finish her sentence, Van smacked her again but this time with a much hard force of strength. As a result, Xul screamed in pain as she fell to the ground with Van pinning on top of her while holding her gun at Xul's head.

"YOU ARE IN NO POSITION TO LECTURE ME, XULIANA LILITH SONA!!! I AM YOUR EMPRESS!! YOU DO AS A SAY WITHOUT ANOTHER WORD, UNDERSTAND??!!" Van shouted as she shoved the gun straight into Xul's forehead.

Fearing that Xul will get shot at, she had no choice but to make one simple, positive response.

"Y-Yes, your majesty!!" Xul stammered as she was pulled back on her feat by Van who has put her gun away.

But Xul knew that her loyalty to the Empress is going to end horrible for her if she keeps carrying out Vanista's deranged campaign. In her mind, Xul had only one thing to do to get away from this madness.

"Good. Now then, by morning, we will launch a massive galactic conquest in the other neighboring galaxies." Vanista announced as she smirked sly before heading back to the throne room. "See you at the meeting hall."

Right after she sees the Empress disappear, Xul made up her mind. She immediately took off as she left the palace and went back to her apartment. There, she turned her room key over to the hotel manager and packed up her bags. Also, she discarded her military badge and uniform to the barracks where she start her military career at, replacing them all by wearing a blue sweater with a green tank top underneath it, red pants, and brown shoes. Once all that is done, Xul purchased a spacecraft from a nearby military starport as she is preparing to leave Sacreus before anyone could even notice her disappearance.





End of Flashback:

After telling Pam what happened yesterday, Xul was sobbing uncontrollably as she went on her knees while covering her face in front of a shocked Pam.

Unable to say anything else to Xul, Pam immediately embraced her in her arms before Xul looked up to her only remaining friend.

"I'm sorry, Pam. I wanted to help save the Sectanium homeworld but with another peaceful approach, not through force, enslavement, or conquest." Xul continued. "I'll even try to show our corrupted breathen the error of their ways. It won't be today or tomorrow, but someday they will need to come to their senses. You might as well come with me too because pretty soon, you will be forced by Empress Vanista to do something you won't be proud of too."

"But Xul, this is my home too. I'm not going to give up in saving our country with the Empress' help." Pam said, denying Xul's horrible encounter with Vanista. 

"Then, you're just going to be digging your own grave, Pamela!!" Xul said, mentioning her full first name.

"What?!" Pam gasped, as if Xul spoke a scary word that made her startled out of her wits.

"Goodbye, Pam!!" Xul said as she ran towards her spacecraft and jumped into its cockpit.

"Xuliana, WAIT!!!" Pam shouted as she tried to run after her.

Unfortunately, it was too late as Xul took off while piloting her spacecraft, leaving the hangar at light speed before disappearing into the dark, night sky.





"Oh dear." Fluttershy said, feeling horrified by such behavior that Xul's former friend showed her. "I guess I can see why you left your homeland in disgrace."

"That is so terrible, darling!!" Rarity exclaimed as she understood Xul's grief. "I-I-I had no idea!!!"

"I should've thought twice in determining where would my loyalties lie on, whether it is with my friend Xul Sona or with Empress Vanista." Pam said, feeling bad for not leaving Sacreus with Xul. "Well, I made a huge mistake in not leaving the Sectanium Army when I had a choice to make."


"But that doesn't explain why you joined with the UFF as one of our spies!!" Zeck said, not understanding the rest of Xul's story.

"I already told you that I was trying to show my twisted kin the error of their ways right. Well, that didn't happen until the UFF was formed by the survivors that lost their homes when Empress Vanista unleashed hell." Xul said, taken back by Zeck's disbelief. "Besides, they were causing all of those sins so that they can gather the resources by force in order to maintain their superior power as well as taking care of the plague that is destroying their planet from the inside." 

"Well, I'm glad you did the right thing, Xul." Celestia said, making Xul a bit more relieved. "I guess its no wonder why Twilight didn't have you locked up like those other traitors back there."

"I never what to hurt my own people because they already suffered from the plague even before I was born. But because they are getting worse and worse every year since that day, I will have no choice but to put them out of their misery, out of their own mercy that is."

"So, what happened during you self-exile?" Luna asked, in a cautious manner after taking another sip of Apple Cider.

As she took a deep breath, Xul crossed both of her hands on top of the table before resuming her story after dismissing herself from the Sectanium Army.




Over the past 2 years, Xul, who is age 34, spent most of her life outside of Sacreus in the Rambon Galaxy as a hunter due to the all the stealth training she received as a spec ops infiltrator. So far, she hunted various space creatures for food, as well as trading its animal skin for quick cash. When not hunting, she did her best to listen or read the news revolving around the Sectanium Empire, the very same Empire she left due to its corruption and greed. She hasn't made any contact with any of her friends lately on social media for Xul feared that the Empire is using it as a means to watch her every move. Because Xul has deserted Vanista's malicious campaign, Xul had no intention of returning to the Empire.

Eventually, Xul learned on the news that Trine and Dialuria halted a riot that took place in front of the Sectanium Palace back at Krenthal. It turns out that Pam finally understood of Vanista's evil reign as she was held responsible for leading the riot up to her doorstep. Unfortunately, Pam was immediately arrested after the riot for she was seen right in front of the people attempting to storm into Vanista's palace.

Heartbroken for not being there for Pam, Xul wept in tears again. To make matters worse, Hampt, who is made Royal Consort after serving under the Empress at the same time during Xul's exile, executed Piulius for try to expose the Empress of her wrongdoings. For Mrenix, she was arrested and sentenced to death row after being found guilty for handing weapons and technology to rebels that defied the Empire. Fulkrim and Quasi were caught stealing some of the documents from Vanista's Royal Chambers and were both hanged the next day after they are found guilty.

Xul never felt so devastated that most of their friends have met their demise, except for Pam. When Vanista built two more prison, mining facilities in Mana and Terram, the Empress sent Pam to spend the rest of her life as a prisoner at Terram for her war crimes. It was thanks to the aid of the Mandors that the Sectaniums are able to build those complexes in Mana and Terram.

When the Sectaniums are about to conquer the Mandor's planet, the Mandors immediately gave them the technology and resources they needed to help Vanista carry out her domination plans. What Xul knows is that the Mandors were already notified of how much power is the Sectanium Empire is gaining over the past 2 years. So, they immediately made a pact with them with their own diplomats so that the Sectaniums won't take over their planet by force nor enslave them in extreme prejudice. In response, the Empress agreed to form a fragile alliance with the Mandors only to be used as a minor backup when doing their jobs in most of the territories that the Sectaniums are owning.

As much as Xul wanted to find a way to free Pam, she could not come up with any idea on how to go about it. Most of the planets holding their designated prisons are being kept under a watchful eye by the Warriors themselves. In fact, she had to do her best to stay away from Satria, Mana, Terram, and Sacreus so that Xul will not be noticed by any Sectanium vessels or warships there.





In just one month of hiding from planet to planet, Xul has learned that a group of rebels have been on the rise from the northern parts of the galaxy. In fact, the rebel leaders have formed up after the surviving refugees have fled from their conquered planets when the Sectanium Empire conquered most of the planets in the south and the west of the galaxy.

Xul soon learned that the group of rebel leaders are trying to retake the planets that were stolen from them by the Sectanium Empire, in hopes of fighting for their freedom hence why they formed the United Freedom Fighters or UFF for short. Realizing that this may be the chance for Xul to restore her freedom, she immediately flew straight to one of the planets that is currently housing in the UFF HQ.

Once she landed her ship there, Xul sees the planet she is in happens to be a massive wasteland. It was like a huge dessert where most of the buildings are ruins after a brutal war that occurred many years ago. However, Xul sees one building that still remain intact up in the distance ahead of her. When she got closer to the building, Xul sees that it happens to be a huge warehouse with a banner seen in the middle of the structure, hanging from the top roof. The banner has the UFF insignia stamped in the middle as it is painted in bright-red. Unfortunately, as she approached the gate leading to the HQ, she was met with a very disturbing unwelcoming sight. Xul sees that most of the UFF forces are actually humans dressed in gurrella uniforms armed with rapid-fire blaster rifles, shotguns, machetes, and sabers. The moment they see Xul, they all aimed their weapons at her from all directions. The UFF didn't want Xul anywhere near it since they still recognized her as a Sectanium. 

The one who still remembered who Xul is the most is General Vulren Dominic, the Commander-In-Chief of the UFF himself. He happens to be a human who used to serve in the US Army before the Sectanium Empire struck down this home in the eastern states near the White House. Right after his President was assassinated, Vulren gave the order to evacuate from Earth. In fact, he was able to buy most of the escaping refugees time as they escaped from an underground hangar underneath the White House.

Vulren is seen as a tall, muscular man with a green beret, wearing a blue, militia uniform with green epaulets and tall, black boots. His face had a small civil war mustache and is armed with a rapier holstered to his right hip. Before Xul could even say anything to Vulren, she was held up a gunpoint by four UFF rebels as they aimed their blaster rifles up to her face in all directions.

"Not one step further, Sectanium scum." Vulren said, as he continued to glare at the nervous Sectanium woman. "Why did you come into our territory?!"

"I-I can help you free you fellow humans. They already established prisons inside their territory." Xul said as she stammered a bit before Vulren aimed his revolver at her chest.

"You expect me to fall for a trick like that?" Vulren snarled, making Xul fear for her life. "You can't expect us to forget or forgive you that easily. Some of us already saw you in that wretched Sectanium Army during the fall of Earth. You were one of their soldiers, aren't you?!"

"No!! I ran away from home. I don't want to have anything to do with them anymore!!" Xul said.

"You wish!! Get out of here before we shoot you!!!" Vulren hissed as he pointed his finger out towards the horizon behind Xul.

"Please, I can give you anything in return. Anything!!" Xul begged. "I'll help you exploit their weakness if that's what you all want. I want to undo everything that I did...."

*CLICK*

As Xul heard one of the rebel's gun cocking, she realized that they seriously don't want her anywhere near here. Feeling lonely, Xul was shoved away from HQ before she stood outside of the gates. Regardless of the hate towards Xul by the UFF, she stood there day and night hoping that someone from the UFF HQ would try to give her a chance to redeem herself away from her loyalty to the corrupted alien empire. 

So far, after 9 days have passed, Xul started to feel the heat burning up from within her flesh as she struggled to stay conscious both day and night. During her military discipline in the Army, Xul did her best to stay diligent out on the battlefield for more than 24 hours. However, it was slowly started to get futile because the UFF didn't trust her, not after during the time she was in the Sectanium Army when they took over Earth. With no way to get in, Xul was walking left and right in front of her spacecraft when all of a sudden, she sees a nearby vendor trading masks and clothes with interesting souvenirs that the UFF are currently wearing.

See this as another opportunity to fit right into the UFF as Xul lead the vendor away from the UFF HQ. As soon as she is out of sight, Xul traded some of her food and water with the vendor in exchange for a few clothing items used to blend right into the UFF, granting herself a new identity and a new purpose.




Back to the present.......

"You disguised yourself as another person just to enter the UFF??" Zeck and Derek gasped as they looked at Xul with shocking disbelief. 

At the same time, Chmone and Sonja felt aghast after hearing about how Xul got enlisted into the UFF.

"Sorry it had to be this way, guys but what choice do I have!!" Xul said, feeling a bit of foolish in pulling off a cunning trick back there. "I know I should've felt guilty for deceiving your UFF superiors. Even though what I did was wrong, I'm only doing this to make it up for all the mistakes I did when I served in the Empress' army. Besides, I still want to bring honor to my family too."

"Ooooooooooo. So you're like Mulan, aren't ya?!" Pinkie said, smiling with curious interest.

"Well, not exactly." Xul said, feeling a bit embarrassed. "Though, I did managed to do 3 missions while undercover in the UFF before I was exposed. Of course, they weren't too happy that I tricked them after I impersonated a UFF rebel soldier. However, since I managed to help rescue a group of children during this one attack upon a UFF convoy that I was assigned to escort to another refugee planet, their families begged General Dominic to let me stay in the UFF because I was a hero unlike any other to them."

"Well, that must've been a lucky relief for you." Zeck said as he took a deep breath. "Now that you mentioned it all, I do apologize for not understanding you on the day me, Twilight, and the rest of my crew escaped from Terram."

"Soon afterwards, I have been giving undercover mission assignments as a spy, infiltrating the prisons that the Sectaniums are operating up to this day. Eventually, after doing work in Satria and Mana, I finally made it to Terram where I met Trine again. For Pam, she is still working in the mines as a prisoner, oblivious to my presence. After five years of working undercover, I was trying to find a way to help the prisoners escape without any of the other guards or scientists noticing. However, when I met Twilight, who was being addressed as EQ-3 at the time she was brought here, she was able to free the prisoners all on her own before I can make my move, right after she escaped via teleportation. The rest of my story was history." Xul said, finishing her past story. 

Before any creature saw it, Xul started to have tears coming out of her eyes again, just like last time after she told Twilight her story. As she looked down at herself, Xul started to weep.

"The Vanista that I remembered as a friend so long ago was already gone, replaced by a desperate, frustrated, power-hungry, resentful, tyrannical witch!! Despite everything I did for her, she took her frustration out on me in the end, making my whole life miserable. Because of what Vanista did over the past 25 years, I lost most of my friends, my remaining family is forced to submit to her will, and my homeland has turned into a living nightmare. I LOST MY WAY!!!!" Xul said, before she shouted her last sentence in front of every creature. "I may be the oldest in my own family, with a mom, a dad, two younger brothers, and a sister, but I can't protect them from the Empress anymore. I feel so lost!!!"

In a stunned silence, every pony and UFF personal stood on their seats speechless as Xul closed her eyes as tears while placing her hands on both of her knees.

"As of now, Empress Vanista Rantu will do whatever it takes to steal every resource after conquering every planet and every power source they can get their hands on just to keep their homeland alive as well as maintaining their superiority, even if their territory kept expanding further into the reaches of space thanks to her Warriors." Xul sniffed as Fluttershy came up to her in a sympathized expression. "Vanista and the Sectanium Empire are currently trying to gain power all to themselves as well as enslaving the weak and innocent for they held a deep grudge against all the alien races the made them suffer, especially to those that aren't aware of their humiliation."

"Oh Xul, I'm so sorry to hear all of that." Fluttershy said as she looked at Xul's sorrowful face. The yellow pegasus comforted Xul as she held her cheek with her right, yellow hoof.

For the rest of the ponies, Rarity and Celestia felt astonished by such a sad story while Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash looked at each other with horror in their eyes.

"That was terrible!!!" Luna gasped in horror before turning towards the UFF officers. "Did you guys knew about what the Sectaniums have been through first before you all were forced to fight them?"

"No, we didn't!!" Zeck said, as he scratched his back anxiously. "We all fought with them just to protect our families and our children from being enslaved."

"Sorry Xul, we all absolutely had no idea that your ex-friend was having that much trouble back in your homeland before this war started!!" Derek said. "I mean, we didn't even recall discriminating them in the first place."

"I can't blame any of you. For all I know, Empress Vanista Rantu is the most fearsome Sectanium ruler ever known in my homeland and is, therefore, the most villainous alien feared by all the creatures in the galaxy!!" Xul said, in a fearful tone.

Before any creature could say anything to Xul, Princess Twilight and her Royal Advisor Spike finally appeared before them all at the entrance of the dinning hall.

"Princess Twilight!!" All of the UFF officers exclaimed as they were the first to respond to her highness presence.

"Hey Twi, did you already knew about all this?" Rainbow Dash asked, referring to Xul's story in connection to the tyrannical Sectanium Empress.

"Indeed, I did Rainbow." Twilight said as she took a deep breath. "I already suspected that Xul was feeling pretty bad after how she treated me on Terram, despite her posing as one of those prison guards. Because of what she had been through before I met her as a UFF spy, I just couldn't find it in me to have her imprisoned or punished here."

As Twilight approached a devastated Xul and Pam, she makes another statement.

"Tell you what ladies, if Empress Vanista finally stands down from her foolish domination, then I will send in Mage Meadowbrook and some of the best doctors from Equestria to help deal with the plague in your homeland." Twilight said, in hopes of bringing light to their corrupted homeland. "I can't say for sure when, but we'll be fighting against the Sectanium Empire for as long as possible until they finally give up, considering that they will understand the error of their ways. Real friends don't make fun of each other, nor do they ridicule others because of their personality." 

Upon hearing what Twilight said about their story, Xul wiped her tears away as if she was given a second chance to understand friendship in Equestria, making her smile a bit when Twilight smiled back and turned towards Admiral Derek.

"So Twilight, what did the other creatures say? What is their verdict?" Admiral Derek asked.

"They agreed 9 to 3. You should see the look on Rockhoof's face after I told him what you guys were doing to keep the evil monsters at bay. He was going wild with excitement in attempting to go on another adventure." Twilight replied, satisfying Derek and the rest of the UFF leaders and their allies. "Other than that, Thorax, Ember, and Cadance are willing to get ready for battle before the invaders arrive in Canterlot."

"We all understand, your highness!" Derek said. "We want to protect our friends and our families as well, just like you would."

"Anyway, I have a huge speech to make throughout all of Equestria." Twilight said as she left the dinning hall and flew to the palace's balcony.





At the palace's balcony, every pony and creature in Canterlot has been gathered to the palace square as they are preparing to hear out Princess Twilight Sparkle's speech revolving around her horrified experience in the past 13 days she disappeared. Twilight is now seen by every creature with worried looks in their eyes despite wearing her blue royal gown and her golden crown. Behind Twilight, a huge banner came down bearing an enlargement of her cutie mark which is right above the palace's balcony. Down below in front of the palace entrance, rows of Twilight's Royal Guards are standing tall before the crowd of pony spectators in the palace square while holding up their spears to the sky.

Before Twilight can start her speech, several other ponies from within the crowd are using their cameras to broadcast it throughout every city in Equestria. In front of her, Twilight activates the speakers before inhaling and exhaling. From every city around the corner of Equestria, Princess Twilight's face is seen on the broadcasting screens, hanging on most of the tall buildings, by every single pony and creature in the places they're currently living in, including every single filly, mare, and gentlecolt.

As she soon begins her speech, Twilight is eager to warn all of her fellow ponies about the new threats looming outside of their entire planet.
> Chapter 25: Twilight's Speech
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Attention to all ponies and loyal citizens!! It is I, Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Ruler of Equestria!!!" Twilight's voiced boomed from all of the speakers throughout the major cities of Equestria. "I have returned from my hiatus only to bring forth dreadful news to every pony and creature in our honorable Land of Harmony!!!"

At first, the ponies felt relieved that their beloved ruler is still alive and is seen in Canterlot. However, upon hearing the first of Twilight's speech, they all felt a dreadful chill crawling up their spines. Even Twilight's parents, who are within the crowd of gathered ponies, are fearing for the life of their daughter and all of Equestria.

"Thirteen days ago during the time I disappeared from Equestria, I have experienced a whole new kind of horror and a whole new threat that came from beyond the stars. Out there, outside of our planet, we are not alone. For their is a whole new race of creatures unlike anything I have seen before with my own two eyes. They happen to come from another world apart from our own."

As all the creatures murmured to themselves in shock, they were a bit nervous about what is Twilight going to say next. Before long, Twilight summons a huge flat screen TV that appeared right behind her. The moment she removed herself away from the broadcasting screen. In a horrified discovery, the ponies and all of their friends see strange, skinned-colored tall two-legged creatures dragging various innocent aliens around in ropes as they hauled them into the mines against their will on the first scene in Twilight's flat screen TV. In the same first scene, most of the innocent creatures being dragged around are seen with metal slave collars while they are working in the mines, with a blank expression on their faces. 

Princess Twilight uses her magic to change the TV only for her to show the rest of her friends and subjects in the next scene that the same two-legged monsters are unleashing destruction and conquest in more than one planet outside of Equestria. The face of every pony in Equestria is trembling with fear the moment they see the violence unfolding on the flat screen. Some even exclaimed in horror when the saw that the ships that strange creatures are operating were destroying everything on sight, sending millions of innocent aliens running for their lives, reducing buildings to rubble, knocking down towers left and right, and sending many forests in various planets on fire.

"We, Equestrian ponies are all facing a whole new threat that will stop at nothing to enslave our children, our friends, our families, and our loved ones. From the account of my allied sources, they brought this act of madness and violence upon countless civilizations in the past. They are not here to accept our friendship for their destructive actions are deemed to be very disturbing and merciless."

In the third scene of Twilight's broadcasting flat screen, she shows her friends and her subjects her new enemies up close as they are seen armies of hostile creatures marching in line formations with banners being raised from behind their ranks. 

"They happen to be monsters unlike anything we ponies have ever faced in the past. They possess insidious weapons of destruction, technology that even I have yet to comprehend, and ships who have the ability to travel through space and time!!! They are relentless! They are crazed! They are traitors that don't care about innocent lives for their hatred to all living things is immense!!!"

From Ponyville, most of the students both from Cheerilee's school and from the School of Friendship are all seeing Princess Twilight's broadcast from all of the classrooms. When Twilight was showing the frightening images of the new hostile creatures, all of the fillies, mares, and colts gasped in fear. Even Starlight Glimmer and Trixie's eyes widened with shock and horror upon seeing what Twilight has on her magical flatscreen.

In the fourth scene of the Princess' broadcasting screen, they all see another planet that Twilight's new enemies came from. From the ominous look from afar, the ponies and their friends see dark buildings and flying objects hovering in straight directions. In the next second, they see a huge, dark citadel that has banners symbolizing an evil alien society.

"They are none other than a hostile alien race known as the Sectanium and Mandor Empire!!! They are stubborn, insensitive fighters and warriors that will not rest until they see every corner of the galaxy, including our world, transformed into a living paradise of nightmares, slavery, and suffering!!!"

All at the same time, Starlight, Trixie, Cheerliee, the Young six at the School of Friendship, Twilight's unicorn friends in Canterlot, and every pony in the Equestrian cities started murmuring in shock from what Princess Twilight is saying during her broadcasting speech. Most of their hearts are turning pale with dread and fright as they all stood there shivering and sweating out of their wits.

"They prowl the galaxy like ravenous wolves, consuming everything in our path. I may have escaped a cruel fate while under their mercy, but their horrendous warpath is just getting started!!! They are obsessed of hurting and robbing innocent lives in order to recover from their personal losses in the most inappropriate, disrespectful, and unforgivable methods. As long as those vile creatures remain at large, no pony, creature, or innocent alien will ever be safe from their ferocious might!!!"

The ponies all started to shiver in fear, thinking that they will bear witness to what Princess Twilight had experienced before she came back to Equestria. However, Twilight managed to stay cool as she continued with her speech in referring her ponies to another faction of creatures that stood up against the Sectanium and Mandor Empire for quite some time. The moment Twilight changed the magic flat screen to the 5th slide, she shows them a group of humans raising another banner above their heads while another fleet of ships loomed over from behind their ranks.

"Do not fret, every pony!!! For I have encountered another mixed race of creatures that are struggling all the way to this very day in protecting the lives of their sons and daughters. They fought desperately and valiantly against this vile alien empire for quite some time. I saw them as new friends from far away places, likely those who have lost their homes no thanks to the monsters looming near our doorstep. They all fight for justice and for freedom, in hopes of bring light back into the galaxy's heart of darkness, giving back hope to the innocent."

At first, most of the ponies were totally confused on what Twilight is getting at. Before they could protest, Zeck Stone made his appearance as his naval officer uniform is shining very bright upon on the broadcasting screen on Twilight's right. At the same time, Derek Wellington, who is also wearing his white naval uniform and cap, makes his appearance on Twilight's left. Every pony and creature outside of Canterlot was awestruck by two creatures that they haven't seen before in all their life. In the next minute, Twilight finally introduces her new friends to all of Equestria.

"They are known as the United Freedom Fighters or UFF for short. They are heroes and soldiers who raise honorable, flying colors to protect the weak and helpless. Recently, I have made contact with several of their leaders for they are requesting aid when the Sectanium Empire is using powers that they are no match against. They may have been fighting a losing battle against those vile creatures, but I end up giving the Sectaniums a total fright right in front of the UFF, much to their interest and astonishment. Because I'll do anything to protect my friends both inside and outside of Equestria, I have declared their allegiance to the UFF with the approval of most of our government forces in order to halt the evil aliens' advance towards us."





Just as Zeck and Derek approached to the balcony to discuss their speech with the ponies and creatures of Equestria via translator, Dialuria and her team was hiding behind one of the buildings from within Canterlot's walls. At the start of Twilight's speech, Dialuria's team made their way up the mountains above Canterlot in just two days as they tried to get a good view of the city's internal layouts with her cyber binoculars while avoiding guard patrols outside of the city gates. The gadget has a long-range sight of 1,000 miles. Through the sight of her cyber binoculars, Dialuria could see Twilight standing on top of a balcony of some sort of palace while uphold a massive, broadcasting speech that she didn't understand. Not that it matters, Dialuria is still trying to find a way to infiltrate the palace to locate two of their captured comrades. 

The next thing she saw through her cyber binoculars is a underground tunnel that leads to the river below the mountains Dialuria's team is hiding at. She sees this as an opportunity to sneak inside the palace unnoticed. However, about 10 guards are positioned their to reinforce the checkpoint near the tunnels. Dialuria stood by as she makes her report to the Empress via earbud comm-link.

"Your majesty, we believe that the Royal Consort is somewhere held up in a large white palace in the middle of a white city crawling with ponies wearing strange guard armor. However, the tunnels leading underneath the palace are lightly defended. Shall we proceed?"

"Negative!! We have yet to understand the full strength of the army that will be awaiting us in Equis. For now, return to base. I will be heading close to Equis' orbit shortly."

"Copy, over and out!!!"

Upon heeding the Empress' orders, Dialuria gave the order to her men to used their personal teleporters to head back to their scout ship.





After Zeck and Derek made their introductions to the ponies of Equestria at Canterlot, there is some controversial responses coming in from the crowd. Some are feeling skeptical, just like Luna, into aiding them in dealing with the alien invaders while others insisted on helping them out for the sake of their beloved ruler for they fear that their children and their other friends will become next.

Eventually, Twilight resumes her speech as she initiates her decision in holding their ground against an attack from the Sectanium Empire.

"Because I accidentally caused several counts of commotion in front of those monsters before I escaped, let alone helped my friends in the UFF escape from their terrible fate, it's only a matter of time before the rest of the evil aliens will launch an all-out attack upon us. As the Ruler of Equestria, it is my duty to protect every pony and every creature in the Land of Harmony by all means. Since the UFF are going to make there stand in Canterlot, there will no running away from a fight. We will fight back to drive the invaders away from Equestria with the aid of UFF for we are the Guardians of Harmony. We are the kingdom of free ponies!! We are the warriors of Equestria!!! We are heroes of Equestria!!! There will be no surrender and no holding back!!! Our future and our friendship all depends on it!!" Twilight shouted in a Royal Canterlot voice on broadcast. "Therefore, we help those in need for the sake of Equestria's Friendship. FIGHT FOR OUR BROTHERS!!! FIGHT FOR OUR SISTERS!! FIGHT FOR OUR FRIENDS!! FIGHT FOR OUR LOVED ONES!!! FIGHT....FOR.....EQUESTRIA!!

At the end of her broadcasting speech, Princess Twilight Sparkle raised her right hoof up to the sky while spreading her wings out wide while still standing on the palace balcony. 

As the ponies from all the cities of Equestria cheered for Twilight, the Pillars of Equestria finally appeared from within the crowd in the palace square as they entered the palace to make preparations for a counterattack against the alien invaders from Sacreus. Right after her speech, Twilight was finally greeted by the pillars, several of the Royal Guard commanders, and several leaders from Equestria's allied nations. 

From what Twilight told Zeck earlier when he first used the translator, she did remind him that she has several nations who accepted the banner of her friendship a few years back hence why she and her ponies were able to get along with most of the nations. In fact, Zeck couldn't help but feel anxious on who do the other allied leaders would look like in-person. 




For Xul, she was pretty amazed that Twilight was able to make it this far when spreading friendship in the planet that she is currently living, without any hatred or animosity thanks to the aid of her pony friends.

As she was observing how Twilight was socializing with the other creatures without fear or prejudice during her speech, Fluttershy and Rarity came up to Xul with worried expressions. Thankfully, Zeck was able to make a second translator during their stay in the Canterlot Palace. In fact, Zeck gave Xul another translator for her to wear around her neck as if it was a necklace.

"So Xul, are you still feeling troubled about what will ever become of your homeland?" Fluttershy asked in a concerning manner.

"Yes, I am. I only wish Vanista was able to see things the way Twilight did when going down a similar path." Xul thought as she felt depressed over losing her best friend Vanista to the dark power possessing her. "From what Mistress Celestia and Mistress Luna told me about Twilight, I must say, she's actually a lot better in getting along with the other nations here."

"Well, you have us ponies to thank for." Fluttershy said as the rest of the Mane 5 appeared before Xul with happy faces. "Twilight may be pretty crazy and zealous when it comes to dealing monsters but she's actually a very nice mare."

"Did any of you ladies get scared of her when she was next in line to rule over these lands?" Pam asked as she appeared behind Xul in a nervous tone.

"Are you kidding?!" Rainbow grinned in amusement while hovering in mid-air a few feet off the ground. "We all known Twilight for a long time. Of course not!! Besides, she already made the best friends that any pony could ever have."

"After all, she already did some really great deeds for us, darling." Rarity smiled with happy glee. "It's the least we can do to pay her back."

Xul couldn't imagine just how cute and lovely they are when the Mane 5 was smiling at her. 

Upon seeing the Mane 5, Xul smiled back, feeling a bit relieved that she might be able to try again in accepting friendship in another world apart from the world that she came from. And someday, Xul's homeland will be liberated once the war is over.

Who knows? Maybe the ponies in Equestria can help make a difference despite being just ordinary pastel horses. Since Twilight already made herself an honorable and powerful example of in alien monarchy, Xul understood that a nation like this is not to be underestimated.
> Chapter 26: Negotiating Battle Plans
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Somewhere in outer space, 1,000km south of the Temar Galaxy......

A large fleet of Sectanium ships are proceeding down towards the north as they are following the trail Zeck's ship. Thanks to Colonel Janus, they were able to pinpoint the traveling way points that lead towards where Zeck's battlecruiser is headed.

Their fleet has included a 2 dozen Sectanium Battleships, escorted by their Interceptors up front. Behind them, the Empress' Flagship is seen while 10 warships are staying alongside it. In addition, the Sectanium Fleet also has scores of small Mandor cruisers and Warrior Frigates following the Flagship from behind.

Inside the Empress' Flagship, at the command bridge, Empress Vanista is sitting on her throne while taking a sip of her wine from her glass as she looks towards her battleships as they continue their voyage to hunt down the traitors and crush them with all their might. 

The Empress grinned maliciously as she herself in a prideful mood. Behind her, Trine has appeared from the corridors. After his recovery from his fiasco at the UFF Military Port they took over, Trine is seen with a huge, flat bandage on the right side of his face and a brace that is holding up his lower jaw in place. Every time Trine turns his head to another direction, he can feel the pain burning from his injured jawbone.

As he face the Empress, Vanista turned to see Trine in a facial, crippled state.

"How's your jawbone, Captain Trine?" Vanista asked out of a frightful concern.

"It still stings, I could barely feel my jaw!!" Trine gasped in pain. "I thought I was seeing stars back there."

"I don't know how could we lose so much of our men to a bunch of pastel horses and the UFF at that Military Port." Empress said, feeling a bit distressed over the incidents that occurred ever since of the prison outbreak on Terram. "Even though we were able to secure that Military Port in Xarilius, most of our Mandor grunts have been taken out, along one platoon of my best soldiers. So, I had no choice but to summon the rest of our fleet and our army from Sacreus and Kulverth, the Mandor homeworld which took about 48 lightyears."

"I know, that Zeck is starting to become a big pain for all of us!!" Trine snarled. "Ever since Colonel Janus threw that purple pastel horse EQ-3 into Terram's slammer, things slowly got out of hand in about one week later, not to mention that Xuliana disappeared again along with the traitor Pamela."

"Whoever this pastel horse is, something is telling me that we are going to be facing a whole new adversary unlike anything we fought before." Empress said, feeling a bit anxious over that strange, sentimental alien. "I've got a very bad feeling about this!!"

"Did you get Janus' location of where Zeck is?" Trine asked the Empress.

"I did, she said that his ship disappeared into another planet at Temar. Janus pointed out that it was planet called Equiss or something like that. On that planet, she pointed out that Lord Hampt is being held in somewhere inside some sort of large, white city with a huge palace in the middle."

"I just hope we can find the escaped prisoners there because when we do, we'll string them all up and sent them straight to Satria." The Empress snarled. 

*SMASH* 
*Twinkle*
*Twinkle*

In anger and frustration, Vanista breaks her own wine glass with the strength of her firm grip on her hand. As a result, the remaining wine that was still inside the glass spattered all over the floor, along with its broken remains.

"Thankfully, with the aid of Admiral Jiarius and General Zuluk we will succeed this time, along with 20 Warriors onboard our flagship."





In about three days later after Twilight's speech, all of Equestria's military leaders and allied representatives have all gathered around in the huge meeting room. Right in the middle of all 50 seats, they and the UFF leaders are sitting across each other in a massive, large round map table made of crystal structure. It is pretty similar to that of the map table in the Castle of Friendship, the very same Castle Twilight used to live in before moving back to Canterlot at the start of her reign. 

Starswirl, Flash Mangus, Mage Meadowbrook, Sommambula, Mistmare, and Rockhoof are all sitting at the north end of the map table.

Twilight Sparkle, Thorax, Cadence, Ember, Flash Sentry, and Queen Novo are seen sitting at the west side of the map table.

A.K Yearling, Stygian, Tempest Shadow, Mayor Mare, and Chancellor Neighsayer are seen sitting at the east side of the huge map table. 

As for Captain Zeck, Admiral Derek, and Co-Captain Chmone, they are sitting at the south end of the map table.

For those who happened to be subordinates of the leaders from Equestria's allied nations, they all introduced themselves briefly before they stood firm and listened carefully during their meeting inside the Canterlot palace.

After Twilight introduced Zeck and the UFF leaders to the rest of the rulers from Equestria's neighboring nations, Admiral Wellington makes his first announcement as he takes out a huge sheet of Zeck's drawn out battle plans while Zeck takes out the translator and turns it on so that every creature in the room can understand what his superior is saying to them.

Stygian takes out his notebook while levitating it with his magic before setting it down on the table in front him. At the same time, he also pulls out his ink and quill before taking notes over Derek's plans.

"So everyone, you all know why you're here, right?!" The UFF Admiral announced as he addresses his speech to all of the leaders of Equestria's allies.

"Well, what do you know about these invaders?!" Stygian asked, in a cautious manner.

"From what Twilight said during her speech, we have already been fighting against the Sectaniums and Mandors for years. They have been making my people suffer all because they came up with the wrong ideas for the right reasons." Wellington said, briefly. "Their technological weaponry is very advanced and they'll be sending in troops with the warriors blending within their ranks. Thankfully, Twilight and her friends did managed to restrain several of our pursuers when they intercepted their forces at one of the Military Ports we owned before it was overrun."

"You mean, Twilight actually brought in prisoners on the way back here?!" Thorax pointed out.

"Exactly!" 

"What are you going to do with them, your highness?" Thorax asked, out of curiosity.

"I might as well give them all a taste of their own medicine if they're not careful. They need to understand what might happen if those monsters do not stop this foolishness!!" Twilight said, as she narrowed her eyes sternly. 

"I also heard that some creature or pony may have something that can repel against the mind-controlling warriors. Is that true?!" Zeck said, clarifying what Twilight's friends told him during Xul's story.

In response to Zeck's question, StarSwirl the Bearded was the first to raise his frail, gray hoof up above his head.

"You might you be, sir?" Derek asked the old, wise unicorn.

"My name is Starswirl the Bearded. I happen to be the most wisest of the unicorns in Equestria that dealt with every aspect of magic both light and dark for a very long time."

"Do you have any leads on how to deal with mind-control, Starswirl?" Zeck asked, in a curious, educational manner.

"Why indeed, yes. It's just like the time when King Sombra used his dark magic to control every pony in Ponyville before attacking Canterlot. I do have several counter spells books that I had Twilight read after her coronation in Canterlot." Starswirl said as he took out one of his anti-dark magic spell books from his sack. "I already taught Celestia and Luna how to reverse dark magic like that when they're both in my study back then."

As Starswirl slid an anti-dark magic spell book to Zeck, he picked it up and skimmed through several pages to see what the wise unicorn is getting at. In just a few minutes of skimming, Zeck felt a bit overwhelmed on what spell can the unicorns use to ward of the Warrior's mind control abilities.

"So Twilight, how did your friends managed to capture one of the invaders coming after you?!" Starswirl asked while Zeck continued to read his spell book.

"It was Discord and Luna, actually. They told me that they were accompanying my friends during the fight back there. Discord used the bewitching bell on the Warrior before Luna restrained him with her magic!!" Twilight answered briefly to Starswirl.

"What did the bell do to him, exactly?" Derek asked as his eyes widened with a confused look.

"Well, they were able to use the bewitching bell to strip away Lord Hampt of his dark magic." Twilight answered briefly. "However, there is some dark history about the bell. I hate to say this but the bewitching bell used to belong to an ancient evil creature named Grogar many eons ago. It was meant to drain the magic from other creatures when being used by the one who has it. It's also meant to grant the user dark powers beyond their wildest dreams!!!" Twilight said in a grim expression. 

Zeck and Derek felt horrified to imagine if his enemies were to get their hands on that bell. Thankfully, they used it for good instead of evil. Hopefully, it won't fall under the wrong hands if they were to defend Canterlot from the Sectanium Empire.

"It wasn't before Gusty the Great was able to steal the bell from Grogar and sealed it away with her magic in Mount Everhoof so that it will never be used again, until now!!" Twilight continued. "It was thanks to Tirek, Cozy Glow, and Chrysalis that they almost used the bell on us. Even though if we defeated them all and recovered the bell, its powers still remain intact as of now."

"Do you think that bell will be useful against the Warriors?" Chmone asked, feeling a bit confident about the ancient artifact Twilight is elaborating on.

"Yes it would. However, there will still be other villains that'll get their hands on that bell by any means necessary." Twilight warned Chmone. "If it falls under the wrong hands, we wouldn't stand a chance against them anymore. This is also why Celestia wanted to secure that bell immediately after Discord used it to take away Lord Hampt's mind-controlling powers. Besides, the bell can never be destroyed by any means, especially not with magic. So, we have to do our best to make sure the bell is not in reach with any hostile creature."

"I understand. It's too much of a risk." Zeck said, confirming Twilight's statement over the Bell of Grogar. "I can't imagine the Empress getting her hands on that thing!"

"Putting the bell aside, I'll still send in more of the anti-magic wards from the Changeling Kingdom to reinforce Canterlot's Castle walls." Thorax said, making his suggestion to add more defenses to Equestria's Capital City.

"What will they do?" Zeck asked the Leader of the Changelings.

"They're meant to cancel out any evil spells that get too close to its barrier. So, if those enemy Warriors reach the walls of Canterlot, their powers will be useless." Thorax explained, briefly. 

"Well, we still have their interceptors and their warships to deal with. They have huge laser cannons that can level cities and buildings to rubble in a few minutes tops. My crew onboard the ship will try to do their best in keeping most of the interceptors at bay. However, their warships may be harder to crack."

"Tell me Zeck, do you still have any spies that might give us information about how to bring their ships down?" Flash Mangus asked as he's trying to understand the weakness of these new foes.

"When Xul was still in their military, she did point out that anti-air, rapid-fire cannons may be enough to punch through the hulls of the warships. They still move very slow and are only equipped with a frontal laser cannon, two huge bombard, double-barrelled side cannons, and one missile launcher setup on their rear."

"I'll do my best to send in some of the best pegasus teams and airships to overwhelm their warships." Flash Mangus said with determination. "For the defenses, do you still have any weapons that can also blow their warships sky high too?"

"We'll try to setup mobile anti-air defenses somewhere inside the Canterlot city but we need good vantage points first!!" Zeck replied, making his first plan in fortifying the city's defense layout. "Also, I'll bring in a team to setup trenches near the city gates. They'll be expecting us to counter attack both from the walls and from the trenches."

"What kinds of attacks will we also expect from the invaders?" Twilight asked Zeck.

"Their warships will start opening fire from above along with their interceptors before they send in the ground troops to clean up the mess. We do need to raise some shield barriers to keep their air units from leveling the city. Since I already saw Twilight raised her own shields, I do suppose there are other unicorns that can do this to, right?!"

"There is, actually. Though, it all depends on the strength of their willpower and experience in using magic out on the battlefield." Starswirl pointed out. 

"I did study on my shield spell for years. However, their weapons still gave me a headache every time they kept shooting at it. If only BBBFF is here......" Twilight added in, feeling a bit anxious in raising her shield against her enemies again.

"Who is BBBFF??" Zeck asked, feeling confused over such a strange word.

"My big brother best friend forever but his real name is Shinning Armour." Twilight answered in a specific sentence. "He's formerly the Captain of the Royal Guard in Canterlot, now the co-ruler of the Crystal Empire."

"This ought to be interesting." Derek thought. "We could ask him to aid us here too."

"I'm right here!!!" A stallion voiced boomed from behind Zeck and Derek.

As the stallion appeared, he was seen as a white unicorn with a blue mane and tail wearing purple guard armor. After looking around for a moment, he sees Twilight as tears came down from his eyes. She knew that it was Shinning Armour that came from outside of the meeting room.

Just like that, he jumped on Twilight as he embraced her in his hooves.

"Oh, Twiley!! I heard about what happened when Spike sent me that message back at the Crystal Empire!! I'm so glad you're okay!!!" The stallion wailed.

As he looked behind Twilight, Shinning saw some strange creatures that he didn't recall seeing. After looking at Twilight in the next second, he lets go of her only to glared at Zeck, Chmone, and Derek.

"I've got my eye on you boys!!" Shinning sneered as he approached the two while lighting up his horn. "You better not have done anything to my sister back there or I'll......."

"Shinning Armour, please!!" Twilight shouted as she shoved her brother back away from the two UFF officers. 

*GULP* 

Zeck and Chmone started sweating nervously underneath their breath while Derek made a big gulp to think that the white unicorn stallion would start doing more worse than what Twilight did.

"Sorry about that. You guys have to excuse my brother. He's just only doing what any other brother would've done." Twilight added in, trying to soothe the nervous UFF officers.

"Okay, then." Zeck huffed as he tried to stay cool in front of a stern Shinning Armour. "So, where were we?!"

"Oh yeah, my brother has the strongest shield spell to use in order to keep out any intruders from infiltrating Canterlot. However, if his emotions can cause the shield to break down." Twilight explained briefly.

"Twiley, can I have a moment with you?!" Shinning asked his little sister before taking her outside of the meeting room.





As soon as the unicorn and alicorn went outside of the room, Shinning was the first to ask his sister about her friendship with Zeck and his crew.

"Twiley, I'm not sure we can rely on those strangers to help us defeat this evil threat that you were elaborating during your speech." Shinning Armour said in anxiety.

"Why not?! I was able to get very far in taking several of the invaders down thanks to them. Also, my friends were able to intervene when I was trying to escape from them for the 3rd time. They already gave us covering fire before my friends captured one of the invaders to hold as hostage."

"It's not going to be that simple, Twiley. I already know my way around when it comes to fighting our enemies on the battlefield. Besides, we can beat the invaders with what we've got right?!"

"This battle is not going to be that simple either, Shinning. Our new enemies have weapons and ships that are powerful enough to crack our magical defenses. I suggest to get as much help from our new friends to reinforce Canterlot. If we can't help the UFF recover from their losses, then we can't defend Equestria from the Sectanium Empire." Twilight said, in a serious tone. "My shield barrier can hold out for so long. I can't really help them without you, Shinning."

"But Twiley, they're not even........" Shinning pleaded before being interrupted by Twilight's intense voice.

"But nothing, Shinning. I almost faced an unauthorized death sentence when I was locked up in Terram, its as if I was in a whole new kind of Tartarus. They need to know who they're really dealing with because unless something is done to drive the invaders away, they'll do to all of our ponies what they tried to do to me. Please brother, just do this for me and for our family."

After giving it some thought, Shinning took a deep breath before responding to Twilight's request in helping the UFF and Canterlot defend against the invasion.

"Okay. I'm in!! Just don't do anything reckless in front of them."

"Thanks, BBBFF!!" Twilight said as she hugged Shinning again.





As soon as Twilight and Shinning Armour came back into the meeting room, they see Zeck standing in-between both of them before the Crystal Prince makes his statement.

"So, you're Zeck right?!"

"Yes, I am. I happen to be the captain of the UFF Battlecruiser Blue Lightraider. It's a pleasure to meet you, sir."

"Yeah well, I hope you do the right thing for our kin because the last thing I would ever want is to have Twilight go Twilynanas!!! Anyway, what were you saying about raising a shield above Canterlot?!"

"That's right. We made our plan to make sure the enemy Warriors do not attack us first. Other than that, we need some defenses to keep their ships and their fighters out of the city."

"Very well. I'll bring in some of my best Unicorn guards to protect Equestria with a combined Shield Dome. It will give you all time to get ready for a ground attack."

"By the way, do you still have your other friends with you onboard your ship?" Twilight asked. 

She already noticed that 15 of the creatures that she helped free may not be enough to aid her Royal Guard in holding Canterlot's garrison.

"Now that you mentioned it, only 11 of us escaped from Terram before we fled to the nearest UFF Military Port. As of now, the Admiral and 200 UFF marines went onboard my ship before we were attacked by the Sectanium Fleet." Zeck replied in a brief response.

"From the account of Canterlot's garrison roster, we have about 3,000 Royal Guards stationed all over Canterlot. But if any creature agrees to send in reinforcements, now is the time!!" Twilight said, before she makes her statement towards Thorax, Cadence, Ember, and Queen Novo.

"We'll do our best, Twilight. But things take time!!" Novo said, feeling a bit nostalgic. "Twilight, I'm not sure we'll have enough time to go back and get our men prepped for battle before Canterlot gets attacked."

"Novo, you still have to do your best. Remember how your daughter helped us liberate Canterlot when the Storm Creatures invaded Equestria. It's not too late to make up for your tarnished reputation, right?!" 

"I know, I'll still felt like a coward for not standing up against the Storm Guard." Novo muttered in self-pity.

"Twilight's got a point there." Thorax added in. "If we were able to help Twilight and her friends keep the previous villains at bay, we can do it again."

"I'm with Twilight on this one." Ember agreed as she raised her staff up high. "If these invaders think they can get the best out of us with use of their weapons, I'll get the worst out of them! After all, our strength lies in the friendship of Dragons, Changelings, and ponies!!!"

"Do you guys think you can make it back in 48 hours with an army too?" Zeck asked Thorax, Ember, and Novo.

"We can't say for sure, but there's always the first time for everything." Novo hesitantly said. 

"Is there anything else we need to watch out for when they attack Canterlot?" Twilight asked Zeck and Derek.

"They'll be sending in ground troops, accompanied by several squads of hover tanks if not for their ships. They'll be armed with a 25mm railgun as its main gun and a rapid-fire pulse carbine. Their firepower make severe dents on the walls. Also, their soldiers will be marching in line formations from behind those tanks." Derek answered.

Zeck ordered two of his marines to bring in a mobile billboard to show Twilight and her friends the planned layout for Canterlot's external defenses, along with a map showing the interior layout of the city. In his first step, Zeck drew out a line in front of the City Gates. With interest, most of the ponies did their best in paying close attention to what Zeck is presenting on the billboard.

"My men will be stationed at the front of the city's entrance while setting up sandbags and trenches outside of the gates. I'll be making my stand there."

In the next drawing on the billboard, Zeck puts in several "Xs" at various spots inside the city of Canterlot. 

"For all of those 'Xs' I've marked, they will be locations were the rest of your men will be setting up ambush points. If the enemy breaches the walls, your guards will have to fall back to their designated positions so that they won't be sitting ducks. Of course, they will be starting their counter-attack up on the walls and inside their guard towers first."

As Twilight see the 'Xs' that Zeck drew all over the map of Canterlot, see notices that some of them are marked in various buildings within the city.

"I'll do my best, Zeck. After all, I've got a score to settle with them since they all messed with the wrong pony." Twilight smirked as she clamped both of hooves together, feeling determined to teach the invaders a lesson. "Alright, everyone. You all have your missions from Zeck. Let's not stand around anymore."

As all of the leaders of Equestria's allied nations nodded in agreement, Thorax, Ember, Cadence, and Novo left the meeting room along with their guards while Zeck and Chmone went back to their ship to help their fellow UFF marines start setting up the defenses all over Canterlot.
> Chapter 27: The Empress Arrives
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile at the Temar Galaxy.......

After making their way through the Contraium System in 12 days, the Sectanium Empire Fleet as arrived at 500km away from Equis as the Empress' Flagship is seen lurching forward at the frontline of the Sectanium and Mandor ships. As they approached towards Colonel Janus' homing beacon, Admiral Jiarius of the Sectanium Fleet orders all of the ships to halt their position. When that's done, the Admiral reestablishes contact with Colonel Janus and her setup, scouting team via communicator phone at the bridge of the Empress' flagship.

Admiral Jiarius is seen as a 6th foot tall Sectanium with green-blue skin and is wearing a black, sectanium naval uniform. On the left side of his chest, Jiarius' uniform has 4 stacks of red and blue badges and an eye badge on his right side of his chest. He has an eye patch covering his left eye and has a dark-green naval cap on top of his head. While holding himself by his left hip, Jiarius has an energy cutlass sheathed in his black scabbard. 

As he looked far towards the planet of Equis, Empress Vanista stood up from her throne as she approached Jiarius from behind.

"We have arrived at the orbit of Equis, your majesty." Jiarius said as he turned around to face Empress Vanista Rantu. "What are your orders?"

"Have one of the Sectanium Battleships and a squad of interceptors escort our flagship. We are going to enter the planet's atmosphere, so that I can personally explore the planet myself before we set another base of operations." Vanista ordered. "As soon as we land, we'll meet up with Janus so that she can show us what are we really up against."

"It will be done, your majesty!!!" Jiarius acknowledged as he raised his hand towards Equis, giving out the order to the ship's helmsman.

The moment the Flagship approaches Equiss, the Battleship and a squad of interceptors flew alongside as they make their way down to the planet's surface.




Meanwhile, back in Equestria......

12 days later after Twilight's meeting with the UFF officers and the other leaders of Equestria's allied nations.........

While Zeck and his Marines are digging up trenches in front of Canterlot's gates, Twilight has given the order to have all of the ponies in Canterlot and in Ponyville that can't fight evacuate to the Crystal Empire via train. Most of the mares accompanied their fillies have to bid farewell to their colt husbands before they proceed onto the train. 

During the evacuation, Starlight and Big Mac decided to stay in Canterlot to fight, along with several Canterlot Elite nobles, including Fancy Pants as he bids farewell to his wife Fleur Di Lis. In fact, most of the ponies who wanted to volunteer to fight went into the castle's armory. While they are taking up spears, swords, and armor, the UFF has also lend several crates of explosive grenades to use out on the battlefield. One of Zeck's Marine Officers did his part to show the ponies how to use the grenades but outside of the city. About 700 ponies have volunteered as militia helping out the Royal Guard protect Canterlot with their lives.

For several practice attempts, the ponies were hurling the grenades into several ruins as target practice. For other methods, the Royal Guards were showing them how to throw their spears at the dummy targets in the training field behind the Canterlot Palace.

From inside Zeck's Battlecruiser, he ordered his crew to bring out several anti-air cannons to place on top of a couple of buildings all-around the city. At the same time, the Royal Guards did some work in setting up the ambush points that Zeck drew out on the map of Canterlot's interior. With the UFF's help, they setup pitfalls and mines hidden underneath the city's main streets which will be used to surprise the enemy before the guards and the UFF marines strike at them from all sides.

In the tunnels behind the Canterlot Palace, the Royal Guards and 50 UFF Marines stationed there have placed several carts of wood and metal in front of the entrance. Hopefully, they'll do their best to defend the city at the rear, along with the aid of several cannon emplacements.

At the train station, Cadence decided to leave Canterlot to rally the army of the Crystal Empire as Twilight Velvet and Night Light hugged Twilight Sparkle and Shinning Armour, wishing them both good luck and stay safe. 

Once Twilight's parents went onboard the train, she went with Shinning Armour as they make their decision on who would raise the shield barrier over all of Canterlot.

"So Shinning, do you know who else is going to up help us raise the shield barrier over Canterlot?" Twilight asked first.

"Well, Starswirl, Celestia, and Luna wanted to combine their power with me when doing so. We may need to give our people more time to leave the city before the real fight begins!" Shinning said, as he took out a list of volunteers. "We may need as many well-trained unicorns to keep the shield barrier intact for as long as possible."

"I understand." Twilight said, acknowledging Shinning's efforts. "Anyway, the other leaders of our allied nations have already departed to prep their armies for battle.

"You may need to check on the other guards stationed at the front gates." Shinning suggested Twilight.

"Okay, we'll I'll get back to you shortly after that." Twilight said as she flew towards the main gate.





While she sees the ponies working alongside the UFF in setting up the defenses in Canterlot for over the past 12 days, Sonja was able to do a decent film with her video camera while walking around cautiously. All at once, she sees ponies hauling wagons of pikes and sandbags towards the trench outside of the city. In the next second, Sonja put the video camera on record so that she can process it into her computer, in hopes of experiencing how do the Equestrian ponies do their part in defending their native homeland. On top of her video camera, she has the translator attached to its scope so that Sonja can understand what they're saying through their native language.

Before she knew it, Sonja sees Pinkie Pie's face right in front of the camera while hanging upside down from nowhere. 

"Hey! Look every pony, we're on TV!!!" Pinkie squealed in excitement. "Hello, to all from the other side of the universe. I'm Pinkie Pie!!!" 

At the same time, Pinkie was waving her front hooves wildly while upside down, grinning like a maniac beyond such amusement.

"Would you please get your face off the camera?!" Sonja said as she shrieked while seeing the Pink pony very close to the video recording.

Ignoring what Sonja said, Pinkie still kept popping her face from more than one direction in front of the video camera endlessly, making the journalist panic.

"Pinkie Pie, I think that's enough. You're scaring the poor darling!!" Rarity shouted as she grabbed the Pink pony with her magic.

"Whaaaaa?!" Pinkie exclaimed in confusion as her mouth was wide open. 

"Pinkie, I meant it. We have work to do around Canterlot!!" Rarity continued as she dragged Pinkie away to meet up with Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

"Can I get your autograph?! Pretty please?!" Pinkie asked in a comical manner, before she and Rarity disappeared to the other side of the city.

Just as Sonja took a deep breath, Pinkie Pie appeared again right behind the freaked out journalist while still upside down, the moment she turned towards the other direction.

"What the??" Sonja shrieked as she almost dropped the camera.

As Pinkie landed on all four hooves, Rainbow and Rarity stood in-between her and Sonja.

"Pinkie, I think you have been random enough." Rainbow said, scolding the idiotically grinning Pinkie Pie.

"Sorry about that, darling." Rarity said as she apologized to Sonja as she tried to grab Pinkie Pie with both of her frontal hooves.

"You have to excuse Pinkie Pie. She's very random!!" Rainbow added in as she helped Rarity take Pinkie Pie away.

Huffing and puffing, Sonja felt totally flabbergasted to think that she met a very strange pony that does things in which are not understandable. No matter, Sonja turned her camera around to see the ponies at the main gate as she slowly walked towards outside of the city.

Through her camera, Sonja can see earth ponies and unicorns using shovels with their hooves and with their magic all at once as they dug 10 feet deep and as wide at the gate itself. For the UFF marines, they setup small gun emplacements on top of the sandbags while planning to take positions inside the trench.

As for the city, scores of Royal Guards are making their way to their assigned posts while they setup their cannons in several buildings, making sure that they aim their guns at the street if the enemy marches past them.

Applejack is standing next to the road as she was helping Big Mac and Flash Mangus setup the mines on the streets while Fluttershy was having all of the animals from the Castle Gardens evacuate onto the trains.

For Xul and Pam, they are ordered to stand by at the palace as they geared up for battle, equipping themselves with hand blasters and swords that they retrieved from the Canterlot Armory.

Just as Twilight came up to the front gates, the male unicorn gate commander sees her come down from her flight before saluting the alicorn princess. The Gate commander is also seen wearing Royal Guard Armor and is standing by near the Canterlot's gate house.

"How's the trenches coming along?" Twilight asked the gate commander.

"We're almost done with them. Our allies have managed to reinforce them with their stationary weapons. We'll be holding them off at the outer walls until they breach the gate." The Gate Commander answered. "We'll be falling back to the second line at the city's plaza; that's we're we will strike them up close and person."

"Very well. We might as well try to......." Twilight said as she tries to make a suggestion when all of a sudden, she can hear rumbling from a mile away.

In every pony and creature's startled shock, they all felt the earth shake as they could hear something coming this way. In one of the guard towers, the lookout earth pony guard spots a small fleet of ships heading towards Canterlot from a 500 miles away. In response, the guard started banging on the huge bell hanging in the middle inside the tower, as a way to alarm the rest of the ponies and creatures inside and outside of Canterlot. In the same guard tower, a unicorn guard mare takes a deep breath as she blew out a huge horn that was taken out from her satchel bag.

*BANG-BANG!*
*BANG-BANG!*
*BANG-BANG!*

*UMMMMPAAAAANNNNNN!!!*
*UMMMMPAAAAANNNNNN!!!*

"It's them!!!" Twilight shouted in a Royal Canterlot voice as she spread out her wings. "Every pony, get all those fillies out quickly!!! Stop what you're doing and get to the battlements!! DEPLOY THE GARRISONS!!! NOW!!!"

In a panic, the guards who are still idle immediately escorted most of Canterlot's citizens and nobles to the train station as they are telling them to hurry up and get on!! At the same time, the UFF and the earth ponies were able to finish as much as they could on the trenches before they took cover inside them. Most of the Royal Guards and UFF Marines immediately take up their positions as they all arm themselves to the teeth. As for the Mane 5, they hightailed straight to the upper walls, awaiting for another fight.

Near the palace, when the sounds started blarring, Shinning Armor uses his magic to raise the massive shield barrier. In addition, Celestia, Luna, Starswirl, 20 unicorn guards, and Discord used their powers to help fortify Shinning Armor's shield barrier to create a huge dome protecting the entire exterior of Canterlot.





As the Sectanium Fleet descends into the Equestrian surface, the ships that the Empress sends forth, along with her flagship, are slowly approaching the Everfree Forest. They stopped right above them as they regrouped with Colonel Janus' team. 

From inside the bridge of the Empress' Flagship, they could see some sort of huge shield barrier engulfing the entire white city from afar. As they took a closer look at the city with one of their screens, they spot a detachment of UFF Marines and their Battle cruisers inside the barrier, assuming that Zeck and the escaped prisoners are in that city. Assuming them to be hopelessly outnumbered, the Empress smirked as she snapped her fingers from her right hand.

Seeing this, Vanista gave Admiral Jiarius the first command on the open battlefield.

"OPEN FIRE!!!" Jiarius shouted through the communication channel to all interceptors, the flagship, and the Sectanium Battleship!!!"

At the same time he gave out the order, Jiarius raised his right hand towards the city in a distance while giving out the Empress' orders.

The Battleship was the first to heed the Admiral's orders as they started shooting out laser cannons and missiles at the shield dome protecting the white city.

In the next action, the interceptors accompanying the Empress' flagship also fired their rapid laser cannons and their single-shot missiles at the same target.





The moment the barrage of enemy fire was heading straight towards Canterlot, every pony and UFF personal started scrambling for cover while most of the other unicorn guards used their magic to helps strengthen the shield barrier protecting the city.

"EVERY PONY TAKE COVER!!!" The Gate Commander shouted as he made a mad dash to the nearest guard tower.

In fright, most of the UFF marines hid behind the trenches along with the earth ponies, leaving their carts full of supplies out in the open. As soon as the Mane 5 are at the walls, they see most of the enemy projectiles hitting the front side of the shield barrier above them. In a startling result, multiple explosions erupted 100 feet above the Canterlot's walls and guard towers, leaving behind lighting streaks and cracks in its aftereffects.

All of the unicorns, alicorns, and Discord are struggling to hold onto the enemy barrage fire with all their strength while feeling the full brunt of the projectiles hitting every inch of the shield barrier.

Eager to give the enemy a warning shot, Twilight teleported herself outside of the huge shield barrier before making another risky move to get the Sectaniums her attention. While seeing that the enemy projectiles are only hitting the shield barrier around Canterlot, Twilight spreads out her wings and flies up into the air a few feet above the battered shield barrier as she is getting ready to return fire. 

As Twilight gritted her teeth in fury and with her angry eyes turning white, she lights up her horn to the fullest and fires a huge beam of Rainbow Colors at one of the firing Sectanium Ships.

*WHHHIRRRRRRRRRRRR!!*

*SHAZAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMM!!!*





As the Sectanium Battleship continues to bear down the shield with the firing of its weapons, one of the crewmen inside the ship spots a huge beam of rainbow light heading towards them. 

"Uh, sir!!" One of the crewman spoke in a frightful tone as his eyes widened with horrid shock.

"What is.....Oh God!!!" The Admiral asked before he saw something from a distance away that he did not expect.

Before the Admiral or the Empress could even see what was going on, their flagship gets struck by a massive beam of rainbow light at the front, a couple of inches below the command bridge. Along the way, a dozen interceptors got knocked off course and crashed into each when they got too close to the massive beam, leaving behind multiple explosions while in mid-air.

*BOOM*

*R-R-R-R-RUMBLE!!*

*UUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!*

As they felt the bizarre beam hitting their ship in the front, the Admiral, Trine, and the Empress all shrieked in unison while feeling the violent vibration erupt inside the command bridge. In its aftershock, the vibration nearly knocked most of them and their crewmen off-balance. The Empress struggled to stay on her throne while the Admiral was frantically hanging onto the control panel.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT??" The Empress shrieked in confusion as she struggled to regain her balance.

"SIHT SI ROUY TSAL GNINRAW!!! EVAEL YM SDNEIRF ENOLA RO LL'I EKAM UOY LLA TERGER TI!!!!" An angry girlish voice shouted out loud, startling the Empress and her subjects further. 

"W-W-Where did that strange beam come from??" Jiarius stuttered in confusion.

"Sir, half of our interceptors have been blown apart!!!" The helmsman reported in a panicked tone.

"All ships, cease fire!! Get out of range!!" The Empress said, giving out orders to the Admiral. "We need to find a safe place to hide before we can get to the bottom of this unexpected retaliation!!"

"Yes, your majesty!!" The entire crew replied in unison.

In response to the Empress' desperate orders, the flagship, the remaining interceptors, and the battleship stopped firing their weapons before they all pulled out and disappeared into the Everfree Forest.





Right after Twilight fired her biggest magic blast at one of the ships, she lowered herself down in front of the castle gates of Canterlot as she glared profusely at the retreating Sectanium Fleet from a distance away, disengaging from her flight. 

From the trenches in front of the castle gates, Zeck felt a bit surprise when they saw Twilight used another spell at one of the attacking ships from afar. In fact, most of the UFF marines and the Admiral were totally stunned upon seeing such a crazed stunt before their very eyes. For Celestia and Luna, they both knew that Twilight would pull off a stunt like that since her magic is almost just as powerful as theirs, maybe or maybe not. Who knows?

"Uh Celestia, is she always this crazy in doing something like that?!" Zeck asked as he turned to the alicorn mistress, who landed right next to him, while shaken.

"Well, it all depends on her mood. After all, I already taught her everything I know about how to handle magic through focus studying." Celestia replied, feeling nonchalant after seeing Twilight's immediate actions against the invaders.

"Come on, guys!! We have to finish the trenches and the rest of the castle's defenses before they send in another wave of invaders!!!" Twilight said as she gave out orders to her Royal Guards.

Not standing around anymore, Zeck relayed Twilight's orders to his UFF marines as they double time their work on digging up their trenches. As for the Royal Guard, they all assembled in a line formation while manning the outer walls of Canterlot, manning their weapons and loading up their cannons. 

At the same time, the earth ponies immediately hauled their supply carts back inside the castle, right after they setup the spikes up on the ground above the trenches. For Celestia, she helped Twilight carry out her orders to the rest of her men at the battlements.





One hour later after getting shot at by the huge rainbow beam........

The Sectanium Fleet has stopped to setup base in an abandoned castle within the Everfree Forest. At the start of their invasion, the Empress ordered all Sectanium soldiers, warriors, and Mandor grunts to proceed onboard their shuttles when leaving her flagship and the battleships looming above the ruins.

As soon as they safely landed their shuttles in the Everfree forest, the Sectanium Army has made camp inside the woods all around the castle ruins. Inside the Castle ruins, the Sectanium commanders make preparations for their fight against their new unknown foes and the UFF. 

For the Empress, as soon as her personal shuttle landed in the Everfree forest, she is escorted safely into the ruins while being accompanied by several Sectanium commanders and General Zulux.

Sectanium Army General Zulux Tyasion is seen in a bright-red skinned appearance with a robotic claw attached to his left hand. He is wearing a dark-brown uniform that has 5 line badges on the right side of his chest, in which represents his high-commanding rank. He is walking around while wearing black army boots. Flowing from his back, the General has a black cape bearing the Sectanium Royal Emblem embroidered with a golden color. He happens to be another Warrior to for he has a bright-yellow eye in the middle of his forehead.

In a huge clear area, full of concrete flooring and caved-in roofs, the Sectanium scientists and Mandor engineers setup various electronic equipment and a personal radar dish to scan their surroundings while the soldiers are unloading their hover tanks from the huge shuttles that they disembarked from.

For the Empress, she almost freaked out since her ship got fired upon. Ever since her flagship got hit, Empress Vanista was felt like that she was having a stomach ulcer due to her panicked breathing. Before they landed, Vanista was told by her advisor to take deep breaths before she could issue out anymore orders to her subjects. Just as they stopped at their new base of operations, Vanista wiped the sweat off her head before heading down to the planet's surface to meet up with her commanding officers.

While she sees her army setting up shop all around the castle ruins and inside the Everfree Forest, Empress Vanista walks up to Admiral Jiarius, Captain Trine, Colonel Janus, and General Zulux to go over their plan of attack upon the huge white city that the UFF are holding up at.

"Okay your majesty, we are going to split our forces into two separate battalions. One will initiate a frontal assault upon the castle gates while the second battalion will move in towards the tunnels from the rear of the city. We'll keep them distracted long enough for the second battalion attack them from behind. They'll all get cornered in before they'll even see it coming."

"Let's not forget that some other alien nearly struck down my flagship unexpectedly." The Empress pointed out, still not forgetting about how her ship almost got blown sky high. "Whoever tried to shoot my ship down must've been trying avoid becoming a push-over."

"Do you have anything we need to do, Empress?" Admiral Jiarius asked Vanista.

"We might as well offer Captain Zeck and Admiral Derek one last chance to surrender before we move in and crush them." Empress gritted her teeth as she held her grip tightly onto her sheathed rapier. "Also, we still need to ask him what kind of pastel horse alien is helping Zeck and the UFF gain the upper hand."

"There's only one way to find out!!" General Zulux said, as he cocked his gun before putting it in his holster. 

"Colonel Janus!!!" The General shouted, calling out to a nearby lower-ranked officer.

"Yes, sir!!" Dialuria said as she saluted and stood up for Zulux's attention.

"I want you to help the rest of the army finish setting up camp around this place. We'll be heading down to the white castle to see if we can get Captain Zeck and Admiral Derek's attention."

"Right away sir!!!" Janus replied in acknowledgement.

Heeding Janus' response, the Empress, Trine, Zulux, and Jiarius march their way through the Everfree Forest along with an escort of 50 Sectanium Soldiers armed with blaster rifles following from behind.





At 4:50pm, just before dusk......

With the shield still holding up all over Equestria's capital, all of forces of Canterlot and the UFF have taken their positions right after they finished building the defenses in front of the castle gates and at the rear tunnels. For the volunteer pony militia, they are stationed to hide inside several buildings that are close to the main streets inside Canterlot.

The Royal Guard have all been assembled at the outer walls, all armed with crossbows and with cannons fully loaded and ready to fire.

About 50 UFF marines are hiding behind the trenches holding their combat rifles and blasters with both of their hands. Also, Chmone is seen looking far and wide with his binoculars in case the Sectaniums are heading towards them, while Anta is holding two guns with both her upper hands. 

For Princess Twilight, she is behind the gate wearing her regal purple armor set with both of her wings still showing and a guard helmet covering up her face. On the back of her shoulder pads, she has a blue cape bearing her cutie mark and the insignia of the two Royal Sisters. This time, she is fully armed with a sword enchanted with rainbow powers, strapped to her left side, and secured in a brown scabbard.

As for the Mane 5, they hid inside the buildings close to Canterlot's gate as well, preparing to strike the unwary. Pinkie couldn't help but grin with excitement and aggression as she clamped both of her hooves together. No matter, Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy did their best to stay cool.

Twilight couldn't help but feel anxious after firing her huge magic blast at one of the Sectanium ships just to buy her ponies time to finish setting up the city's defenses. However, it wasn't before Shinning held Twilight by his right hoof, showing her that everything will be fine.

Just as the clock turns to 5pm, Twilight could hear the marching sound of enemy troops coming closer in about 80 yards away, making her tense up again with fury. But she still did her best to stay cool as she used the amulet to lower the sun and raise the moon before handing it back to Spike. Just as Spike took the amulet and flew back to the palace, the sky turned dark all over the horizon.

Just as Chmone spots a detachment of the Sectanium Army carrying lit up torches approach them as they came out of the Everfree forest. As he looks closer, the four-armed alien spots the Empress in front of them, Chmone takes out his phone with his lower, left hand and calls Zeck in.

"Captain, it's the Empress. She's here, in front of the city gates!!!"

"I'm on my way!!" Zeck's voice responded before Chmone puts his phone away.





As Empress Vanista and her small detachment stopped 30 yards away from the white city gates, she looks up ahead far and wide to see if there is anything else that her army needs to watch out for other than the UFF marines. In just about a minute or two, Vanista makes her announcement loud and clear with her psyspeak.

"Captain Zeck!! I know you're out there, somewhere in that strange city. You can't hide, boy. We will overwhelm that place before you and your pathetic band had the chance to retaliate." Vanista spoke in a confident manner.

As Vanista stood there, Trine and Zulux walked up behind her with their weapons drawn from their holsters. 

"Come out, come out wherever you are!!!" Vanista grinned with insanity in her eyes. 

Before Vanista was about to advance forward, Zeck finally  made his appearance as he stood up from the trench he is hiding at.

Glaring at the Empress, Zeck sneered with vengeance in his eyes. In the next second, the rest of the Empress' commanding officers are gloating at him in amusement before Zeck could say anything.

"I don't know how far are you going to get, Zeck Stone." Empress Vanista grinned maliciously. "But your little chase ends now. There won't be any escape for you this time."

"I'm afraid that is where you're wrong, Empress. First of all, this isn't just any ordinary castle you're seeing right now!! It happens to be main capital city of Equestria, the very planet we are all standing on top of right now!!"

"Is that a fact?! Oh, I'm so scared!! NOT!!!" Trine cackled as he made an ironic, ridicule speech.

"I don't know how did you fire back at my flagship, young man. But you're not going to beat me that easily, especially not with that minuscule UFF army of yours." The Empress said, intimidating Zeck out of his wits. "I mean, I brought the entire army of the Sectanium Empire with me with the Fleet hanging around above orbit. There is no where to run anymore. You might as well give it up."

Before Zeck could say anything else, Xuliana and Pamela appeared from the trenches as well, all of them glaring at the Empress with hostility in their eyes while holding their weapons closely to their chests.

"Xul??!!" Trine exclaimed as he was the first to notice that Xul finally appeared after vanishing from Terram for so long. "I should've known..."

"I'm sorry, Trine. But I have other plans to make." Xul said as she glared at her former fellow prison guard.

"Well. Well. Well. If it isn't my former friends and ex-soldiers that turned traitor on my ass!!" Vanista hissed in amusement. "I must say, I didn't think you and Pam would get very far in selling me out to the UFF, Xuliana."

"You know Vanista, this all could've been avoided if you tried to find a doctor from another planet!!" Xul snapped as she glared sternly at the tyrannical Empress.

"Enough of the foolish excuses, Xul. Since they can't give us a chance anymore, I can't hope to rely on a doctor from another planet anywhere. Besides, this planet will be mine to harvest more resources!!" Vanista sneered.

"Guess what, Vanista!!" Pam hissed. "Even if we all die here, we'll still go out with a bang!!"

"Brave thought, Pamela. But its rather foolish for you all to fight me!! You're all hopelessly outnumbered."

"I wouldn't count on it. It's not just us fighting the Sectanium Empire alone." Zeck smirked as he heard the gates of Canterlot open up.

As Vanista and her officers looked whats behind Zeck and the UFF marines, they see a strange pastel horse with purple wings completely clad in guard armor and cape, still wearing a helmet that is covering up its face with a sword attached to its body and a horn protruding from the helmet itself. Behind the horse, more pastel horses in grey and white coats appeared wearing guard armor as well while holding spears and crossbows in their hooves. Some happen to be horses with horns on their head and those with grey wings protruding from their backs.

For the pastel horse in front of the group, it snorted in anger as it growled underneath its breath. Upon seeing the lead horse behind Zeck, Xul, and Pam, they all grinned with delight as they knew who it is underneath all that armor.

"Who the heck are they?!" Vanista asked, feeling confused and nauseous on where this is headed.

"They happen to be the native forces protecting these lands." Zeck chuckled in confidence. "And you're not going to believe who is ruling over them right now. It happens to be the one alien that I'm trying to warn you about, Empress."

At the same time, Xul and Pam are giggling with confidence as well.

"Say what??" Trine and Vanista asked in unison as their eyes widened with confusion.

As soon as the pastel horses stopped next to Zeck, Pam, and Xul, the one with the cape takes off its helmet the moment its horn started glowing. Just when the helmet comes off, the horse shook its head to let loose its purple-blue mane. As soon as the horse looked up to see the Sectanium Empress and her commanding officers, it glared at them with it's huge, angry eyes.

In a shocking discovery, Trine knew immediately from the look on that purple horse's face. 

"What the???? Oh my god!!! IT CAN'T BE!!!!" Trine freaked out as sweat started coming down his face in horror.

"Wait, Trine. You actually know that thing?!" Vanista asked, feeling confused over the agitated Sectanium Captain. 

"I-I-I-It's that sentimental pastel horse that escaped from Terram!!!" Trine shrieked in fear.

"Wait, WHAT???!!!!" Vanista gasped in sudden shock.

The Sectanium General and Admiral are also confused of why was Trine is so agitated.

"Say hello to Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria!!!" Zeck shouted intensely as he smiled at the purple horse. "The new savior of the UFF!!!!" 

Vanista, Trine, Zulux, and Jiarius all gasped in shock when they see the horse lighting up its horn with rainbow lights. This can only mean that she was the one who hit their flagship hours earlier.

"TURN BACK NOW OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES, EMPRESS!!!!" Twilight roared in a Royal Canterlot voice as her eyes narrowed with aggression.
> Chapter 28: Last Chance for Negotiations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Upon seeing the pastel horse clad in armor to be none other than EQ-3, which happens to be Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, from Terram, most of the Sectanium soldiers stood there with confused, shocked looks in their eyes. This time, they couldn't tell if they still wanted to shoot at it or not. Since there is more than one pastel horse to deal with in Equis, things are going to take a turn for the worse. They already had trouble taking down Twilight earlier but now they are going to be dealing with a whole new army of her own kind fighting by her side.

For the General and the Admiral, they stood there speechless not knowing what to make of when they saw Twilight taking the lead in the army supporting the UFF. Trine felt like he was going to faint. However, Empress Vanista is still trying to get a hold of herself in the face of the pony leader of Equis.

"I-I-I don't believe this!!" Trine shrieked in disbelief. "Xul, you can't think that thing is in charge of these lands, right?!"

"Sorry Trine. You were right about several things revolving around Twilight Sparkle. In fact, we were all able to uncover the truth behind Twilight's defiance on Terram before we arrived here." Xul responded in a stern tone. "She's actually a young alien monarch ruling over the lands of Equestria; that's why she's been trying to escape from Terram!!!"

"How long have you all known that??" Vanista as her eyes narrowed at Xul, Zeck, and Twilight.

"It was since Captain Zeck used the translator on Twilight to discuss her thought of accepting the UFF's allegiance."

When Zeck, Xul, and Pam stood alongside Twilight, they both did their best to stay cool when Zeck activates the translator once again while it's hanging from his left hip.

"Do you really think that thing is going to outsmart me?? There has to be some sort of mistake here!!" Vanista snarled in disbelief as she looked at Twilight and then to Zeck.

"Sorry Empress, but she already did a lot of damage to your men earlier, you know. Is that too much to understand?!" Zeck snapped, taken back by the Empress' disbelief. "If fact, I already saw her hitting your ship earlier with her magic. Her insanity to defend these lands makes her a lot stronger than she looked. There's still many things out there in the galaxy unknown to you and me!!! Besides, she isn't the only pony here that was able to take on bad guys like you!!"

"Wait, you mean those pastel horses that intervened with my men back there are.......?!" Vanista gasped, remembering the incident with her soldiers and her royal consort weeks earlier.

"You heard him for we, the Mane 6, are the true heroes of Equestria!!" Twilight snarled as she drew out her rainbow sword with her magic, giving most of the Sectanium leaders and the Empress a bit of a fright. "You're not going to take this planet or this country that easily. Not when I have anything to say about it!!!! After all, my friends are not push-overs either. Because you wouldn't stop chasing after me, I had no choice but to have a few of your so-called friends held as prisoners in Canterlot's dungeons."

"WHY YOU LITTLE........!!!" Vanista snarled as she pulled out her gun and aimed it at Twilight. 

However, before Empress Vanista could fire the gun at Princess Twilight, Twilight's unicorn guards have all teleported in front of the Empress and aimed all of their spears and crossbows at Vanista in the face. At the same time, Vanista's soldiers readied their rifles as they are aiming at the Canterlot Royal Guards, with the UFF Marines aimed their guns at the Sectanium soldiers as well.

From inside the gate, Shinning Armor, who is wearing purple guard armor, appeared as he was holding his sword with his telekinesis magic.

"Don't you dare shoot my sister!!!" Shinning Armor growled as he cautiously advanced next to Twilight.

Right after Shinning Armor made his appearance Celestia and Luna have also appeared as they lit up their horns in stern fury, readying themselves to shoot at the Empress and her soldiers with their magic.

Before any creature, Royal Guard, UFF Marine, or Sectanium Soldier could make a move against their respective targets, Twilight continued to carry on her terms towards the Empress of the Sectaniums.

"We can settle this the easy way or the hard way, Empress!!" Twilight said as she pointed out her terms. "Xul told me everything about you and your people. I understand how hard it was for you to find a way to save your people from the deaths taking place at your homeland. However, enslaving and hurting innocent creatures as well as robbing them of their homes is not the best solution. I didn't really wanted to snap at your people like that but let's face it, Vanista. You and your people brought all of this vile horsecrap upon yourselves and for what?? Some plague??"

"It's not just a plague, Princess Twilight!!" Vanista snapped. "From the account of my scientists back at Sacreus, it is defined as the code-name: S89 Redadeus Viruliusis, which is simply known as the Red Virus."

"Red virus??" Twilight, Celestia, Luna, and Zeck clarified in unison.

"Ever since the Sectanium Kingdom was first founded on Sacreus, the Red Virus has been lying dormant below our city for many generations. During that time when we first built the city of Krenthal, it was all on top of a rocky surface that spewed out endless gases of red, harmful mists from the planet's surface. When inhaled, our bodies could feel the painful burn flowing in us every year. There is like a 45% death rate when we inhaled the Red Virus for it burns up our lungs and then our brains, paralyzing our movement and our consciousness. Unless it was treated before the end of the year, the victims would collapse as they feel a temperature of a 100 degrees, burning us alive before we drop dead." Vanista said, explaining further about the plague infecting their homeland from within. "The only way we can suppress the Red Virus is by gathering traded resources from outside planets and blending them in at our Medical Research Station using the black granite rocks that we mined underneath the palace back at Krenthal. After that, we combine them all into a serum that only works temporarily. They all had to inject themselves with it without any charge before the end of the year or else my people would die from the hands of the Red Virus. This is also why my family and my ancestors worked very hard to conduct endless trades to our neighboring planets and my father told me all about it on the day I returned home from Earth. Of course, when I became Queen of the Sectanium Kingdom after my parents passed away, times have drastically changed for the worst. However, when me and my friends left Sacreus to study life on earth at their schools, I didn't really feel the Red Virus flowing in my veins anymore after I inhaled 2 days ago before the end of the year when I was still 6. It turns out that the Red Virus continues to lie dormant on Sacreus as of today, for it doesn't last very long when out in space. I knew now that the only way we can survive is to claim territories outside of Sacreus even if we had to do it by force since we lost all of our trading posts in most of the planets that my ancestors established."

"That is the most insane idea I ever heard!!" Zeck said, feeling totally offended by such a desperate measure.

"Well other than that, I was getting sick of those stupid alien races for not letting us in just to keep my culture alive. We Sectaniums are a very fast growing, heavily populated race that is living in a cramped space on Sacreus." Vanista continued. "So in this case, this galaxy is never going to be big enough for any of us. It won't matter what you all throw at me. As long as the Red Virus exists in my home planet, I'll never stop conquering the entire galaxy to spare my people from that plague."

"Come to think of it, I'm pretty surprise that your country didn't suffer like Sacreus did." Trine said to Twilight, feeling pretty nervous around her infuriated aura.

"Oh, that's because I had a lot of Royal Funds in my bank account used to pay for the best doctors that Equestria has to offer inside the Canterlot Palace. Also, the greatest of all pony doctors is Mage Meadowbrook, sometimes known as the Mystical Mask." Twilight explained briefly in a stern manner. "She already spent most of her years finding a cure to every plague that she bear witness and is successful."

"You expect us to believe that??!!" Vanista snarled at Twilight, not buying any of it.

"It's your choice to give yourself another chance, whether you like it or not!!" Twilight said, making a suggestion to Empress Vanista. "If Mage Meadowbrook can help cure any plague in Equestria, she can do the same on your planet too if you give her a chance."

"You lie!!! You're just making this stuff up so that you can mock me!!!" Vanista growled as she glared at Twilight with hostility.

"Well then, you are lost." Twilight replied in a grim voice. "And I'll have no choice but to teach you a lesson of being greedy and corrupt because no pony likes to listen to a tyrant!!"

As Vanista slowly put her gun away and with all of the guards, soldiers, and marines withdrew their weapons away from each other, both sides take a breather first before Twilight can continue with her terms.

"The easy way will be that if you give me a chance to have Mage Meadowbrook to accompany you back to your homeland where she'll help treat Sacreus of the Red Virus, we will end this war in peaceful terms. I'll even let release the prisoners and send them back your homeland after she succeeds. There will be no bloodshed after this." Twilight said before explaining the hard way. "The hard way will be if you choose to fight us just to rescue Lord Hampt and Ash from me, then you and your men will be facing a different kind of battle that will be your last. We ponies will hold nothing back!!"

As Vanista backs off for a moment, she may have the opportunity to rescue Lord Hampt in the most nonviolent way. However, she'll lose most of her glory after taking all of those territories over the past several years as the Sectanium Empress. It will be a tough choice to make because she feared that if she shows them any weakness again, she will disdain her family's royal reputation and will force her to bite the dust. 

Before Princess Twilight can get an answer from her would be enemy, Empress Vanista come up with terms of her own.

"You're not going to fool me with that kind of crap, Princess. I still suggest you to surrender to us while you still could. We already have like an entire armada of ships looming all over this planet's orbit and an entire legion of my best troops preparing to attack from the forest at sunrise!! However, if you do, I'll still make your life easier than that of in Terram!!" Vanista grinned in a deceitful tone. "If not, I'll crush your puny kingdom to a pulp in just one or two hours tops!!! I don't actually care what kind of pastel horse you are to them. You're just another nuisance that is standing in the way of the superior Sectanium race. So once your city is done for, your head will be stuck on a pike in the Sectanium citadel back at Sacreus."

"I won't surrender before any alien. Besides, I have came a very long way to ascend the throne here in Canterlot and I didn't do this because I wanted to. I'm doing this because I did things that are much more better than claiming lands in a cruel fashion as well as doing things what you failed to do!!" Twilight replied as she gritted her teeth intensely. "If you can't get along with anyone else first like real friends would, as well as learning how to make amends with your rivals and enemies in the end, then you can never rule over your own homeland any better like I could."

"Oh, is that fact?!" Vanista glared at Twilight.

"You heard her!!" Celestia snarled as she glared at the Sectanium Empress. "You may have made it impossible for Princess Twilight to do her royal duties in Canterlot, but since you and your ilk have foolishly chased after her all the way back here, we will help Twilight Sparkle protect all of Equestria whatever the cost!!!"

As they looked closely in the eye, the alicorn princess and the empress started growling at each other while holding onto their weapons in their own inventory. At the same time, Twilight held onto her sword with her magic as she was getting ready to pull it out while Vanista grabbed her rapier with her right hand, preparing to do a lighting sword strike at the alicorn.

"You think you're better than me, Twilight??!!!" The Empress snapped. "You haven't seen anything from the Sectanium Empire yet. I'm just getting started!!! I mean, who appointed you ruler of these lands anyway?!"

"We did!!" Celestia and Luna both bellowed out loud in unison. 

"We both appreciated how Twilight Sparkle was able to do her part as an alicorn princess for more than a year." Celestia continued. "We're not letting you do her in the way the previous villains almost did. Besides, we'll help her end this fight even if its the last thing me and my sister do."

"Then, you're both stubborn, naive fools too!!!" Vanista shouted back before facing Twilight again. "If you think you and your pastel army have what it takes to challenge someone like me, I like to see you try get past my Warriors first!!!"

After Vanista makes her speech, she turns back towards her commanding officers and her soldiers as she gives the order to head back to base camp but not before Twilight gives the Empress one last remark.

"I guess Xul and Pam are both right about you. You despise friendship because of such political difficulty.  Well in that case, I can't let you and your imbeciles anywhere near my ponies." Twilight growled as she put her sword back in her sheath. "By morning, I'll defeat your warriors and come after you next!!!"

"Then enjoy your last night while you can Princess because in the morning, your days are numbered!!"  Vanista replied, not looking back at Twilight before disappearing back into the forest.

As they see Vanista and her small army disappear back into the Everfree Forest, Twilight, Shinning, the two alicorn sisters, and Twilight's Royal Guards withdrew back inside the walls of Canterlot just before the gates close again. Inside the city's main entrance, Twilight ordered most of her Earth pony guards to setup catapults and have them all stationed behind the city's outer walls by tomorrow morning.





Back at the Sectanium camp, the moment the Empress and her commanders arrived, Vanista angrily approached Colonel Janus while she was almost finished prepping their army for tomorrow's battle. Before Dialuria could see it coming, she was met with her neck held up by Vanista's left grip as she was lifted up to the ground while being strangled at once.

*UURRRRGGGKKKKK!!!*

"We actually found out who that pony was seen in front of the castle gates. It was that very same pony you captured several weeks ago before you brought it into Terram!!!" Vanista snarled as she tightened her grip on a strangled Janus. "YOU IDIOT!!! Why didn't you even think for once that she was actually the ruler of these lands???!!!!??? Because of your foolish actions, my men are getting beaten up by those pastel horses and my royal consort is taken hostage by them."

"UGH!!! I-I-I-I'm sorry, I-I-I-I-I had no idea. I thought she was a witness that needs to be put down i-i-i-immediately!!" Janus said, while gasping for air as he airways started to clog up because of the angry Empress.

In about one second later, Vanista drops Janus on the ground as the Colonel landed on her back, coughing repeatedly as Dialuria tried to recover from her labored breath.

"You have only one chance to make up for this fiasco, Janus. You will be the first to lead the ground attack upon that city first thing in the morning." Vanista shouted as she glared at the horrified Colonel in sheer malice. "Also, I want you bring me Princess Twilight's head or I'M GOING TO BLEED YOU LIKE A STUCK PIG!!!"

"Y-Y-Yes, your majesty!!" Janus replied as she frantically scurried to get Vanista's battalion ready for battle.





For 7 hours of nighttime, the Royal Guards remained diligent as they stood up on the castle walls while several UFF Marines are on the lookout from the trenches they are stationed at. For Zeck, he decided to get some shut eye while Chmone and Anta take point in watching out for any activity from the Everfree Forest. Now that all of Canterlot's citizens and their children have finally evacuated, the rest of Equestria's forces have went to their posts and rest up for tomorrow's battle against the invaders.

Meanwhile inside the Palace Dungeons, Ash and Hampt are both locked up in the same holding cell with only one Royal Guard Unicorn watching over them from outside. Throughout their time in prison, the powerless Warrior and the female Mandor are both avoiding each other while muttering to themselves in self-pity. They were both forced to eat soup and salad provided by the Guards inside the Dungeons.

Eventually, in just a one hours before sunrise, Ash and Hampt get an unexpected visitor from outside. Fluttershy makes her appearance as she walked down the stairs to check up on the prisoners.

"Hello, every creature. Are you still sulking in here?" Fluttershy said in a soothing voice, spooking Ash.

"What do you want??" Ash said, taken back by the yellow pegasus' entry.

"Even though we ponies are now at war with the Sectaniums and Mandors, you still have a choice to make, both of you!" Fluttershy said as her eyes narrowed in a serious tone. "If any of you were to start over again, what will satisfy you the most to find a happy life without being looked down upon?!"

"I don't know. The only reason why I was into this mess is because Lord Hampt dragged me into it. I was only following orders to recapture the prisoners that escaped from Terram." Ash said, in an anxious tone. "Besides, I was just getting paid to work in Terram as a low-class security guard."

"Even if that prisoner is a high-class government official in our world?!" Fluttershy said as her voice got intense.

"I still don't understand why would you ponies let that purple pastel horse govern your land!!" Hampt said as he sat on a stump while looking at Fluttershy. "Do you really think she's going to offer you any freedom while serving under her?!"

"She would, because Twilight isn't as crazy and ruthless once you all get to know her!! Besides, she's only doing what a true ruler would've done!!" Fluttershy replied back to Hampt sternly. "After all, I've known Twilight for a long time."

"Did you even think for once that she might tried to enslave you in the end?!" Ash said, taken back by Fluttershy's gullible voice. "To think that she would gain more power than us Mandors or the Sectaniums only to enslave all of us as well?! Are you not even worried that she might turn on you too??!!!"

"I think not!!" The yellow pegasus snapped. "If she were to enslave us all, Twilight wouldn't be ruling over these lands with love and honor would she?! I mean, you guys don't know anything about her yet!!"

"Well, the Empress was already having problems with the other alien races for a long time before we declared war upon them all." Hampt said briefly. "I'm doing this to ease her pain and suffering."

"Then ask me this: What path you would take to save the Empress and her people from the plague if not for planetary conquest and enslavement?" Fluttershy asked, giving Hampt and Ash a hard question to respond to. 

Upon hearing this, Ash and Hampt stayed silent for a while not knowing how to answer Fluttershy's question. Before either of them could give her an answer, Fluttershy makes another statement.

"Also, who would you trust the most to earn a better future for your people away from war and violence?" Fluttershy asked in an assertive tone. "Ask me that if you can!!!"

Feeling lost in such a series of questions, Ash and Hampt were totally stunned as if the yellow pegasus gave both of them an assertive negotiation while being held prisoner inside Canterlot. However, after remembering what Xul said while being held in the brig of Zeck's ship earlier, Ash may need to come up a good answer very soon or else she will be stuck in the Castle dungeons for the rest of her miserable life.

For Hampt, he wasn't able to do anything now that he lost all of his mind-controlling powers no thanks to the creatures of Equis. He can only hope that very soon, he will find a way out of this cell before recovering his confiscated powers.





At the Canterlot Palace......

As the clock reaches 5:58am, Twilight gets out of bed from her Royal Chambers as she puts on her armor and grabs her sword before preparing for the siege that will immediately take place in Canterlot. With the night sky still showing, Twilight's Royal Advisor Spike takes the opportunity to have every single Guard Pony in the palace to report to the throne room immediately. At the same time, Zeck and Derek have armed themselves once they both got out of bed in the guest chambers and head down to the throne room, while Xul and Pam are stationed at the trenches outside of the outer city walls.

Once all of the royal guards and the UFF commanding officers are assembled in the throne room, along with all of Twilight's friends and her brother, the Princess of Friendship makes one more morning announcement. 

"Alright every pony and creature, you all know why we are here, armed and ready. I do want to thank you all for being by my side, here in Canterlot. We are to hold our ground in this capital city with everything we got until allied reinforcements arrive both from our neighboring nations and from outer space!! We will report to our stations before the battle begins. Once I use the amulet to raise the sun again, we'll be facing the might of the Sectanium Empire. I want all to be ready as soon as I give out the signal!!!" Twilight announced as she spread out her wings while sitting on her throne. "May the power of Faust protect you all. FOR EQUESTRIA!!!!"

"FOR EQUESTRIA!!!!" All of the ponies cheered in unison. At the same time, the UFF officers raised their weapons high in acknowledging that they will help the equine ponies do battle with Sectanium Empire Army.

"Alright everyone, you all know what you had to do!!!" Admiral Derek said, carrying out Twilight's orders. "Give them no quarter!!!!"

In an instant, all of the equine ponies and the UFF officers left the throne room as they make their way to their posts. As for Twilight, she puts on her helmet and activates the trap door in front of her as she hopped right in, disappearing into the secret passageway leading to the grate via the main road towards the outer walls of Canterlot.





At 6:15am, the Sectanium Army is marching through the Everfree forest in a massive line formation with their hover tanks up front and the Sectanium soldiers marching from behind. On top of one tank, Colonel Janus gets the Empress' army ready for their first strike upon Canterlot. As promise, Janus is ordered by the Empress to attack as soon as the sun is raised into the sky. She takes out her handgun, preparing herself to fire into the sky as a signal to have the army charge straight at the Canterlot gates. As soon as she sees the walls of Canterlot, Janus ordered the men to halt at once, reforming the line within the edge of the forest. 

At the outer walls of Canterlot, an armored Twilight appeared from a hidden entry way as she flew up to the battlements, while still carrying her amulet around her neck. Just as she landed on all fours, she looked left and right to make sure her men are ready to fight. She can only hope that with the aid of the UFF, Twilight will finally succeed in defending Canterlot from the invaders. Hopefully, it will not be just like her nightmare when those Sectanium Guards are advancing towards Twilight before the walls of Canterlot. Without further a due, Twilight takes out her amulet and uses her magic on it to raise the sun.

For Zeck, he and his men are now defending the trenches surrounding the city gates. 

"Steady men!! We will fire as soon as Princess Twilight gives out the signal!!!" Zeck ordered as he took out his blaster from his holster.

Heeding Zeck's orders, the UFF marines readied their combat rifles, their Anti-tank rifles, and their blaster rifles as they lurched themselves towards the edge of the trench, facing towards the forest where the enemy will pour out from.

In just 20 minutes later, Colonel Janus sees that the sun has finally risen into the sky above them. This can only mean that she will make her move against the forces of the UFF and of Equestria.

"ALL FORCES!!! CHARGE!!!!!" Janus shouted at the top of her lungs as she fired a shot up into the sky with her handgun.
> Chapter 29: Morning Assault
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

*BLAM!!!*

Upon hearing the gunshot coming from Janus' handgun, the wave of Sectanium Hover Tanks are moving towards the Castle Gates of Canterlot as several Warriors are hiding amongst the battalion of soldiers marching from behind the advancing ranks. Just like the soldiers, the Warriors are all armed with blaster rifles and plasma blades hidden underneath their business suits. Of course, they still possess their mind-controlling abilities just in case they become cornered by the enemy. 

As Twilight see the invaders advancing forward, she makes her first order to the guards inside the castle garrisons.

"READY THE CANNONS!!!" Twilight shouted in a Royal Canterlot voice. "READY THE CATAPULTS!!!"

As the gun captains heed Princess Twilight's orders, they relayed that to their respective gun crews as they opened up the hatches on the walls before shoving their bombard cannons into position, with the gun barrels sticking out of the castle walls. 

"Remember, every pony. Make every shot from our cannons count!! Concentrate all cannon fire at their hover tanks!!!"

Behind the walls inside the city, the earth ponies loaded their catapults with bombs and huge boulders onto the buckets before one of them grabs the restraining ropes as they prepare to sent the payload flying into the enemy.

"All catapult teams, we'll hurl as much payload as we can on the enemy infantry."

Just as soon as the wave of enemy hover tanks and Sectanium soldiers reached 200 meters in front of the trenches, Twilight shouts out her second order.

"FIRE!!!!!"

*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*

*FLING!! FLING!!! FLING!! FLING!! FLING!!*

At the bombard cannons started firing their cannon shells as make several blasts in front of the hover tanks, stunning them for a moment before they get crippled in the next cannon blast. All at once, the earth ponies fired their catapults, unleashing the payload of bombs and boulders to lay waste to the Sectanium soldiers. Upon impact, the Sectanium Army felt the explosions erupting in front of them from both cannon fire and from the payload coming from the catapults, sending several of their soldiers flying in the air before they fell down totally mangled as bloodied corpses. 

*POW!! POW!! POW!! POW!! POW!! POW!! POW!!*

*BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!*

The Sectanium soldiers have returned fire as they shot back with their Blaster Rifles and Rail guns, hitting the castle walls and making huge dents as the concrete crumbles away in piles of rubble. At the same time, several Rail slugs have hit the bombard cannons, creating small explosions that sent the pony gun crews flying backwards into submission as they hit their backs inside the walls before they collapsed in a bloody mess. No matter, the surviving gun crews were trying to hold back their fears as they made rapid responses in reloading the cannons before firing more shots at the encroaching enemy hover tanks.

At the trenches, Zeck initiates his orders to the UFF Marines stationed alongside him, Xul, and Pam.

"Volley!!! FIRE!!!!"

Upon hearing Zeck's command, the UFF marines, Xul, and Pam started to open fire with their rifles at the advancing Sectanium soldiers while enduring the loud cannon fire coming from the battlements behind them. As several Sectanium Soldiers fell to their knees when getting shot at in the open, they returned fire as with their blaster rifles. Above them, the Equestrian Royal Guards open fire with a barrage of crossbow fire from the defending walls.

In just two to four shots, the crossbow bolts struck the Sectanium Soldiers in their necks or in their chest as they fell the sharp pain puncturing their body armor.

It wasn't before some of the Sectanium soldiers aimed their guns at walls, blasting small chunks of it as they shot some of the Royal Guards in the head before they fell either backwards or forwards off the battlements.

*BLAM!!*

*BLAM!!*

While Twilight was standing her ground up on the walls of Canterlot, the massive shield dome behind her still remains intact. She can hope that her guards at the outer walls will give the UFF covering fire if they are being ordered to retreat back into the city.

In a sudden explosion, one of the guard towers to Twilight's left was blasted by 5 rail slugs coming from a group of tanks that are closing in about 20 yards away from the city walls of Canterlot. After taking in so much damage from the enemy rail slugs, the guard tower fell backwards as it crashed into a nearby abandoned house. Just like that, both the tower and the house came down in a mass pile of rubble. Most of the guard ponies behind the collapsing guard tower are forced to make a run for it as the falling wood and stone are raining down upon them, crushing some of the latter to death. For those inside the guard tower, they all fell off their collapsing posts down to their deaths as the falling defensive structure hit the ground.

In the next second, another blast erupted right in front of the wall close to where Twilight is standing on. As the rubble spewed out into a shower of small rocks, Twilight quickly used a small shield to block the rocks away from her face before she took flight a few feet above the wall. Several other guard towers have also broke down after getting blasted away by the Sectanium Hover tanks firing upon them leading to the same deathly results.

Other than just the guard towers, some of her guards manning the walls aren't so lucky to dodge the explosion as several of them fell off the wall. Just like that, the guards crashed into the pavement as they collapsed dead on the concrete or on the dirt ground behind the trenches. Not wanting the Sectaniums to gain the upper hand again, Twilight zeroed in towards one of the hover tanks that are getting closer to the walls while a squad of Pegasus guards rallied behind her all armed with wrist-mounted crossbows loaded with lighting bolts.

Upon seeing the Princess of Friendship heading straight for her, Janus points her finger at the purple alicorn.

"Hover Tanks, shoot her down!!!" Janus shouted, giving out orders to the tank crews.

As several tanks fired at the alicorn with their railguns, Twilight and the pegasus guards made in-flight evasive maneuvers before they fired back with their weapons. The pegasus opened fire with their crossbows, sending in barrages of electrical bolts at the hover tanks. The moment they got struck, several tanks have been disabled by the three or four electrical bolts, forcing them to stop in their tracks while sitting ducks under the mercy of the UFF Marines. It's as if they've been hit by EMP shells. 

Before the Sectanium tank crews had a chance to get out of their disabled vehicles, a group of the 5 UFF Marines take out anti-tank rifles and fired a dozen shots at them before their main gun turrets exploded sky high. The impeding attack upon the hover tanks by the pegasus guards and UFF marines occur in repetitive measures during the first act of the siege.

As for Twilight, she fired several medium-sized magic bolts at one tank before it blew up, sending the vehicle flying backwards into a group of Sectanium soldiers. Only a small group of them got crushed by the collapsing weight of the hover tank as they made deathly screams before the sheer mass silenced them forever.

However, the Sectanium Army still pressed on as they continued to open fire on the alicorn princess and her pegasus guards from below. After making at least 20 shots, some of the pegasus guards got shot in the wings as they feel from the sky, crashing into the grassy battlefield before blacking out.

Feeling overwhelmed by small arms fire, Twilight and the surviving pegasus guards flew back to the castle walls as the other Royal Guards are still giving them covering fire from the wrecked outer walls.





For Janus, she attempted to use her missile launcher on Twilight once again. This time, she armed her heavy weapon with homing missiles. In her sights, she glared intensely as Janus could see the flying alicorn in its targeting crosshairs. However, before Janus had a chance to fire, a huge birthday cake splatted on the barrel and the scope of her missile launcher all at once. 

*SPLAT!!!*

As her weapon got covered up in cake batter, Janus also sees herself in a total mess, cursing herself in total embarrassment before she was forced to drop her missile launcher in disgrace. 

"WHAT THE HELL???" Janus shrieked as a stupidly grinning pink pony popped up right in front of her and the tank she was commanding.

"Na ah ah, lady! That ain't nice!!" Pinkie Pie shook her head, making the army colonel startled by such an unexpected appearance.

"WHY YOU LITTLE......." Janus screamed as she is wiped the cake batter off her face before attempting to strangle Pinkie Pie, while her soldiers and tanks continued to advance towards the Canterlot battlements leaving her behind.

Unfortunately, Pinkie Pie was able to slip away before Janus had a chance to grab the pink pony with her bare hands. 

"HE! HE! HE! HE! HEEE!! Come and get me grumpy lady!!!" Pinkie Pie said, intimidating the annoyed Sectanium Officer while spanking her flank with her left hoof.

Enraged, Colonel Janus gets distracted as she drew out her gun and stated shooting at the Pink Pony only for Pinkie Pie to happily jump all over the open field, missing every single shot and exploding payload that came flinging from the catapults inside the city walls. At the same time, Pinkie did all sorts of tail-bouncing, cartwheels, dodges, and somersaults all around Janus, much to her frustration.

"What kind of pony is this??" Janus thought to herself in dismay.

Just as Pinkie made another stupid smile, the tank Janus was standing on somehow got sprung up in the air by a giant spring coming out from the ground.

*BOING!!!*

"EEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKK!!!!" Janus screamed as she was sent flying 50 feet into the air, along with her tank while flailing her arms uncontrollably before she finds herself separated from the vehicle. Just when Janus is about to fall straight down, the pink pony makes another amazing, random ability.

Pinkie Pie giggled for a bit before she reaches her hoof towards the edge of the screen and pulls out a giant trampoline just as Janus makes a crash landing. Her tank smashes on the ground, completely crippled and unusable. For Janus, the moment she landed on top of the trampoline, she was sent flying straight into the air again. This time, she screamed in a total panic before she crashed into a black storm cloud, 75 feet above the ground.

*ZZZZZAAAAAPPPPPP!!!*

The moment Janus was inside the storm cloud, she gets electrocuted by the thunder brewing inside it. As a result, she felt her bones getting fried from underneath her flesh before her arms and legs stretched out in all four directions. At the same time, her bones started showing off before she fell from the storm cloud, as a smoking figure.

"CURSE YOU, PINK PONY!!!" Janus screamed as she fell into a nearby lake a few miles south of Canterlot.

*SPLASH!!!*

Defeated, Janus fell straight into the lake with her legs and her torn-up boots seen above the water.





In about 10 meters close to trench in front of Canterlot's walls, the remaining Sectanium Hover tanks opened fire with their rapid-fire pulse carbines mounted on their gun turrets. Just as the one of the tank crews opens fire with the pulse carbines, most of the defending UFF Marines in the trench started taking casualties as they are receiving fatal burns penetrating their combat armor, forcing them to take cover. As for Zeck, Xul, and Pam, they all hid behind the trench while keeping their heads down as they hear the rumbling of the hover tanks intensify. 

The moment Twilight sees the first wave of the Sectanium Army getting closer to the dug up trench from up on the walls, she uses her magic to summon a wide shield wall right above their trench up front, giving Zeck and the remaining UFF Marines the chance to fall back into the city. 

"Captain Zeck!! Have your men fall back behind the city walls!!!" Twilight shouted as her guards gave them covering fire with their crossbows, cannons, and catapult payloads.

"Everyone!! Fall back to the castle gates!! MOVE IT!!!" Zeck shouted as he pointed his hand towards the Canterlot walls behind him. 

Xul and Pam were the first to respond to Zeck's orders as they scrambled out of the trench before heading into the main gate. After that, the UFF marines and Zeck followed them from behind while trying to get away from enemy fire. 

More explosions erupted right above the trench as the Sectanium battalion is kept at bay by the continuous barrage of crossbow bolts, cannon balls, and catapult payloads as they attempted to fire back at the outer wall defenders. Thankfully, most of the UFF marines, their allies, and Zeck are able to make through the gate before it closes right in front of the Sectanium Army, allowing Twilight to disengage her shield barrier. However, as the soldiers got closer to the trenches, the Warriors finally emerged from the ranks as they fired their mind-controlling beams at the Royal Guards above them. 

Thankfully, one hour before the siege began, Starswirl and a group of unicorn battle mages are able to place magic ward runes on the walls to keep their mind-controlling powers from hitting their targets. The runes reacted to the barrage of mind-controlling beams as they were blocked by a green diamond-like barrier coming out from the outer walls. 

However, the wards would only last until the Hover Tanks can bring down most of the wall with their relentless railgun fire. As of now, a length of 25 feet in the outer walls is badly damaged by the enemy fire coming from their vehicles. Once a large part of the wall crumbled to the ground, the wards would disappear making the Royal Guard vulnerable to the Warrior's mind-control ability.

In hopes of keeping the guard distracted from shooting at their tanks, the Sectanium soldiers and warriors took out their grapple launchers and aimed it above the walls of Canterlot, shooting out hooks from launchers' barrels up high above the battlements. As soon as the hooks latched over the wall's battlements, they hoisted themselves up as they drew out their combat knives and plasma blades. Upon seeing this, Twilight ordered her guards on the walls to draw out their weapons.

"SWORDS!!! SWORDS!!!"

Heeding Twilight's command, the unicorn and earth pony guards drew out their swords and spears as they prepare to drive the invaders of the walls. As soon as the first Sectanium soldiers were standing on top of the wall's battlements, some of them were met with spear thrusts jabbing them in the lower abdomen making them fall backwards off the walls. The Sectanium Soldiers that didn't get stabbed yet jumped over the Royal Guards before hammering them down with their long combat knives trading blows and parries against each other. For the warriors, they fired their hand-held blasters in point-blank range against the Royal Guards while defending themselves against those that are attacking them with their plasma blades. Regardless, the Royal Guard were using every bit of strength to keep the Sectanium Soldiers and Warriors at bay. In some cases, the earth pony guard were throwing huge hoof punches at several enemy soldiers, knocking them off their feet before stabbing them while they're down.

For Twilight, she dodged one oncoming knife by a mere inch of her helmet before stabbing the enemy soldier with her horn, blasting him away from the walls into oblivion. Thankfully, Chmone and Anta were both there as they drew out their swords as well. Once they were up on the walls, the two UFF aliens charged at the Sectanium soldiers with all their might while fighting alongside Twilight's Royal Guards. 

In Twilight's next attack, she blasted another Warrior with a huge ball of lighting that sent him packing into two enemy soldiers all at once. 

For Chmone, he kicked one Sectanium soldier in the chest, knocking him off the battlements before cutting down the rope attached to one of the grappling hooks. At front, Chmone slashed one enemy soldier with both of his swords before throwing him over the walls.

While Twilight, Chmone, and Anta are holding their ground at the outer walls of Canterlot, another enemy force prepares itself for a rear attack at the tunnels leading to the palace.





At the tunnel entrance, Celestia, Luna, and Shinning Armor are all standing by as a large platoon of Unicorn Royal Guards are stationed for a defensive countermeasure. During the night preparation, Shinning has ordered the unicorns to setup large metal boxes to block the entrance before they stood by with their magic spells at the ready. For Celestia and Luna, they stood behind their ranks poising themselves to strike the attackers with their magic.

Even though they're not wearing any armor at the moment, due to the fact that they discard it all when they retired from the throne, Celestia and Luna remembered that they still have an array of battle spells to use at their disposal on the battlefield.

For Shinning Armour, who is now wearing a full set of purple Royal Guard Armor, he lights his horn up to fullest as he readies his magic when preparing to face off against Twilight's new enemies head on.

In just a few minutes of waiting for engagement, the unicorns and the two alicorns spot a large wave of green Mandor creatures heading their way as they are wielding short-hand blasters and cudgels. In the midst of their grunting and shouting, a Mandor chieftain is seen leading them as they approached the tunnels underneath Canterlot.

"This is for Twilight!!" Shinning snarled as he drew out his sword with his magic. "Get ready men!! Here they come!!!"

As the grunting and shouting gets louder, the Mandors are seen getting closer to Equestria's heroes and warriors in about 100 meters.

"LIGHT E'M UP!!!" Shinning shouted as he fired several magic beams at the Mandors.

All at the same time, Celestia, Luna, and the unicorn guards opened fire with an endless volley of magic beams at the Mandors.

The Mandor Chieftain made a bellowing roar before he fired back with his short-hand blaster. After taking several shots, some of the Mandors fell on their backs before shooting back at the Equines with their blasters.

At the same time, the Mandors pulled out their dark-green tower shields to use to block incoming enemy fire. When the magic blasts hit their shields, they grunted as they slowly pressed forward towards the tunnels. However, the Mandors are slowly collapsing after receiving an endless barrage of lighting spells and magic missiles from the relentless unicorn guards. As soon as the Mandors charged, they were met with a phalanx of spears aiming towards their guts. No matter, some of them were able to knock the unicorn's spears away before they bashed them on the head with their cudgels, with the latter striking back with their halberds and spears.

For Celestia and Luna, they both spread out their wings as they ascended into the sky before unleashing firebolts and lighting arcs at the charging Mandors. 

Upon impact, Celestia's firebolts made small, multiple fiery blasts that sent some of the Mandors running and screaming as they burn up in agony. For Luna's lighting arc spell, it send a dozen Mandors flying 25 feet away from the tunnels. Despite all their efforts, the Mandors are shooting at the two Alicorns aimlessly as they are both too fast to get hit. 

Just when the Mandors are getting hammered by the power of the two alicorns and the unicorn guards, two Warriors have made a sudden appearance from within the Mandor wave as they ran swiftly towards Shinning Armor. In an instant, they both shot out yellow beams at the unicorn captain.

Caught off guard, Shinning attempted to use a spell to help resist their mind-controlling aura. However, since it is two against one, he struggled as his brain is starting to pressurize in a painful sensation. Out of Shinning's head, he cast a mental fortitude barrier to push back the mind-controlling waves. However, he can feel their power pushing him back as Shinning is about to lose his consciousness.

Upon seeing this, several unicorn guards attempted to intervene. 

"Captain Armor!!!" 

As they charged towards the two Warriors, the unicorns fired several lighting bolts at them only to be parried by a series of fast hand movement when they knocked their attacks away from them. Just like that, were only redirected into the never-ending sky.

The moment one of the warriors see the unicorn guards in his sight, he drew out his plasma blade and smacked most of them in the face as his weapon lashed out at them like plasma whip. Upon impact, the unicorns got electrocuted as they were sent flying backwards.

Seeing the warriors overpower Shining Armour, the Mandors pressed on as they're about to beat the unicorn to death with their cudgels. However, Celestia crashed in-between the Mandors and the Warriors as she cast a blazing nova that spread out as a circular spell, burning both enemy creatures all at once.

The moment the first Warrior got caught on fire, they immediately lose their mind-control grip on Shinning. Just as Shinning finally broke free from their gripping power, he charged at one of them and brought the Warrior down with all his might.

*CHOMP!!*

*ARGH!!!*

The moment Shinning bit down on the Warrior's neck, the Sectanium screamed in pain as he struggled helplessly to pull the unicorn stallion off him. At his strongest attack, Shinning swung the Warrior around back and forth before hurling him into another group of Mandors.

As for the second Warrior, Mistress Luna crashed into him and cast a spell on the creature's face.

*FLASH!!!*

Luna showered the Warrior with a ray of blue, burning light, making the Sectanium blinded before she turns his back on him and kicks him away with both of her hind legs.

"Shinning, are you okay?!" Celestia asked, showing concern for the Crystal Prince.

"They must be the Warriors that Zeck is trying to warn us about." Shinning thought only to see another Warrior appear in front of Celestia.

Just as Celestia turned to face the 3rd Warrior, he shoots out a powerful yellow beam at the white alicorn in the forehead in hopes of trying to get the sun mistress under his control.

Dammit!! I knew I should've kept that bell with me!!! Celestia thought as she tried to repel the beam with her yellow magic.

Celestia could still feel the pressure of the mind-controlling beam getting closer to her face as she grunted and gritted her teeth while struggling to fight against their mental power. The white alicorn started to sweat as she is slowly trying to resist their so-called spells. Just when the mind-control beam is about to hit Celestia in the head, she flew up a few feet above the Warrior and kicked him in the lower abdomen with her left hind hoof.

"Those guys are really tough!!!" Celestia said as she felt a painful headache flowing through her brain.

The Mandors are slowly breaking through the unicorn ranks only to find themselves in the crosshairs of 50 UFF Marines whom they opened fire with their combat rifles and grenade launchers.

"Every pony, fall back to the second defense line!!" Shinning Armour shouted, seeing that the UFF are giving his unicorn guards suppressing fire.

Heeding Shinning's orders, the surviving unicorn guards withdrew from their engagement with the Mandors before running back behind the UFF's defense lines deep within the tunnel.

For Celestia and Luna, they both used their combined magic to unleash a black smoke screen to blind-sight the advancing Mandors and Warriors before they flew towards where Shinning headed.

Once the two alicorns and the unicorn captain are behind the UFF's defense line, Rockhoof and Flash Mangus appeared as they readied themselves for a second attack from the invaders.

"Up and at e'm lassies!!! Let's give those monsters ah good hoof smashing!!!" Rockhoof bellowed as he raised his huge shovel with both of his frontal hooves.

"Shinning, go back to the palace and keep that huge shield barrier intact!!" Mangus ordered.

"I'm on it!!" Shinning Armor said as he left the tunnels to recover from his mental fight with the Warriors.

Right after Shinning disappeared, Rockhoof and Flash Mangus see several Mandors emerged from the black smoke before they bashed them away with their shovel and shield. As for Celestia and Luna, they gave both of the Pillars of Equestria covering fire with their magic.





Back on the outer walls, during the fight between the Royal Guards and the Sectanium soldiers on the battlements, Twilight is seen hovering in mid-air above them all as she is firing beams of magic at every Sectanium soldier that tried to scale the wall with their grappling hooks. For Chmone and Anta, they both fought harder with their swords as they hacked down every Sectanium in a brutal fashion.

From inside the walls, most of the cannon teams were forced to abandon their firing positions as they are suffering severe casualties due to the powerful barrage of rail slugs coming from the Sectanium hover tanks. Even though the cannon teams were able to stun and cripple the enemy tanks of their movement and durability, about two hover tanks rise up in their place. The enemy vehicles are slowly starting to overwhelm Canterlot's outer walls.

After shooting down 5 Sectanium soldiers scaling the walls, several more hover tanks appeared from within the advancing Sectanium Army to bear down more rail slugs and pulse shots at Twilight.

She nearly freaked out when one of the rail slugs nearly grazed her wings before she flew downwards behind the outer walls.

*YAAAAAHHHHH!!!*

As Twilight hit the ground, several of her Royal Guards came to her side in helping her try to recover from a grazing shot.

"Your majesty, are you okay?!" The Gate Commander asked, trying to pick Twilight up on her feet.

"We need to retreat behind the barrier!!" Twilight said, giving out another order to her men. "Their vehicles are too close!!!"

Before any of the guards could say anything, they and Twilight heard something firing from a distance away. In a frightening effect, they all hear something heading straight for them.

*BOOM!!* *BOOM!!* *BOOM!!*

All around their catapults, the earth pony guards see that their artillery is getting blasted away by incoming explosions, caused by projectiles that came down from the sky, as they turned into a pile of wooden wreckage. At the same time, the explosions were causing massive shrapnel flying in all directions, puncturing the earth ponies in their exposed flesh as they fell on the ground as they bleed out. Of course, most of the shrapnel also struck several of the guards backing up Princess Twilight.

For Twilight, the Gate Commander, and the guards defending the walls, they had to disengage immediately as they are getting hammered by an unknown enemy artillery strike. In a sudden reaction, the gate commander and the royal guards fled back inside the shield barrier protecting the rest of the city of Canterlot.

"Pull out men. Retreat behind the shield barrier!!!" Twilight shouted as she recalled the remaining guards from the outer walls.

In a struggling effort, the guards disengage their fight with the Sectaniums scaling the wall as they all jumped off or teleported to safety as they made a break for it towards the shield barrier. However, it wasn't long before the Sectaniums are pouring over the battlements like a tidal wave before they started shooting at the fleeing Royal Guards from behind, hitting several of them in the back as they collapsed face down on the pavement. 

Thankfully, Twilight still has some energy left to raise a medium length shield barrier to protect her retreating guards before they all disappeared behind her, blocking as many shots and shrapnel as she can with her magic. When Chmone and Anta heard Twilight's orders to retreat, they hurled several objects at the Sectaniums outside of the outer walls before they fled into the huge shield barrier protecting the rest of Canterlot.

Unfortunately, blocking two types of projectiles is much more difficult and overwhelming as Twilight starts to feel more pain coming from her head while holding up her shield barrier just to protect her retreating comrades and friends. In an excruciating result, Twilight could feel a trickle of blood coming down from her head while still wearing her helmet. She knew she can't stay here any longer as she sees that Canterlot's main gates have finally been breached by several blasts coming from the Sectanium Hover Tanks. Also, Castle walls have finally came down, opening up a huge gap in which neutralized the magic runes all at once. 

When the gates forcibly opened up and with the walls breached, the rest of the Sectanium soldiers charged through as they all opened fire upon Twilight, who is slowly losing her strength in blocking out the shots from them with her shield. No longer putting up with getting shot at from all three enemy sources, Twilight used her remaining magic to teleport herself away from the first part of the battle, disengaging her shield barrier in an instant. 

As soon as Twilight disappeared from their sights, the Sectanium soldiers halt their advance while securing the outer walls. For the rest of the Equestrian Army and the UFF Marines hiding behind the shield dome, their fight during the siege of Canterlot is just getting started.
> Chapter 30: Ponies vs Warriors
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Somewhere 250 meters south of Canterlot.....

Admiral Jiarius has prepped three of their battleships to aim their bombard cannons close to the outer walls of Canterlot, right in front of the battalion led by Colonel Janus. From inside the command bridge of the Empress' flagship, Jiarius sees from his binoculars that Janus' men are able to get close enough to the walls with their tanks before he gave out the order to fire. With just one wave of his hand, the Sectanium Crewmen operating the battleships opened fire upon the walls of Canterlot, forcing the defenders to flee deeper into the city of Canterlot.

As the Admiral sees the tall explosions of shrapnel booming out from inside Canterlot's walls, the Empress grinned with delight that most of her men are able to breach the castle's first line of defense. However, Vanista and Jiarius still didn't see Janus anywhere near their army's ranks. No matter, Vanista knew that Janus already did her part in taking down the outer walls. Unfortunately, the huge shield barrier protecting the rest of Canterlot is still in place as a few explosions only struck the shield, unable to damage any buildings, except for the ponies that got caught in the blast.

Seeing that the UFF Marines and the guard ponies defending the walls fled inside the huge shield barrier, the Admiral ordered the ships to cease fire once more before the Empress makes another command to one of her officers while sitting on her throne.

Vanista turned towards General Zulux to send in a second wave of their troops.

"General, you are to move in and find a way to shut down their shield barrier protecting that city!! Now move it!!!"

"Yes, your majesty!!" Zulux said as he saluted the Empress before leaving the command bridge. 

As soon as he went down to the battlefield, he rallied his men from the encampments inside the Everfree Forest before marching towards the wrecked battlements.

As Zulux marched forward, a team of Warriors rallied behind him along with another battalion of Sectanium Soldiers and Mandor grunts.

For the surviving soldiers and the hover tanks front of the shield barrier, they all stood by to await further orders from either the Empress or the Sectanium Army General.




Meanwhile in middle of the city of Canterlot, most of the pony conscripts took up positions inside the buildings while hiding underneath the shadows of its constructs. For the Mane 5, they noticed that Pinkie somehow disappeared in an instant the moment they could hear the blasts and shouting coming from the outer walls protecting the city gates. 

Applejack already knew that Pinkie is just being random while helping out Princess Twilight at the battlements. Though, they all need to do their best to keep their voices down while laying low underneath the huge shield dome protecting most of the capital city.

From the windows of the buildings near the streets, UFF Marines are holding up as they held their sniper rifles up to their chests. For the Royal Guards stationed in the middle of the city, they also remain hidden behind several restaurants. The buildings that haven't been occupied by the Royal Guards or the Marines have all been boarded up with wooden barricades. Even Rarity's Canterlot Boutique is boarded up with the aid of the unicorn Fashionista and Sassy Saddles. Of course, Sassy didn't want to get involved as a conscript. So, she fled to Canterlot as well, along with most of the chiefs and nobles.

On top of the buildings that the Mane 5, the Royal Guards, and the UFF are occupying, they already setup anti-air gun emplacements at the rooftops in case shield dome comes down. With all ears and weapons concentrating at Canterlot's Main street, they all did their best to hold their ground in protecting the palace with everything they've got. 

In an unexpected surprise, Applejack sees that Princess Twilight, the Gate Commander, and her surviving guards have fled towards her position before they hold themselves up inside a nearby diner where the orange earth pony is at.

"Twi, what happened?" Applejack asked excitedly.

"Keep your voice down, Applejack." Zeck said, appeared from behind hushing the earth pony. "The enemy has just breached the front walls. They're all outside of the shield barrier."

For the UFF Marines, Xul, Pam, Chmone, and Anta, they went to an abandoned warehouse which is mostly empty before they closed the entrance behind them. As they hid behind the wooden boxes, they aimed all of their ranged weapons at the entrance, ensuring that they will shoot down any Sectaniums that attempted to breach their fortified warehouse.

"Did any creature see Pinkie Pie??" Applejack asked in a whisper. "She took off the moment we heard noises and explosions coming from the main gate."

"I'm here!!!" Pinkie squealed as she carried a huge present on top of her pink back.

As soon as Applejack, Twilight, and Zeck see the box Pinkie is carrying, the pink earth pony started making a stupid, wide grin before she put the box on the floor in front of them.

"Pinkie, what did you just bring with you?!" Twilight said, feeling confused over Pinkie's unexpected surprise.

Before any pony could answer, they hear angry, muffled noises coming from inside the huge present. In an instant, the present was moving back and forth as an angry female voice intensifies. Suddenly, the present fell forward right next to Pinkie as it opened up the moment it hit the ground.

A distraught Colonel Janus came out of the box completely tied up and gagged, with her officer uniform completely soaked with water.

Pinkie couldn't help but giggle silently as she covered her mouth with both of her front hooves.

"You should all see the look this meanie witchie's face!!!" Pinkie smirked.

"Pinkie, please be quiet. The enemy is still out there!!" Zeck ordered in a stern voice.

Once every pony and creature fell silent, they all looked out the windows to see that the Sectanium Army has yet to find a way through the huge shield barrier.





Deep within the tunnels.....

Celestia, Luna, Rockhoof, Flash Mangus, and a platoon of unicorn guards are slowly getting pushed back to the entrance leading back to the palace's underground entrance due to the endless waves of Mandors attack them up front and in person. As they find themselves cornered, they all see that the Sectanium Soldiers are finally showing up the moment the Mandors halted their advance.

The soldiers immediately opened fire upon the ponies as the unicorn guards are forced to raise their shields up high. However, the soldiers are firing upon them relentlessly as most of the unicorns are unable to shoot back. However, another squad of pegasus came through the underground entrance and hurled their spears at the Sectanium soldiers, puncturing and impaling them through their combat armor with ease before they collapsed backwards dead.

See this as another opportunity to hold them back inside the tunnels, Rockhoof and Mangus charged forward as they leaped towards the soldiers while bashing them on the head with their melee weapons, giving most of the Sectanium Soldiers massive concussions and blunt trauma with their skulls cracking and bleeding out. For Celestia and Luna, they shot out long beams of magic to keep the Sectanium soldiers away from the unicorn guards.

After the pegasus guards hurled their spears, they drew out their swords before swooping in to help Rockhoof and Mangus take care of the leftovers. In the middle of their whacking spree, the Mandor Chieftain finally appeared within the ranks and lunged at Mangus, forcing the latter to hold the green-skinned creature back with his shield.

Just as the Mandor Chieftain slammed his cutlass onto Mangus' shield, the pegasus legionnaire shoved him back while flapping his wings vigorously, grunting underneath his breath.

"Hang in der, laddie!! I'm coming!!!" Rockhoof exclaimed after smashing another Sectanium soldier upside the head before charging towards the Mandor Chieftain.

*WHACK!!*

Before the Chieftain could see it coming, he was bashed on the head by an swinging shovel. As a result, the Mandor Chieftain was sent crashing into a nearby wall inside the tunnels head first. Upon impact, the green-skinned creature collapsed on his stomach before passing out, with blood coming out of his head.

After seeing the Mandor get slammed away from him, Flash Mangus flew backwards as he went back behind the unicorn and pegasus formation. As for Rockhoof, he cheered in triumph only to come face-to-face with another Warrior that emerged from within the Sectanium soldiers firing at the unicorn guards.

Seeing that the huge earth pony possessing such unchallenged strength, the Warrior attempted to brainwash Rockhoof with his mind-controlling abilities. He didn't had enough time to parry against the creature's yellow beam with his shovel as the beam struck him in the forehead. 

Rockhoof could feel the world around him fading away as his eyes are becoming totally dilated, unable to resist the powerful effects. Upon seeing this, Mangus attempted to dive bomb into the warrior to save his life-long friend. However, it wasn't long before another Sectanium Warrior came out and shot the pegasus dead-on with his mind-controlling abilities. 

*UURRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!*

Mangus grunted in pain as he is about to lose consciousness while under the mercy of the Warriors. Celestia and Luna shrieked out in horror upon seeing that Mangus and Rockhoof are now under the brainwashing control of the Warriors. Before either alicorn could use their magic to reverse the effects, they were immediately fired upon again by the advancing Sectanium soldiers pouring through the tunnel. In the confusion, Mangus and Rockhoof attempted to full-throttle at the two alicorns with sheer aggression. 

Luna and Celestia struggled beyond their limit as they both raised their shields to stop the two brainwashed ponies from crashing into them. Thankfully, Luna used a sleeping spell to knock Flash Mangus out cold before he fell to the floor. 

For Rockhoof, however, he immediately battered down on Celestia's shield repeatedly with his shovel before making it shatter into a million pieces, forcing the white alicorn to cover her eyes with her right front hoof. Just when it couldn't get any worse, Celestia regains her sights only to see Rockhoof holding her by the neck with his shovel in a front choke hold. Celestia frantically gasped for air as she struggled to shove back Rockhoof away from her with both of her frontal hooves. Unfortunately, she immediately felt very hard pressure coming from Rockhoof's muscles as his Rockhoof is slowly crushing Celestia's windpipe in a few seconds.

"TIA!!!!" Luna screamed in horror, fearing for her elder sister's life. Before Luna could intervene, she barely had enough time to react when another Warrior fired another yellow beam at the dark-blue alicorn, forcing the latter to parry it with her blue beam of magic.

"L-L-Luna!! I-I-I-I'm s-s-s-sorry!!" Celestia gasped as she is slowly losing her voice while feeling her neck getting pressurized by Rockhoof's overall strength.

*FLASH!!! BOOM!!!*

Just when Celestia is about to collapse due to strangulation, Starswirl the Bearded arrive in time to cast a wide radius of his cancellation spell, mixed with an exploding flashbang spell that blinded both Warriors at once.

When Starswirl's spell hit its mark both Warriors screamed in agony as they were forced to avert their eyes way from the painful, bright light, forcing them to lose control of Rockhoof. As soon as Rockhoof is released from the Warrior's control, he collapsed on his stomach with both arms stretched out and his head on top of the tunnel's flooring.

"We have to pull out of the tunnels and seal them off. NOW!!!" Starswirl shouted as he makes an immediate suggestion.

"Alright, then!!" Luna acknowledged as she picked up a coughing Celestia with her hooves before flying out of the underground entrance.

"Everypony fall back!!! Fall back now!!!" Starswirl shouted out to the rest of the unicorns while picking up an unconscious Rockhoof with his magic.

After hearing the wise unicorn, the other unicorn guards and pegasus took off immediately from their fight with the Mandors and the Sectanium soldiers before making their way out of the tunnels.

As soon as the three pillars, the unicorn and pegasus guards, and the alicorn sisters made it out of the entrance, Starswirl uses his magic to seal the underground tunnels with a permanent lock. Hopefully, it will keep the enemies from sneaking into the palace from underneath the city.





While Twilight is hiding inside the building with her friends and some of her guards, her horn lit up in a white swirl and started ringing as if she is receiving a message from somewhere in the Canterlot palace.

"Your majesty, are you there?!" Starswirl's voice spoke.

"Yes, I am, Starswirl. Where are you?!" Twilight said, in a quiet voice.

"The tunnel we were defending is overrun. We had to get out of there immediately."

"Okay, stay in the palace with the others. Me and my friends will hold them off at the main street."

"Good luck Twilight!!!" Starswirl replied before the white swirl disappeared from Twilight's horn.

As Twilight turned to her friends, she pointed out her hoof past them as Applejack and Rainbow take point at the upper levels, while Rarity and Zeck stood behind the windows. For Pinkie, she took a gagged, tied up Janus away wrapped her up to a nearby pillar, ensuring that she doesn't go anywhere. After that, Pinkie went up to the building's roof before taking out a very long telescope from her pink mane to see what is happening at the ruined gates.





Three hours later, right outside of the huge shield barrier......

General Zulux is seen at the front of his battalion, which has merged with the one who suffered moderate casualties no thanks to the Royal Equine Guards and the UFF Marines at the city gates. After both battalions regrouped, Zulux was figuring out another method to breach the shield barrier protecting the rest of the city. 

Before Zulux could give out any orders, he receives a phone call from one of the other officers sent to storm through the castle's tunnels.

"This is General Zulux. What's happening? Over!!"

"General Zulux, this is Captain Trine. They sealed off the tunnels leading to the rear entrance of the castle. We can't get through!!!"

"Captain, get your men out of the tunnels and rally behind my battalion. Once you all regroup with me, we'll get ready to breach their shield barrier!!!"

"Yes sir!!!" 

After giving out orders to Captain Trine, Zulux turned to face the team of 10 Warriors on his left. As he nodded at them, the Warriors move into the front of the battalion and stood by to raised their hands towards the shield barrier. In just one hour later, the moment that Trine and his men show up behind Zulux's ranks, the Warriors all touched their right hands on the barrier, letting loose a circular, plasma-like vortex that slowly opened up an arch passageway that reaches up to 8 feet in height. 

Upon seeing the Warriors ripping a path into the huge shield barrier, Zulux reached his hand out towards the city as he ordered his and Trine's battalions to march in and hunt down the UFF Marines and the Equine ponies inside the city.

In single file lines, the Sectanium soldiers marched forward with their weapons held up to their chest while following the General.





Back at the building that Pinkie is spying from, she sees that the Sectanium Army has cut out an archway gap before they enter through the shield barrier that Shinning Armor and his team of unicorns are maintaining. Without further a due, she immediately rushed back to where Twilight and the others are at to warn them of their second attack upon the city of Canterlot.

"Guys!! The enemies have cut out a passageway through the shield barrier. They're approaching our position!!" Pinkie shouted at Twilight.

"Alright then. Get ready to ambush them, every creature!!!" Twilight said as she gave out another order to her guards.

"Remember what we taught you about using our grenades for combat. As soon as they reach the mark, we hurl them at the Sectanium Army before we jump on them. Let's go!!!" Zeck said as he took out his grenade from his belt.





As the Sectanium Army led by General Zulux marches their way through the main streets of Canterlot, the hover tanks are seen moving alongside them from both left and right. From behind their ranks, Captain Trine is leading the Mandors and the Sectanium soldiers that withdrew from their attack in the tunnels underneath Canterlot. The main force is seen as a massive row of troops that are flooding through the streets in closed ranks. However, they have still yet to confirm where are the UFF Marines and Canterlot's guards are hiding at. 

The General has also ordered Trine to have the Mandor grunts move into the front lines with the Warriors formed up inside the ranks of the Sectanium troops.

"Make no mistake, everyone!! They're out there!!!" Zulux said, reminding his soldiers and officers about their cunning adversaries.





As the Sectanium Army entered the plaza, which is 20 meters before the palace, all they see is a ghost town where buildings have windows that are too dark to see from outside. Most of the food stands are totally empty, with nothing but dust and wind flowing past them. From what the General told them, the soldiers and Mandors did their best not to let their guard down as they slowly proceed through the plaza. 

Just when they think its clear, one of the Mandors stepped on something hard underneath the marble pavement. When suddenly, the Mandor disappeared into a fiery explosion that catches most of the Sectanium soldiers and the other Mandors off-guard. Also, several other Sectanium Soldiers also stepped on the mines hidden underneath the pavement as well before they disappeared in pillars of explosions, catching the rest of the battalion off-guard.

Before they knew it, several lobs of grenades were thrown out of the windows and struck at the hover tanks escorting them. Upon impact the hover tanks were zapped from within before they landed flat on the ground. In an instant, the hover tanks also exploded as the mines underneath them went off. 

At the same time when the grenades exploded, several soldiers try to flee only to get swallowed up by pitfalls buried in front of the entrances of a couple of buildings in the residential section of the city.

As soon as the soldiers aimed their guns in all directions, the pony conscripts popped up from their hiding spots underneath the marble floors and opened fire with their crossbows and magic spells, hitting several of the Sectaniums in the face or in the chest, knocking them off-balance.

"AMBUSH!!!" Trine shouted at the top of his lungs. 

The Royal Guards appeared up on the rooftops of the buildings in the plaza before hurling spears, grenades, and shooting crossbow bolts at his troops. With all three types of projectiles laying waste on Trine's men, he scrambled for cover behind one of the abandoned fruit stands before opening fire at the Royal Guards above him with his blaster.

The soldiers that struggled to get out of the pitfalls were met with Earth pony guards and conscripts pouncing on top of them, making them fall back into the pits before getting beaten to death.

For the soldiers that are about to take cover into the nearby buildings, several doors swung wide open in front of them as earth pony conscripts leaped out towards them before beating the Sectaniums to death, toppling the monsters with their sheer numbers. Most of the Sectanium soldiers were pinned to the ground while receiving hoof beatings from the angry earth pony mobs.

For the UFF marines, they opened fire from the windows in the buildings above with their sniper rifles as they blasted the Mandors and the Sectaniums in the head, pinning them down behind various boxes and food stands. 

For those that haven't been struck by the oncoming enemy fire or get jumped on by the Equines, the Sectaniums near General Zulux drew out their swords and before they attack back at the pony conscripts and the Royal Guards while those behind him returned fire with their blaster rifles. The moment they faced the Equine ponies head on, some of them leaped at the Sectanium soldiers in hopes of pulling them down to the ground to finish them off. However, some of the soldiers and Mandors struggled with the ponies as jumping on top of them as they frantically threw the equines away from their faces before bearing down on the ponies with their swords and the butts of their guns. 

Some ponies were jabbing the spears and lashing out at the Sectaniums and Mandors with their swords in furious melee attacks during the chaotic battle in the plaza. More pony conscripts and Royal Guards came running out of the buildings from all over the plaza to join in the fight, while the Sectaniums and Mandors are pressing forward into the area from outside of the shield barrier as the battle within the city streets intensifies.

In the middle of the fight between ponies and evil aliens at the city plaza, Twilight, the Mane 5, Chmone, Zeck, Xul, and Pam have all jumped into action as they left the buildings they were hiding in before they unleashed tartarus upon the Sectanium Soldiers and Mandor grunts with their weapons, magic, and with their grenades.

When Pinkie Pie fired her party cannon at several Sectanium soldiers, they were sent flying off their feet before hitting the ground behind them. Seeing them caught off-guard by Pinkie's confetti cannon, Rarity and Applejack charged forward as they finished them off with their battling antics. Applejack hurled her lasso at one disoriented Sectanium creature by the neck, with the latter getting strangled as he felt the rope choking him before getting tossed into a nearby building on her left.

*SMASH!!!*

Upon impact, the Sectanium ensnared by Applejack's lasso crashed into the building's concrete wall before he slumped on the floor, totally out of commission. Just when another enemy soldier tried to aim the gun at Applejack, she lassoed his hand when he held onto the weapon before jerking it out of his grip. Before he knew it, the Sectanium was met with a powerful kick in the face by the orange earth, breaking both his nose and his jaws all at once before falling on his back.

Rarity summoned a massive diamond-like spell before she made it explode into a barrage of crystals before aiming them all at the Sectanium soldiers that got to close to her. Instantly, most of the Sectaniums got hit in the face by Rarity's crystals, breaking their noses as they squirt out blood before they squirmed on the ground in agony.

Xul was seen fighting alongside Rainbow Dash as she opened fire with her blasters at her ex-comrades before jumping behind cover at a nearby fountain as the Sectanium soldiers returned fire. For Pam, she jumped out the window and opened fire at the other Sectanium soldiers who aren't currently engaged with the Equestrian Royal Guards at the plaza.

For the fast, blue pegasus, she drew out a knife from her sheath and held it with her mouth before zeroing in on several Sectanium soldiers, not giving them a chance to react. In an instant, Rainbow flew right past the enemy group as their throats got slit before they knew what hit e'm. Just like that, they all fell down like sack of potatoes. 

Pretty soon, the fighting from the plaza immediately spread throughout the food court and all over the residential square as divisions of Sectanium soldiers and Mandors are ordered by Captain Trine withdrawal to other sections of the city to avoid being overrun by the aggressive little Equine ponies and the UFF marines firing from above them. Not that it matters, the ponies already know where to go around the city, so they still lured them into several other traps such as tripping them over ropes, ensnaring them with huge nets, and when striking the Sectanium soldiers from the shadows behind the corners around various houses and stores, slamming them in the face with a shovels, hammers, and baseball bats. For Trine, he still stood tall while blasting every single pony conscript and guard with his blaster before he comes face-to-face with his ex-friend Xuliana Sona.

For General Zulux, he still called in for backup as more and more Sectanium soldiers and warriors are coming in the main road from Canterlot's walls. Before long, he drew out his cutlass and slashed his away through the ranks of Canterlot's Royal Guard while his fellow Warriors followed him from behind as they hacked away every Royal Guard with their plasma blades. 

After Twilight blasted her way through a score of Sectanium guards with her lighting spells, she spots the General and his retinue punching through the ranks of her army before heading towards the palace square. Before she got anywhere closer to General Zulux, he instant spots her in his sights before issuing out orders to the Warriors.

"TAKE HER DOWN!!!" 

As the Warriors converge on Twilight's position, Starlight Glimmer blasted her way through a nearby building and fired a large beam of light-blue magic at several Sectanium soldiers before rallying to the Princess' side. Also, Luna, Mistmane, and Tempest Shadow have teleported behind the purple alicorn as they readied their battle spells.

With all of their horns lit up to the fullest, Luna, who just teleported in the plaza after taking Celestia inside the palace to recover, and Tempest fired off their most powerful spells at the advancing Warriors, forcing the latter to raise their psi-shields, which was activated when their third eye lit up in a bright-blue color with their hands raised up towards the oncoming spells.

Mistmane moved in-between Tempest and Luna as she summoned tendrils of vines coming out of the ground, wrapping most of the Warriors by their faces, making them unable to use any mind-controlling beams on the elder unicorn. For the Sectanium soldiers advancing towards her, Mistmane also cast a massive freezing spell that imprisoned most of them inside a cold prison, rendering them unable to move as they are helplessly forced to see the rest of their comrades struggle against the other Equine ponies and UFF marines.

While the Warriors are still holding up against Luna's and Tempest's attacks, Starlight jumped over the dark-blue alicorn as she fired a huge blast of magic at one of them in the face, knocking the Sectanium Warrior backwards nearly hitting the General up front.

Disgruntled by such a highly-powered attack, Zulux grabbed the knocked-out warrior with his right hand and swiped the creature away from his face before he aimed his gun at Starlight.

Before he can take a shot at the lilac unicorn, Zulux was met with a powerful blast that came out of Twilight's horn. He barely managed to block it with his own psi-shield as he grunted from the pressure of Twilight's magic.

*KA-BOOM!!*

Upon impact, Twilight's magic exploded against Zulux' psi-shield leaving behind a small smokescreen before he was met with a charging Rainbow Dash. Just as the blue pegasus is about to punch the General with both of her hooves, Zulux immediately dodged it by a mere inch of face before he jumped away from the flying pony.

Rainbow immediately skidded to a halt as she turned around to face the Sectanium General only to be met with a mind-controlling beam shooting towards her from Zulux's third eye. However, seeing that her friend Rainbow Dash is about to get ensnared by enemy mind-control, Twilight smashed into the General's stomach in trying to pin him to the ground with all her might.

*ARGH!!!*

Zulux grunted in pain as he got toppled over onto his side as he loses his focus in brainwashing the blue pegasus up front. However, he immediately grabbed Twilight's face while she's still wearing her helmet and hurled the purple alicorn a few feet away from him.

As Twilight crashed into the pavement, she hit her back into a nearby food stand in which made her helmet become dented from the back of her head, forcing her to take it off her head. Once her helmet came and landed with a "thud" on the ground, Twilight is seen with bruises on her face with blood coming down the left side of her head. Ignoring the pain and blood on her face, Twilight unfurled her wings and took flight 10 feet above the Sectanium General. 

Seeing the high-priority target flying in mid-air, Zulux glared at the purple alicorn as he fired another mind-controlling beam at it in hopes of getting the relentless pastel horse under his control. However, Twilight fired a another magic spell at the oncoming beam in trying to resist the general in mind-controlling against her own will.

As the two beams collided from both Twilight and Zulux, they grunted in fury in seeing who will gain the upper hand in their mental battle against one another.

For Tempest and Luna, they both fired a barrage of spells at three Warriors that are hurling psi-shields to defend themselves against the two ponies before retaliating with their mind-control abilities. 

One Warrior grunted in agony as he slowly advanced towards the dark-crimson unicorn before drawing out his plasma blade from his right hip. Just when the Warrior is about to strike back at Tempest Shadow, she fired a massive, electrical beam at him, aiming dead-on at his chest.

*ZZZZAAAAAPPPPP!!*

*KA-BLAM!!*

As soon as Tempest hit the Warrior squarely, he was sent spinning around like rolling log before he crashed into a nearby building that ended his life. Before Tempest got any closer, she sees more Sectanium soldiers trying to shoot her down from her left, forcing the dark-crimson unicorn to jump backwards as she hurled several malachite orbs at the evil aliens, turning them into stone. After turning a group of enemy soldiers in stone, Tempest rallied back to the rest of the fighting Royal Guards as they are continuing to lash at the Sectanium soldiers with clashing against each other with their close combat weapons.

For Luna, she swung her horn towards the Warrior while he still held his psi-shield up. At first, the Warrior thought he was able to block the dark-blue alicorn with his shield. However, it immediately cut a large top of the defensive object right off, nearly hitting him in the face before the psi-shield disappeared from his wrist. Luna charged straight at the Warrior with sheer aggression as she made repetitive hoof strikes at the Warrior's face, making him pinned to the ground. In the next second afterwards, Luna stomped on top of the Warrior as she watched him squirm helplessly on the ground. Just when Luna is about to finish him off, one of the Sectanium soldiers shot her in the side of her stomach, making the dark-blue alicorn scream in pain before she fell to her side.

In agony, Luna looks up to see the enemy soldier attempting to slam her in the face with the butt of his rifle only to get intercepted by Zeck Stone, with the latter grabbing the weapon with both of his hands. Just as Zeck is slowly overpowering the struggling Sectanium Soldier, he shoved the alien away with a thrust kick, knocking the alien out cold as he hit his head up against the wall of a nearby store.

When Zeck turned to see an injured Luna, he lifted the dark-blue pony with one hoof over his shoulder before carrying her to safety.

"Zeck! Y-Y-You saved me!!" Luna gasped in relief.

"You ponies should at least try to think twice before doing something as reckless as that!!" Zeck said, scolding the alicorn. "Those Warriors are very hard to beat!!"

Feeling lost, Luna muttered in self-pity as she got carried back to the palace while being escorted by several Pony conscripts and 2 UFF Marines.

Twilight flew up above Zulux while still converging her magic against his mind-controlling beam before she swung her head to Zulux's left, making his powers hit only a nearby wall instead. But Zulux isn't going to give up on trying to control Twilight as he fired another mind-control beam at her. Then again, Twilight shot back at Zulux's attack with a lighting ray, shattering his mind-control beam before stunning him in the process.

As the ray engulfed his face, Zulux screamed in pain for he felt his eyes burn, forcing him to cover his face with both of his hands only to realize that he is temporary blinded by Twilight's spell.

"DAMN YOU PONY!!!" Zulux shrieked, not being able to see where Twilight is at until it was too late.

Before he could see it coming, Zulux was met with a big hoof punch to the face by an aggressive Twilight Sparkle, knocking him to the ground while rolling helplessly onto the marble streets of Canterlot.

Just when Twilight is about to restrain the defeated Sectanium General, more Soldiers appeared a few yards in front of her and Zulux as they opened fire with a barrage of lasers coming from their blasters nonstop.

Twilight immediately flew backwards while shielding herself against the overwhelming attacks as she tried to get back behind the ranks of her Royal Guards.

"Sweet Celestia!! There's too many!!!" Twilight grunted.

Just when things couldn't get any worse, Twilight sees above her that the huge shield dome has suddenly shattered as it disappeared right above the whole city of Canterlot.

"Uh Oh!!" Twilight thought, realizing that the city is going to get bombarded by enemy ships again. This time, the whole city will be showered with explosions and shrapnel.

As she looked towards the downed enemy General, Zulux looks up at the alicorn as he slowly recovered his eye sight only to give Twilight an evil smirk on his face as if he had a backup plan in case he and most of his Warriors got taken down.
> Chapter 31: Evil Empress into the fray
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

During the fight in the city streets, at the same time when Twilight, Zeck, and most of their friends are holding off the advancing Sectanium soldiers and Warriors.....

Xul and Trine are both wrestling each other while on the ground, with their knives at each other's throats.

Just when Xul held her knife up to Trine's neck while on top of him, she felt her lower stomach get slammed in by Trine's knee cap, making her gasp in pain as she laid onto her left side. As Xul loses her grip on her knife and clutched her bruise, Trine got up and ran to the other side of the city, near the entrance to the palace itself.

"T-T-Trine!! No!!" Xul gasped in pain as she struggled to get up on her feet.

At the palace courtyard, Trine sees Captain Shinning Armor using his magic to maintain his spell with the aid of a group of unicorn guards. Unbeknownst to the unicorns, Trine takes out a flashbang grenade from his belt and immediately hurled it right into the middle of the group.

*FLASH!! BOOM!!*

*GAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!* 

As the grenade went off, Shinning and the unicorn guards screamed before they lose their control over the huge shield barrier protecting the palace and most of Canterlot's city sections. While they unicorns became disoriented, Trine lunged at blind-sighted Shinning Armour as he wrapped around the stallion's neck with his rope and held him down before shooting the rest of them before they had a chance to recover from the stunned effects. In the ensuring struggle, Shinning was screaming blindly as he was not able to see who is jumping on top of him.

Once all of the unicorn guards are shot down, Trine knocked Shinning at the back of his head with his gun. As Shinning blacked out, Trine looks up to see that the huge shield dome protecting most of Canterlot has finally shattered.

Grinning with triumph, Trine takes out his phone to establish contact with the Empress. He remembered earlier that as soon as they start fighting with the city's defenders and the UFF once again, he will have permission from General Zulux to go on ahead and take down the source of the huge shield barrier. Now that the shield is down, Trine takes out his phone to establish contact with the Empress who is still onboard her flagship.

"Your majesty!! The shield is down!!! I repeat, the shield is down!!!"

"Good work, Captain Trine!! Time to ring in the apocalypse. Have your men take cover!! The admiral will initiate a full barrage upon the city!!!"

"YEH!! TAHW ERA UOY KINHT ER'OUY GNIOD?!" A white alicorn mare shouted, startling Trine.

The moment Trine turned around, he sees another group of ponies attack him with their magic. 

*WHIZZZ!*

*SHOOOM!*

Celestia and Starswirl came into the palace courtyard and opened fire upon Trine, making him flee with an unconscious Shining Armor! At the same time, he hurls a smoke grenade from his belt. As the grenade exploded in front of their hooves, making both the elder unicorn and the white alicorn got caught up in the grey smoke. 

*COUGH!*
*COUGH!*

Seeing the two ponies get distracted in their coughing from within the billowing smoke, Trine fled from the palace courtyard with his captured hostage. In the next minute afterwards, Celestia flies out of the smoke to see where did the red-skinned Sectanium ran off too. However, after surveying the surroundings in front of her, Celestia growled up realizing that the Sectanium attacker is no longer in her sights.

"YOU DAMN COWARD!!!" Celestia roared in anger as her wings spread out while her horn lit up in a yellow hue.

For Starswirl the Bearded, he appeared from the smoke only to discover something is wrong with the scene he and Celestia are both in.

"Hey wait!! Where's Shining Armour?!" Starswirl asked, realizing that one of their own ponies is missing from the fray.





*KA-BLAM!!!*

As soon as Twilight charged up her horn to the fullest, she let loose a massive blast of magic upon a nearby enemy squad of Sectanium soldiers. After that, Twilight was hovered up into the air before shooting out a barrage of missiles at two more warriors, obliterating them both.

After seeing that the shield dome protecting the Canterlot Palace and the inner city has been compromised, Twilight has ordered her Royal Guards to fall back to the palace courtyard to make their final stand. For Twilight's friends in Equestria and from the UFF, they are all trying to make a run back to the palace too. However, some of the UFF Marines stayed behind to man the anti-air guns stationed at roofs of several buildings all around the city square.

In just 20 meters away from the palace courtyard, the Empress' flagship has appeared along with several squads of Sectanium Interceptors looming 1,000 feet above the city of Canterlot.

"Keep going every creature!!! They're right above us too!!!" Twilight shouted as she flew as fast as she could to the palace courtyard with most of her friends following her from behind.

While the ponies and the rest of the UFF are on the run, the interceptors set all of their weapon systems on them as they opened fire with their laser cannons and missiles.

*SHOOM!*
*SHOOM!*
*SHOOM!*
*BOOM!*
*BOOM!*
*BOOM!*

In the impeding destruction, several ponies and UFF marines were sent spiraling out of commission after getting struck by the interceptors before Tempest, Rarity, Starlight, and Twilight all raised their magic shields to protect most of their friends and allies while on the run. However, the surrounding buildings are getting struck by the horrendous, destructive force of the Sectanium Interceptors as lobs of concrete came crumbling down from its walls and crushing every creature that got too close to the rubble.

In the continuous destruction, several ponies got buried underneath the rubble crushing the latter to a bloody pulp.

For the UFF marines, they ran as fast as they could to the palace courtyard not looking back. 

"Take cover every creature!! I got this!!" Discord appeared as he raised both of his hands up to the sky, casting a large shield dome to block most of the enemy fire from above.

As the explosions all hit the shield dome, Discord held his position while letting the UFF Marines and the ponies enter the palace courtyard. The gun emplacements on top of the undamaged buildings immediately opened fire into the air, causing the entire sky to get covered with explosive flaks before several enemy interceptors get blown sky high.

Before she made it to the palace courtyard, Twilight spots an unconscious Xul Sona lying on her stomach as if she was in pain. Just like from her escape from Terram, Twilight did her best to help save Xul from her unacceptable demise since she was able to come to an understanding earlier. So as soon as her horn lit up, Twilight lifted Xul with her magic and carried her all the way to the courtyard to have Fluttershy take a look at her bruises.

Just when the surviving pony defenders, conscripts, and the UFF marines made it to the palace courtyard, Discord and Celestia appeared as raised another combined shield barrier to protect most of the surrounding area and the palace itself, relieving Twilight, and her three unicorn friends from straining themselves with their shield spells. Since it's just two creatures raising the shields now, they weren't able to get enough people to shield the rest of the city anymore since most of the unicorns are incapacitated and Shining Armor is MIA. Sadly, most of the buildings in the city plaza, the marketplace, and the residential square have been reduced to rubble. In addition to the structural damage inside the city, windows are completely shattered, with trees and plants got caught on fire, and most of the guard towers near the outer walls have came down, trapping the gun crews as they suffocated before they meet their doom. 

So as soon as the rest of the defenders held position in front of the palace, the UFF Marines and the crossbow guard ponies reformed the line into a firing stance at the palace's main entrance while the Royal Guard and the pony conscripts held up their spears, their swords, and round shields towards the entrance leading outside of the courtyard.

As for Twilight and her friends, they stood at the front of the Royal Guard formation while holding their position in an aggressive stance.

"HOLD FAST MEN!!" Twilight shouted to her guards in a Royal Canterlot voice. "We still have our reinforcements heading towards us."

After regrouping in the palace courtyard, Zeck appeared from the palace's entrance while holding up a blaster rifle in both of his hands.

"Princess, what's happening? I heard loud noises coming from outside the palace after getting Luna to the hospital ward."

"Sorry Zeck. Something happened to the unicorns that were supposed to maintain the shield barrier all over Canterlot that made it disappear. The enemy saw it as an opportunity to bombard most of the city. So, we had to fall back to the palace courtyard for the time being!!" Princess Twilight explained briefly.

As Zeck looked further beyond the courtyard, he can see that the anti-air gun emplacements that his men setup are already firing back at the interceptors. However, the Sectanium Battleships are approaching the Empress' flagship from a distance of 200 miles away, much to his horror. He feared that if the battleships start firing too, he, his men, and Twilight's men may not last much longer. 

Ultimately, Zeck only has one option to do.

"Twilight, can you get your Royal Air Fleet up in the air?" Zeck asked, giving the Princess of Friendship a request.

"I'll do my best, sir!! But you may need to back them up with your ship too."

"I understand, your highness!!" Zeck replied before he head down to Port.

After seeing Zeck disappear, along with 5 UFF Marines, Twilight ordered Captain Grey Wing to deploy the Royal Air Fleet to help Zeck's Battlecruiser keep the Sectanium Battleships and Mandor Cruisers at bay until allied reinforcements arrive.





Meanwhile, onboard the Empress' flagship......

Empress Vanista is sitting on her throne while cackling like a maniac as she sees the interceptors finally unleashing destruction upon the city of Canterlot from the command bridge.

"Foolish little ponies. They can't hope to outwit my fighters from the air, can they?!" Vanista grinned with an insane voice.

For Admiral Jiarius, he is seen standing on the Empress' left while watching the interceptors shooting down chunks of buildings as they pass through the city's overhead. He couldn't help but grin at the smell of fire and metal billowing from the black smoke caused by the attacks of his interceptors.

As soon as he heard a beep coming from his phone, Jiarius picks it up only to hear that the other Sectanium captains are standing by to fire too.

Right after he puts his phone away, Jiarius turns to face the Empress of his immediate report.

"Your Majesty, the rest of the fleet is in position. They're standing by for another bombardment attack."

"Not yet, Admiral!!" The Empress denied as she held her right hand towards Jiarius. "I want to settle some personal matters with their foolish excuse of a leader!!"

"You mean you want me to escort you to the palace?" 

"I'm going to give Princess Twilight one last chance to surrender before I raze that silly palace of hers to the ground!!!" Vanista hissed as she gripped tightly on the scabbard holding her rapier. "Actually, I want to see if she can face me personally first!!!"

"It will be done, milady!!" Jiarius said as he bowed towards the Empress.

As Jiarius went back to his station, the Empress gets out of her seat before heading down to her bedroom to gear up. When Vanista makes her way into her sleeping quarters, she comes up to a red dresser seen across from the doorway that she was standing and changes her clothes from her regal dress into her obsidian battle armor.





After just a few minutes of shooting down most of the city with their interceptors, the Sectanium fighters pulled back leaving most of the anti-air gun crews confused. All around them, about 1/4 of the city was decimated by the destructive force of the enemy interceptors. Just when they were about to be at ease, Chmone spots another enemy ship from a distance away advancing past the city overhead. He sees that the Empress' flagship is hovering past them only to be heading straight to the Canterlot Palace itself. 

"Pam, the flagship is heading straight for the palace!!" Chmone said on his phone, trying to warn the rest of the UFF marines and Canterlot's defenders about the current situation.

"Copy that!!" Pam's voice spoke from Chmone's phone.





The moment the Sectanium Fleet started bombarding all over Canterlot outside of the palace courtyard, Trine and General Zulux, who made an immediate recovery after seeing the ponies flee from his sight, ordered their men to seek cover near every open building they can find before the explosive shrapnel hit their marks. 

After hearing a ominous whooshing noise coming from above, their attacking interceptors, the Sectanium Soldiers and Mandor grunts took cover inside most of the unoccupied buildings off the main streets. For every explosion caused by the Interceptor's weapons, they left behind loud booms of smoke and fire bombarding wildly on the streets for a few minutes tops. Just like the ponies and the UFF marines, some weren't lucky enough to seek cover from the blasts as they were sent flying off the ground before they collapsed critically injured on the road pavement in most of the clearing areas inside Canterlot.

After a few minutes of explosions carpeting most of the city of Canterlot, Zulux, who is now seeking shelter inside an abandoned store along with Trine and his soldiers, sees that the interceptors have stopped firing. Before he could advance forward, Zulux receives a phone call coming from the Empress' Flagship as he realized that the Admiral has a message for the Sectanium General to hear.

"General Zulux! The Empress is arriving on the battlefield. Have the area secured for her to land!!" Jiarius spoke as his voice boomed from Zulux's phone

"Roger that!!" Zulux replied, receiving new orders from the Admiral himself via phone.

The moment Zulux turned to Trine, he pointed his hand towards outside of the store, relaying the Admiral's orders to Trine and his men.

Taking Zulux's orders for granted, Trine gets out of the building he was hold up at and leads three squads of Sectanium soldiers into the opening. While they secured a landing zone for their Empress, Trine's men opened fire upon the ponies and UFF marines that didn't make it back to the palace courtyard in time, injuring or crippling most of the latter before restraining them.

*BANG!!*

*BANG!!*

*BANG!!*

After neutralizing most of the fleeing defenders, the Sectanium soldiers led by Trine advanced towards the bridge leading to the palace courtyard as they formed up in a huge circular formation. At the same time, several enemy drop pods came down from the Sectanium battleships. As soon as the drop pods crash down into the city streets, more Sectanium soldiers and Mandor grunts came out all armed to the teeth. Not a moment too soon, another drop pod came down right in the middle of the circular formation that is in front of the bridge leading to the palace. As the drop pod landed in place, Empress Vanista came out along with another group of Warriors escorting her. 

When the Empress is out on the battlefield, she is now seen wearing an set Sectanium battle armor, with knee caps, combat chest plate, and combat shoulder pads all painted in an obsidian red color. As the sun shines bright on her, the Empress' battle armor is shown to have a huge yellow eye in each armor plate and a black cape bearing the Sectanium Royal Emblem flowing on her back. 

As the Empress marches alongside the Sectanium Army, she held both of her rapier and her firearm up to her hips before looking out towards the palace seen from the other side of the bridge.

Far and Wide, the Empress sees another shield barrier that is only protecting palace and its courtyard at the end of the bridge in front of her while most of the ponies defending the city and the UFF Marines are holding their ground in front of the palace. She couldn't tell whether to feel intimidated or amused by such a cowering display. However, Vanista still needs to avoid getting too cocky since two of her comrades are still being held prisoner inside the palace. 

No matter, she finally managed to capture several, incapacitated guard ponies as Vanista ordered them to be tied up in ropes at the moment. When Vanista turned to see their hostages up front, she sneered at one that happens to be a white unicorn stallion with a blue mane and tail, totally tied up by all four of its hooves with its mouth gagged.

When she remembered seeing the white blue mane unicorn standing alongside Princess Twilight last night, Vanista couldn't help but gloat at the restrained, gagged stallion giving her another wild idea.





Xul finally wakes up from her unconscious state as she groaned in pain coming from her lower stomach. Right beside her, she looks up to see Fluttershy sitting in front, while showing a compassionate, smiling expression on her face.  

"Hey, Xul. How are you feeling?" Fluttershy asked in a sweet, soothing voice.

"Uuuugghhh!!" Xul gasped as for air as she slowly got up on her feet. "I'm sorry every pony. Trine was...... he......!"

"It's okay, Xul. Be grateful they didn't shoot you yet." Fluttershy said, showing the outcast Sectanium some sympathy. "Well, we're not done yet. The enemy is still getting closer to the palace."

As soon as Xul got her bearings, she sees that a handful of UFF Marines and a large mob of Royal Guards and pony conscripts, including Big Mac, are still holding their ground at the palace courtyard. In front of the Royal Guards, Xul sees that Princess Twilight is still standing in tall and diligent as she looks far towards the bridge in front of her, despite that her armor is stained with her blood and that she is no longer wearing her helmet.

Xul also sees that only a smaller dome of the shield barrier is covering most of the palace courtyard and the palace itself. However, Zeck is nowhere to been seen at the moment. Before Xul could ask Twilight what is going on, Twilight glared intensely as her horn hit up in a brighter magenta color; its as if she is ready to strike at another creature again with her magic.

When Xul looked towards the same direction Twilight is, she sees that Empress Vanista Rantu as appeared from the bridge right in front of the shield barrier. Just as Twilight is preparing for another attack from the Empress herself, she sees something that changed her eyes from anger to horror. As soon as Xul looked again, she sees that Captain Trine is holding a white stallion hostage while holding his gun directly into the stallion's temple, tied up and gagged.

"Shinning Armor!!" Twilight gasped in terror, realizing that her brother is being held at gunpoint by the enemy. 

All at once, most of the guard ponies, Celestia, and Twilight's friends also gasped in horror that one of their own commanders is being held hostage by the enemy. Before Twilight could move, she sees that Trine shoved his gun straight into the white stallion in the temple, still tied up and gagged.

"Not one step further, Princess!!" Vanista hissed in amusement while using the translator up high. "First of all, I want to see that Lord Hampt and Ash are both still alive before we can reach an agreement here!!"

"They're still doing fine." Twilight responded in a positive tone, trying to stay cool while seeing her brother held against his will. "I haven't done anything harsh to them yet."

"You better not!! Anyway, I need to see them in-person to make sure you're being honest." Vanista said, grinning in malice. 

Twilight, on the other hand, is suspecting that Vanista is likely going to be pulling off another double-crossing trick that will get her exposed and vulnerable to the enemy. However, Twilight needs to make a decision quick before she sees her brother's blood smear all over the palace courtyard.

Within the group of Royal Guards and pony conscripts, Spike finally makes his entrance as he starts off a private conversation with Princess Twilight Sparkle.

"We might as well let them both go. With those two monsters in our custody, it may just make things worse for our country." Spike suggested to Twilight. "Your brother's life is at stake."

"They brought all of this upon themselves, Spike. I mean, you should've all seen it when I was still stuck on Terram." Twilight said. "Now that you mentioned it, I couldn't help whether to blame myself or them for letting this madness occur on our doorstep."

"Twilight, please. We have to save Shinning Armour!!" Spike begged. "He's family after all."

As Twilight takes a deep breath, she went over everything she had been through after she escaped from Terram and evaded recapture three times. She already said it herself that Twilight needed to punish the aliens that wouldn't stop harassing and threatening her right from the start. However, even if Twilight was able to gain the upper hand, she still has to pay the price for putting most of her friends and family in mortal danger. Worse, not only are the Sectaniums merciless, they are not that easy to negotiate with since Vanista couldn't get along with any creature at such a young age. 

Now that Vanista is 31 and with Twilight 29 years old, they both have limited options to keep both of their respective countries alive. Recently, the Sectanium race is fighting for superiority in order to spare themselves from being humiliated and from facing extinction. For the creatures of Equestria, they're fighting for the sake of their friends as well as sparing themselves from being conquered and enslaved. Twilight is left with a tougher choice; it's either her family or this country. Other than that, its also either her ponies or them. Every choice or royal decree that Twilight makes always comes with a risk where even the smallest of them can lead to a disastrous consequence.

After seeing Shinning make panicked muffling underneath his breath, Twilight will have no choice but to give up Ash and Lord Hampt.

"Bring out the prisoners!!" Twilight reluctantly said to her guards.

Feeling satisfied, Vanista grinned as she turned towards Trine and nodded at the Sectanium Captain. Seeing Vanista's head gesture, Trine slowly lowers his gun away from Shinning's head as he smirked underneath his breath.

Heeding Twilight's orders, two unicorn Royal Guards left the formation and went inside the palace before heading down to the dungeons to let the prisoners out of their cell. In just two minutes, Ash and Hampt are seen held in the grip of their magic while being lifted into the air by the two unicorn guards, still chained up by their wrists. As the guards went down the stairs while holding the prisoners with their magic, they stopped in front of the pony crowd as they put the prisoners on the floor.

"I'm sorry Vanista!! I-I was....." Lord Hampt stuttered in fear before Vanista replied back to him.

"Please, not another word." Vanista said as she raised her palm towards him. "So, where were we?! Oh yes....."

As Vanista turned to face Twilight again, she makes another negotiating term.

"Now that everyone is here, you might as well meet your fate Twilight!!" Vanista grinned with malice in her eyes. "Since my men made a foolish act that was rendered unchallenged, I'd say we settle this in one-on-one!!"

When Twilight takes off her helmet, she is now seen with blood coming from her left temple down to her neck while still glaring profusely at the Sectanium Empress.

"I find it hard to believe that some unlikely alien race would actually possess stranger powers than that of my Warriors, almost had the strength to face them in battle. Never in all my years have I met a small but worthy foe amongst the stars. Yet, you're still getting pushed back all the way here?!" Vanista cackled in such amusement. "So pathetic. I'm expecting more!!"

"Well, I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you, Vanista!!" Twilight hissed. "From what Somnambula said, there will always be hope, regardless of how grim the circumstances are!! Yet, you're already giving up your friendship and your salvation for your country too easily, let alone selling your soul to the devil. So, you will have to face the error of your ways sooner or later!!"

"Oh really?! If you think you can rule over this country with friendship at the request of your mentors, then you might as well fight me!!" The Empress snorted as she taunted the Princess of Friendship. "If I win, you will be forced to watch your whole pitiful city burn before I sent you straight to Satria, along with those UFF losers!!! Speaking of which, most of the other alien rulers that stood in my way, before they surrendered, have also met with the same fate on Satria too. Also, you might as well have all of your friends and your family watch too, so that they can bear witness to your humiliation prior to your defeat. Don't let any of them get involved in this fight or else you'll violate the agreement."

"Fine, but if I win, your men will have to stand down at once or else my allies will kick their flank as soon as they arrive." Twilight said, while gritting her teeth. "Then again, I will put a work order for Mage Meadowbrook to deal with the Red Virus whether you'd believe me that she can do it or not."

As they stared at each other with stern looks in their eyes, Vanista grinned with eagerness to take down another alien leader. In fact, most of the leaders that stood in her way have most of their severed heads placed all over the battlements of her citadel back in Sacreus. Because of the dark power that was granted to her back in the citadel, Vanista couldn't help but feel overconfident with triumph in a one many ways. Regardless of the powers that Princess Twilight currently possesses, she can only hope that her winning streak will remain untouched. 

After seeing Vanista disappear back into her army ranks, preparing for a duel with the weapons she is using, Twilight turned to face her friends, Celestia, and Luna one more time.

"If I don't survive this, I wanted to say that I'm really sorry for letting all of this happen guys. I never wanted Equestria to get involved in this war between the UFF and the Sectanium Empire but overall, the Sectaniums aren't very nice people." Twilight said, feeling anxious in facing the evil Empress herself. "I didn't know what I did to them that made me end up in that dreadful prison back there. I-I-I-I thought was....."

Before Twilight could say anymore, Celestia pressed her hoof on her mouth, prompting her not to say another word.

*Sssshhh!*

"It's okay, Twilight. We didn't know either. You're not the only pony ruler that would get entangled into such a mess like that, neither would you be the last. Me and Luna always had to take risks when we defend our homeland against invaders that we didn't comprehend; it's always been like that since we both ascended the throne in Canterlot more than a 1,000 years back."

"We're all in this together, Twi!!" Rainbow said, trying to bright up Twilight's morale. "If they think they can rob us ponies of our power just to ensure that their power and their salvation remains intact, that's their problem."

Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie have all nodded in agreement with Rainbow. In fact, they can only hope that Twilight will survive this to see another dawn for Equestria.

"Just remember Twilight, from what Xul told us about the Empress, all I can say is that they're all blinded by a desperate struggle that went on for years. You and your friends have already proved yourselves by making it this far in defending Equestria from enemies not of this world." Luna said, mentioning Twilight's recent success. "Since you were able to get away from their grip, you might as well show them that Equestria will not be theirs for the taking."

"I understand." Twilight said, as she took a breather.

"Its just like what Discord said, its considered to be one of your tests to see if you're able to do our job." Celestia said, reminding her of what happened before the villianous trio attacked Canterlot back then. "I know I should feel disappointed of his actions, but whether or not it was his fault, these things will always happen over and over again no matter what. So, you might as well show them what you're good at."

"Thanks, Celestia." Twilight said as she made a smile one last time before wiping the blood off her head before putting her helmet back on.

"Good luck, Twi!!" Rainbow cheered.

As Twilight turned to face the Empress on her own, she draws out her rainbow sword from her scabbard before approaching the entrance. The moment Twilight's sword lit up, it made a small rainbow hue that is flowing through its metal.

For the Empress, Vanista came back as she drew out her rapier and pointed the blade towards the advancing purple armored alicorn. Before long, Vanista held her hand up towards the shield barrier as she used her dark magic coming out of her palm to create a small opening for her to pass through.

As a small hole opened up in the shield barrier, Vanista stepped into the palace courtyard with her rapier at the ready. When the opening behind Vanista closed up, she smirked at the purple alicorn while holding onto her rapier with both of her hands.

As Twilight leered at Vanista with her sword held by her magic, she gets ready to initiate a full frontal charge at the Sectanium Empress.

Without further a due, the Sectanium Empress and the Alicorn Princess of Equestria charged at each other to see who would win and who would lose, poising their blades to strike where it hurts.
> Chapter 32: Twilight vs Vanista
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"RRRRRAAAAAARRRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!" Twilight roared as she charged head-on, flapping her wings to increase her attacking speed to the fullest while pointing her sword towards the Empress.

At the same time, Vanista ran towards the purple alicorn like an angry bull on a rampage. In an instant, Vanista lunged her rapier in hopes of stabbing Twilight in the face. 

Both rulers made their move in a ferocious charge with both weapons and their magic in their possessions. Xul and Fluttershy couldn't help but shiver in fear that both of their friends, or former friends, would end up pitying themselves on the battlefield over the fact that Twilight and Vanista both already have something that is worth fighting for. However, as much as they both wanted to protest against such craziness, they were already warned by the Empress not to get involved for any reason.

From behind the UFF Marines up at the stairway in front of the palace entrance, Sonja is seen filming the duel between alien rulers for she wanted to put this in her new story. She can only hope that her story will finally include an ultimate victory for the UFF should the ruler of these pony lands would win against the Empress Vanista Rantu. Unless that is possible, Sonja will have to flee onboard Zeck's battlecruiser the moment Twilight will lose. 

Xul couldn't help but worry how will this fight end. In fact, she happens to be one of the few Sectaniums that suffered the most when Vanista slowly fell under the corruption so long ago. In fact, the real reason why Pam ended up as a slave on Terram is because she was too blind to see what has ever become of their life-long friend. In fact, because of Vanista's dark-crazed emotions, she was getting worse and worse every year. Xul didn't even know what to do to avoid all of this bloodshed, starting from the day that the Sectanium Empire rose up from the ashes back in Sacreus. She felt sad to think that her people would listen to some ruler so corrupt, so twisted, and so blinded with vengeance, despite how she knew that person for a long time. Why is it that there is no way for Vanista to come to her senses? Is it going to end with Twilight's demise or end with Vanista's demise? Who knows? 

For the side of the Sectanium Army looming at the bridge leading to the palace courtyard, Shinning started sweating underneath his gagged breath over fearing for his sister's life. She may taken down a path similar to his wife Princess Cadence, but he is afraid of seeing her fall before the might of the new enemy of Equestria. In fact, it doesn't change the fact that Twilight is still young at the time she was crowned Ruler of Equestria. So, it may cause a bit of a problem if any other creature outside of Equestria finds out about it.

As for Ash and Lord Hampt, they faced self-pity after taking in such a loss when they were both held prisoner first by the UFF, then by the Equines. 

Ever since they were held up in Canterlot, Ash didn't know who to blame for letting such an incident on Terram get out of control. She thought for sure that the Sectaniums would grant her a better life and a better future when they let her work for them at Terram. However, Ash felt even more nervous to think that EQ-3 was actually a young leader that isn't going to go down that easily despite being a little horse walking on all fours. It may be the time for Ash to reconsider who will be a better side to yield for since Twilight and her fellow Equines are slowly making a much more better impression on the battlefield than that of the UFF, not to mention that several ponies with the horns were just as fierce to that of the Warriors.

In the start of their duel, Vanista shoved rapid strikes at Twilight with her rapier before she held fast in blocking them with her rainbow sword. 

*WHOOSH! CLANG!*
*WHOOSH! CLANG!*
*WHOOSH! CLANG!*
*WHOOSH! CLANG!*
*WHOOSH! CLANG!*
*WHOOSH! CLANG!*

Barely enough time to react, Twilight flew backwards as she swung her sword at Vanista and unleashed an arc wave of rainbow colors at the Empress' face. In response, Vanista held up her hand and cast a psi-shield barrier while maintaining her footing against the arc wave attack. 

*SLAM! BOOM!*

Feeling the full impact of Twilight's wave attack from her sword, Vanista grunted as she felt herself skidding backwards while the ground in front of her exploded into a pillar of flying concrete and stone. As the small explosion stopped, Vanista was up against the wall of the shield barrier before seeing Twilight flying towards her while aiming the rainbow sword at her direction. Just as Twilight is about to stab Vanista, the Empress immediately dodged Twilight's blade before rolling away from the hovering alicorn pony.

Seeing an instant opening, Vanista held her rapier with both of her hands and attempted to slam the blade on top of Twilight's side. However, as soon as Twilight turned around, she swung her blade to her side in blocking the rapier from striking her.

*CLANG!!*

In a next attack, Twilight flew up into the air right above Vanista's level before trying to strike back with her sword on top of her face. However, Vanista blocked Twilight's sword with using the rapier with both her hands, right one on the grip and the left one on the blade.

*TING!!!*

As Twilight hit her sword on Vanista's rapier, the Empress grunted in pain as the impact pressurizes the rapier into the palm of her left hand, making it bleed a bit from the middle. The moment Vanista let out the pain from her left hand, she moved her rapier to her left and shoved the sword grip into Twilight's face.

*POW!!*

*CRASH!!*

Upon impact, Vanista smashed the grip of her rapier into the alicorn's face. In the resulting damage, Twilight's head recoiled backwards as she crashed backwards onto the pavement.

When Twilight got up on her hooves, she grunted in agony while underneath her helmet as blood came trickling down from the right side of her jaw. Wiping the blood off her jaw,  Twilight runs towards her enemy as she continues her fight against the Sectanium Empress. She flew up into the air again and this time she summoned a dozen duplicates of her rainbow sword with her magic before aiming them all towards Vanista.

"TRY DODGING THIS!!!" Twilight shouted as she unleashed a barrage of swords at the Empress.

*WHOOOOOOSSSSHHHH!!!*

Startled, Vanista activated her psi-shield in a huge, tower-like barrier while keeping her head down below it. As she kneed to the floor, Vanista did her best to remain in position as the duplicate swords were bouncing off her psi-shield when most of them punctured the floor in a shower of blades. All at once, Vanista could hear the endless shower of blades whooshing past her, forcing her to think up with another trick. She may need to act fast before Twilight gets the upper hand. The moment a light bulb lit up above her head, Vanista put her rapier back into her scabbard before her sword hand lit up in a bright red orb. She utters something in an dark ancient alien language that allows her to call out another spell in an instant.

*FLASH!!*

Just when Twilight heard something from Vanista that she couldn't really understand, Vanista raised her fist up in the air as it let out a red orb that expanded all over the area in a red-flashing effect. In an instant, all of Twilight's duplicate swords froze in place before they all disintegrated, much to her astonishment. Before long, Vanista disengaged her psi-shield before drawing out her rapier once again.

Undaunted by such an area of effect, Twilight flew up into the sky, making big flaps from her wings, before preparing to strike at the Sectanium Empress once again.

"Your powers are not going to scare me that easily, Twilight!!" Vanista hissed as she readied her rapier before attacking the alicorn from above. "They will all be mine, once I'm done with you!!!"

"Come and get me!!!" Twilight snarled as she lurched forward while in the air before dive bombing straight towards the Empress.

*WHAM!!!*

In close proximity, Twilight's and Vanista's blades clashed into each other while they both glared towards one another with fury in their eyes.




Somewhere in the Equis' orbit......

A fleet of 20 UFF ships have arrived with one of their flagships taking the lead. Before they had a chance to come any closer to Equiss, they ran into a fleet of Sectanium Battleships that haven't descended into the planet yet. However, it won't be long before the enemy will take notice of their presence since they're only 100km away from the UFF Fleet.

From the bridge of the UFF flagship, Commander Fenirius standing tall next to another Captain. This time, the captain of the UFF flagship happens to be another human like Zeck Stone. Unlike Zeck, he was seen with a eye patch covering up his left eye while wearing a white naval officer dress uniform and white cap.

"Captain Belial, we have arrived in the planet of Equis." Fenirius said as he saluted the captain of the UFF Flagship.

"Good work, gentlemen. It's time to get this show on the road." Belial exclaimed as he congratulated Fenirius and the rest of the fleet for making their way towards Zeck's current position. 

The moment Belial activates his communication channel, he attempts to reestablish contact with Admiral Wellington from somewhere inside the planet.

"Admiral Wellington!! This is Captain Belial. Are you still there?! The rest of the UFF Fleet has arrived!!!!" Belial spoke, trying to get the admiral his attention. 

At first, Belial didn't think that Wellington is still alive down there. Just when he is about to call in the Admiral again, he gets an immediate response that was somewhat static. Just when Belial readjusted the volume, he can finally hear the Admiral's distorted voice.

"Belial.......Canterlot........overrun............R-R-Request..........Rein....force....ments........."

Upon hearing the Admiral's broken-up voice, Belial can assume that the UFF inside Equiss needed help at once. 

With no time to spare, Belial relayed the Admiral's instructions to the rest of the UFF Fleet orbiting above Equiss.

"All vessels, prepare for battle. We have to punch through that Sectanium Fleet to aid the UFF forces occupying this planet."

Commander Fenirius also tries to establish communication to Monet's Battlecruiser from within the Fleet.

"Captain Monet, are you there?!"

"Copy, Commander!!!"

"Once we engage the Sectanium Fleet, you move past them to make way towards the planet's surface!!!" The Commander said, giving out orders to Captain Monet.

"It will be done, sir!!!" The female voice spoke, acknowledging the commander's immediate orders.

"Good. Prepare to engage!!!" 





Meanwhile back in Canterlot.......

In just several more parries and sword strikes, Vanista swatted Twilight away with her rapier forcing the alicorn to skid backwards 10 feet away from her position. Twilight was panting and grunting after receiving all sorts of small cuts on both of her front hooves while barely holding onto her sword with her magic. With every parry bearing down on her by Vanista, Twilight is slowly loosing her guard by a mere thread. However, she glared at the Empress in not wavering against her might because Twilight refuses to give up her life and her country. 

As Twilight spat out a drip of blood from her mouth, she sees Vanista lunging at her in preparing to lash another rapier strike at her face. This time, Twilight finally makes a counterattacking move. Just when Vanista jabbed her rapier at Twilight, she spread out her wings in a split-second and did an immediate back flip as both of her hind hooves knocked the Empress upside her head while dodging the pointed blade by a mere inch away from her face. 

*WA-POW!!*

Upon impact, Vanista was sent flying as she got struck by Twilight's hind, armored hooves, nearly cracking her chin as a squirt of blood came out of her mouth. Most of the Sectanium soldiers gasped in stunned horror as they see their Empress get flung backwards a few feet away from the purple pastel horse before she landed on top of the concrete pavement leading to the bridge outside of the palace courtyard. For Trine and Hampt, they were sweating in a total panic that their Empress may end up meeting her match despite her long-term dominating campaign.

*UGH!!*

Vanista grunted in pain as she felt her mouth bleeding for a bit before getting back up on her feet. After taking a few deep breaths, Vanista narrowed her eyes towards the purple pony while gripping her rapier tightly with only her right hand.

For Twilight, she regained her balance thanks to her wings before landing on all fours again on top of the pavement. After that, she readies herself for another enemy attack as Twilight held onto her sword with her mouth. She panted for a moment while holding her sword before Twilight circled around Vanista is if she was prey. The Empress held her rapier up to the middle of her face with her right grip while paying close attention to Twilight's footing.

In just two seconds, Twilight unfurls her wings again as she leaped up from the ground and zeroed straight towards Vanista, attempting to cut her with a horizontal sword strike. However, Vanista was already waiting for that moment to happen when suddenly she made another move that surprised Twilight in the last possible moment. 

The moment Twilight's sword clashed against Vanista's rapier, the Empress leaned her head back along with her blade before she summoned another red orb from her left hand. When the red orb encased her hand, Vanista clenched it into a fist as she is preparing to perform a powered-up attack. Vanista struck back at Twilight underneath her chest.

*BLAM!!!*

When Vanista's red orb struck at Twilight's underbelly, the orb fired out an upper, wide-spread force field that smashed the purple alicorn in which sends her flying beyond straight up into the air. Twilight ended up cough out a splosh of blood from her mouth before she loses her grip on her sword as it fell flat on the floor at the same time.

*POW!!*

While feeling the full brunt of Vanista's powered-up attack from her left fist, Twilight hit the back of her head up against the ceiling of the small shield dome before falling straight down in a smash.

*SMASH!!!*
*BOOM!!!*

"TWILIGHT!!!" The Mane 5 shrieked in horrified unison, realizing that their beloved ruler and friend was taken down. At the same time, Shinning made muffled screaming upon seeing his sister get knocked out up and down fearing that she is losing.

Twilight crashed down into the pavement a few feet in front of Vanista before leaving behind a small cloud of dust in its wake. As soon as the dust disappeared, Twilight is seen with her face flat on the pavement with all of her four hooves spread out like an "X." She didn't move. Seeing that Twilight is now flat on the ground motionless with her wings spread out on the floor, Vanista cackled out loud in triumph.

Upon seeing this, Celestia, Luna, Pam, and Xul all gasped in horror that their only hope for true salvation and redeemed friendship will go up in smoke. When Vanista slowly approached the frightened group of ponies and UFF marines, she starts taunting them as if she won again.

As for the remaining massive army of Sectanium Soldiers, Warriors, and Mandor Grunts, they all cackled as well thinking that their Empress has achieved another victory.

"Like what I'm saying, you're all fools to think you'd let her protect this country from me. Now then, you ponies will all have to say you're prayers!!"

Just before Vanista is about to snap her fingers in giving out the order to finish all of Canterlot off, she heard some screeching and rumbling coming from a distance away. However, the noises start to get louder as they are getting closer. In a sudden event, Vanista hears her phone ringing in an abrupt, alarming rate. As soon as Vanista takes out her phone, she starts to her a panicking voice coming from her flagship.

"Empress, we've got trouble!!! Enemy reinforcements arrived above orbit right behind us. WE'RE UNDER HEAVY ATTACK!! IT'S THE UFF ARMADA!!!" The Admiral's voice said, alerting the Empress in a terrified voice.

"W-WHAT?! That can't be!! H-H-How did they......??" Vanista shrieked as she replied in a frantic voice.

For the forces of Equestria and the UFF, they all looked at Vanista's panicked behavior from despair to confusion. Before long, 3 UFF battlecruisers have appeared right above the palace as it aimed all of its weapons at the Sectanium Battleships looming over the wrecked city of Canterlot.

Just when the UFF ships are about to open fire, Zeck's ship has taken off to rejoin the UFF Fleet as the Equestrian Royal Air Fleet were rallying around the Canterlot Palace.

Instantly, all of the UFF ships and the Equestrian Airships have opened fire at the Sectanium Fleet looming over Canterlot in an all-out aerial battle with laser cannons, missiles, and bombard cannons firing at will at the Sectanium Battleships and the Empress' flagship.

When the Royal airships opened fire with their bombard cannons, squads of unicorn guards also appeared on deck as they shoot out rapid-fire beams of magic at the Interceptors, with the UFF battlecruisers assisting them with constant fire from their laser cannons.

With the UFF Fleet and the Equestrian Royal Air Fleet currently engaging the Sectanium Fleet, forcing them to withdrawal, Discord appeared right in front of the Mane 5, Celestia, and Luna as he bear in really great news.

"Every pony, our allied nations from Mount Aris, the Changeling Kingdom, the Crystal Empire, and from the Dragonlands have all finally arrived. They're outside of Canterlot's main gates!!" Discord announced with a big, bright smile on his face.

As the ponies cheered that their friends from the other countries came, Vanista gets another call on her phone. This time, it is from General Zulux.

"Your majesty. We got massive movement coming in from the rear of our ranks. They're charging at us from behind. WE'RE SURROUNDED!!!!"

From a distance away, Vanista's eyes widened with horror as she sees that the rest of her army that is still outside of Canterlot were being overrun by various armies of creatures. She saw that her army is getting wasted by a large flock of giant lizards, ponies shimmering bright with crystalized lights, and huge flying bird-like aliens. Worse, some of Vanista's men are shooting amongst themselves only to shape shift into strange bug-eyed aliens before joining into the enemy's ranks.





Outside of the outer walls of Canterlot, there were dragons screeching as they flew down into the fray, breathing massive jets of fire in their wake. The moment they got struck, most of the Sectanium tanks disappeared into huge, flaming explosions.

In a foolish, desperate move, the Sectanium soldiers tried shooting down the giant lizards above them only to be met with them flapping their wings, creating big gusts of wind that knocked the evil aliens off their feet. Before they knew it, the lizards were shooting out huge fire balls at them, blasting the latter into a hellish bathe of fire.

In burning agony, the Sectanium soldiers were running around screaming in pain as the fire on their color skin melted away their flesh before they collapsed into a pile of burnt husks.

From within the army of dragons, Dragonlord Ember roared in a victorious bellow as she raised her dragon staff up into the air, while the red gem wrapped inside it started glowing as bright as the sun itself.

*BLAM!!!*

As one of the Sectanium officers tried to call in for back up he was immediately shoot by one of his own soldiers.

In a similar fashion, a dozen Sectanium soldiers started shooting at each other during the confusion before they shape-shift into changelings as they rallied alongside the dragons led by Ember.

"What the hell... ARGH!!!" One of the Sectanium soldiers screamed in terror only to be silenced by one of own comrades before shape-shifting into a changeling.

After the officer collapsed into a dead heap, the soldier that fired amongst himself shape-shift into a changeling under the league of King Thorax of the Changelings.

Startled by such an unexpected loss and an unexpected betrayal, the Sectaniums who are still loyal to the Empress formed up behind the Warriors. Not far from their position, Thorax makes his appearance as he leads the charge of his Changeling Army, dive bombing the alien invaders with their green magic spells.

"Let's go my fellow Changelings!! Drive them out of our friends' city!!!" 

With the Sectaniums running scared by such confusion and fear of getting shot at by their comrades, they also ran into a platoon strange creatures that came out of the river only to transform themselves into big, winged-like beasts with claws and beaks the size of Bowie knives.

As Queen Novo appeared from amongst the winged beasts, after jumping out of the river, she makes an ululating battle cry that her fellow hippogriffs can understand. In an act of aggression, she sound in the charge to take on the invaders head on.

"My daughter sends in her regards!! FOR MOUNT ERIS!!!" Queen Novo ululated as dauntlessly flew towards the alien invaders.

The army of Hippogriffs led by Novo flew forward as she raised her claws high up above her head before striking at the Sectanium invaders up close and in-person.

*SLASH!!! SLASH!!!*

*GAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!*

The Sectanium soldiers weren't able to act fast enough when they were met with claws shredding through their combat armor. Some even got bit on the neck before they had a chance to fire their weapons at the hippogriffs.

Speaking of which, the Warriors were also having a hard time dealing with the unexpected enemy reinforcements as well.

Just when the Sectanium Warriors are about to use their mind-control abilities on the rampaging dragons and changelings, they were met with a platoon of crystalized ponies that shot out massive beams of bright-blue light engulfing a group of them. They all screamed in agony, forcing themselves to cover up their eyes before getting pummeled by the ponies clad in crystalized armor, unable to fight back with their plasma blades and with their psi-shields.

Princess Cadence was seen flying above the charging crystal ponies as her horn lit up in a bright crystal-like aura as she fired her magic upon several Warriors all at once. Stunned by Cadence's spell, the Warriors felt that their third eye was bound by a power unlike any other. It turns out that they can't use their powers anymore when getting struck by the pink alicorn. So they were forced to fall back behind their fellow Sectanium Army ranks.

"Twilight! Shinning! Please, hang in there. I'm coming!!" Cadence muttered before raising her regal banner to lead her troops into battle. "FOR THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE!!! CHARGE!!!!"

Heeding Cadence's call, her crystal guard ponies charged forward alongside Novo's Hippogriff's army, Thorax's Changelings, and Ember's Dragon warriors head on.

In a panic, the Sectaniums and Warriors were shooting frantically at the three armies of creatures with everything they've got. Unfortunately, since there is enemies coming in from both air and land, the entire Sectanium Army is badly outnumbered from 2 to 5. With no other option but to retreat, the Sectanium Army was forced to fight their way out as they drew out their plasma blades and their long combat knives before trying make it back to their ships via teleporters. 





After seeing the rest of her army in total disarray by constant attacks from the armies of this planet and from the UFF Fleet, Vanista can only watch in horror that she is reaching the breaking point.

"NO!! This can't be.......!!!" Vanista gasped, realizing that, after all her years of conquest, she is finally sending herself and her army to their impeding doom. "Never in all my years have I lost in a major battle!!!"

"There's always the first time for everything, Empress Vanista...." A voice spoke from right behind the Empress. "Because as you can see........"

As soon as Vanista turned around, her eyes widened with shock that Princess Twilight is still alive when she got up on all fours. In an instant, Twilight she glared at the Sectanium Empress as she opened up her eyes as they turned white. The moment she feels a drool of blood coming out of her mouth, Twilight spits all of it out before wiping the rest of it away with her right hoof.

Celestia, Luna, and the Mane 5 smirked upon seeing Twilight get up to go for another round in her fight with the Empress.

"Everything that is happening to the rest of your army right now, is the result of how I carried out friendship in Equestria and beyond and I didn't do this alone. I had pony friends that were able to help me learn how to get along with others that isn't pony-like." Twilight bellowed as her horn lit up in a bright, rainbow glow. 

As soon as her horn charged up to the fullest, Twilight fired a massive rainbow beam at Vanista, forcing the latter to raise another psi-shield.

*SHOOOOOOMMMM!!!*

*KA-BLAM!!!!*

Unfortunately, as soon as the Rainbow beam struck Vanista's psi-shield, a massive explosion engulfed her entirely as she was sent flying over 15 feet above the ground, making her loose her grip on her rapier as well.

"EMPRESS!!!" Trine and Hampt screamed in horror.

"YAY, TWILIGHT!!!" Pinkie cheered at the top of her lungs, waving both her hooves up in the air. "KICK THAT MEANIE TO MOON!!!!"

"UUUUGGGGGHHHHH!!!"

After her fly through the air, Vanista landed with a loud thud on her back. She felt a burning pain coming from her spine for a moment before slowly getting back up on her feet. However, it wasn't long before Vanista also felt her left hand got crippled when using the psi-shield again. She grunted in agony while feeling the excruciating pain coming from her crippled hand before turning towards the white-eyed, purple alicorn horse.

"Every creature, go help the others secured all of Canterlot!! Twilight bellowed in a Royal Canterlot voice.

Once the small shield dome disappeared all over the palace, the remaining UFF Marines, the Royal Guard, the Mane 5, and the rest of the ponies defending Canterlot ran right past Twilight and Vanista as they made their way through the bridge before reengaging the Sectanium Army aiding Vanista.





Seeing that their army is getting attacked from both the front and the rear, General Zulux ordered his remaining men to fall back into the middle of the city to initiate a hot extract. He insist on getting his men out of Canterlot immediately before they get cornered in with no way out. On the run, the Sectanium army continues to get shot at from the back as the ponies are firing battle spells and crossbow bolts at them. Also, the UFF marines opened fire upon the Sectanium and Mandor forces while on foot. With both armies shooting at them, the Sectaniums are forced to fire back in order to slow down their advance before fleeing towards the rendezvous. 

For Shinning Armour, he felt relieved for a moment that his sister is able to get back up for another round with the evil empress. Before long, Celestia flew over to his side during the retaking of the rest of Canterlot as she burned away the ropes binding the unicorn stallion and removing the gag from his mouth. After that, Shinning thanked the alicorn mistress before he went with Celestia to help the other ponies drive away the alien invaders from their capital city of Equestria.

As for Trine, he hid in a nearby crate letting the Equestrian Army and the UFF marines get past him before getting out of his hiding spot and made his way to the entrance of the palace to help both Lord Hampt and Ash escape from the city. The moment he released Hampt from their captivity, the Sectanium Warrior went back into the palace while it was still emptied to find the source of his stolen powers. However, just as Trine released Ash from her bounds, she smacked at him much to his startled confusion.

"Ash?? W-Why??" Trine asked, feeling horrified upon seeing Ash's angry look in her eyes.

"I-I-Idiot!! I don't think we can put up with this anymore. I may not have any good ties with the UFF, but my loyalty to the Sectanium race is not getting me anywhere!!!" Ash exasperated.

"WHAT??" Trine gasped in a stuttered response. "WHY???!?"

"Ever since I was thrown into this dungeon, I thought about it over when one of those ponies came in to consult with me about the life that I want to live by." Ash continued on. "Well, guess what?! I didn't have the freedom to get the respect that I thought I deserved from my Sectanium allies, as much as I did from my fellow Mandors. After seeing how Twilight and her friends fought valiantly against them, I don't even see how you and your people are amazing anymore. In fact, the natives of this planet have already proved their point by making an aggressive stand against the Sectanium race in this huge city of theirs!! So, you might as well forget about me because I might as well start over again!!!"

"You can't really think you'd stay here, not after how they held you prisoner! What about your job at Terram??" Trine asked, protesting against Ash's changed senses.

"Well, I quit!!" Ash shouted back at Trine before she stormed off, not wanting to have anything to do with the Sectanium race in Canterlot anymore.

"Ash!! WAIT!!!" Trine said, as he tried to go after the female Mandor.

Unfortunately, before he could get Ash back, he was grabbed on the shoulder by General Zulux.

"Forget about her, Trine. This battle is lost!!! We are leaving now!!!" Zulux said, giving out orders.

"General. We can't leave the Empress and Lord Hampt behind!!!" Trine said, fearing for Vanista's life. "She's still fighting and Lord Hampt is inside the palace!!!"

"I'll take care of that. Just get the rest of our men out of the city. That's an order!!" Zulux shouted intensely, making Trine flinch.

Without another word, Trine went the other direction to catch up with the rest of the retreating Sectanium/ Mandor Army. As for Zulux, he went inside the palace to find Lord Hampt.





Just when Empress Vanista tried to hold her rapier in place, she insisted on keeping her guard up against Twilight's magic spells. However, when Twilight fired another massive beam of magic at the Empress, she got shoved back as her rapier shattered into a million pieces. Infuriated, Vanista's heirloom weapon was destroyed during her fight against Princess Twilight. No matter, Vanista still has dark powers to use since it is consider to be a last resort.

*Huff!*
*Huff!*

When she looked at Twilight and then both of her hands, Vanista growled as she clenched both of them before calling forth own dark powers. In the next second, the Empress gets enshrouded by a tall black pillar as she gets lifted up into the air with an ominous red serpentine spiraling around her. Both of her hands get encased by two huge black orbs as she aims both of them at Twilight, firing a powerful dark beam at the alicorn princess.

*SHAZAAAAAMMMM!!!*

Alarmed, Twilight unfurls her wings and takes flight straight up into the air and dodging Vanista's dark beam before she ascended up above her level.

*BOOM!!!*

The moment Twilight took up to the air once again, the dark beam only hit the concrete flooring of the courtyard where Twilight used to stand on before it blew up in a medium-sized crater.

While on the air, Twilight charged up her horn to full power in preparing to unleash a massive beam of rainbow colors upon a dark version of Empress Vanista.

"Are you sure there is no other way to resolve your problems back in your homeland?" Twilight asked before making her final move against the Empress. "There will no turning back if you keep fighting us!!! I guarantee that!!"

"You foul aliens are all the same anyway. Even if I were to be defeated for the very first time, I'll take you down with me!!!!" Vanista howled as she aimed both of her hands at Twilight again, powering them both up with her dark magic.

Without another word to say, Twilight narrowed her white, glowing eyes as she leaned her head back in firing her ultimate magic.

Just as Vanista fired her dark magic with both her hands at Twilight, the alicorn fired a huge rainbow laser at it all at once.

*SHOOOOMMMMM!!!*

*ZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAMMMMM!!!*

*POW!!!*

In a full collision, both huge beams blasted into each other as Twilight and Vanista struggled and grunted in pushing their powerful spells at each other. 

*RRRRRRUUUUUUUMMMBLE!!!*

Their clashing spells made a huge rumble that is shaking the entire palace courtyard, making the whole palace vibrate horrendously as Hampt and Zulux nearly lost their balance during the continuous. Just as they found each other in the palace foyer, the two Sectaniums feel the violent shift all around them inside the structure. They both struggled to hold onto anything sturdy nearby before making it out of the palace's entrance.

Vanista gritted her teeth as she put in more pressure into her dark beams, in hopes of bringing Twilight Sparkle down once and for all. Just as her beam is about to get closer to Twilight while holding her hands up, Vanista starts taunting the alicorn princess of her reckless acts against her alien Empire.

"Do you really think your entire planet can out smart an alien empire?! It doesn't change that fact that your country is still a tick compare to all of the planets that are part of the Sectanium Territory!!! This galaxy will be mine too because I AM ALL OF THE SECTANIUM!!!"

Twilight grunted in fury as she gritted her teeth while struggling to push back Vanista's dark magic away from her. Eventually, the dark magic has finally stopped in its tracks as Twilight's body started to glow white all around her. In a sudden twist, Twilight somehow was able to absorb all of Vanista's dark magic as she lifted her head up high into the sky as she combined it all with her rainbow magic into one humongous ball of swirling light and dark colors.

Vanista's eyes widened with total horror upon seeing that her magic got taken away from Twilight for a moment before she is met with the ultimate punishment for pushing her pride and her luck all the way to the edge.

OH MY GOD!!!

"Guess what Vanista?!" Twilight replied back before she shouted in a Royal Canterlot voice. "I........AM......ALL.........OF..............EQUESTRIA!!!!!"

*WHOOOOOOM!!*

*SLAM!! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!*

In an instant blast, Twilight slammed the entire ball of fused magic onto Vanista as she got drenched into a massive, light-screen explosion that made the dark pillar that she was in break apart. The Empress was screaming in total pain as she felt her skin burn horrendously from the inside out before she fell straight down from the air.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!*

*CRASH!!*

Just as Twilight reverted back to normal, she lowered herself down to the pavement of the palace courtyard only to see a huge shaped hole of the Empress herself. From the palace entrance, Lord Hampt and Zulux both gasped in horror that their Empress has faced defeat after seeing the whole finale before their very eyes.

"VANISTA!!!" Hampt and Zulux shrieked in horrified unison.

Ignoring the frightened voices of the two Sectaniums, Twilight dauntlessly approached the shaped hole on the ground before seeing Vanista slowly reach her hand out as she emerged from it. When Vanista appeared once again, her regal dress underneath all of her broken armor was burnt from the huge blast she took from Twilight. Her face was covered up in smudge of ash and dirt and her skin was totally bruised and scrapped with blood seep from her injuries when she hit the ground.

"Y-Y-You can't defeat me!!!" Vanista shuddered while taunting Twilight with an false conclusion. 

While struggling to hold onto herself in maintaining balance, Vanista slowly walked up to Twilight before reaching her hand straight to the alicorn's throat.

"You......You're.....You're just a......little......pastel......horse!!!"

Before Vanista could even grab Twilight by the neck, she swiped it away from her with her purple hoof before lifting the injured Empress off the ground with her telekinesis magic.

"I'm not really a little pastel horse!" Twilight responded before reconsidering herself. "I'm THE little pastel horse!!!"

Knowing that the Empress is no longer able to fight, Twilight hurled Vanista straight into the arms of Hampt and Zulux with the latter catching her immediately before they all fell over on their backs.

"OUCH!!" All three Sectaniums grunted in unison while on the ground on top of each other.

"If you think you can save our homeland from the Red Virus, I just want to let you know one thing about it." Lord Hampt said, reminding Twilight of what he knows about the plague in Sacreus. "There were other alien doctors that tried to find a cure for it ever since the first age of the Sectanium Race began. Unfortunately, that kind of mission went on for centuries with no effort. We already gave up saving our planet a long time ago in peaceful matters. So, if your doctors are any different from ours, then good luck with that!!!"


"Then again, there's always the first time for everything. If you don't want to spend the rest of your lives in Tartarus, then you might as well leave at once and never come back!!!" Twilight retorted as she glared at the three Sectaniums up front.

*HUFF!*
*HUFF!*
*HUFF!*

As Zulux and Hampt got back up on their feet and carried Vanista by putting her arms on both of their shoulders, she makes several remarks before activating the teleporter.

"How would I even know that you and your people not going to torment or humiliate us anyway? Did you even remember what was it felt like being bullied by aliens that aren't part of your own species? Do you honestly think that your friendship will save anyone else, let alone carry out their own freedom?? How did you even managed to get along with the other alien races when I could not??" Vanista sneered, before coughing out smoke from her mouth. "This fight will never be over. My children and my grandchildren will hear about my defeat. And they will avenge my loss!!!"

"What do you think??" Twilight said, again retorting Vanista's negative thoughts about her past. "I haven't given up on my ponies. Besides, even if they were to torment or humiliate me, they all just get carried away sometimes, like Discord for instance. In my experience, they will come to their senses sooner or later. Because you haven't understood them better like I did, you efforts so far are clearly misguided. You abandoned your own friends and dishonored yourself when fulfilling your destiny just to gain power all to yourself by taking matters into your own hands, as well as making forceful decrees that made every other creature suffer. There will always be a way to fix this, Vanista. You just have to open up your eyes more wider than usual. Even if your children will come fight me next in years to come, the morale of your entire country will diminish beyond saving. So, you might as well start over again with the neighboring races instead of continuing down this dark path."

"They never gave me a chance to express my positivity anyway. So, I can only pray that one day our amends will be realized!! You won for now, but we will remember this for the rest of our days. Farewell, Princess Twilight Sparkle." Vanista said back before she, Hampt, and Zulux teleported themselves away from the palace courtyard, disappearing all at once in a flash of yellow light.

As Twilight looked up far and wide, she sees Ember's dragons burning dozens of Sectanium Interceptors up above the sky before the rest of the Sectanium Fleet retreated. When the interceptors got struck with fire, they come crashing down into the forests and into the mountains outside of Canterlot. 

In a few minutes of walking out of the palace courtyard, Twilight looks down to the smoking city from a distance and sees that her friends, her army, and the rest of her allies are able route in all enemy stragglers. The surviving Sectanium and Mandor Armies have all recalled back to their ships via teleporters as they disappeared from Canterlot's city streets. After that, the rest of the surviving Sectanium and Mandor ships have left the planet empty-handed, disappearing via hyperspace.

Once the entire Sectanium Army and Fleet have vanished from sight, the sunlight rays shined down upon Twilight and all over the rest of Canterlot. Princess of Friendship and her Equestrian Army has at last helped the UFF achieved victory against the growing might of the Sectanium Empire. Twilight smiled for a bit before losing her momentum after putting up such a huge fight.

Feeling beat after enduring such blunt pain, long hours of fighting, and overexerting herself with such excessive powers, Twilight felt a bit dizzy before she collapsed onto her right side before she slowly fell asleep. As she closed her eyes, Twilight slowly makes gentle breathing, feeling relieved that she helped protect her kingdom from a mighty alien invasion.





From within the city, Zeck was able to see that the rest of the UFF Fleet as arrived to help clean up the mess in the sky above him. When the rest of his UFF marines see that the Sectanium Armada and their army disappeared, they have finally, after taking in so many losses, won against their enemy for the very first time. As the UFF marines cheered in victory, the Equestrian ponies, Changelings, Dragons, and the Hippogriffs have also made triumphant cheers, screeches, and roars in successfully defending Canterlot from the evil aliens.

"VICTORY!!! VICTORY IS OURS!!!" Celestia shouted out loud in triumph as she raised the Equestrian banner back and forth with her magic. At the same time, she spread out her huge, white wings in excitement.

Even the Mane 5, Shinning, and the rest of Twilight's friends all cheered in triumph as well.

Zeck felt even more amazed that all of these creatures in Equestria are able to make a good stand in which his men cannot. He finally made a smile. For Xuliana and Pamela, they both smiled too as they looked up to the sky with tears of happiness coming down from their eyes. As for Chmone, he couldn't help but feel awestruck by such a major victory. 

However, they still suffered a great amount of losses both inside and outside of Canterlot, much to Chmone's grief. All around the city streets, the battlefield as left Canterlot filled with dead ponies, Sectanium soldiers and Warriors, and a dozen of UFF marines. Even Anta was amongst the dead UFF soldiers. 

Outside of the gates, there where also dead Sectanium Soldiers, dead creatures, and wrecked hover tanks seen at the open field. Canterlot is left with a complete wreck filled with craters caused by explosions, wrecked catapults, destroyed bombard cannons, a massively damaged, outer wall, fallen guard towers, and a shattered gate at the main entrance. No matter, they will still give a proper burial to honor those that gave their blood to defend Equestria.

The day is theirs and all of Equestria is safe once again.
> Chapter 33: Victory Celebration in Canterlot
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

3 hours later after the achieving victory in defending Canterlot from the evil aliens..........

Most of the creatures were able to help the UFF gather all of their fallen comrades outside of Canterlot to uphold a crematory funeral. The Earth ponies and unicorns volunteered to build wooden platforms where they setup funeral pyres ready to be lit. In just 3 more hours of placing the bodies of their dead comrades on top of the funeral pyres, the rest of the Equestrian ponies, their allies, and the UFF all stood by as they bid farewell to those that sacrificed their lives in battle. Even Celestia, Luna, and Chmone paid their respects for their loyal comrades too. So without further a due, Ember gave out the order for her fellow dragons to light the funeral pyres with small jets of dragon fire coming out of their nostrils. Just like that, all of dead defenders disappear into the flames as they all turned to ash in half an hour later.

It's a shame that Princess Twilight Sparkle isn't here to see this since she's still trying to recover from her injuries after her one-on-one fight with Empress Vanista Rantu. However, most of the ponies believed it is better that they don't let Twilight see any of this since it will break her heart over the fact that she lost most of her friends in the battle at Canterlot, other than just her fellow ponies.





After 6 more hours of recovery, Twilight slowly opens up her eyes as she finds herself in her own bedroom inside her Royal Chambers. When Twilight is about to get up, she groaned in pain as she felt a bit of stiffness coming from her head and from her body. She sees that both of her front hooves are wrapped up with bandages, along with a body cast covering up her chest.

When she got out of bed and looked at herself in the mirror, Twilight sees that she has a white dress wrap covering her head. As she looked out towards from her bed at a nearby window, she sees through the window that the sky has turned dark outside of the palace, realizing that its nightfall now. She didn't realize that its already nightfall when she woke up. Is it possible for her to wake up in the middle of the night when every pony is still asleep or is something else going on that Twilight needs to attend to? The only way to answer that is by getting out of bed and to investigate around the palace.

No longer wearing her regal armor, Twilight makes her way to the exit of her chambers only to be greeted by a wailing little green dragon.

"Oh Twilight!! I thought you wouldn't wake up!! We were so worried!!!" Spike wailed as he hugged Twilight in an instant.

"Spike?? What happened? Where is every pony else??" Twilight said, feeling surprised by such an embrace by her right-hoof dragon.

"We all saw the whole thing behind us while we were securing the rest of Canterlot. You just like, hurled a massive orb of magic at that evil creature that sent her crashing into the ground, flat like a pancake. Rainbow Dash was raving with awestruck excitement when she saw you back there. It was amazing!!! But you were badly bruised and out cold when we saw you outside of the palace courtyard." Spike informed in an exasperated tone. "Anyway, they were able to you bring back here to recover. Aside from all that, they're all waiting for you at the great hall!!"

"Okay, then. I guess it's time that I shall give our new friends another honorable reception!!" Twilight said, feeling a bit anxious to see the rest of her friends.

As Twilight and Spike left the Royal Chambers, they both flew past the throne room to see a huge congratulating sight on the other side of the Canterlot Palace.





On the way to the Great Hall, Twilight puts on her crown and her regal necklace on top of the bandage dress wounds wrapped around her head and body. For Spike, he put on his medallion in which symbolizes his position as Twilight's Royal Advisor.

The moment they stepped into Great Hall within Canterlot, Twilight and Spike were both greeted by two rows of cannons shooting out confetti from both left and right as a sign of praise and victorious accomplishment. At the same time, every creature, including all of the fillies, mares, and gentlecolts in Canterlot and in Ponyville, was seen sitting at their tables as they all cheered, raising their hands, claws, and hoofs with their glasses full of apple cider and grape juice. They all have food in front of the table as well, including grapes, oranges, apples, lettuce, pies, pastries, fries, and hayburgers.

"TWILIGHT!!"
"TWILIGHT!!"
"TWILIGHT!!"
"TWILIGHT!!"

All around the alicorn and the little dragon, they see changelings, ponies, hippogriffs, dragons, and all sorts of creatures from the UFF shouting out Twilight's name in such thrill and excitement. Even the Mane 5, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Shinning Armour, Starlight, the Pillars of Equestria, and Discord were all happy and excited to see Twilight again after making a full recovery from the siege of Canterlot. 

As soon as Twilight turned towards the people from the UFF, she notices that they all have changed their clothes from military to a formal appearance. The moment Rarity looked at Twilight from her seat next to the rest of the Mane 5, she winked at Princess Twilight for she managed to create some experimental fashion designs for her new friends in her Canterlot Boutique, followed by a happy squeal. In fact, Sassy Saddles was also there sitting next to Rarity where she gave the unicorn fashionista a friendly elbow bump.

Zeck, Chmone, Fenirius, and Derek are all wearing ceremonial, marine uniforms which happen to be black, dress clothes with golden epaulets and red linings. Just like their officer uniforms, they still carry their badges on their right, upper chest on their ceremonial uniforms.

For Pamela, Xuliana, Monet and Sonja they're all wearing different lovely women dresses, much to Rarity's delight. When Rarity made the dresses before attending Twilight's Royal Reception in the palace, she left them all glowing with beautiful jewelry and fabric in each and every one of them.

Xuliana was seen wearing a long purple tube top dress reaching down to her ankles, only showing her bare, blue shoulders and her upper, flat chest, showing only the top of her curves. She also has small, blue earrings dangling on the bottom of both her ears and has purple velvet ankle strap heels for her feet. On her chest, Xul is wearing necklace around her neck, which is filled with small blue, purple, and magenta diamonds that Rarity used from her diamond box. When Xuliana looked down at herself over what she is wearing right now, she started blushing like crazy, realizing just how Rarity made her into one beautiful lady. 

Pamela is now wearing a yellow, floral sundress that reached down from her bare shoulders to her waist. For her lower half, Pam is wearing a medium-sized green skirt reaching down a few inches above her feet. Her skirt is also embroidered with yellow linings and sewn rubies all around her waist. For her feet, Pam has blue female two-piece dress sandals. Pam couldn't thank Rarity enough for making such a gorgeous design.

Monet is seen with a crown of purple jewelry on top of her head, wearing an sleeveless emerald dress that is highly split. She was giggling at herself when Rarity gave her a free, generous offer in having dress suited for her design. On her chest, she wore a golden necklace with a medium-sized sapphire gem encased in the middle of the accessory. Her feet is seen wearing yellow garvery sandals with knotted straps wrapped around her ankles.

For Sonja Stone, as a human journalist accompanying the UFF, she is seen wearing a simple red, sleeveless dress with a solid, pleated bow flowing around waist as it reached down to her knees. On her hair, she also has a yellow braid tied to the back of her head, making her hair bind together in one medium-length pony-tail. On her right ear, Sonja has a topaz earring hanging on her ear lob. For her left ear, she has a purple diamond earring hanging. For her feet, Sonja is wearing black dress shoes with a flashing red diamond sewn on its top front tip. 

When Sonja looked at Rarity and Zeck, she blushed a little, unlike Xul, before chuckling to herself to think that such a pony could create such a fabulous fashion design without hesitation. In fact, Twilight grinned with delight to think that Rarity would actually help all of those new female friends of hers get ready for the honorable reception. Speaking of which, Twilight started to blush too after hearing such praising and cheering for all corners of the Great Hall.

*BLAARRRRRGGGGHHH!*

In the next minute of praising the Princess of Friendship, one of Twilight's guards blew out the horn as he ordered every creature in the great hall to settle down from their excited behavior. The moment every creature fell into silence, they let Twilight sit on the throne in front of the entire audience before carrying out her victory speech.

"Citizens of Equestria and beyond, I would like to thank the heroes of the UFF for aiding us in driving out the invaders that threatened to take our lands. This is the day where we aided our new friends in making a comeback after suffering under the hands of the very evil aliens that threatened me shortly after the day I ascended the throne in Canterlot." Twilight announced as she used her magic to hold up a goblet filled with apple cider next to her. "Captain Zeck Stone! Sir Chmone! Lady Xuliana Sona!! Please proceed to the front!!"

Upon hearing Twilight's request, Zeck, Chmone, and Xul came out of their seats as they anxiously went up to Twilight before they kneel before her hooves. Smiling with delight, Twilight took out a wide red case that was being held by her Royal Advisor Spike before opening it up. When Twilight put down her goblet on her left armrest, she used her telekinesis to take out a couple of medals and placed them all on the necks of the two UFF officers and the allied Sectanium women as way of congratulating them for helping Twilight defend Canterlot from the invasion. As they felt that the medals are dangling around their necks, Zeck, Xul, and Chmone were all shocked to think that they actually were granted with respect and admiration by the Princess of Friendship in front of every creature in the great hall.

All at the same time, Twilight turned towards one of her castle unicorn maids as she nodded at the mare with a smile on her face. Seeing this, the maid turned towards the curtains. As soon as the unicorn maid used her magic to open up the curtains, it revealed another stained glass window of ponies and friendly aliens fighting against monsters that came from the stars, shooting out magic and firearms at the monsters' ships above them. The window is built to explain the story of how Equestria has made contact with various friendly races of aliens that helped them defend their homeland against a threat that is not of their world. Upon seeing the new stained glass window on the left side of the Great Hall, every creature was startled and awestruck by its art and its features.

"Lets all give it up for these honorable heroes of the United Freedom Fighters and for their acts of bravery. Despite their race and where they come from, they all have a desire to do the right thing not just for me but also for all the innocent creatures that were walked on top of by their enemies. I already proved my worth to them after I helped their friends escape from hostile alien territory. In return, I gave them all a chance for them to prove their undisputed friendship by helping us ponies save Equestria from the Sectanium Empire on the battlefield. I may have drove away the evil alien Empress, though wasn't just me that led all of Equestria and the UFF to victory. It was thanks to their unified power, their commitment, their heroism, and their friendship that gave me the opportunity to do what the UFF could not when facing their toughest foes yet. I wouldn't be standing here today if it weren't for them since they honor us all with their expertise in protecting the innocent!! My power lies within the strength of our friends and our people inside and outside of Equestria!!"

Feeling praised by such a success mentioned from Twilight, all three UFF members felt nervous when they see most of the creatures of Equestria clapped their hooves in front of them before they went back to their seats. Once that's done, Pam and Derek were both feeling satisfied that Twilight gave the rest of their faction the credit and respect they deserve for helping protect Equestria from the invasion. For the rest of the UFF officers and the marines, such as Monet, Belial, and Fernirius, they smiled for a bit as if Twilight sees them as another opportunity to spread friendship across the stars.

"Tonight, we shall celebrate to those who gave their blood and tears to defend Equestria and our allied, neighboring nations!!" Twilight clamored as she raised her goblet up high with her magic. "TO OUR FRIENDS!!!"

"TO OUR FRIENDS!!!!" All of the creatures and humans exclaimed in unison as they all raised her cups of their favorite drinks up high.

In several minutes after Twilight's victory speech, all of the creatures started digging into the food at their table as they laughed and chatted to each other one another. In fact, Zeck wasn't that only one that was able to use the translator when socializing with the ponies and their friends but also Belial and several other UFF captains are able to as well. They couldn't help but chuckle at each other when they socialized with most of Twilight's friends and family. There were also little fillies that wanted to get several UFF officers their autographs, as well as autographs from Princess Twilight Sparkle and Spike.

From within the crowd of celebrating party goers, Xul stood up from the table and walked towards a nearby window.
As Xul looked far beyond the window from the Palace's Great Hall, she never felt so happy over that fact that she is able to find more better friends in Equestria than that of in Sacreus. In her heart, she was living in a dream of harmony and where creatures are able to survive and fight together. When she looked up to the windows leading outside of the palace great hall, Xul imagined if her family were to be living here too.

Mom. Dad. If only you were all here to see this, along with the rest of my brothers and sisters...... Xul thought as she came up to the window looking up to the horizon with a smile on her face.

She closed her eyes once again as a tear fell from her eye. Seeing this, Twilight flew out from her throne to check up on Xul to see if she's doing okay.

As soon as Twilight landed on all fours behind Xul, she walked up to the Sectanium woman for comfort.

"So Xul, did you miss your family after all those years in self-exile?" Twilight asked with curiosity.

Upon hearing Twilight's question, Xul opened up her eyes to see the purple alicorn walking towards her in concern. Though, she couldn't help but sniffle a moment before reply back to Twilight.

"I do, Twilight..... I just wish my people would find happiness too, just like yours did." Xul said as she turned to face the happy ponies partying with the UFF people. 

At one of the tables, Chmone, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack are going for a drinking contest with Apple Cider much to Pinkie's bouncing delight. While Pinkie was spectating, Rainbow was drinking as fast as a race car while Chmone and Applejack were getting more and more dizzy after drinking like 5 or 6 glasses of sizzling cider. 

Before they knew it, Berry Punch popped up at the table and chugged down a whole barrel of Apple Cider right in the middle of the drinking group.

*GLUG!*
*GLUG!*
*GLUG!*
*GLUUUUAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGH!!* *SMASH!!*

Just like that, Berry Punch landed right on top on the table face down as the barrel crashed on top of Chmone. Before he knew it, Chmone was trapped inside the barrel unable to see what is around him.

"Hey!! Who turned out the lights??!!! *hick*" Chmone shrieked as he got out from his seat. Not knowing where he was going, Chmone crashed into Applejack as he knocked the earth pony mare off her seat. "Where is everybody??"

"HEY!! WATCH WER YA GOING YA CLUMSY MULE!! *HICK* Applejack screamed as she felt his mass landing right on top of her. "Can somepony get him off me???!!!"

*HICK!!*

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" Rainbow laughed out loud seeing Chmone crash into Applejack with a huge barrel over his head.

In the next second, Chmone started rolling like a log while still inside the barrel nearly hitting a group of intoxicated ponies drinking sizzling apple cider to the fullest, oblivious to the oncoming alien.

*CRASH!!!*

Just like that, the barrel broke with Chmone collapsed on top of the ponies up against the wall on the left of the Great Hall.

Upon seeing all of that, every creature started laughing their heads off along with Rainbow Dash. Even Zeck, Discord, and Pinkie couldn't hold it in anymore as they all started bursting with laughter, filling out the entire room with such comical noises.

As for Xul and Twilight, they both giggled to themselves before going back to their conversation.

"You know, you could hang out with us if you like. Some of my friends can show you around." Twilight said as she smiled at Xul.

"I guess its just like what Zeck said. You're pretty impressive for so many things, despite being an alien monarch. I suppose I don't mind hanging around in Equestria for awhile." Xul said, chuckling a bit before smiling back. "I never knew your friends are quite a happy, amusing bunch."

"Well, you've got Pinkie Pie to thank for because she never runs out of ideas to make people happy and laugh." Twilight grinned.

"Hey, Twilight. I do have a request for you." Admiral Wellington said as he came up to Twilight.

"Yes, Derek?!" 

"You don't mind if we setup our new military port above your planet's orbit, do you?" 

"What do you think guys?!" Twilight asked as she turned to face Celestia, Luna, and the Mane 5.

"Well, I'm not sure that's a good idea." Luna said, still feeling skeptical over what happened in the past when she and her sister made contact with creatures from other planets. "I'm still feeling a bit nervous over these new guests looming over our land."

"Come on, Luna. You should be grateful they were able to help you make it back to Canterlot during the battle taking place yesterday. Besides, they already helped Princess Twilight defend this place from the invasion, didn't they?!" Celestia said to her younger sister. "If they didn't intervene in time, Twilight would get locked up again in enemy territory and we wouldn't stand a chance to save her anymore."

After sighing for a moment, Luna couldn't come up with a decision just yet. However, since Zeck saved her from making a reckless move against the Warriors when the enemy soldiers intervened, Luna felt like that it may be the time to reconsider her negative viewpoint of the creatures from the UFF. 

Of course, she didn't want this country to fall prey to any selfish nation like the Storm Guard. It's bad enough that Twilight was forced to rely on a group of creatures that she didn't have any control or command over. However, since they already treated Twilight nicely for several weeks now, Luna has to reach a verdict to pay them back. So, without further a due, Luna makes only one response to Admiral Wellington. 

"Please, Luna. It will be a matter of time before they come back stronger and if they attack our lands again, we need to at least stay one step ahead of them." Twilight pleaded the dark-blue alicorn mistress.

"Okay. Okay." Luna said, finally accepting Wellington's request.

As most of the UFF officers cheered with their hands raised with their drinking glasses, Ash finally makes her appearance with every pony and UFF member looking straight at her. Despite showing her true colors to her former allies, the female Mandor is still being escorted under heavy guard by Tempest Shadow and Flash Mangus. Though, upon seeing her in her sights, Twilight orders both of her guards to stand down before making a personal discussion with the Mandor.

When Twilight walks up a couple of feet towards the Mandor, she sees Ash now wearing a plain red T-shirt and brown pants with dark-green shoes for her feet. Ash couldn't help but feel pretty nervous about what will become of her fate now. However, it wasn't long before Fluttershy was able to consult her all the good things that Twilight has done apart from the so-called superior Sectanium race. As of now, Ash took a deep breath before facing the Princess of Friendship one more time.

"So Ash, have you finally learned your lesson?" Twilight asked as Zeck raised the translator behind her.

"I do. I'll accept what punishment you think is fair because I don't have any excuse for what I did."

"Fluttershy, what do you think?" Twilight asked as she turned to the yellow pegasus.

"Well, she still has a lot to learn outside of the small area that she was working in. So, maybe you should try to make some arrangements first before she gets punished." Fluttershy said, addressing some suggestions to Twilight.

"In that case....." Twilight replied before making her decision. "Ash, since we haven't really met just yet. I'll still give you another chance to make up for the mistakes you made with the Sectanium fiends."

"Are you sure about that?" Ash asked, with her eyebrows lifted up out of anxiety.

"Since you didn't leave with the Empress after their defeat and for some very valid reasons, you might as well start over with me and my ponies. If you promise me that you be nice to my friends and my subjects, I won't have you sentenced to community service while working in the Rock Mines that Pinkie's family owns." Twilight added in.

"I understand, your highness." Ash said feeling satisfied in accepting a better resolution, than rather getting punished right off the bat. 

"So tell me, Ash, are the other Mandors really proud of themselves when allying with the Sectanium Empire?!" 

"Not really. When the Empress reached out to our planet, we tried to repel against their advances. But just like with the other races, we green-raced creatures are no match against the aliens superior in battle. So, our ruler made a deal with Empress Vanista in trading some of our technology to them in exchange for the lives of my people, as well as sending in our Army reserves to back them up." Ash said, briefly. "Of course, we did send in some of our scientists to deal with the Red Virus but it was fruitless. So, we had no other option but to submit to them just to avoid being enslaved."

"Then I guess you need help too." Fluttershy pondered. "We will find a way to work something out with your people one day. That is, if you'll accept our friendship first."

"Thank you so much, Fluttershy." Ash said as she bowed to both the pegasus and alicorn up front. "I won't disappoint either of you."

"Good to hear." Twilight and Fluttershy replied in unison as they both smiled at Ash.

As the lights in the Great Hall turned off, the dark room is soon filled with neon lights moving in several directions before all of them are pointing at the stage that Pinkie Pie is on. Behind the pink earth pony, a huge trapdoor opened up with pink smoke spewing from it, nearly filling up the entire room as ponies and creatures were all exclaiming with excitement and interests.

*OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH!

*AAAAAWWWWWWWWWWW!!*

In just one minute, a platform rose up from the open trapdoor as a group of dark pony silhouettes appear before the crowd holding musical instruments. One with a cello, one with a DJ set, one with a piano, and one with the speakers in front of her. Before they knew it, all of the ponies on the stage with Pinkie reveal themselves to be Vinyl Scratch with her DJ Set and Player, Octavia Melody with Cello, Rara with her grand piano, and Songbird Serenade who is holding mic with her wings!! Upon seeing their favorite musicians, every pony started cheering and clapping their hooves all at once.

"This song we all wrote is dedicated to honor Princess Twilight's Return and to honor our new heroes of Equestria!!!" Serenade announced as she laid the mic in front of her before starting the song with Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie Pie grinned with delight as she came up to the stage at the left of the Great Hall, making her announcement loud and clear.

"IS EVERY PONY AND CREATURE READY TO PARTY??!!!!!" Pinkie Pie smiled as she raised her hoof up to the ceiling. "HERE WEEEEEEEEE GOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

As the song starts, the ponies behind Pinkie Pie and Songbird started playing their music instruments while Vinyl Scratch started scratching her records on top of her DJ set with her hoof while staying rhythm with beat.

"Almost heaven, West Neighagra......
Blue-ridge Mountains, Saddlebrook River....."

As Pinkie sang the first lines of the song, Twilight flies up next to her before carrying out the next part of the song.

"Life is out there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains
Flowing like the breeze"


As Twilight, Pinkie, Rara, and Songbird sang together in the next part, two pillars of purple mists spewed out from both sides of the stage while the other ponies and creatures started cheering on throughout the progressing song.

PONY ROADS!!!
Take me home......
To the place.......where I BELONG!!!

The crowd started woooing for the three ponies as they all clapped their hooves together in such spectacular encore.

West Neighagra......
Mountain Mamma......
Take me home......Pony Roads

Xul and Pam couldn't help but laugh together as they both clapped their hands to themselves as they cheered for Twilight's beautiful singing voice in the next phase of the song.

All my memories....Gathered around her......
Miner's Lady....Stranger to blue waters......


At the top of her singing voice, Twilight spreads out her wings as she flew up to the ceiling while looking up with joy, with her mouth wide open and with her arms stretched out as wide as the sun.

Dark and dusty....Painted on the SKYYYYYYYYY!!!
Misty tails the moonlights 
With tear drops in my eye!!!

While up in the air, Twilight glided across the great hall as she left behind a magical trail of misty rainbow colors coming out of her wings as she circled around before landed back on top of the stage. At the same time, Xul and Zeck could feel the mist showering them from above. For Xul, she made a slight blush upon seeing the mist on lay on top of her lovely bare shoulders and on her chest before she smiled at Twilight.

Pony Roaaaaaaads....
Take me home.....
To the place......where I beloooooooong.....
West Neighagra.......Mountain Mamma
Take me home.....Pony Roads!!!

As the song swells further with Songbird and Twilight in a vocal tone, the room went dark once again before it lit up with small spotlights illuminating the stage with a bright blue moon. Behind the musician ponies, Twilight, Songbird, and Pinkie, an image of the Crescent Moon rose up against the wall, letting out a serene, bright, blue background screen that is shooting out from a nearby projection on one of the tables at the right corner of the Great Hall. Feeling delightful by such an illuminating background, Twilight carries out her singing vocal range further.

"I hear the voices from the night that she calls me.....
The Dream Realm reminds me of my kingdom far away.....
Flying down the road, I get the feeling that should've been home....
Yesterday.....Yesterdaaaaaaaaaay......."

While the singing intensifies with a soothing voice, the ponies and creatures all started clamoring with awestruck with encore. With the night still early, every creature and pony was singing to the beat while celebrating their victory to the fullest. For Pam and Xul, they both smiled peacefully as tears of happiness came down on their cheeks as they looked up towards the music stage.

PONY ROADS!!!
Take me home......
To the place....... where I BELONG!!!
West Neighagra......
Mountain Mamma......
Take me home......Pony Roads....
Take me home......Pony Roads!!
> Chapter 34: Departing Ways
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

For two years of visiting Equestria, Admiral Derek has managed to establish a new UFF military port 100km outside of Equiss' Orbit to ensure that the land of ponies will be supported when another alien attack comes their way, with the aid of Commander Fenirius and Captain Monet. Thankfully, during those two years, the Sectanium Empire didn't initiate any more attacks after their first major defeat in Equestria. From the account of UFF's spies, they're still struggling to recover from their losses after getting overwhelmed by such numbers, not to mention that the Empress is feeling traumatized after losing most of her Warriors during the battle in Equestria. As a result for her failure, Empress Vanista remained idle back in Sacreus, unable to expand their territory any further.

As for Twilight, because she rules over Equestria, she went back to doing her Royal duties around Canterlot and responding to various assignments from the other allied nations for aid. Thankfully, Twilight already managed to setup several guard divisions to escort her at 24/7 shifts that will be called in when ordered so that she won't get taken away without warning again. Because of all that, she can't help her UFF friends tour around the pony lands. So, she let her pony friends take that job instead. 

For the Sectanium stragglers that were rounded up by the Equestrian Royal Guard, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were able to make Dialuria confess her guilt. During her interrogation in the dungeons underneath Canterlot, Dialuria admitted that she was the one responsible for pony napping Princess Twilight Sparkle after hours of being glared at and by being terrorized by Pinkie's makeshift room of horrors. As soon as Pinkie and Fluttershy relayed Janus' confession to Twilight, the Princess of Friendship has sentenced Janus and the prisoners to 25 years in Tartarus, harvesting gems in the mines.

At the same time during the 2-year construction of the new UFF military port, Zeck, Xul, Pam, Chmone, and Sonja have made a couple of trips outside of Equestria as they have taken a tour around the countryside with the aid of the Mane 5, Celestia, and Luna. They couldn't help but feel delighted to see that most of the ponies in their culture did is pretty similar to what any other human would've done. Before they went on their tour around Equestria, Twilight did loan two huge bags full of Equestrian bits, which are used as part of the country's currency to buy stuff with, to Xul and Zeck. She reminded both of them to spend it wisely during their visit in Equestria. 

When touring around Canterlot, Celestia showed Xul and Zeck the School of Magic for Gifted Unicorns since she used to run that place as their headmare before she retired. As of now, Twilight has been given full authority to run Celestia's former school of gifted unicorns after her coronation; it's also due to the fact that Twilight used to study in that school when she was still a filly back then. Amazed by how Twilight was able to learn a lot in Celestia's School and all over Canterlot, Xul used some of the money Twilight lended her to buy several educational and history books from the School Bookstore just to understand Equestria's culture in a more better method than from what Twilight elaborated.

During their 3-day tour around Ponyville, Zeck, Ash, and Xul felt totally amazed to see such ponies make use of their time by doing things that humans and other aliens could not. In the following seasons, they also witness the experience of Nightmare Night, which is similar to that of Halloween on Earth except it was dedicated by the legend of Nightmare Moon, and Heart's Warming Eve, similar to that of X-Mas on Earth much to their thrilling amusement. After three months of Hearts Warming Eve, Xul learned that the ponies follow a traditional schedule in cleaning up winter to make way for the spring, since it wasn't normal for a human to do so on Earth. They all find it surprising that most of the ponies are really good at working hard to help maintain their settlements during the seasons. In fact, the Mane 5 all have Twilight to thank for since her organizing skills are part of her utmost expertise. Because of Twilight's organizing aid, they were able to complete Winter Wrap Up before meeting the deadline in Ponyville. 

Later on, Zeck and Chmone visited the School of Friendship while touring around the area thanks to Headmare Starlight Glimmer and Vice-Headmare Sunburst. As they toured around the school, Xul couldn't help but feel totally amazed when learning about how Twilight was able to open up the school for every creature to learn about friendship. For Zeck and Chmone, they both felt totally nostalgic to think that these ponies can really learn about almost anything just as much as humans and the other aliens could like Twilight did. In fact, she and the Mane 5 have Chacellor Neighsayer to thank for. It wasn't easy to convince him to let every creature attend the school other than ponies at first. However, ever since the Young Six saved him and the school from being sabotaged by Cozy Glow, Neighsayer had finally learned his lesson in not judging a creature by their past nature. As of now, Neighsayer has fully accepted Twilight's teachings of friendship and made several arrangements to allow young dragons, yaks, changelings, kirin, griffons, and hippogriffs to attend the school the same way the other ponies would. For Xul, she finds all of the students attending the School of Friendship to be very fascinating beyond what she would expect from them. 

From Zeck's point of view, he couldn't imagine how much credibility Twilight was able to gain after accepting the friendship of other creatures outside of Equestria. For Xul, when seeing Twilight's Castle and the School of Friendship, she felt totally amazed by how such a little pony can achieve such a big dream thanks to the aid of her friends. In Ash's POV, she decided to take notes over what she, Xul, Pam, and Sonja went through during their tour around Ponyville. Zeck may have find everything in Ponyville overwhelming but it was thanks to Xul and Sonja that they were able to record most of the Equestrian Culture down in their journals and notebooks.

When they spent some of their time in Dodge Junction and Appleloosa for a few weeks learning more about how most of the ponies were able to socialize with buffalos, Kirin, and the griffons. Chmone felt a bit nostalgic to meet several creatures that look pretty rough and stern-looking. However, he did his best to stay cool since Applejack and Rainbow already know how most of those creatures lived their life by before they accepted their friendship.

In the Crystal Empire, Xul and Pam couldn't help but feel totally amazed by such crystalized environment as well as seeing so many crystalized products being harvested, manufactured, and sold on the market. At the same time, Rarity also felt obsessed in purchasing crystalized jewelry to help improve her fashion designs in her boutiques in Canterlot, Ponyville, and in Manehattan. Heeding Twilight's advice over the money she lend them during their visit, Xul only bought crystalized souvenirs that she can only bring onboard Zeck's ship; she only got 5 jewelry necklaces made out of crystals and a light-blue sundress embroidered with blue, crystalized diamonds that Rarity personally designed for her in Ponyville. 

When they stopped by Yakyakistan, most of the UFF were feeling startled and frightened by such a rowdy atmosphere caused by the locale yaks living there. Of course, Pinkie did her best to make sure they all stay cool since she is very aware of their natural-born traditions. In fact, their leader Prince Rutherford already address Pinkie as an honorable yak since she is the only pony that was able to understand him at first hoof before the rest of her pony friends did. Though, Zeck and Xul felt a bit shaken after putting up with Rutherford's obnoxious bellowing and stomping inside his village. No matter, they still were able to trade in stories about their adventures in space with the Yak Prince much to his excitement. Though, its a shame that Rutherford couldn't help out since he didn't have enough yak warriors to spare in the battlefield yet. However, upon hearing how the UFF helped defend Canterlot all over the news, Rutherford insisted on making up to his lack of aid by sending a battalion of yak warriors led by General Pious Tusk in taking on the enemies that threatened the Ruler of Equestria openly.

In the Changeling Kingdom, Xul felt a bit jealous over the fact that most of the Changelings there can actually disguise themselves into almost any creature they could think of. Since it didn't matter who or what, Xul couldn't imagine how they would help out the UFF as spies too. In fact, Xul was thrilled to hear that Thorax and his kin intercepted the Sectanium forces besieging Canterlot earlier by disguising themselves as her own kind. 

In Manehattan, Xul and Pam could see that most of the city around them is almost just as futuristic to that of Sacreus. In fact, while walking with the Mane 5 down the metropolitan streets, they all stopped by at Saddle Row N Rec Boutique so that Rarity can check up how Coco Pommel is doing. As the store manager of the Manehattan Boutique, Coco has already made several unique dress embroidered with pink and purple sashes ready to try out. Seeing this, Rarity's started to have stars in her eyes while showing an intense, creepy grin. It's as if Rarity had another opportunity to have her guests to try on new dresses.

Rarity used her magic to transfigure most of the dresses Coco made to have Pam, Xul, and Ash try on. All three alien women couldn't help but feel nervicted when being presented up front while wearing the dresses that Rarity made for them during her latest fashion show in the Manehattan theater. However, after receiving all sorts of positive appeals thanks to Hoity Toity and Photo Finish, Xul and Pam couldn't help but giggle with such alluring admiration. After the fashion shows, Rarity sold Coco's designed dresses to Xul and Pam for a lower cost thanks to Twilight's royal approval. They each had only one big paper bag stuffed with some of the best dresses that Rarity gave them during their tour around Manehattan.  Xul couldn't imagine just how fun it was fitting right in with the ponies of Equestria.

Of course, they still run into all sorts of strange, dangerous creatures whenever the five people and the Mane 5 aren't anywhere near the pony cities or settlements. Thankfully, Fluttershy and Celestia were able to deal with them at first hoof before any of the UFF people or the rest of the ponies could react. Celestia may have retired from the throne in Canterlot but she still has power to protect her fellow ponies personally and Fluttershy always finds ways to discourage hostile animals from hurting her friends by resorting to such assertive demeanor.

So far, Xul, Pam, Ash, Zeck, and Sonja were living off in a world full of excitement, adventure, fantasy, and wonder in Equestria. They just couldn't get enough from experiencing such a unique, monarchy culture that the Equestrian ponies had to offer, especially when they attended to the Buckball sporting events in the School of Friendship and when watching the wonderbolts do their awesome stunts in the sky with Rainbow as their full-fledged Wonderbolt Commander. 





Eventually, after they finished the new UFF military port, they name that port EQT-19 as a way to honor Princess Twilight Sparkle and the forces of Equestria in helping them defend the planet from the Sectanium Fleet. Now that the Military Port is established to protect all of the Temar Galaxy, Twilight send in Flash Mangus and a battalion of Royal Guards to fortify the garrisons there along with the rest of the UFF Fleet. 

Later on in Canterlot, Zeck has received orders from Admiral Wellington to have him and his men be recalled back to the fleet, prompting him to prepare for depart into space once again. At the same time, the other UFF officers decided to end their tour around Equestria as they went back to Canterlot to pack up their bags before departing to their new Military Port above the Equis orbit. 

Celestia and Luna packed up their backs from Silver Shoals for they wanted to go on another exciting adventure in outer space. Even though Luna was hesitant to go with the UFF, Celestia felt even more excited than ever. Because their retirement home in Silver Shoals was a dull place to live in, Celestia wanted to start her retirement again but in a more adventurous method. Nevertheless, since Celestia and Luna are no longer ruling over Equestria, this may be the time to take their chance in become the heroes they both imagined in their dreams. However, they still need time to say goodbye to Princess Twilight first.

At the landing port in front of the Palace, they were spare platoons of Royal Guard ponies and groups of Guard Officers from Canterlot and the Crystal Empire, marching onto the landing ramps of Zeck's and Monet's UFF battlecruisers. During the time they went onboard the UFF ships, groups of Royal Guard earth ponies are hauling Royal Airships into the ships' hangars before securing them in place. Most of the pony adventurers and pony field doctors are seeing bidding farewell to their loved ones and their children before they proceed onto the UFF ships, signing the registration papers first. 

For the Yaks, Changelings, and the hippogriffs, their leaders send in two detachments each before they proceeded onboard the UFF ships, along with the Equestrian Royal Guard ponies as they all bid farewell to their families before they protect Equestria's orbit by all means.

In fact, Daring Do, Mage Meadowbrook, and Rockhoof decided to part with the UFF in hopes of finding a way to placate the Sectanium Empire of their madness as well as finding a cure to treat the Red Virus when they reach their homeland one day. It may be a huge risk, but it's a whole new challenging adventure for them to achieve what no other creature has. 

Daring Do did promised Rainbow Dash that she'll still publish more books about her adventures in space just so that she will let the young Wonderbolt know that she is doing fine.

As Mage Meadowbrook takes her time to bid farewell to Starswirl, Mistmane, Somnambula, and Stygian, she was able to load up her wagon full of bottles, vials, and flasks that she collected from her ancestral home and from Zecora's hut with the aid of Rockhoof. She can only hope that Mage will find the source of the Red Virus and to treat it with the best of her abilities. 

Rockhoof couldn't even wait to go on adventures with Celestia and Luna since it is the only thing he would live for. In fact, he still promised Applejack and Yona that he'll still send in postcards to let them know how he is well doing out there beyond the stars.  Somnambula and Mistmane both wished good luck for all of the ponies departing with the UFF. Just like that, Rockhoof, Mage, and Daring Do all disappeared as they proceeded onboard Zeck's ship.

Starswirl handed Celestia a spell book that is meant to help her and Luna combat against the Dark Arts of Magic, which also includes how to counterattack against Mind-Control. He also reminded them to read and learn how to use the spells in that book whenever they have time. 

Just before Celestia and Luna went onboard Zeck's ship, Princess Twilight appeared in front of the two alicorn sisters and the pillars of Equestria, still wearing her crown and royal necklace. Before they knew it, Twilight started to have tears coming down her eyes for she can see that this will be last time that she'll see her predecessors before they leave Equestria for good. 

"Celestia, Luna. I-I-I know I can't stop either of you from departing into space. Are you sure you want to go with them instead of staying in Silver Shoals?" Twilight asked as she sniffed for a bit.

"Well Twilight, it was pretty a dull life there. Since Zeck told me about what he and his friends live for, I just found another exciting opportunity to spend my retirement with them." Celestia added in, while carrying her huge backpack on top of her body. "I know it's dangerous to get involved in another creature's war, but I still like to live with really good thrills."

"Fret not, Twilight. I'll do my best to make sure that Tia will not do anything reckless when hanging out with those guys in space." Luna added in.

"Also, I'll still be sending in message scrolls to you just so that you'll know that we're doing fine." Celestia smiled as she wiped Twilight's tears away with her hoof. "After all, I know you'll be able to resume your role as Ruler of Equestria after that because I believe in you, Twilight."

"And I will promise you that we'll do our best to keep the space monsters away from you and this country." Luna said, sympathizing with Twilight. "You have our word."

"Celestia. Luna. T-Thank you so much. I-I-I-I'm not worthy!!!" Twilight said, before she wailed when hugging both of the two alicorns all at once. While being embraced in their hooves, Twilight started crying again but with happiness that she is finally going back to ruling over Equestria once again, bringing forth back the future of the land of Harmony and Friendship. 

After five minutes of embracing each other, Twilight lets go of Celestia and Luna before turning around to see Zeck, Xul, Chmone, Pam, and Sonja carrying their luggage and their bought souvenirs to Zeck's Battlecruiser. At the same time, Twilight sees that the Mane 5, and Spike are with them as they helped their new friends pack up their stuff from their guest rooms inside the palace. Before they went on, all five of Twilight's new friends stopped before they approached her one last time, with Celestia and Luna standing at the sidelines.

"So Twilight, are you sure you didn't have anything to do other than governing Equestria?" Zeck asked, mentioning it on the first day that he used the translator to communicate with Twilight.

"Sorry Zeck, since I'm already familiar with all of Canterlot and the palace that I used to stay at with Celestia, my place is here. My future is here. I told you I rule over these lands." Twilight said, feeling guilty for turning down Zeck's request. "No matter, I already put in a work order to have some of my best guards to aid you, didn't I?!"

"Yeah, I know. So far, about 2,000 Royal Guard ponies and 1,000 adventurers from your neighboring allied nations have volunteered to aid the UFF now." Zeck said, as he held the army roster with his right hand, which was already imprinted by Admiral Wellington himself. 

"Also, I'll still send somepony else to aid you in my place as soon as the time is right." Twilight added in, making Zeck relieved for a bit.

"Who might that be, Twilight?" Zeck asked in a curious tone.

"You'll see, Zeck. You will all see." Twilight said as she made a smile.

"Anyway, I'll still do my best to stay in touch with you and I promise to keep both of your former mentors alive." Zeck said as he smiled back at Twilight while petting her head with his right hand. "Farewell, your majesty! It's been an honor fighting alongside you."

After Zeck disappeared onto his ship along Celestia and Luna, Chmone and Sonja smiled at Twilight too before following the UFF captain from behind, having the UFF marines take all of their luggage onboard as well.

As for Xuliana and Pamela, they both went up to Twilight.

"I do want to thank you for everything that has happened so far, Twilight." Xul said as she kneel down to Twilight's height. "A lot has changed ever since we met at Terram. If I hadn't met you, I would never be able to free Pamela from that dreadful prison since she is the only loyal friend I have left. I can't really thank you enough over how kind, generous, and honorable you are when helping me out, despite having a bad start."

At the same time Xul was speaking to Twilight, Pam nodded in agreement.

"You don't need to remind me any of that, Xul. I was already aware that you weren't proud of yourself when I saw your face before I escaped with Zeck. The real reason why I spared you and let you on his ship is because I still hoped that we can at least learn from each other when we still have time. And that time became a huge success. After all, you remind me of Thorax when I first met him. He may be a changeling serving under a vile queen, but he still wanted to understand and accept friendship from ponies like any other creature would have in the end. I'm sure one day we can both help Vanista Rantu and the rest of the Sectanium race come to their senses."

"I understand. Even though most of my family wouldn't understand any of this, I'll still remember you of your selfless bravery and valor, to think that I'd bear witness to meeting a savior unlike anything I have ever seen from the UFF. I'm pretty sure that if I ever bear any children in the future, I'll let them know the story of how a Prisoner became a Savior." Xul continued, with a smile on her face. "They may not understand at first, but I will. In fact, I'll never forget your kindness nor will I forget how you gave me a chance to start over again in accepting friendship."

"Thank you, Xul." Twilight smiled as she and Xul both hugged each other. "I'll never forget you either."

Upon seeing this, Fluttershy and Rarity were both having tears come down their face while they both smiled together. Rarity used her magic to carry her handkerchief to wipe her tears away. For Fluttershy, she couldn't stop sniffing out of relief upon seeing that Twilight was able to understand other creatures as much as she would regardless of where they came from.

For Applejack, Pinkie, and Rainbow, they all smiled in a calm manner, realizing that not every Sectanium is evil. It's only a matter of who would do the right thing to avoid conflict and bloodshed.  

When Pam see this, she felt speechless. Not that it matters, she also has Twilight to thank for after helping her escape from Terram, along with Zeck and the other prisoners. After all, Pam will always be forever in her debt. If she were to be reborn as a Royal Guard serving under Princess Twilight, her life would've been a lot better in Equestria than that of in Sacreus. Aside from that, Pam will do her part as another soldier of the UFF for she will help Xul do whatever it takes to bring down the corrupted Sectanium Empire for good. 

Now that all of Equestria is officially allies with the UFF, it may be the time for Xul and Pam to help Zeck turn back the tide with the aid of Twilight's best troops out on the battlefield.

As soon as Xul and Twilight released each other from their embrace, Xul stood up again before she and Pam faced Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and her friends one more time.

"Farewell, every pony. I'll never forget any of you!!" Xul said as she and Pam turned to see Zeck's battlecruiser in their sights. 

"Goodbye, Twilight. I'll never forget you either." Pamela added in as she smiled at the purple alicorn. "You will always be our friend, regardless of class."

Just like that, Xuliana and Pamela disappeared into the ship as it lifted up its lander before the battlecruiser prepares to take off. 

All around her, Twilight sees that all of the other ponies that went with the UFF have also disappeared onto their battlecruisers as well. While the rest of the other ponies and Spike watched the UFF ships depart, Princess Twilight flew up all the way to the top of the tallest tower of the palace as she takes one last look at the very same ship that she was on before returning to Equestria.

The moment she lands on top of the tower, Twilight then sees the Battlecruisers fly up into the sky above her towards the horizon.

"So long, every creature." Twilight said as she smiled and waved at the UFF ships before they all disappeared in an instant. "Have a safe journey!!"
> Epilogue: Luster's Mission in Space
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Years later in the near future of Canterlot, Queen Twilight Sparkle is now seen as a tall, purple alicorn mare with a flowing, gradient mane and tail who is, again, wearing her golden crown and her necklace. At the throne room, she just finished her story of what happened when she made contact with creatures that came from space after her coronation; mostly explaining the story to Luster Dawn, her newest protege student in the School of Magic in Canterlot.

"And that, my dear Luster, is how I'm able to spread friendship across space....." Twilight said, ending her story.

"That was quite an amazing one, indeed." Luster said, feeling totally amazed by how much Twilight told her. "So, this Zeck guy, was he really the kind of person that would accept your friendship."

"He may be unlike any creature I ever seen. However, he already proved his worth to me by helping me and my men make our stand against the evil alien empire back then....."

"What about the other aliens that were on Zeck's side and all those ponies that left Equestria with them?! Did they......??" Luster asked further into Twilight's story with the UFF.

"Well Luster, I was able to stay up-to-date with the scrolls that Celestia had sent me in my office. Thanks to my pony friends, the UFF was able to reclaim 1/2 of their homelands that were taken away from them by the Sectanium Empire. After 5 years of fighting in space, my ponies and Mage Meadowbrook finally helped free Sacreus of the Red Virus." Twilight said, as she went on with the rest of her story. 

"That's good to hear. So, what about the Sectanium Empress? Did she finally......?" Luster asked, feeling anxious on where Twilight's story is heading.

"She finally apologized not just to me but also to all of the other alien races that she illegitimately locked up her slammers. After every creature in Sacreus has been cured completely of the Red Virus, she and I established a peace treaty for both Sacreus and Equestria. Shortly after that, the UFF has helped reorganized the Sectanium Empire into the Sacreus Republic as a sign of reformation to make forgivable offerings. For the Mandors supporting them, they all disbanded from the Sectanium Army and went back to their home planet to start anew. In fact, Ash was made Senator of the Mandors for she desired to carry out her ideal of peaceful trade with the UFF and Equestria. Also, when I signed in the peace treaty with the Sectaniums, I had to cut Dialuria's prison sentence short, along with her fellow prison inmates. Speaking of prisoners, most of the other creatures that were held prisoner in Terram and Mana have been released from illegitimate custody before they were all sent back home, shutting down both facilities afterwards. For Satria, Vanista has still changed several rules there. She insisted that any creature that threatens our friendship, as well as threatening to start another war with all of our alien races will be sentenced to imprisonment on Satria for life. Most of the other planets that were held under the Sectanium Empire have all been released from Vanista's grip for the only territories that she can only maintain are the planets that are totally void of life and are within 200 light years apart from Sacreus. So far, she only has 5 planets held as part of the Sacreus Republic territory, allowing most of her people to migrate and repopulate under. Xul and Pam went back to Sacreus to help Vanista start over again in accepting our bond of friendship with us ponies and the other neutral alien races out there. Also, they formed their own branch of Sectanium Military to help the UFF protect the innocent known as the Sacreus Republic Army or SRA for short. During the first years of the new Sectanium military branch, Dialuria has been demoted to Captain by Empress Vanista since she still blamed her for having all of Equestria get involved in the war back then. Most of the Sectanium Race finally stopped attacking us ever since on that day and all of my ponies have been rejoicing ever since. Rockhoof, Mage, and Daring Do came back to Equestria to live the rest of their lives in retirement after the war between the Sectanium race and the UFF has ended." Twilight said, bringing out the good news first before mentioning the bad news. "However, our fight with the alien invaders is still far from over and you were only a little foal when all of this happened."

"What do you mean?!" Luster asked, feeling nervous.

"About 20 years of having peace between ponies, the Sectaniums, and the UFF, during the time you were still a filly back then, as well as 5 years earlier before your graduation from the School of Magic, I went to attend a intergalactic meeting with Empress Vanista and the other alien leaders that supported the UFF and the Sacreus Republic at Sacreus only to bear witness to another incident. Before we had a chance to start our peaceful meeting, Xuliana came in and informed us that Vanista and Lord Hampt are both found dead inside their rooms. Of course, her children and surviving heirs are all devastated. Even Xul and Pam were saddened by such a tragedy." Twilight said grimly, explaining the bad news of Vanista's reformation. "We found evidence that a group of traitorous Sectanium Council members and Senators had assassinated the reformed rulers of the Sectanium Race for they have a diabolical backup plan of their own. They feared that Vanista's reformed acts will undo everything that made her entire race superior. Ever since they heard about how I fought and defeated their Empress in a honorable duel, they knew that Vanista will never recover after showing such weakness in their presence for they believed that the weak have no place among them. We had to leave Sacreus at once for our own safety. So, after the funeral of Vanista and Hampt , their son Hulian Rantu became next in line to rule over the Sacreus Republic as their new King. In order to avenge his parents, King Hulian has sent forth his loyal soldiers, led by Commander Xuliana and Captain Pamela to hunt down his parent's killers and bring them to justice. They said that the traitors have established a new insidious faction to continue with their power-hungry dominance somewhere in the northern parts of the galaxy, far away from Temar and from theirs. Worse, they resumed their desire to enslave the innocent lives living in the north."

"That's terrible." Luster said, as she made a big gulp in fear.

"So, that is where you come in Luster. I promised Zeck and King Hulian that I'll be sending in some pony else to aid them in help free the innocent creatures out there, as well as hunting the evil monsters that are threatening our friends. Since you have graduated the School of Magic with honors, this will be the time for you to prove yourself worthy when going on an adventure in space. Don't you agree?!" Twilight said calmly as she looked down to Luster Dawn. 

Before Luster could come up with an answer, Queen Twilight hears another voice coming from the entrance of the throne room.

"Your majesty, they have arrived!!" Captain Gallus said as he makes his report to Twilight.

"Let them in, Gallus." Twilight ordered as she looked out towards the door behind the blue griffon.

As Gallus bowed down before the Queen of Equestria, he disappeared back behind the doorway leading to the corridors of the palace for a couple of minutes. After that, the doors have opened up wider. This time, Twilight sees a tall-bearded man that she hardly recognized. However, he still is wearing his full UFF naval uniform in a brutish, muscular appearance.

For his point of view, he still recognizes the tall pony by the mane and skin colors. It's almost just like the time when he saw that very same pony that freed him and his crewmembers from their restraints before they all escaped from Terram a long time ago. Except that the pastel horse he is seeing right now has grown into a bigger height; almost as tall as he is. He became the first to introduce himself to Twilight.

"Twilight? Is that really you??" The man said as his eyes widened with surprise, with the translator still attached to his belt. "I thought you still be a small horse."

"Yes, Zeck. It's really me. It's been too long, hasn't it?!" Twilight said, as she made a small laugh before flying down a few meters towards the bearded man.

"Man Twilight, you've really grown into quite a lovely lady!!" Zeck chuckled as he bowed down before the alicorn Queen of Equestria.

Twilight couldn't help but blush for a bit as she and Zeck hugged each other up close. After that, Twilight decided to go over what Zeck and been through for the past after the tragic incident back on Sacreus. As they walked up to one of the stained glass windows on their left, Twilight asked Zeck about his recent report.

"So Zeck, how's every one else doing back in the UFF and in the Sacreus Republic?" Twilight asked as she turned towards Zeck Stone.

"Well, I have been promoted to Fleet Admiral of the UFF Navy and I brought my son Willis Tyren Stone into the UFF to serve as a new starship Captain commanding Battlecruiser Deliverance. I'm on board his ship now since I wanted to see how you and the rest of Equestria is doing."

"That's good to hear." Twilight smiled, seeing the Zeck turned his attention to the young pink unicorn with a orange mane and tail.

"So this mare, is she...?"

"Luster Dawn, I'd like you to meet Fleet Admiral Zeck Stone of the UFF." Twilight announced as she introduced the young unicorn to the high-ranking UFF officer.

"It's been an honor to meet you sir." Luster said as she anxiously walked up to him. 

"So Luster, are you ready to go on an adventure with me and my son?" Zeck asked.

"Well, I suppose I could. After all, I already heard that most of my friends are getting ready to pack up for their adventure in space. It'll be a shame to get left behind."

"Good to hear, Luster." Twilight grinned, noticing Luster's determination. "Now go pack up your bags and meet Zeck at the landing port."

"Yes, your majesty." Luster said as she bowed down to Twilight once again before leaving the throne room.

After Luster left, Twilight went with Zeck down the hallways to continue going over what happened after King Hulian carried the order to Commander Xuliana.

"So Twilight, from what you were asking......I was able to succeed in reclaiming Earth thanks to the aid of your royal guards, Celestia, and Luna recently. After that, Xuliana and her loyal followers managed to help build another settlement to for her fellow Sectaniums to migrate. For the two tall alicorns, they were never seen from again after Earth has been restored. They both disappeared for unknown reasons."

"It's a shame that I'll miss them both very much. They're like family to me and I was grateful that I met both of them." Twilight said, feeling a bit of grief that she'll never see Celestia or Luna ever again.

"I'm sure they're both proud of you of what you became right now." Zeck said in a positive manner.

"They already are." Twilight smiled as she walked further down the hallway with Zeck trailing behind.

"Once the settlement is completed on Earth, Xul left the planet with me to continue our search for the traitors that are threatening to start another war with our people. After many light years of searching far and wide, our scouts reported that the traitorous Senators are currently holding 25 planets in the Northern Sector of the Galaxy as part of their own territory."

"It seems that some of them still haven't learned their lesson yet." Twilight growled underneath her breath. "Not after how I gave them a piece of my mind."

"As of now, the traitorous Council Members and Senators formed up the an insidious Sectanium Faction known as Fallen Sectanium Confederacy or FSC for short." Zeck said grimly.

"Then, I guess our fight with those vile monsters is still far from over." Twilight concluded. 

"Apart from that, Xul and Pam are both able to live a much happier life. Ever since you established the peace treaty with Sacreus, they both went back to their homeland to raise families of their own. Xuliana got married to Lord Vilkusis Jrenul and they raised two daughters who both joined the Sacreus Republic army at ages 18 and 17. Their names are Cuiliana Sona and Breseis Sona who now serve as Staff Sergeants. For Pamela, she was married to Lord Liamsen D'oliquar, who now bore a son named Wreniger Herath. He now serves as the Captain of the UFF." 

"This is getting more interesting. I take it they happened to be new heroes that will aid Luster Dawn then?!" 

"You bet, Twilight!!" Zeck chuckled with determination. "For Chmone, right after I was promoted to Fleet Admiral, he retired from his duties as Co-Captain and went back to his home planet to train new recruits to serve in the UFF as their drill sergeant. I also received word from him that his son Pilorni has inherited the throne back in his homeland as their new ruler. So, Chmone and his friends did his best to aid King Pilorni on how to handle his duties as his advisors."

"Well good luck for him then."

"Anyway, the Sacreus Republic and the UFF have now joined forces together to do battle with the FSC in the northern sectors of the Galaxy. Cuiliana, Breseis, and Wreniger are all doing their best to hold the line up north. Though, they still need help up there since the FSC are developing weapons to make the Sacreus Republic and the rest of the UFF tremble with fear. In fact, they are all waiting for my son's aid as of now. They also wanted to see if you are willing to help out too. That is, if your protege student is ready to go out an adventure with us, the UFF."

"Why certainly. In fact, I can only hope that you, Willis, and Luster will be able to get there in time." Twilight said as she and Zeck exited out of the palace to make their way to the landing port.





At the Landing Port outside of the Canterlot Palace, Admiral Zeck and Queen Twilight sees another group of guard ponies and creatures getting ready to depart with the UFF marines onboard Battlecruiser Deliverance. At the front of the ramp, a young man is seen giving out orders to his crewmen openly. He happens to be in his mid 20s, with dark-warm hair, and is wearing a Green UFF Navy Officer Uniform with yellow epaulets and black boots. 

Just as he looked straight at Zeck and Twilight, he immediately saluted his commanding officer without hesitation.

"Captain Willis reporting for duty, sir!!!"

"Willis my son, I'd like you to meet the Ruler of Equestria. Queen Twilight Sparkle of Friendship!!" Zeck said as he introduced his son to the grand purple alicorn next to him.

"It's an honor to meet you, your majesty." Willis said as he shook his hands with Twilight's right hoof.

"Welcome to Equestria, Captain Willis." Twilight said, expressing her acknowledgment to the new Captain's presence.

"So, are you ready to aid us once more?" Willis asked, issuing his request to the Queen of Friendship. "If not, then that's fine. We'll try again in the next month or so."

"Oh no. I'll still help out our friends whatever the cost. Just not in-person since I have my hooves full here. Besides, I do have some pony else to accompany you after all." Twilight said, as Luster appeared from behind.

As Luster Dawn approached Zeck, Twilight, and Willis, she is now seen carrying a light-blue duffel bag on her back while walking towards Willis' battlecruiser.

"Willis, this is Luster Dawn, my protege student in Canterlot. She'll be helping you guys out in protecting all of Equestria from the invaders that threatened my ponies so long ago." Twilight said as she introduced her new student to Zeck's son.

"Nice to meet you, Luster." Willis said as he smiled at the young pink unicorn.

"I see that we'll be off to a good start here." Luster thought, as she and Willis greeted each other in-person.

Before Luster could proceed onto Willis' ship, Twilight walks up to her to reminder Luster on the important details.

"Remember everything that I taught you about magic and friendship, Luster. You will do whatever it takes to make me proud, okay?!" 

"I understand your majesty." Luster said as she and Twilight embraced each other in their hooves.

"Also, once you proceed onboard their ship, you will do whatever Willis and Zeck tell you without hesitation. Also, I already packed your bag with food and message scrolls. So, just do your best to inform me of your findings whenever you have time."

"Yes, Twilight. I'll do my best."

"And one other thing, Luster. If you ever see Xul and Pam again, please tell them that Twilight Sparkle says hi."

"Understood." Luster acknowledged as she felt Twilight's nudging before they both smiled at each other. "See you later, your majesty!!"

Just like that, Luster waved goodbye to Queen Twilight before she disappeared into Willis' ship.

Twilight turned to face Zeck once more as he makes one final salute.

"I felt disappointed that you won't be showing up in the war every often, not that I had a problem with that." Zeck said, feeling anxious over Twilight's reign. 

"Fret not, Zeck. I'll still help you out whenever I can. For now, just keep Luster Dawn alive." Twilight replied.

"It's good that you still had people that actually supported us. I thought for sure you wouldn't help us out anymore." Zeck said, feeling a bit relieved for not hearing anything negative from Twilight about his people.

"I already have greater concerns to take care of in Equestria than just getting involved in someone else's fight." Twilight pointed out as she reached her hoof towards the rest of Canterlot. "Besides, I already came a very long way after I started off as an ordinary unicorn. And now here I am, governing the very city that I grew up in; I was born here after all."

"Yeah, I know. Lady Celestia already told me everything about you years ago." 

"Not that it matters, you'll still have my full support. So, if you ever see any of our friends out there, just let them know that I'm still doing fine." Twilight smiled as she and Zeck shook hands/hooves in agreement. 

"Why certainly, Twilight!" Zeck said as he smiled before letting go of her hoof. "I'll still drop by to make sure you're doing okay here."

"Good luck, Zeck. To you and Luster Dawn. Just remember, you and your friends will always be welcome in Equestria at anytime."

"Thank you so much, your highness. I'll be seeing you around, Twilight." Zeck smiled, accepting Twilight's generous remark as he saluted with two of his fingers up high.

As Zeck waved goodbye, Twilight smiled as she waved back before seeing Zeck disappear onboard his ship once again. When the ship lifted itself off the ground, Spike came up to Twilight as he looked up in the same direction she is looking at. While seeing Willis' ship disappear into the orbit above Canterlot, Twilight felt happy as she smiled once more, mentioning herself of a reminiscence over everything that she had been through on the day she was held up at Terram years ago.

I still remember the day where I met new friends during the time that I was held up in enemy territory along with them. Even though it all happened shortly after my coronation as Ruler of Equestria, I'll still give out my regards to other friends that are in need of help. It may be overwhelming, it may be difficult, stressful, and dangerous to think that I would find myself facing more than one new world out there. However, I still won't hesitate to reach out to those that are in need saving. Since I have just started a whole new era in Equestria, there won't be a challenge that I cannot face altogether whether it is all on me or with my friends new and old. Their expertise in fighting Equestria's newest enemies may not be that bright like mine is but I still gave them all a chance to help me out like any other true friend would, since they already know about the worlds outside of my own. Even though they live in far away places, I really wouldn't say goodbye to them yet. As long as I look up to the stars, I'll always remember their benevolent acts and their heroism for they will always be there for me, watching down on me from those stars. I'm sure that as long as I have their support, they will always remember me as the one alien monarch seen as a prisoner and savior.





Meanwhile on another planet within FSC Territory.......

The Sectaniums being commanded by the Fallen Sectanium Confederacy are seen whiplashing and branding their alien slaves while forcing them to work in the outdoor mines inside their huge prison mining complex, which is established in a planet filled with red sand and with tall red mountains. They have a barracks, a long slave quarters, an armory, and a command center placed in all four directions near one of the mountains. Also, the complex had tall border walls filled with barbed wires in-between the mountains and the rest of the borders. Its as if, the FSC has the entire mountainside occupied as part of their territory. Inside the walls, they have huge guard 50ft tall towers armed with spotlights and laser cannons which are occupied by the FSC guards.

The FSC guards are seen wearing Black and Red combat armor plates while carrying long blaster rifles, plasma blades, and rods that are used to create a long oval-like tower shield in battle. 

The slaves were being forced to work 12 hours a day inside the caves underneath the mountains while being held under guard by FSC guards. They happened to be creatures that were taken away from their homes when the evil alien council members had occupied most of the northern sectors. As of now, just like Twilight and those held up at Terram, they are wearing stretchy, grey prison jumpsuits that could barely fit their bodies. Also, they have slave collars wrapped around their necks as they are marching in a straight line while carrying pick axes and hauling mining carts to use when harvesting ores, unable to resist against the evil aliens. They all head down into the mines to start working on harvesting the ore deep inside.

A few hours later after the slaves disappeared into the mines, one of the FSC guards spots a strange-looking army approach them very fast from the guard tower he was stationed in. 

*KA-BOOM!!!*

Before he had the chance to raise the alarm, he gets suddenly blasted by a huge beam of magic coming from somewhere in that strange alien army. As a result, the guard disappeared in flames while the guard tower came crashing down towards the walls in front of it. 

*CRASH!!!*

In such an alarming rate, the rest of the guards saw that the fallen tower has crashed into the walls in front of it, creating a huge gap in the border walls, smashing down the barbed wires at the same time. 

"Attention all guards and staff members. We have a breach. I repeat!! We have a breach!!!" The PA speaker boomed out loud throughout the complex. 

As the alarms started blaring all over the complex, the FSC guards took up arms as they get their weapons from the armory near the barracks before they took positions, aiming all of their weapons towards the huge gap in the border walls. Just when they all have it under control, a fleet of Equestrian Royal Airships appeared looming above the entire platoon of FSC guards. 

When they all looked above them, they were hammered by powerful magic beams and bombard cannons coming from the airships, forcing them to take cover from the enemy aerial attacks. 

*SHOOM!! SHOOM!! SHOOM!!! SHOOM!!*

*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*

The explosions made most of the FSC guards unable to fire back as they were forced to fall back in line behind the guard barracks.

During the confusion, ropes are being tossed over the side rims of the airships as royal guard ponies, UFF aliens, and Sacreus Republican troops jumped off, hanging onto the ropes before they safely landed down onto the ground. At the same time, the pegasus guard ponies flew off from their airships before they dive bomb into the prison complex as they struck at the FSC guards at will. Amongst the aliens that came down from the airship, Luster Dawn appeared wearing a full set of gear of purple guard armor, blaster rifle, and a saber sheathed in its scabbard hanging on her back.

Behind Luster, Captain Willis also came down from the rope he was holding onto before he drew out his sword and gun. He also has his translator hanging on his belt so that he can maintain communication with Luster Dawn.

"So Luster, are you ready to help free our friends and bring them back home?!" Willis asked with excited determination.

"You betcha!!" Luster grinned with confidence as she raised a blaster rifle with her magic. "Let's do this for Fleet Admiral Zeck and for Queen Twilight Sparkle!!!"

"Heh! Heh! Heh! Heh! Heh! Heh!"

As Luster and Willis turned to face their alien adversaries, they both smirked and chuckled to themselves before they charged head-on along towards the enemy, along with their followers. Just like that, the story ends with music playing in the the background one more time.

PONY ROADS............
TAKE ME HOME..........
TO THE PLACE............I BELOOOOOOOOOONG........
WEST NEIGHGRAAAAAAAAA..........
MOUNTAIN MAMMAAAAAAAAAAA........
TAKE ME HOME...........
PONY ROADS!!

LA LA LA!!! HEY!! HEY!!
LA LA LA!!! HEY!! HEY!!
LA LA LA!!! HEY!! HEY!!
LA LA LAAAAAAA!!!!

WEST NEIGHGRAAAAAAAAA..........
MOUNTAIN MAMMAAAAAAAAAAA........
TAKE ME HOME...........
PONY ROADS!!

TAKE ME HOME...........
PONY ROADS!!

TAKE ME HOOOOOOOOME
PONY ROOOOOOOOOOADS!!!


The End.