Oh! Hello there, I suspect you're wanting to know my story, young one. You're not the first, and I doubt you'll be the last. all these tens of decades later and people still want to know my story first hand. Well, you better order yourself a few drinks, this will take a while.

I suppose the best place to start my story would be at the beginning. I had just gotten off of a bus and was walking home, I hear an almighty bang and my vision is filled with light. Then I woke up in… a forest, my first conscious thought was ‘great, I’m in Sherwood-bloody-Forest, not going to be getting home on time am ?’.

I stood up and started to look around, I decided to pick a direction and walk in said direction, there were trees everywhere but it wasn’t exactly claustrophobic. In the distance I heard the faint trickling of a stream, I stopped to try and pinpoint the direction of the sound. It seemed to be coming from the left of me, as I walked in the direction of the stream I found myself at the top of a shallow gully. I made my way down to the water and froze when I saw my reflection, staring right back at me was… a robot‽

I probably stood there for a good five minutes just staring at my reflection, although it was somewhat distorted by the flowing water I could still get a good idea of what I looked like now.

My torso was silver with a red chest plate, the chest plate itself was circular with what looked like a hinging dish-shaped panel with a dull green glow emanating from it (the sort of effect you get from shining a torch behind opaque glass), as well as smaller square shaped panel at the bottom of the chest plate. My upper arms were covered in red plating as well as silver panels on top (these also looked like upturned versions of the ‘chest panel’). My lower arms weren’t covered by any thick armour plating but they were covered in ‘scale-mail’ (armour that looks like scales), on my hands were red metal gauntlets. My legs just had plain red armour as did my ‘boots’. I was wearing a gold(!) mask and my eyes were now green (they were originally brown) and glowing.

it was then that I suddenly realised I had been walking around for god knows how long and I didn’t notice my new… form, I also noticed that I had some sort of H.U.D. displaying things like health, a compass and… shielding‽ (though was displaying 0% at the time).

I looked back at my reflection and noticed that I had something on my back in addition to my rucksack (I’m still trying to figure out how that was still there). I grabbed hold of what felt like a handle and pulled the object off of my back, it came away as if it wasn’t actually attached. I brought the object in front of me to reveal it to be… a fucking huge sword, seriously the blade was huge, it had to be at least 4 or 5 feet long and about a foot wide and yet it didn’t feel that heavy. It wasn’t exactly weightless, but it wasn’t as heavy as it should be, I gave it couple of experimental swings before staying it on my back, it felt really well balanced. I wasn’t what you would call an expert at sword fighting, although I’ve had a couple hours’ worth of experience in fencing so I knew roughly how to handle a blade (just not one as big as this) meaning if push came to shove I could defend myself, although I very much doubted I would actually need to use it.

SNAP!

I looked around to try and find the source of the sound but I couldn’t see anything out of place ‘hmm, must have been my imagination’

GRR!

I barely had time to react as a wolf charged at me from seemingly nowhere and bit down on my left arm, really hard.

‘AH, YOU BITCH!’ I screamed, I may have had armour, but it still bloody hurt. I saw my health go down slightly, thinking quickly I punched it hard on its nose. It yelped but didn’t let go and started shaking my arm like a chew toy, I started punching it repeatedly until I could feel its hold on me loosen. I started twisting my left arm to try and get it free, in the distance I could hear the howling of more wolves.

“Oh, screw this!” I grabbed the sword on my back and in one swift movement I swung it in an ark aiming for the wolf’s neck, Instead of cleanly slicing through the wolf’s neck the whole animal disintegrated into a pile of sticks.

“What the hell‽” I didn’t have much time to dwell on what just happened as more of the wolves appeared, from where they were standing I could see that they were actually made out of wood. I started backing away slowly when I saw the pile of sticks from the first wolf start to levitate enveloped in a lime-green glow and reform back into the wolf, its (and the other wolves) eyes glowing the same shade of green.

“Oh hell no” I muttered under my breath. “That’s not fair”

The wolves started growling and hissing at me as I backed away at a slightly quicker pace. the wolves started walking towards me, matching my pace.

‘I’m starting to think this might not be Sherwood Forest, yeah… they definitely don’t have wolves made of wood running around in Nottinghamshire’ I thought whilst trying to plan my way out of this mess ‘Can’t outrun them, even if they are made of wood they are no-doubt faster than me, don’t want to risk climbing up a tree in case they’re Dendrokenetic. I don’t want to get mauled to death by a bunch of walking shrubs, my brother would never let me forget that, guess I should try to fight my way out’

l lifted my sword up into a defensive position and prepared myself for the coming fight

‘well, if I’m going to fight these things then I’m going to try and enjoy it’

“OY, WANKERS!” I exclaimed whilst pointing my sword at them, trying to provoke them “YOUR MOTHER IS A KITTEN AND YOUR FATHER SMELLS OF ELDERBERY”

That seemed to get their attention, the one that bit my arm seemed to get really pissed off and charged at me, ‘Really? You’re attacking one at a time?’ I thought.

As it jumped up at me I swung my sword to try and make it disintegrate again but all I succeeded in doing was scratching its right eye before it knocked me to the ground. My sword got knocked out of my hand and when I got over my temporary disorientation I found the wolf standing with its front paws on my chest and staring down at me with its scratch glowing the same colour as its eyes, it puffed out green smoke at me before barring its teeth and growling.

‘Well scheißer, hardly been here for half an hour and I’m already about to be mauled to death by a walking shrub, my brother will never let me live this one down’ I thought whilst sighing and rolling my eyes

please tell me what is wrong with each chapter, I wish to better myself as a writer, so constructive criticism is greatly appreciated

for reference purposes, I look like this in the fic:
http://matanuialive.deviantart.com/art/Vuur-Koning-457673081?ga_submit_new=10%253A1401563735

Vuur Koning Stat increases:

+5 to melee weapons

+30 to armour

Perk unlocked: "I'm Lost!"

"Hey, hey hey what's goin' on!"

You have no idea what the hell is going on. Your map is now blank. Go and explore!

Perk unlocked: "Machinehead"

"Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out..."

You are now an Artificial Living Construct! Try not to panic too much...

provided by 'Oubliette'

So there I was lying on my back about to be savaged by wolf… made of wood, when all of a sudden a zebra(!) appeared out of nowhere and charged towards the wolf on top of me before stopping and turning on a dime and kicking the wolf off of me with its hind legs, it then ran around me to place itself between the wolf and myself. The wolf tried to run around the zebra to get to me but promptly received a staff to the face, courtesy of the aforementioned zebra, causing the wolf to let out a yelp of surprise.

“Get back, return to your territory with the rest of your wolf pack” She, it seems, said in a distinctly African sounding voice. the wolf started to back away before howling to its pack and running off into the forest, the rest of the pack following close behind.

I got to my feet and then picked up my sword and put it on my back before walking over to the zebra, noticing for the first time that she was really small. She roughly came up to my chest in height, and was wearing neck rings as well as several bangles on her left foreleg and really big earrings.

“Thank you, I would have been done for if you hadn’t shown up” I said.

“What else was I to do? I wasn’t going to stand there whilst it made a meal out of you” she responded.

“Ok four things, one, who are you? Two, what is this place? Three, what were those wolves? And four, why are you speaking in rhyme?” I asked, counting off each question with my fingers.

“To my hut we must go, there, I will heal you and tell you everything you wish to know” she said.

“Heal me?” I asked.

“Look at your arm” she said, pointing at my left arm with one of her forelegs “the Timberwolf has caused you some harm”

I looked at my arm and noticed that where the ‘timber-wolf’ had bitted me there were several teeth marks and a small amount of blood trickling down my arm.

“Oh shit, how did I not notice that?” I exclaimed, not even trying to hide my surprise.

“The saliva of Timberwolves dulls the pain, it is so that its prey does not complain” she said.

“So” I said nervously “how about going to your hut then?” it was more of a statement than a question, her response was to simply turn around and walk into the forest.

After a following her for a short while we came across a tree with several windows and a large door as well as bottles of various shapes, sizes and colours hanging from the branches. there was also a couple African-esc tribal masks, including one above the doorway. I had to duck down to fit through the doorway. inside the hut I could see more masks, each one unique, and more bottles, some were hanging from the ceiling but most were on shelves. in the centre of the hut there was a large cauldron.

“Please take a seat at the table” the Zebra said pointing to a table in a corner “a bite from a Timberwolf can make its victim quite unstable”

I walked over to the table and sat down cross-legged on the floor.

The Zebra started putting various things on the table such as a bandage, a cloth, a bowl filled with water and another bowl filled with a mixture of water and an unknown liquid which I presumed to be a disinfectant of some sort. She started by picking up the cloth (with her hooves, I still don’t know how that works) and dipping it in the bowl filled with water and the unknown liquid and started to clean the wound, I visibly winced when the cloth came into contact with the wound.

“Ah, that stings”

“Please do not complain, the mixture will only cause temporary pain” she said before dipping the cloth into the ordinary water and then repeating the process a couple more times, she then got the bandage and started wrapping it around my arm.

“So, what’s your name?” I asked once she had finished bandaging my arm.

“My name is Zecora, the reason I found you when I did was because I often go out to collect herb based flora” she replied.

"My name is ..." I tried to tell her my name, but I found myself unable to, it was as if every time I tried to say my name my voice caught in my throat, 'shit, why can't I tell her my name, come on got to think of a name. Ah, I know, Vuur Koning, yeah that'll do I thought back to when I went to Holland and, as a result, tried (and failed) to learn Dutch, I still picked up a couple of words though.

"You can call me Vuur Koning" I said "I seem to be unable to tell you my real name so it will have to do, anyway, I have to ask, why do you speak in rhyme?"

She nodded before saying “In the land where I come from, where the land is baked in hot sun, it is seen as a mark of wisdom, if the healers speak in rhyming rhythm”

“And where do you come from?” I asked.

“It is a place that goes by the name of Zebrica, and the language calls my kind pundamilia” she responded, I was about to ask her what pundamilia meant but she continued.

“But what about you?" Zecora asked "Of all the things that I have seen, you are something different and new”

“Well, where are we now?" I asked "and I don’t mean in this hut, I mean what is this country called?”

“This land is called Equestria" Zecora said "it is a place that is full of friendship and devoid of fear”

“Have you heard of any where called England?” I asked, uncertainty creeping into my voice.

“Please excuse me whilst I prepare food for my cooking pot, in the meantime, do tell me of this place of which I know not” she said before standing up and clearing the table.

I could feel myself starting to panic ‘I can’t start freaking out now, not when there’s someone else around’, I started to slow my breathing in an attempt to try and calm myself down ‘I can freak out later’, I turned to Zecora and asked.

“What would you like to know?”

“As much as you want to tell me of where you are from, and also, I am curious to hear some of you home-land songs”

“Oh! that reminds me” I said getting my rucksack off of my back and checking inside ‘who knows what could have got damaged in here’ I thought, thinking back to when I got knocked over by the Timberwolf as I started taking all of the stuff out of my bag and checking to see if any of it was damaged, speaking out loud as I went.

“Alright, head phones are fine, laptops ok, camera accessories are ok, camera’s ok, it’s a bloody miracle, phones ok (no signal though), chargers are ok, everything’s ok, thank god”

I now felt a lot more relaxed, I picked up the laptop and turned it on before turning to Zecora and saying.

“You wanted to hear what some of the music of where I’m from is like, yes?”

She was too busy stirring whatever was in the cauldron using a wooden spoon help in her mouth to talk, so she simply nodded.

“Ok, let’s see” I muttered to myself and started scrolling through the different music groups that I had on the laptop ‘Disturbed? No, Sabaton? No, Rammstien? Definitely not, Gorrilaz? No, 650+ songs and there’s ‘ef’ all to listen to, Alestorm? No, Van Canto? Hmm, I wonder’

“Zecora, what’s the music like where you come from, is it like drums and vocals?” I asked, trying to decide which song to play.

Once again her only response was simply to nod.

“OK, I think I know the perfect song to play, it’s quite a calm and gentle song so it won’t be too disturbing I hope”

This time she placed the spoon down before saying.

“No matter what you play, I will listen with an open mind before I tell you what I have to say”

“OK then” and with that I pressed play and as the song played I began to tell her about my homeland. The song finally wound down just as Zecora appeared to have finished cooking, she took out two bowls and poured an equal amount into each before carefully bringing them over to the table revealing them to be holding a steaming pale brown liquid. I had a feeling I knew what it was, I turned to Zecora and asked.

“Mushroom soup, By any chance?” I asked

“Yes, that would be the correct guess” Zecora said.

I carefully lifted the bowl and, following Zecoras example, began to drink from the bowl ‘bloody hell this is good’ I thought, I turned to Zecora to express my gratitude.

“Wow, this the best soup I’ve ever had” I said

“I am pleased that my soup you enjoy" Zecora said "towards your music I also felt a similar level of joy”

I glanced out the window and saw it was getting dark.

“Where am I staying tonight? I mean, I wouldn’t want to be a bother”

“Here you shall stay, tomorrow I shall take you to a nearby town, it is not too far away, you will sleep in my bed, though I warn you, you are a little bit big by about a head.”

“But, what about you?” I asked “thanks for the offer, but you need somewhere to sleep as well”

“I will meditate, it will leave me well rested although I will still be awake” she responded in a tone that said ‘this isn’t up for discussion’

“OK, if you say so” I said before finishing off my soup and standing up, Zecora had finished her soup as well, I picked up both of our bowls.

“Where do you want these?” I asked holding the bowls up.

“put them over there” she said, pointing to one of the shelves “I will take care of them later, you needn’t care”

I put the bowls on the aforementioned shelf before turning and saying.

“thank you for your hospitality, but I am feeling really tired so I am going to go to sleep, OK?”

Zecora simply nodded before grabbing her staff and doing an insanely complex acrobatic display which resulted in her landing upside down on top of the staff, her forelegs together and one back leg pointing straight up, the other pointing off to one side, the staff didn’t even wobble.

“show off” I muttered under my breath, I swear at that moment I saw a hint of a smile flash briefly across her face before she put on a neutral expression.

A walked up to the bed and removed my sword before placing it on the floor and laying in the bed, it was only slightly smaller than I was. I could just fit on the bed without having to adopt the fetal position, my last thought before I fell asleep was ‘I hope my parents aren't too worried’.

bloody hell, trying to rhyme is so hard!
also the song used in this isn't mine, it belongs to Van Canto and whoever wrote it for lord of the rings
*edit* added a scene where I tell Zecora my name.

Vuur Koning Stat increases: None.

I awoke the next morning to the sound of gentle singing in a foreign language, I was momentarily confused as to why I could hear singing due to still being half asleep. As I fully regained my senses I remembered why I would be hearing singing, and why I was also in a hut, ‘Right, ‘that’ happened’ I thought to myself. I yawned before getting out of the bed and walked into the main area of the hut where I found Zecora stirring some sort of liquid in the cauldron.

“Good morning, Zecora” I said whilst rubbing my eyes, more out of habit than a physical need to clear my eyes

“Good morning, I trust you slept well, and that you don’t feel like hell?” she replied

“I slept surprisingly well, thank you” I replied, a small amount of amusement from her choice of words showing in my voice “no offence”

“None taken” she replied, “We shall be going shortly, now that I don’t have to worry about making you awaken”

“That’s fine by me” I said whilst walking over to my bag and checking that everything was there, finding nothing out of place I put the bag on my back

“Before we go, would you like something to eat? You shall be walking for some time on your feet” she asked

“No, thank you” I replied “I’d rather just get going if that’s ok with you, besides, I’m sort of person where unless I’m in the mood for it I won’t eat breakfast”

Zecora nodded before picking up her staff and making her way to the door, apparently done preparing whatever was in the cauldron. I followed her, taking one last look around to check if there was anything I had left behind. Satisfied that I had everything I needed I walked out, ducking my head under the doorway as I went.

The forest was rather peaceful as walked outside, a fine mist was in the air as well as a light chill. I spotted Zecora at the start of a small pathway and jogged to catch up, as we walked I noticed that the air had a ‘feeling’ to it. You know the type you find at places that are said to be haunted, the type that puts you on edge, yeah, that kind of feeling, it was as if there was something waiting in the forest for you to stray from the pathway. I increased my walking pace a little, ‘The sooner I get out of this damn forest, the better’ I thought to myself, Zecora seemed to sense my agitation.

“Do not worry” she said, turning her head to look at me with one eye “As long as we stay on the path, there is no need to hurry”

“I just don’t like the feeling of this place, it reminds me of somewhere I would rather forget that I ever visited” I replied

“Where? What place could have given you such a scare?”

“Somewhere I would rather not talk about at the moment, all I will say is lots of people died there a long time ago and it’s now a memorial, it would take too long to properly explain it” I said, trying to put extra emphasis on saying ‘Somewhere I would rather not talk about’ whilst looking at her with an expression that said ‘drop it’.

I noticed that the forest was starting to thin out, ‘About time we got out of this damn forest’ I thought whilst looking about cautiously. As we left the forest I could see a cottage of some type on the left of the path, the roof looked like it was covered in grass and there were bird houses everywhere. I could see a yellow (!) pegasus with pink (!!) hair singing peacefully whilst feeding several animals.

I stopped walking, partially out of shock, not only because of the ridiculously coloured mythical horse, but also due to the fact it was flying using wings that should not be able to sustain flight (and don’t start going into the bumble-bee conundrum, the calculation they used was meant for fixed winged aircraft and doesn’t take into account the fact that bumble-bees flap their wings at about 50 times a second, moving on…), I also stopped because her (judging by the voice) singing was amazing, Zecora seemed to silently agree with me (about the singing, the fact that not only do pegasi exist but that they can also defy the laws of physics didn’t seem to faze her).
We both stood there for a while just listening to her voice, apparently she hadn’t noticed us for the whole time that we were stood there because the moment she saw us she disappeared behind a log with an ‘eep’. I looked at Zecora but she just shrugged, I rolled my eyes
and sighed before calling out to the pegasus.

“Excuse me?” I asked, I saw the pegasus slowly poke her head above the rock, “would you mind coming over here for a second”

“Please, Fluttershy, come here” Zecora said “you have nothing to fear”

The pegasus, apparently called ‘Fluttershy’ slowly started to make her way over, ‘Guess the two of them know each-over, that makes things so much easier’ I thought as the pegasus walked over to us, looking wearily at me.

“H-h-hello, Zecora, who is this?” Fluttershy asked, looking fearfully at me as if I would eat her at any moment

“Good morning, Fluttershy” Zecora responded “This is Vuur Koning, he has found himself in this land and does not know why” she said the last part whilst pointing at me. I slowly crouched down, trying to make myself seem not quite so tall.

“Hello, Fluttershy, was it? Pleased to meet you” I said quietly, trying to make myself seem as least threatening as possible.

“H-hello, Vuur Koning” Fluttershy said, “I-if you don’t mind me asking, what are you? If you don’t mind answering the question that is”

“I don’t mind answering the question at all, I was, until very recently, Human, now? I’m not so sure, I used to look very different” I said

“A-are you going to be staying in Ponyville?” Fluttershy asked

“That all depends on what happens today” I replied “I’m just trying to get home, you wouldn’t happen to know anyone who could help me, would you?”

“Oh, there is Twilight” Fluttershy said

“Who?” I asked “I’m not exactly from around here”

“She’s one of my friends and she’s really good with magic, she should be able to help you. I’ve just finished feeding all the animals, I can take you to her, if that’s ok with you?” Fluttershy replied

“Wouldn’t do any harm, I’m willing to try anything to get home, even this so-called ‘magic’” I said “I was headed to Ponyville anyway, are you coming with us Zecora?”

“I am afraid not, there are things that I need to get done, of which there are quite a lot” Zecora replied

“In that case then, goodbye and thank you” I said, Zecora nodded towards me in acknowledgment before turning around and walking back into the forest.

“Thank god I don’t have to go back in there” I said, relief clear in my voice “Right then, onwards to Ponyville” and with that I continued walking down the road with a pegasus this time instead of a zebra, after walking for about a mile we walked onto a small –arched stone bridge. On the other side was what I assumed to be Ponyville, we were standing in what would appear to be the equivalent of town centre, there was what seemed to be a town hall of some kind surrounded in a loose semi-circle by various shops selling all sorts of different items.

We walked past the town hall and started to go down one of the side streets, it was at this point that we started to attract the attention of several of the towns folk, some of them tried to be discrete about it (which I was thankful for), but others didn’t even try to hide their curiosity, or fear in the case of some, window shutters were pulled shut, several shops were ‘mysteriously’ closed early (with customers still inside), and then there was the staring. All of the… horses (?) were looking at me with shock, or fear, or just staring dumbstruck and it was really starting to piss me off, Fluttershy looked about ready to sink into the ground, presumably from all the attention on the both of us (but mostly on me).

“Hey, Fluttershy?” I whispered “I hate to rush us along but can we speed it up a little? I really hate it when people stare” she nodded and we quickened the pace a little. We walked over towards a tree… with doors and windows in it, and a sign that had a painting of a book ‘I guess it’s a library’ I thought to myself as we walked in side. I had to once again duck under the door way, I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.

“*sigh* I never thought that would end, although, why did you bring us to a library of all places?” I asked

“This is where Twilight lives, wait here and I’ll go and find her, if that’s alright with you?” Fluttershy asked before walking up some stairs into another room, whilst I waited I had a look at some of the books there ‘It is a library, I wonder if they any books on what the railways are like here’ I thought to myself, remembering I saw a railway station on the way to the library, learning about railways had always been a pastime of mine, I had even been planning a model railway before ‘this’ happened. I caught sight of a book on the subject of different types of locomotives and was about to start reading when I heard voices from upstairs making their way down.

“I still don’t understand why he would need my help to get home, it’s not like he can’t just find a book on maps and plan a journey using those” I heard a voice I didn’t recognise, presumably Twilight Sparkle, say. I put the book that I was going to read on the table in the centre of the room and waited for whoever it was to come downstairs, picking out other books that took my interest and placing them on top of the first book.

“Erm, he said he’s ‘not from around here’ and I don’t think he just means not from Ponyville” I heard Fluttershy say just as the two of them came into view, the second one, who I assumed to be Twilight Sparkle, was purple and looked like a cross between a Pegasus and a unicorn ‘A crossbreed maybe?’ I thought to myself.

“Maybe that just means he’s from the United Griffon Kingdoms then” Twilight said.

“And maybe you should try looking a little bit farther than ‘another country’” I interjected, leaning against one of the book shelves with my arms crossed, “Sorry for interrupting but Fluttershy’s right, I’m ‘not from around here’, start thinking ‘from another planet’ and you’re probably on the right track”, the purple equines reaction was priceless. I really wish I’d had my camera out at that moment, she almost feinted when she saw me, then again I had just metaphorically walked up to her and shouted ‘hey, I’M AN ALIEN’.

“Wh-what in Celestia's name?” Twilight asked, looking rather pale "how are you still human, and how did you get through the portal?"

"Uh..." I replied dumbly "what?"

"The mirror portal in the Crystal Empire" she said "it changes anypony who travels through it into the most common for of life in that area, you should be a pony"

"What?" I asked "yes, I'm human, but I've never heard of any 'mirror portal', and I've got pictures to prove it" I then got out my Laptop and began showing them pictures of the different places I'd visited.

“I… but… what?” Twilight stuttered, her expression became blank for a few moments before becoming worried “I think this is a matter for Princess Celestia, SPIKE!”

“Yeah, yeah, I coming” I heard a young male voice reply

“Bring parchment and a quill” Twilight said, I could hear the pattering of feet on wood, followed by a large purple lizard of some type walking down the stairs on its back legs, its front legs carrying the requested items, he noticed me for the first time.

“Whoa! What is that?” he asked.

“The reason I called you down, take a letter” Twilight said, the lizard put quill to parchment in preparation.

“Dear Princess Celestia, I have encountered a situation and I am not sure how to proceed, a human who calls himself…” Twilight looked towards me

“*sigh* Vuur Koning” I said, “that’s spelt V-u-u-r space K-o-n-i-n-g” the lizard started writing down my name as I spelt it out

“…has come to the library requesting assistance in getting home, he is human, like the ones I saw in the mirror world, the only problem is he is from a different wold to the one I visited. He has shown pictures of locations from his world as proof, I believe it would be best if you came to the library to assess the situation and, if possible, help to send him home, Your faithful friend and former student, Princess Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight said, the lizard the proceeded to roll up the parchment and breath green fire (!) onto the parchment which disintegrated and flew out the window as smoke.

“Why the hell did you just set it on fire, I thought you were sending it to a Princess, and also what are you?” I said the last part whilst pointing at the reptile.

“I’m Spike and I’m a dragon” he said, puffing out his chest with pride, he suddenly convulsed before burping out green fire, from which a scroll materialised. Spike grabbed hold of the scroll and unrolled it before clearing his throat and reading out the letter.

“Dear Twilight Sparkle, I shall be arriving shortly to assess the situation, Princess Cellestia, P.S. stand back” the dragon looked confused before realisation dawned on his and Twilight's faces, they proceeded to stand as close to the wall as possible. Deciding not to tempt fate I also stood with my back against the wall, Fluttershy obviously had similar thoughts as she also stood as close to one of the walls. I was about to question why we were cowering against the wall when something tall appeared with a blinding gold flash and a shock wave which blew out any lit candles and left a small scorch mark on the floor, whoever it was it looked like a taller version of Twilight, except it was a pure white, wearing what looked like minimalistic armour and had hair that seemed to flow in an unseen wind.

“Holy shit!” I exclaimed, what else did you expect me to do, it had practically exploded into existence in the library.

“Sorry about that” she said “It has been a while since I last teleported” Twilight seemed to be overcome with joy, almost like she was meeting an old friend, whereas Fluttershy started bowing. I assumed that this was Princess Celestia so I started bowing out of respect ‘Better not incur the wrath of royalty’.

“There is no need for that” Celestia said, “If you are who you say you are then there is no need to bow to me”

“So, will you be able to send me home?” I asked, preferring to get this over and done with. Celestia seemed to become ever so slightly saddened

“I am afraid not, it seems you come from a different reality altogether” Celestia said “I will get my smartest unicorns onto working on an advanced teleportation spell, but I can’t promise anything”

“*sigh* that’s what I thought” I said “still, it was better that I made sure that there was no way back than spent my whole life on this planet not knowing that there was a really simple way to get home, what do you suggest I do? Seeing as I am now a citizen of your nation”

“Well, for a start, you will need to apply for citizenship and get registered as a new species, so you will need to come to Canterlot with me, after that, it’s up to you what you do with your new life” Celestia said, beckoning me with a wing.

“Ok, just a second” I said whilst preparing my backpack, I turned to Twilight “When you next see Zecora, tell her I said thank you and goodbye, and can I borrow the books on the table? I promise I will return them at the nearest possible opportunity once I have read them” Twilight nodded and levitated the books over towards me. I put my rucksack on my back and picked up the books in my left hand, not having any room left in my rucksack, I walked over to Celestia.

“So” I said “Onwards to Canterlot” Celestia nodded before closing her eyes, light started to pool on the tip of her horn before expanding, just before I disappeared from the library I turned towards the remaining occupants in the room and said.

“Auf Wiedersehen”

it's finally done, no offence to Zecora but I am lad I don't have to type speech in rhyme anymore.
also HAPPY EASTER

Vuur Koning Stat increases:

+5 to acceptance-ponies

Ponyville added to map

Everfree added to map

Perk unlocked: "First impressions"

"I guess we can trust you...?"

You have had a moderately good first impression. You have a neutral reputation with Equestrian Royalty. Don't screw it up.

*EDIT* altered the scene with Twilight, seeing as she went to the mirror world so she will know what humans are

We reappeared in a large hall of some kind and I felt really queasy all of a sudden, probably due to the fact that I had just experienced teleportation. ‘Thank god I didn’t eat anything this morning’ I thought to myself.
“Bloody hell, you could have warned me. you’re lucky I didn’t eat anything for breakfast,” I said, placing one hand over my stomach.
“Sorry about that, it always happens to anypony who teleports for the first time,” Celestia said.
“I am guessing when you say ‘anypony’ you are referring to your species, speaking of which, what exactly are you?” I asked “I know of Unicorns and Pegasi from mythology back on my world, but I’ve never seen one with both wings and a horn.”
“I am an Alicorn, they have aspects of all three types of pony,” Celestia said.
“Huh, that’s odd,” I said.
“What is?” Celestia asked, her head tilted to one side in confusion.
“The German word ‘alle’ means all or every,” I said “Did the term ‘alicorn’ originate from an old language as the word for ‘everypony’ or ‘all-types’?”
“Yes, the ancient language of the Alicorns used the word ‘ali’ to mean all, the language has evolved over time into Germane, how did you come to that conclusion?” Celestia asked.
“I’ll explain later, I want to get this registration business over and done with before I go into my life story,” I said. Celestia nodded and called to a pony dressed in medieval-esque armour.
“Take his bag and books to one of the guest rooms for minotaurs,” she said. The guard, a unicorn nodded before I felt my rucksack lift off of my back. It floated over to him enveloped in a gold glow, the books and his horn enveloped in the same glow.
“Please be careful, some of the stuff in there is really fragile,” I said. I really don’t like leaving my stuff in the care of someone else but I don’t really have a choice, plus I wasn’t going to complain if I was getting a room to stay in. The guard nodded before walking out of the hall through some large doors and once he was out of sight I turned towards Celestia.
“So... shall we?” I asked. Celestia nodded and walked towards the doors. I followed her, taking note of the stained glass windows as we walked out, some of them depicting Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy as well as four other ponies that I didn’t recognise ‘Must remember to ask Celestia about the other four ponies once this whole registration thing is done’ I thought to myself. We walked along large hallways and my god the architecture was amazing. Think of Lincoln cathedral but about ten times better. We eventually walked into a small room off to one side of the main hallway. At a desk sat a sat a yellow coloured unicorn with glasses but I couldn’t see the mark she had on her rear due to the desk being in the way. On the desk was a plaque that said ‘Golden Tome’ and she seemed to be signing or marking documents of some form or another. She hadn’t seemed to notice us walk in because when she stopped writing and when she looked up she jumped in surprise.
“P-princess, I didn’t see you there,” she said and started trying to clean up her desk. Celestia giggled.
“There is no need for that. there is somepony here who wishes to apply for citizenship,” Celestia said “normally I would just give him an application form but I feel that this is a special case as you can no doubt see for yourself”
“Indeed,” Golden Tome said adjusting her glasses before stacking the papers on her desk neatly and levitating over a quill and piece of parchment. She dipped the quill in a bottle of ink before asking “Name?”
“Vuur Koning, V-u-u-r space K-o-n-i-n-g.”
“Species?”
“Human or Homo Sapiens.”
“Gender is male,” she muttered under her breath, “Age and date of birth?”
“18 years old and 29th day of the 1st month 1996 A.D.. Where I am from, for reference, the current time is roughly the 4th month of 2014 A.D.”
“OK, approximate date of birth is 29th of the 1st, 986 C.R.. Nationality and country of origin?”
“English and I am from the United Kingdom of Great Briton and Northern Ireland, often abbreviated to the U.K.”
“Do you have existing physical or mental health conditions? And if so then what treatment or medication are you receiving?”
I sighed, “I was Diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or A.D.H.D., Autistic Spectrum Disorder or A.S.D. and Asperger’s Syndrome, I take 54mg daily of Methylphenidate-Hydrochloride but it’s only for helping me focus during education and isn’t vital,” I said.
“O.K. everything appears to be in order. We just need to wait for this to be officially accepted and you will be a legal citizen of Equestria,” Golden Tome said.
“Thank you.” I said as Celestia and I walked out of the room and as we were walking along Celestia turned to look at me.
“What exactly do all of the mental conditions you listed do?”
“Remember when I made the connection between the words Alicorn and ‘alle’?” I asked. Celestia nodded, “Well that’s just one of the things that conditions like Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome does. I see connections between things that might not be that so obvious to other people. The big downside is that most people with my conditions have trouble socializing and making friends and the more extreme cases don’t even talk and appear to be in their own little world so in that sense I’m very lucky. A.D.H.D just makes me hyper and easily distracted although in my opinion its slightly mislabeled.”
“How so?” Celestia asked, tilting her head to one side.
“it should be should be Attention Deficit Hyper-awareness Disorder, not Hyperactivity. Look at that table,” I said pointing to a table that we were walking past, “where as you see ‘a table’, I see: a table made of mahogany wood with brass candle holders, cream coloured candles that has recently been dusted although they haven’t done a perfect job as there is still a small amount of dust around the base of the candle holder, the candle holder isn’t perfectly in the centre of the table as it should be judging by the way there is actually a small gap on one side between the dust ‘outline’ of the base and the base of the candle-holder itself, there is also a small scratch on one of the table legs and the candle-holder is in need of a good polish.” Celestia's eyes widened in surprise, “O[/colorf course you will have seen all of that, but you will have only memorized the absolutely necessary information i.e. the table.”
“Were you a detective on your world?” Celestia asked.
“No, for one thing that line of work doesn’t interest me and you need too many qualifications in things I’m not good at to be a detective. I’m more into things like art and photography” I said. We walked back towards the two large doors. Celestia stopped outside and addressed the guard that took my belongings to the room.
“Escort Vuur Koning to the room with his belongings,” Celestia turned towards me “I’m afraid I have royal business to attend to. I will send a guard when dinner is ready later this evening. Do you have any dietary requirements?”
“Omnivore, but in my case mostly cooked meat and Potatoes,” Celestia seemed to stiffen slightly at that, “I’m guessing ponies are herbivores?”
“Yes, but no matter. I am used to eating dinner alongside griffins,” she said and with that she walked through the doors. The guard turned towards me, slightly wary this time.
“This way sir.” he said before walking off down the corridor. We soon reached what I assumed to be my temporary room. I nodded in acknowledgment to the guard who subtly returned the gesture and I walked in to the room to find my stuff in one corner. Finding myself with nothing better to do I got my laptop out of my bag and turned it on. Bringing up the music player I put the music on shuffle letting fate decide which song to play. It immediately started playing a flute for a couple of seconds before a guitar took over in an old time wild west style. I started singing along with the chorus.
“Crosses grow in Anzio. Where no soldiers sleep and where hell’s Six feet deep. But death must wait. There’s no debate. So charge and attach going to hell and back.” I started air guitaring when the solo kicked in. For the rest of the song I sat on the bed. ‘Hmm, I wonder.’ I thought to myself as I brought my hands up to the helmet I was wearing. I removed it with a surprising amount of ease. Several aspects of the HUD that was displaying when I was wearing the helmet were now faded such as the shield status.
Walking into the on-suite off to one side of the room I looked in the mirror, I found my face was almost the same as before I ended up here. The main difference being the faintly glowing green eyes and what looked like the lines that you find on circuit boards were on different parts of my face, for instance, from the middle of my lower lip going down towards my chin. Looking at my armour I noticed it was secured by what looked like leather buckles. I took off my armour starting with my shoulder pads followed by my gauntlets and chest plate and finally my leg armour and boots. Underneath was what looked like a cloth of some sort, except on my lower arms, where it was plate mail looking like scales. I took off the cloth shirt and plate mail sleeves taking care when I removed the bandage. The skin on my chest and arms had a similar line pattern as on my face. My chest had some sort of glowing green crystal embedded in the center, surrounding the crystal was a thin lining of metal and when I looked at the wounds on my arm I found that they were healing quicker than I expected, ‘Guess I owe Zecora one for that.'
I turned on the water in the sink and let it fill up. Once that was done I grabbed a cloth and started cleaning my armour. Once I was done my armour looked brand new. I emptied the water from the sink and then stripped off my leggings before turning on the shower and jumping in.
Once I had finished I put my clothes back on but left the armour off for now. ‘Wouldn’t look right, eating dinner with a full set of armour on, maybe I should just go without. I’ll need to talk to Celestia about getting some regular clothes tailored as well as formal wear maybe a cape as well. I’ll need to get my plate mail repaired so I’ll speak with Celestia about that at dinner,’ just then I heard a knocking at the door.
“Speak of the devil.” I said, I turned off the music on my laptop before walking towards the door. I opened it to see a guard at the door. This time it was a different guard to the one that escorted me to the room the first time.
“Are you Vuur Koning?” He asked in a deep voice.
“Yes, I’m guessing you are to escort me to dinner?” I asked.
“Yes, if you would come with me please.” He said. I walked out of the room and shut the door, taking note of the room number. We walked down the hallways before arriving at a dining hall of some kind. At the table sat Celestia plus two other ponies that I didn’t recognize. One was similar to Celestia except she was a dark blue and had the mark of a crescent moon on her rear and her hair looked like a night sky complete with twinkling stars. The second one was a white unicorn with blond hair and the mark of what looked like a map compass. Celestia noticed me and looked surprised.
“Vuur Koning, is that you? I almost didn’t recognize you without the armour,” she said. The other two noticed me for the first time and the blue one looked at me curiously but the white one looked at me as if I was a stone under his hoof.
“Vuur Koning, I would like you to meet my sister Princess Luna and my cousin Prince Blueblood,” Celestia said, motioning to the blue one first and then the white one.
“Good evening,” I said, bowing before taking a seat with Blueblood opposite me. Princess Luna looked at me with great interest.
“Forgive me for being blunt, but what exactly are you?” Luna asked.
“I am what is known as human. I’m… not exactly from around here” I said.
“And where are you from?” She asked
“Start thinking other world, and you are probably in the right sort of area. I come from country called Great Britain. I was born in the capital city called London and lived there for about 11 years before moving up north where I have lived until now. I’ve ended up with a… unique accent as a result.”
“How so? To me you sound like you are from Trottingham.” Luna said.
“And to me you sound an American trying to do an impression of an upper-class British accent, your point? What I meant by ‘unique’ is in Lundun I gre’ up in a part o’ dah ci’y where dey tawk lioyk dis.” I said, slipping back in to my London accent and even over emphasizing a bit, “The main difference between and London accent and a northern accent is with the northern accent they stretch out the syllables slightly and talk in a slightly bored tone. My accent is... somewhere in between. The only reason I don't sound like that is because I’ve learned to subconsciously speak in a neutral British accent when I speak to people with different accents to mine.” As I finished my impromptu accent lesson several waiters walked into the room with a tray of drinks. One waiter who was missing a tray walked over to me.
“Excuse me sir, but what drink would you like?” He asked.
“What sweet cider would you recommend that isn’t too strong?” I could swear I heard and saw Prince Blueblood scoff at my suggestion. I ignored him for now.
“I would recommend ‘Sweet Apple Acres' Cider.” the waiter replied.
“Then I will have one of those please.” I said.
“Certainly sir.” And with that he walked away. I turned to Prince Blueblood and asked.
“Do you have a problem with my choice of drinks?”
“As a matter of fact I do. There are drinks that are suitable for meals with royalty and Cider is most certainly not one of them.” He said and I could see Luna roll her eyes.
“Well I am not sure that the other type of alcoholic beverage that I like even exists on this planet.” I said..
“And what drink would that be?” he said with one eyebrow raised.
“It’s called ‘Irish cream’ and it’s a mixture between cream and wine and it’s the sort of drink you have in whisky sized servings. Please forgive me, your Highness for the fact that I only turned eighteen years old three months ago and, as a result, haven’t fully discovered my taste in alcohol.” I said the last part dripping with sarcasm. He bristled at my remark.
“Auntie please have this commoner removed from the table. I fear will start losing my legality if he stays here any longer.” He said, in a really snobbish voice. ‘Great, he’s a snobbish twat’ I thought to myself.
“Now, now, Blueblood. Play nicely.” Celestia said. Her smile looked innocent enough but the look in her eyes was like a barely concealed storm. I got the feeling the it wouldn’t be the wisest decision to piss off the princess but at that moment several waiters walked into the room carrying trays of what I assumed to be food and I was surprised to see that one of them was a griffin. He walked over towards me and placed a plate of what looked like chicken breast and roast potatoes along with a glass of cider.
“Thank you.” I said, nodding to the Griffin. He walked away with the rest of the waiters. I took a sip of cider and a bite of the chicken before I turned to Celestia and asked “I was wondering if you knew any tailors who could sort out some clothes and footwear for me? I will be the first to admit that it’s impractical to walk around in a suit of armour all the time and whilst we’re on the subject I need to get part of my armour repaired.”
“One of Twilight's friends, Rarity if I remember correctly, owns a boutique in Ponyville. I could supply you with the necessary funds to cover the cost of travel and however much it will cost for the clothes and repair of your armour. I will send a letter to Twilight to let her know. If you don’t mind my asking how did you damage your armour?" Celestia asked and I swear I saw Blueblood stiffen slightly when Celestia mentioned Rarity.
“When I woke up in Equestria I was in the Everfree Forest and I got bitten by a Timberwolf,” I said holding up my left wrist to show her, “speaking of which, I will need to go through combat training at some point. When I woke up in the forest I was equipped with a sword. No doubt the guards that I have seen patrolling the palace will have received combat training of some kind and I would join the guard fully but seeing as I’ve found myself in a new world I would like to see as much as I can plus I’m not particularly keen on the idea of standing around waiting for something to happen.”
“You could always apply for a role in the Guard reserves.” this time it was Luna who made the suggestion, “They go through exactly the same training but are only called into service when needed. For instance when a state of war is declared or in a time of national emergency. You will be classed as a member of the royal guard but you will have the freedom to visit other countries as you wish.”
"Are you sure that they will accept me?" I asked Celestia, "Considering my... mental conditions."
"Of course. If anything the symptoms you described, for instance the 'hyperawareness' and a tendency to notice things that most other ponies would ignore, will make them more likely to accept you."
“Very well then,” I said, “I will go to Ponyville tomorrow, stay there a couple of days while I wait for my clothes and such to be finished, maybe relax a little, then once I’m done there, I will come back to Canterlot to apply to join the reserve Guard and hopefully if that all works out I will start exploring the world.” I said finishing off my food once I had finished talking. I quickly drank the rest of my cider before standing up.
“Please give my regards to the chef, Celestia. It was a pleasure meeting you Princess Luna and I will try and stay out of your way from now on Prince Blueblood. I wish you all a gute nacht.” and with that I walked back towards the room I was staying in. I walked in and checked the battery on my laptop ‘Probably won't last the night’ I looked towards the bedside table to find that, to my surprise, the wall socket that was powering the lamp was the same style as the plug for the charger. I fished out the charger for the laptop and connected it to the wall and the laptop and to my relief the screen displayed that it was charging.
“Thank god, the last thing I want is for the laptop to blow up because it uses a different voltage system.” I checked the clock on the table and adjusted the clock on the laptop to match. I saw a calendar on the table and quickly checked how long each month was. I once again found to my surprise that all of the months were exactly the same as the ones on the laptop calendar so I changed the year on the laptop to ‘1004’. I set an alarm for 8:00 in the morning and once I was satisfied I went back into my rucksack and retrieved my camera bag.
I got my camera out and checked for any damage. Satisfied that everything was as it should be I set it up to check the systems. I looked out the window to find the night sky filled with really bright stars and I decided to test its night time capabilities. I screwed a telephoto end onto the lens, giving a much wider shot of the night sky. I stood as still as I could and pressed the shoot button about halfway down, waiting for it to focus before fully pressing the button I heard the shutter click and the captured image displayed on the screen for a couple of seconds. I took a couple more shots, just in case, before I turned the camera off and placed it back into its bag. I made sure I put everything back in its proper place. I left the camera bag out of my rucksack, putting the books that I borrowed from the library in its place. 'I can take some photos on the way to Ponyville tomorrow. Once I was satisfied that everything was in order I decided that it was about time I went to sleep.

Seriously, did anyone else notice that the German word 'alle' (pronounced 'aler') is similar to the 'ali' in Alicorn
Yes, I do have A.D.H.D., Autism and Asperger's Syndrome, I just have a very mild case of it,
I am probably going to be able to release one more chapter soon after this before I resume college
also if you were wondering, the camera I use is a Canon EOS 1100D
if you want to know exactly what a 'northern' British accent sounds like, listen to the song Glitter Freeze by Gorillaz, the voice that says "where's north from here?" is a typical 'northern' accent.

Vuur Koning Stat increases:

Canterlot castle added to map

Perk unlocked: Perception Filter; 'Squirrel!...hi there'
you have A.D.H.D.; a condition that Albert Einstein also had, as a result you have hyper-focus and notice things other people don't normally notice. this can be useful, however, it can also be distracting at times and you have a shorter attention span than most.

I awoke to the sound of my alarm going off. I blinked a couple of times to try and evade the clutches of sleep before turning off the alarm and slamming the screen of the laptop down.
“Too… fucking…early,” I mumbled before climbing out of bed and walking over to the en-suite and turning the shower on.
I stepped out of the shower feeling much more awake. I dressed into my clothes and fixed the armour in place. I switched off the laptop before unplugging it and placing it in my rucksack. I noticed a letter and bag placed atop a dresser located in one corner of the room. I opened the letter:

Dear Vuur Koning,

You will find enclosed with this letter:

• Proof of citizenship card.

• A return travel ticket to Ponyville

• Approximately 1000 bits (Equestrian currency) to cover the cost of food and any clothing you require

A guard will be waiting outside your door to escort you to the railway station and Twilight will meet you at the station in Ponyville.

Signed Princess Celestia

P.S. I would see you off but I am afraid I have royal duties to attend to.

I put the letter back on the table and picked up the money bag, carefully placing it in my rucksack before putting the rucksack and sword on my back and placing the camera bag on my shoulders using the shoulder strap. I placed the tickets and the citizenship card in a pocket on the camera bag. Satisfied that I had everything I walked out the door and I saw that, as stated on the letter, there was indeed a guard outside the door. I nodded in acknowledgement towards the guard.
“Morning,” I said.
“I’m guessing you wish to go to the train station now,” he said.
“Lead the way,” I said, gesturing down the hallway. Eventually we came across hallways that I was unfamiliar with. There was noticeably more ponies walking about and some of them stopped to stare at me as I walked past. ‘Oh great, here we go again,’ I thought as we exited the castle and walked out into the fresh air. As we walked down one of the streets I noticed two things: One, I was the tallest person in the street and two, as a result of this I was noticed by every pony walking through the streets and many of them gave me a really wide berth as I walked past. The ones that didn’t had their noses pointed so high up that if they were any higher they would have been classed as astronauts. After walking for about 10 minutes we arrived at the train station. I stopped and turned towards the guard.
“Thank you. I can probably make my own way from here,” I said and the guard nodded before walking back in the direction of the castle. I made my way over to the entrance of the station and found myself in a large hall. On the far wall was an active notice board displaying the times of the next trains. I walked closer and looked for the next train to Ponyville. ‘Let’s see, aha, train calling at Ponyville, platform 7,leaves at 10:30, current time 10:00.’
I walked past the information board towards the platforms, following the signs as I went. Walking onto the platforms I saw steam locomotives of varying sizes from mighty Express locomotives to humble little tank engines. If I didn’t have a train to catch I would have taken my camera out and started photographing each and every one. I walked over to platform 7 where I found a small train of coaches similar to tramway coaches from the UK. The locomotive was similar to the Double Fairlie type of locomotive. I walked into one of the carriages about halfway down the train via the steps at one end. The interior of the carriage was an open style (meaning no compartments) and there were quite a few groups of ponies but not enough to make it seem crowded. I chose an empty table seat about halfway along the carriage and placed my rucksack and sword in the luggage rack above the seat but retrieved one of the books from the rucksack before taking my camera bag off and placing it on the table. I sat down and, having nothing better to do, opened the book and started reading.
As I read the book I started to hear whispers across from me. I looked to the other side of the carriage to find a group of unicorns sitting at the adjacent table whispering amongst themselves whilst frequently glancing at me. I sighed before turning to them and said.
“What? Can’t a man have a hobby?” They quickly started looking anywhere other than at me. I shook my head slightly before I resumed my reading.
After about 5 minutes I heard the locomotive give a high pitched whistle and seconds later the carriages gave a jolt before slowly pulling out of the station with the chuffs of the two driving wheel-sets going in and out of synch as it sped up. I resumed my reading as the train made its way down the mountain.
After about 5 minutes the guard entered through one end of the carriage calling out for tickets. He eventually made his way towards me and I retrieved the tickets from my camera bag and passed them to the guard. He checked off one of them before passing them back to me. I placed them back in my camera bag before once again resuming reading yet again the book.
It was about ten minutes before I was yet again interrupted from reading and I looked up from the book to find that it was one of the unicorns from the table across from mine. He was green with white hair and he didn’t look too happy.
“You don’t belong here,” he said pointing at me with malice clear in his voice.
“Excuse me?” I said with a feeling I knew where this was going.
“You heard me. You don’t belong here in this country. You’re not a pony so you don’t belong,” he said. ‘Great,’ I thought ‘hardly been here a week and fate has given me a xenophobe to deal with’
“Look,” I said, “I don’t want to be a problem and if I bother you that much I can move to another carriage if you want.”
“What I want is for you to get back to your own land before you spoil this country with you foreign ways,” he said. ‘He can’t possibly be serious,’ I thought.
“Two things. One, I can't get back to my, as you put it, ‘own land’ and two,” I said retrieving my citizenship card from the camera bag and showing him, “I’m technically a citizen of Equestria so I am not actually classed as foreign.”
“That changes nothing, freak,” he said. I froze before slowly, deliberately putting the book on the table, standing up and leaned towards the pony.
“Would you care to repeat that I had a little trouble hearing you from all the way over there,” I said pointing towards the seat that I had occupied.
“You heard me. You are a freak,” he said, trying and failing to intimidate me.
“You know you really don’t intimidate me. In fact I find it downright hilarious,” I said standing up to my full height.
“You watch your tone, freak, before I do something to make you regret ever coming to this country,” he said pawing the ground with a forehoof. ‘Ok, that’s it,’ I thought as I turned around and grabbed my sword. I turned back around to face him and stabbed the sword into the floorboards of the carriage.
“You shouldn’t make threats unless you know you can go through with them or else there comes a certain point when you stop looking brave and start looking like an arsehole trying to cause a fight,” I said leaning on the sword and absentmindedly looking at my left hand, “Do you like my sword? It’s very sharp.” The pony started looking really nervous and started backing away. He turned towards the other unicorns at the table.
“Let’s go. It’s not even worth the trouble,” they started walking towards the next carriage and he turned back to me, “Just remember, I will be reporting you to the guard.”
“Oh really? Who was the one who threatened who first?” I said. They walked into the next carriage rather quickly and once they were gone I noticed that it was completely silent except for the frequent beat of the carriage wheels rolling over the joints in the track… and that everyone was looking at me. I placed my sword back on the luggage rack and turned around. I clapped my hands together before saying, “Sorry for the disturbance everyone. I was happy to move to another carriage and forget about it right up until he called me a freak and I promise I won’t disturb you any more,” I sat back down and tried to resume reading the book but found myself distracted. I sighed before closing the book and standing up to put it back in the rucksack. I then collected everything together and walked out of the carriage heading towards the rear of the train. After walking through several carriages I ended up in the guard’s compartment and he was there signing what looked like a time keeping book.
“Excuse me?” I asked. The guard looked up from the book and look startled momentarily before composing himself, “Do you mind if I stand on the rear veranda for the remainder of the journey?”
“Go ahead,” he said, “jus’ don’t be goin’ an’ jumpin’ off” he said in what sounded like a Texan accent. I walked outside and placed my bags on the floor, making sure they couldn’t fall off, and stood there for a few minutes listening to the sound of the wheels rolling over the joints and allowed my mind to go blank. Some people find it distracting but I’ve always found it a relaxing sound. I took my sword off of my back and placed it down on the floor, sat down and I rested my head on the wall and closed my eyes.
After some time I opened my eyes when I heard the carriage door open. I looked towards the door to see, not the guard as I expected, but an orange pegasus with slightly unkempt maroon hair.
“You come here to find a quiet spot?” I asked and she looked startled when she saw me, “Don’t worry, I don’t bite.” she hesitantly sat down.
“Unless somepony insults you?” she said in a distinctively Trottingham accent. At least that’s what ponies called it. To me it just sounded like she was from London (think of a light ‘cockney’ accent).
“I’m guessing you saw my little ‘outburst’ then, if you are here to tell me the same thing as the other pony then you can just piss off,” I said pointing a thumb towards the door. She just snorted.
“I didn't come here to pick a fight,” she said, “I came to say good job. Not many ponies could scare off somepony like that.”
“For a start I’m not a pony.” I said, “It also helps when you have a ‘fuck-off’ sized sword,” I pointed to the aforementioned sword with a smirk and she burst out laughing.
“The look on his face when you stabbed it into the floor and said ‘do you like my sword’,” she said in between giggles and I suddenly realized something.
“Why are you taking the train when you could just fly? Your wings seem to be in good enough condition to be able to do that” I asked and she became really serious as I said that.
“Truthfully?” she asked.
“What do you think?”
“I’m a special ops guard that’s been assigned to assess whether you are suitable for enrollment.”
“But Celestia said that the side effects of my conditions, specifically the hyperawareness and the fact that I take in everything I see, would mean I would have more chance of being accepted for training.”
“Yes, but we have to assess every aspect of your conditions. That fact that you are a completely new species complicates things even further. I’m also assigned to act as a guide… long term,” she said.
“As in during training or whilst I travel as well? I asked with one eyebrow raised.
"As in until you finish your little adventure around the world," she said.
"Why would I need someone to act as a guide for me all that time? I could be gone for months or even years," I said shrugging.
“Do you speak Germain?... or Griffin?... or Minotaur?” She said, pointing at me.
“If the first one is the language I am thinking of then a little bit, yes” I said, shaking my hand is a 'so-so' motion.
“What language are you thinking of?” she asked.
“Guten Tag, hallo, gut, ‘Feuer Frei ’, ‘Waidmanns Heil’, ‘Gott mit uns’, nicht, Ja, Jawohl, Scheißer, Auf Wiedersehen,” I said, listing off my complete vocabulary of German, “There are also a couple of songs in that language that I can sing although from what I have translated… they’re not the sort of things you should sing about in public,” I said, shuddering a bit.
“That’s Germain, what did you think it was?” she asked, head cocked to one side.
“German, in their language it’s called ‘Deutsch’,” I said “Care to tell me what the other two sound like?” I asked.
“‘detta är vad grip låter som’ and ‘mae hyn yn beth Minotaur swnio fel’," She said and I gave a low whistle.
“I can’t speak a word of either language although the first one sounds Swedish and the second one sounds a lot like Welsh which is a beautiful language in my opinion. It also has one of the longest words in any language. Just a second and I’ll show youm” I said digging into my rucksack and retrieving my laptop. She seemed confused as to what the laptop was. I turned it on and brought up a word document and I typed in the word before showing her: ‘Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch’.
“Have a go at pronouncing that,” I said smirking. She stared at the screen for several minutes before trying to sound it out a couple of times before ultimately giving up.
“… I can’t pronounce it. I may be able speak the language but that doesn’t mean I can say mile-long words," she said, looking rather annoyed "if you find it so funny then why don't you say it,"
“I think it's pronounced along the lines of-" I stopped to inhale, "-‘hlan-vairay-poohl-guin-gihl-gogery-u-queern-droboohl-hlatisilio-go-go-goch’… I think,” Her face went blank for a couple of seconds almost as if she was trying to process what I had just said.
“But that’s just describing the place it's located in,” she said throwing her hooves into the air, “That’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard"
“And that’s why it is always referred to as ‘Llanfar-P.G.’ when used in a letter and by people that don’t have time to say all of it, the reason they added ‘P.G.’ is because there are several other towns in Wales called ‘Llanfair’,” I said, “Anyway, you never told me your name. if you going to be my guide for god knows how long then I will need to at know at least that.”
“The name’s Autumn Skies,” she said holding out a hoof.
“Vuur Koning,” I said before grabbing the hoof and shaking it.
We sat there for some time just watching the world go by and after a while I turned to Autumn Skies and asked.
“I’ve been wondering. I’ve seen marks on the rears of loads of different ponies. What are they?” Autumn Skies looked at me as if I’d grown a second head.
“You’re kidding right? You’re telling me you don’t know what a cutie mark is?” she said one eyebrow raised.
“Alien, remember?” I said.
“A cutie mark is a mark that appears on a pony’s flank when they discover their special talent. For example, mine represents my talent for fighting using bladed weapons,” Autumn said pointing at her mark. It was an image two swords crossed in front of a sun.
“If that’s the case then what does Celestia’s and Luna’s marks represent?” I asked.
“They control the sun and the moon respectively,” Autumn said matter-of-factly.
“Hah I call bullshit on that. There is no way that they control the sun and the moon, which are all the way up in space, from their castle” I said, Autumn snorted.
“They use magic,” she said matter-of-factly ,“and if they don’t use magic then how do the sun and moon move through the sky?”
“Every celestial object generates gravity and smaller celestial objects, lest say for arguments sake, a moon orbits around a planet which orbits around a sun or star, depending on the point of view, which orbits around a galaxy. It’s one of the laws of physics and you can’t change those… unless you’re a black hole and they are the only exception.” Autumn was about to argue the point but the guard opened the door and looked at us.
“We’ll soon be arriving in Ponyville. If y’all are getting off there then y’all best make your way to the passenger compartments now,” he said before walking back into the guard’s compartment. I gathered up my stuff before walking through to the exit at the other end of the carriage with Autumn Skies following shortly after she stopped to collect a bag of some sort.
The train eventually pulled into the station and I could see Twilight standing on the platform. I stepped off the train and walked over to greet her.
“Good day Twilight,” I said, nodding to the alicorn.
“Hello Vuur Koning. How was the journey?” she asked. I chuckled slightly whilst pinching the bridge of my nose and I shook my head before saying.
“In a word, eventful. Oh if you see a green unicorn with white hair walking around in town let me know. Ok?” Twilight looked confused.
“Why?” Twilight asked.
“No reason. Oh by the way this is Autumn Skies,” I said pointing towards the aforementioned pegasus. They both exchanged a short greeting, “She’s a guard who’s been assigned to act as a guide of sorts and she evaluating whether or not I’m suitable to become a reserve guard.”
“Why a reserve guard? Why not become a full time guard?” Twilight asked.
“Two reasons: One it’s kind of pointless to have a weapon and not know how to use it and two I plan to travel the world once I have finished combat training and I would rather not get my arse handed to me like when I first arrived in Equestria.”
“What happened?” Twilight asked.
“I was set upon by Timberwolves,” I said, holding up my left arm to show her the damaged armour and she visibly winced, “That’s also why I came here. I have been told that your friend, Rarity, owns a boutique. I wish to have several sets of clothes made, and if possible get my armour repaired. Luckily Celestia gave me some money to pay for the clothes,” we all started walking into the town where I was once again on the receiving end of countless stares.
“Remind me to ask your friend to make me a cape with a hood Twilight,” I said.
“Why?” she asked.
“I don’t like being stared at,” I said as we walked towards a building shaped like a fairground carousel, “Doesn’t exactly fit in with the rustic aesthetic of the rest of the town does it?” I said and Twilight rolled her eyes. As we walked in a bell at the door jingled. Inside there were loads of dresses as well as the occasional suit on display on pony shaped mannequins. I heard a female voice call out from another room.
“Be with you in a minute,” she said in an upper class accent and I saw I white unicorn with purple hair walk into the room. She seemed startled at my appearance.
“AAH,” she screamed. I was about to ask her to calm down but she exclaimed, “Your armour!”
“Wait, what?” I said. I was not expecting that.
“It looks atrocious. I mean just look at it. There’s mud on your shoes, the leg armour looks like it hasn’t been washed in weeks, the gold and silver armour looks like it’s never even heard of the word polish, and just look at your foreleg! This won’t do at all,” she said before promptly dragging me into another room using her magic. I looked back to Twilight and Autumn for help but Autumn looked like she was struggling to hold her laughter and Twilight just stood there with a look that said ‘you’re on your own’.
“Thanks a lot,” I mouthed to them but Twilight just shrugged and Autumn was still laughing. ‘Well fuck you too,’ I thought before accepting my fate but not before I could let out a totally manly scream as I was dragged into the other room. The unicorn, who by this point I had guessed to be Rarity, dragged me onto a raised platform before undoing the buckles on my armour and promptly removing them and my rucksack and camera bag, placing the armour on a table and my bags on to a couple of coat hooks.
“You could’ve asked you know,” I said to Rarity who was currently looking at the damaged part of the sleeve. She tapped her chin and hummed before saying.
“Well I’m not exactly an expert at making this sort of clothing but I’m sure I can sort something out. Please remove your shirt”
“Erm, ok…” I said before reluctantly taking my shirt off. She levitated it from my grasp and placed it on the same table as my armour. I walked over, curious as to how she would repair it. She removed the damaged scales plus any undamaged scales that surrounded them, leaving quite a large hole in the sleeve, and a circular piece of scale armour separate from the sleeve. She then levitated a micrometer of some kind over and measured one of the undamaged scales using it. She wrote down whatever measurements she took before levitating countless metal scales of varying sizes over. She started comparing the scales for a match with the ones from my armour, whilst keeping the other scales aloft. ‘I know females are supposed to be good at multitasking but this is ridiculous,’ I thought. She seemed to find one that matched as she compared it a couple of times with one of the undamaged scales and with the micrometer she levitated more of that size over and returned the ones that didn’t fit back into wherever they’re supposed to go. The sleeve was soon looking as good as new. Rarity then started cleaning my armour and polishing it and in the end I could actually see my own reflection on the gold helmet. She then levitated the shirt back to me before asking.
“Now what can I do for you?” I just stood there for about a minute just trying to comprehend what had happened. She just sat there the entire time and I finally found my voice.
“But… you’re not surprised at my appearance?” I said putting the shirt back on.
“No why should I be?” she asked.
“Look at me,” I said throwing my arms out.
“I am,” she said.
“Ok… anyway, I would like several items of clothing made,” I said.
“Ok let me take your measurements and you can tell me whilst I do that,” she said walking over to the raise platform. I followed her and stepped up onto the platform.
“You’re probably going to have to take some measurements while I wear the armour as I wish to have some cloaks made.” she nodded before levitating the pieces of armour over and refitting them on me all at once. ‘Damn, she’s good,’ I thought. She then went about measuring different parts of me, asking me to move different parts as needed.
“I never did ask your name. Hold out your left foreleg please,” Rarity said.
“It’s Vuur Koning,” I said and did]/color] as requested.
“Judging from your voice I would have guessed you were from Trottingham but your appearance says otherwise,” She said. I chuckled slightly.
“Pretty much everyone I meet says I have a ‘Trottingham’ accent. But no I don’t come from there,” I said.
“If you don’t mind me asking where do you come from? Right foreleg please,” Rarity said. I lowered my left arm and held out my right arm before saying.
“A nation called the U.K., its full name is ‘The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’ and I come from a country called England which is located in Britain. I’ve noticed that the accent you ponies refer to as ‘Trottingham’ is the same as the accent that people living in the capital of my country have although I wonder if accents from other parts of my country exist here. I mean I don’t have the true ‘Trottingham’ accent as I used to live in the capital of my country. But until recently I lived in the north,” I said and this seemed to pique Rarity’s interest.
“The capital you say? What’s it like? Raise both forelegs please,” she said before measuring my chest and abdomen.
“It’s nothing like Canterlot that’s for sure. Imagine huge city full of skyscrapers and office blocks. It’s not much to look at in terms of aesthetics but places like Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square are nice.”
“A palace, you’re ruled by royalty?” she asked, wide eyed.
“We’re ruled by a Queen, Queen Elizabeth the second, although we have a parliament that makes most of the decisions nowadays.” I said.
“Anyways what sort of cloaks would you like?” Rarity asked finishing off the measurements and levitating a quill and piece of paper over to the table. I thought for a few moments before deciding.
“I have two distinctive cloaks that I want to have made,” I said, “I want both of them to be hooded but the first one I would like to be a thin material for spring, summer and autumn weather with preferably a dark coloured material, black if possible, with red velvet on the inside. I want it to be rather loose fitting to help get rid of excess heat and conceal my exact form. Not everyone is as discrete or polite about their reaction to me as you are but it can’t restrict movement too much and needs to be easy to remove if needs be. It also has to have an opening in the back so that I can remove my sword. If possible I would also like the outer material to be waterproof,” she started taking down notes as I described what I wanted and when she finished I continued.
“The second one I intend for use in winter or snowy conditions so it has to be good at trapping heat. I want it to be white in colour to blend in with the snow and maybe a piece of material separate from the hood at the front to keep wind and snow out of my face but it needs to be able to see so have it stop just under my eyes,” she took down notes for the second one before turning to me.
“I will be able to have then done by… three days from now how’s that sound?” Rarity asked.
“That’s sounds great how much will it cost to make both of them?” I asked going into my rucksack and retrieving the bag of coins but Rarity shook her head.
“Consider them a gift,” Rarity said pushing the bag of bits away from her.
“What?” I said doing a double take.
“I love a challenge or anything unusual,” she shrugged, “And the design of your armour has given me lots of inspiration for my next line of clothes.”
“Are you sure?” I said feeling guilty.
“Yes I am sure,” she said with a smile and I gathered up my stuff and walked back into the main room where I found Autumn and Twilight talking. Rarity noticed them as well.
“Oh Twilight. When did you get here?” Twilight and Autumn burst out laughing.
“Laugh it up fuzz-balls,” I said crossing my arms. Twilight chuckled a couple more time before responding to Rarity.
“We walked in with Vuur Koning. You were so busy fretting over how he looked that you didn’t even notice us,” she said with a knowing look on her face. Rarity blushed from embarrassment.
“I guess I can get carried away sometimes,” Rarity said. Twilight then turned to me.
“Have you done everything you need to do here?” She said and I nodded, “In that case then we best be off. I hope to see you again soon Rarity.”
“Most certainly and I bid you farewell Vuur Koning,” Rarity said.
“Auf wiedersehen,” I said and with that Twilight, Autumn and I walked out the door. Twilight turned towards me.
“So, do you have any other plans for today Vuur Koning?” She asked. I was about to reply when I heard a yelling coming from the sky.
“GET AWAY FROM THEM!” I was promptly sent flying through the air by something blue and I landed on the ground hard.
“Ow, that hurt,” I muttered. I could hear Twilight saying something. Almost like she was having an argument with someone though I couldn't understand what she was saying. I was too focused on the dull pain in my chest and the pounding headache I now had. I sat up and took my helmet off before rubbing my forehead. I could see small grey pegasi with blond hair flying around my head. I shook my head to clear my vision but that just made the headache worse.
“Hey, Vuur Koning are you alright?” Autumn asked.
“Did anyone catch the number of that L.N.E.R. A4 locomotive?” I said before promptly blacking out.

Vuur Koning stat increases:

+5 intimidation to enemies
+5 to armour

Canterlot city added to map

Perk unlocked: 'your friendly neighbourhood human'
you're now a certified citizen of the Diarchal kingdom of Equestria, try not to get into trouble.

perk unlocked: 'Are you taking to me!?'
ponies are starting to realise you aren't to be messed with, but don't take it too far

Character unlocked: Autumn Skies.

+1 teamwork

perk unlocked: 'Oorah!'
you're long-term guide is a special-ops royal guard, try not to piss her off and you'll build a strong friendship

I awoke feeling… numb. I as regained my senses I noticed I was in a hospital room. Now you’re probably wondering how I knew it was a hospital. Well once you’ve seen one hospital you’ve seen all of them. I noticed that Autumn Skies was in the room sitting in a chair. She saw me wake up and walked over to the bed. I tried to get out of bed but she stopped me.
“Take it easy,” she said gently but firmly putting a hoof on my shoulder, “You took quite a hit back there. The doctors said you’re lucky you only had bruised ribs. It’s a good thing you were wearing armour or you would have been injured more badly.”
“What happened?” I asked putting a hand on my chest noticing that my armour had been removed. I heard a voice I didn’t recognize laugh nervously. I looked in the direction of the voice to find a sky-blue pegasus with rainbow hair looking rather sheepish.
“Heh heh, yeah… that’s kinda my fault. Sorry,” she said rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof.
“May I ask why you felt the need to peregrine dive at me?” I said and I noticed her ears pin back as she looked guilty.
“Yeah I kinda saw you with my friend and assumed the worst,” she replied and I turned to Autumn.
“Pass me my bags,” I said holding my hand out. I turned back to the blue pegasus, “If you have damaged anything in my bags I will not hesitate to rip your wings off and shove them so far down your throat that you’ll be shitting feathers for the next month and then I would make you pay for the damages.” I saw the blue pegasus gulp and back away slightly. Autumn passed me my bags. I then proceeded to empty them and check everything and after double checking everything I found nothing to be damaged.
I sighed, “You are very lucky that nothing got damaged. I am now willing to accept your apology and start over,” I said. She looked at me surprised.
“What? Just like that?” she said and I chuckled slightly.
“I was mainly worried about the stuff in my bags as they’re all I have left of my ‘old’ life,” I said, “You thought you friend was in danger and put her life above yours. I can respect that. The name’s Vuur Koning.”
“Rainbow Dash,” she said holding out a hoof. I bumped it with my fist, “fastest pegasus in Equestria and Element of loyalty,” she said puffing out her chest.
“How fast were you going when you hit me anyway?” I asked rubbing my chest.
“Fast enough to give you a concussion when you landed courtesy of Rainbow here” Autumn said scowling at the aforementioned blue pegasus.
“Hey I already said I was sorry. Ok?” Rainbow Dash said, “He’s willing to forgive me so I don’t see why you have to be so bitchy about it.”
“I’m pissed off because you attacked him without aggravation,” Autumn said walking towards Rainbow Dash who did the same until they were stood opposite sides of the bed looking ready to rip each other’s throats out. Rainbow Dash was the next to speak.
“If you want to do this the hard way we’ll do this the hard way.” Autumn made to jump over the bed at Rainbow Dash.
“ENOUGH!” I said pushing them away from each. I didn’t expect them to be sent flying in opposite directions through the room and when they hit the walls I noticed that they had a small amount of smoke coming from their chests. I looked at my hands to find them engulfed in translucent red flames. “Ah fuck! my hands!” I then proceeded to get out of the bed and run around the room waving my hands around.
“Put it out put it out” I screamed and I was promptly held in place by a purple aura. I was slowly turned around until I saw Twilight at the door with a similar purple aura around her horn.
“Care to tell me what exactly is going on? I leave for five minutes and when I come back I see those two about to kill each other and then you send them flying across the room and start running around screaming.”
“Fuck you my hands are on fire! Put them out!” Twilight responded by splashing a cup of water in my face and my hands were still on fire.
“You’re hands aren’t on fire. Its magic,” she said, “And don’t swear.”
“Bullshit its fire,” I said responding to both statements. She just rolled her eyes.
“Do your hands feel like they’re on fire?” she asked.
“No, but…” I said.
“But nothing. It’s magic. It just has an odd aura that’s all,” Twilight said dispelling her magic aura. I dropped to the floor with my hands still engulfed in magic flames. Twilight went over to check on Rainbow Dash whilst I checked on Autumn. I shook her slightly, noticing that the flames didn’t harm her, and she stirred.
“Urg... what happened?” she asked looking around.
“I kinda sent you and Rainbow Dash flying across the room and discovered that I had magic in the process,” I said showing her one of my hands. I looked over at Twilight who was talking to Rainbow Dash.
“Hey Twilight,” I called and she looked over at me, “Any idea how to turn this off?” I said holding up a hand. She said something to Rainbow Dash before walking over and covering my hands in her magic. She sat there for a few moments with her eyes closed.
“What are you doing?” I asked. She sat her for a bit longer before dispelling her magic.
“You haven’t used magic before have you?” she asked. I shook my head “it’s just been building up your whole life and now it’s been, for lack of a better word ‘unlocked’. It’s getting rid of the excess magic and it should dissipate in about…” she quickly enveloped my hand in magic again before saying, “give it a couple of hours and you should be able to control it.”
“And how do I turn it off then?” I said.
“Try imagining a candle being extinguished,” she said, “I’m guessing you’re alright to go now?”
“Chest’s still a bit sore but other than that I’m fine,” I suddenly remembered, “Where’s my armour?”
“It’s at the library” she said. I deadpanned.
“I can’t walk through town bare foot. Please send it here,” I said arms crossed. She closed her eyes in concentration and her horn glowed briefly before my armour appeared in the room with a flash. I stood there wide eyed, “How the hell…?”
“I modified a teleportation spell into a summoning so instead of the spell caster moving to their intended location the object that is being focused on moves towards the spell caster,” she said.
“Clever girl,” I muttered under my breath before putting my armour on. I put the helmet on last, the shield status on the HUD flared into life, and the armour was enveloped in a pale red Aura that eventually faded when the shield status read 100%.
“What the buck was that?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
“I do believe I now have active shielding Rainbow Dash. It seems when I ‘unlocked’ my magic it activated the shielding,” I said. I put a hand to my arm and I could feel some resistance as I did so, “So that means no more getting mauled by a walking shrubbery,” I noticed Rainbow Dash's confused look, “I was attacked by Timberwolves,” I gathered up my stuff before turning to everyone and saying.
“So… Who’s hungry? Because Rarity won’t let me pay for the clothes I requested and I’ve got a grand to spend. My treat.”
We ended up going to a café at Twilight's suggestion. It was a nice little place and we sat down at one of the outside tables. When I looked at the menu I noticed that the symbol used for Equestrian bits was the ‘ß’ sign.
“Hah I never knew that you used a ‘sharp S’ to represent bits,” I said.
“What do you mean a ‘sharp S’?” asked Twilight.
“It’s a letter often used in European languages, like German, and is pronounced as ‘SS'. Where I come from, the U.K., we use pounds and pence as currency,” I got my phone out from my rucksack and turned it on and I then showed them the symbols for each. I then went into my wallet and placed on the table a one and two pound coin, a couple of bank notes, and one of each type of penny coin (one pence, two pence, five pence, ten pence, twenty pence and fifty pence). I turned to Twilight.
“Think you could work out an equivalent value of these compared to your currency?” I asked. She nodded whilst studying the pound coin and one pence piece.
“Why do you have two different coinage systems?” Twilight asked.
“We don’t. The Pence are used when Pound coins aren’t exact enough £1 equals 100 pence. Don’t you have small change coins?” I asked.
“We do but it’s in fractions,” Twilight said, “For instance we have 1/10 bits, ¼ bits and ½ bits.” I returned to looking at the menu. Most of the options on the menu didn’t appeal to me so I soon found what I wanted. A waiter soon walked over to the table placing drinks that we had ordered when we arrived. We ordered our food and the waiter walked away, I turned to Twilight.
“Hey Twilight. Do you think you could teach me how to control my magic once ‘this’ stops?” I said gesturing to my hands. She took a sip from her drink before saying.
“I will probably have to modify my teaching methods to accommodate your arcane focal points but I don’t see why not,” she said smiling.
“I’m guessing you mean my hands when you say ‘arcane focal points’,” I said and took a sip of my drink. Twilight nodded. I then remembered something.
“Oh Twilight. I need to visit the library when we’ve finished here,” I said.
“What for?” Twilight asked.
“I need to look at maps of this world. If I plan to travel then I need to know where everything is,” I said. Twilight stirred as if she suddenly remembered something.
“Speaking of maps, do you have any maps of your world?” She asked.
“just a sec,’” I said going into my bag and getting my laptop out. I hoped that the laptop had cached the map as it required internet to use properly. Thankfully there was enough to make out on the screen “Ok bear with me on this as it requires a network to work properly. It’s only just detailed enough to make sense,” I spun the laptop around showing them the U.K., “This is what I am talking about when I mention the United Kingdom.”
“How big is it? Relatively speaking,” Twilight asked.
“Quite small. Great Britain,” I said pointing to the larger of the islands, “is about 200 or so miles from its most westerly point, Lands’ End, to its most easterly point, Lowestoft. Ireland is a similar width.”
“Your country has really weird names,” Rainbow Dash said. I rolled my eyes.
“Says the pony from ‘Ponyville’.”
“Ah, Touché,” Rainbow Dash conceded. I suddenly remembered something.
“Although having said that. There is Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch,” (read: hlan-vairay-poohl-guin-gihl-gogery-u-queern-droboohl-hlatisilio-go-go-goch) I said. I saw Autumn Skies face-hoof and I’m pretty sure I saw Twilight's eye twitch.
“What the buck kind of name is that?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Language Rainbow,” Twilight chastised.
“But he swears a lot,” she said pointing at me.
“That may be true but I try not to when in public places and to answer your question it’s in a language called Welsh which is apparently the language of the Minotaurs on this world. On my world it is a very old language and the name roughly translates to: St. Mary's Church in the hollow of the white hazel near the rapid whirlpool and the church of St. Tysilio with a red cave,” I said and at that point the waiter arrived with our food. He placed the food on the table before walking away.
“Oh whilst we’re on the subject of odd names.Tthe town I come from, Scunthorpe, don’t say it out loud but what word do you get when you take away the ‘S’ and ‘horpe’?” I waited for a few moments but Rainbow Dash was the first to react. she did a spittake and I burst out laughing at her reaction.
“You… are… bucking…kidding…me” she spluttered/laughed in-between coughs. Twilight looked confused.
“I don’t get it,” she said. Rainbow Dash leaned over and whispered in her ear. Within a couple of seconds her eyes widened and a blush spread across her cheeks, “That isn’t funny,” she said.
“That, my purple friend, is a ‘northern’ British sense of humour: crude, rude, vulgar and bloody hilarious if you understand it. Most people from other countries in my world don’t understand our sense of humour either. We often poke fun at ourselves. Take the weather for instance. Here it is rather nice, quiet, and sunny, but not too hot. In England it will be like this one minute and the next it’ll be the middle of a rain storm. We even have a saying: If it rains, wait ten minutes,” I said. Rainbow dash looked confused.
“Don’t you control the weather?” she asked.
“What do you mean?” I asked. Rainbow dash took off and flew up to a cloud. She then proceeded to push the cloud towards me and bucked it causing it to dissipate with a ‘poof’. She then landed back at the table as if it was nothing.
“My god how in the hell did you do that?” I asked slack jawed. Rainbow Dash went to speak but then looked at Twilight who sighed before saying
“All three types of pony have intrinsic magic. The pegasi and earth ponies have passive magic and a unicorn has active magic. The passive magic in pegasi increases agility and helps then to fly and manipulate weather whereas the passive magic in earth ponies gives them extra strength and helps plants to grow. The active magic in unicorns means the possibilities of what can be done are limitless. Chances are if you’ve thought of something that can’t normally be done then there’s a spell for it,” I looked at my bags and an idea popped into my head.
“If so then what about… a pocket dimension? Specifically one for increasing the capacity of a bag like my rucksack?” Twilight thought for a moment.
“I’ll have a look when we get back to the library and you can look over the maps whilst I search for the correct spell.”
“Oh and where am I staying tonight? It will be a few days before Rarity can finish my cloaks and even then I might stay for a couple more days and relax a bit,” I said.
“I have a spare room in the library,” Twilight said. I looked at Autumn Skies.
“Hey Autumn,” she looked up, “Where are you staying tonight?”
“As your guide and evaluator I have to stay where you stay”
“Do you have two beds?" I asked Twilight. She suddenly put on a really nervous smile and rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof.
“Heh heh. Funny you should ask that,” she said and I deadpanned.
“You don’t do you?” I asked rhetorically. She shook her head with her expression remaining the same.
“Well this week is going to be awkward,” I said. Autumn seemed to agree. We finished our food and I went to pay for it. Once that was done I gathered up my stuff and we left for the library but whilst we were walking towards the library I heard three young voices yell, “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS MONSTER HUNTERS YAY!” before I was tackled to the ground by three young ponies. The moment I fell to the ground they stood on my chest proclaiming their victory. They then turned to each other.
“Anything yet?” the orange pegasus asked before they all looked at their flanks they seemed disappointed to find their flanks bare.
“Aww shoot. we ain't never gonna get our cutie marks at this rate,” the yellow earth pony said in a Texan accent.
“Maybe we should’ve used a net,” the white one said.
“Erm, would you mind getting off my chest so that I get back up?” I asked starting to sound a little annoyed. I looked to Twilight and the others. They were just sat there as if this was a normal occurrence except for Autumn. She was just standing there trying not to laugh. The three young ponies seemed startled by the fact I could talk.
“It talks!” the orange pegasus said. I rolled my eyes.
“I thought they still taught kid manners these days. Seems I was wrong. Once again I will ask. Please get off,” I said. This time they did as asked and I stood up to my full height. They were impressed by my height.
“Whoa, you’re huge,” the orange one said.
“So care to tell me why I’ve just been tackled to the ground by you three?” I asked sternly. The orange one spoke up looking very sheepish whilst she did so.
“Well we kind of have this show and tell at school tomorrow but we didn’t know what to take. Then we saw you and thought that if we were to take you in then we would be sure to win,” she said scuffing her hoof on the floor
“And the shouting before you tackled me?” I asked. they perked up at that.
“I’m Scootaloo” the orange one said.
“Ah’m Applebloom” the yellow one said.
“I’m Sweetie Bell” the white one said.
“And together we’re the cutie mark crusaders searching to find our cutie marks,” they finished in unison.
“So you thought that if you were to ‘capture’ me then you would get cutie marks in ‘monster hunting’?” I asked. Their ears folded back and I turned to Twilight and the others.
“Go on ahead I’ll catch up to you” I said. They nodded before continuing towards the library. I turned back to the ‘cutie mark crusaders’. They looked rather nervous. I crouched down to get closer to their level.
“Don’t worry I’m not angry with you. I was just a little surprised that’s all,” I said and they perked up slightly, “So this show and tell at your school, when is it?” I asked. Now they looked really excited.
“You mean you’ll let us use you as our show and tell?” Sweetie Bell asked.
“Sure why not. It’ll be fun. Although,I will need to speak to your teacher,” I said.
“Why?” Applebloom asked.
“Because I don’t think it would be wise for me to turn up unannounced I would rather not cause a panic,” noticing the apprehensive looks on their faces I added, “Don’t worry I won’t give away too much information. I’ll arrive before the school day starts and tell him or her: ‘Look some of your pupils want to use me for show and tell. Is that ok?’” They seemed reassured by my words.
“So what’s the name of your teacher?” I asked.
“She’s called Miss Cheerilee,” Scootaloo said.
“Ok then. I’ll go there early tomorrow to make sure none of the other pupils are there,” I said.
“Thanks, Mister…” Sweetie Bell trailed off.
“Vuur Koning,” I said. They seemed to be confused by my name.
“That’s an odd name,” Scootaloo said.
“I’m not from around here,” I said deadpanning, “Anyway I'd best be off. What time does your school start?”
“9 o’clock,” Sweetie Bell said. I nodded in acknowledgment before walking off towards the library, ‘Well that’s my plans for tomorrow sorted out. I’ll probably arrive half an hour before the school starts. I’ll have to hide somewhere until the[/color lesson starts though,’ I thought to myself. I arrived at the library a few minutes later. Walking inside I saw several books floating in the air. Twilight was in the center of it all and levitated a book closer to herself before quickly flicking through it and groaning in frustration before placing it back on a shelf.
“I swear I read something about pocket dimensions in one of these books,” she exclaimed, She noticed me walk in “What happened out there?” she asked.
“What happened is I’ve become a show and tell piece for those three children…”
“Fillies,” Twilight corrected whilst looking through another book. She suddenly exclaimed “Aha, there you are, ‘pocket dimension spell: vastly increases the carrying capacity of a receptacle, is not suitable for liquids’,” she read off I took my bags off and emptied the rucksack out before passing it to Twilight. She took it in her magical field before quickly re-reading the page. She placed the books she didn’t need back onto the shelves before closing her eyes and concentrating. Her horn suddenly flared up and my rucksack was enveloped in a similar glow. A blinding flash later and the spell seemed to be complete. Twilight floated the bag back over towards me. I looked in the bag to find that instead of the small compartment that I was used to there was now an area the size of a large room. I looked at Twilight.
“Give me a sec,’” I said before climbing into the bag, “This is bloody brilliant,” I exclaimed. I heard Twilight giggle. I then heard hoof steps walking towards the bag and I suddenly had an idea. I walked towards the ‘entrance’ to the ‘room’ and waited for the hoof steps to stop before I poked my head out and yelled out in my best African-American accent.
“SURPRISE MOTHERFUCKER!” I shouted. Rainbow Dash whinnied in surprise and took off, hitting her head on the ceiling and falling back to the floor. I heard Twilight and Autumn burst out laughing and I did so as well.
“Wow,” Rainbow dash said rubbing the top of her head with a hoof, “You really got me. I’ll have to think of something to get you back now. That was good I’ll have to remember that,” I climbed out of the rucksack and started putting my stuff inside.
“I could put a bed I here and use this place as a room,” I called out to Twilight. She poked her head through the ‘entrance’.
“And how exactly do you intend to fit the bed through this hole?” she said deadpanning.
“Ikea?” I suggested shrugging my shoulders, “But seriously do you know any shops that make flat packed furniture?”
“To answer your question yes. I can think of one or two in town. But you’re seriously considering converting this place into a bedroom?” she asked.
“And living room,” I said, “it will be a lot easier than constantly setting up and dismantling a tent. I’ll just need to find a power source to charge my laptop. Weight won’t be a problem will it?” I asked. Twilight shook her head.
“It’s a pocket dimension. The position of the rucksack won’t affect the room either. So you could tip the bag upside down and everything would be fine. We can get hold of a magic generators for power and once your magic is under control I can even teach you how to increase the size of this place,” she said. It was at that moment that the magic flames engulfing my hands died down. I snapped my fingers and sure enough the familiar red flames once again engulfed my hands. I then imagined the flames being extinguished. It took a few tries but eventually I was able to ignite and extinguish the flames repeatedly. I climbed out of the bag and zipped it back up before putting it on my back. It felt weird, like there was a weight to it, but at the same time there wasn’t.
“Right where are the shops?” I asked, “Because I would rather get everything I need now while I have the money.”
“I’ll come with you otherwise you won’t know what you’re looking for,” Twilight said.
“Fair enough,” I conceded. I turned to Rainbow dash and Autumn. They both nodded and I suddenly noticed that when they were stood side by side they looked remarkably similar. If I was colour-blind I wouldn’t be able to tell them apart. I pushed that train of thought to one side as we walked out the door. I saw Twilight put up a sign telling ponies that the library was closed and after a few minutes of walking we made it to the shopping area. Twilight sopped walking and turned towards me.
“Right what is it that you need to get first?” she asked. I looked around at the semi-circle of shops.
“Which shop sells flat-packed furniture?” I asked. She briefly searched before pointing to one of the shops with a fore-hoof.
“Let’s try that one,” she said walking towards the shop. I followed her inside. There were several different items of furniture on display as well as the packaging that they come supplied in for demonstrative purposes. A male earth pony walked up towards us. He hesitated slightly when he saw me before walking closer and addressing us.
“Good evening sir and madams. How may I help you?”
“I would like to buy a couple of beds,” I said, “I need to be able to fit the pieces in this bag” I took the rucksack off my bag and showed the pocket dimension inside to the salespony ,“I plan to travel the world at some point and it would be easier to set up bed in here than constantly setting up and packing away a tent,” he nodded in understanding before walking over to a display piece and beckoning us over.
“I feel that this may be to your liking considering your… generous height,” he said. It was a large bed with an ornate styled headboard, “It was designed with griffins in mind,” he added. I looked at the price-tag, ‘150 bits each, not too expensive I hope,’ I thought giving a low whistle.
“I’ll take two,” I said. I saw Autumn's surprised look “What? You thought I would make you sleep outside whilst I sleep in a nice warm bed?” I got the bag of bits out of the front compartment of the rucksack (that part wasn’t connected to the pocket dimension) and placed the 300 bits that the salespony wanted into a bucket that he had quickly gotten whilst I was talking to Autumn Skies, the salespony then walked off to collect the two packages. I took them off of the salespony before walking into the rucksack and placing them in a corner of the ‘room’. When I climbed out I found him standing there with two mattresses.
“These come free with the beds,” he said. I looked to Twilight for help. She sighed and rolled her eyes before walking into the rucksack and summoning the two mattresses into the pocket dimension. They disappeared with a flash and a few moments later Twilight stepped out of the rucksack. After that we went to a shop selling things like duvets and pillows and that brought the total money I had spent so far, including lunch for everyone, up to about ß335.
“Right what do I need next?” I thought out loud as we walked through the shopping district, “Oh. A generator,” I remembered. Twilight nodded and we walked towards a hardware shop. Inside there was all sorts of machinery and electronics ranging from cables to speakers, computers (although they looked computers from the 80’s) to radios and much more. Twilight walked up to the counter and asked if there were any generators and the Salespony went into the back of the building. He returned a few moments later.
“We have one left in stock,” he said.
“Can it be used to charge electronic items?” I asked.
“Yes depending on the voltage rating,” he said, “May I see what equipment you use so I can get a compatible adapter?” I got the charger and laptop out of the bag. He looked at the plug for the charger before reading the technical information on the transformer. He walked back into the storeroom and returned a few minutes later with several boxes of varying sizes. I paid for them and left the shop. As we walked through the town I heard a male voice speak up.
“My my you are different. Which is saying something coming from me,” ‘he’ said. I couldn’t place where the voice was coming from.
“What do you want Discord?” Rainbow Dash asked suspiciously getting onto a defensive stance.
“Shame on you Rainbow Dash. I thought you trusted me,” he now sounded like he was behind me. I looked back to find nothing out of the ordinary. There was suddenly a flash in front of me. I looked to find a chimera of some type standing there.
“What the bloody hell are you?” I exclaimed. He slapped his forehead as if remembering something.
“Oh of course where are my manners? I am Discord recently reformed spirit of chaos,” as he finished his sentence a giant neon sign with the word ‘DISCORD’ appeared above his head in an explosion of streamers. It disappeared after a few moments and he walked towards me standing roughly the same height as me, “I already know who you are Vuur Koning and what you are. I’ve seen your kind before, watched them on your world, and the odd one or two that has been ripped into this world,” he noticed the confused faces of the three ponies and chuckled slightly.
“Oh Celly hasn’t told you?” Discord asked.
“Told us what?” Twilight asked. Discord shook his head slightly and tutted.
“I thought she was done keeping secrets. Vuur Koning here,” he said gesturing to me, “Isn’t the first human to arrive on this world and you won’t be the last. Whilst I don’t know exact details I do know that more and more will start to appear on this world. And know this, you will meet a friend from your world in the near future whilst I don’t know when. I do know who,” that really caught my attention.
“Who will I meet?” I practically shouted. He suddenly looked really smug.
“Now that would ruin the surprise wouldn’t it? I’ve revealed too much as it is now if you’ll excuse me. I have low level chaos to cause. I also need to have a talk with Celly. Ta ta,” and with that he donned sun glasses and disappeared in a pink mushroom cloud which promptly started raining chocolate milk. I turned to Twilight.
“Da fuck was that?” I said jerking a thumb at the slowly dissipating pink cloud. She just sighed.
“That was Discord. While he isn’t a major problem he can be a bit of a nuisance at times. He isn’t evil anymore but his nature means that he isn’t exactly good,” she said.
“You know just because he controls chaos doesn’t mean he’s evil,” I said. Twilight looked at me as if I had just told her that magic wasn’t real. Noticing her look I continued, “Chaos drives everything just as much as harmony. Chaos is what makes all snowflakes unique, Chaos makes sure lightning never strikes twice. Chaos is what creates nebulae, which spawns stars, which groups together into galaxies. Chaos is what makes things change. If it wasn’t for chaos the universe would never have started in the first place. Scientists on my world theorize that the death of the universe will occur when entropy stops and things harmonize.”
“I never thought of it like that,” Twilight said.
“When we get back to the library I’ll show you some documentary videos about the universe. One of them goes into the end of the universe. After looking into things, like I do, you start to realize that you need chaos as much as harmony. They both have an equally important roll to play in this universe.”
“Geez I never took you for an egghead,” Rainbow Dash said. I snorted.
“I am not an egghead. I’m just well-read on subjects that interest me. Like railways. You could ask me what locomotive pulled a certain train on my world and I could tell you without hesitation and then I could tell you who designed the locomotive and what railway used it,” I said. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
“Yeah. You’re an egghead,” she said.
“I prefer the term ‘railway fanatic’,” I said. I noticed a shop selling alcohol.
“Give me a few minutes,” I said to Twilight before walking inside.
I stepped out of the shop now in possession of several bottles of Sweet Apple Cider and a bottle of ‘Hayleys’, which seemed to be the equivalent to Irish cream, as well as several glasses of various sizes.
“What did you get?” Autumn asked.
“Wait and see,” I said tapping my nose. We made it back to the library without incident. I placed the bag on the floor and climbed in. I returned carrying the bottle of Hayleys, three bottles of cider, three pint glasses and a whiskey glass. I placed them on the table before walking back into the bag and retrieving my laptop. I brought up the video app and selected the right documentary before passing it to Twilight. She levitated it over to a desk and summoned several scrolls, a quill and a bottle of ink.
“Either of you two want a drink of cider?” I asked Rainbow and Autumn. They both nodded. I passed them the drinks before turning to Twilight. I was about to ask her if she wanted a drink but she was furiously scribbling down notes. I shook my head before looking at the shelves of books for maps. Finding what I needed I sat down with the two pegasi and poured myself a glass of Hayleys. I raised my glass towards the pegasi.
“Cheers,” I said and they returned the action before we all took a sip of our drinks. I savoured the creamy taste and texture for a few moments before swallowing.
I sighed. “Like liquid gold,” I muttered in appreciation before opening the book and studying the maps inside. The moment I saw the world map I did a spittake. Autumn and Rainbow looked at me in surprise.
“Holy shit this world is huge. This quest that I’m planning is going to take longer than I thought. A lot longer,” I said.
“Are you getting second thoughts?” Autumn asked.
“Hell no,” I said. I started planning routs to different places. Looking at the map I noticed that towards the north of Equestria all the towns and cities had names similar to ones back in England, ‘Windsoar?, Trottingham, Derbyshire!?, Lincolt?, Marechester?, Hoofquey?, wow, talk about play on words,’ I thought. I couldn’t help giggling slightly.
“What’s so funny?” Autumn asked.
“The puns in some of these name are ridiculous,”
“It can’t be that bad?” Rainbow Dash said. I deadpanned.
“Ok, here are some places in my country with similar names to places in your country: Windsor, Nottingham, Derbyshire, Lincoln, Manchester and Newquey,” they seemed to get the picture after that, “Hey Autumn. Do all the Equestrian cities and towns north of Trottingham have your type of accent?” I asked. She nodded.
“Yes although towards the border between Equestria and Minotauria they have slight Minotaurian twang,” she said, "It’s similar near the borders with the United Griffon Kingdom and Germaney.”
“What about the Changeling unions?” I asked. I noticed them stiffen at that, “Touchy subject?”
“We were invaded by one of the hives recently,” Autumn said, “Until that point we had a passive alliance with the five super hives. Now one of them is our enemy and the other four have gone neutral. Things are… tense. You wouldn’t understand,”
“Actually I understand a great deal more than you think. My species has seen its fair share of war. Tell me, what’s the combined casualties on both sides of your largest war?” I asked. Autumn put a hoof to her chin and started randomly moving the other hoof as if making calculations. After a few moments she came to a conclusion.
“500,000 lost their lives in the war between us and the griffins,” she said. My eyes widened, “Is that a lot compared to your species?”
“No definitely not. That is a mere battle compared to the wars on my world.”
“How many has your kind killed?” I heard Twilight ask. I suddenly grew tense. I noticed that she had stopped writing and was looking at me. I mumbled the number.
“I didn't quite catch that,” Twilight said.
“85 million,” I said. It was at that point that Rainbow Dash had chosen to take a swig of cider and promptly spat it out. You could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed. Twilight's eyes had reduced to pin pricks, Rainbow Dash looked like she had seen a ghost and Autumn's mouth hung open like something out of a cartoon.
“E-eighty-five… Million?” Twilight said as if she had trouble comprehending that many people dying.
“Yep,” I said bitterly taking a sip of Hayleys “My kind are a violent bunch. There’s a reason they called it a World War. The second one actually. Now can you see why Discord found me so easily?” I said.
“My thoughts exactly,” I heard Discord say.
“Piss off” I said.
“No,” he said, “I am a god compared to you mortal so there is nothing you can do to make me go away,” I swear at that moment the light in the room darkened briefly. it returned to its normal light levels as he spoke with a mischievous look in his face, “Answer me this, how were the showers at Birkenau...” whatever he was about to say was interrupted by my glass hitting him in the face. He wiped the drink off his face.
“Seems I hit a touchy subject. Nice choice in drink by the way.”
“Thanks now I will tell you one last time. Fuck off before I ram my sword down your throat,” I said. He looked hurt at that.
“Aww you’re not going to ask me out first?” he said. It took me a few moments for it to ‘click’ in my mind but when it did I burst out laughing. The ponies looked at me as if I had gone mad.
“Well played,” I said. Noticing the looks on the ponies faces I added, “Don’t worry northern humour. But seriously Discord, I would rather enjoy the rest of today plus I have some beds to build,” Discord looked annoyed at that.
“Fine,” he conceded. Folding his arms he snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash. The glass repaired itself as he left. I shook my head slightly. I picked up the glass and put it on the table before pouring myself another glass. Twilight seemed to be finished watching the documentary.
“You finished with that Twilight?” I asked. She nodded it before levitating it over to me, “I’m going to build the beds now," I said before stepping into the bag with laptop and glass in hand.

please tell me what you thought of this chapter and if there was anything that you felt could do with improving

Vuur Koning Stat increases:

+5 magic
+5 armour

I started playing music on the laptop and unpacked one of the beds. I was halfway through building it when Autumn walked into the ‘room.’

“Hey, need a hoof?” she asked.

“No but you can stay if you like and listen to music” I said, tightening up a screw. For a few moments she just sat there, listening to the ‘strange’ music and after a few moments she spoke up.

“What was it that got you so annoyed about what Discord said?” Autumn asked.

“Nice weather we’re having at the moment,” I said, trying to change the subject. She didn't buy it.

“Answer the question, Vuur Koning” she said. I sighed, before selecting a song on the laptop.

“Listen to the song. It will answer any questions you have” I said, before continuing the work on the bed.

By the end of the song Autumn had a shocked look on her face.

“How can anypony be so... evil?” she asked.

“If you saw a changeling from the hive that invaded Canterlot, would you act like best friends or would you imprison it, regardless of whether they took part in the invasion or not?” I asked, giving her a pointed look.

“It would be my duty to capture it to get as much information as possible… oh,” she said, realizing what she had just said

“And the penny drops,” I said, “the reason that is such a sensitive subject for me is not because I’m a Jew-” seeing her questioning look I added “-Jews were the main targets of the ‘Final Solution’,” I practically spat the last part, “the reason it is such a sensitive subject with me is because I visited the place. It’s now a memorial-slash-museum. It’s the sort of place that people should visit, but only once,”

“There’s still one thing I don’t understand,” Autumn said.

“What’s that?”

“Discord said Birkenau, not Auschwitz.”

“Technically they’re the same place. Auschwitz was the ‘official’ name. It was actually three separate locations. There was Auschwitz-I, the main camp, Auschwitz-II or Birkenau, and Auschwitz-III, or Monowitz. They all existed at the same time and had very specific purposes. Auschwitz-I was used mostly for holding prisoners and performing medical experiments. If you went there you had a fair chance of survival. Birkenau was the ‘death camp’. It’s what most people think of when they hear the name Auschwitz. Tall barbed wire fences, seems to stretch on into eternity, that sort of thing. If you ended up there you were pretty much fucked. You were either sent to do work at the third site or you were sent to die in the gas chambers. They would have told you that you were getting a shower to wash away your old life, I think it was a tradition or something, but you were really on a one way trip to agonizing death. No one should have to die like that,” I said, suppressing a shiver, “That's why I reacted the way I did. Anyways, let’s change the subject. How exactly did you, a special-ops guard of all things, become my guide?” I asked.

“It’s a long story,” she said.

“I've got time,” I said. She sighed before saying.

“Let’s just say that I did something wrong, something a guard should never do, and this is my, for lack of a better word, punishment,” she said.

“So you did something wrong and now you’re stuck looking after me? That seems a bit of a mild punishment,” I said in surprise.

“It’s my ‘final assignment’ before I am honorably discharged. The reason they didn't just discharge me straight away was because of my exemplary service up until the ‘incident’,” she went quiet as she finished the sentence.

“Do you regret it? What you did, I mean?” I asked.

“I would do it again in a second if I had the choice to go back and change it,” she said.

“You were torn between your duty and what you felt was right,” I said “there are certain instances where it’s better to say ‘fuck authority’ than to follow the rules blindly. There’s a line from a song by a metal band that I like. It says: 'so can you tell me what exactly does ‘freedom’ mean? If I’m not free to be as twisted as I want to be'. Whilst it isn't totally in context, I feel it makes a valid point,” I had now finished building the first bed and had moved onto building the second bed. For a few minutes we didn't say anything. Autumn was the first to break the silence.

“So, you got any family back on your world?” she asked.

“Yes. It’s quite a large family, not in-terms of siblings, I've only got an older brother. But when it comes to aunts and uncles, I have more than I care to count. The annual family get-together on my dad’s side of the family is always swarming with relatives. There has to be at least 30 people every time and, technically speaking, I’m part of 3 different families. There’s my dad’s side of the family. He divorced my mum but they were still friends,” noticing Autumn's confused look I added, “think of it as an extreme case of ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’, his family remained friends with us as well and there’s my mum’s side of the family.”

“And the third family?” she asked.

“I was getting to that. Anyways, there’s my step-dads side of the family so I also have a step-sister now,” I said.

“Wow, big family,” she said.

“What about you? You got any family?” I asked.

“Yeah. It’s not that big a family, not compared to yours at least. They live in Trottingham.”

“I never noticed,” I said, my voice practically flooded with sarcasm.

“Buck you,” she said, doing the equivalent of flipping the finger but with her wing, “anyways, I also have an older brother, named Winter Chill. He can be such a pain sometimes but I wouldn't have him any other way.”

“Same here. I dread to think what it would be like if our brothers met,” I said.

“Oh Celestia they would probably start getting into a drinking contest,” we both shared a laugh at that. It was at that moment that Rainbow dash poked her head through the entrance.

“Hey, V.K., I’m headed off home, so I’ll see you whenever,” she said.

“Okay, take care.” I said and with that her head disappeared from view, “anyways, you were saying?”

“Oh, I also have a little sister, she’s called Midsummer Night.”

“Do all of your family have names relating to times of the year?” I asked.

“It’s a family tradition. We traditionally worked in the weather patrol but it wasn't my thing so I joined the guard. Thankfully my parents were understanding,” she said.

“What’s your favorite weapon?” I asked.

“Just a sec,” she said before walking out. She returned a few moments later with her bag. She then got out several weapons that I didn't recognize. She put two blades shaped like feathers on her wings. She then put something that looked like strange shoes on her fore-hooves. She then reared up on her back legs using her wings for balance and coming up to my chest height-wise,

“These are wing blades,” she said, motioning to her wings, “and these,” as she spoke, a long thin blade extended from each ‘shoe’, “are called ‘huf klingen’, now, pick up your blade,” as she said this she pointed her right hoof at me.

“What?” I asked.

“I need to know how skilled you are,” she said, “now pick up your blade.” I stood up, the second bed now done, and walked over to my sword. Autumn walked over to a clear section of the room and I followed her. We stood there for a few moments before she charged towards me, sprinting on her hind legs. I brought my blade up in a defensive stance as she drew closer, she swung both blades at the same and they impacted against my sword with a 'clang!' She brought her swords back and seeing an opening I lunged with my sword. She blocked it with her right blade before knocking it out of my hand with her left blade. She then stepped forwards and I found myself with her wing blades pressed lightly against my neck.

“You barely lasted 10 seconds,” she said,“you definitely need combat training,” I picked up my sword.

“Again,” she said before going to strike. The rest of the evening was spent sparring. I gradually improved little by little until eventually I was able to successfully block her attacks. But I was still unable to go for an attack myself and whenever I tried I ended up on the floor with a blade to my throat.

“You're improving,” she said after knocking me to the floor for what must've been the twentieth time, “you’re getting bolder and with proper training you could shape up to be a pretty decent sword fighter” she held out a hoof to pull me up and I accepted it.

“I think I’m going to call it a night,” I said, “I’m a show-and-tell piece at the local school so I've got an early start.”

“Fair enough, I’ll probably be up before you. Old habits die hard,” Autumn said, rubbing the back of her neck.

“If so then wake me up when you get up,” I said.

“Sure thing” she said.

I awoke the next morning to a hoof shaking me gently. I opened my eyes to find Autumn standing next to my bed, her hoof placed on my shoulders.

“Urg, what time is it?” I asked, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

“About 8 o’clock,” she said. I groaned before sitting up in bed. After a few moments I got out of bed and walked out of the bag into the library. I saw Twilight sitting on a sofa reading some sort of book about spells.

“Morning Twilight,” I said. She looked up from her book.

“Morning Vuur Koning,” she replied before returning to her book.

“Can I use the kitchen?” I asked.
“Sure, just don’t burn the library down,” she said. I walked into the kitchen where I saw Spike standing at the stove wearing a pink apron, cooking what looked like pancakes. I couldn't help smirking at the sight.

“Oh. Hey Vuur Koning,” Spike said, noticing me.

“Morning Spike. Is there any coffee and hot chocolate powder?” I asked. He thought for a moment before nodding.

“Yeah. There is some in that cupboard,” he said, pointing to one of the cupboards. I got out the jars and placed 1/3rd coffee and 2/3rd chocolate powder in a pan before filling it with water. Spike watched with interest.

“What are you making?” he asked.

“A basic mocha. I hate the taste of coffee but I need the caffeine to wake up. Hence why I added the hot chocolate. It makes it sweeter. I've managed to get it down to a fine art. Too much coffee and it tastes bitter. Too much chocolate and there won’t be enough caffeine to have an effect. About 1/3rd coffee is enough in my opinion,” I said. Spike said, "Ohhhhh," in understanding, “What are you making?”

“Choc-chip pancakes,” he said.

“Ah wunderbar,” I muttered. I started singing as I stirred the mixture.

When I finished singing Spike looked at me in amazement

“How’d you learn to sing like that?” he asked.

“I’m not that good” I said.

“Dude, that was awesome. Don't be modest,” he said.

“I'm not being modest. I personally don't think my singing is all that good, compared to the guy that sang it originally at least, and I'll admit it wasn't terrible. But it wasn't the best singing in the world,” I said, pouring the drink into a mug. There was quite a bit left in the pan, “Help yourself to what’s in the pan,” I said before walking back into the library section and sitting down at a table, groggily drinking the mixture. Autumn seemed to notice the look on my face.

“Not a morning pony?” she asked with a smirk. I shook my head, “You better get used to it, they won’t be kind to you during training.”

“I'm guessing the other recruits play pranks,” I said, starting to feel the effects of the caffeine kicking in.

“Let’s just say that you won’t ever be sleeping in,” she said, a nostalgic look on her face, “oh, the sort of things we got up to during training.”

“I have my methods for exacting revenge,” I said, taking a sip of the drink.

“Such as?” Autumn asked. I smirked.

“Ever noticed how horseradish sauce and custard are the same colour?” I said, putting on a sinister smile. Autumn looked mortified.

“That’s disgusting” she said, sticking her tongue out in disgust. I chuckled.

“I have other means as well. Such as clear sticky tape stretched across the door frame, an air horn for an alarm clock, super glue on the toilet seat and my personal favorite, tipping the bed on its side… with the occupant still asleep.”

“I’d hate to share a room with you,” she said.

“You already do,” I pointed out. She suddenly went pale for a second and her eyes reduced to pinpricks.

“Anyways, quick question. What are the dragons like here? other than Spike,” I asked. She thought for a moment.

“They mostly keep to themselves but they can be hostile if you trespass on their cave,” she said. I finished my drink and stood up.

“Twilight where’s the shower in this place?” I asked.

“Up the stairs, first door on the right,” she said, not looking up from the book. I picked up my rucksack before walking towards the shower room.
I stepped out of the room a few minutes later, now fully dressed in my armor, and walked down the stairs. Everyone was sat at the table eating pancakes.

“Hey Autumn. Are you coming with me or not?” I asked.

“Well somepony has to make sure you don't get in trouble” she said, getting up from the table “Do you have everything you need?” she asked. I gestured to the rucksack on my back with a thumb and I quickly grabbed a pancake off the plate in the center. I took a bite and hesitated before grabbing another one, smiling sheepishly in response to the glare Twilight gave me. Outside it was fairly quiet compared to yesterday. Then again, it was still fairly early. The ponies of the town also seemed to be used to me by now. Several of them even said hello as we walked through the town towards the school. Eventually we reached the school house. The playground was empty. I never liked empty schools. They just seem… creepy, like an empty hospital. They just feel wrong… Anyway, I looked through the window to find the teacher sitting at the desk, marking papers. I knocked on the door and waited.

“Come in” I heard her say, I opened the door slightly.

“When you see me, please don’t panic, my appearance is… startling” I said, before slowly and deliberately walking in, when she saw me she looked slightly unsettled.

“My, I can see why you warned me” she said “may I ask why you are here?”

“Yeah, yesterday I happened to run into a certain group of three fillies with a lack of cutie marks, long, and embarrassing, story short, they wanted to use me as their show and tell piece, just thought I would pop round and give you a heads up before hand, I don’t want to go causing a panic” I said, she nodded.

“Yes, that would be…regrettable, well it’s fine by me, by happy coincidence I've been teaching the class about life in foreign country’s so it will tie in nicely with that as well” she said, smiling warmly.

“Right, where would you suggest I go until the show and tell starts?” I asked.

“You and your friend will be fine standing by the desk until I call them up” she said, addressing Autumn for the first time “What are you here for? if you don't mind me asking”

“I’m a guard that has been assigned as his escort to reduce panic” Autumn said “I am also evaluating him for suitability as a reserve guard”

“Ok then” Cheerilee said, for about half an hour we made small talk until the students started arriving, Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell were some of the first to arrive, they waved to me as they walked to their seats and I waved back, the other students were slightly nervous when they saw me, I noticed that they had all brought something with them, two fillies walked in with their heads held high, they didn't even hesitate when they saw me, soon everyone was sat at their desks and Cheerilee walked to the front of the class.

“Good morning class” she said.

“Good morning Miss Cheerilee” they droned

“Now, I’m sure some of you are all wondering who this is” she said, pointing to me “and all your questions will be answered towards the end of show and tell, so, who wants to go first?” at that a sea of hooves shot up, it went on like this for most of the morning, she would ask who wanted to go next, single out a student, or group of students, and they would come up to the front and show off what they had brought, there were one or two that stuck out in my mind, such as a skinny little pegasus colt called featherweight who had a really nice 35mm SLR camera that belonged to his father, eventually only the C.M.C. were left and Cheerilee called them up, they quickly introduced me, and then told the class how they met me, much to the amusement of the class (and to my embarrassment), it was then my turn to tell everyone about myself.

“Right, I’m not that good at this sort of thing, so does anyone have any questions?” once more a sea of hooves shot up, I picked a student sitting in the back row.

“Where are you from?” She asked

“I come from a nation called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or U.K. for short” I said, showing them the map on the laptop, they all looked on in wonder “next question”

“What’s your cutie mark?”

“My species, Human, don’t have Cutie marks, we often chose our own destiny and don’t limit it to our special talent” I said, the students gasped in surprise, I saw one of the students, Diamond Tiara if I remember correctly, stifle a laugh.

"Sounds like he would fit right in with the Cutie Mark Crusaders" I heard her mutter.

"So what?" I said, "just because I don't have a tattoo on my butt doesn't mean I'm any less of a person, my society doesn't revolve around the fixation that if you have a mark symbolising you talent, you're a better person, what does your cutie mark even represent?" I asked her, she seemed to shrink into her chair as a result of all eyes in the class being focused on her , I heard her mumble something.

"What was that? I don't think the students in the back of class heard you" I said

"My skill in arts and crafts" she said, I deadpanned.

"And that gives you the right to try and belittle other people because they don't have a Cutie mark?" I asked, she shook her head, looking rather sham faced "didn't think so, anyway, moving on, next question"

“Can you do magic?”

“Yes and no, Normally, we humans think of magic as made up nonsense, but we do have stage magic, which usually revolves around sleight of hand or tricks of the eye, but recently I found out that I can control magic” I said, igniting the magic on my hands to show them “humans main strength is intelligence and ingenuity, we weren't strong enough so we invented the steam locomotive to haul freight, we weren't fast enough so we invented the motor car, we couldn't fly so we invented the airplane” I then played a video clip of the first moon landing “we wanted to see what it was like on the moon so we built a rocked to fly people up there” by now they had looks of amazement on their faces, including Cheerilee and Autumn, I continued with my speech “we wanted to watch events from our homes, so we made the Television, we wanted to be able to access limitless information, so we set up the internet, but having said that, a lot of the inventions I have seen here are very similar to the stuff back home” I pointed to the colt with the camera.

“Featherweight, was it, bring you camera up here a second” I said, he nervously walked up and showed me the camera, I got my camera out to show everyone “as you can all see, they are different, but you can tell that they’re both cameras, yes?” the class nodded, Featherweight went and sat back down “does anyone else have any questions?”

“What is it like living here compared to where you come from?”

“In all honesty, there isn't that much difference, there are certain differences, like the money, but it’s roughly the same, except where I come from, ponies don’t talk”

“Do you mean?”

“when I say ponies, I don’t mean ponies like you, where I come from, there more…animals of instinct, and they don’t come in colors of the rainbow, there are only slight similarities, think of it like comparing me with a monkey, we’re similar, but we’re not identical, it’s also like comparing my camera with Featherweight’s camera” at my explanation they all ‘oh’ed in understanding, Cheerilee then dismissed the class for morning break, I was walking out side when I got called over by the students.

“Hey, Vuur Koning” Scootaloo called

“Yes?” I said, walking over to them

“We were wondering if you had any playground games from your world?” she asked, I thought for a moment before responding.

“Do you have a game called ‘British Bulldog’?” I asked.

“Never hear of it” she said.

“Alright, everyone gather round” they all came and sat around me “you play British Bulldog like this, you have all of the players, except for one, in this instance me, stand at one end of the playground, the one player that is left out stands in the middle, all the other players then try to run from one side of the playground to the other without getting caught, if you get caught, you have to help catch the other players, the game continues until there is one player left who hasn't been caught, the game then starts over with the one that was left starting in the middle, the chasers can move freely around the playing area, but you have to go back to the middle once they get to the other side, the ones being chased have to wait until all the other players that haven’t been caught are on the same side of the playing area before they can run to the other side, as long as you are at one end or the other, you can’t get caught, but you only get 30 seconds from the time the last player enters the ‘safe zone’ before you all have to run back across, understand?” they nodded “good, let the games begin”

I played the first round with them, choosing to sit back and watch after that, they were about halfway through the third round when I heard an ear piercing scream, one of the kids was looking in our direction whilst pointing a hoof behind me, I looked behind me to find Timberwolves close behind me and Autumn, we both jumped up and ran towards the playground.

“Get in the school house, now!” I yelled, they didn't think twice, we stopped at the playground and I chucked my rucksack on the floor before hastily opening it and jumping in, Autumn following close behind, I grabbed my sword and ran back outside, Autumn took longer as she was putting her armour on, I held the sword in my right hand and ignited the magic in my left, the latter was purely for intimidation ‘they’re made of wood, so they should think twice before attaching someone with flaming hands’, Autumn suddenly burst out of the rucksack, fully dressed in armour, this armour was different from the type that the normal guards wore, it seemed like it was designed with the goal of reducing drag, it didn't look as bulky as standard armour, and it was also smoother, completely covering up her mane, ears, tail and face, she landed on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust, I turned my attention back to the Timberwolves, the one at the front had a familiar gash on its eye.

“Oh shit, they came here looking for me” I said, Autumn looked at me in surprise.

“What do you mean?” Autumn asked, going into a defensive stance.

“When I first woke up in Equestria, I was attacked by Timberwolves, specifically those ones” I said, pointing to the pack

“How can you tell?” Autumn asked, they were now starting to edge closer.

“Who do you think gave that one the scar?” I said, gesturing to the wolf (let’s call him Scar from now on), I raised my sword in readiness for the attack “so, how do you suggest we deal with them, because I would rather not have to explain to parents why we slaughtered Timberwolves in front of their children”

“Technically they’re not actually alive, they’re constructs made from the ambient magic in the Everfree” she said, rearing onto her hind legs and extending her blades, Scar growled before charging, the other wolves close behind, one of them leaped towards me, jaws open wide, I swung my sword horizontally, hitting it in the jaw line and cutting it in half, another one pounced and I stabbed my sword into its skull, it jerked violently before going limp, I let it drop to the ground, a green aura, much like the one that formed the last time I came across them, seeped out of the carcass and drifted back in the direction of the forest, joined by the aura of its pack mate, the carcass retained its form for a few seconds before collapsing in on itself, leaving nothing but a pile of twigs, I quickly looked for Autumn, she seemed to be taking care of things, several piles of twigs surrounded her, eventually Scar was the only one left, he looked at the two of us before folding his ‘ears’ and dipping his head down in submission, I swear I heard a whimper, I slowly walked towards him.

“Vuur Koning, be careful” I heard Autumn say, I was now standing over the wolf, he seemed scared, I raised my sword and threw it on the ground a few feet away, I slowly crouched down before carefully placing a hand on top of his muzzle, his ‘expression’ went from fear to what I would best describe as surprise.

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you” I quietly said, he seemed to understand me as he pushed us muzzle into my hand, I suddenly got an idea “do you want to come with me?” his ears perked up at that, I ignited the magic in my other hand and gently pressed it to the back of his neck, the flame-like aura suddenly spread from my hand and engulfed the wolf, his eyes and his scar changed from the sickly green to a warm red, much like the aura covering my hand, I removed my hand and the aura surrounding the wolf disappeared, but the eyes and scar stayed red, he now seemed more, for lack of a better word, friendly, I stood up, Autumn looked surprised.

“How did you know that would work?” she asked, still casting the occasional wary glance at Scar.

“I didn't” I said, walking over towards my sword and picking it up “you said Timberwolves are magical constructs, I had a theory, and it turned out to be true” I said, it was at that point that Twilight suddenly teleported into the playground with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity and two other ponies I didn't recognize, the moment they saw Scar they went into a defensive stance, I intervened before things got out of hand.

“No, don’t hurt him” I said.

“We came here because we heard that there were Timberwolves near the school” Twilight said “and we see one right there” she pointed at scar.

“I’m sorry, do you not see the piles of twigs everywhere, or the fact that Scar here isn't trying to attack you?” I said, pointing to the Timberwolf, he was just sitting there, panting with his tongue hanging out and wagging the twigs that made up his tail, I petted him just to prove the point, they seemed to relax at this.

“Jus’ how in Equestria did y’all manage to make a Timberwolf yer pet?” the orange one that I didn't recognize said.

“His pack tried to attack me and Autumn, as you can see that didn't turn out well” I said, I noticed Fluttershy wince.

“You didn't…?” she asked, trailing off.

“I didn't kill them, if that’s what you mean, I don’t know how to, there more magical than actual living creatures, I think the whole ‘oaken-lupine’ thing is just their magical energy creating a form, I think they would probably dissipate it they didn't have the ‘body’, anyway, Scar here, must’ve realized that it would have been stupid to fight me, so he submitted to me, how’d you find out anyway?” I asked.

“A-a little bird told me” Fluttershy said.

“Were you being serious or were you joking, because with this world, I’m not sure what to expect” I said.

“Um I can talk to animals” she said, cautiously walking towards Scar, she sat in front of him and proceeded to start stroking and fussing him “Aww, you’re just a cute little puppy” she said, giving Scar a belly rub.

“That enough proof? Now, I don’t believe I've met you two yet” I said, pointing at the pink pony and the pony with a Texan accent, the others had gone into the schoolhouse to make sure everyone was ok “I’m Vuur Koning, but you can call me V.K. if you want”

“Ah’m Applejack, Ah should thank you for protecting mah sister, Apple Bloom” she said “that makes y’all a good pony in mah books” I was then tackled by the pink pony.

“Hi-I’m-Pinkie-Pie-where-are-you-from-what’s-your-favorite-color-where’d-you-get-that-neat-armor-do-you-like-parties-will-you-be-my-friend...” she started saying before she was yanked off my chest by Applejack, who currently had Pinkie Pies cotton shaped tail in her mouth.

“Hlanth saths herl, se’hel dahn” (Land sakes girl, settle down) Applejack said through Pinkie Pie’s tail before spitting it out “Sorry about that” she said to me “Pinkie can get a bit excitable around new folk”.

“Understatement of the century” I said.

“*gasp* I've just realized you’re new here, and if you’re new here, then that means I haven’t thrown you a welcome to Ponyville party yet” Pinkie Pie said before disappearing in a puff of smoke that I could see rushing towards Ponyville in the distance, I gave a low whistle.

“Gott im Himmel, She’s fast” I said.

“Yep, only pony ah know who’s managed to keep up with Rainbow Dash when she’s in flight, on the level at least” she said.

“I've got to see how fast Rainbow Dash can go, people keep telling me she’s fast, but I haven’t actually seen her flying that fast, I've felt it though” I said, Applejack looked confused.

“What do y’all mean ‘felt’?” she asked.

“When she first saw me she thought I was attacking Twilight and peregrine-dived me, hitting me in the chest” Applejack audibly winced.

“How are Y’all still standing?” she asked.

“This armor” I said, knocking on my chest-plate, it gave a dull thud as it did so and tiny ripples appeared in the shielding.

“That certainly is some mighty fancy get up” she said, at that moment Twilight, Rarity and Rainbow Dash walked out of the Schoolhouse.

“Thank you, Vuur Koning, and Autumn Skies, without your quick action the fillies and colts would have been in grave danger” Twilight said, me and autumn both nodded our thanks, Twilight then looked around, as if looking for something.

“Where’s Pinkie gone?” she asked, still looking around.

“She said something about throwing me a welcome party and then ran off faster than Rainbow Dash” they all ‘oh’ed in understanding “Speaking of which, how fast can you go?”

“You've got a camera, yes?” she asked, I nodded “Now might be a good time to use it” and with that she shot up in to the air, I quickly set up my camera and barely had enough time to aim the camera before I spotted her, she was diving at a speed that should not be physically possible, I could see a cone of air forming around her body, next thing I knew…

KRAKABOOOM

She smashed through the sound barrier, leaving a rainbow colored shockwave in her wake, acting on instinct I pressed the shutter.

“Screw physics, that’s fucking amazing” I said.

“Whilst I wouldn't use such vulgar language, I have to agree with you, it is amazing” Rarity said, Rainbow was now doing all manner of aerobatics, loop-de-loops, corkscrews, I suddenly got an idea.

“HEY, RAINBOW, DO A BARREL ROLL” I shouted, she did said barrel roll and I burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Twilight asked.

“Don’t worry, human joke” I said, waiving my hand dismissively, Rainbow landed a few moments later, kicking up a cloud of rainbow hued dust.

“I've said it once, I’ll say it again, screw physics, that was amazing” I said, looking up at the now clear sky

“What do you mean ‘screw physics’?” Rainbow dash asked.

“for one thing, it should be impossible for something of your mass and power to cause a ‘sonic rainboom’ or to use its proper name, a photonic boom, then again, where I come from, pegasi don’t even exist, let alone manipulate the weather, and the sun and moon rotate by themselves” I said, crossing my arms.

“Yeah, egghead” Rainbow Dash muttered.

“What’s a photonic boom? I know of a sonic boom, but I've never heard of a photonic boom” Twilight said.

“Photonic, as in photon, meaning light, a photonic boom is supposedly what happens when an object exceeds the speed of light, which is 671 million miles per hour, according to physics, when an object exceeds the speed of light, it causes a flash of light, the object would also turn into pure energy, I’m pretty close to just abandoning and disregarding the laws of physics right now, you, Rainbow Dash, should not exist in the your current state, you should be particles floating through the air” I said, twiddling my fingers.

“Oh yeah, I’m fast enough to beat the laws of physics” she said, I face palmed.

“Anyway” I said, turning to Twilight “I don’t know about you, but I wouldn't mind heading back to the library now, you don’t have a problem with pets there, do you?” she shook her head.

“No, as long as he doesn't get out of hand” she said, pointing to Scar, who was still being fussed over by Fluttershy, I snapped my fingers and he immediately sat up.

“Scar, here boy” I said, patting my leg, he complied with my request, standing up and plodding over towards me, standing beside me, he was pretty big, about the size of an Irish Wolfhound, I looked at Twilight. “I don’t think he’ll be a problem, he seems pretty docile now” I said, patting Scar in the side, she cast one last wary glance at Scar before walking off towards Ponyville, the rest of us close behind.

introducing the next character that shall be joining me on the quest: Scar the Timberwolf
P.S. I actually visited the Memorial/Museum at Auschwitz, probably the closest place to hell on earth, beyond the gates of Auschwitz and Birkenau there is no bird song, no birds fly, no clouds and nothing grows besides moss, it's like mother nature herself tries to avoid the place, but I feel everyone should visit it once in their life as a reminder of the tragedy that happened

We eventually made it back to the library, I noticed that the town wasn't as crowded as it should be for this time of day, but I assumed that most ponies were probably doing their jobs for the day, we walked inside to find it pitch black, we all stood there confused before the lights suddenly switched on…

"SURPRISE"

Standing in the room were many ponies, decorations hung from the ceiling and walls, a large banner hung from the ceiling that had the words ‘Welcome to Ponyville (and thank you for saving the school)’ written on it, my sight was then blocked by Pinkie Pie.

“Well were you surprised, huh, were you?” she asked.

“Good god, you nearly gave me a heart attack” I said, noticing the look on her face I added “not in the physical sense, yes, I am surprised, what is all of this for?” I asked, gesturing to the decorations.

“It’s yours and Autumn’s welcome to Ponyville party, silly” she said, Autumn seemed confused.

“How do you know my name?” she asked, Pinkie Pie just shrugged.

“Lucky guess?” she said.

“Okeeey” I said, Autumn tapped me with a hoof.

“D’you mind if I get into your bag? I need to take this armour off” she said, I passed it to her and she walked up the stairs into another room, I noticed that all the ponies in the room were looking at me expectantly, I clapped my hands together.

“Right, I’m not good at improvised speeches, so I’ll just say thank you for this, have fun and if you do have any questions for me, please don’t pester me, don’t rush, I shall be walking around saying hi to everyone so you’ll have your chance at some point today” I said, at my words they all started partying, some music started playing, it sounded like 1940’s era jazz music, but a bit more upbeat, I could also hear a keyboard amongst the instruments, but it wasn’t out of place, having nothing better to do, I started mingling, a little difficult, considering I was a good two feet above everyone else, I said hi to several people, got to know them, most of the questions they asked were the one you would expect, ‘where are you from?’ ‘How did you get here?’ ‘what are you?’, that sort of thing, I was standing at the buffet table with a glass of punch in my hand when a brown stallion with an hour glass for a cutie mark walked up to me.

“You shouldn't be here” he said, interestingly enough his voice was a dead match for David Tennant, I sighed, figuring he was probably another xenophobe.

“Look, I would rather go for at least a week without bumping into another patriotic racist” I said, he shook his head.

“Oh no, I didn't mean it like that, I’m sorry if I caused any offence, I meant you as a species, you shouldn't be on this planet” he said.

“How do you know that?” I asked, genuinely surprised.

“My tardis…” he went to say, but I cut him off.

“Wait, did you say Tardis, as in Time and relative dimensions in space?” I asked, he seemed surprised.

“Well yes, but how did you know?” he asked

“Look, Doctor, I know who you are, and what you are, and I have a good idea of what you are probably going to say, but I’m afraid it probably won’t be the best idea for you to send me back to my earth with your tardis” I said.

“Why not? And how do you know all this?” he said.

“Look, on my earth, you, as in the Doctor, and your tardis, are nothing but the focus of a Sci-Fi drama, so from my point of view, you should not exist” I said, his reaction was predictable.

“What? But that’s impossible” came the predictable answer.

“As are talking unicorns and pegasi” I said.

“Ah, point taken” he said.

“Now, as much as I would like to go home, I can’t, for one thing, we might end up in the wrong universe, or cause the destruction of said universe, I would rather not risk it” I said.

“You’re acting rather maturely about universal matters, considering you’re human” he said.

“I’ve seem enough of your show to know what could go wrong from crossing universal boundaries” I said, shrugging “however, I would like to know how I got here, and if there is a way to get back via the way I came here, do you think we could have a look tomorrow, I could show you roughly where I ‘arrived’, plus, I wouldn't mind seeing the Tardis”

“I have been rather curious about how you got here myself, very well then” he said, with that we went our separate ways, I found Autumn, who still had my rucksack with her, she had apparently seen me talking with the Doctor.

“Who was that?” she asked, gesturing to the Doctor, who was now walking out the door of the library.

“We’re going to be investigating how I got here tomorrow, I take it you’ll be coming with us” I said, she nodded “oh can you pass me my rucksack please” she passed me the rucksack and I walked over towards the stereo system, Pinkie bounced over to me.

“Hey, Vuur, watcha doing?” she asked, bouncing on the spot.

“Changing the music for something more suited to my tastes, you don’t mind do you?” I asked, she shook her head.

“It’s your party, silly, of course you can” she said, rolling her eyes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, I got my laptop out and plugged an audio cable in, I didn’t play any music just yet, instead I stopped the music that was currently playing, every one stopped and looked at me, I stood up.

“I think we can all agree that this party has been really good, yes?” I said, I received a chorus of cheers as a response “and the music has been good” they all nodded “but I think it’s time to change things a little, who wants to hear the music from my world” they all cheered.

“So tell me, have any of you heard of ‘Heavy Metal’?” a sea of confused faces was the response I received, I grinned, ‘they have no idea what they are about to listen to’ I thought to myself, I selected a song on the laptop and immediately a heavy metal riff started pouring out of the speakers, they now looked even more confused, I started singing along to the lyrics.

“You can’t kill the metal”

“The metal will live on”

“Punk-rock tried to kill the metal, but they failed, as they were smite to the ground”

“Nu-wave tried to kill the metal, but they failed, as were stricken down to the ground”

“Grunge tried to kill the metal, ha ha ha ha ha, they failed, as they were thrown to the ground”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH YEAH”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH YEAH”

“No-one can destroy the metal, the metal will strike down with a vicious blow”

“We are the vanquished foes of the metal, we tried to win, for why? We cannot know”

“New-wave tried to destroy the metal, but the metal had its way”

“Grunge then tried to dethrone the metal, but metal was in the way”

“Punk-rock tried to destroy the metal, but metal was much too strong”

“Techno tried to defile the metal, but techno was proven wrong, Yea!”

“METAL, IT COMES FROM HELL”

The guitar solo finished off the song, the reaction from the crowd was… varied, some of them looked like they enjoyed it, others… not so much, ‘well, you can’t please everyone’ I thought, I put the music onto shuffle and let it play from there, some of the songs the majority of the ponies enjoyed and sang along to in the chorus, other times I had to make a mad dash towards the laptop to skip the song, much to the confusion of some, I also gained an understanding of the musical tastes of some of the ponies that I knew, some of them were predictable, such as Rainbow dash liking the more upbeat and aggressive metal songs, bands such as Disturbed and (god help us) Amon Amarth, some of them were surprising, such as Fluttershy, she actually liked the more melodic metal songs, things like DragonForce and Van Canto and the less aggressive songs by Sabaton, although she seemed saddened by some of the songs, she actually had tears in hers eyes when she heard ‘final solution’

“That was so sad” she said after the song had finished.

“One of the things I don’t like about my species” I said, she looked at me, confused.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Sure, humans are an inventive race, but we can be so hateful sometimes, I would rather not resort to violence but if I met one of the ‘Doctors’ the worked in block 10 at Auschwitz, let’s just say it would involve a deadlocked vault and a dozen canisters of Zyklon-B” I said darkly.

“But then you would be no better than the monsters that killed all those people” she said, giving me a disapproving look.

“True, but it’s no less than they deserve” I said “trust me, the things they did are unforgivable” she went quiet at this, after a few minutes I turned to her.

“Say, Fluttershy, you know you look after animals?” she nodded “do you give any out as pets”

“You want another pet?” she asked, somewhere between excitement and confusion.

“Yes, I need a falcon, one that’s really fast, I will need to be able to send messages, and I don’t think Timberwolves have the ability to send messages via fire breath” I said, gesturing towards Scar, who was currently lying at my feet “on my world, we have peregrine falcons, they are officially the fastest bird that we know of, they can reach about 200mph in a dive, got anything like that?” she thought for a moment.

“I think I might have a falcon similar to what you just described, come see me tomorrow and I’ll show you” she said “what other animals do you have on your world?”

“Probably similar to the animals on this world, if we both know what falcons are, and we both have animals called wolves, although our wolves aren't as wooden and magical as Scar” I noticed his ears twitched at the mention of his name “yes I’m talking about you” I said, just as I predicted he lifted his head up and looked at me for a few moments before he lay his head back down.

“It’s a good thing I have an animal that can hunt” I said, Fluttershy looked shocked “what? I’m an omnivore, I need protein as part of a healthy diet, I won’t hunt anything sentient if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“How can you be so carefree about killing an innocent animal?” she asked, looking mortified.

“What about lions, or tigers, or wolves, they need protein in the form of meat, don’t they?” I asked, she nodded meekly “I need protein just as much as a carnivorous predator does, you may not like it, but I need it” she looked downcast, I knelt down and lifted he chin up.

“Don’t worry, I may be many things, but someone who lets an animal suffer isn't one of them” I said, giving my kindest smile, she smiled slightly, I stood back up, eventually the party wound down and ponies started leaving, soon it was just me, Autumn and Twilight and her friends, Twilight cast a spell and everything reverted to as it was before the party.

“I don’t know about you lot, but I think that’s enough excitement for one day” I said, sitting on the floor and absentmindedly stroking Scar behind the ear.

“Ah gotta agree with you there” Applejack said.

“Say, Vuur, you think at some point I could get a copy of the music on that device?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Sure, I just need to get an appropriate recording medium and a way to copy the music” I said, Twilight perked up.

“Oh, we have Crystal Recording Discs” I did a double take.

“Crystal, as in gemstones?” she nodded before levitating a plastic case over, inside was a crystal disk identical in design to C.D.s, I studied the disk closely “how do they manage to carve it so perfectly?”

“They don’t, they use dragon fire to melt the crystal into a liquid, which is poured into a diamond mould, that way nothing is wasted” Twilight said.

“Will it accept M.P.3. files?” I asked

“It’s been enchanted to accept any system of media” she said “it’s the same with disk readers”

“Looks like you’ll be getting copies of the music on the laptop then, Rainbow, anyone else?” I asked.

“Erm I wouldn't mind having a few albums of music, if that’s okay with you” Fluttershy said, trailing off at the end

“I don’t see why not” I said.

“Ah’ll have some” Applejack said.

“Sure” I said, Rarity just ‘humphed’

“That music is unbecoming of a lady, I would rather roll in the mud than willingly listen to that again” she said, pointing her nose in the air.

“Be thankful I didn’t play Rammstein” I said.

“Why?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“they’re a German band, that’s Germane to you, they are purposefully controversial, for instance, people were accusing them of being fascists, so they wrote a song in a military style singing about how they weren’t fascist” I said.

“I’m not sure what to think about that” Rainbow dash said, looking confused.

“try not to think too much about it” I said, we spent the rest of the evening talking but eventually they all had to head home, as Rarity was leaving she stopped and turned towards me.

“Oh, Vuur Koning, I shall be able to finish you cloaks sooner than expected, they should be ready tomorrow” she said, I suddenly remembered something.

“Oh, bugger” I exclaimed, slapping myself in the face, my outburst startled everyone.

“What’s the matter?” Rarity asked.

“I never got myself measured for ordinary clothes, will you have time for the day after tomorrow? I don’t think I will have time tomorrow” I asked.

“That will be fine” she said dismissively, “now I must go, ta ta” and with that, she walked out of the library, leaving just me, Autumn, Twilight and Scar, who was currently dozing.

“Twilight?” I said.

“Yes, Vuur?” she responded.

“Me, Autumn and a guy called the Doctor are headed into the Everfree forest tomorrow to investigate the area I arrived in, see if it can be traced back to my world, whilst I don’t plan on there actually being anything useful there, it wouldn’t hurt to have someone…”

“Somepony” Autumn and Twilight interrupted.

“You knew what I meant, as I was saying, it wouldn’t hurt to have ‘somepony’ who is knowledgeable in magic, you feel up to helping us?” I asked.

“Won’t it be dangerous, going into the Everfree?”

“Several things, one, she’s a Special-Operations guard” I said, pointing to Autumn “two, I have a weapon to defend myself, three, the Doctor is more than capable of handling himself in dangerous situations and four, you are an Alicorn who has the power to potentially move Celestial bodies, I don’t think it will be a problem.”

“If you say so, but I’m teaching you some spells, you need to be able to look after yourself” as she said this she levitated a basic spell book over, she then began to teach me various spells, such as levitation, offensive blasts, which set anything they hit on fire (much to my shock and Twilight's panic), I also learned a basic quick travel spell, it was like a teleportation spell, except it had a vastly reduced range and only worked if I could see the destination, the upside was it was low cost to use, it also worked with a snap of the fingers, as opposed to a clenched fist with levitation, or jerking my hand towards the target whilst extending my fingers for the offensive spell, I gave back the books that I had borrowed earlier in exchange for several spell books, I was now prepared for whatever we might face when we went into the Everfree.

I awoke the next morning to the alarm on my laptop blaring out, I looked at the time on the laptop, ‘I hate mornings’ I thought as I silenced the alarm before slamming the laptop screen down, because simply pressing the button on a touch screen doesn’t really compare to slamming your hand on an alarm clock, Scar was currently laying at the foot of the bed, giving me a ‘what the hell, it’s too early’ kind of look.

“Come on, I need you by my side today” I said, he grumbled slightly before scratching his ear and jumping off of the bed, I got out of bed and put all of my armour on before walking into the library, Twilight and Autumn were sat at the table, the latter reading a newspaper, she noticed me walking over.

“Guess who made the paper?” she said, turning the newspaper around so I could see it, the headline read: ‘visitor from far off land saves school’ I quickly read through it, it told of how I fought off the pack of Timberwolves, it also claimed that some of the citizens of Ponyville were nervous because of the fact that I had befriended Scar, ‘he could set it on us at any moment’ claimed one, I stopped reading at that point.

“guess you can’t please everyone” I said, before walking into the kitchen where Spike was once again at the stove, cooking pancakes in a pink apron, I made more of the mocha before sitting back down at the table with a mug filled with the mixture, as well as a flask filled with the rest of the mixture, I sat there, on the verge of falling asleep, sipping the mixture, Spike then walked in with a plate full of pancakes, he nearly dropped them when he saw Scar.

“What is that doing here?” he said, pointing to Scar.

“He is called Scar and he happens to be my new pet, didn’t you read the newspaper?” I asked, one eyebrow raised.

“I must’ve missed that” he said, placing the plate of pancakes on the table and sitting as far away from Scar as possible, I grabbed a couple of pancakes and started eating, I noticed the look Scar was giving me, I rolled my eyes before grabbing a plate from the kitchen and placing it on the floor with a couple of pancakes on top

"Once we start traveling, I won’t tolerate you begging, if you’re hungry, you’ll have to hunt for food, and that doesn’t mean you go after Autumn or anyone else that will be travelling with us" I said, he whimpered slightly before giving me ‘the look’, you know the one, big eyes, tilted head, tongue lolling out,

"That doesn’t work on me unless you’re a puppy" I said, he became annoyed at that "nice try though" I added, he just huffed before eating the pancakes, we mostly ate in silence, I had just finished eating when Spike spoke up.

“Hey, Vuur Koning?” he said.

“Yes?” I asked.

“At the party last night, you referred to some of the music that you played as ‘Heavy Metal’, what exactly is heavy metal?” he asked, I thought for a moment, trying to come up with the correct description.

“Heavy metal is a genre of music that developed from rock, each band usually consists of 4 band members: the singer, the lead guitarist, the bass guitarist and the drummer, it’s obvious what the singer does, the lead guitarist is the one with the guitar tuned to a higher pitch and adds tone to the riff, they also perform solos, which essentially are a chance for the guitarist to show what he or she can do, the bass guitarist is the one with the deeper sounding guitar and adds that little extra ‘punch’ to the riff, the bassist also works with the drummer to keep everyone else playing in time, so they tend to play the same set piece of guitaring over and over during the song, however, you don’t always get the standard 4 members, it sometimes varies depending on band, sub-genre, I’ll go into those in a minute, and weather they have a guest in a song”

“What do you mean ‘guest’?” Autumn asked.

“Sometimes a band likes a song from another band, so they make a ‘cover’, they usually play it similarly to the original, but change certain things, like the singing style, the tuning on the guitars, or how the drummer plays, sometimes a singer or guitarist from the band that did the original song will make a guest appearance, if it’s the guitarist they might play the solo, or if it’s the singer, they might sing in duet with the singer from the band that makes the cover, tonight I’ll show you a couple examples, anyway, if I recall I was about to go into sub-genres, there are various sub-genres, they often get labelled as such because they play in a style that’s too different to be classed as just metal, but not different enough to be classed in a totally different genre of music.”

“Metallica are a group classed as Metal and are what most people think of when they think of normal Metal, deep staccato riffs, bassey drums, less than tuneful singing, that sort of thing.”

“Sabaton, the ones that sing about war, are classed as power metal, slightly less heavy sound, higher tempo, fast drumming, fast guitaring, flowing solos, often have two ‘kickers’ on the bass drum, slightly more tuneful singing, DragonForce are classed as ‘speed-metal’, insanely high tempo, long, fast and frequently changing solos, they have two lead guitarists and one bassist as well as a key board player.”

“Disturbed are debated upon as to their exact genre, some argue that they are ‘hard rock’, but if you listen to their Indestructible and Asylum albums, they are, in my opinion, more like heavy metal, they have a deeper sound and Asylum specifically has much darker overtones and lyrical context, the albums namesake song is about trying to move on from losing someone you love, you feel like you are trapped in an insane asylum, unable to escape from the memories, yet you also return to the memories from your time with them for comfort, that song has a special place amongst my collection, but I won’t go into why as it’s a personal matter” Autumn went to say something but I cut her off.

“I said it’s a personal matter, maybe one day I might tell you, but now isn’t the time” I said, giving her a look that said ‘drop it’, I was about to continue but we all heard a knock at the door, Twilight went to answer the door, when she opened it I saw that the Doctor was standing there, as well as a pegasus mare that I didn’t recognize, she was grey with a blonde mane, the talked briefly, though I was unable to hear what they were saying, before Twilight turned to look at us.

“The Doctor’s here for you, Vuur Koning” she said, me and Autumn stood up “you’re coming as well, Spike, I need somepony to take notes”

“I’ll play you some of the songs when we get back” I said to Spike as we walked out of the library, I got my sword out of the rucksack before placing the rucksack on my back, I quickly turned to look at Scar, who was still sat by the table “Come on, we need you with us” he huffed before standing up and plodding over to me, I saw Spike jump onto Twilight's back.

“So, Doctor, Where to?” I said.

“The Tardis is this way” he said before walking around the back of the library, I soon saw it, that unmistakable blue box, I couldn’t help grinning like a maniac, I held back, wanting to watch the others reactions, Scar sat by my feet, looking at me, confused.

“Wait for it” I said to the wolf in a knowing tone, I saw Twilight and Autumn walk into the tardis “in drei, zwei, eins” I counted down in German, just as I reached 1 they both back-peddled out of the Tardis and began looking around the outside in confusion, they then ran back into the Tardis, we quickly followed them inside just in time to hear them both say.

“It’s bigger on the inside!”

“You don’t say” I deadpanned, before shutting the doors with my magic, Scar seemed to be having a similar reaction, except he didn’t run out of the tardis, he just looked around the console room in a stupor, the Doctor was stood by the controls, looking rather smug.

“Welcome to the Tardis, that’s Time and Relative Dimensions in Space, it’s a time machine, if you can think of a time and a place, chances are this can got you there, with the exception of Vuur Koning, which is why we are headed into the Everfree” he then got out his sonic screwdriver and started scanning me with it.

“Trying to get a lock on any residual energy from my world” I asked, he looked at me in astonishment.

“you catch on pretty quick, you came through a crack in the fabric of reality, there should be enough energy, be it background radiation, radio waves, or something else, seeping through the crack for the Tardis to trace back to the tear” he said, slotting the screwdriver into a socket in the controls, Twilight looked confused.

“What exactly are you doing?” she asked.

“Imagine Vuur Koning’s world as an airtight container filled with water, and this universe as the room the container is located in, now imagine that there is a crack in the side of the container, what do you think is going to happen?” the Doctor said, they looked like they still didn’t understand, I sighed before explaining.

“The water will start to leak out, and at the same time air will start to get in, think of the water as background radiation, we are searching for the water to find the crack” I said.

“Five points to Griffindor” that Doctor said, whilst pointing at me, I did a double take.

“Which regeneration are you?” I asked

“technically 10.5, when I ended up in this universe, the crossing caused my body to partially regenerate, finding the closest match to my previous form, my personality did change slightly though” he said, the console started beeping, he looked at the results on the screen “I think the Tardis has locked on” he said, flipping various switches and turning dials, I turned to the others before saying.

“I would hold on if I were you” they took the hint and held on to a handrail for dear life, I noticed that the grey pegasus was just sat on the chair, seemingly oblivious to the mayhem that was about to unfold, I heard the Doctor flip a switch before shouting.

“ALONSY” and then all hell broke loose, I had to quickly wrap my arms around the glass tower stretching up to the ceiling to stop myself from being flung across the room due to the violent pitching and rolling.

“Good god, Doctor, you should really teach your companions how to fly the Tardis so they can help you” I said, I took note that the grey pegasus was still sat on the chair, smiling away as if nothing was happening.

“We don’t have time for this, flip the red switch” he said, I did as he directed before saying.

“In that case then” I said, before inhaling and shouting at the top of my lungs.

“GOTT MIT UNS” I then burst out laughing.

“You’re insane” Twilight shouted at me over the rattling and shaking of the tardis.

“I’m the one that has to follow him around the world for the next 10 years, how do you think I bloody feel” Autumn Shouted back.

“What’s the point of being grown up if you can’t act a little childish sometimes?” I shouted to them, the Doctor looked at me with a shocked expression on his face.

“You stole my line” he said, his attention was then diverted by the console beeping “hold on, THREE, TWO, ONE” the tardis then shuddered to a halt, sending me sprawling to the floor, laughing.

“I can now scratch two objectives off of my bucket list” I said, Autumn walked towards me, a little unsteadily.

“And they would be?” she asked.

“Travel in the Tardis, and find an excuse to use the phrase ‘Gott Mit Uns’” I said, chuckling, she just rolled her eyes before walking towards the door, she opened it and poked her head outside before quickly withdrawing it, an awestruck expression on her face.

“We’ve moved!” she said.

“What?” Twilight exclaimed, quickly running over and looking out the door herself, before withdrawing her head, a similar expression to Autumn’s was on her face, I rolled my eyes before walking over to the door and looking out, it was the clearing that I woke up in when I first arrived here.

“Oh, so we have” I said, feigning disinterest, before quickly going back inside and looking around, searching for Scar, I spotted him and Spike, holding onto each other for dear life, shaking like a leaf in the wind, I chuckled slightly whilst shaking my head.

“Hey, Twilight, come look at this” I called over, she looked over and had to cover her mouth with a hoof to suppress the laughter, she lit up her horn and Spike was enveloped in the same aura, she eventually managed to pry him off of Scar with my help, they were still frozen with fear “I think we broke them” I said, before slapping Scar across the muzzle, snapping him out of his fear induced stupor.

“Come on” I said, standing up and walking towards the door, Scar following meekly behind, I walked outside to find the doctor and his assistant looking around, he noticed me walk over.

“Well, all things considered, you could’ve ended up in worse parts of the Everfree forest” he said, I nodded in agreement before turning to Autumn.

“I would suggest wearing your armour, better to be safe than sorry” I said before placing my rucksack on the ground, she nodded before jumping in and returning a few minutes later, fully decked out in her armour, except this time her tinted full-face visor was lifted up, giving a clear view of her face, with that we started searching around, the Doctor was scanning around using his sonic screwdriver, I then noticed that the grass was flattened, but all in one direction.

“Autumn, go fly up there and tell me what you see” I said, pointing to the sky “you too Twilight, I need you to verify with her”, they both nodded before taking off, going up about 100 feet or so, as it was a large clearing, I saw them exchange glances before descending to the ground.

“Well, what did you see?” I asked.

“It looks like there was an explosion near the centre of the clearing, all of the grass is flattened in a circular pattern” Autumn said.

“Shockwave caused by the tear opening perhaps, Doctor?” I said.

“Trans-universal tears do tend to cause a large shockwaves when they first open” he said, walking towards the centre, with his assistant in the air directing him towards the rough location, once he was close enough he started scanning, the screwdriver suddenly went from its steady whirring sound to a beeping.

“Aha, bingo” he said, I quickly ran over, he then picked up a stone that was lying on the ground and threw it forward, it suddenly stopped in mid-air, caught in a wall of arcing electricity, the air itself felt electrified, the stone then disappeared from existence.

“Err, Doctor, what just happened?” I asked, uncertainty showing in my voice.

“A pebble just got into the fish tank” he said, smiling, I then turned to the others.

“I’m just going to have a quick look, I’ll be right back, I still haven’t traveled round the world yet, so I won’t be gone for good” I said, before hesitantly walking towards the portal, electricity was still arching around the entrance, a raised a hand to touch the opening, I was immediately overcome by crippling pain as the electricity arced onto my arm, I screamed out I pain.

“AH SHIT, HELP!” I shouted, Autumn flew over and tried to pull me away from the portal, but I could feel it pulling me in, eventually pulling us both in, I blacked out from the pain before I even hit the ground on the over side.

I woke up to a hoof shaking my shoulder, I opened my eyes to see Autumn looking at me with a worried expression.

“I think we have a problem” she said, looking behind me, I followed her gaze to find that we were in a colossal hall, like, Lincoln cathedral proportions, there were various different beings, I could recognize minotaur’s, griffins and dragons among others, at the far end of the hall there were three Alicorn, two females and one male, one of the female Alicorn’s spoke up, she was white with a rose coloured mane.

“We have been expecting you, Vuur Koning, or should I say… Luke?” she said, a neutral expression on her face, I did a double take.

“H-how do you know my name, my real name?” I finally asked once I had gotten over my shock, I actually saw a hint of a smile grace her lips briefly, before she regained her neutral expression.

“Please, come closer” she said, I could feel the eyes of hundreds of different beings focused upon me, but I did as instructed, she was a lot taller than Celestia or Luna, about 15 feet tall “I know more than just your name, I am Fantasia, Equestrian High Goddess of imagination and creation.”

“You’re a goddess!?” I exclaimed, I noticed Autumn bowing besides me, whispering prayers, I saw a griffin stood off to one side of the three Alicorn’s walk towards me, looking rather annoyed, he leaned in to my face.

“Most beings would have the common sense to bow in the presence of gods, you should show respect” he said, I’ll admit, I was metaphorically shitting bricks at that point.

“Stridskämpe, please control your temper, there is no need to frighten the mortal” Fantasia said, the griffin snorted at me before waking back to his place.

“I meant no offence, it’s just that, well, where I come from, there isn’t exactly concrete proof of gods” I said, I heard murmurs throughout the hall.

“I am well aware of the gods of your world, they have neglected their duties, instead choosing to bicker amongst themselves like children, you have caused me no offence” Fantasia said, she then stood up.

“Please, follow me, we shall go somewhere more private” she said, walking down the hall, I nudged Autumn with a foot.

“If you’re quite done, we’re headed this way” I whispered, she got up and we both started walking after Fantasia, we walked down tall hallways for a while before we ended up standing on a balcony, it was looking over a land mass I didn’t recognize, Fantasia sat there, looking at the view.

“Do you know why I have brought you here?” she said, still looking at the view.

“To tell me that I can never go back to my world?” I guessed.

“No, you will be able to return one day, but now is not the time, you must complete your destiny first” she said.

“And that would be” I asked.

“I’m afraid even Tempus, who controls time itself, cannot fully predict your destiny, all we know is that afterwards, life will never be the same again” she then looked me in the eyes, showing full emotions for the first time, she seemed, sad “I understand why you long to return to your world, I too know what it’s like to be separated from those I hold dear.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Celestia and Luna are my daughters” she said.

“Is that why they have the power to move planetary objects?” I asked, she nodded.

“I still don’t understand what makes me so special, or why you dragged Autumn here as well” I said, jerking a thumb towards

the aforementioned pegasus, who had her eyes closed and was muttering prayers yet again.

“Not even I know why you were chosen, as for Autumn, she got pull through when she tried to pull you out, we did not intend for her to be here” Fantasia said, before turning away from the balcony “come, it is time for you both to return to your realm”

“Wait a minute, if you are gods, does one of you control the afterlife, and souls of the dead” I asked, walking beside her, Fantasia turned her head to look at me, a sympathetic look on her face.

“I already know what you are asking for, but I’m afraid it is impossible for mortals to visit the underworld” she said, Autumn looked at between us, confused.

“Can’t visit who?” she asked, I looked at her, before sighing.

“My father, he died last year, I would do anything to be able to say goodbye to him one last time, to have closure, the last time I saw him alive, the last words I said to him were ‘see you later’” I said, sadly.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Autumn asked.

“Later” I replied.

“I never said you couldn’t actually say goodbye” Fantasia said, a hint of a smile on her face, before turning off from the main corridor, we eventually reached a door, she stopped and looked at us “we must be quick, I normally wouldn’t allow this to happen, but in your case, I will make an exception.”

“Thank you” I said, I then quickly looked at Autumn “can Autumn come too? I would like for her to meet him”

“If that is what you wish” Fantasia said, nodding, I took my helmet off.

“Right, I’m ready” I said, mentally preparing myself, the door opened, revealing a white room that seemed to stretch on into eternity, we all walked in and the door shut behind us, after a few moments I saw a person fade into existence, ‘Holy shit, it’s really him’ I thought, he was exactly as I remembered, except he was wearing a white robe.

“Dad, i-it’s me, do you remember me?” I asked.

“Of course I do” he said, oh, I had been missing that voice for so long “why are you here? You’re not dead, are you?”

“Apparently I’m ‘destined for greatness’ or something, hence the armour, I’ve also been sent into a world full of magical talking ponies” I said, he burst out laughing

“Ha ha, it’s my job to tell the bad jokes” he said.

“Hey, Autumn come over here” I said, she walked over, looking slightly nervous, I’ll admit, I was pretty smug at that point

“Dad, I would like you to meet my friend, Autumn Skies. Autumn, this is my Dad."

“It’s nice to meet you” Autumn said.

“You weren’t bloody joking were you?” he said to me, he then looked at Autumn “it’s nice to meet you too.”

“Please, time is short” Fantasia said quietly, I sighed, my Dad looked confused.

“What is she talking about?” he asked.

“I don’t have long, I came here because I never got to say goodbye” I was starting to feel tears running down my cheeks “oh god, I have missed you so much” he walked up to me and embraced me, I rested my head on his shoulder, I didn’t even try to fight the tears that were now streaming down my cheeks.

“Hey, it’s ok, I’ve missed you too, but don’t worry, everything will be fine” he then held me out in front of him “you go back out there, make me proud and have fun, live your life to the full like I did, just don’t go dying in a crash like I did” I couldn’t help laughing despite the current situation.

“You always did know how to make light of a situation” I said, smiling sadly.

“What do you mean ‘did’, I still do” he said, rolling his eyes.

“I’m afraid we must go now” Fantasia said, I nodded, before hugging my dad one last time.

“I will see you again” I said “I promise”

“Don’t go killing yourself just so you can see me” he said.

“I won’t, I don’t even think they would let me die anyway” I replied, before taking a step back “Goodbye, Dad” I said, he nodded to me before nodding to fantasia, her horn lit briefly and he disappeared, back to where ever spirits go, I turned around and was immediately embraced by Autumn.

“I am so, so sorry for you” she sounded like she was about to break down in tears.

“Thank you” I said, before hugging her back, I felt sad, but at the same time I felt good, after a few moments she let go, going back to all fours, I could see tears in her eyes.

“If ever you need somepony to talk to, or even a shoulder to cry on, I’m here for you” she said, I nodded and sighed before turning to Fantasia.

“I’m ready now” I said, she nodded, the door opened up and we walked out, she turned to us.

“Before you go, I have a request” she said.

“Anything” I replied

“When you see Celestia and Luna, tell them I love them, I miss them and I’m watching over them” she said.

“Is that all?” I asked in surprise, she smiled slightly and nodded.

“It is time for you to go now” she said, I saw her horn light up briefly before I was blinded by a white light, when I regained my vision we were walking through the tear towards the clearing, when we got to the clearing proper I stumble to the ground, my helmet clattering to the ground beside me, I looked up to see Celestia and Luna standing there, pensive looks on their faces.

“Vuur Koning, Autumn Skies, are you alright?” Twilight asked, running up to us, I slowly stood up, apparently she saw my tear stained cheeks “what happened, are you Ok” I wiped the tears from my eyes, chuckling slightly.

“Yes, I’m fine, in fact, I’m feeling better than I have in ages” I said, I picked up my helmet and put it on before walking over to the two princesses “Celestia, Luna, your mother wanted me to tell you that she loves you, misses you, and is watching over you.”

“How doth thou know of our mother?” Luna asked.

“When I went through the portal, instead of sending me back home, it sent me to the realm of the gods” I went to continue but I was interrupted by Scar pouncing on me and proceeding to lick my face “eurgh, easy boy, ha ha, stop it” a few moments later he stopped and looked at me, tongue hanging out and wagging his tail.

“How could anyone be scared of you?” I said, scratching him behind the ear “you’re just a big old puppy” I then stood back up.

“I need to go to Fluttershy’s house before we go back to the library” I said, I noticed that the Doctor was standing by the Tardis “if it’s ok, I think I’ll go with him” I then walked over to the Tardis.

“So, where to?” the Doctor asked.

“You ever seen where a yellow and pink pegasus lives? It’s got lots of animals” he nodded before walking into the Tardis, I turned around before walking inside “Hey Autumn, you coming with?”

“No, thank you!” she said, I laughed before walking inside and shutting the door behind me.

A few minutes later I stepped out of the Tardis to find myself outside Fluttershy’s cottage, I walked towards the cottage, a gust of wind blowing and the sound of the Tardis’ time rotor fading into into non-existence as I walked up the path towards the door, I knocked on the door and waited a few moments, admiring the rustic scenery, ‘this place would fit right in with a village in the west country during the 1920s’ I thought to myself, it certainly did have the rustic aesthetic of a village in the west country, the door opened slightly and I saw a pair of eyes looking through the gap before the door opened fully to reveal Fluttershy standing in the door-way.

“O-oh, hello Vuur Koning, are you here for the falcon?” she asked, hiding one side of her face behind her mane.

“Yeah, lead the way please” I said, she walked outside and shut the door behind her.

“This way please, if that’s alright with you” she said timidly, walking down the path that lead behind the cottage.

“This is a nice place that you’ve got” I said.

“T-Thank you, it belonged to one of my grandmothers” Fluttershy replied

“It’s very similar to houses from about 90 years ago on my world, there are still some left, if you know where to look” I added, we eventually came to an area filled with several pens and enclosures, Fluttershy stopped and turned to look at me.

“please wait here, some of the animals are very skittish around strangers” she said, before walking into one of the enclosures, she returned a few moments later “I’ve warned them, so you are okay to come in now”, I walked in to find many different types of birds of prey; falcons, eagles, Kites, buzzards, you name it, there was probably one there, Fluttershy stopped next to a particularly Falcon, except instead of it having the normal colouration of a peregrine, it was black with a pure white underside and red feather tips.

“Oh, you are a beauty” I said.

“Is he the one you want?” Fluttershy asked, I nodded and Fluttershy held out her hoof (which had a glove of some sort reaching up to her elbow) for the falcon to perch on, he hesitated for a few moments before hopping on with a few flaps of his wings, she then hobbled outside.

“Do you want to see him in flight?” she asked.

“Yes and if possible I would like to see him go into a dive” I said, she nodded before relaying the information to the falcon, who took off and started to fly at an amazing rate, did a couple of high speed aerobatics before climbing several thousand feet until he was just a speck in the sky, after a few moments I saw him start to dive, accelerating until he was just a blur in the sky, steadily getting closer, at around 100 feet he opened up his wings to slow down before landing on my shoulder.

“Yeah, he’s the one” I said, Fluttershy smiled so brightly see seemed to out shine the sun “OK, how much?” Fluttershy stopped smiling and looked confused.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“You mean you just give pets away here? For free?” I asked, she nodded.

“Companionship cannot be bought” she said, looking a little stern, I rubbed the back of my neck and laughed nervously.

“Things work a little differently where I come from” I said, stroking the falcon on the back of his head “so, does he have a name?”

“No, most pets receive their name from their owner” Fluttershy said.

“In that case then, I think I’ll call you… Boris, yeah, Boris the falcon” I said, I swear at that moment the falcon smiled.

“He likes it” Fluttershy said, I thanked her and said goodbye before walking down the path towards the lane, I saw Autumn standing at the gate with Scar.

“Autumn, meet Boris, my new messenger for our travels around the world” I said, her eyes widened.

“First a Timberwolf, now a falcon?” she half stated, I nodded “What’s next? A dragon?”

“We’ll see” I said, before walking towards Ponyville, with Scar by my side and Boris on my shoulder, I have no shame in admitting I felt like a fucking badass at the time, most ponies that saw us actually waved greetings, rather than just staring, and I replied in kind.

“The friendliness of you ponies will never cease to amaze me” I said to Autumn, she went to respond but was interrupted by a loud boom, followed by laughter that could only belong to a certain blue Pegasus, I looked up to see Rainbow Dash rolling on top of a cloud, laughing her head off.

“Surprise motherbucker” she said in between laughs.

“son of a bitch, Rainbow Dash, I damn near fucking shat myself” I said, trying to get my heart rate under control, I started laughing, despite myself “good one, you really got me, I’ll give you that one” Boris then flew back on my shoulder, having flown to a roof when the thunder cloud went off, Rainbow Dash noticed him.

“Whoa, where did you get that?” she asked, gliding down and admiring the falcon, who was less than happy at the moment, he snapped his beak at her when she tried to pet him.

“I don’t think he’s too pleased with the stunt you just pulled” I said, smirking slightly whilst stroking him on the back of his head in an attempt to calm him “His name’s Boris, I got him from Fluttershy” she oh’ed understanding.

“He could probably keep up with you, on the level at least” I added, she scoffed.

“I would like to see him try” she said, rolling her eyes.

“He’s smaller, lighter, and he has larger wings in comparison to his body, he’ll be quicker setting off and quicker in the corners, the only place you’ll be quicker is in the straights and the dive, I would let him loose now, but I have places to be” I said.

“Sure thing, just remember to bring your pigeon next time” she said, before flying off.

“He’s a falcon” I called after her, I shook my head, before continuing to walk towards Rarity’s boutique, I stroked Boris on the head “ignore her, you’re not a pigeon, are you?” he chirped and leaned into my hand, Scar then ran up to me and walked along side me, Autumn looked at me.

“So where are we headed?” she asked.

“I need to go to Rarity’s boutique quickly, my cloaks should be done by now, then I need to go to a supermarket” I replied, Autumn looked at me, confused.

“Why?” she asked

“I plan to repay Twilight for her hospitality by making breakfast for us all tomorrow, full English style” I said.

“And what would a full English include?” Autumn asked.

“Bacon, eggs, sausages, tomatoes, mushrooms, baked beans, and toast to top it all off” I said “although I’ll need to find vegetarian equivalents for the bacon and sausages.”

“Oh, we have those, we use hay to make the bacon, and various herbs and vegetables for the sausages” Autumn said “what do you use on your world?”

“Bacon is a cut of meat from the back of a pig, although other countries sometimes take it from the belly, and sausages are made from the bits of animals that are left behind after all the prime bits of meat are cut from the animal” I explained, I noticed Autumn going a little bit green “if at any point I make you feel uncomfortable fell free to tell me and I’ll change the topic.”

“It’s fine, I asked what you used and you told me, I can’t really complain, but I will tell you if I don’t like the subject of the conversation” she said.

“This isn’t gonna put you off of breakfast tomorrow, is it?” I asked, she shook her head.

“No, things like that don’t really phase me when it comes to eating food, unless you went into a detailed description of how they make your food” she said.

“Guess that’s one thing we have in common” I said, we eventually reached the boutique, just before I walked inside I turned to Autumn.

“Watch Scar for me, please” I said, she nodded, and I walked inside, the doorbell jingling as I opened the door.

“Just a moment” I heard Rarity call from another room, followed by hoofsteps walking into the room I was currently standing.

“Oh, it’s you” she said “I take it you are here for your cloaks” I nodded, she then beaconed me to follow her.

“I had plenty of time left over so I was also able to make you some spare undergarments to wear under your armour, they are only loose fitting as I couldn’t get proper measurements” she said as we walked into a room off to one side, on two separate stands were my new cloaks, they looked glorious.

“Unfortunately I did have to make a few compromises, I couldn’t include sleeves because of the complex shape of your shoulder armour” she said, I was awestruck at the craftsmanship and quality of the fabric, the summer cloak was an ‘all-round’ style of cloak, it was a rich black fleece with gold stitching and the inside of the hood was a deep red velvet, with a thick gold stitching separating the velvet from the fleece, the winter cloak was just as stunning, with wool that was as pure white as the snow, the inside of the hood was the same red as the summer cloak, with the rim of the hood lined with faux-fur, both cloaks had my name in fancy red letters running up both sides of the hood.

“They’re perfect” I said “I can’t thank you enough, Rarity, you’re a legend for doing this for free.”

“It’s quite alright” she said, levitating some clothes over to me “now go and change out of your dirty old clothes, try these on.”

I took them with a nod, the shirts were the same style as my old shirt, complete with the scale armour on the sleeves, on these shirt the string holding the scales together was slightly elastic, as was the fabric for the shirts, meaning they fit perfectly, ‘if this is what she can do without taking measurements, then gods know how good she is when she does take measurements’ I thought, I subconsciously noted that I used the term ‘gods know’ rather than ‘god knows’, the main difference in these shirts scales covering the entirety of their surface, and they actually had tinted edges to them, going from silver at their roots, to a metallic red at the tip of each scale.

“Gods above, these are amazing” I muttered, noticing that the trousers also had scales going down the length of each leg, with the same tinted design, ‘so I now have ‘under armour’, rather than undergarments’ I put the armour back on over my new clothes and walked back into the other room, Rarity saw me and gasped.

“You look absolutely stunning, darling” she said.

“I love the tinted scale-tips, if your clothes fit this well without you having to take measurements, that what are you like when you do take measurements?” I said.

“If I had taken measurements, I wouldn’t need to use elastic material” she said, smirking slightly, I then had an idea.

“Say, what would you say to making plating for my falcon, to the same style as my shirts and trousers” I said, petting Boris, who had once again perched himself on my shoulder, Rarity put a hoof to her chin in thought for a moment.

“It’s definitely not something that I’m used to, but, I love a challenge” she said, a determined glint in her eye

“Ok, just on his chest area though, like a vest, he still needs to be able to fly, also, do you think you could rework my old clothes to match my new ones?” I asked, she nodded.

“Yes, if you would come this way, please” she said walking into the room where I had my measurements taken the first time, she then levitated a measuring tape over and I beckoned Boris onto my arm, she took measurements of things like his body width and length, whenever she needed to take a measurement under his wing I simply needed to tap a shoulder for him to open up his wings.

“Wow, he is magnificent” I thought out loud.

“His feather patterns are simply stunning, aren’t they?” Rarity mused in agreement “I think I’ll tone the scales to a similar tint, black on the top, and white on the bottom, and red tips throughout perhaps.”

“How exactly do you colour the scales, Rarity?” I asked.

“I use a simple spell, that’s all, I also enchanted the scales for durability, meaning that if you get attacked similarly to when you were attacked by Timberwolves, they won’t even scratch” she said nonchalantly.

“Is there nothing that magic can’t do? I asked in amazement.

“Well, we can’t travel through time” she said with a laugh, I chuckled slightly at that.

“OK, I’m done” she said, levitating the measuring tape away, Boris hopped back on to my shoulder “I should have your old clothes and the armour for your falcon done by tomorrow.”

“that’s fine” I said, I walked over to the cloaks, putting the winter cloak and the rest of my new clothes in my rucksack before putting the rucksack on my back, I beckoned for Boris to perch on the one of the cloak stands, with him out of the way, I swung the cloak onto my back with a flourish and tied it up at the neck, it was draped over my shoulders with the front parted allowing me to move my arms with ease, I tried to pull my sword off of my back and it came off with ease, I sheathed it before beckoning Boris onto my shoulder with a snap of the fingers.

“Thank you, Rarity” I said, before walking outside, Autumn heard me walk out and turned to look at me.

“Whoa, I like the cloak” she said “so, where to next?”

“First, the shop, and then we head back to Twilight’s” I said, before walking in the direction of the shopping district.

We walked back to the library, having bought everything I needed for tomorrow, I walked inside to find Twilight and the princesses discussing something, they noticed us walk in.

“It would seem that our foreign friend has returned” Princess Luna said, I froze at the mention of the word friend, she noticed the look on my face “is thee alright?”

“Yes, I’m just not used to anyone calling me friend and I’ve never considered anyone outside of my family a friend, I’ve had ‘close acquaintances’, but never friends, until just now it seems” I said, then it hit me “Holy hell, I’m friends with royalty!” they were amused at my reaction, Celestia suddenly looked at me, a serious expression on her face.

“Vuur Koning, me and Luna wish to know what actually happened to you and Autumn Skies when you traveled through the portal” she said, I sighed.

“O.k., Twilight, would you mind making a pot of tea, please, I’ll tell you anything you’ve missed later” I said, she nodded before walking into the kitchen, I gestured to some seats “shall we?” we all sat down and I rubbed the back of my neck nervously.

“I’m guessing Twilight told you what happened when I touched the portal” Celestia nodded, so I started to recount what happened, Twilight walked in about half way through, they were saddened when I told them about saying goodbye to my dad.

“I’m sorry for your loss” Celestia said.

“Thank you” I replied, I took a sip of my tea before continuing, there were confused when I told them what my dad had said to me.

“What did he mean by ‘don’t go dying in a crash’?” Luna asked.

“He rode a motorbike, imagine a self-propelled scooter if you will, he was riding on an unfamiliar road, hit an awkward part of the road that was a blind hill followed immediately by a left-hand turn, he got flung off the bike into a crash barrier, killed him stone dead on impact, so at least he didn’t suffer” I said with a shrug.

“You’re handling it rather well” Twilight said.

“He wouldn’t want me to mope about it, don’t get me wrong, I was absolutely devastated when I found out, but talking about it never really bothered me after the first couple months, he would want me to remember the good times we had” I said, I then started laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Luna asked.

“My dad was amazing” I said “I wish you could have known him, it was about a year before he died, he said to my brother; ‘I’ll soon be 60 years old, maybe I should start taking it easy…nah, I’d rather have fun’, he was the sort of person that was always a kid at heart, at the funeral we were expecting them to drop his coffin, only to have my dad fall out in a clown suit, get up and then start dancing to AC/DC’s ‘Big Balls’”

“Sounds like he was rather amusing to be around” Celestia said.

“He was, to the point where he was restricted to no jokes on Sundays” I said, Autumn chuckled slightly.

“Really?” she asked.

“Yes, I’ll give you an example, but first, I need to explain something, my Mum and Dad were divorced when this happened,
my Dad was in a relationship with someone else now, they both went for a walk along a seaside cliff, long story short, he fell off the cliff and got airlifted to hospital, later, he said these exact words to his partner; ‘I guess I really fell for you this time’” we all had a chuckle at that, Celestia and Luna then stood up.

“I’m afraid we must get back to Canterlot now, we hope to see you soon, Vuur Koning” Celestia said.

“Tot ziens” I said, giving a two fingered salute, they nodded before teleporting out of the library, we spent the rest of the day making small talk, eventually I managed to show Spike the different genres of music, using various songs from different bands to ‘represent’ each genre, for those that are wondering what I showed him, the sequence was as follows:

• Alestorm:

o Heavy Metal Pirates

o Wolves of the Sea

o The Quest

• Disturbed:

o 10’000 Fists

o Indestructible

o The Night

o Remnants & Asylum

• Sabaton:

o Primo Victoria

o Union

o Price of a Mile

o Midway

o Screaming Eagles

o Lion from the North (he recognised this as the song that I sang yesterday)

o To Hell and Back

o Resist and bite

o Night Witches

• Amon Amarth:

o Twilight of the Thunder God

o Guardians of Asgaard

o No fear for the setting sun

• DragonForce:

o Where Dragons Rule

o Through the fire and Flames

o Fury of the Storm

• Metallica:

o Enter Sandman

o Master Of Puppets

o The Unforgiven II

• Slipknot:

o Psychosocial

o Sulphur

• Van Canto:

o The Other Ones

o Badaboom

“Whoa” was all Spike could say when the last song finished.

“What do you all think?” I asked, their reactions were mixed.

“I think it’s safe to say that, what was it called again? Oh yeah, Sabaton, is starting to grow on me” Autumn said.

“Well, I don’t have much planned tomorrow, apart from let Boris out to fly and pick something up from Rarity’s, so you can use the laptop then, give a couple of albums a try, I have headphones so you don’t have to worry about volume, and if you are wondering what any of the songs are about, just ask”

“I’ll keep that in mind” she said.

“I’ve said it once before, it’s not my sort of music” Twilight said, I chuckled slightly.

“Well, I’m hooked on your music” Spike said.

“I’ll get several packs of C.D.s and a disk reader tomorrow, so you’ll have some albums soon” I said.

“Sweet” he said, giving me a thumbs up, I suddenly remembered something.

“Oh, Twilight, Spike, tomorrow I thought might repay you both for your hospitality, so allow me to cook everyone a traditional breakfast from my country” I said, they were surprised.

“Oh, thank you, Vuur Koning” Twilight said, blushing slightly.

“Hey, as long as I don’t have to cook, I’m cool with it” Spike said, sticking out his fist, I reciprocated the gesture before quickly taking the food into the kitchen, when I walked back into the main room I looked at the clock; 11:43pm.

“Bloody hell! Is that the time” I exclaimed, I then put on my best Yorkshire accent “and on that bombshell…it’s time for bed” I said, picking up my laptop and walking towards my rucksack, I beckoned for Scar and Boris to go into the rucksack, I turned to the mares and drake.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, and remember, I’m cooking breakfast” I said, pointing at the dragon in mock threat, he rolled his eyes.

“I’ll be heading to bed soon” Autumn said, I nodded before jumping in my rucksack.

here it is, the climax of ark 1, for those that can't be bothered to read my blogs, the whole 'combat training' part, will be subject of a spin off fiction that I shall wright at a later stage

I would recommend making a playlist of all the songs mentioned above, have a good listen to them

I awoke to the alarm going off, ‘urgh, 7:00? fucking mornings’ I thought as I turned the alarm on the laptop off before slamming the screen down for the added satisfaction, I sat up in bed, with my feet on the floor, I muttered cursing’s as I stood up and got dressed into my under armour before walking out of the rucksack and starting to look for the bathroom; and the shower located inside, I eventually found it and stepped inside.

I stepped out of the bathroom about five minutes later and made my way back to my rucksack to pick up my laptop (I usually work quicker when listening to music), before walking into the kitchen and placing the laptop on a worktop away from any cooking equipment or sinks, I then went into the music player and selected the Beatles: SGT Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, as I was in the mood for something a little more easy on the ears, I then put on the cooker and started cooking with the sound of the 60’s pouring out of the laptops speakers, bobbing my head along to the tune, Autumn walked into the kitchen as ‘Getting Better’ started playing.

“Good morning” I said, she seemed slightly amused by my upbeat demeanour.

“Well, somepony sure is cheerful this morning” she said, smirking slightly.

“I felt in the mood for something a little more… happy” I said, turning over the sausages “this is the sort of music my dad listened to, so I grew up listening to them as kid”

“How exactly did that develop into what you listen to nowadays?” she asked.

“You mean heavy Metal?” I asked, she nodded “my dad also listened to all of the classic rock bands in the seventies and eighties; Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Black Sabbath you name it, he probably listened to it, he had an impressive collection of vinyl L.P.s”

“How many?” Autumn asked.

“About 1’600” I said, shrugging my shoulders, Autumn did a double take.

“1600‽” she asked in surprise

“Give or take a few hundred” I said, nodding “anyway, my taste in music developed from my Dad’s, just like heavy metal developed from rock, oh, and speaking of heavy metal, when you listen to Sabaton later, take my advice, start with the earliest album: Primo Victoria, and work from there, each album is better than the last, if you start with the most recent one; Heroes, then you just be disappointed with the earlier albums” I placed the sausages on a separate pan to keep them heated and started cooking the bacon

“I’ll keep that in mind” she said “does each album have a particular theme to them?”

“Some of them I’m not so sure about, but I know for a fact that ‘the art of war’ roughly follows a book of the same name, and has quotes from said book, ‘Carolus Rex’ is about war in Sweden, the 30 year war, and the arsehole of a king that they had at the time…” I was about to continue but Autumn interrupted me.

“What do you mean?”

“King Charles of Sweden, now more popularly known as ‘Carolus Rex’, was the person that stared the 30 year war, he was crowned at the young age of 15, long story short, he went mad with power and tried to take over Europe; one of the 6 continental landmasses, he was one of those ‘divine right’ types” I said, noticing Autumns look I continued “he believed that: because he was king, he had the will of god on his side and therefore he had the right to own everything he saw, anyway, moving back to the albums, the ‘Heroes’ album is about heroes in war; those that did good deeds, sometimes at the loss of their own life, but as I said before, listen to the over albums first, save the best till last"

“Sure thing” she said “what exactly do you plan to do today?” She said

“Well once I’ve done what I need to do, I’ll probably just have a walk around, explore the town, maybe have a couple of drinks at a pub and tell anyone who wants to know of my world, to sum it all up, I’ll just be relaxing and taking it easy” I said, cracking some eggs into the pan.

“Are you sure you don’t want me with you?” she said, I could detect some apprehension in her voice, I deadpanned.

“I can take care of myself just fine, I’m not going to be leaving the town so I’ll be fine, plus I’m in the mood to be left to my thoughts today, I have a few things to think over” I said.

“Is it about your father?” she asked, sounding worried.

“A little bit” I admitted “don’t worry, I’ll be fine, trust me, I won’t be drowning my sorrows in drink if that’s what you’re worried about, I generally have trouble finishing my drinks after the 3rd or 4th pint, I just feel ill at that point, but I also need to plan a rough route around the world, I generally think better when I have a little alcohol in my system, otherwise I just dismiss any and all ideas as stupid, oh, would you mind telling Spike and Twilight that breakfast will be ready in about 5 or 10 minutes” I said, Autumn nodded before getting up from the table walking off, she returned a few moments later to confirm that she had relayed the information before walking off once again, I finished cooking everything soon after so I dished everything up on to 4 plates, plus a small amount into a bowl for Scar, and onto a dish for Boris (did you honestly think I would let them go hungry), I was about to take the plates to the table when I noticed an owl sitting at the window, looking at me.

“Oh, I didn’t see you sitting there” I said.

“Who?” the owl responded.

“You, I didn’t see you” I said, pointing at the owl

“Who?” came the owl’s answer, my eye twitched.

“I already said, I…” I trailed off when I realized what was happening.

“God-fucking-dammit!” I shouted, Twilight ran into the kitchen.

“What’s wrong!?” she asked.

“I’ve just been trolled by a fucking owl” I said, pointing at the offending nocturnal avian.

“Who?” came the owl’s response, I threw my hands up in exasperation before face-palming.

“Fuck my life” I muttered, I heard giggling and saw Twilight trying not to burst out laughing.

“Don’t worry, that’s just Owlowiscious, he doesn’t actually talk” she said, rolling her eyes.

“As I said, I’ve been trolled by an owl” I said, picking up the plates and walking towards the table, I saw Autumn look towards

us.

“What happened?” she asked, I put the plates down on the table before pinching the bridge of my nose.

“An owl trolled me, A… Fucking… Owl!” I said, before going back into the kitchen, I could hear giggles coming from the table, I turned to the owl, squinting my eyes “I don’t like you” I said, pointing at the owl.

“Who?” the owl replied, I groaned in exasperation before picking up the other two plates and placing them on the table before getting the food for Scar and Boris, Spike saw the look on my face.

“Dude, don’t worry about it, I totally understand” he said.

“But he’s an owl, do you know how degrading it is to get trolled by an owl?” I said.

“Actually yes, I thought he was going to replace me when he first arrived” I gave him a look “what, it’s true”

“I’m listening” I said, taking a bite of eggs.

“Twilight needed him for when she was up late studying, I took it the wrong way and assumed he was going to replace me as

her number one assistant” he said, sheepishly.

“You know what, what happened to you is so much worse, I feel a lot better now” I said, smirking slightly, he frowned at that, Autumn hummed in appreciation.

“This is really good” she said, pointing at the food with her fork “how did you learn to cook like this?”

“I basically taught myself, although a year’s course of hospitality didn’t go amiss”

“Hospitality?” Twilight asked, tilting her head, I took a bite of the hay-bacon before answering.

“It covers things like being a cook, waiter, receptionist, bar tender, that sort of thing, I was originally planning to be a

photographer, but I also took up a hospitality course in case that didn’t work out, so I know how to cook a fair number of meals” I said.

“Why would you learn two totally different skill sets?” Spike asked.

“Where I come from we don’t have cutie marks, we get our jobs through qualifications, although sometimes I think they rely too heavily upon then, for instance, what good is qualifications maths and English, if you’re going to work in a steelworks” they seemed taken aback by that.

“You’re joking, right?” Autumn asked, I shook my head, as I was unable to speak due to my mouth being full, from that point on we just made small talk, eventually we all finished, I had offered to wash up, but Twilight wouldn’t let me, I then set up the laptop for Autumn, and borrowed the book on maps of the world before putting my armour and rucksack on, donning my summer cloak, and heading outside, with Scar by my side and Boris on my shoulder, ponies would often call their greetings to me as I walked past, as we got to the shopping district I looked at Scar.

“First things, first, I’m getting you a collar, a muzzle, and a lead” his ears dropped at that “don’t give me that look, I’m not having you chase after anything that takes your interest” as I said those words I walked into a pet shop, and returned about 10 minutes later, with a slightly downcast Scar, who was now wearing a muzzle and collar, with a lead attached to said collar, I had also managed to get a rather nice engraved dog tag with his name on one side and a scar mark on the other, in addition to that I had also managed to get one of those ring type things that you often see on birds that are owned by someone, as well as various other bits and pieces, such as dog food, as we walked towards Rarity’s place I noticed Scar’s downcast demeanour.

“Don’t be like that, I would rather you didn’t get taken away from me because you attacked someone” I said, he just huffed and grumbled, I rolled my eyes, before we walked inside I stopped and knelt down, so I was level with Scars face.

“Right, I’m going to trust you to stay put, ok” I said, putting him on the neck and giving him a dog chew, he immediately perked up and laid down, balancing one end of the treat in his front paws and chewing on the other end, I rolled my eyes before walking inside, the doorbell jingled as I opened the door.

“Just a moment” I heard Rarity call, before she waked in to the main room “Oh, it’s you, keep this up and you’ll be my most frequent customer”

“Except I’m technically not a customer, you made me this…” I said, gesturing to the cloak “for free”

“Oh pish-posh, darling” she said, waving a hoof dismissively “now, your clothes are this way” she led me into one of the other rooms where my old clothes were folded up, sporting new scales throughout, as well as what I assumed to be the ‘vest’ for Boris, Rarity levitated the small vest towards me, it was white on one side and black on the other, with red-tinted scale-tips, with some persuasion we managed to fit the vest onto Boris, I packed my old clothes into my rucksack and thanked Rarity before walking outside, where I found Scar still lying down, only his chew was nowhere to be found, ‘figures, he would finish it in one go’ I thought.

“Come on, Scar” I said, picking up his lead, he begrudgingly stood up and we walked back to the shopping district, where I bought various bits and pieces that I was in need of, including several packs of blank C.D.s and a disk reader, whilst I was at it I also got several different music C.D.s, just to see what took my interest, by the time I had bought everything I needed it was getting towards lunchtime, whilst I wasn’t terribly hungry, I did feel in the mood to grab something to eat, I spotted a large building that resembled a gingerbread house, I looked at Scar and shrugged my shoulders before walking towards it and sitting at a table located outside, noting the sign that said ‘Sugar-cube Corner’ as I sat down, Scar lay down beside the chair, I looked at the menu, noting that it was mostly sweet confectionery and drinks that was listed on the menu, no-sooner had I decided what I wanted, than Pinkie Pie hopped over.

“Hiya V.K.” she said, bouncing on the spot, I raised an eyebrow at that.

“Pinkie Pie!? What are you doing here?” I asked, gesturing to the general location.

“I work here silly” she said, rolling her eyes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world “now, what can I get for you?” I

looked at the menu just to confirm my choice.

“I think I’ll have a large mocha and the small triple chocolate ice cream sundae” I said, pointing it out on the menu to clarify, Pinkie Pie nodded.

“Okey-Dokey-Lokey” she said, before bouncing away, once she was out of sight I got out a dog treat and got Scars attention, who stood up, wagging his tail.

“uh-uh-uh” I said, lifting it out of his reach before he had a chance to bite onto it, I pointed to the floor “sit” it took a couple of times repeating the command, but he eventually sat down.

“Good boy” I said, giving him the treat and patting him on the head, it was at that point that Pinkie Pie hopped over with a tray holding my order balanced on her back, which by some miracle didn’t fall off.

“Here you go” she said, bouncing by order onto the table, I paid the money for the sundae and drink and thanked her before she hopped off to serve someone else, I mostly just sat there, taking the occasional sip of the mocha, or mouthful of ice cream sundae (both of which were absolutely glorious), watching the ponies of the town going about their daily business whilst I let my mind wonder, I have a habit of doing that, when I don’t have anyone/anypony to talk to, I tend to go into a trance of sorts, so I kind of freaked out when I looked down at my sundae and saw Discords face looking back at me.

“HOLY JESUS ON A BIKE!” I exclaimed, earning a few stares from passing ponies.

“You called” I heard discord say from behind, I looked in his direction to find him with a brown beard, wearing robes and sandals, and sitting on a bike, I couldn’t help giggling slightly at that.

“What do you want?” I asked, he snapped his fingers and the clothes, sandals, beard and bike disappeared in a flash before he walked over towards me, Scar started growling at Discord, who rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers, turning the Timberwolf into a puppy.

“Not so threatening now are you” he said, patting the puppy on the head, who just growled, I picked Scar up to try and calm him down “my, hardly been here a week and you already have two pets I see, at this rate you’ll need an zoo to hold all of them, as for why I’m here, can I not see my favourite human every now and then?”

“Seriously, why are you here?” I said, taking a bite of the sundae.

“I like checking on my agents of chaos, am I not allowed to do so?” he asked, folding his arms and feigning a hurt expression.

“Well seeing as you’re here, I have a question, does me seeing my dad class as your ‘prophesy’?” I asked, making quotation marks with my hands.

“No, they only apply to anyone who is alive, although I wish it was your dad who’s getting catapulted to this world, he wouldn’t be a spoilsport like you are” he said.

“Can’t argue with you on that point” I conceded, taking a sip of my mocha, I then went for my camera bag, I set up my camera and promptly took a picture of Scar who was still a puppy, he gave me ‘the look’ and whined slightly

“You look adorable” I said to the Timberwolf as I put my camera away, he just grumble slightly, I looked back at discord “now, if you don’t mind, please revert my wolf back to the correct age” Discord huffed and snapped his fingers, to late did I realize what was going to happen and before I knew it I was sprawled on the ground on top of Scar.

“God dammit, Discord” I said as I got back up, I looked around, only to find that discord had disappeared “Fucking chimeras” I muttered before getting up and putting the muzzle and collar back of Scar, I soon finished my lunch and started walking towards the park that I had seen on my way to Sugar-cube Corner, as I walked along one of the designated paths I beckoned for Boris to take off, which he did with pleasure, I found a bench to sit down at and watch him fly gracefully through the sky, several children who were playing saw him flying and stopped to look at the falcon in awe, he seemed to notice this as he started doing all manner of aerobatics, before climbing up high and diving at the children, sending them running in different directions, laughing and giggling as they went, I couldn’t help laughing slightly at that, I heard the flapping of a pegasus’ wings nearby and saw Rainbow Dash land near me.

“Hey, V.K., I see what you meant when you said he was quick” she said, sitting on the bench and looking at the falcon, who was playfully chasing after the kids.

“I told you” I said, smirking slightly.

“He’s still not fast enough to beat me” she said.

“Well duh, he can’t break the sound barrier, but he can get up to 200mph in a dive, which is an accomplishment in its own right” I said, she scoffed at that.

“I’d like to see him try” she said, standing up, I clapped my hands and Boris started banking towards me, the fillies and colts ran behind him, trying to keep up, they stopped when they saw me and Rainbow Dash and looked at us in awe

“You’re the one who saved the school from Timberwolves!” exclaimed a pinto coloured colt in a cockney accent.

“Yep, and this, is Boris” I said, kneeling down so they could get a better look at the Falcon, they all started walking closer to get as good a view as they could of the falcon “now, who want to see Boris give Rainbow Dash a run for her money?” they all cheered at that, I then knelt down and whispered into Rainbow Dashes ear.

“Don’t win by too much, I’ve got to impress the kids, haven’t I?” she just rolled her eyes before walking into the middle of the path, I followed suit and stood next to her, my arm outstretched to one side

“From here to town hall and back, perhaps?” I asked, she nodded ever so slightly, and Boris squawked in acknowledgment

“On three: One. Two. THREE!” Rainbow Dash shot off and I swung my arm forward to give Boris that extra boost, they both sped off, leaving a strong gust of wind in their wake which fluttered my cloak rigorously, we all watched them as they disappeared from view…

…The two rivals sped through the skies, dodging clouds and birds, and even the occasional pegasus, Rainbow dash was clearly holding back, not even breaking a sweat, but the same could be said for Boris, who was literally dancing around Rainbow dash, running circles around her whilst still keeping pace, Rainbow Dash took note of this and snorted.

“Alright buzzard, let’s see what you can really do” she said, before increasing her wing beats 2-fold, she felt herself start to accelerate rapidly ‘let’s see you keep up with me now’ she thought, only for that train of thought to come to a grinding halt when she looked behind her to find Boris right on her tail, ‘What‽ how did he catch up so quickly?’ she thought as she saw the town hall come into view, she pulled her wings into the vertical position to slow herself down to get as tight a turn as possible, only to be over taken by Boris on the turn, who was banking practically vertically as he shot round the town hall and started to climb.

“What’s that bird brain doing, he hasn’t given up has he?” she thought out loud with a smirk, never the less, she flapped her wings as fast as possible, not wanting to take the risk of Boris appearing at the last moment, ‘no way am I getting beaten by a bird’ she thought as she raced towards the finish line at top speed, she could see the colts and fillies cheering and waving, as well as Vuur Koning, who was standing there with his arm crossed, she was just crossing the finish line when she saw a black and white blur shoot past her, causing her to angle her wings vertically out of surprise…

…I saw Rainbow Dash speeding towards the finish line, but Boris was nowhere in sight, I was about to question here he was when I saw him shoot down past the cloud cover in full stoop, he pulled up just before he hit the ground, his forward momentum pushing him towards Rainbow dash at an astounding rate, the two of them crossing the finish line at the exact same time, Rainbow Dash musn’t have been expecting him to pull that stunt, as the shock was clear on her face and she angled her wings steeply to create as much drag as possible, as well as digging her hooves into the ground, leaving deep grooves as she slid past, she finally stopped and turned around.

“How did he do that?” she asked, pointing to Boris, who was now perched on my shoulder, looking about a smug as possible for a falcon.

“what you just saw was what’s known as a stoop” I said, addressing the children as much as Rainbow Dash “as I have said countless times, they can reach speeds of up to 200mph, or possibly more in the case of Boris here” the children all started to crowd round, their eyes full of wonder, I sent Boris of into the sky to play with the children and walked towards rainbow dash, who looked downcast.

“You know, for a moment there I thought you were going to win” I said, she looked up at me in surprise

“Really?” she asked, perking up slightly.

“I swear on my father’s grave” I said, putting my hand on my chest “for a moment I thought he’d fucked off, all I saw was you, speeding towards the finish line, with Boris nowhere to be found, besides, technically you didn’t lose, you both tied, you would have won for sure if he hadn't of dived like he did” she smirked slightly at that.

“Yeah, I’m still the best” she said, rubbing a hoof against her chest before taking off into the sky, I rolled my eyes before sitting down on the bench, watching Boris play with the children, I patted Scar in the side, getting his attention, before patting my thigh, as a sign for him to rest his head there, he did so and I started stroking him as we sat there, I started singing, I didn’t really have a reason for singing, I just felt in the mood to sing.

“Aerials, in the sky, when you lose small mind, you free your life, Aerials, so up high, when you free your eyes, eternal prize” I hummed the rest of the song, Scar seemed to visibly relax, his shoulders slumping slightly, I’ll admit, my singing wasn’t perfect, but it could be a lot worse, I generally sing better if I’m actually listening to the song, as I tend to instinctively tune my voice to the music, for the rest of the day, not much of interest happened, I ended up going to a pub and looking over the atlas whilst drinking a tankard of cider, after a few hours I had a basic route plan written out on a piece of paper, ready to be refined at a later date, I walked into the library to find Autumn laying on a sofa, singing Primo Victoria whilst playing the song through the laptops speakers, I had an idea, so I quietly shut the door and waited for the first chorus to finish, I then snuck up behind her and started singing when the chorus finished, causing Autumn to jump out her fur.

“we’ve been here before, used to this kind of war, crossfire grinds through the sand, the orders were easy; it’s kill or be

killed, blood on both sides will be spilled, in the dawn they will pay, with their lives as the price, history’s written today, now

that we are at war with the Axis again, this time we know what will come” I sang.

“You’re back!” Autumn said, once I had finished singing, she paused the song

“Aww, you were supposed to sing the second chorus with me” I said, crossing my arms, Autumn just rolled her eyes

“anyway, I have a rough journey plan written out, it just needs finalizing” I passed her the notes I had, she looked at them for a few moments before passing them back.

“Why Trottingham first?” she asked.

“People say I ‘ave a Tro’ing’am accen’” I said, slipping in to my northern accent “I wouldn’ mind visiting there, jus’ t’ see what people are talkin’ abou’”.

“You’ve changed your accent” Autumn said.

“nah, I’m talkin’ in my proper accen’, I’ve learn’ t’ speak in a neutral accen’ when I talk with people that speak in a vastly

different accent” I said, slipping back to my neutral accent to prove the point.

“You have a coastal accent” she said “its spoken in the coastal towns and the far north, it’s not the same as a Trottingham accent, there is a difference, I’ll admit, when you speak in your ‘neutral’ accent, you sound like a typical Trottingham accent”

“Yeah" I agreed "expect me to be speaking in my true accent when we are in the north of Equestria, and whenever I actually speak to you, anyway, I’m thinking of heading back to the capital tomorrow to begin my training, you don’t have a problem with that do you?” I asked, she shook her head, for the rest of the night we sat there, listening to Sabaton, drinking cider that I had bought earlier, swapping stories, generally just relaxing whilst I copied songs onto the blank C.D.s, when I finished we eventually went to bed, at about 1:00 am.

“Y’all take care of yourselves, ya hear?” Applejack said, we were all standing at the station, the train had just pulled in, and me and Autumn were about to step on board.

“I’ll try, and if I can’t, I’ve always got Autumn to protect me” I said, chuckling slightly.

“I heard that” Autumn called from the luggage compartment of the brake coach, she walked out of the coach and towards us.

“Anyway, group photo” I said, getting my camera out and turning it on, I walked over to a table to rest it on whilst I set it up, I then set the timer on the shutter before quickly walking back over to the group, after a few moments I heard the shutter click

“I’ll send you all copies of the photo” I said, walking over to the camera and packing it away into my camera bag.

“ALL ABOARD” the guard shouted, we all said our goodbyes, before me, Autumn, Boris (who was perched on my shoulder) and Scar climbed onto the train and walked into a compartment facing the platform and sat down just as the train pulled out of the station, they waved to us until I lost sight of them, the train speeding towards Canterlot, and my future as a reserve guard.

END OF ARK 1

1 YEAR LATER

1 year, was that really all it had been, just 12 months, training was a total pain, and then some red demon-centaur thing tried to take over the world, so I’ve already go my first taste of combat as a reserve guard, but now that’s all in the past, let’s do a quick head count, there’s me: the alien reserve guard, now armed with a 1600-style pistol that fires bolts of magic, Autumn Skies: Special operations guard, as well as my dear friend and guide to this world, Scar: my pet Timberwolf, now sporting a custom set of metal armour that is directly bolted to his wooden exoskeleton with cool features such as sabre-teeth and longer claws, and Boris: my pet Falcon and messenger, at this exact moment we were on a sleeper train headed towards Trottingham, where we would stay with Autumns family for the week, before beginning the quest for real, we were about a day into the journey, with 2 more to go (it’s about 700 route miles from Canterlot to Trottingham), and we were still climbing through the mountain range that Canterlot is located on, although Autumn says that we should be clear of the mountains and speeding through relatively flat country by tomorrow morning

On the plus side, as someone who is loco about trains, was the fact that the train was being pulled by a massive streamlined Garrett, another plus side was the view, my god the view, the line practically hugged the mountain side, so on one side of the train you could see for miles, I managed to get a really good photo of the sun setting in the horizon.

We had our own en-suit bedroom, first class premier, the entire coach at the rear of the train, complete with a balcony at the rear, so we practically have our own observation carriage, that’s yet another thing I owe Celestia for, although I was a little apprehensive about sharing a bed with Autumn, I wouldn’t be sleeping in the rucksack, not when the bed in the carriage was like a cloud, so I would just have to man-up and deal with it, no more awkwardness, we’re friends, we trusted each-other, and we aren’t interested in each-other in any way that could be considered romantic, so we didn’t have much to worry about, I’d actually had a talk with Autumn about it, and she didn’t see what the problem was, we were friends, nothing more, so there wasn’t a problem as far as she was concerned.

For most of the journey we would listen to music, I showed her movies for the first time; she actually had tears in her eyes when she saw Black Hawk Down.

I was sat in an armchair facing the rear windows, sipping on Hayleys and listening to music, looking at the stars with all of the lights turned off, the rails highlighted in the moon light as they slithered into the distance, with Boris laid on the floor next to the chair, Autumn was currently in the bar carriage so it was just me, Scar and Boris in our room at the moment, speaking of Boris, he was currently perched on my shoulder, roosting, and when he was asleep, no force on earth could wake him up, he slept like a dragon, so I was mostly left to my thoughts, the music providing the background noise that I needed to zone out, after a couple of hours I decided to call it a night and went to bed, I barely registered Autumn climbing into bed and shuffling up close to me.

I awoke the next morning to the sunlight piercing through the windows, I muttered nonsensical grumblings before hugging the pillow next to me and pulling it closer before closing my eyes and dozing, basking in the warmth from the sun.

“You know, not that I’m complaining, but if you wanted to cuddle, you could’ve just asked” the pillow said, I was confused, both from the fact that I was still half asleep, and because pillows shouldn’t talk, it was then that my mind jolted awake and I opened my eyes to find myself cuddling Autumn, an amused look on her face ‘Screw it, it’s still morning, and the bed is so comfortable’ I thought.

“But you’re so fluffy” I said drowsily, hugging her tighter “you’re like a really warm pillow”

“I’ll take that as a compliment” Autumn said “and you pretty comfortable as well” at this point she wrapped her arms around me, we laid like this for some time, enjoying each-others warmth, after about half an hour I decided to get up, I got dressed into my armour, but left the helmet and gloves off, I looked at the clock; 9:05 am

“I’m off to go have breakfast” I said to autumn, she nodded and I walked through the train towards the dining car, the whole train oozed class, think orient express levels of luxury, I sat down at one of the tables, I ended up getting into a rather interesting conversation with a earth pony stallion with an accent akin to a British WW2 fighter pilot ; who was quite the railway fanatic himself, his face when I told him my country hadn’t used steam locomotives for 46 years was rather amusing.

“What do you use now?” he asked.

“Either diesel engines or electric” I said “they look a little bit like carriages, power bogies at each end with the body shell on top, although having said that, there are several projects going on with the aim of build in new members of Locomotive classes that weren’t preserved, they’re all one-off projects, the first one was completed about 6 years ago, there are about 20 or 30 separate groups, each one aiming to build a separate locomotive, most of them are things like tank engines or pacific locomotives”

“Pacific locomotive?” he asked.

“Oh right, different planet” I said, I paused, trying to find the correct term “it’s a 4-6-2 locomotive, 4 front wheels, 6 drive wheels and 2 trailing wheels, it was the most common arraignment for an express steam locomotive in my country, along with 4-6-0 locomotives, they were the ‘standard’ sizes of locomotives that pulled expresses, our north-south main line is only about 400 miles give or take, it’s a small country, about 200 miles at the widest point, so we didn’t really need anything bigger than a 4-6-2, there was a line up in the far north that had big 2-8-2 locomotives, but they were too long for the winding route that they ran on, one thing we didn’t have many of were Garratt’s, our name for the type of locomotive at the front of the train…” at that moment there was a loud bang and the whole train shook violently, I looked out the window just in time to see a large metal beam go flying past the window.

“What in Tartarus was that?” the stallion exclaimed, having seen what I saw.

“Oh shit, it’s chucked a con-rod” I said, the stallion paled slightly at that, the train stopped and I stood up

“I’m going to go get it and bring it back to them” I said, walking to one of the carriages side doors, Autumn ran towards me.

“What are you doing?” she asked, watching me climb down from the carriage.

“going to retrieve the piece that got flung off the locomotive, the reason why we stopped in the middle of nowhere” I said, referring to the grassy fields that surrounded the tracks “you can either help me, or you can go inform a guard so that the know why I’m outside the train” she jumped down off of the carriage, I smiled.

“You’ll need help to carry it back” she said, I nodded and noticed the stallion climb down as well.

“There is no way just the two of you can carry it back, you’ll need my help” he said.

“I won’t complain, what’s your name by the way?” I asked.

“Neighgel Gearsley” he said, I did a double take.

“Do you design locomotives by any chance?” I asked, he nodded.

“Well yes, but how did you know?” he asked.

“My country had a locomotive designer called Nigel Gresley, anyway, shall we?” I asked, they both nodded and we started walking back along the train, I could see the con-rod laying by the side of the track, glinting in the distance after walking for some time we eventually reached it, it was a really big piece of metal, easily about 3 meters long “this is going to be a pain” I muttered, I grabbed hold of the Big-end bearing whilst Gearsley grabbed the other and Autumn grabbed hold of the middle, I looked at the two ponies before counting down.

“On three, we lift, OK?” they nodded “O.K. one, two, three” we strained to lift it up, it must of weighed a good 500kg, it helped that Gearsley was an earth pony, but both Autumn and Gearsley had to stand up un their hind legs, with the con-rod on our shoulders, we started to make our way back to the train, ponies saw us walking down with the con-rod and started cheering us on, we eventually reached the locomotive, the driver and fireman were surprised when they saw Gearsley.

“Mister Gearsley, Sir?” the driver, a pegasus, said.

“Which part failed?” Gearsley asked, the two enginemen stumbled with their words, he rolled his eyes before telling us to lower the con-rod, we walked up to the affected wheel set “looks like the big-end crank-pin failed” he said, he turned to the engine men.

“We’ll need a new crank-pin” the fireman, a unicorn, nodded before going into the support coach.

“It’s a good thing this has internal valve gear” I said.

“Yes, it’s not one of my designs though, these ones are getting rather dated and in need of a rebuild, that was probably why it chucked the con-rod” he said.

“Have you tried the conjugated valve arrangement yet?” I asked.

“The what valve arraignment?” he said

“It’s a type of valve gear that my worlds equivalent of you developed” I explained “it takes the motion of the outside valves and uses a series of rods to covert that motion into the motion required to drive the valve controlling the middle cylinder, reduces maintenance costs and saves space, I’ll show you a technical drawing of it, as well as the locomotives that your parallel designed, when we get back on the train”

“It would be rather refreshing to see what your world has, I’ve found my imagination going a little bit stale as of late” he said, it was at that point that the fireman returned with the required parts, we soon had the con-rod reattached to the locomotive, the driver looked at his watch and started suddenly.

“Gosh, is that t’ time already? Righ’, climb on, you can ‘ead through t’ corridor in t’ side of the bunker when we ge’ underway” he said in an accent similar to a Yorkshire, the urgency clear in his voice, we all quickly climbed into the cab and the driver blasted the whistle before setting the reverser and opening the regulator to full, the train quickly accelerated, its multiple wheel-sets easily coping with the heavy coaches, within a couple of minutes we were back up to speed, I turned to Autumn.

“Have Boris fly towards the locomotive” I said to her, she nodded and walked through to the carriages, Gearsley also headed back through, I stood at the cab window watching the world go by, a few minutes later I saw Boris fly towards me, but didn’t land in my shoulder, instead he just flew alongside the cab, the driver saw this and chuckled.

“That falcon yours?” he asked, jerking his head towards Boris, I nodded, he stood up from the drives seat “right, sit in that seat and keep hold of the regulator, I need to check the motion” and with that he jumped out of the cab and took flight, keeping pace with the train, I sat down and grabbed hold of the regulator making sure it didn’t move from the vibrations, I saw the driver fly down low, watching the motion closely, glancing forward every now and then.

“Open ‘er up as far as she’ll go” he shouted, looking at me and raising a hoof repeatedly, I nodded and pulled back on the regulator as far as it would go, the train slowly started to accelerate, the driver still managed to keep pace, I looked at the speed gauge; 70mph and climbing, Boris landed on my shoulder, I glanced at the fireman, he was also sat in a seat, checking various gauges and dials, absentmindedly wiping the copper pipework with a cloth, I looked in the distance and saw a red light next to a signal box, a few miles ahead, the driver saw this as well.

“Shu’ ‘er off, now!” he shouted, I pushed the regulator forward and the train started coasting, the driver quickly flew into the cab and started telling me to pull this, or turn that, we eventually screeched to a stop outside the signal box, the Signalman walked onto the balcony.

“What happened?” he asked, tapping the watch on his wrist “you’re about 10 minutes late”

“T’ old girl chucked a con-rod abou’ 20 miles back” the driver said, chuckling “luckily this young lad and a couple others retrieved it for us” the signalman tittered.

“That’s been happening more often now a days” the signalman said.

“Well, mister Gearsley ‘imself was one of t’ one helping t’ carry t’ con-rod, so ‘e should order dem rebuilt soon” the driver responded.

“O.K., I’ll alert the next major station to have a replacement locomotive ready, right away, driver” the signalman said before walking back inside and setting the signal to green, the driver gave a blast of the whistle before directing me on operating the controls and jumping back outside and keeping an eye on the motion, he had me hold it at about 20mph for a few minutes before opening it up to full power, as we cruised along I started Singing.

When I finished the fireman looked at me.

“What was that song about?” he asked.

“it’s about my world’s fastest steam locomotive” I said “a London and North-Eastern Railway class A4 4-6-2 locomotive #4468 ‘Mallard’, it was about 76 years ago that she set the world record; 126mph, a record that is unbeaten by a steam locomotive to this day, she’s big, blue and beautiful, and a whistle that sound unlike anything on my world, it sound a lot like the whistle on this loco” I pulled the whistle to demonstrate, the chime whistle blasting through the air as we rolled along the line we eventually came towards our scheduled stop, the driver took over the controls and I thanked them both before walking through to the carriages towards our carriage, it was about lunch time, so the dining car was packed, I rushed back to our room to grab the laptop and Boris flew off of my shoulder and onto the one of the armchairs at the rear of the coach, I then put down some food for Scar before going back towards the dining cars, I found Gearsley, along with Autumn, sitting at a table, Gearsley saw me.

“Ah, Vuur Koning, am I right?” he asked, I nodded before sitting down next to Autumn, a waiter came up to the table and we ordered our drinks and food, Gearsley took a sip of champagne before speaking.

“So, Vuur Koning, before we climbed onto the train you mentioned showing me your worlds locomotives” I nodded before placing my laptop onto the table and bringing up the photo viewer, I then went through different types of locomotives, giving a brief explanation about each type.

“Some of your locomotive are certainly interesting” he said “like the Q1, was it?” I nodded.

“it was an austerity locomotive” I said “built for war and for ease of maintenance, but they weren’t called ‘Ugly Ducklings’, among other things, for nothing, but a word of advice, if you ever design a locomotive like that, at least give it a running board along the side and a proper boiler” he chuckled slightly at that.

“I do know one thing for sure” he said, before taking a sip of champagne

“What’s that?” I asked

I’ll definitely be building some of your worlds streamlined Pacific’s” he said.

“Maybe experiment with the streamlined casing by fitting it to your rebuild of the Garrett’s” I suggested.

“I’ll give it a try” he said “it looks a lot more effective at reducing drag than the current streamlining on the U5” he noted

“U5?” I asked

“It’s a class of what you call ‘Garrett’s’” he said, for the rest of the meal we made small talk, not just about trains, for Autumns sake, eventually Gearsley retired for the day and me and Autumn went to the bar carriage to have some drinks until we decided to call it a night (we generally only eat one good meal a day), we were sat at the bar when I turned to Autumn.

“Listen, about this morning…” I went to say

“It’s fine” Autumn said, interrupting me.

“Really!?” I asked, a little surprised.

“We’re friends” she said, before draining a glass of whiskey “and I trust you not to do anything ‘funny’” she made quotation marks with her hooves before beckoning to the bar tender for another glass of whiskey, she then raised it towards me

“To friendship” she said, I tapped my glass of cider against her glass.

“And trust, cheers” I said, before we both downed our glasses and beckoned for another of each.

“When we get to Trottingham, me, my brother and my sister are taking you for a night on the town, Trottingham style” she said, prodding me in the shoulder with a hoof.

“Nothing dodgy, I hope” I said, she shook he head.

“Oh no, nothing like that, just a few pubs, a club or two, that sort of thing” she said, we stayed at the bar for several more hours, dinking and making small talk, when we finally decided to call it a night Autumn was have quite a bit of trouble walking straight, luckily our carriage wasn’t too far from the bar so we didn’t have far to walk, I did however have to support her as she walked, we reached the room and Autumn stumbled over to the bed, I walked over to one of the arm chairs and was about to sit down when I heard Autumn speak up.

“Come ‘ere” she said, slurring slightly “I need a cuddle” I looked at her, she was laying on her back, looking at me upside down.

“You’re drunk” I pointed out.

“No ‘m not, you’ve more cider than me” she then burst out laughing, ‘eh, what the hell, I’ll have to go to bed at some point’ I thought, getting undressed and walking over to the bed, I turned the light off and was about to climb into beg when Autumn hugged my around the chest, pulling me onto the bed.

“yer soo warm and cuddly” she said, nuzzling into my chest.

“Autumn…?” I asked, but she didn’t respond, having fallen asleep, I settled down and eventually fell asleep.

I woke up to the sun glaring through the windows, ‘Fuck…off…Celestia’ I thought, my head, and Celestia it seems, was already punishing me for all the cider I drank last night, I tried to get up but found myself pinned down by Autumn, who was still sleeping, ‘just great’ I thought, I sighed before using my magic to turn on a tap and levitate a glass towards the tap before bringing the now full glass towards me, I drank the water before repeating the process several times over, I herd Autumn groan and stir slightly, she opened her eyes only to clamp them shut afterwards.

“My… fucking…head” she said, removing an arm from around me to massage her forehead with a forehoof, I levitated a fresh glass of water towards her and she greedily drank it down before requesting for more, several more time than me, seems she had a much larger hangover than me, I got up to go run a bath for Autumn, she needed to relax and take it easy today.

“there’s a bath waiting for you” I said, she raised a hoof into the air to signify that she heard me, I got dressed into some formal clothes and shoes that Rarity had made me during my training and walked out onto the balcony, it was early, about 6:30 and the train was currently stopped in a passing loop, and would remain to do so until about 8:00, we would be reaching Trottingham by about 3:00 pm, so this was the last day of our journey, I woke Scar and Boris up and lead them outside to do whatever business they needed to do , I sat on the steps of the carriage, we were in an open area, but there was more trees dotted around than usual, a sign that we were getting towards the heavily forested county of Trottinghamshire, that’s one thing I found out about Equestria, the south is generally more mountainous, with the north being the more forested half, I looked along the length of the train to find several ponies with the same idea as me, having let out whatever pets they had, I could spot a couple of dogs, rushing about and playing with each other, I noticed that the ponies were in one group, so I snapped my fingers to get Boris and Scar’s attention before walking down towards the group, they seemed a little apprehensive when they saw Scar, fully decked out in armour, but relaxed when they saw him sit next to me when I sat on one of the steps to the carriage, Boris shot up into the air, having obviously spotted a potential meal.

“Is he tame?” one of the ponies asked, pointing at Scar.

“Yes and no, he is still technically wild, but he is now linked with my magic, do you see his eyes?” I asked, they nodded, I flared up my magic and his eyes flared up as well.

“Timberwolves magical aura is usually green” I said, dispelling my magic “plus they can’t venture far from the Everfree most of the time, Scar submitted to me after I defended a school against his pack, and by defended I mean I vanquished them back to the Everfree, minus their wooden bodies”

“Wait, that was you?” one of the ponies asked.

“Unless there is another human who appeared near Ponyville last year that I’m unaware of, yes” I said, I saw Boris dive towards a small bird and knock it out of the sky, after a few moments he flew back over and landed on my shoulder, his beak stained with a little bit of blood, I got out a cloth and started wiping his beak, when I was done he started preening his wings, we all sat or stood there, making light conversation about various subjects, Scar eventually started playing with the dogs.

“It’s about time he started loosening up” I said, ever since he’s submitted to me he’s either been lazing around, or constantly on his guard, then again, we have been sleeping in a barracks for the past year”

“Are you a guard?” one of them asked.

“Reserve, I was training for the past year” I said “I’ve just started a journey around the world and I needed combat in case I run into trouble, my friend, translator and guide has family in Trottingham, so that’s our first stop, before we head into Germaney, followed by the Crystal Empire, the United Griffin Kingdoms and Minotauria before heading down south to the Ibex Empire, then across the ocean to the southern continent to visit Zebrica, Camelu and Cervidas before plunging into the jungles of Lost World”

“You have a heck of a journey ahead of you” one of them said.

“Why do you think my companion is a special ops guard, anyway, I’m gonna head back on, I’ll see you if I see you” I said, before walking back up the length of the train, Scar and Boris following behind, I climbed back onto our carriage to find Autumn out of the bath, brushing her mane.

“Feeling Better?” I asked, she nodded, Scar plodded over to his ‘spot’ beside the armchair and laid down, and Boris flew over to the arm chair and perched on top of it, I walked over to the laptop and put on some music, I walked over to the small kitchenette that we had and started boiling some water for a cup of tea, the tribal style music playing softly in the background.

“Want one?” I asked Autumn.

“Sure, you know how I like it” the said, still brushing her mane, I got another cup from one of the cupboards and placed a teabag inside, the water soon boiled and I poured some into each cup, followed by some milk and sugar, I passed one to Autumn and walked over the armchair, I sat down in the armchair and looked out of the window, absentmindedly sipping my tea, travelling through the Griffin Kingdoms was going to be tough, in the past year relations had been breaking down between Equestria and the Griffin Kingdoms, the northern continent was now divided in two, with the changelings siding with the griffins, and the Minotaur’s and crystal Ponies siding with Equestria, and now there was talk of a war, it wasn’t helped by the fact that the King of the Griffin Kingdoms was a warmongering arsehole.

“History is repeating itself” I thought out loud.

“What?” Autumn asked, brushing her tail.

“I’ve just been thinking about the situation with the Griffins” I said” if it turns into war, and knowing what the king of the Griffin Kingdoms is like it probably will do, then your world is repeating what happened on mine about 100 years ago, that’s one of the reasons why I want to get the Griffin Kingdoms over and done with, so that if it does become war, we don’t have to worry about going into an enemy country”

“But we would have to call off our travels anyway, you are a reserve guard, and my experience would mean they would probably call me back into service” she said “I may be discharged, but I can still fight in a war”

“I would rather not get stuck in an enemy country because we left it till last” I said.

“Fair point” she replied “but don’t think on it too much, I hate it when you get all pessimistic about war”

“it’s called realistic outlook on war” I said “besides, if you think I’m bad now, you should’ve seen me when the trouble in the Ukraine was going off, I would go to sleep worried that my country would get nuked overnight”

“You’ve already told me about 1000 times” she said, walking over and resting a hoof on my shoulder “you need to stop worrying, and relax, this is supposed to be a once in lifetime experience, that’s one of the reasons me and my siblings are taking you out for a night on the town”

“You told them about my worries?” I asked

“No, just that you need to relax” she said, before sitting in the armchair next to me, her cup of tea in her hooves, we both just sat there in silence until it was time to go for breakfast.

The train pulled into Trottingham Central station and me, Autumn, Boris and Scar disembarked from the carriage, I saw two ponies waving to Autumn, one was a large white pegasus stallion with a light blue mane and tail, and a snow flake for a cutie mark, the other, a pegasus mare with a yellow coat, a light blue mane and tail and a cutie mark with a full moon partially obscured by clouds, I assumed they were Autumn’s brother and sister, we walked over to them, Autumn walking in a full canter, obviously excited to see them, she cantered up to them and they all hugged each other.

“It’s so good to see you again” she said, she then pulled away from them “Winter, Summer, I would like you to meet my friend, Vuur Koning, he was the one I mentioned in the letter”.

“Bloody Tar’arus” Winter Chill said “you weren’ jokin’ when you said ‘e wasn’t from around ‘ere”

“‘Hello” I said “it’s great to finally meet you” I couldn’t help chuckling at their reaction to my accent, both of their jaws dropped “let me guess, you didn’t expect me to have a coastal accent?” they both shook their heads slowly.

“Don’t worry about it” I said “anyway, shall we get moving, we can talk on the way” they both recovered from there shock and we all started walking towards the stations exit, as we were walking through the streets of Trottingham Midsummer Night turned to look at me.

“So, Vuur Koning, how did you get that accent?” she asked.

“Where I come from, everyone speaks in a Trottinghamshire accent, with variations depending on the county or city, the accent I’m speaking in is called a northern accent and is spoken in the north east of the country, we even have similar place names, for instance we have a city called Nottingham” both Midsummer Night and Winter Chill oh’d in understanding, Winter Chill was the next to speak

“How exactly does a...you” he shook a hoof around in my direction “get a pet Timberwolf and falcon?”

“when I first arrived in Equestria I ended up defending a school from a pack of Timberwolves, I ended up sending most of them back to the Everfree forest, minus their bodies, he sensed it was stupid to try and fight me, so he submitted to me, now he’s marked by my magical aura” I said, flaring up my magic.

“But why a Timberwolf?” Midsummer Night asked

“We have a saying back on my world” I said “a dog is a man’s best friend, and he has more than lived up to the saying” Winter Chill seemed to get offended

“Oh, is my sister not good enough for you?” he said, I got really nervous.

“I-I didn’t mean it like that, I mean no offence…” I tried to apologise but Winter Chill started laughing.

“Mate, I’m jus’ messin with ya” he said, before bursting out laughing, Autumn face hooved

“One day, Winter, you’ll be the death of me” she said, shaking her head slightly.

“Love you too, sis” he said, throwing an arm around her and pulling her close before letting go “anyway, you were saying”

“Well, as for Boris” I said, stroking the falcon on the neck “I needed a messenger, one that’s fast, and hard to hit whilst in flight, I also use him to pick up girls at night clubs” I added, and Autumn started laughing, Winter Chill and Midsummer Night just looked confused.

“Am I missing something” Midsummer Night asked.

“He’ll show you both later” Autumn said, we were now walking through an area with restaurants, Winter Chill directed us towards a small restaurant off to one side of the street, we all sat on an outside table.

“So, Vuur Koning…” Winter said.

“Call me V.K.” I interrupted.

“OK, V.K., what exactly do you do”

“Before I came to Equestria or after?” I said “because I did totally different things back then”

“Why not both?” Midsummer suggested.

“Very well then, back on my world…” I said, before being interupted

“WORLD‽” they both exclaimed, briefly earning the attention of ponies sitting at other tables

“Yes, I’m an alien…” I was interrupted again.

“how did you get here” Winter asked, I kept silent for a few moments.

“Vuur?” Autumn asked.

“Am I going to get interrupted again?” I said, propping up my head with one hand and tapping on the table with the other.

“Sorry” Winter and Midsummer both said, looking a little sheepish.

“Thank you, now if you must know, it was a magic portal made by the Gods, whether it was my world’s gods, or your world’s, I don’t know, anyway, back on my world, I was training to be a photographer and a cook, ask Autumn if you don’t believe me” I said.

“He is a pretty good cook” she admitted.

“And photographer” I reminded her “I’ll show you some of my best photographs when we’ve finished here, and I’ll cook you both breakfast tomorrow, as for what I do now, I’m an explorer and reserve guard”

“Why a reserve guard?” Winter asked.

“So that I know how to hold my own in a fight, me and Autumn are travelling the world after we’ve stayed here for the week, next stop, Germaney”

“Why Germaney?” Midsummer asked.

“Weil die Deutschen geil sind (because the Germans are awesome)” I said, recalling what Autumn had taught me over the past year.

“Keimähnen, nicht Deutschen (Germanes, not Germans)” Autumn corrected me “dies ist Reiterstand, nicht Erde” (this is Equestria, not Earth)

“Sie sind die gleiche Sache (they’re the same thing)” I replied.

“Nein, Sind sie nicht (no, they’re not)” Autumn said, Winter and Midsummer watched our argument like a verbal tennis math.

“Ach hör doch auf (Shut it)” I said, crossing my arms, Autumn just smirked.

“Why have an argument in Germane?” Winter asked.

“Because it helps me practice” I said “you should have seen the first time I had a proper argument with her in Germane”

“You could hardly speak any Germane at the time” Autumn said, facehoofing.

“It still counts” I said.

“You ended up quoting Rammstein songs” she said.

“What’s Rammstein?” Midsummer asked.

“Don’t ask” both me and Autumn said at the same time, a waiter came to the table and we ordered our drinks and food, the waiter then walked away to notify the chef.

“So, you drink cider” Winter said, noting my drink order.

“Yeah, you?” I asked.

“Every now and again” he said “like tonight” Autumn took note of this.

“Ha ha, no, you are not challenging Vuur to a drinking contest” she said.

“Oh come on” I said “you said I had to relax and stop worrying, if I chose to do it by participating in a drinking contest, so what”

We all walked down the nightclub district of Trottingham, we had already had a few at a pub and we were now looking for a club to go into, Winter eventually pointed one out that he frequently visited, we all walked inside and I saw a giant colour changing flashing checker style floor in the centre of the club with ponies dancing on its surface, dubstep pounded out of the speakers at ridiculous levels and I could see a white unicorn mare with a two-tone electric-blue mane and tail with purple sunglasses at the DJ booth, we all walked over to the bar and ordered a round of drinks, I noticed that there was a subtle sound proofing spell in the bar area, it didn’t block out the music completely, just reduced it to the level of background music, I noticed that some of the music playing was songs that I had supplied to a club in Canterlot, it seems that they had gotten quite popular since then, I sipped my cider, tapping my fingers on the counter in time to the beat, once everyone had the drinks that they ordered we walked over to a set of sofas around a coffee table and sat down, making light conversation, Winter was confused by one of the songs.

“This is weird” he said.

“Human Music” I said, both Winter and Midsummer were surprised.

“You mean…” Midsummer went to say, but I cut her off.

“Yes” I said “I did supply this music to the night club industry whilst I was in Canterlot, how does it feel to know that you’re listening to alien music?”

“Actually, it’s not that different from our music when you think about it” he said, it was at that moment that a song I really knew well came on.

“Oh shit, excuse me please, this is my dance tune” I said, getting up and running over to the dance floor, once I was in a clear enough area I started to dance, earning the attention of quite a lot of ponies

.

When the song finished I bowed and the DJ turned the volume on the music down and spoke over the P.A. system.

“Holy Celestia, I think he needs a round of applause, don’t you?” she asked, in a thick Trottingham accent, a majority of the ponies in the club started cheering and stomping there hooves on the ground in applause.

“Hey, dancer, come up here a sec” she said, I walked across the dance floor and up the steps to the DJ booth “so, how about you tell everyone your name” I felt a little put on the spot, but regardless I spoke into the microphone.

“It’s Vuur Koning” I said, she looked surprised.

“As in the Vuur Koning that has been hanging around Canterlot for the past year?” she asked, over exaggerating her surprise.

“Unless I have a clone that I wasn’t aware of” I said, shrugging.

“I bucking knew it” she said “fillies and colts, if you don’t know who this guy is, he has been causing quite the stir in Canterlot this past year, not only has he supplied a bunch of songs from his home-land, to the clubbing industry…” the whole crowd cheered “he’s also did something, something so crazy, stupid and awesome all at the same time, that has automatically put him in my good books, and you want to know why?”

“WHY?” the crowd shouted.

“He punched that flankhole, the one who dared to insult this fine city; Prince Blueblood, in the face” she said, now everyone cheered

“So Vuur Koning, are you here by yourself, or with a group?” she asked, I heard Autumn, Winter and Midsummer cheer.

“Erm, with them” I said.

“Well, you know what” she said “I’m in a good mood, so for the rest of the night, all of your group’s drinks are on the house, you hear that bartender?” the bartender in question raised his hoof to show that he heard her

”Everypony, on more time, Vuur Koning!” the crowd cheered really loudly this time, before I had a chance to walk back to the table the DJ stopped me, this time she spoke to me off of the P.A. system.

“Hey, kid, when I’ve finished this set, come find me, I need to speak with you” she said.

“Fair enough, when do you finish?” I asked

“About an hour or so” she said, I nodded before walking back to the table

“Good gods, Autumn” Winter said “you never told me he punched Prince Blueblood in the face”

“Is that good or bad up here?” I asked, taking a sip of cider

“It’s a good thing” he said “he called Trottingham a city of commoners, so he is hated throughout the city, I don’t see why Celestia keeps him around”

“In all honesty, she hates him, she only keeps him around because she would rather keep an eye on him than let him have his way” I said.

“That’s… actually quite clever” Midsummer said, before drinking a mouthful of cola, as she was the designated minder for the night, she wasn’t drinking any alcohol, after some time the DJ finished off the set before hoofing over the booth to another DJ, I downed my cider and stood up.

“Where are you off to?” Autumn asked.

“The DJ wanted to talk to me when she finished her set” I replied, she stood up as well “I’m coming with you”

“fair enough” I said, before walking towards the room the DJ went into, a bouncer went to stop us from going inside but the DJ let us through, the room was full of gold records in picture frames, we all sat down on some chairs.

“Alright” I said “what did you want to talk to me about?”

“I want in on your little adventure” she said.

“What?” I asked.

“You heard me, I want in” she repeated

“How did you know…?” I went to say

“About your little ‘quest’?” she asked rhetorically “when you’re a DJ and song producer, you have to stay in the loop with certain things, plus news travels fast, especially when it originates from Canterlot, as I said, you’ve been causing quite a stir in the capital”

“OK, give me a good reason why we should let you come with us” I said, gesturing to me and Autumn.

“When your a DJ for 10 years straight, you need a break” she said, removing her purple lensed glasses to reveal a pair of vibrant cerise eyes “I need to disappear for a while, you present the perfect opportunity”

“*sigh* alright” I said.

“Look, I’m coming with you, whether you… what?” she asked.

“I said alright, you can come with us, but we’re setting a few rules” I said

“I’m listening” she said.

“One, if we end up in a fight, what me and Autumn say, goes, both me and Autumn have combat training, but ultimately she outranks me” I said “I’m a Royal Equestrian reserves private, she is a Royal Guard Special Operations Sergeant, so if I say to do something, do it, if she says to do something, do it like your life depends on it”

“Fair enough” she said, shrugging.

“Two; I’m an omnivore” I said “and my pet timberwolf and falcon are carnivores, we are going to be hunting animals for food, either get used to it, or get lost”

“I’m used to hanging out with griffins, I’ll deal with it” she said.

“Three; everyone looks out for each-other” I said “that means if one of us get into a fight, we all have to help, however, if you go purposely looking for a fight, you are on your own”

“Four; all of our money is pooled together and divided equally amongst us, regardless of how much we individually earn, and a percentage of the total is set aside for emergency situations”

“Five; any form of racism, discrimination or prejudice will not be tolerated, those are the rules” I said “follow them and you should do fine, now, what’s your name?”

“Vinyl Scratch” she said.

“Well, Vinyl Scratch, in a week, we leave for Germaney, if you aren’t at the start of the road that leads to Germaney by lunchtime, we leave without you” I said, Vinyl nodded.

“I’ll see you in a week” she said

I'm sorry if it's not up to... Scratch... ok, my jokes are terrible

also, if you understand the whole 'falcon at a nightclub' joke, then you get a cookie

anyway, please tell me what you thought

1 WEEK LATER

Autumn and I were sat at a café that was, rather conveniently, located at the start of the road that stretched from Trottingham, all the way to the border with Germaney, Autumn reckoned it would be a couple of days walk at least, a couple of weeks at most, depending on whether you ran all the way, to which I replied; ‘fuck that’, we were both sat drinking hot drinks, with Scar lying on the floor, dozing, and Boris perched on my shoulder, we were waiting for Vinyl to turn up, there was still a while before we would have to leave without her, so we could relax a little, after a while I spotted her bright blue mane sticking out amongst the crowd, I stood up and waved to her to which her response was to nod and quicken her pace, I noticed she had quite a few bags on her back and flanks, as well as a large set of headphones.

“Hey, guys, how’s it going?” she asked, sitting in chair that I had placed at the usually two-seat table

“Fine” I responded “were just having a drink before we set off, want one?” she nodded and I waived a waiter over, Vinyl ordered her drink and the waiter went away.

“So” Vinyl said “where exactly are we headed?” I went to respond but stopped and looked at Autumn, it took a few second before she clicked as to what I was getting at.

“Oh” she said “it’s a small town near Marelin, it’s called Trotterburg, nice place, I know some ponies there, they run a nice little B&B, so accommodation is sorted out, as for the walk, I hope you brought a tent”

“Why do you think I have all of this stuff” Vinyl said, pointing to the mountain of bags on her back “oh I also brought quite a large sum of money”

“How much?” I asked, she looked around and leaned in before whispering

“About 100’000 bits” both me and Autumn responded by choking on our drinks.

“Holy shit! You are loaded” I exclaimed between sputters

“It comes with being one of the most popular D.J.s and music producers in my genre, in Equestria” Vinyl said, smirking “I’ve got hundred of thousands that are still just sitting in a vault, doing nothing other than gathering dust”

“You have no idea how much that helps” I said “before you joined our group we had about 2000 between us to last for, well, the world”

“Why do you think I’ve brought so much?” she said

“Large room spell?” I asked, she nodded, the waiter brought her drink over before walking off to serve somepony else.

“Where do you actually plan to visit?” Vinyl asked, sipping on her coffee.

“Every major country besides the Changeling Alliance” I said “but if war gets declared, then the whole things off, you go back to being a D.J., and me and Autumn go to fight in the war”

“That’s understandable” she said, she downed her drink before saying “right, shall we make move?” me and Autumn both nodded before downing our drinks and standing up, Vinyl noticed Scar stand up

“Holy Celestia, is that a timberwolf!?” she exclaimed, backing up slightly.

“I told you I had a pet timberwolf” I said, she visibly relaxed at that “his name’s Scar”

“Why is he called that?” Vinyl asked

“Look at his left eye” I said, she looked at his left side before wincing slightly.

“That looks painful” she muttered.

“He doesn’t complain” I said with a shrug “right, let’s go”

We were about two days into our journey to Germaney and we were now walking through dense forest, me and Autumn were both decked out in full armour, minus our helmets, they were currently strapped to the outside of one of Vinyl’s saddle bags via a rope, I had learnt the quick-summon spell that Twilight had developed, so I needed to merely snap my fingers and they would appear on our heads, I was currently recounting to Vinyl how me and Autumn had defended the school from Timberwolves.

“… and then Scar looked between me and Autumn” I told Vinyl “now he must of realised that it would have been metaphorical suicide to try and attack us both, because he then whimpered and laid on the ground, I them slowly walked up to him before chucking my sword away and saying ‘he won’t hurt us’”

“So he gave up, just like that?” Vinyl asked.

“I guess, I mean he’s been with us for this past year and he hasn’t gone bad yet” I said, patting Scar in the side, his armour clanging against my metal gloves, he wagged his tail slightly and yipped “and then I knelt down and placed my hand on the back of his neck before flaring up my magic, and now he’s connected with my magic…”

*SNAP*

I looked down to see that I had stepped on a twig, next thing I knew I was being dragged into the air by a rope, which was now tied around my ankle.

“Shit!” I exclaimed, I was now hanging about 20 feet in the air next to a platform like construction “oh, that’s high” I wasn’t scared of heights, but the fact that I was basically hanging upside-down in the air with nothing but a rope to support me, did unsettle me a little.

“Vuur Koning, Are you Ok?” I heard Autumn shout, I looked down to find her flying up.

“Yeah, just hanging around” I said, crossing my arms, when she got to my height I pointed to the platform “this rope seems to be on a pulley system, see if there is any way to pull me onto that platform” she nodded before flying over, she found a pulley reel and was about to turn it when a human, dressed in a dark hooded trench coat, holding an army utility knife, silently walked up behind her and pressed the blade to her throat

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you” He said, for some reason the voice was familiar “I don’t like your kind touching my stuff, back away” Autumn slowly backed away from the pulley wheel, I could see the fear in her eyes, she never showed fear, and that scared me.

“please” I said, raising an arm to the figure “j-just, don’t hurt her”

“Give me one good reason not to” he spat “after what you did to our family”

“W-what!? Who are you?” I asked, I was really confused, and the blood rushing to my head wasn’t helping, he slowly raised a hand up to his hood and pulled it back, revealing someone I never thought I would see again.

“How can you forget your own brother!” he said, his face was thinner, and it now had several scars

“Holy shit, brother?” I said.

“Don’t call me that” he spat “you lost the right to call me brother, when you up and left to the land of magical talking ponies” ‘Oh that’s it’ I thought.

“YOU THINK I HAD A FUCKING CHOICE” I shouted “NOT ONE, GODS-DAMNED DAY GOES BY, THAT I DON’T WISH I COULD GO BACK!”

“WELL YOU SHOULD HAVE COME BACK!” he shouted back

“I ALREADY TRIED” I said, he did a double take.

“What?”

“I tried to go back the way I came” I said “but I just ended up in the halls of the gods of this world, they told me a have to for fill my destiny before I can go back”

“you expect me to believe that bullshit!?” he said, he took the knife from Autumns throat and pointed it at me, Autumn took the opportunity and reared up, she turned around and knocked him to the floor, knocking the knife out of his hand and standing on his chest.

“Don’t ever fucking touch me again” she snarled, extending one of her hood blades and pressing the tip against his throat.

“Autumn, Don’t” I said, trying to stay calm, her snarl softened into a scowl, she snorted before retracting her hoof-blade and stepping away “bring him into the Platform, now” she said.

“Why” he asked, crossing his arms

“I’m a sergeant in the royal guard” she said “and a special ops, when I say to do something, you do it, and as a sergeant, I am ordering you to bring him onto the platform, before I throw you of this platform to feed to his pet timberwolf” she pointed at me as she said this, he hesitate for a moment, before sighing and walking over to the pulley wheel.

“Only because he’s my brother, not because you ordered me to, I don’t take orders from talking ponies” he pulled a lever and I started to move towards the platform, he cut the rope and I dropped to the platform, I stood up and walked over to him, when I was close enough I punched him in the stomach and he collapsed to the floor, winded

“That’s for being an arsehole” I said “and for assaulting my superior officer”

“You’re…in…the army” he gasped.

“Royal Equestrian Guard Reserves” I said, I held out a hand for him “now get up, you’re coming with us” he grabbed hold of my hand after a couple of moments and I pulled him up.

“Why” he asked.

“Because you are my brother, and I’m not leaving you behind after I’ve just found you” he thought for a moment before nodding.

“O.K. where to?” he asked.

“Well, off of this tree for a start” I said, he nodded before walking off.

“Just let me get my stuff” he said, before walking around the back of a tree trunk, when he walked back around a few minutes later he was wearing bulky armour, in his right hand he had a large sword that resembled a scimitar and a small canon of some kind in his left hand, he also had had a large shield on his left arm, his helmet had an eye piece with 3 lenses on one side.

“No fair” I said “you got a canon and a sword, all I got was a sword”

“You’re forgetting the helmet with heat vision and night vision” he said, I could practically hear him smirking behind the mask, Autumn looked confused.

“OH, fuck you” I replied.

“How can you go from wanting to kill each other to being best friends?” she asked

“Brothers” we both said at the same time, Autumn just groaned in exasperation.

“Just, lead us off of this tree” she said, face hoofing

“This way” he said, he led us to a ladder and started to climb down it.

“So, brother” he said, climbing down “what do you call yourself here?”

“You’ve got the same problem?” I asked him.

“Yep” he responded

“I’m now known as Vuur Koning” I said, climbing down after him “what about you?”

“Just call me Minion” he said “so, you and the pony?..”

“What about us?” I asked, a little suspicious

“Are you two…?” I cut him off

“Fuck no, we’re just friends” I said.

“Denial” he sang, I climbed down faster to catch up to him before stamping on his head.

“I have combat training, I could floor you in about 10 seconds” I said.

“Ow” he hissed through clenched teeth, rubbing the top of his head “so you finally grew a spine”

“I ‘grew a spine’ after I got attacked by a pack of timberwolves 30 minutes after arriving in Equestria” I said, rolling my eyes, he winced

“Ouch, well, you’ve learnt to stand up for yourself at least” he added, jumping the last few rungs and landing on the floor

“It helps when you have a massive sword, a suit of armour, a special ops guard as your friend and a pet timberwolf” I said, jumping of the ladder and landed crouching.

“I heard you call them timberwolves several times, what are they?” he asked.

“You’ll see in a moment” I said, I heard flapping and we both saw Autumn land on the ground, we walked back to where Vinyl was waiting, she started when she saw my brother.

“Who is he” She asked.

“Vinyl Scratch, this is my brother, Minion” I said “oh, Minion, the pegasus you’ve already met is Autumn Skies, try not to piss her off from now on, OK”

“Just keep out of my way” Autumn replied coldly, before walking off down the road.

“Autumn!” I called after her, but she ignored me “just wait here” I said to them both, before running off after Autumn.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing” she huffed.

“You’re a bad liar” I said.

“No bucking shit” she muttered, before rearing up and rounding on me “he could have killed me” she said, prodding my chest with a hoof “and you want him to come with us, how do you think that makes me feel?”

“He’s all I have left of my old home, I’d rather keep an eye on him, put yourself in my position” I said, she sat down, I could see tears start to form in her eyes, I crouched down and hugged her “hey, it’s OK”

“I was so scared” she said, resting her head on my shoulder “I thought he was going to kill me”

“Trust me, he’s not the type of person to kill someone”

“A year is a long time, he could have changed since you last saw him”

“Look, just trust me on this, have I ever made a bad call with this sort of thing?” I asked, she shook her head “my brother is one of the most loyal people I’ve ever met, besides Rainbow Dash, and if anyone double-crosses our group, he’ll be the first one to go after them”

“OK” she said, pulling away from me and standing up, I stood up and walked back over to my brother and Vinyl, they were already talking like good friends, I walked up to minion.

“Right, she just needs time” I said “so stay away from her for now, and if she tells you to do something, just do it, don’t argue with her”

“Sure” he said, Autumn walked up to us.

“Alright, were moving out” she said “pack up your shit and get moving” we all nodded and started to walk down the road.

After a few hours it started to get dark and we set up camp for the night, Minion was really jumpy, he was sat opposite us, next to Vinyl, he would reach for his weapons every now and then, as if they would disappear, and he would look behind him every now and again.

“What’s got you so paranoid?” I asked him, we were all sat around a camp fire

“There’s a reason I acted the way I did when I first saw you” he said “there are things in this forest, things that only come out at night, they are the reason people once feared the dark, that is why I was up in the trees, they only hunt on the ground”

“And you didn’t think to tell us this before we set up camp?” Autumn asked incredulously, we heard a chittering sound from behind us, causing us all to fall silent, I noticed Minion reach for his gun very, very slowly and Vinyl looked absolutely petrified, Scar started to growl.

“Don’t move” he said, quietly “they hunt like bats” he very carefully aimed his gun between me and Autumn, before firing, it sent out a blue ball of energy hitting whatever was behind us, me and Autumn both stood up and drew our weapons, I summoned our helmets and slowly walked towards the creature, it was… horrifying, it was like some weird cross between a bat, a spider, a xenomorph and a predator, and it was still alive, it was thrashing about and making a hell of a racket.

“Shut that thing up” Minion said, I nodded before firing several shots from my pistol into its head, silencing it, permanently, I then cut its head off, horrifying Autumn and Vinyl.

“Better safe than sorry” I shrugged, Minion nodded, smirking “I don’t think tonight is going to be a peaceful one, we stay at the camp, but two of us keep watch at all times, me and Autumn will take first watch”

“Why didn’t they make their presence known before hoof?” Vinyl asked.

“They generally follow their prey for a couple of days, waiting” Minion said “they are incredibly smart, like Velociraptor smart, they hunt in packs, that was just a scout, more will make themselves known, a couple days after I woke up in this forest I ended up in a tree with about twenty of them surrounding it” I grabbed a hold of the carcass and dragged it closer to the fire.

“What are you doing?” Autumn asked.

“Seeing what we are up against” I said, picking up the head and placing it near the body “if you don’t like it then go and stand watch” Autumn just huffed before walking to the other side of the fire and looking into the forest, Minion knelt down beside me and passed me his utility knife.

“Here” he said, I nodded before turning the creature onto its side and cutting into its belly “I’ve found that they hate overwhelming noises”

“Well we’re in luck, because Vinyl is a Dubstep D.J.” I said, sifting through the chest cavity

“You’re shitting me” he exclaimed

“Nope, she even brought a stereo system in her bags” I said, we both looked at each-other before grinning, the same idea in our heads, I stood up and wiped my gloves on the creatures body before standing up and lifting it into the fire, it created quite a stench as it burnt.

“Alright guys, gather around” I said, Autumn, Vinyl and Scar walked over, Vinyl smelt the burning creature and gagged.

“Holy shit, that thing reeks” she said, retching and backing up backing up a couple of steps.

“That’s the point, Vinyl, we need you stereo system” I said.

“Why?” she said, before quickly covering her mouth with her hoof, running over to the base of a tree to empty her stomach, I gave her a sympathetic look before answering.

“Because we plan to kill all of those things, tonight”

no, I don't have any images of the 'creature' but if you want to draw something matching the description, feel free, surprise me

introducing the next main character; Minion, based on my actual brother

We were stood around the camp fire, looking out into the forest, each of us had a spell rifle that resembled a rifle from the American civil war era, keeping guard whilst Vinyl set up the stereo system, she has placed 4 speakers facing a different point on the compass, and now she was wiring them up.

“So” Vinyl said “what exactly is the plan?”

“First we play some soft music to draw them in, then when there is enough of them, we start blasting out dubstep, and whilst they are confused we shoot them down”

“So, death by Dubstep?” She asked.

“In a nutshell, yes”

“You’re going to slaughter them!” Autumn said, incredulously.

“Pest control” I replied, shrugging.

“OK, it’s set up” Vinyl said, before walking over to my laptop and putting on some classical music, the organ music started to drift through then trees, and we started to hear chattering amongst the trees.

“Um, Vuur Koning” Autumn said nervously, gripping her rifle tighter, I raised my rifle and looked into the sight.

“Wait for it” I said, I started to see movement.

“Be thankful you can’t see what I can” I heard Minion say.

“NOW” I shouted, floodlights switched on and dubstep started to pound out of the speakers, revealing hundreds of those things, confused from the barrage of noise, Vinyl grabbed a rifle and stood next to me
“OPEN FIRE”

Spell fire started to fly, felling countless numbers, but they kept coming.

“They never give up do they? 34…35…36” I said, counting off as I killed them.

“They are persistent buggers, you have to admire them for it, 40…41…43” Minion said.

“You skipped one” I said.

“Double kill” he replied.

“That still only counts as one, 50…51…52”

“Stow the chit-chat, 90…91” I heard Autumn say with a smirk

“Oh, it is on” I muttered, lining up my rifle and firing, hitting 3 at once “triple kill, 60…61”

“You wanker” Minion shouted.

“At this rate they should be dead by tomorrow night” Vinyl said dryly.

“Bring it on” Minion shouted before switching to full auto, we all followed his example and the creatures stated dropping like flies, then all at once, the sky lit up, the music stopped, the creatures froze and our rifles stopped working.

“What the hell?” I muttered, walking up to one that was frozen in mid-air, I poked it and it moved slightly.

“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS” I heard a voice call

“Oh shit, Celestia’s pissed” I muttered, I saw Celestia, followed by Luna, descend through the trees, they did not look happy, they landed and walked towards us, the bodies of the dead creatures disappearing as they walked past

“Why do you slaughter these creatures?” Celestia said, scowling, Minion walked forwards, surprising them

“Because things like those shouldn’t be allowed to roam free” he said.

“And who are you to decide what can and can’t exist?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Someone who has been running from them for the past 6 months” he said, taking of his helmet an exposing his scars, Celestia and Luna winced slightly.

“That still doesn’t give you the right to kill them in cold blood” Celestia said.

“Who are you to tell me what I can and can’t do” he shot back, Celestia’s astral mane became orange flames and she raised Minion into the air, pure heat radiating off of her

“HOLD YOUR TONGUE, MORTAL, I AM PRINCESS CELESTIA, THE CO-RULER OF THIS NATION, I HAVE MORE POWER THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE, I CAN MOVE THE SUN LIKE IT IS A MERE TOY, I AM A GODESS COMPAIRED TO YOU, YOUR LIFE IS THE MERE BLINK OF AN EYE COMPAIRED TO MINE, YOU ARE NOTHING IN MY EYES” She said in her Royal Canterlot Voice, we just stood there, terrified, she reverted back to her normal form, lowered Minion to the ground and turned to Luna

“Handle this please, sister” she said before teleporting away.

“She doesn’t like being woken up at night” Luna said, shrugging “but she made a valid point, who are you, 'human', to decide what lives and who dies”

“When they are so close to civilisation?” I said “they shouldn’t be here”

“True, I will admit that we were unaware of their existence” she said, before igniting her magic, causing all of the creatures to disappear “they will no longer harm anypony”

“Where did you send them?” Minion asked

“An uninhabited island” she said cryptically, smirking “now tell me, who are you”

“Minion, I’m his older brother” he said, pointing at me.

“Ah, I have heard many things about you from him” she said.

“You know each-other” he asked, looking between the two of us

“When you are a totally new species, it’s hard not to attract the attention of royalty” I said, shrugging, he deadpanned

“I’m supposed to be the one with more friends” he said.

“You mad?” I said, giving him the finger and smirking, he crossed his arms and huffed “well Luna, thank you for sending them away, and tell Celestia that I’m sorry, not sure about him though” I gestured to Minion.

“I thank you for the apology, and I actually understand why you would slaughter them all” she said, preparing to teleport “after all, there was once a time when Celestia and I would do the same” and with that, she teleported away.

“So” Minion said “care to tell me who the fuck that was?”

“Maybe” I said, smirking, “anyway, let’s get all of this packed away” I gestured to all of the stereo equipment “and then I’m off to bed”

I stepped out of the tent and into the fresh morning air with Boris perched on my shoulders, there was a low fog covering the ground, adding a sense of mystery to the area, the campfire smouldered slowly, a wisp of smoke rising from the charred wood, I walked into the trees in search of more firewood, I returned to the fire soon after and lit it again using a spell that I had learnt, I then called to Scar, who was currently laid in the ground, he got up and walked over to me.

“Let’s go hunting” I said to him, before we walked off into the woods, Scar sniffed the ground, having caught the scent of an animal, he lead us to a clearing, where I could see a deer of some type, grazing, I patted Scar in the side, before crouching down, he started to creep along on his belly, he slowly crawled forwards until he was a couple of meters away, the deer looked up, sensing danger, after a few moments the deer returned to grazing, Scar waited for a minute before charging at the deer, he jumped up and clamped around the deer’s neck, the sabre-teeth on his helmet severed the arteries in the deer’s throat, rendering it unconscious within a few moments, I walked over and patted Scar as he released his hold on the deer’s throat.

“Good boy” I said quietly, I then got the knife that I had borrowed from Minion and began cutting away chunks of meat, I then put the strips of meat into a pouch and began walking back to camp, when I got back Minion was sitting on a log, smoking a pipe filled with tobacco.

“I hope you’re in the mood for venison” I said, passing him the utility knife, he wiped it with a cloth before putting it into its sheath, tied around his chest

“As long as it’s meat, I don’t have a problem” he said, shrugging, before taking a drag of the pipe

“How did you get a pipe?” I asked, placing some strips of venison into a pan and placing it onto the fire

“Found it amongst the possessions of a pony that got killed by the creatures” he said, grimacing “it wasn’t pretty, I buried the body, but I kept everything useful, as for tobacco, he had a saddle bag that was bigger on the inside, filled with the stuff, so I kept the bag, that was about a week ago”

“as long as it doesn’t go to waste, but don’t go smoking in the tents” I said, pointing the spatula at him “I may tolerate you smoking, but that doesn’t mean you go abusing the privilege”

“I wasn’t gonna” he said, I turned over the cuts of venison, I could smell them, and apparently so could the two ponies.

“*sniff* what is that smell” Vinyl said, walking out of her tent, weary eyed, I saw Autumn walk out of our tent as well

“Guten tag” I said, waiving the spatula at them, they waved back half-heartedly, Autumn walked over and sat down on a log, her eyes bugged out when she saw what was cooking.

“Is that…meat?” she asked.

“Yes, Venison to be exact” I told her.

“Can I try some?” Vinyl asked, walking over and sitting on a log next to Autumn

“What?” the rest of us said.

“I said I’m used to hanging around with griffons, so I’ve had meat before, I’m just curios is all” she said with a shrug, I cut off a small piece that was now cooked and put it on a plate, I passed it to vinyl who grabbed the plate in her magic, Autumn shuffled away, Vinyl smirked and levitated the plate closer to Autumn, who kept shuffling along the log, she eventually shuffled to the end of the log and fell off, causing us all to burst out laughing.

“You are evil, the lot of you” she said, still lying on the floor.

“Oh come on” I said “how could you not have seen that coming” she raised up a wing and flipped the feather, I turned to Vinyl.

“So, how’s the venison?” I asked, she got a mischievous glint in her eye before taking a bite and saying

“Oh, it’s the best thing in the world” she said, over exaggerating

“La la la, not listening!” Autumn said.

“Seriously though, it’s not half bad” Vinyl said, before spitting it out “my stomach can’t handle it though”

“Fair enough” I said, shrugging, I then served up the venison for me and Minion, I passed a plate to my brother before eating some myself, and I chucked some to Scar, who caught it in mid-air before actually wolfing it down, Minion stare at the timberwolf.

“How exactly did you end up with an armoured wolf anyway?” he asked, before taking a bite of venison.

“Long story, but I will tell you that I had the armour made for him, and it’s permanent” I said, also taking a bite of venison.

“Permanent!?” Minion said.

“Yes, he’s a magical construct made of wood”

“What!?” he said, half laughing, he soon stopped when a flared up my magic.

“What can you do?” he asked, I smirked before teleporting to a tree branch about 30 feet up.

“All in good time, young padiwan” I said, crossing my arms and leaning against the tree trunk, he looked up and his jaw dropped.

“How the fuck…?” he said, I teleported in front of him.

“Magic” I said with a shrug, before placing my hand on his shoulder and teleporting us both in front of the fire, he bent over.

“You could’ve warned me” he said

“You’ll get used to teleporting quicker” I said.

“That wasn’t nice” he muttered.

“Get used to it” I said.

Several weeks later

After weeks of seeing nothing but trees, we were finally at the border with Germaney, I was surprised to see that there wasn’t anything to tell you that you were in Germaney other than a sign saying; ‘Willkommen in Vielekeim’ and a couple of Germane plain clothes royal guards, they stopped us before we could walk across the border

“Hallo und willkommen in Vielekeim, Wie lange wollen Sie bleiben? (Hello and welcome to Germaney, how long do you intend to stay here?)” One of them asked.

“So lange wie nötig (As long as necessary)” I replied, they must have noticed my accent.

“Dat aksent, du ist Trottingham, jäh?″ one of them asked, trying their best at speaking equestrian.

“Jawohl (yes)” I replied “ich und der Pegasus sind auch königliche Wachen (me and the pegasus are also royal guard)” they saluted us and we saluted back, we then walked across the border, once we were out of earshot of the guards I did a little victory dance.

“YES, it worked!” I said.

“So, you speak German fluently now” Minion asked.

“Yes, I often end up arguing with Autumn in German” I saw Autumn facehoof.

“I won’t even bother” I heard her mutter

“What’s she on about?” he asked.

“It’s called Germaney here” I said, shrugging “we often get into arguments about it”

So that’s why it didn’t say ‘Deutschland’ then?” he asked, I nodded, we eventually reached the town we would be staying at, it looked like a traditional mainland European village, Minion noticed the sign as we walked past.

“Trotterburg?” he said “that sounds like…”

“Like Kopparberg?” I asked, cutting him off “I know”

“Do all of the towns have horse puns?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“That isn’t even the half of it, before we entered the forest we were in a city called Trottingham, and they all have a British accent” I said, tittering slightly

“You’re joking” he said.

“Nah mate, we” I gestured to me and him “have a costal accent, spoken in the north east of the country” I then turned to Autumn.

“Your friends don’t have a problem with timberwolves, do they?” I asked, the realisation suddenly dawned on her face.

“Oh damn, I forgot to tell them in the letter” she said, panic clear in her voice, before taking off and flying off at top speed towards what I presumed was the place we were staying at, I noticed the look on Minions face.

“Fast, isn’t she?” I asked him rhetorically, he just nodded, I chuckled slightly “you should’ve met Rainbow Dash…”

“What the hell kind of a name is that?” he said, cutting me off.

“An obvious name, she has a rainbow coloured mane and tail, and she’s really fast” I said.

“How fast is really fast?” he asked

“As in, ‘shatter the visible light spectrum’ fast, for some reason whenever she breaks the sound barrier, she causes a rainbow coloured shock wave, she even calls it a ‘sonic rainboom’” Minion laughed at that, we saw Autumn flying back towards us, looking a lot more relaxed, she landed in front of us.

“I spoke to them about Scar, they don’t have a problem, as long as you can keep him under control, and I told them about Minion, they don’t have a problem with him either”

“Oh, thank Fantasia” I said.

“Who’s Fantasia?” Minion asked.

“Equestrian high Goddess of creation, she actually exists, so I converted” I said with a shrug.

“How do you know?” he said

“Oh I don’t know, maybe because I met her when I tried to get back home” I said “Autumn was there, ask her if you don’t believe me”

“What he says is true” Autumn said.

“Whoa whoa whoa, back up” Vinyl said “you actually met Fantasia?” both me and Autumn nodded

“Holy shit” She muttered

“Right, let’s get moving” I said “I’ll tell you more about it later” we soon reached the B&B, it was a nice looking place, it was like a traditional tavern, there were several ponies drinking and chatting amongst themselves in Germane, Autumn was greeted by two ponies with very thick Germane accents.

“Du bist zurück, und mit Freunden diesmal (Your back, and with friends this time)” an aging green stallion with a grey mane said.

“Ja (yes)” she said, she then pointed to each of us "dies ist Vuur Koning, er kann auch Keimähne sprechen, und das sind Minion und Vinyl Scratch, aber sie können nicht Keimähne sprechen (this is Vuur Koning, he can also speak Germane, and this is Minion and Vinyl Scratch, but they can’t speak Germane)”

“Guten Tag (Good day)” I said, they must have also noticed my accent.

“dat akzent” the mare, who was blue with a white mane, said “du zound like du are vrom Trottingham, but dur body zayz othervise, vere are du from?” I thought for a moment to put together the correct sentence.

“Über das Land, über das Meer, und über den Sternen (over the land, over the sea, and across the stars)” I said, they looked at me in surprise.

“Über den Sternen!? (Across the stars!?)” they both exclaimed in surprise, I nodded.

“Es wird kein Problem sein, wird es? (It won’t be a problem, will it?)” I asked, the stallion waived a hoof dismissively.

“Oh nein, nein, dieser Ort ist offen für jeden, der ein Bett braucht, auch Aliens (Oh no, no, this place is open to anyone who needs a bed, even aliens)” he said with a chuckle, he then looked at Autumn “Ihr Zimmer ist im Obergeschoss. Autumn, wenn sie bitte so freundlich sein könnten es ihnen zu zeigen (your room is upstairs, if you could be so kind as to show them, Autumn)” Autumn nodded and led us all upstairs to a fairly large room with four beds.

“Sweet” Vinyl said, jumping onto one of the beds “How long are we staying her for?”

“just for the night” Autumn said “then we have a quick look around Marelin before heading towards the Crystal Empire followed by the United Griffin Kingdoms, thanks to you rather large sum of money we can catch a train from Marelin to The Crystal Empire”

“Why don’t we just walk?” Minion asked, we all looked at him incredulously.

“If you want to walk 1000 bloody miles through fucking arctic conditions then be my guest” I said, stroking Scar.

“Erm, no thanks, I think I’ll take the train” he said, placing his rucksack on his bed.

“I’ll go through the journey plan with you two properly when we go downstairs” I said to Vinyl and Minion, getting out my personal atlas, and showing it to them briefly, we left Scar and Boris in the room with our stuff before going back down to the Tavern part and walked to the bar, where the stallion was bar tending.

“Welche Getränke kann ich Ihnen bieten? (What drinks can I get you?)” He asked cheerfully, Minion tapped me on the shoulder.

“Ask him if they have any mead” he said, I nodded before turning to the stallion.

“Haben Sie einen Met? (Do you have any mead?)” I asked, he nodded “Ich nehme zwei Krüge Met dann (I’ll have two jugs of mead then)” he nodded before passing me two mugs, filled with steaming hot mead, I passed one to Minion and paid the Stallion the correct amount of bits before walking over to a table in the corner, Autumn and Vinyl followed soon after, Minion took a sip of the mead.

“Ah, mate, this is fucking beautiful” he said, practically melting into the chair, he patted me on the shoulder “cheers” I raised my mug to him and he raised his until they both touched.

“Prost (Cheers)” I said, before taking a gulp, oh wow, I can see why they say mead is like alcoholic honey, it tasted amazing, I could feel myself relaxing, I heard Autumn chuckle.

“It’s good isn’t it?” she said, I noticed she also had a jug of mead, whereas Vinyl had a stein of beer, both me and my brother nodded “Germaney is famous for its mead and beer” my brother sighed.

“I’m in heaven” he said.

“All we need now are wenches” I said, he chuckled slightly.

“What?” Vinyl asked.

“There is a band that Minion and I both listen to that wrote a song called ‘Wenches and Mead’” I said.

“Ah” Vinyl said, before taking a sip of her Beer, for the rest of the day we just relaxed, got a little bit drunk, and went to bed late.

I have now acquired the help of someone who speaks German as their first language to correct any Grammatical issues

We all walked through the streets of Marelin towards the train station, we had seen the sights of the city and were now ready to move onto the crystal empire, which would take a heck of a lot longer than a couple of days, we entered the station building, which was relatively modern looking compared to other places, Autumn walked up to the ticket office and returned shortly with four 1st class tickets on a sleeper train to the Crystal Empire, we made our way to the train, I was surprised to see that Gearsley had already designed and build an A4, we boarded the train and found our room, it was a similar level of comfort to the train that me and Autumn used to get to Trottingham, only we didn’t have a carriage to ourselves.

“I think I can get used to living like a posh sod” Vinyl said as she jumped onto a bed “certainly beats sleeping on benches”

“I’ll agree with you on that one” Minion said, choosing a bed next to hers, those two had become rather good friends in the past few weeks.

“What if I told you two that me and Autumn got an entire carriage to ourselves when we were travelling to Trottingham” I said, lying on my bed and stroking Scar, who was laid next to me.

“You lucky bastards” Minion said “How did you manage to afford something like that?”

“We didn’t” Autumn said, smirking “Princess Celestia just passed us the tickets and said ‘here you go’”

“I’ll say it again, you lucky bastards” Minion said, the train jolted into motion “she still scares the shit out of me though”

“Only because you saw her when she got woken up at night” I replied “she’s usually unbelievably kind”

“I’ll believe that when I see it” he said, he then started smirking “so, did you and Autumn fuck on the train” I went as red as my armour with embarrassment and Autumns wings shot out with a poof.

“What the Fuck” both Minion and I said, looking at Autumn, who looked ready to die from embarrassment, Vinyl burst out laughing.

“Ha, wing boner” she said, pointing at Autumn, who face-planted the bed.

“What?” I asked.

“It means she’s into you” Vinyl said with a shrug, Minion burst out laughing.

“No I’m not” Autumn mumbled through the mattress, chucking a pillow in Vinyl’s general direction, it missed Vinyl and hit the window.

“Vuur Koning just told me he wants to make love to you” Minion said, Autumns wings shot back out, and she threw the duvet over her

“I’m surrounded by immature children” I muttered, before standing up and walking out of the room.

I stood at the veranda of the rear carriage, trying to clear my head, and what my brother said wasn’t helping.

“He really needs to learn to keep his mouth shut sometimes” I muttered, I heard the door open, I looked over my shoulder to see Autumn step outside.

“I thought I would find you here” she said, rearing up and resting her hooves on the railing, she sighed before resting her snout on top of her hooves

“Come here to escape from the two hyenas?” I asked, she nodded slightly, we stood there in silence, enjoying the view, after a few minutes I broke the silence “Autumn?”

“Hmm?” she responded, raising her head and looking at me.

“Is what Vinyl said true?” I asked, her ears drooped and she nodded meekly.

“Yes” she whispered.

“So you really…?” I went to say but she cut me off

“Yes, I have feelings for you” she said, she rested her head on her fore-legs, I noticed tears starting to form in her eyes.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked her, she sighed.

“You probably think I’m weird now and won’t want to be my friend” she said, tears started to stream own her face

“Don’t you ever think like that” I said, pulling her into a hug “I would never stop being you friend just because of something like this” I released her from my embrace and she looked into my eyes, I had never really noticed how striking her eyes were until now.

“I’ll let you in on a secret” I said to her.

“What?” she asked

“My brother may tease us about this sort of thing” I said “but he has been through hell when it comes to relationships, and that’s left me scared to give it a try”

“Really!?” she asked.

“I won’t tell you what he went through” I said “that’s his story to tell, and his alone, but, if you really are interested in me”

“Yes?” she asked, a hopeful expression on her face.

“Then I’m willing to give it a try” I said, she threw her fore-legs around me and rested her head on my shoulder

“Thank you” she whispered into my ear, she released me from her embrace and turned to lean against the railing, I put my arm across her shoulders and pulled her close, she responded by leaning into me, we didn’t say anything, for we felt content enough to just enjoy each-others company and watch the sunset, we eventually returned to the cabin to fine Vinyl and Minion absent.

“They’ve probably gone to dinner” Autumn said “Shall we?” I nodded and we walked towards the Dining car, where we found Vinyl and Minion talking, when they saw us Vinyl begrudgingly hoofed over a couple of bits to Minion, who looked rather smug.

“What was that about?” I asked them as I sat down.

“Oh, nothing” Minion said, an innocent look on his face.

“You were betting other us two getting together weren’t you?” Autumn deadpanned.

“Fucking damn it” he muttered, he then looked her dead in the eyes “but seriously, Autumn, a word of advice, he’s never been in a relationship before, so if you hurt my younger brother in anyway, I will kill you, and don’t think I won’t, I make promises, not threats” he the raised his whisky glass to her before downing it, Autumn went pale, she turned to me.

“Did I ever tell you he scares me?” she asked, the colour starting to return to her face

“Yes, several times” I said, sipping on my glass of cider, the waiter eventually served our food.

“So” Minion said “just think, you’re both going to be stuck in the same carriage for a couple days, but you won’t be able to do anything because we’re in the same room”

“You are evil, you know that” I said, he nodded “But seriously, Autumn and I are taking this slow, so we probably wouldn’t have anyway”

“sure you would” he said, but his tone said otherwise, for the rest of the meal we mostly ate in silence, we were just getting up to retire to the room when we heard a loud roar and the train shook violently, Autumn quickly looked out of the window before bolting in the direction of our room, the rest of us ran after her, not bothering to look out the window, we ran into the cabin to find Autumn just putting the last few pieces of armour on.

“What’s out there?” Minion asked, Autumn just looked at him and said.

“Dragon” before she opened the window and jumped out, a spell rifle held in her mouth

you may now exchange any bets you placed

but seriously, this won't be affecting the main story that much

I walked onto the rear veranda of the carriage and climbed up the ladder to the roof, Minion and Vinyl were close behind me, I stood on the roof and my jaw dropped, flying next to the train was a colossal white ice dragon, at least 200 feet from head to tail, with a 50 foot wing span, running along his back and tail was a row if spines that each resembled jagged ice crystsals and it had a great spiny frill on the back of its head, resembling half of a giant snowflake, I could see Autumn flying around it taking pot-shots, mostly trying to distract it from attacking the train.

“Holy shit, that thing is huge!” I heard minion say, his bulky black and gunmetal armour reflecting the moonlight as he climbed up on to the roof.

“Welcome to Terra” I said “where every mythical monster is real and will try to kill you”

“So that is an actual dragon?” he asked.

“Yes, but this type usually never comes this far south of the frozen north” I raised my pistol, and Minion raised his arm mounted cannon “Brother, see if you can get a clear shot at its wings, we need to try and ground it”

“You mean we aren’t going to kill it?” he asked, a little surprised.

“If Celestia has trouble taking down an ice drake, then what chance have we got” I said, shrugging, I saw Vinyl climb up, a spell rifle held in her magic.

“Vinyl, aim for its eyes” I said “when I say, we open fire” I waited a few seconds until Autumn was out of shot.

“FEUER FREI! (FIRE AT WILL!)” I shouted and fired my pistol, hitting it in the jaw, Vinyl aimed her rifle and fired a burst of 3 shots at the dragons eye, I saw it rupture and the dragon let out a roar of rage and pain

“Good hit” Minion said, before he fired his cannon, sending a blue ball of plasma streaking towards its wing joint, the shot impacted against the joint, causing the wing to go limp and the dragon fell out of the sky towards the ground, the dragon impacted with the ground, causing the train to shake, the train gradually came to a stop and we climbed down to the ground, Autumn flew other and landed in front of us.

“Good work” she said, the air suddenly started to ripple and Luna teleported into view.

“What happened?” she asked, walking towards the dragon, who was trying to get back up.

“The dragon attacked the train, we grounded it” I said, the rest of us started walking after her.

“Without killing it!?” she said, surprise evident in her voice.

“Something that big?” I asked, pointing to the dragon.

“Good point” she said, we reached the dragon and Luna motioned with a wing for us to stop, she then walked slowly forward.

“Dragon” she said, the dragons stopped and turned to look at her.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT, PONY?” he rumbled, narrowing his eyes

“As their ruler I was merely curious as to why you attacked their transport” she said, realisation riddled the dragons face.

“THAT WAS A TRANSPORT!” he exclaimed “FORGIVE ME, YOUR MAJESTY, I HAVE ONLY JUST AWOKEN FROM A SLUMBER, WHEN I FIRST ENTERED THE SLUMBER, YOU WERE STILL USING CARTS”

“But why did you attack?” Luna asked.

“I THOUGHT IT WAS SOME MANNER OF CREATURE” he said, making a sound that could be likened to a nervous chuckle “I WAS UNABLE TO FIND ANY CRYSTALS, AND WAS I QUITE HUNGRY” he rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

“Very well dragon” Luna said.

“IF YOU WOUD BE SO KIND, COULD YOU PLEASE HEAL MY WOUNDS, I UNDERSTAND THAT THEY ARE JUST A RESULT OF THE PONIES PROTECTING THEMSELVES” The dragon said, Luna thought for a moment.

“On one condition” she said.

“ANYTHING” The Dragon said

“You are to transport these travellers” she said pointing to us “wherever they wish to go”

“OF COURSE YOUR MAJESTY” he said, bowing his head to the ground, Luna nodded, and her horn started to glow, soon the dragon looked as good as new “THANK YOU”

“It was nothing” she said with a shrug, she then turned to us “I will send a message ahead to all the countries that you wish to visit, just to warn them”

“Thank you so much” I said, bowing “now we just need to get our…” she lit up her horn briefly and our bags, Scar and Boris appeared in front of us, the latter two looking quite confused.

“Never mind” I muttered, I walked over to my rucksack and got my winter cloak out, I put it on with a flourish before picking up my rucksack and walking towards the dragon

“How did you get that?” Minion asked.

“I had it made for me, if ever we end up near Ponyville, remind me and I’ll take to the Mare that made it for me” I said, he nodded before getting out his tattered old cloak and putting that on, I walked up to the dragon.

“What is your name?” I called to him.

“IN YOUR TUNGUE I AM KNOWN AS FROSTFANG” he said, he then moved his head towards me until his shadow blocked out the moonlight “AND WHAT MIGHT AN…INTERESTING LITTLE…CREATURE SUCH AS YOU BE CALLED?”

“On this world I am known as Vuur Koning” I then began listing off everyone else “and this is my brother, Minion”

“Hi” Minion said with a casual waive.

“My close friend, Autumn Skies”

“Hello” she said, trying not to look intimidated by the dragon’s massive size.

“My other friend, Vinyl Scratch”

“Sup” Vinyl said with a waive.

“My hunting timberwolf, Scar, and my messenger falcon, Boris” as I said this Boris took off and landed on my shoulder, and Scar walked up to me and stood next to me.

“TRULY A UNIQUE GROUP OF TRAVELLERS” Frostfang said “WELL, WHERE DO YOU WISH TO GO?”

“Take us as close as you can to the Crystal Empire within the next 3 hours and then find shelter, we’ll continue on tomorrow” I said, he nodded before hunkering down and lowering a wing to provide a makeshift ramp.

“I’LL TAKE YOU TO MY LAIR, IT SHOULD BE CLOSE ENOUGH TO THE SITE OF THE OLD EMPIRE” he said, I nodded before climbing up onto his back, everyone else except for Autumn climbed on.

“Aren’t you going to climb on?” I asked her, she shook her head.

“I haven’t had a good long flight in quite a while” she said, I nodded and she took off, circling around Frostfang, Boris took off as well, flying by Autumn’s side

“HOLD ON, LITTLE ONES” The dragon boomed, I quickly grabbed hold of Scar just as the dragon took off, quickly accelerating until the railway line was just a silver strip in the moonlight.

“Holy Fantasia!” I exclaimed, the dragon chuckled.

“I MAY BE BIG, BUT THAT DOES NOT MAKE ME SLOW OR CUMBERSOME LIKE SOME OLDER DRAGONS” he said.

“How old are you?” I shouted over the wind.

“ONLY A MERE 150 YEARS OLD”

“Only!?” I heard Minion exclaim, Frostfang nodded

“SOME DRAGONS LIVE TO BE WELL OVER 1000 YEARS OLD, SO I AM LIKE A TEENAGER COMPAIRED TO OTHER DRAGONS” he said

“So for reference, 10 actual years for every metaphorical dragon year?” I asked, Frostfang nodded.

“MORE OR LESS” he said, we were now above the cloud cover and I could see the stars in perfect clarity.

“Oh wow” Minion said.

“This is one thing I prefer about Terra over Earth” I said “you can actually see all the stars, it never gets old” I then went over the different constellations with him, with Autumn of Frostfang helping to explain every now and again, eventually Frostfang began to descend, when we got below the cloud cover I could see that the ground was covered in snow and in the distance I could see a bubble of some sort, with a castle made of crystal inside.

“Is that…?” I heard Minion ask, trailing off halfway through the question.

“Yep” I responded “that’s the Crystal Empire”

“That place is fucking huge!” he said.

“Wait till you see it up close” I said “from what I’ve heard, it’s pretty spectacular” Frostfang started to bank away from the Empire, heading towards some mountains on the horizon, after about half an hour we were flying in the shadow of the mountains, Autumn and Boris drifted towards us and eventually landed on Frostfang, the former sitting next to me and the latter perching on my shoulder.

“Enjoy your flight?” I asked Autumn, she just nodded and leaned against me, closing her eyes with a sigh, I put my arm around her, still holding onto Scar with the other, and leaned against her, Frostfang soon landed on a giant ledge, I nudged Autumn and she stirred with a start, having fallen asleep in the 5 minutes between her landing next to me and Frostfang landing on the ledge.

“DON’T GET OFF YET, WE STILL HAVE SOME WAY TO GO” Frostfang said in his usual booming voice, he started plodding into the cave, his footsteps echoing off of the walls, it soon grew pitch black and I was unable to see my hands in front of my face, but it only lasted a moment, Frostfang snapped his claws and torches ignited into pale blue flames, spreading along the walls of the cave, in the distance I could see the cave open into a large cavern, when Frostfang reached the cavern my jaw dropped, it was biblical in proportions, it seemed to go on for miles, and there was a massive pile of gold, I heard Frostfang chuckle.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” he said in a relative whisper, none of us could form the words to answer, Frostfang walked over to a section of the cavern that had a groove in the ground and lowered his wing for us to climb down, I walked down and placed my rucksack on the floor.

I sat on the ground with my back against a pile of gold, Autumn walked over and sat beside me, once again leaning against me, and once again I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her close, she snuggled into me and closed her eyes, signing contentedly, within a few moments her breathing became regular, signalling that she had fallen asleep, I heard Frostfang chuckle, I looked up to see him lying in the indent in the ground, watching us.

“I take it you two are together then” he whispered, I nodded.

“What are you going to do with all this gold?” I asked, he rested his snout and hummed in thought.

“we might as well take it” he said, shrugging, I gawped “I have something for transporting it”

“You’re going to need a ship to transport all of this” I said, he chuckled at that.

“Actually” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“You have a ship, to transport all of this?” a heard Minion ask, Frostfang nodded before getting up and quietly walking behind a particularly large mound of gold, next thing I know I see Frostfang wearing some reins attached to a colossal airborne battleship, think ‘Freedom of the Seas’ and times by 20, that sort of size, I nudged Autumn awake and her jaw dropped when she saw the ship.

“Originally she had a crew” Frostfang whispered, running his hand along the side of the ship “there were once entire companies dedicated to providing transport and protection for a dragons horde, the ship was complimentary, as long as the company got a percentage of the horde, the crew went back to their families when I settled down here”

“When you say protection you mean this has guns?” Vinyl asked, Frostfang nodded.

“Enough to blow any ships foolish enough to attack, clean out of the sky” he whispered, chuckling

“No name” I noted.

“I never got around to giving it one” he whispered “now, how would you all feel about becoming my new crew?” Minion walked forwards.

“I think I speak for all of us when I say, hell yes” he said, we all nodded in agreement.

“Then it’s settled” The dragon whispered, smiling “I get a crew, and you get to travel the world, but first, you all need a good night’s sleep, you can stay on the ship” he them walked over, picked us and our belongings up and deposited us on the deck of the ship, the decking was in remarkably good condition

“How has it lasted this long?” I asked.

“MAGIC” the dragon said, shrugging, he then ushered us towards the steps to the sleeping accommodation “NOW GO ON, OFF TO BED, I’LL MOVE THE HORDE WHILE YOU SLEEP” as we walked down the steps I heard I generator kick into life and lights started to turn on, I looked for a map, found one and followed it towards the high class accommodation, everyone else following close behind, Autumn and I ended up choosing the captains quarters at the very rear of the ship, it was more like a small house, than the room of a ship, there were several floors and rooms, and a balcony at the very rear of the ship, the bedroom was like a room fit for royalty, with an en-suite bathroom, which had something resembling a private swimming pool rather than a bath, the bedroom itself had a writing desk in one corner and a king size double bed, there was also a bookshelf with old navigational charts, some of them in better condition than others, Boris flew to a coat hanger and Scar laid down beside the bed, I saw Autumn sluggishly climb into bed so I walked around turning off all of the lights before retiring for the night.

I woke up the next morning to find Autumn absent from the bed, Boris and Scar were missing as well, I got up and got dressed into my armour and put on my winter cloak before walking onto the balcony, we were still in the cavern, which was now empty, I quickly made my way to the top deck, I noticed for the first time that there were massive guns all the way along the length of the ship, they had angular armour and I subconsciously noted the pot marks on the odd one or two of them.

“AH, I WAS WONDERING WHEN YOU WOULD WAKE UP, LITTLE ONE” I heard Frostfang boom, I turned around to see him looking at me, along with everyone else, boris flew over and landed on my shoulder

“Is everything packed away?” I asked.

“With room to spare” Minion said, the amusement clear in his voice “the hold is like a fucking cave, and they have mobile cranes in there”

“Really!?” I asked, not even trying to hide my surprise.

“I’ll show you when we get under way” he said.

“SPEEKING OF WHICH” the dragon said “BEFORE WE SET SAIL, I BELIEVE THIS SHIP DESERVES A NAME, PERHAPS YOU CAN THINK OF ONE, VUUR KONING?” I thought for a moment before deciding.

“How about… ‘The Jörmungandr’ (read as Yormungander)” I suggested, Minions eyes lit up in realisation.

“I second that” he said, the others just looked confused.

“What the buck is a Jörmungandr?” Vinyl asked “it sounds something from griffin culture”

“Jörmungandr” I explained “otherwise known as the ‘Midgard serpent’ or ‘World Serpent’, stems from Norse mythology, very similar to griffin mythology, according to legend, Jörmungandr was a giant sea serpent that was so long it wrapped around the equator and swallowed its own tail, the Norse believed that the world would end when their god of thunder; Thor, would do battle Jörmungandr, killing both of them in the process, Jörmungandr was huge, this ship is huge, and both me and Minion feel that it suits this ship” when I finished my little lesion on Norse mythology everyone nodded in agreement.

“THEN IT IS AGREED” Frostfang said, his hands glowing with blue magic “HENCE FORTH, THIS SHIP SHALL BE KNOW AS… JÖRMUNGANDR: THE MIDGARD SERPENT” as he finished this he pounded his fists together and a wave of blue magic washed over the ship.

“What just happened?” I asked “other than the temperature dropping by about 20°” the dragon chuckled before saying.

“THIS SHIP NOW BARES ITS NEW NAME” he then walked over to the harness attached to the ship and put it on “NOW, I DO BELIEVE WE HAVE DELAYED FOR FAR TOO LONG” he then began to pull the colossal ship towards the corridor leading to the exit, he pulled it through the corridor very gingerly, there was only about 20 meters to spare on each side, we soon reached the exit and Frostfang slowly took off, the weight of the cargo slowing him down somewhat, but within a few minutes we were cruising along at a comfortable pace. I could see the crystal Empire in the distance, it wold probably take us a few hours to get there so I made my way to the captains quarters and began to unpack my stuff, putting all of my normal clothes into some clothes-draws, I then put the spell rifles into a cabinet for safe keeping, which I locked up, I then placed my laptop on the writing desk and plugged it in to charge, I was pleased to see the charging symbol display on the screen, I then put my books on magic spells on the bookshelf, with all of my stuff unpacked and in their proper places I put my spell pistol in its leather hilt on my chest, and my sword on my back, with that done I went to go and explore the ship, with Scar by my side and Boris on my shoulder, I soon made my way to the bridge.

On a Horde ship, there isn’t a helm, so the bridge is mainly used for communications and navigation, and also to direct the engine room; which control the engines to take the strain off of the dragon pulling it and for docking without the dragon, it is possible to pilot a horde ship without a dragon to pull it, but it is extremely difficult and requires year of experience from both the captain and the crew of the engine room, at the moment our total crew was 4, with 0 experience on a horde ship, Autumn, Minion and Vinyl were all on the bridge, checking things like charts and communications, Vinyl was flipping through the channels on the radio used for communicating with ports and other ships, as was to be expected there wasn’t much chatter on the radio, and Minion and Autumn were going through the navigational charts.

“Anyone need any help?” I asked, Vinyl looked up from the console.

“Go down to the engine room and see it the radio link between here and there works” she said, I nodded before quickly making my way deeper into the ship, the walls and walkways went from a clean white to a dingy gunmetal, I soon reached the boiler room, the boiler was massive, about 12 feet in diameter, I looked at the gauges to find that, as was to be expected, there was no boiler pressure, I found the communications area and turned on the radio.

“Vinyl Scratch, this is Vuur Koning, can you hear me?” I asked, speaking into the microphone, after a few moments of silence the speaker crackled into life.

“Good gods, Vuur Koning, you scared the shit out of me!” Vinyl yelled through the speakers, I burst out laughing “laugh it up, Monkey boy” I heard laughter in the background of Vinyl’s end.

“Autumn!” I shouted “I told you not to tell them” the laughter continued.

“Did the guards really call him that during his training?” I heard Minion ask.

“For fucks sake” I said “yes, they called me ‘Monkey boy’, and I can hear you, anyway, I guess this means that the radio works”

“O.K.” I heard Vinyl say before the radio clicked off into static, I then went to go and explore, I’ll admit, it was a little bit creepy down here, seeing something that should be bustling with life, so empty, I heard Scar whine, I looked down at him to see him looking down the corridor, ears pinned back.

“Easy boy” I said, patting him in the side, before walking down the corridor, Scar followed closely, actually walking with his side against my leg, he whole demeanour suggested he was on edge, and it put me on edge as well, I soon came to a corner in the corridor and when I followed it, all of the uneasiness, the sense of foreboding, just stopped, that unsettled me even more, I quickly ran back up to the bridge and burst through the doors, Minion took note of my appearance.

“Bloody hell, you look like you’ve seen a ghost” he said

“All off you need to follow me, now!” I said, they all looked confused “just trust me” then looked amongst themselves uncertainly before walking towards me.

“Show us then” Autumn said.

“You what?” Minion asked.

“I kid you not, I walked along this corridor” I said, pointing to the corridor near the boiler room “and I felt really uneasy, Scar felt it as well, we walked around the corner and all the feelings stopped, it’s really weird”

“I think you’ve just gotten scared from being down here alone” Vinyl said, smirking, she then reared up and waived her front hooves around “woo-o-o-oh, the scary corridor is coming to get you”

“O.K. then, if your so brave, why don’t you go down there” I said, smirking, her expression hardened and she dropped onto all four hooves before walking down the corridor.

“See, nothing to…” she trailed off when she walked past one of the doors, she stopped dead in her tracks and I could actually see her going pale.

“Vinyl…?” I asked, she didn’t answer, I walked towards her, ignoring he feeling of dread as best I could, I looked at her face to see her frozen in fear, I then grabbed her and pulled her back towards the rest of the group, once I pulled her out of the corridor she seemed to snap out of her trance and the colour started to return to her.

“Vinyl, are you ok?” I asked.

“I’m never going down there again” she said, her eyes reduced to pinpricks her whole body shivering “there’s something in one of these doors…” she shuddered.

“O.K. then” I said “no body or pony goes down there until we land at the Crystal Empire and have some guards come with us to investigate, agreed?” everyone nodded, including Boris and Scar.

“Let’s get the buck out of here” Autumn said, before turning and walking up the steps to the top deck.

After a few hours we were close to the Crystal Empire and the immense size of the palace was becoming apparent, we were all on the bridge when the radio crackled into life.

“Unidentified armed air-vessel, do you copy, I repeat, unidentified armed air vessel, do you copy, state you identification and intention, over?” I walked over to the radio and spoke into the microphone.

“This is captain Vuur Koning of the dragon-hauled horde-ship ‘The Jörmungandr’, reading you loud and clear, are intentions are strictly Non-hostile, I repeat, Non-hostile, Princess Luna of Equestria should have sent Price Shining Armour and Princess Cadence a message alerting them of our arrival, we are a group of four with a dragon called Frostfang, over”

“Roger that, Captain Vuur Koning, please hold you position while we verify you claim, out” the radio clicked off and I ran outside.

“Frostfang!” I shouted, the dragon looked back at me “Air traffic control wants us to stop while they verify our identity” Frostfang nodded and I could feel the ship begin to slow down and descend, I quickly ran back to the bridge just as the radio crackled into life once more.

“Captain Vuur Koning of the horde-ship ‘The Jörmungandr’, do you copy?” the stallion at air traffic control said, I walked over to the microphone.

“This is Captain Vuur Koning, reading you loud and clear, over?”

“You have been cleared for entry into the dock, but you must wait for an escort, over?” in the distance I could see several small airships making their way towards us.

“Roger that, waiting for escort, out” I said, before walking back out.

“Frostfang” I called, the dragon looked at me, I pointed to the ships in the distance “those ships are our escort into the docks, when they get close enough, follow them” Frostfang nodded and I walked back to the bridge, within a few minutes the ships were close enough and I saw Frostfang begin to take off, I felt the ship shift as we slowly started to ascend, I walked outside to see that we were being escorted by five smaller ships, each one about 25 meters long, the crew of one ship were looking at our ship in awe, I noticed that they were crystal ponies, I waved to them and they waived back cheerfully

“Good day” I shouted.

“Gothur dagur” one of them shouted back, I did a double take, I then called to the bridge of our ship.

“Autumn, I’m going to need you help with this” I shouted, everyone came running over.

“What’s up?” Autumn asked.

“Say good morning to them” I said.

“Um, o.k.” she said, before shouting “Good morning!”

“Gothur Dagur” came the response, Minion just scoffed before walking up to the railing and waiving.

“halló, hvernig ert thú allt í dag” he said, the crew on the other ship cheered and we all stared at him, slack jawed “what? I knew a couple of lasses who spoke Icelandic, which is what they’re speaking”

“You speak Crystallion!?” Autumn said “until recently it was a dead language”

“I speak Icelandic” he said shrugging “but you call it ‘Crystallion’” we soon began to pass other air-ships, some resembled blimps, such as small private air-ships built for the wealthy, but others, like those of the Equestrian Royal Navy and our ship, looked like flying battleships, some of the freighters actually dwarfed our ship by several hundred meters, but we were still amongst the larger of the ships out there, I noticed Minions expression.

“you should see the air-port at Canterlot” I said “they have ships that make those ones look small”

“How do they manage to stay in the air?” he asked, wide eyed

“An arcane generator that is enchanted to effect the mass of the ship, rendering it weightless, they can affect the altitude of the ship by ether increasing or decreasing its output” Autumn said “on the largest ones they can have up to ten of them, this only has two”

“What if they run out of power?” he asked.

“They don’t” Vinyl said “they tap into the same arcane field that unicorns and Vuur Koning uses, they still need a boiler to power the propellers, so they have to dock for coal, but they can collect water by flying through the clouds, if it runs out of water they vent the boiler and drift towards a cloud” the escort soon led us into an empty bay and Frostfang unhitched himself from the harness.

“IT FEELS GOOD TO REST mY WINGS AFTER A LONG FLIGHT LIKE THAT” he boomed as he stepped away from the ship, he then snapped his fingers and…started to shrink, soon he was about the height of me or Minion, we stared at him slack jawed.

“What, did you think I would walk around a populated city as a 200 foot dragon?” he said, his speech not quite so booming, he walked towards us “shall we disembark” we nodded and walked towards one of the bridges from ship to the docks, I could see a white unicorn with a blue mane and a pink Alicorn standing on the dock, we walked up to them and stopped.

“I am Prince Shining Armour and this is Princess Me Amore Cadenza” the unicorn said “and as the rulers of this land, we would like to welcome you to the Crystal Empire”

“Thank you” I said, walking forward and bowing “I am Vuur Koning, I’m sure that either Celestia or Luna sent a message to tell you of our arrival”

“Yes” the prince said “although they forgot to mention the air-ship”

“It belongs to Frostfang” I said, pointing to the dragon

“But you said you were the captain” Shining Armour said, narrowing his eyes.

“He’s usually a lot bigger and pulls the ship, I’m the captain of the actual ship and crew” I said “all 4 of us” the Prince continued to scrutinize me for a few moments before his expression softened

“Is that all?” Princess Cadenza asked, the surprise clear in her voice, I nodded.

“We didn’t set out on our journey expecting to be the crew of a ship” I said “in fact, originally it was just me, Autumn, my messenger falcon and my hunting timberwolf that set out with the intention of traveling the world” the princess raised a hoof, silencing me before I could continue

“Please, you can tell us more about your adventure over lunch” she said “I’m sure you are hungry and don’t want to spend the whole of your visit in the docks”

“So Vuur Koning” Princess Cadenza said, taking a sip of some form of soup “why don’t you tell us your story, from the beginning?” we were all sat at a table made of crystal, having a light lunch.

“Very well then” I said, and so I began retelling my tale from when I first arrived in Equestria, right up to when we set off in the horde ship.

“Your journey has certainly been an eventful one” Shining Armour said, sipping on some wine.

“Oh, this is just the start of it” I said “we plan to visit every country, except for the Changeling Empire”

“Good choice” Shining Armour said “keep as far away from changelings as possible”

“Why?” I asked “the only reason I’m not going to their Empire is because I would rather not risk us getting into danger, if relations between Equestria and the Changeling Empire weren’t so poor then I would go in a heartbeat”

“Why would you even want to go to a country responsible for invading Equestria?” Shining Armour asked.

“Yes, but I wasn’t there, and did you ever think why they might have invaded?” I said “Changelings feed on love, correct?” they both nodded.

“Well maybe they had a shortage of love, yes it was a stupid decision to invade when they could have simply asked for aid” I said.

“How did you come to a conclusion like that?” Princess Cadenza asked.

“I like to see war from both sides, to quote Sun Tzu” I said, sipping my cider before continuing “if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of 100 battles, if you know yourself, but not the enemy, for every victory gained, you shall also suffer a defeat, if you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle”

“Where did you here that?” Shining Armour asked.

“A book called the art of war” I said “I’ll give you it before we leave”

“It’s a good book” Minion interjected “I would definitely recommend it”

“I’ll give it a read then” Shining Armour said.

“And create copies to supply amongst your barracks and to your allies” I suggested “if your allies know as well, then you can work together to defeat the enemy through superior tactics, although it does take a couple of reads to understand properly, I still don’t understand the whole ‘breaking the enemies resistance without fighting’ part” I then took a gulp of cider

“What?” Shining Armour said, looking confused.

“Exactly” I said.

“Because, my dear, younger brother” Minion said, sipping a glass of whiskey “you should pay more attention to what it says, once you get down to it, it’s incredibly simple, if a little cryptic at times”

“How can something be simple and cryptic at the same time” Shining Armour asked, my brother just shrugged whilst taking a sip of whiskey, he put the glass down

“Read it and you’ll understand” My brother said “our world’s greatest leaders read it, the worst ones read it and misunderstood it by miles”

“That’s a scary thought” Vinyl said.

“Oh, that reminds me” I said “Prince shining armour?”

“Yes?” he asked.

“I need some of your guards to investigate something, we don’t know what it is, but it’s in a very specific part of our ship, it made me very uneasy and it made Vinyl frozen with fear, and once you walk past the area the feeling just…” I snapped my fingers to demonstrate “disappears” Frostfang stood up.

“Why didn’t you tell me of this sooner?” he asked, more out of worry than anger.

“In all honesty I totally forgot” I admitted sheepishly, Shining Armour held up a hand for silence, the expression on his face could best be described as troubled.

“I’ll assemble a team to investigate” he said “we’ll go after lunch”

“Alright, this is the place” I said, leading the team of guards, led by Shining armour, to the corridor in question “Can you feel it, the sense of foreboding?” Shining armour nodded.

“Show me where it’s at its worst” he said, I pointed to the first door in the corridor “O.K. you lot stay behind my team” with that his team started to move forward, I instinctively reached for my pistol, and Scar was whining softly, one of the guards opened the door and stepped back in fear, Shining Armour looked, for lack of a better word, shocked.

“Impossible…” he trailed off.

“What is it?” Frostfang asked, walking down the corridor unflinchingly, as if the emotions of the corridor didn’t affect him.

“This…” he said, levitating over a silver helmet, the feeling grew stronger as he did so “…is all that is left of King Sombra’s original armour, but how did it get here?” he then looked at Frostfang.

“I have no idea” the dragon said “it’s possible that…” but whatever he was about to say was cut off by a sinister chuckling, it echoed through the corridors, smoke started to envelope the helmet and the guards started to back away, I drew my sword and Autumn and Minion did the same, Shining Armour released the helmet from his grasp and ran towards us, drawing his sword, the smoke started to swirl around the helmet, I could see a shape start to form, the smoke cleared revealing a dark pony, I also noticed that part of his horn was missing.

“I have returned” the Pony said.

“Who are you?” I said, stepping forward, pulling out my pistol and pointing it at the stallion, who simply chuckled.

“You are an interesting one” he said “I am King Sombra, ruler of the Crystal Empire…”

“Really?” I said, not very convinced “because I do believe the ruler of the Crystal Empire is standing over here” the pony snarled.

“You dare to speak unless spoken to”

“Oh, what exactly are you going to do?” I asked.

“Be silent!” he shouted.

“Or what?” I asked, putting my pistol and sword away and crossing my arms, I saw Minion do the same, the stallion didn’t respond “go on then, tell me what you are going to do” I began to walk towards the so called king.

“I will make you suffer” he said, I just chuckled darkly.

“I would like to see you try” I said walking in front of the pony, my brother walked beside me, I then opened my arms “go on, I’ll give you a free hit” he seemed taken aback by this at first, he then chuckled before saying.

“Very well” and with that he went to punch me with a forehoof, just before he made contact I turned to one side, grabbed the outstretched hoof and flung him down the corridor towards the guards, elbowing him in the back using my free hand as I flung him, he sprawled on the floor.

“You dare touch me” he said, trying to get up, I started walking towards him, my brother went to follow but I motioned for him to stop.

“you lot are all the same” I said “you think you’re the best there is, but when push comes to shove, you hide behind your smoke and mirrors, anyone can take over an Empire, but it takes a true leader to rule it” as I said this I picked him up by what was let of his horn, he wrapped his hooves around my arm, trying to support himself, I brought him close to my face and looked him dead in the eyes.

“You are not a king, and you never were, what you are is a tyrant and a murderer” I then brought him so close that our fore heads touched “and I hate tyrants, your power is nothing compared to my hate for you” I chucked him at the ground towards the guards, I then walked over before kneeling down and picked him up by the throat to whisper in his ear.

“If I see you this side of a dungeon again, will hunt you down, I will find you, I will kill you as slowly and as painfully as possible, and then, I will cook you up in a stew and eat you” I then let him drop to the ground, he looked as pale as his armour, I then stood up and looked at the guards

“You know what to do with him” I said before turning and walking past them up the steps to the top deck and leaning on the railings, a few moments later I saw the guards drag the former king up the steps bound in chains, as they dragged him past I snarled at him, his terror stricken eyes were the last I saw of him before he was dragged off the ship, I heard shining armour walk up behind me, followed by my friends, Scar walked up to me and sat by my side, I patted him on the head

“Whilst I can’t say I agree with you methods” Shining Armour said, chuckling slightly “I will say that I am grateful for you helping to bring him to justice, you and you friends are always welcome in the Crystal Empire from now on”

“Trust me, if you weren’t there I would have done a lot worse to him” I said.

“Like what?” he asked.

“Ever hear of Keelhauling?” I asked, Minion winced with a hiss, Shining Armour shook his head “It’s what the sea faring pirates of my world used to do for punishment, don’t believe the ‘walking the plank’ bullshit, what they actually did was much worse, they would have sailed towards a reef or some rocks in shallow waters, and before the went through the reef they would have taken the guilty, tied a long rope to his arms and legs, dropped him off the side of the ship, pulled him underneath the ship using the rope and then leave him here as they sailed over the reef” when I finished Shining armour looked pale.

“That’s a bit excessive, don’t you think?” he said, I shook my head “Anyway, my previous statement still stands, you can stay as long as you like, and you can stay in the guest rooms in the castle”

“Thank you” I said, nodding to him, I suddenly remembered something “oh. Just a second” I then walked down towards my living quarters, I quickly grabbed a book from the bookshelf, I quickly ran back up and handed him the book.

“The art of War” he read off of the cover “I’ll read it when I have time” with that he walked off of the deck of the ship and back towards the castle, we soon disembarked from the ship and made our way towards the market.

We were currently in the Market place, Frostfang was absent as he was currently still at the docks, looking for crew and supplies, using his own horde to pay for it, Boris and Scar were currently ‘watching’ the ship so we were free to get whatever we wanted, we were mostly shopping for gifts and trinkets, so we had split off from each other, I was currently looking for a gift for Autumn, I found a nice little shop selling jewellery suck as rings and necklaces, the crystal pony stallion that was minding the shop walked over to me

“Hello, can I help you with anything?” he asked in a Crystallian accent.

“Yes” I said “I have a friend that I care deeply about and I wish to get her a necklace” the stallion nodded.

“I think I have just the one you want” he said before picking up a necklace with a red ruby encased in two metal feathered wings, making a heart shape.

“It’s perfect” I said, I passed him the necessary bits and he put it into a small box, which I put in the pocket in my cloak, I thanked the pony before stepping out of the shop and into the streets, searching for something to get one of the others, as I was walking along I saw a music shop with, low and behold, electric guitars in the front window.

“Well, now I know what to get by brother” I said to myself as I walked through the front door, inside it was a musicians heaven, most of the more well-known types of instrument were available, I saw a rather nice looking matte-black flying-vee type guitar that was being sold with a medium sized amp, for a rather good price as well, I picked up the guitar to get a feel of what it was made of, I couldn’t play for shit, but I knew a well-made guitar when I saw, and heard it, I turned to the griffin minding the shop.

“Do you mind?” I asked “I’m getting it for a friend, and I just want to see how it sounds” the griffin nodded.

“Do you play?” he asked.

“Can’t play a riff to save my life, but, I do know when a guitar has a good tone to it” I said, the Griffin walked over.

“Pass it here” he said, he then began to strum off a few different riffs, demonstrating how it sounded with different playing styles, and needless to say, it was an amazing guitar, the tone was perfect “how’s that?”

“I think he’ll like this one” I said, I took my rucksack off of my back and paid the griffin before putting the guitar and amp in my rucksack, I also bought a crystal guitar pick

“Is your friend currently visiting the Crystal Empire” the griffin asked.

“Yes” I replied.

“Send him my way some time” the griffin said “I wouldn’t mind hearing him play”

“Will do” I said “skal” and with that I walked out of the shop, I soon found another music shop, this time selling stuff like C.D.s and head phones, I bought some headphones for the four of us, I somehow doubted Frostfang would want a pair of headphones, I also bought some C.D.s with dubstep on for Vinyl, I then found a place selling things like daggers, so I now had a hunting knife, complete with a strap-on hilt, so it was now in place on my chest opposite the holster for my pistol.

I walked along the corridors of the crystal Palace, the guards nodded to me as I walked past, I was currently walking to dinner with my rucksack, I hadn’t seen the others all day and I felt this would be the perfect time to give them the gifts, I walked into the dining room to find the others all sitting at the table, chatting with the prince and princess , I sat down next to Autumn and Minion took notice of the hunting knife.

“Nice knife” he said.

“You humans and your blades” I heard Autumn mutter.

“I have to find some terrorising Sombra, don’t I?” I asked rhetorically, she just scoffed and shook her head.

“What do you mean, terrorising Sombra?” Princess Cadenza asked.

“Well princess Cadenza…”

“Please, call me Cadence” she said, cutting me off.

“O.K., Cadence, you might have heard about us capturing Sombra”

“Yes, I did hear about that” she said, nodding

“Well, Sombra is, quite frankly, terrified of me” I said “because I beat him in hand to hand combat and then used a few choice words to…encourage him to cooperate with the Guards”

“And what might those words be?” Cadence asked.

“in all honesty I picked him up by the throat and whispered into his ear saying; If I see you this side of a dungeon again, will hunt you down, I will find you, and I will kill you as slowly and as painfully as possible, and then, I will cook you up in a stew and eat you” I said, silence reined, everyone was wide eyed and slack jawed, my brother was the first to recover

“Dude, that is fucking dark, even by my standards” he said.

“Well it worked, didn’t it?” I asked.

“True” Shining Armour said “if it worked, then who am I to question the methods?”

“Still, I think I’ll pay him a visit, just to provide that extra incentive to stay where he is” I said, taking the dagger out of its sheaf and examining it “in all honesty I won’t hurt him whilst he’s here, just give him something to fear, it’s time the tyrant learnt what fear is”

“Y-you are really creepy when you talk like that” Vinyl said.

“I know” I said, shrugging, the waiters came to serve our drinks “now, who wants to see what I bought them?”

“Wait” Autumn said “now!?”

“Why not” I said “starting with you Autumn” as I said this I passed her the box with the necklace.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Just open it” I said, she took the lid off of the small box and gasped, covering her mouth with her hooves.

“Oh my, Vuur Koning, this is beautiful” she said, starting to get tearful, I took the necklace out of the box and put it around her neck, she hugged me “Thank you” she sounded like she was about cry.

“Only the best for someone as beautiful as you” I replied, putting my arm around her.

“Get a room you two” Vinyl said.

“Aww, they make such a cute couple” Cadence said, gushing over the two of us.

“Nice choice, bro” Minion said, nodding and raising his whiskey glass, I nodded back and raised my glass of cider, I removed my arm from around Autumn and went back into the bag.

“Brother, these are for you” I said, pulling the guitar and amp out of the rucksack, his jaw dropped.

“You, are a fucking legend” he said, standing up and taking the guitar, his jaw dropped further when I passed him the pick “is that actual crystal!?”

“Yep” I said “well go on, I want to hear you play, the amp has a battery” he turned on the amp and began quickly tuning the guitar to the correct tuning, he then strummed a few times

“This is a good guitar” he said “I’ll warn you, I’m a little rusty, I haven’t played in over five months” he then launched into a fast paced guitar solo getting faster and faster until he stopped, finishing with a high pitched note.

“Wait for it” I whispered into Autumns ear, he them began another solo, this time to a much slower overall tempo than before, all of the ponies began to bob their head to the beat, he drifted smoothly from riff to riff, he was truly in his element, and he seemed more upbeat than before, eventually he changed into a fast paced solo and finished off with a bow, Everypony at the applauded and he switched off the amp.

“Bloody hell, Minion” Vinyl said “if you were a pony, your cutie mark would be a guitar pick, you have a natural talent for the six-string, and also, YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOU WERE A GUITARIST!” Autumn and I laughed at that

“So” I said to Autumn “what do you think?”

“Vinyl is right” she said “he has talent”

“Please” Minion said, standing the guitar against the amp and sitting down “I’m not that good” Shining Armour looked shocked at that

“After that masterpiece?” he said “even if you didn’t write it, to be able to play with such perfect timing and precision, that is raw talent, whether you want to admit it or not” he then raised his glass to Minion

“I agree” Cadence said “you have talent, don’t give up with your skill”

“I still don’t think I’m that good” Minion said, sipping on his glass of whiskey, I face palmed.

“Mate, stop comparing yourself to guitar legends” I said, I then got out the C.D.s for Vinyl

“Oh, cheers” she said, levitating them into her saddle bag “thanks mate”

“I also got headphone for the 4 of us” I said, I then turned to Frostfang, who had, up until now, been quietly munching on a lump of quartz “Say, Frostfang, how is the recruitment process doing”

“It could be worse” he said “we now have a crew of about 50, made up of different species, there are crystal ponies, earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns, some griffins, some minotaur’s, a handful of diamond dogs, even some thestrals”

“Thestrals?” Minion asked.

“They are like Pegasi, except they are nocturnal and have bat wings” I explained “they are most famous for being employed in Princess Luna’s Night Guard, but they are extremely popular with ship crews because they work at night, meaning the day crew don’t have to do all the work, so we are lucky to have thestrals among our crew” the waiters then served our food before disappearing back into the kitchen.

“So, Vuur Koning” Shining Armour said “Where exactly are you and your brother from, we gathered than you’re from a different planet, but where on that planet are you both from?” I swallowed my food before answering.

“My brother and I both come from the United Kingdom” I said “currently ruled by her majesty Queen Elizabeth the 2nd, until we arrived on Terra we lived in a large town in the north east of the country of England, called Scunthorpe, it’s one of that countries major producers of metal, such as steel and iron, and is the only metal works on our world with the facilities to create earthquake-proof steel for earthquake prone countries”

“Sounds like it’s a rather important town” Cadence said.

“It is” I replied “it’s just a shame that it’s full of chavs”

“Chavs?” Autumn asked “what’s a chav?” me and Minion looked at each other before we both said

“Council housed and violent” Vinyl snorted.

“Sounds like some rather unpleasant ponies I’ve had the displeasure of meeting” she said

“They walk around in hoodies and tracksuits acting like their tough” Minion said, sneering “but the moment you stand up for yourself they run off, they are cowards and total scum”

“Are you talking from experience?” Shining Armour asked.

“Unfortunately, yes” Minion said, nodding.

if you notice any mistake please let me know

2 WEEKS LATER
I walked through the docks towards the Jörmungandr, we were now fully stocked up on supplies for the flight to Gryphus; the Capital of the Griffin Kingdoms, we had been held back an extra week as, due to the fact that our ship is an armed vessel, we had to not only get a licence, but we also had to arrange with the Griffin Kingdoms to get permission to fly through their airspace, on the plus side, because we had been held back, our crew had increased from 50 to around 200, but now that the ship had such a large crew we had to divide leadership amongst the four of us;
I was the Captain: in charge of the ship and navigation, and ultimately, called all the shots
Autumn was the Crew commander and second in command: in charge of any personnel that wasn’t working on specialist jobs and if needs be, could assume command of the ship
Minion was the Defence Commander: in charge of directing the crew responsible for the shields and guns.
Vinyl was the Communications and Technicians officer: in charge of any communications and any systems vital to keeping the ship in the sky and moving.

Frostfang was back to his full size and already hitched up, I walked onto the ship to see the deck bustling with activity, creatures of all kind were rushing about, preparing the ship for launch, I even saw the odd changeling buzzing around, thick black smoke was pouring out of the smoke stacks, seems they had finally got the boiler up to pressure, we were definitely getting ready for launch, I walked onto the bridge to find the rest of command talking casually, Boris flew over and landed on my shoulder.

“How soon can we be in the air?” I asked.

“The boilers are primed and ready” Vinyl said.

“All crew are accounted for and eager to set off” Autumn said, smirking slightly.

“All weapons and shields are at 100% efficiency” Minion said.

“So we can leave whenever?” I asked, they nodded, and I walked onto the small walkway on the outside of the bridge, Scar followed me outside and stood beside me, all of the crew were currently bustling about on the decking in front of the bridge, I nodded to Scar and he let out a howl, all of the crew stopped to look at us, I cleared my throat before speaking.

“Right, first off, I would like to thank you all for choosing to sail on this ship, I would also like to make a few things absolutely clear, first off, I’m sure some of you will be wondering where your allegiance now lies, seeing as the crew is made up a various different species” I saw some of them nod “well, your allegiance is now with me, and my allegiance is to the Equestrian Sovereignty, so if Equestria goes to war, we follow them into war as an ally, regardless of what nation you come from, secondly, we have no definite route planned out, we shall be travelling the world, so we will be going everywhere, eventually we shall even be heading into the unchartered territories of the southern continent, and as a result I can’t guarantee you absolute safety, thirdly, on this ship, my word is law, and you will obey the chain of command, fourthly, forget any mis-conceptions or stereotypes that you may have heard about other species, I will not tolerate discrimination or racism, and finally, if you are unhappy with how I command this ship, feel free to step off now, I will bear you no ill will if you do” none of the crew moved.

“That’s good, NOW WHO WANTS TO SEE THE WORLD?” the whole crew cheered, I then walked back onto the bridge.

“Vinyl, are we cleared to leave?” I asked.

“Yes, I requested clearance whilst you were talking to the crew” she said.

“Good, let’s get out of here” I said, Vinyl then instructed the engine crew to engage the propellers, the whistle hooted and I saw Scar start to take flight, we slowly made our way out of the docks, turned towards the south west and made our way across the frozen tundra, we then accelerated to the ships cruising speed of 100 knots, the ships shields stopped the wind from reaching the deck, so we didn’t have to worry about anyone getting blown off, what we did have to worry about was the mountain range that we had pass through to reach the Griffin Kingdoms, I was currently looking at a navigational chart of the mountain range with the others, trying to decide on a route that was a good balance between safety and directness, some of them were relatively safe to pass through, but would take weeks to traverse, others would only take a few hours, but were impossibly treacherous, one thing we could all agree on was that whichever route we took, it wouldn’t be easy, we eventually found one that would take roughly a few days and wouldn’t be too risky, I had Autumn go over to alert Frostfang of our route to Gryphus, she soon returned and told me that he understood and had changed his course accordingly, with that done I went to see how everything was preceding.

I walked down the corridor towards the boiler room, steam hissed out of the occasional pipe as I walked passed, I would need to speak to Vinyl about that, I reached the boiler room to find a couple of minotaur’s shovelling coal into the furnaces, they stopped after a couple of shovelfuls.

“How are the boilers holding?” I asked.

“The boilers are working like they were just built yesterday, Captain” a female Minotaur with a thick accent said.

“Good” I said “right, carry on” and with that I went to the next section of the ship, the armoury, I had originally found it when we were staying in the crystal empire, and had made a point to have a member of each species assigned to work in the armoury and design a unique set of armour, but when I walked in I realised that it might not have been my wisest decision, they were all stood in front of large chalk board, arguing.

“I say the armour should be inspired by Minotaurian armour” a large minotaur bull said.

“Vell I zay de armour should be inspired by griffin armour” a griffin said, butting heads with the minotaur.

“Why can’t it be inspired by Equestrian armour?” a unicorn said.

“NO” the minotaur and griffin said at the same time, I had just about had enough.

“Enough!” I shouted, silencing them before it got out of hand “what is the problem?” I leaned against the door way with my arms crossed.

“If we be truthful” a diamond dog said “we not decide on armour” everyone else begrudgingly agreed with him.

“Our nations each have a different type of armour” a thestral said “we can’t just choose one particular style”

“Who said you had to?” I asked, they looked confused, I sighed and rolled my eyes before saying “why don’t you all write down all of the strengths and weaknesses of each of your species armour, and then design something that incorporates as many of the strengths as possible and as few of the weaknesses, with minor variations to accommodate things like differences in anatomy, an example would be, the minotaur’s and diamond dog’s armour will be thicker as they are strong and heavily built, but the pegasi, thestral’s and changeling’s will have to have relatively light armour, to allow them to fly without tiring too quickly, you see what I’m talking about?” they all nodded, looking a little sheepish.

“Now me feel foolish” the diamond dog said “why we not think of that?”

“Because you are all used to your own species type of armour, so you all feel that it should be the type you should all use” I said.

“And what should the design look like?” a changeling asked, I thought for a moment.

“A similar style to mine and my brothers armour” I said “our armour is unlike anything I’ve seen, so what could be more perfect, I’ll make a few sketches of helmet designs to signify things like a crew members role on the ship, you come up with the rest” I then left the room to look for the next section, weapons testing, as with the armoury I had a member of each species assigned here to create a unique type of weapon, and once again I realised I may have been a little hasty when I decided to pick a member of every species, I walked in to find a changeling and a unicorn going at each other with swords, I flung them to opposite sides of the room using my magic and fired my pistol into the floor.

“Right, sort your shit out” I shouted, gaining everyone’s attention “you’re supposed to be working together, not trying to kill each other”

“Actually” the changeling said, and then pointed to the unicorn “he was teaching me how to fight with a sword” I scratched the back of my neck nervously

“Ah” I said “right, my mistake, carry on” I then hastily exited from weapons testing before one of them decided to go after me with a katana, I then headed back up to the bridge, as I walked onto the ridge I noticed another ship that was a close proximity to ours, it also had smoke billowing out.

“Vuur Koning, that ship hasn’t moved since we first saw it, and it hasn’t responded to any of our attempts at communication” Autumn said “what do you want us to do?”

“Have Frostfang slow down and stop next to it, but to be careful, it could be a trap” I said, I then walked up to the microphone

“Unidentified airship, this is Captain Vuur Koning of the Horde ship Jörmungandr, do you require assistance, over?” no response “when we get close enough, we’re boarding that ship” Frostfang brought our ship alongside the other ship, it had angular armour, which was dented and shot at.

Myself, Scar, Autumn, Vinyl and Minion stepped onto the decking of the other vessel, Vinyl now had basic metal armour and levitated a spell rifle, Boris perched on my shoulder, Frostfang was watching the ship to make sure none of the crew go any funny ideas while we were gone, my brother was currently in front, using the heat vision on his helmet to look for signs of life, but he had his arm mounted gun ready, just in case it was a trap, so far the chances of us finding any one was slim, Minion suddenly stopped.

“Hold up” he whispered “I think I’ve got something” he then walked up to a door, he knocked twice and waited, after about a minute he looked at us and shrugged before he stepped.

“I’ll need help to open that door” he said to me, I nodded before putting my pistol and sword away I stood in line with him “on 3, 1…2…3” we both charged the door and it flew off its hinges, the first thing I noticed was a shape in the corner of the poorly lit room, but I was unable to properly make it out, I went to go towards it but Minion held his arm out to stop me.

“What is it?” I whispered.

“It looks like a dragon, a young one” he said, and then began to slowly knell down and lower his weapons, eventually leaving them on the ground, I saw the shape move slightly “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you”

“W-what are you?” I heard a young female voice ask quietly, the fear apparent in her voice

“I’m a human” Minion said, in a friendly tone “my name is Minion, and this is my brother Vuur Koning, what’s your name”

“I’m called Aurora” the voice said, sound a little less scared, I could see the shape move towards us.

“That’s a nice name” Minion said “do you know what happened here?” I heard a sniff before the shape lunged at my brother and…hugged him? Now that she was in the light of the door way I could now make out the dragons features, she was small for a dragon, about the size of a small dog, with only 4 limbs, just two wings and two legs, she was a dark green and she was now crying and burying her head into his chest plate, I could see tears glinting in the light of the doorway

“There all gone” she said, her breath hitching slightly as she spoke, she was just a child, alone and scared on a ship, and that broke my heart.

“shhh, it’s o.k.” My brother said, holding the young dragoness “your safe now” he then picked her up and began to walk out the door, I picked up his weapons and followed him out, he whispered reassurances to her as we all walked back to the ship, the crew thankfully gave us some space as we walked past, I turned to the crew.

“Strip that ship of all usable parts” I said, then sighed before following the others down to Minions living quarters.

When I got to the door to my brothers living quarters Autumn, Vinyl and Scar were stood outside, and the door was shut, the atmosphere in the corridor was like that of a funeral, after a few minutes the door opened quietly and Minion stepped out.

“How is she?” I asked.

“To sum up” he said quietly, shutting the door “she’s scared, hungry and grieving, she was the daughter of a couple of dragons that were working on a merchant ship, pirates attacked the ship and killed everyone, the only reason she’s still alive is because her parents locked her in her room.

“oh, the poor thing” Autumn said “how old is she?”

“about 10” he said sadly.

“if we come across those pirates, I’m shooting them out of the skies” I said “how long ago did they attack?”

“Aurora says it was earlier today” Minion said, I stormed off towards the bridge, ignoring my friends protests, I stepped onto the walkway in front of the bridge, and called to the crew.

“My fellow crew mates” I said, everyone on the deck stopped to look at me “the young dragoness that we brought on board is the only survivor after that ship was attacked by pirates” the crew stared to murmur.

“Now, I will not stand for the killing of innocent people, which is why we are going after those pirates, we will find them, we will exact justice upon them, and we will show them NO QUARTER” the crew cheered, anyone that was on the other ship quickly returned and we set off, In the distance I could see a ship, so I ordered the engine crew to take to boiler as far is it could go and we soon began to catch up, eventually we were within 100 feet of them, they looked like you average pirates as well, they even flew the jolly Rodger, I spoke into the radio.

“Unidentified vessel, this is Captain Vuur Koning of the dragon hauled horde ship Jörmungandr, you are to stop immediately, I repeat, you are to stop immediately, or I will not hesitate to blow your arses into high heaven” I snarled into the microphone, after a few second I heard someone reply.

“Why the hostility mate?” the voice on the other end asked in a stereotypical pirate voice.

“Because you mercilessly slaughtered the entire crew of a merchant ship, leaving only a young dragoness, no older than 10” I spat back “you will stop” the ship stopped and we drew up alongside it, I ordered the guns to be aimed at the ship, I stepped out of the bridge and onto the decking, there was about 11 meters between us, most of my crew were hurling insults at the pirates.

“Who be the captain of this ship?” a wingless red dragon that was hanging on the rigging on his ship asked

“I am!” I shouted as I walked up to the railing, just as Autumn, Vinyl and Minion climbed up the steps to the deck, the dragon regarded me with curiosity.

“You are a strange one” he said, his crew chuckled at that, he then glanced at the name of our ship “what is a Jörmungandr?”

“Shut it” I barked “I don’t answer to pirates like you, I just want to know why?”

“Why what?” the dragon asked innocently “I be just a humble captain” his crew chuckled darkly.

“I want to know why you mercilessly slaughtered the entire crew of a ship.” I snarled.

“The captain owed me money” he said with a shrug, I then pulled out my pistol and shot him in shoulder, he clutched it in pain “AHH, you bastard”

“You’ve just admitted to you crimes” I said “and as a member of the Equestrian Royal Guard, I am fully authorised to attack you vessel” I then turned to the people manning the massive guns.

“OPEN FIRE”

The guns all fired at once and the ship rocked as blue energy shot from the barrels, I turned back to the pirate ship just in time to see the captains eyes turn to pinpricks before the arcane rounds impacted the side of the ship, the parts of the hull exploded, and the ship started to slowly drift towards the ground, I quickly snapped my fingers and began teleporting back and forth between the two ships, taking the crew of the pirate ship and depositing them on the deck of our ship, left the captain till last, I teleported a couple of steps away from him, he was currently sprawled on the floor, trying to get up, I walked towards him and wen to grab hold of him but he stopped me.

“Don’t” he said.

“What?” I asked.

“Leave me” he said, trying to get up, and failing, I rolled my eyes before grabbing hold of him and pulling him up, he looked at me in surprise “Why?”

“Because if I’m not merciful, then I’m no better than you” I said “I spared your crew, I will offer them the chance to join me and redeem themselves, I’m giving you that choice as well” I held my hand out to him, he looked at me and smirked

“How do you know I won’t stab you in the back?” he said.

“I don’t, it’s called trust, something that isn’t common amongst pirates” he chuckled at that “so what will it be, die on this ship, or join my crew, and live to travel the world” he slowly lifted his hand and hesitated before placing it on mine, I nodded before teleporting us back to the ship, just as his hit the ground in a spectacular explosion, he removed his hand from mine only to be punched in the jaw by my brother, the dragon chuckled slightly whilst massaging his jaw.

“I deserved that one” he muttered, getting up.

“why my brother decided to spare you, I’ll never know” my brother spat, before getting right up in the dragons face “but know this, if you so much as look at me or Aurora funny, I WILL NOT HESITATE TO BEAT THE UTTER SHIT OUT OF YOU AND THEN KEELHAUL YOU WHILE WE GO THOUGH THE MOUNTAIN RANGE INTO THE GRIFFIN KINGDOMS!” he then punched the dragon in the snout before walking below deck.

“E’s got quite the punching arm” the dragon said, holding his snout.

“And you deserve it” I said “from now on, you and your crew are doing all of the menial jobs, scrubbing the decks, cleaning the toilets, you’ll have to earn our respect, you all do as I say, and follow my word, to the letter, then I won’t be tempted to leave you alone in a room with my brother” I noticed his eyes reduce to pinpricks.

“I don’ think me boys‘ll be givin’ ya much trouble” the dragon said, he then turned to his former crew “ain’ tha’ righ’ la’s?”

“Aye!” the shouted.

“Good” I said “treat my crew with respect, stay out of my brothers way unless you can help it, especially if he is with a young, dark-green dragoness”

“Will do” he said “And thank you, not many people would show mercy like you did”

“Not many people need a crew as badly as I do, now get to work! you can start by scrubbing the decks” I said, before turning and walking away, I walked below deck and rounded a corner only to get punced in the jaw, sending me sprawling to the floor.

“Why?” Minion said, stepping into view.

“Because” I said, getting up “if I were to kill them mercilessly then I would be no better than them”

“How do you think Aurora will feel about this?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“She’ll have an opportunity to confront them about it, show them the consequences of their actions” I said “I’m still pissed off at them for what they did, but anyone can be redeemed”

“That’s bullshit and you know it” he spat.

“Is it?” I asked “you obviously haven’t heard of Discord”

“You called” I heard the aforementioned draconequis say, just as he slithered out of one of the vents, confusing my brother greatly

“Speak of the Devil…” I muttered, face palming.

“What the fuck!?” Minion exclaimed, I sighed before introducing them.

“Brother, this is Discord, the reformed god of chaos, Discord, this is my brother Minion

“What are you?” my brother asked.

“He just said” Discord said, pointing at me.

“What do you want?” I asked, walking past the two of them, Discord started floating after me, my brother regarded him wearily, but never the less, walked after us, I walked up to the bridge and stared out of the window, watching the crews work, I then turned around to look at them “well then, what are you here for?”

“I’m simply here to pass on a message” he said, conjuring winged shoes and a toga.

“Go on” a said, twirling my hand.

“Expect your ship to end up teleporting to Equestria at some point, I can’t tell you the specifics, only that here will be a battle, and your destiny will become clear afterwards, it won’t be for some time, so get ready” he then disappeared in a cotton candy mushroom cloud that started to rain chocolate milkshake.

“God damn it, Discord!” I shouted, Minion took two steps away from the pink cloud, which soon started to dissipate.

“He’s weird” he said.

“Try batshit-fucking-insane” I said “you wouldn’t believe me if I told you he used to be evil, he may be crazy, but he is seriously cunning and clever, it’s almost scary, I would hate to fight him, because you can’t predict what he will do next, anyway, I suppose we should start preparing”

“Why” Minion asked.

“Because given his past history of predictions, we will be ending up in Equestria, whether we want to or not” I said, looking at the navigational charts “only Celestia or Luna have the power to transport this ship several thousand miles, and if they are going to resort to that, then what ever it is that will threaten them, doesn’t bare thinking about” I looked out the window and saw that we were heading into the mountain range.

“How’s Aurora?” I asked my brother

“Sleeping” he replied simply.

“I hope the poor girl doesn’t have nightmares” I said, looking out the window, deep in thought.

The Jörmungandr slowly crept between the mountains that separated the Frozen North and The Griffin Kingdoms, it had gotten so risky that Frostfang had stopped flying and was now crawling though, dragging the ship behind him, I had even resorted to requesting the help of Blazewing, the former captain of the pirate ship, so he was now stood beside me in the bridge, I was still relatively new to this, and he had more experience, never the less, my brother kept a very close eye one him, and when I say kept a close eye on him, I mean he was constantly stood behind Blazewing with his sword drawn, the crew were uneasy, and that was making me uneasy, the walls of the mountains were no more than 10 feet from each side of the ship.

“If ah may be so bold as t’ speak my mind” Blazewing looking back and forth between both sides of the ship nervously “you are takin’ an ‘uge risk, goin’ through ‘ere”

“True” I said, nodding “but we’ve come too far to back out” he nodded at this.

“Aye, tha’ be true” he said “th’ sooner we ge’ ou’a this cursed moun’ain range, th’ be’er” just as he said this the ship hit the side of one of the mountains, sending us all to the floor.

“See wha’ ah mean?” he said, getting back up, thankfully, we didn’t have much further to go before we were clear of the mountains, I turned to my brother.

“When we get out of these mountains, remind me to have some pegasi check out any damage” I said, he nodded, after about half an hour of tense traversing of the mountains, we finally reached clear skies, you could practically hear the sighs of relief as we accelerated away from the mountains, now we had several weeks of open air before we reached the mountainside capital of the Griffin Kingdom, so we could afford to relax a little, as we weren’t needed we all retired to our quarters, in the couple of weeks since we had rescued Aurora, Minion had become her surrogate father, I noticed that he was now more subdued and matured, he was now starting to act his age, rather than acting like a big kid most of the time, once she got over her grief, Aurora turned out to be a sweet little girl with a mild demeanour, although a noticed she was starting to pick up a British accent, due to her being around my brother, I opened the door to mine and Autumns quarters and was pounced on by Scar, who began to lick my face.

“O.k., I get it, you were worried about me” I said, pushing him off of me and stroking him from head to tail “you’re a good boy” he yipped slightly and I patted him, before getting up and walking over to the stereo system that Vinyl had installed a few weeks ago, I brought up the music player on my laptop and put the music onto shuffle, I stared to bob my head to the music, the pounding heavy metal pouring out of the speakers as I clicked at Boris, who was perched on a special perch that I had built for him, he flew over to me as I walked towards the balcony and perched on my shoulder, I opened the doors and sat down on one of the chairs on the balcony, I sighed as I enjoyed the view, the skies were clear, the sun shone and the view of the mountains was spectacular, I levitated a glass and a bottle of cider over, Scar walked over to me, his claws clicking on the floor, he laid down next to me and I patted him in the side, I then clicked to Boris and he took off into the open air to hunt for some food, I sat back and sipped my cider as I watched a master of his craft at work, he then dived and disappeared for a few minutes before returning, I then spotted Aurora flying alongside Autumn, seems the pegasus was teaching the dragoness how to fly, I waived to them and Autumn waived back before saying something to Aurora, the both of them banked towards the balcony I was sat on and landed.

“Hi Aurora” I said to the dragoness.

“Hello Vuur Koning” she said cheerfully, she then heard the music I was listening to and scrunched up her snout, I chuckled before pausing the music.

“Better?” I asked, she nodded “was Autumn teaching you how to fly?”

“Yeah, my parents never really had time to teach me” she said sadly.

“Listen” I said, lifting up her chin “if it helps, both me and Minion know it’s like, losing a parent, so we are here for you if you need support, okay?”

“Okay” she said, cheering up a little, I then remembered something.

“Aurora, what’s you fire breathing?” I asked, she puffed her chest out and spat out some green flames.

“Really good” she said proudly.

“in that case then” I said getting up from the chair and kneeling down to her level “how would you like to help me write a letter to Princesses Celestia and Luna of Equestria” her eyes went wide.

“You know princesses!?” she asked, if her eyes were any wider they would’ve fallen out of their sockets, both me and Autumn chuckled at that.

“Yep, and who knows, if you are really good for my brother Minion, you may just get to meet them one day” I said, I then walked over to the writing desk and sat down, I turned to look at Aurora “come on then, do you want to help me or not?” her eyes went wide and she flew over, landing on the chair next to mine.

“I’m going to write something quickly, and then you can write something, okay?” I said, Aurora blushed before mumbling something “What was that?”

“I can’t write?” she said, before holding out her wings, I could now see that she only had two claws on the top of each wing.

“Well then, you can tell me what you want to say, and I’ll write it down for you, okay?” she nodded, I then got a quill and started to write:

Dear Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

I just thought I would write to tell you how things are going, I am currently sitting in the captains quarters of the dragon hauled horde ship ‘Jörmungandr: the Midgard Serpent’, Jörmungandr is pronounced Yur-mun-gan-der if you were wondering, anyway, I’m now the Captain of this ship, which belongs to Frostfang, that’s the dragon that attacked the train were on, Luna had him become our transport, we stopped in his cave for the night and well, it kind of just came up in conversation, anyway, Frostfang pulls the ship, whilst I’m in charge of the crew, I’ll tell you now, it is a fully armed vessel, with enough fire power to blow other ships out of the sky, as has already be proven against a pirate ship, and don’t worry, I saved the crew, and they’re now doing work on my ship, speaking of crew, we now have a sizable one of around 250, just enough to keep this ship running, we’ve just passed through the mountain range that lies on the border with the griffin kingdom and we should be in the capital within a few weeks.

In case you were wondering how you got this message, my brother is now in the care of a young dragoness called Aurora, and just before I write down what she wants to say, I’ll say this, if ever Equestria goes to war, I will gladly have Frostfang pull this ship into battle, we have more than enough firepower to make a difference.

Aurora says that she feels very lucky to be able to communicate with you two, that she hopes to meet you one day and that she is excited to be able to help me write to you.

Yours sincerely.
Your friend Vuur Koning, captain of the D.H.H.S. ‘Jörmungandr: The Midgard Serpent’
And Aurora the dragoness.

I rolled up the letter and then bound it in a seal that was enchanted to send the letter to Princess Celestia when burnt by dragon fire, I then held it in front of Aurora.

“Go on then, burn it” I said, she looked confused.

“Why?” she asked.

“Because the seal is enchanted to send the letter to Princess Celestia, but it only works if you burn it with dragon fire” I said, she gingerly took the scroll in her claws.

“Okay, 1…2…3” and then she breathed green flames onto the scroll, the whole scroll burnt up and the flames flew out the window.

“There it goes” I said, Aurora quickly flew to the window to watch the flames fly towards Equestria, a big grin plastered on her face.

“It worked!” she exclaimed, she went to fly out the window but I stopped her

“Don’t you want to wait for them to send a reply” I asked her, she climbed down from the railing and flew inside, we didn’t have to wait for long, only instead of receiving a letter, there was flash and a loud pop, and Princess Celestia herself landed on the balcony, the force of the impact causing the balcony to tilt downwards ever so slightly and sending Boris and Scar running inside.

“Hello Vuur Koning, Autumn Skies” Celestia said, nodding to each of us, as if she hadn’t just teleported out of nowhere and landed on my balcony.

“P-princess” I hastily bowed, she just rolled her eyes.

“There is no need for formality, I simply wanted to see this ship of yours” she said, she then took notice of Aurora and knelt down to seem less intimidating “And you must be Aurora”

“Y-yes Princess Celestia” the young Dragoness said, shaking slightly.

“There is no need to fear me” Celestia said softly, before standing up to full height, Aurora looked up at her in awe Celestia then turned to me “how about showing me your ship then”

“Yes, of course” I said, before walking towards the door, I stopped and turned to Autumn and Aurora “go and tell Minion and Vinyl that Celestia is visiting, I want the crew to be working their hardest by the time me and Celestia are on the top deck” Autumn nodded and beckoned for Aurora to follow, as me and Celestia walked along the corridors she turned to me.

“How did you end up with a dragoness so young?” she asked, I sighed.

“Unfortunately, the pirates I mentioned in the letter, attacked the ship that her parents were working on, Aurora was the only one we could find, alive that is” I said sadly “that is why I blew their ship out of the sky, my brother is looking after Aurora now”

“But why add the pirates to your crew?” Celestia asked.

“Because if I just let them die then I would be no better than them” I said, shrugging “plus I need all the crew I can get, this is a big ship, bigger than any on my world, at the moment they’re on all of the worst jobs, just because their now part of my crew, doesn’t mean I’m letting them off Scott free” we walked up the steps to the outside deck, all of the crew were doing something, Celestia’s eyes widened when she saw the massive 10 foot long gun barrels of the turrets.

“Impressive, aren’t they” Minion said, leaning against the base of the turret closest to us and tapping it with a knuckle “there are 4 barrels to each turret, and 10 turrets dotted along each side of the ship, that’s 20 turrets and 80 barrels of magical destruction ready to unleash ragnarok upon any ship foolish enough to attack us”

“Why so many Turrets?” Celestia asked.

“Dragons covet their horde” he said simply.

“Can you see why I said my ship is your ship?” I said “no doubt something with this many guns will be a big boost to moral, and will no doubt help to turn the tide of most battles, it can attack from both sides at once”

“You would send this ship into battle for my country?” she asked, surprised.

“And the crew” I said “this ship has people from most species, I’ve given some of them the task of creating armour and weapons that are as perfect as is possible, come on, I’ll show you” I then turned around walked back down the steps

“And here we have the armoury” I said to Celestia as I opened the door, there were various creatures, all working on pieces of armour, there was now even a dragon from Blazewing’s crew, a blue dragoness with gold spikes, currently working on a helmet, on one wall there was examples of armour for each species, Celestia looked at the armour.

“How did you design it?” she asked, walking up to the pony armour and examining it closely.

“I had a member of each species list of the strengths and weaknesses of their nations armour” I said, picking up the chest-plate for a griffin’s set “we then incorporated as many of the strengths as practically possible, and the styling was taken after mine and my brother’s armour, better to have a uniform look, there are minor variations depending on the species, like the armour for the flying species is more lightly built than let’s say, that of a minotaur”

“Truly a versatile concept” she said, levitating over the helmet of a pony “do you have spare designs?”

“I’m guessing you want to incorporate this into your royal guard?” I asked, she nodded and I levitated copies of the plans for the armour for all of the pony types “if you want I can have them draw up designs for Alicorn armour” she shook her head.

“I can have some made for me in Canterlot” she said, taking them in her magical grasp.

“Right, onto weapons testing”

As we walked into weapons testing I could see various different species sparing, there were blades and blunt force weapons laid out on a table, I walked over to the table and picked up a sword similar to a broad sword.

“A Griffonian broad sword” I said passing it to Celestia “but built like a Neighponese katana, the steel has been folded over 1000 times, we actually tested it, and it cut all the way through 4 body widths of meat before it stopped halfway through the 5th” Celestia’s eyes widened and she took it in her magic and gave it a few test swings.

“This is very well balanced” she said, looking up and down the length of the blade

“A sword can have the best blade in the world” a griffin said, walking up to us and bowing “but it’s useless if it isn’t balanced properly, your majesty”

“What is your name?” Celestia asked.

“Baldric, your majesty” the griffin said “I helped to design the blade, hence the Griffonian influence”

“How would you feel if this ship went to war with the Griffin Kingdoms?” Celestia asked.

“If I may speak my mind, your majesty, King Alexander is an arrogant bastard, I would gladly follow Vuur Koning into battle against the Griffin Kingdoms with my sword drawn” Baldric said.

“Which is why I’ve put Baldric in command of the griffins on this ship” I said, patting the griffin on the shoulder “I’m grateful to have someone like him on my ship, it also helps because I can’t speak a word of Griffonian, he translates any orders I give to the other griffins”

“Is it like this with every species on your ship?” Celestia asked.

“Yes” I said “me, Autumn, Minion and Vinyl are the senior officers on the ship, then there is a secondary chain of command, with a senior officer of each species, we have a council of sorts, any major disputes between two or more species get put forth and we all discuss a solution, it also makes it easier to keep everyone in line if there is a member of their own species giving orders to them, the former pirates are currently led by their former captain, Blazewing”

“Aren’t you worried about mutiny?” Celestia asked, I laughed.

“I need only threaten to lock them in a room with my brother” I said, Baldric chuckled, Celestia just looked at us, confused “Minion punched Blazewing in the jaw, twice, and then threatened to tie him to the hull of the ship whist we went through the Griffonian mountains, they’re scared of my brother, that’s why they haven’t tried to take command yet”

Celestia and I were stood on the top deck of the ship, looking at the Griffonian Mountain range that we were following to the mountainside capitol of Gryphus, Boris was flying alongside the ship.

“You have a journey of a lifetime ahead of you” Celestia said “not many people get the chance to do what you are doing”

“Why do you think I’m so eager to let people join my crew” I said, Celestia then closed her eyes and raised up into the air, she began to glow and I saw the sun slowly dip below the horizon, she then lowered back onto the decking.

“You have incredible power” I said “I’m surprised every nation isn’t grovelling at your hooves” she scoffed at that.

“That’s just unrealistic” Celestia said, rolling her eyes “every nation has their allies, and their enemies, our situation with the griffins is a key example”

“Still, you are practically a goddess, your sister too, I would hate to go up against either of you in battle” I said “if you can move the sun without effort, then I’m scared to see you at full power” Celestia chuckled.

“If you stay on my good side, you won’t” she said, looking at me out of the corner of her eye, she then stepped back “now, I must be getting back to Canterlot”

“Send my regards to Luna and the Elements” I said, she nodded before disappearing in a flash.

I stood, leaning on the railing of the bow of the ship, watching the stars with Boris on my shoulder and with Scar sat next to me, it was fairly quiet, aside from the thestrals and changelings that were sweeping the deck and doing general maintenance of any equipment that was located on this deck, but other than speaking amongst themselves in their languages, they kept to themselves, I was trying to find the different constellations when many winged, wraith like creatures started flying around the ship, Scar growled quietly

“Night vitchez” a Slavic sounding female voice said, I looked down to find a middle aged thestral mare holding a mop “vorgive me capitan, I vaz zimply enjoying de night zky and…”

“Don’t worry about it” I said, she visibly relaxed at that “are they hostile?”

“Only if you provoke dem” she said “juzt leave dem be, and dey’ll do de zame to you” I nodded.

“What exactly are they” I asked, the mare just shrugged.

“Who knowz, no ponies ave been able to ztudy dem long enough to figure out” she said “we theztralz believe dat dey are de zpiritz of de anzeztorz of all zentient beings”

“That’s a nice sentiment” I said, watching them.

“I know dat look” she said “you look like zomepony who’z lozt zomepony dear to you” I hummed in acknowledgement and nodded

“My father” I said sadly “it would have been his birthday today, he’s been gone over two years” the thestral gasped.

“I’m zo zorry” she said, stumbling over her words “I never meant to bring up any bad…” I cut her off.

“Don’t worry about it” I said, chuckling slightly “I would have told you if you were touching on a sensitive subject” one of the night witches drifted towards us and placed its hands in the railing, they were like skeletal claws, the look in its face could almost be called ‘curios’ it had wide, black eyes, a reptilian face with withered skin, and looked like it was wearing a cloak of some sort, with just a tail sprouting out of the bottom.

“It doezn’t recognize your zpeciez” the thestral said quietly, slowly walking over and resting her front legs on the railing.

“It looks like some kind of draconian” I heard my brother say, the night witch’s head jerked to look behind me, I followed its gaze to see my brother, Aurora, Vinyl and Autumn walking over, the night witch took off and flew onto the decking, hovering in front of my brother.

“It won’t harm you” I said, noticing my brother reaching for his sword “just don’t attack it” he relaxed but didn’t let go of the handle, Aurora hugged Minions leg, shaking, the night witch looked down at the young dragoness and reached out a claw, placing it on Auroras cheek, I noticed Minions hold on his sword tighten, the night witch lingered for a few seconds before slowly drifting away, joining the countless others flying silently alongside the ship.

“Those things are creepy” Vinyl said, shuddering slightly.

“As long as they aren’t a threat, I don’t have a problem with them” I said, resting my back against the railing “I actually find them rather fascinating”

Today was a milestone in our journey, we had finally made enough armour to start equipping people, to start off we only equipped the senior officers of each species and those serving under my brother’s command, Autumn got a totally new set of armour and Vinyl final had her own set, I also had a set made for Blazewing that matched mine, minus the helmet, seeing as I had promoted him to my advisor and senior navigator, as a result his former band of pirates had gained more respect amongst the crew, they were now on equal standing with my crew, and they were shaping up to be good sailors, and Minion was finally starting to go easy on them, we had one week of travel left before we reached Gryphus, and it was starting to show, we would occasionally passed another ship, or the occasional patrol.

I was stood on the bridge, as was now the norm, when the radio crackled into life.

“Oidentifierade beväpnade fartyg, är detta en kunglig grip patrull fartyg uppge identitet och avsikt, eller att vi kommer att använda dödligt våld” they said, in what I assumed to be Griffonian, I looked out the window to see a large battleship flying alongside us, a griffin that was sat at the communication area turned around to face me.

“Captain, it’s a royal Griffin patrol ship, they vant to know our identity and intention”

“Tell them that this is the Jörmungandr and that we are simply travelling around the world, and that the armaments are a necessary precaution” I said, the griffin nodded before relaying my message in Griffonian, the patrol ship responded and the griffin turned back around.

“They vish to come aboard for inspection” the griffin said, I had Frostfang stop the ship and I walked onto the deck with any documents they might need to see, the patrol ship pulled up alongside and a walkway of some sort stretched across, several armoured griffins walked across, a griffin in slightly more showy armour stepped up to me.

“Är du kapten på skeppet?” the griffin said.

“I don’t speak Griffin” I said.

“Ar. Du. Kapten” he replied, I only just understood what he said.

“Yes, I Kapten” I said, nodding “I only speak Equestrian” I then pointed to a pony that was walking past, and then to my throat whilst mouthing random words”

“Ah, du speak pony, ve need see papers” he said, I handed him the documents and he took them in his talons, he flicked through the documents quickly, he then looked at me “vhy, guns?” he pointed at the turrets and shrugged.

“Pirates” I replied, he just looked at me, confused, I sighed before turning towards the bridge and shouting “Autumn, I need a little help here!” I gestured to the griffin to hold on and eventually Autumn trotted out.

“What do you need?” she asked.

“Dearest Autumn” I said “please be so kind as to translate for me, we are just confusing each other” she scoffed and rolled her eyes before turning to the griffin.

“Jag kommer att översätta för honom” she said, the griffin quirked an eyebrow “vad var det du ville veta?”

“Jag vill veta varför han har så många vapen på sitt skepp” the griffin replied, pointing at the turrets.

“He wants to know why you have so many guns on your ship” Autumn said.

“Tell him it’s in case we run into pirates or a rogue dragon” I said.

“Det är i fall vi stöter på pirater eller en skurk drake” Autumn said, the griffin nodded before saying.

“Allt verkar vara i sin ordning” he handed the papers back to me “ska jag låta dig på vägen nu, tack för att samarbeta med oss” he then recalled his troops and left our ship.

“Well he was nice” I said, watching their ship pull away from ours, Autumn just scoffed and walked away.

“You obviously can’t read Griffin body language” she said, walking towards the bridge.

“What?” I asked, following her.

“He was practically ready to ransack this ship, things work very differently here, ask Baldric, I’m sure he’ll tell you exactly the same” she said, rearing up and placing her front hooves on the chart table, I absentmindedly studied the map, tracing our route from the Crystal Empire.

“I’m still new to this, remember that” I said, she looked at me, her eyes full of worry.

“Yes, and that’s what scares me” she said “I’m scared you make a mistake and end up rotting in a cell for the rest of your life” I placed a hand on her cheek and she leant into it, a single tear rolling down it and onto my hand

“But you won’t let that happen” I said “and if it does happen, they’ll have to deal with Minion, he’s the most loyal friend I’ve ever had, besides you, and if anyone double crosses him, his friends, or his family, they better be prepared to get the hell off of the planet, because he’ll stop at nothing to bring justice upon them, which will probably involve beating the shit out of them” Autumn laughed at that.

I walked along the corridors towards mine and Autumns quarters, I was just passing Minions quarters when I heard electric guitars, as in more than one, I stopped and knocked on his door, as I expected they didn’t hear me, and I rolled my eyes before opening the door and walking inside, when I entered I was surprised to see my brother in the middle of a jamming session with the blue and gold dragoness from the armoury, who was playing a bass guitar similar in style to a Stratocaster, at that point I had a eureka moment, my brother noticed me and stopped playing.

“Oh, hey brother” he said “what do you think” he gestured to the two of them.

“I’ve had an idea” I said.

“Did it hurt?” he asked, smirking.

“Vorpissen” I said, rolling my eyes “Anyway, I’ve just thought, why don’t we form a band, you two as lead and bass, me and Autumn can be vocals, Vinyl can be keyboardist…”

“She could make always make a Keytar” Minion said.

“Bloody hell, that’s genius” I said.

“What’s a Keytar?” the dragoness asked.

“It’s a keyboard that can be held like a guitar, so the keyboardist isn’t stood in one place

“We just need a drummer” I said.

“I know a diamond dog that is skilled with a drum kit” the dragoness said, grinning

“Perfect, go get the drummer, I just need to talk to Autumn and Vinyl about it” I said “hold on, I’ll be right back” I then bolted out the door.

I ran down the corridors towards the bridge, where I knew Autumn and Vinyl would be, I burst through the doors to the bridge, startling everyone.

“Bloody hell, Vuur Koning” Vinyl said “what’s got you so worked up?”

“Vinyl, Autumn, I need you to come with me, Minion and I have got a genius idea” I said, the two ponies looked at each other uncertainly, before shrugging and following me back towards Minions quarters.

“So let me get this straight, you want us to form a band, and play in every country that we visit?” Autumn asked, the four of us, the dragoness and the diamond dog, who would become the drummer, were gathered in the meeting room

“Yes!” my brother and I both said.

“Well I’m all for it” Vinyl said “it’ll provide a neat source of income”

“Not yet” I said “we have to show the world how well we can play first, we have to get to Minotauria via Equestria, I say we ask for permission from the king to play a couple of free shows in Gryphus, then we head to Equestria and play in several places, Canterlot, Cloudsdale, Ponyville, Manehatten, Stalliongrad and finally Trottingham, the first day is free, but we only play a limited set, the days after that are the complete set of whatever songs we chose, but we charge, then we head to Minotauria and play in a few cities before heading back across Equestria, play a few shows, then follow the continent down south to the Ibex Empire and Neighpon, then across the ocean to the southern continent and Zebrica, Camelu and Cervidas, playing in the capitol city of each, then we head into the uncharted territories of the lost world” Autumn looked at us all before sighing.

“Alright, I’m in” she said, me and Minion high fived.

“Ok then” I said “let’s get preparing” in the next week we managed to covert part of the absolutely gigantic hold into a makeshift stage, with Frostfang’s permission of course, and I was able get permission from the griffin king and Celesta to play in Gryphus and Canterlot, with the other shows depending on how popular we ended up becoming, whilst I was doing that, the other band members were practicing the songs that we had chosen to play, thankfully Vinyl had a spell that detected the individual instruments of a song and put them onto separate music sheets, so everyone could start learning a song pretty much straight away, she also managed to build a Keytar, using a keyboard that she randomly had amongst her stuff, just in time for our arrival in Gryphus.

It was the morning before the concert, The Jörmungandr was moored up in a large field often used for music festivals, just on the outskirts of Gryphus, that we had arrived at late last night, so we had plenty of space, I was currently in the dining hall, drinking a mocha and trying to shake off my tiredness.

“You spent a year training with the royal guard and you still have problems getting up in a morning?” Minion asked, he was sat opposite me, eating a full English, with Aurora sat next to him, eating a bowl of cereal.

“I’m not a morning person” I muttered, before eating a piece of bacon, and it was real bacon “and you know I have trouble getting to sleep”

“Autumn as well I’m guessing” Minion said, smirking, I had to bite my tongue at that point, Aurora looked at him, confused.

“What do you mean?” Aurora asked innocently.

“Nothing, dear” Minion said, pulling her close and kissing her on the forehead, she squirmed in his grasp.

“Daaad!” she whined, trying to pull away from him “I hate it when you do that” that got my attention.

“What!?” I exclaimed “when did she start calling you dad?”

“A couple of weeks ago” my Minion replied, tussling the soft spines on her head.

“Oh damn, I’m now an uncle” I said, spacing out, Minion waived a hand in front of my face and Aurora giggled, I shook my head to clear my thoughts.

“Welcome back” my brother said, smirking “uncle” I face palmed.

“That makes me feel old” I complained.

“What does?” Autumn asked, I turned my head to see her and Vinyl walking towards the table with their breakfasts.

“Guess who is now officially Aurora’s dad, you get bonus points for guessing who her uncle now is” I said, Autumn gasped.

“That’s wonderful!” she said, her pupils then shrank “hang on, that means I’m…” she trailed off, having only just realised where she stood in this.

“Aunty Autumn kind of has a nice ring to it” Minion said “don’t you think so, Vinyl?”

“I think that sound awesome” Vinyl said, sitting down, Autumn was still stood up, her breakfast tray balanced on her back and a blank expression on her face, the two hyenas burst out laughing.

“Thanks a lot you two, you’ve just broke my girlfriend” I said, I then got up and kissed her on the lips, snapping her out of her trance “honey, you were spaced out for a moment”

“Oh, sorry” she said, blushing slightly before walking up to the table and tilting her wings so her tray of food slid onto the table.

“But still” I said, sitting back down “being called an uncle makes me feel like I’m 50 or something, I’m 19, who’s ever heard of a 19 year old uncle?”

“There are probably plenty in Scunthorpe” Minion said

“That make me feel even worse” I said.

“But” Minion said “I can guarantee that none of them have a niece who is a dragoness”

“True” I said, shrugging “so, are you all ready for the concert tonight?” they all responded with varying positive answers, Minion then looked at Aurora.

“Aurora, tonight, I’m letting you stay up late to watch the concert” he said, Aurora’s eyes let up “but, you have to promise me that if either Vuur Koning or Autumn swear, you won’t repeat what they say, is that understood”

“Yes, Dad” she said, hugging him “thank you”

“You’re welcome” he said, he then stood up, lifting up Aurora and placing her on his shoulders “now let’s go and get ready, we going to be sightseeing around Gryphus and I want you looking your best” he then walked out of the dining hall, Aurora squealing with laughter at being given a piggy-back ride.

“Cute kid” Vinyl said, finishing up her breakfast “right, I better go and get ready as well” she then stood up and walked out.

“I suppose we should go and get ready as well” I said, downing the last of my mocha.

“Armour or not?” Autumn asked, standing up

“Armour of course” I said, walking out of the dining hall, Autumn by my side “we’ll be wearing it during the concert, so if we wear it whilst we’re walking around Gryphus then we’ll practically be a walking advertisement, we still need to decide on a name”

“We’ll think of something” Autumn said “don’t worry”

We walked down the streets of the mountainside city of Gryphus, walking with me were Minion, with Aurora on his shoulders, Autumn, Vinyl, Scar, Saphyrus; the dragoness who was our bass guitarist, Cloddiwr (pronounced as Cloddiuur); the diamond dog who was our drummer, and Boris; who was currently perched on my left shoulder.
All of the building were similar to European buildings from the 1600s, so they had some familiarity to them, I would be able to enjoy the architecture, if it wasn’t for the guards that were currently escorting us to the castle of King Alexander the 3rd, turns out he was requesting our presence for lunch with several of his advisors, we agreed of course, but only because we didn’t want to piss off a war mongering, power mad, griffin king. Yeah, most of us don’t like him, and I absolutely hate him, in all honesty, he reminds me of Carolus Rex of Sweden.

We walked into the extravagant dining hall, I’ll admit, the castle was nice, it was a lot like the architecture of Lincoln cathedral, the guards stepped aside, revealing a large table, sat halfway along it was a middle aged griffin siting in a throne, and wearing a crown, his whole demeanour reeked of overconfidence and arrogance, he also looked like he could tear me to pieces with little effort, I would have to tread very carefully with this one, and watch what I saw, this was one person I did not want to become enemies with, last thing I needed was to be enemy number one of the Griffin Kingdoms.

“You may sit” he said, we nodded before sitting in the chairs, opposite this king and his advisors.

“Thank you for this, Your Majesty” I said “And for letting us perform music in this fine Kingdome of yours”

“I like you already” he said, smirking, “you’re …” he trailed off, tilting his head, as looking at me would make the words come to him.

“Human?” I supplied.

“Some-human” he continued “who knows how to treat those who deserve it with respect”

“Just someone who would rather not be enemies with a king, one who looks like he could kill me with ease at that” I said, in all honesty, I was mentally swearing my head of at him, for the time that we were there he was mostly just boasting about how undefeatable he was in battle, he finally stopped to take a sip of wine and eat some food that the servants had brought for us.

“So” he said, after swallowing a mouthful of meat “what do you think, I’m truly an impressive warrior, yes?”

“with all due respect, your Highness” I said, I sipped some cider before continuing “I’m sure, by your worlds standards, you are a skilled warrior, but by mine and my brothers standards, your just an above average warrior, now, before you say anything, how many combined casualties occurred in your last great war?” he looked confused for a moment before smirking and saying.

“20’000” I scoffed.

“Oh please” I said, I then looked to the griffins sat each side of him “who here would like to take a guess at the total casualties of my world’s largest war; the Second World War?” one that was sat next to the king spoke up.

“1/2 million?” I dead panned.

“1 million?” another said, I sighed before sitting back and as nonchalantly as possible said

“Try 85 million” I then began inspecting my fingers as the opposite side of the table erupted into splutters, I looked at the king, and he was decidedly paler “as I said, forgive me if I’m not too impressed” I then stood up and folded my arms.

“Gentlemen” I said “consider this, my species has developed a bomb so powerful that if a small one exploded over this city, there would be nothing left but ash and rouble, if the largest one exploded over this city, it would leave a crater ten miles wide and level the surrounding cities and towns for over 50 miles, now I don’t say this to scare you, but to warn you, more of my kind will be coming to this world, maybe some of your kind might be able to visit my world as well at some point, but when that does happen, I’d be careful with what country you declare war on” I then sat down, the King had gone even paler, he gulped.

“You don’t have one of those with you, do you?” he asked, looking at me as if I would explode at any moment.

“No” I said before eating some stake, I swallowed before saying “my compliments to the chef, anyway, I don’t have one with me, and I won’t tell you how to make one either, I’m not stupid enough to give, from our point of view, a primitive civilisation, the blueprints to a nuclear bomb, they’ve caused nothing but trouble on my world”

“H-how primitive do you mean?” the king asked.

“A couple hundred years or so in some areas, but in other areas you are actually more advanced, your air ships being one of them” as I said this I pointed to the airship flying past the window “ours still look like mere blimps” for the rest of the meal, the king was decidedly subdued, he still had an aura of arrogance, but he wasn’t as boastful.

“That went well” I said as we walked along the streets.

“You scared the hell out of him” Minion said, chuckling slightly.

“My point exactly” I said, Aurora looked worried.

“Was what you said about those bombs true, Uncle” she asked, I sighed.

“Unfortunately, yes” I said “but the king wants to go to war with Equestria, I was just giving him a reason not to, especially when he knows that I am a citizen of Equestria, but don’t worry about it, you’re ten, you shouldn’t have to worry about war, the only things you should be caring about are custard and dinosaurs” I ruffled her soft spines and she giggled, she then looked confused.

“What’s a dino..dinosaw?” she asked, struggling with the pronunciation, I over-exaggerated my shock.

“You’ve never heard of dinosaurs?” I asked “dinosaurs are awesome, they were like our version of dragons, except they couldn’t fly, I’ll show you a video on them tomorrow, once were heading towards Equestria” Saphyrus listened intently as I was speaking.

“You said were, as if there are none left” she said.

“Not many things can survive a 6 mile wide meteor” I said, shrugging, all of the Terran’s eyes widened “even if you’ve been around for 120 million years, besides, if they were still around, me and Minion wouldn’t be here, that meteor cleared the way for mammals, allowing them to become the dominant animal group on the planet, 65 million years later, here we are”

“That’s a long time” Autumn said “how do you know about it, if it was so long ago?”

“Ancient remains and speculation, nothing is certain with those sorts of things” I said “just be thankful a pack of raptors didn’t get sent to Equestria”

“What is Raptors?” Cloddiwr said.

“What Boris evolved from” I said.

“Like that helps” Vinyl said, rolling her eyes.

“About 4 foot tall, smart as hell and really fast, they were the dinosaur’s equivalent of wolves…” I trailed off.

“V.K. are you o.k.” Autumn asked.

“I’ve just thought of the name for our band” I said.

“Well go on then, tell us” Minion said, I grinned before saying

“We’ll call our band… The Wolfpack”

I peered out of one of the windows facing the crowd, there were more than I expected, about 1000 or so griffins, and more were arriving, we only had a few minutes before the concert started, most of the other band members were practicing or preparing their instruments, Minion and Saphyrus were tuning their guitars, whilst Vinyl set up her Keytar, and trying to balance on her hind legs, Cloddiwr, was in the middle of a drum solo, helping to break up the tension and Autumn was reading through the lyrics of each of the songs, we had chosen 10 songs to play, it wasn’t easy, learning that many songs in about a week, but, we had done a quick run through last night and we weren’t too bad, at least we would have longer to prepare for the show in Canterlot, a buzzer went off, telling us to take positions, we quickly stood in our designated places and the lights dimmed, the section of the hull in front of us then split down the middle and Vinyl started to tap out keys, eventually building to a crescendo, the lights sparked into life and the rest of the musicians started playing a heavy, high tempo riff, this went on for 25 seconds, then Minion strummed his guitar five times, signalling for me to start singing.

“A time of religion and war, legends tell the tale of a lion, this beast in the shape of a man, with a dream to rule sea and land, and all those who stand in his way die by god and victorious arms, with the righteous that follows him south, once more set ashore to war. Legends are taught, battles fought, this lion has no fear at heart, Lion come forth, come from the north, come from the no-o-o-o-orth
Gustavus Adolphus, Libera et impera, Acerbus et ingens, Augusta per Augusta
A storm over Europe unleashed, Dawn of war a trail of destruction, the power of Rome won't prevail, see the Catholics shiver and shake, the future of warfare unveiled, Showed the way that we still walk today, the ‘Lowe aus Mitternacht’ comes, once more he is here for war. Stories of old, truth unfold, control over Europe he holds, freedom he'll bring, lion and king, lion and king”

Autumn now joined in with the chorus

“Gustavus Adolphus, Libera et impera, Acerbus et ingens, Augusta per Augusta
(Gustavus Adolphus) Gustavus Adolphus come forth, Libera impera (Libera et impera, Acerbus et ingens) Acerbus et ingens, go forth, Libera impera (Augusta per Augusta)”

The music toned down and Autumn began to sing on her own.

“Mighty eagle rule alone, Liberator claim the throne, Lion from the northern land, Take the sceptre from his hand. Mighty eagle rule alone, Liberator claim the throne, Lion from the northern land, Take the sceptre from his hand”

I started singing again, whilst Autumn kept repeating her words, as if they were some type of mantra.

“(Mighty eagle rule alone, liberator claim the throne) Oo-oo-oh you lion from the north, Ooooooooh you lion from the north (Lion from the northern land, Take the sceptre from his hand)
Mighty eagle rule alone, Liberator claim the throne”

Minion and Vinyl suddenly broke out into fast paced, sweeping solo, looking almost as if they had started a competition between themselves.

“Legends have taught, battles fought, this lion has no fear at heart, lion come forth, come from the north, come from the no-o-o-o-orth
Gustavus Adolphus, Libera et impera, Acerbus et ingens, Augusta per Augusta
(Gustavus Adolphus) Gustavus Adolphus come forth, Libera impera (Libera et impera, Acerbus et ingens) Acerbus et ingens, go forth, Libera impera (Augusta per Augusta)”

The song finished and the crowd started cheering, the were reacting to this better than I thought they would, I stepped forwards, Autumn following close behind, I stood there for a few moments, basking in the applause, before holding my hands out for silence, the crowd eventually quietened down.

“Bloody hell, I was not expecting a reaction this positive” I said into the microphone, I then shouted “Can you all understand what I’m saying, Gryphus?” most of the crowd cheered in response, I chuckled.

“Thank goddess for that, because I can’t speak a word of Griffonian” several groups in the crowd laughed “Right, before we properly start this show, I thought I would go round the band members, one of whom you may recognise, first off, my name is Vuur Koning, and I’m not from around here, as you may have already figured out” the crowd chuckled, I then pointed to Autumn.

“Standing next to me is our second lead singer; Autumn Skies from Trottingham” I said, heard a small group cheer “Are you lot from Trottingham as well?” they cheered again.

“Awesome, anyway” I said, and pointed to Minion and a spot light focused on him “on the lead guitar, we have my brother, Minion” he then quickly strummed off a quick riff, eliciting a few cheers, I then pointed to the bassist.

“On bass guitar, Saphyrus, the dragoness” she puffed out some gold flames and also strummed off a riff “On the drums, Cloddiwr the Diamond dog” he did a quick drum solo, I then pointed to Vinyl, but the spotlight didn’t focus on her.

“and our 5th and final member of the band, you might not recognise her with all the armour she’s wearing, but you will in a second” I then beckoned to her “why don’t you come over here and show everyone who you are” she then walked forwards and the spotlight focused on her, she then very slowly levitated her helmet off, when the crowd recognised her they went absolutely ballistic, I nearly went deaf from all of the cheering.

“That’s right folks” I said, smirking “you thought she was gone for good, but here she is, on the Keytar, all the way from Trottingham; Vinyl Scratch, better known as D.J. PON3!” they then cheered even louder, if that was possible.

“And together, we are, THE WOLFPACK!” the cheers were deafening, and held my microphone out to capture the sheer volume of the cheer and amplify it across the night sky.

The Jörmungandr flew over the Griffonian countryside, the weather was absolutely glorious today, and I was taking advantage of this opportunity by reclining on my deck chair located on the balcony of my quarters, drinking cider, and listening to music, I was letting Blazewing have a go at commanding the ship, I trusted him now and I knew he wouldn’t dare try and commandeer my ship, so I felt at ease, Boris was lazily flying behind the ship, and Scar was dozing next to me, ‘maybe I should get a hot tub fitted at some point’ I thought to myself as I absentmindedly watched Boris flit to and thro, about a month and we would reach Canterlot, so plenty of time to prepare for our next show, I was thinking about what songs we would play in Canterlot when I heard I massive bang and the whole ship jerked violently to one side, sending me crashing into the railing, I landed upside down, with my back against the railing.

“I gave him one simple fucking job and he goes and fucks it up” I muttered, getting up and summoning my armour, weapons and helmet, I also but on my cloak, but tied it u so that it trailed down my back like a cape, I then teleported to the bridge, surprising everyone present “you had one job, Blazewing, one fucking job”

“I’ wasn’ me cap’ain, look” I followed his finger to see a large black ship trading paint with my ship, it also had a large Jolly Rodger.

“Great” I said “it had to be pirates, of course it did” I then walked outside to find several of them already on the deck.

“Hey, What the bloody hell do you think you are doing!?” I shouted, teleporting over.

“Ahoy there, me hearty” said a Griffin “we be takin’ over this ship”

“Over my dead body” I said, the group of pirates laughed.

“I though’ you’d never say tha’” he said, drawing his cutlas “alrigh’ boys, have a’ ‘im” the band of pirates cheered before several of them charged, their swords drawn, I rolled my eyes before quick-drawing my pistol and downing the lot of them in quick succession, I then took out my hunting knife and teleported in front of their leader, pressing the blade against his throat

“You were saying?” I asked, quirking an eyebrow, he just smirked.

“Bring ‘er over, boys” he said my eyes widened in shock when I saw who they had, standing there, with her forelegs tied behind her back and a cutlass wielding pirate holding her shoulder, was Autumn, I narrowed my eyes at the leader, he chuckled.

“Give us the ship, or she dies” he said, I slowly lowered the knife and backed away “good, you did the right thing” I then looked at Autumn and winked before looking at the captain.

“when I kill all of you, I’ll make you suffer the most” I said, before teleporting behind the pirate that was holding Autumn and grabbed his head before slitting his throat with the knife, I then threw him to one side, grabbed hold of Autumn, cut her bonds and teleported her to our quarters, I then began teleporting behind each pirate, slitting their throats, I then walked towards the captain, my boots splashing on the growing pool of blood, he started to back away “you just made a huge mistake, you see that wasn’t just any member of my crew, that pegasus, was my Girlfriend, and now, I’m going to kill you, and I’m going to make it hurt” I then teleported behind him and slashed at one of his Achilles tendons, making him drop to one knee, I then slashed at the other, causing him to collapse face first into the pool of blood. He looked up at me.

“Who are you?” he asked, fear in his eyes, I knelt down.

“Vuur Koning” I then stabbed him in the neck, putting him out of his misery, I stood up and turned to the crew “I want these bodies dumped on the other ship, with a sign saying that this is what happens to anyone who crosses me, and I want this deck spotless by the time I come back up here” I then teleported into the bridge.

“Captain?” Blazewing asked, I glared at him making words he were about to say die in his throat.

“Set a course for Equestria” I said “and don’t fuck it up this time, if anyone tries to take our ship again, you blast them to high heaven”

“Yes sir” he said, before sending orders to Frostfang and the boiler room, eventually the ship started moving again, its hull grinding against the other ship as we went past, I then teleported back to my quarters and was tackled by Autumn, sobs wracking her body, I picked her up and teleported to the bedroom, I walked over to the bed and sat on it, comforting Autumn.

“Shh, it’s O.K.” I said softly “I won’t let anyone hurt you, as long as I live” she lifted her head from my chest and looked me in the eyes

“Vuur Koning” she said, her eyes full of worry “don’t make a mare a promise you can’t keep”

I stood on the top deck of the ship, leaning on the railing and watching the world go by, a heard footsteps approaching.

“Remind me never to piss you off” Minion said as he walked up and leant on the railing, I scoffed.

“You would be able to hold your own in a fight against me” I said, getting out his pipe and lighting it, he took a couple of puffs

“But you can teleport, that’s a massive advantage” he said, pointing at me with the thin end of the pipe

“You got magic yet?” I asked, he nodded and quickly flared up the magic, instead of red flames like mine, a green aura surrounded his hands “about time”

“I still can’t teleport” he said.

“I couldn’t until about 6 months ago, until then I used a quick travel spell, it only works if you can actually see the location, let’s say for arguments sake, the deck of the ship about ten foot away, I’ve got a book on spells if you want to have a read, the first three spells I learnt were levitation, quick travel and offensive blasts”

“What!?” he asked.

“I can shoot fire” I said, hurling an offensive blast off the side of the ship to demonstrate, the ball of red flame dissipated after a while “it’s not as effective or accurate as a spell gun, but it can get you out of a tricky situation”

“Where is that spell book?” he asked, a determined look on his face, I rolled my eyes.

“Those three spells are easy, you don’t need a book to learn them” I said, I then turned around, I looked for a small item that would be easy to levitate, before settling on a mop that was leaning against the wall “you see that mop, focus your magic on it” Minion looked confused, before stretching his hand out, the green aura enveloped his hand and the mop at the same time.

“O.K. what next?” he asked.

“Clear your mind” I said “then try and picture yourself picking up the mop, if needs be, move your hand in the direction you want the mop to go in” after about 30 seconds Minion slowly lifted his arm, the mop followed, wobbling slightly”

“Bloody hell, this is weird, it’s like I can actually feel the mop” he said, lowering the mop

“in time, you’ll come to use your magic as a fifth limb, and you’ll be able to move objects as if you were physically lifting them yourself, however, you won’t be able to lift massive objects, only the most powerful of unicorns can lift immense objects, when we visit Ponyville I’ll show you one who managed to lift an Ursa Minor weighing about 20 tons, as I rule, whatever you can physically lift is the limit, but, if more than one magic user works together, their combined power is multiplied by the total number of magicians helping” his eyes widened at that.

“So if you and me…?” he asked.

“If you and me both lifted the same object, our total power would be would be doubled” I said “now imagine the four Alicorn’s working together, their combined power would be quadrupled, if just one can move the sun with ease, how much power do you think they would all wield together”

“Shiiiiiit” he said “I would hate to piss them off”

“Didn’t you do that already?” I asked, smirking, he paled slightly.

“Fuck” he muttered, I chuckled

“Did I ever tell you about the time I punched a prince in the face?” I asked, his jaw dropped.

“You what!?” he asked “why?”

“Because he is a spoilt bastard, who thinks he’s all high and mighty when in reality he doesn’t have much power, no one actually likes him” I said, Minion chuckled.

“Well then, good on you” he said, patting me on the back, I winced slightly.

“Bloody hell, when did you become so strong?” I asked, rolling my shoulder to get rid of the pain.

“Forest” he said simply.

“Ah” I said.

“What about you?” he asked “when did you get so strong, and healthy” I deadpanned

“Royal Guard Reserves, remember?” I asked, pointing to the small insignia that I’d had painted onto the armour on my left shoulder, he face palmed.

“Of fucking course” he muttered behind his hand.

“Speaking of which” I said “when we get to Canterlot, you’re signing up for the reserves, you’re already trained so you don’t have to worry about that, but if Equestria’s going to war, I’d rather you go with me, we’ve watched each other’s back through the years, have we not?”

“True” he said, puffing on his pipe “you know that even though we but heads at times, even if we get into an argument and not speak to each other for months, in the end, I’ll always be there to watch your back” I placed my hand on his shoulder

“And I yours, Brother” I said, for the rest of the day we chatted, enjoying each other’s company as brothers, for the first time in far too long.

“How much longer till we get to Canterlot?” Aurora complained, resting her head on the table, I rolled my eyes.

“About one day less than the last time you asked” I said, our little group, which consisted of the band, Aurora, Scar and Boris, were all in the dining hall, eating dinner “you should just enjoy your time on this ship, you are free to go on to the top deck and fly around at any time, as long as your dad is okay with it” I looked to Minion as I said this.

“It’s fine by me” he said, shrugging before eating some of his food.

“But it’s so boring with no one to play with” she whined, I’ll admit, she had me with that one, I looked at the others, it seems they were thinking the same thing as me, sure there were ‘kids’ on this ship, but they were all in their mid-teens and older, and I don’t think they would appreciate playing baby-sitter for the captains 10 year old dragoness-niece, put simply, we were screwed, Cloddiwr perked up.

“If Cloddiwr be so bold” he said “Cloddiwr knows friends who have young ones her age”

“Cloddiwr, you are a life saver” I said “when would be the next convenient moment for them?”

“We are on a boat” Vinyl said “It’s not like they are going to go out for dinner”

“A boat that should have a crew of 70’000, and we’ve only got about 500 crew members” I said “the crew are working day and night just to keep the decks clean, let alone general maintenance, keeping the boilers steaming, manning the guns, keeping the shields running, I could go on and on”

“Okay, okay, I get it, it’s a big ship and we need more people” Vinyl said, crossing her forelegs and rolling her eyes, I turned to Cloddiwr.

“So, when is the most convenient time?” I asked

“Cloddiwr will ask them” he said, nodding “Cloddiwr will find out for Captain”

“Thank you” I said “and please, we are friends, call me Vuur Koning”

“Yes capt… Vuur Koning” he said, stumbling over his words

I climbed across the chains that stretched from the Jörmungandr to Frostfang’s harness, climbed onto the walkway on the top of the harness.

“How are you my friend?” I called, he craned his neck to look at me.

“THE CONDITIONS COULD NEVER BE BETTER” he said “WE HAVE A TAILWIND, IT SEEMS ANIMA FAVOURS US”

“Who?” I asked.

“GODDESS OF NATURE AND NEW LIFE” he rumbled “I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT AS SOMEONE WHO WORSHIPS FANTASIA, YOU WOULD KNOW OF THE OTHER TWO ELDER GODS”

“I only know of Fantasia, I didn’t think to study the others” I admitted, Frostfang tittered.

“IF YOU ARE GOING TO TAKE UP A RELIGION, YOU NEED TO STUDY ALL OF ITS DEITIES” he said, shaking his head slightly.

“How long until we reach the border?” I asked.

“WE SHOULD BE OVER THE BORDER BY NIGHT FALL, AND IF THIS TAILWIND KEEPS UP, WE SHOULD BE IN CANTERLOT BY THE NEXT” he said.

“Then we are ahead of schedule” I said “that means we can stay in Canterlot and Ponyville for a while longer than usual”

“IT WILL BE NICE TO STOP FOR A WHILE” Frostfang said, nodding “IT CAN BE VERY TIRING TO BE ON THE WING FOR SEVERAL DAYS AT A TIME”

“I’m also thinking of having a figurehead depicting the actual Jörmungandr added to the front” I said “with your permission”

“OF COURSE” he said, nodding “OUT OF CURIOSITY, WHAT WILL IT LOOK LIKE?”

“Like a giant snake” I said, shrugging “but I’m thinking of taking some artistic license and having multiple sets of eyes and a horny crest” he looked back at me and raised his eyebrow.

“What, I want it to look cool, if it was just a giant snake then it would be boring” I said, he rolled his eye before turning his head to look back the direction we were flying, after a few hours of standing there, watching the world go by a heard the flapping of feathery wings, I turned to see Autumn fly over and called to her “Hi”

“Hey” she said, before flying over and giving me a quick kiss “love you”

“Love you too” I said, she then landed on the platform “you come here to watch the sun set?” she nodded and I turned around to face the direction of the sun, holding Autumn close to me, she leaned into my embrace and sighed contentedly.

“I wish we could do this more often” she said.

“I do too, but unfortunately, we have a ship to run, I’ve already said how low on crew we are” I said, she looked up at me.

“Then ask Celestia to lend you about ten thousand or so royal gourds” she said, I dead panned “just ask her, because then you can’t say you didn’t ask, you’re friends, I’m sure she’ll at least lend you a couple thousand”

“I’ll ask her when we get to Canterlot” I said “but I somehow doubt she just give me 10 thousand guards just like that” I snapped my fingers

“Well you plan to go into the uncharted south west at some point, don’t you?” she said, I nodded “then tell her that it’s an expeditionary voyage, it also means that any undiscovered nations that we come across might become allies with Equestria, of course the ship will technically become property of Celestia from that moment on, but that’s hardly anything to worry about, this would be beneficial to the both you and Celestia, she gets a ‘new’ ship for the navy, and you get a heck of a lot more crew, not just guards, but ambassadors, doctors, technicians, cooks, Equestria has a population of 1 billion, I’m sure she could lend you enough crew” I looked at her, smiling.

“What would I do if you weren’t around to help me out?” I said, she rolled her eyes.

“You’d probably still be stuck in the Crystal Kingdom” she said.

“How has the practice for the band coming along?” I asked.

“Great” she said “in the time between Gryphus and now, the musicians have been able to get their parts down to a tee, we just need to practice the songs together with them”

“Well then” I said “seeing as we are ahead of schedule, we better get started”

I was stood on the bridge when Aurora flew in, a letter clutched in her feet.

“Uncle, it’s a letter from the Princess” she said, dropping it into my waiting hand and perching on my shoulder, I opened the letter and began reading:

Dear Vuur Koning.

Something has recently happened in Canterlot that I feel requires your attention, a strange mask was discovered by a group of fillies and when we saw it, it turned into a 7 hoof tall metal being with similar proportions to you and your brother, that calls himself ‘Mata Nui’, the curious thing is, we showed him a picture of you, and despite the fact that he has never seen or heard of you before, he says he once created warriors with similar armour, he even said that there was one with the exact same style of helmet to yours, whilst you won’t need to rush, I feel that meeting this being must take precedence over your concert, as it could be the key to finding out why you and your brother were sent here in the first place, your concert won’t be cancelled, just moved back a few days, I await your reply.

Your friend Princess Celestia

I was speechless for the next 30 seconds, and troubled, especially since the name Mata Nui was mentioned, Aurora waived a wing in front of my face.

“Uncle, are you okay?” Aurora asked, I looked at her.

“Fetch your dad” I said “I need to talk with him” she nodded and flew out the window, after a few minutes Minion walked in.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“Does the name Mata Nui mean anything to you?” I asked, passing him the letter, he snatched the letter out of my hand and began reading, his expression becoming troubled as he read further.

“That’s…” he trailed off.

“Impossible?” I supplied “we are in the land of magical talking rainbow coloured ponies, here, anything is possible, what it is, is troubling”

“She does make a good point” he said “your helmet does look like something one of those, what were they called again?”

“Bionicle’s” I said

“Bionicle’s would wear on their face” he said.

“Yeah, I kinda noticed” I said “but I assumed that whatever sent me here, also tapped into my subconscious to create the armour, hence why it looks like a mask of shielding”

“So, what do you want to do now?” he asked, crossing his arms and leaning against one of the consoles

“Get us there as fast as is possible” I said, I then began barking orders to the boiler room and we soon began to accelerate towards Canterlot, we eventually reached the airport at Canterlot, I quickly told the others about the situation, and the four of us plus Boris and Scar, started walking towards the castle, fully dressed in our armour, Minion was seriously impressed with the architecture of this city, but we didn’t have time for sightseeing.

“So why exactly did we need to get here in such a hurry” Vinyl asked as we walked up the steps of the castle, I nodded to a couple of guards before answering.

“You’ll find out when we get there, otherwise you’ll never believe me or my brother” I said.

“That totally make me feel like you trust me” she said, her voice flooded with sarcasm.

“Let’s just say that he could be the key to why me and Minion were sent here” I said, I then patted Boris on the head “not that I would want to leave this world in that much of a hurry” we eventually reached the doors to the throne room, I turned to Minion before we walked in.

“This time” I said, placing a hand on his shoulder “when you see Celestia and Luna, you bow out of respect, okay”

“Okay” he said, albeit reluctantly.

“Good” I said “right, let’s do this” I then knocked on the door, after a moment it was enveloped in a gold aura and began to open, I could see Celestia sat on her throne, with a tall golden being stood next to her, we walked up to the throne and I went to greet Celestia but the mask on the being, who I now recognised as Mata Nui, began to glow and shot out six streams of energy towards us, the last thing I felt before I blacked out was an incredible power cursing through me and an extreme heat.

So it begins

for those who don't know who Mata Nui is:

Mata Nui was the Great Spirit created by the Great Beings to explore and observe the galaxy. His spirit was later forced into the Mask of Life and exiled from his own universe by Teridax and landed on Bara Magna, later taking control of the Prototype Robot and defeating Teridax

I came to feeling…strange, as I sat up I noticed was I was now on a bed.

“Oh, you’re awake” I heard someone say, I looked in the direction of a voice to see a pony in a doctor’s uniform standing in the door way “I’ll just go and get the Princess” I nodded and she walked away, I was still slightly confused, I remembered that I was visiting Celestia for some reason, but I wasn’t sure about the specifics, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and I noticed that I was still in my armour, ‘that’s odd’ I thought, they always removed my armour beforehand, I was disrupted from my inner musings by hoof steps coming from down the corridor, eventually Celestia walked into the room.

“Thank goodness you are okay” she said, sounding relieved, I was confused.

“Err, why wouldn’t I be?” I asked, she seemed taken aback by my answer.

“You don’t remember?” she asked “you don’t feel any different?”

“No I don’t remember, and other than a little strange, I don’t feel much different, why?” she levitated a mirror over towards me, when a saw my reflection I did a double take, instead of the plated shirt under my chest armour, there were now wires and pistons, I looked at Celestia.

“You have five minutes to start explaining before I lose control and punch something” I said, deadpanning

“I think it would be best if you followed me” she said, I stood up, getting vertigo from my apparent increase in height, I walked after Celestia, trying greatly to resist the urge to punch the centuries old stone walls “do you remember why you came here so quickly?”

“I remember it was something important, but other than that, not much else” I said, she sighed.

“Something was found, an object of great power, a mask, and when it was shown to me and my sister, it formed its own body, the being that resulted from this called himself Mata Nui…” I cut her off, grabbing hold of her shoulder

“Wait, Mata Nui, as in the Great Spirit” I asked, she nodded.

“Yes but, out of curiosity, how did you know of him?” she asked.

“Stories, told to children” I said, simplifying the truth “but where I come from he is supposed to be nothing but a fictional story, the creator of a race of biomechanical beings”

“Well, then you’ll know what power his mask holds” she said.

“Kenohi Ignika, the mask of life” I said “where are we going with this?”

“long story short, when you met him, his mask reacted to the presence of you and your friends, your pets included, and you were all changed, some more so than others”

“What about Autumn?” I asked.

“She is fine, a little shaken, but fine” she said, she then stopped outside some large wooden doors “I’ll warn you, Vinyl Scratch, Autumn Skies and your pets were effected the most, you and your brother, physically speaking, aren’t much different” she then opened the doors with a flash of her horn when I saw what was inside I did a double take, all of my friends were there, but they were vastly different, Minion was taller, a lot taller, about 7-8 feet tall now but other than seeing wires and pistons around his joints he wasn’t that much different, Autumn and Vinyl were vastly different, they were now bipedal, with hands and at each joint I could see various wires and pistons, Autumn had orange armour with maroon highlights and was wielding two thin swords, Vinyl had grey armour with highlights that were the same blue as her hair and was holding some form of cannon, resting the rear of it on her shoulder, but it was Boris and Scar that were changed the most, Scar was now taller and looked like a cross between a diamond dog and a werewolf, he had what looked like small Gatling guns above each shoulder and his claws were longer, looking more like small blades, and he had green armour with red highlights, Boris was the most different out of all of them, instead of a small falcon, he was now a mighty falcon headed griffin, with green armour, with two swords in his hands and what looked like two small rifles attached to his hips, they were all talking amongst themselves, Boris and Scar included, and they hadn’t noticed me or Celestia, I turned to the Alicorn.

“Care to explain why Scar is a werewolf with Gatling guns, and why Boris is a griffon with rifles attached to his hips?” I asked.

“that is something we cannot figure out” a baritone voice said, I looked in the direction of the voice to see Mata Nui walking towards us, with the scarabax Click on his shoulder “when you approached us, my mask activated by itself, turning you into Toa”

“Vuur Koning!?” I heard Autumn say, I looked in her direction to see her running, albeit unsteadily, towards us, she ran up and embraced me, and I returned the gesture “I was so worried about you” I looked over to see Mata nui regarding us curiously.

“I’m not one to let a little something like this drag me down, if anything I was worried about you” I said “how are you holding up?” she looked me in the eyes.

“I’m fine, I was a little shaken at first, but once Mata Nui explained everything, I started to understand” she said.

“Come on” I said “I still haven’t spoken to the others since…” I gestured us all, I noticed the other 4 were walking towards us.

“Vuur Koning, are you okay?” Minion asked, I actually had to look up slightly.

“I’m fine” I said “I’m more worried about Scar and Boris, I gestured to them”

“We’re good-fine” Boris replied, ‘oh god, he talks in tree speak’ I thought.

“Let me guess” I said, “you’re a toa of air?” he nodded

“And the rest of you?” Celestia asked, Mata Nui stepped forwards.

“Minion is a Toa of Magnetism” he said “Autumn Skies is a Toa of Iron, Vinyl Scratch is a Toa of Sonics…”

“What’s Sonics?” I asked.

“Sound manipulation” he explained.

“That isn’t even the best part” Vinyl said “Check this baby out” she gestured to her ridiculously big canon.

“What is it?” I asked, she stepped back and turned around, aiming it towards a target, she then turned her head to look at me, a manic grin plastered on her face.

“Oh, it’ nothing… JUST MY BASS CANNON” she then pulled a trigger, the air rippled around the muzzle, blue energy shot from the barrel and she slid back a couple of feet, it also let out a deafening level of sound, we all had to cover our ears to try and block it out, the blue beam of energy hit the target, shattering it to splinters, she then shut it off and smoke drifted from the nozzle, she brought it to her snout and blew the smoke away “Pretty cool, huh?”

“Gutter Gott!” I exclaimed, bringing my hands away from my ears “that is loud”

“Can you see why I called it the Bass Canon?” she said.

“It’s got quite a bit of kick-back” I said “Anyway, Mata Nui, you were saying?”

“Yes” he said “Scar is a Toa of Plant-life and you are a Toa of Fire”

“Actually” I said “Scars power makes a lot of sense, he used to be a Timberwolf, so theoretically he could, if he so chooses, summon a pack of timberwolves”

“Gee, I hadn’t thought of that” Scar said sarcastically in a deep, gravelly voice and crossing his arms

“What about mask powers?” I asked.

“Toa must earn their mask power” he said, I went to say something but he held his hand up, silencing me “however, if it is a mask that is always on at a low level, like a Hau or a an Anthron, then that will be active, you just won’t be able to control it”

“I’m guessing mine is a Hau” I said, he nodded.

“Your brother’s mask is the Kenohi Sonak” he said “which gives him incredible accuracy, and Vinyl Scratches Mask is the Kenohi Anthron, which lets her see targets through eco-location, as for the other three, I’m not sure, I can only sense masks which are active, so we shall have to wait and see”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Mata Nui shall be joining you on your travels” Celestia said “I feel that he is a key to unlocking the reason why you were sent here”

“Oh” I said “speaking of our travels, I kind of have a favour to ask”

“Go on” Celestia said.

“We’ll you see” I said awkwardly “the ship that we are using, is kind of low on crew, we only have a crew of 500 or so”

“And how many should it have?” Celestia asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“Around 70’000” I said “But, I was thinking of doing something in return, for you lending me a crew”

“I’m listening” She said.

“The Jörmungandr officially becomes a part of the Equestrian navy” I said “and its current crew also become a part of the navy, I plan to head into the uncharted south-eastern lands of the southern continent, so maybe it could be classed as an expeditionary voyage, if we come across any undiscovered civilisations, then we could always try and negotiate with them to become our allies” she didn’t say anything, leaving me quite nervous, after about 30 seconds she smiled.

“I think that I can give you enough crew” she said, we all sighed with relief “how does about 49’500 individuals sound to you?” I did a double take.

“That many? that’ll give us a crew of 50’000!” I said, she nodded.

“Comprised of not just sailors and guards” she said “but ambassadors, cooks, interpreters, survivalists, naturalists, scientists and biologists, Everypony you would need on an expeditionary voyage”

“Once again, your generosity never ceases to amaze me” I said, she chuckled.

“Why do you think I once wielded the Elements of harmony?” she said.

“Also, do you know of anyone that will make a figurehead for a 720 meter tall hoard-ship?”

The next few weeks were rather hectic, the Jörmungandr got put into dry dock for re-fitting, it’s cannons got upgraded, with new, more efficient systems and independently operating two barrel auto-AA guns added on top of each turret, the interior was totally refitted, with new navigation systems that automatically charted any unknown terrain and then sent the information back to Canterlot, we now even had a sentient magical construct that monitored the ship systems, totally new boilers were fitted, the ship was repainted to the colours of the Equestrian Royal Navy; blue with gold railings and lining, they also fitted an absolutely beautifully carved and painted wooden figure-head depicting the Jörmungandr rearing up as if to strike, with its body stretching from the bow and running the full length of the hull, all 3620 meters of it, with the tail actually appearing on the rear of the ship, so it looked like the snake was being keel-hauled, they actually had to install it in sections because it was so long, but you couldn’t tell unless you got up close to it, we actually ended up playing a concert in a stadium, with poster making use of the fact that Vinyl was a part of the band, and we basically played shows whilst the ship was being refitted, after about a month of playing shows in canterlot we headed to Ponyville on the train, with the band, Boris, Scar, Aurora and Mata Nui travelling with me, Frostfang and Blazewing would fly the ship to Ponyville the next day, but I had told Celestia to only tell Twilight that we had a ship, and not to specify its name, size, or the fact that it was pulled by a dragon, I wanted it to be a surprise for them, we would play a weekend of concerts from our stage on the hold of the ship, with us arriving on the Thursday, and the ship arriving on the Friday, so we had two full days of relaxing, the train was soon to arrive in Ponyville and I was just going over specifics with everyone.

“Okay” I said “remember, don’t tell anyone about our ship or the fact that it’s pulled by a dragon, if they ask, just tell them to wait and see, okay?” they all nodded, the train pulled into the station and I stopped them before they could walk out, I could see the Elements of Harmony standing on the platform , but they hadn’t spotted us yet.

“I’ll go first, and tell them about what happened” I said, they nodded “Okay, wait for me to call for you” I then stepped outside and greeted them, they were surprised by my change in hight.

“Whoa, Vuur Koning” Rainbow Dash said looking up at me “You weren’t tall enough already?” I chuckled.

“Yeah, you girls know of Mata Nui, right?” I asked and they nodded “well when I met him, his mask started to glow and it shot out energy at me and my friends, I passed out and when I came to…” I gestured to my body.

“Speaking of which” Twilight said “Where are they?” I poked my head into the carriage.

“You can come out now guys” I said, I turned to the Elements, thir eyes widened when they saw Autumn “you already know Autumn”

“What in hay happened to yawl?” Applejack asked, looking up at Autumn

“Mata Nui happened” she said, leaning against me, I put my arm around her, Rarity seemed to pay close attention to this

“And Mata Nui you already know” I said as he walked out, Vinyl walked out and Rainbow Dash recognised her.

“Vinyl!?” She asked in surprise “what are you doing here” I did a double take.

“You know each other?” I asked.

“I stopped in Ponyville for a short while” Vinyl said, kneeling down and giving a hoof-bump to Rainbow, Scar walked out and the Elements backed away slightly, his immense size casting a shadow on them, plus when he tried to small it showed all of his teeth, Fluttershy started trembling.

“This is Scar” I said “you all remember him, right?” the nodded stiffly.

“L-let me guess” Twilight said “Mata Nui?” I nodded, then Boris stepped out.

“In case you didn’t recognise him, this is Boris” I said

“Hello” he said “I am happy-cheer to see you again” this just left them confused.

“Er… what did he say?” Rainbow dash asked.

“He’s happy to see you again” I said, massaging my brow “don’t ask me why he speaks like that” then Minion stepped out with Aurora on his shoulders.

“This is my older brother, Minion” I said “with his adopted daughter, and therefore my niece, Aurora”

“You’re huge” Rainbow Dash said, Minion just smirked.

“Brother” I said “don’t even think about it”

“Aww, come on” he said “She walked right into it” Rainbow Dash looked confused.

“What?” she asked, looking between the two of us, Minion went to say something but I placed my hand on his mouth.

“I swear to Fantasia, Minion” I said “if you dare say what I think you’re going to say, then I will not hesitate to deck you” he just smirked before licking my hand, really slowly, I groaned in disgust before removing my hand from his mouth to wipe the spit off.

“I wasn’t going to say anything” he said.

“You are disgusting” I said, wiping my palm on my leg “you are lucky your daughter is on your shoulders otherwise you would already be on the floor” Cloddiwr and Saphyrus now walked out of the carriage.

“Dragon!” Fluttershy shrieked before hiding behind Applejack.

“Before you go into a panic” I said “allow me to introduce Saphyrus the Dragoness, she is the Bass guitarist in our band and she won’t hurt you”

“A-are you sure?” Fluttershy asked, trembling behind Applejack, Saphyrus knelt down and looked at Fluttershy.

“By dragons honour” she said, placing a hand on her chest “I will not hurt you, and please, call me Saph” Fluttershy slowly poked her head out from behind Applejack.

“Um, o-okay, Saph” Fluttershy said, Saphyrus smiled kindly and Fluttershy slowly walked out from behind Applejack, I then gestured to Cloddiwr.

“And finally, the last member of our little group, Cloddiwr” I said “that’s with a W, not a UU”

“Why is it spelt like that?” Twilight asked.

“He comes from Minotauria, that’s how they spell things over there, right, shall we all go to the library, or do you want to stand in the station all day?” I asked, Twilight seemed to become downcast at that, this confused me “okay, what did I miss whilst I was away?” Twilight sighed.

“The library was destroyed when I battled Tirek” she said sadly.

“Oh, gosh, I’m so sorry” I said “out of curiosity, where will we be staying?” she seemed to brighten up at that, her horn glowed and I felt the familiar feeling of being teleported, next thing I knew we were all standing in front of a crystal tree.

“Twilight” I said “what the hell did I miss whilst I was away?”

“And that’s how I became the Princess of Friendship” Twilight said, concluding her story, we were all sat in a large study room, minus Aurora, who was off playing with Spike and the CMC.

“So Celestia, Luna and Cadence all gave their power to you to fight Tirek?” I asked, she nodded “Bloody hell, remember what I said, Minion?”

“What did you say to him?” Twilight asked.

“Am I correct in saying that for ever unicorn that casts a spell on the same object, the combined power is multiplied by the total number of unicorns casting on that object, so if you and Rarity both levitated the same object together, you combined power would be doubled?” I said.

“That pretty much sums it up” she said “TP=MxC”

“What?” Minion said, he had, up until that point, been browsing the different titles on the books

“Total Power = Magic times by Casters” she said, rolling her eyes “So Vuur Koning, you never told us about your adventure so far”

“Oh, right” I said, I then began to retell our tale to the Elements, with the others adding their own parts when necessary, I omitted certain parts, like instead of telling them of our battle with the creatures in the forest, and anything connected to that, I skipped it completely, I was also incredibly vague about the details for the ship, and when they asked me to elaborate, I simply told them to wait till tomorrow, they were greatly saddened to hear of how Minion ended up adopting Aurora.

Oh, the poor dear” Rarity said, she then looked at Minion “you truly are doing a wonderful thing, looking after her, I still don’t understand why you kept the dreaded pirates on your ship, if they did such a horrid thing”

“Trust me Rarity, when you see the ship, you’ll understand why” I said, Twilight went to speak up but I cut her off “tomorrow” she pouted and did the whole puppy-dog act to try and change my mind, I simply chuckled darkly.

“Ihre Kräfte auf mich keine Wirkung, Hexe” I said, Autumn looked at me, a shocked expression on her face.

“Vuur Koning, how could you say that?” she said, jabbing me in the side.

“Because it’s true” I said, jabbing her back

“You speak Germane?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“hat damit Ihre Frage beantwortet, Kegeln?” I asked, Autumn’s eye twitched

“I’m guessing that’s a yes” She said.

“Jawohl” I said

“Warum muss ich selbst die Mühe machen?” Autumn muttered, massaging her eyebrow in frustration.

“You love me really” I said, kissing her on the forehead, Rarity saw this.

“Are you two…?” she trailed off.

“Together?” I asked “Yes, since before we went to the crystal kingdom” when I said this she made a strange, squeeing noise.

“What the fuck was that noise?” Minion asked, looking around confused.

“A marshmallow” I said, picking up one from the selection of snacks that Twilight had provided and eating it, the glare Rarity gave me could melt diamonds, thankfully my armour wasn’t made from diamonds so I was fine, I shot back a look that essentially said ‘Fuck you, bitch’

“They make a noise on this world?” Minion asked, completely oblivious of most of the ponies trying to contain their laughter.

“Yep” I said, Rarity looked away from me and stuck her nose up in the air, Rainbow Dash burst out laughing.

“Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha” she guffawed.

“I’m guessing it’s an inside joke?” Minion said.

“during the year that I was training to be a royal guard I visited Ponyville a lot, as a result I started giving them nicknames, one of which was my nickname for Rarity; Marshmallow” I said.

“ha-ha-ha-ha, Marshmallow, that’s a good one” Rainbow said.

“Oh shut it” Rarity said, she suddenly got a devious glint in her eyes “or do you want me to call you by your nickname, Skittles?” Rainbows eyes widened

“You wouldn’t dare” She said, narrowing her eyes at Rarity.

“Try me” Rarity said “Skittles” the two of them then started to backer amongst themselves, I just sat there and laughed, Autumn sighed.

“Now look what you’ve done, V.K.” she said.

“Oh, come on, it’s funny” I said, she just groaned in exasperation.

“Explain to me why I’m in love with you again” she said.

“Is it my dashing good looks, my courage, or my charming personality?” I asked, I heard Minion sniff.

“I smell bullshit” he said, I simply flashed my hunting knife at him, Fluttershy went pale when she saw the knife.

“W-why do you have a knife that big?” she asked, I took it out of its sheaf and all of the ponies eyes went wide when they saw the 7 inch blade.

“Hunting” I said, Minion scoffed.

“I think you are forgetting something” he sang, I glared at him.

“Not now, brother” I said “and you can’t say anything when you have a knife that is exactly the same” he quietened down after that.

“What is your brother talking about?” Twilight asked, I sighed.

“I want you to realise something before I tell you what happened” I said “we have been in situations when if we didn’t act, it would have been us that were killed, now, we were headed towards Equestria and a band of pirates tried to take over our ship, some of their crew tried to kill me, I retaliated in kind, they came off worse, as I said this I ran my finger down the blade.

“Y-you mean…?” Fluttershy said.

“Unfortunately yes, but I was quick about it, I used my spell pistol, one shot in the head, quick and painless, if it was the other way around then they would have done much worse, not just to me, but also to the crew, quite a few of our crew are female, a group of randy, male pirates attack the ship, what do you think they would try to do to the females?” I asked, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Applejack paled.

“Throughout our journeys I have maintained several moral boundaries, one of these is, if I have to kill someone, I have to be quick about it, I don’t want them to suffer, unfortunately I crossed that boundary when the captain tried to use Autumn as a hostage, long and gruesome story short, I killed the entire crew of pirates in a rage and made the captain suffer for ever daring to use Autumn as a hostage, looking back I wish I hadn’t done what I did” when I finished all of the ponies had paled considerably, Mata Nui, who up until now had been meditating, opened his eyes.

“When I train you to be a Toa, you will have to learn to control your anger, the fact that you regret doing it is a sign that you can be swayed from the path that you now walk” he said, he then narrowed his eyes at me “but be warned, carry on as you have, and you may reach a point where you can never return to light” at that moment a guard burst through the door.

“Your majesty, there are dragons in Ponyville” he said.

“What sort of size?” Twilight asked.

“About the height of your guests, and their intentions are hostile” the guard said, she nodded to the guard and stood up.

“Thank you, guard” she said, “me and my friends will handle this”

We stepped outside the castle to see three dragons harassing the CMC, Spike and Aurora, I had to resist the urge to run over there and run one of them through, it seem that Minion was suffering the same dilemma

“These guys?” Rainbow asked incredulously.

“You know them?” I asked.

“Sort of” she said “Spike wanted to find out what it means to be a dragon and…”

“Got in the wrong sort of crowd?” I asked, she nodded, Twilight called over to them.

“Dragons” she called, gaining their attention “why do you harass these young ones?” they flew over to us, landing about 500 yards away

“What’s it to you?” the tallest, a red one, said, Twilight went to say something but Minion stepped forwards.

“Maybe the fact that that dragoness is my daughter” he said, the dragons looked at each other before bursting out laughing.

“That explains why she is such a freak” the red one said, Minion growled before drawing his huge scimitar, letting the blade touch the ground and silencing their laughter “seem this one wonts to pick a fight”

“He’s not the only one” I said, walking up and standing next to my brother, I turned to Twilight “get the kids, I don’t want them to see what happens next” Twilight nodded and teleported over to the kids, teleporting away with them seconds later, she quickly returned, minus the children

“It’s still three against one” the dragon said, the rest of the team stepped forwards “that’s better”

“As much as I would very much like to run you through” I said, drawing my sword “I’m giving you the chance to back away now, with you honour intact”

“You’re just afraid to fight” the red dragon said.

“You see that’s where you are wrong, you should be afraid to fight us, but if you feel so sure of your selves, I’ll give you a free hit” I then patted my chest “your hottest flames” the rest of the team backed away several tens of feet, the dragons shrugged before inhaling and breathing intense flames in my direction, thinking quickly I raised my sword and the flames split down the middle, passing me on both sides, I then swung the blade to the side, the flames began following, I started circling my sword above my head and the flames formed a rotating column in the air above me, the dragons looked surprised, I began to turn the column faster and faster, until it became a tornado, I smirked

“Dragons” I said, rolling my eyes “you think you are so powerful, just because you breathe fire, BITCH, I…AM…FIRE” I then swung me sword forward and the column then shot towards the dragons, their eyes widened in fear and they took flight, I dissipated the fire before it could do any damage and the dragons landed back on the ground.

“You missed” the red one said, I walked over to Scar.

“Fire for effect” I said, I then whispered in his ear “set to stun” he nodded and walked forwards on all fours, the dragons laughed.

“What are you gonna do?” their leader said “bark at us?” the other two dragons laughed, Scar rolled his eyes and I heard a click, the guns started to swivel on their mountings and the barrels started to rotated, soon becoming a blur, red energy started to spew out of the barrels, the dragons quickly took to the air, issuing cries of surprise, the guns started to follow the larger of the 3, as he was slower, several shots hit the dragon and he plummeted out of the sky, he hit the ground with a thud and groaned, the other two looked on in shock.

“I’m gonna get you for that” the red one yelled, before flying towards Scar, who just rolled his eyes and fired his guns at the dragon, the red dragon quickly fell out of the sky, landing in a heap in front of Scar.

“You were saying” he said before walking away, the dragon struggled to get up.

“Get back here you coward” the dragon said, Scar froze, very slowly turned around, and then, with a speed that surprised even me, ran over and pulled him up by the frill on his head.

“Say that again” Scar growled, baring his teeth, the red dragon gulped, Scar tossed the dragon away “get out of here, you yellow bellied bastard” the dragon shakily stood up.

“Come on guys, they aren’t worth our time” he said, taking flight, the other two dragons quickly followed, soon they were out of sight.

“Good riddance” Scar said.

“Ah’ll say” Applejack said, I turned to see the elements walking towards us.

“How did you do that, Vuur Koning?” Twilight said “you were able to control the flames yet you weren’t using magic”

“I’m a Ta-Toa” I said, noticing her confuse look I elaborated “I'm a spirit of fire, I can control fire as naturally as Rainbow controls her wings, just like Scar could call forth a pack of timberwolves on a whim, and Boris could cause a tornado if he felt in the mood to do so, but a toa should never abuse his or her power, only use them for good” Mata Nui walked up to me and placed his hand on my shoulder

“You have the makings of a great toa” he said, looking me in the eyes and smiling.

well, as I was posting this chapter, I noticed that this story has reached the rather commendable milestone of 30 likes, so,

oh and, stats for the Jörmungandr

length: 3620 m
height: 720 m
gross tonnage: 2'250'820 tons
maximum crew: 70'000 (minimum viable crew 50'000)
armaments:
numerous deck mounted anti-personnel auto turrets
20 deck mounted 2 tier turrets (ten each side):
4 x 20 inch anti-ship guns each that fire high powered armour piercing arcane infused shells at 10 round per minute
2 x 40 mm A.A.U. (Anti-Aerial Unit) auto-gun that fire large calibre anti-personnel rounds at 120 rounds per minute
each tier of the turret can swivel and aim independently of the other tier

Toa: the biomechanical race of heroes in BIONICLE. They each had a power over an element, and they wore Kanohi; Masks of Power that provided them with additional "powers" such as shielding, light or shapeshifting

Toa usually come in teams of six, with each member controlling a different element, but this is not always the case, the Toa Mahri are composed of five members after Matoro, the sixth member, died, there are also Toa that work alone, Toa Lesovikk is one such toa, another example would be Toa Lhikan

We were sat in the study of Twilights castle, and I was practicing with my power over fire by manipulating the flames in the Fireplace into shapes and having the others guess what I was trying to create, imagine charades with a Fireplace and you get the idea, it was a fun way to pass the time, but it was still hard to get the shape right, I was in the middle of trying to create a dragon using fire when we heard screams from outside, a guard burst through the door.

“Your majesty, there is another dragon, and this time it’s pulling a ship” he said, my group tried not to react.

“We’ll handle this” she said, I quickly teleported ahead, I could see the Jörmungandr above the skies of Ponyville, with Frostfang, I’ll admit, from this view you really got an idea of just how massive the ship was, and ponies were running screaming.

“Holy Celestia, that is huge!” Rainbow dash said, I turned to see the elements walking towards me, I held my arms out.

“Allow me to present my ship, Jörmungandr: The Midgard Serpent” I said, they looked on in wonder.

“How in tarnation did you get a dragon-drawn battleship?” Applejack said, holding her Stetson to stop it falling off as she looked up

“I already told you, that dragon is Frostfang, and before you go joining the stampede of ponies in panic, Fluttershy, he won’t hurt you” I then turned to the ship and called up.

“Frostfang” I called, he turned to look at me “you might want to get to a more manageable size, you’re scaring the locals” he nodded and started to shrink, he then flew over to us.

“Vuur Koning” he said “any ideas on how to calm the locals”

“I have an idea” I said, I then turned to Twilight “You might want to cover your ears for this next bit” I then teleported onto the bridge.

“Good morning captain” Blazewing said, I nodded to him.

“Aim all of the gun turrets into clear skies, and in 30 seconds fire all of them at once” I said, he nodded and I teleported back to Twilight.

“This, is going to be loud” I said….

BOOOOOM…

The silence that followed was gloriously deafening, the ponies uncovered their ears, and all of the ponies that were running around in a panic were now rooted to the spot in shock.

“Well” Applejack said, looking at the now frozen ponies “yawl may not be subtle, but it sure as hay works” she then chuckled.

“Who said anything about subtlety” I said “ well Twilight, this is the part where you go over there and tell everyone not to panic” she shook her heads to clear her thoughts before flying over to the now frozen crowd, after saying some words to them she flew back over.

“They’re calm, a little shaken, and unhappy, but calm” she said, she the shook her head “promise me you’ll never do that again” I chuckled.

“I can’t make any promises for that sort of thing, it’s way too much fun” I said, I then clapped my hands together “now, who wants a tour of the ship”

With a little help from Frostfang I managed to get the elements on to the ship, the rest of the band and the toa went off to run things whilst I showed the Elements around the ship.

“This is huge” Rainbow Dash said.

“Try having your quarters at the very rear of the ship” I said “you get used to walking long distances, so, can you see why I kept the pirates, it isn’t so much of a problem now, seeing as Celestia gave me about 49’000 crew members”

“That’s a lot of ponies” Applejack said, I nodded before leading them to the bridge, Pinkie Pie saw the bass plaque displaying the name of the ship.

“Gormongandirr?” she said, trying to pronounce it “that’s a funny name, what’s it mean?” I went to answer her, but the sentient magical construct (S.M.C.), called Jörmungandr, chose this moment to appear, scaring the life out of the ponies, he looked like an anthropomorphic version of the Figure-head, dressed in scholar’s robes and he stood about 6 feet tall, I’ll admit I chose the design for him

“Jörmungandr” he said in a “also known as the Midgard Serpent or World serpent, Jörmungandr is a form of Ouroboros, according to Human Norse mythology, Jörmungandr was the child of the god of mischief; Loki, and was large enough the wrap around the world and swallow its own tail”

“Thank you” I said “girls, this is the ships Sentient Magical Construct, called Jörmungandr, he’s in charge of monitoring the ships systems and providing us with any information that we might need”

“Pleasure to meet you” Jörmungandr said, bowing,

“When you say Sentient, do you mean he’s actually alive?” Twilight asked.

“Yes and no” I said “yes in the sense that he has emotions and can form opinions, but no in the sense that he isn’t a physical being, and can’t die or even feel pain”

“Oh” Twilight said.

“Well” I said “this is the bridge, this is where I give out orders to Autumn, my brother and Vinyl, and they relay the orders to their division of the crew and ship” as I said this Blazewing walked over.

“Ahoy there, landlubbers” he said, Fluttershy disappeared behind Rainbow Dash.

“Why do you have so many dragons on this ship?” Rarity asked

“Pure coincidence” I said “anyway, this is Blazewing; Deputy Captain, he gives orders when I’m unavailable to do so, and he is most likely to become captain should I get badly injured or killed”

“Pleasure to be makin’ your acquaintances” he said, giving a little bow.

“Why do you talk like a pirate?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Because I used to be one, me ‘arty” he said.

“Ooh” Pinkie Pie said excitedly before getting in Blazewing’s face and pressing her snout to his “did you go plundering for gold, did you sail the seven skies in an airship, did you sing sea shanties?” Blazewing was rendered speechless from Pinkie Pies apparent disregard for personal space.

“Err” he said “Yes?” he suggested, Pinkie Pie went to say something else but was dragged away by Applejack, who now had Pinkie Pies tail between her teeth.

“Lan’ sakes, Pinkie” she said, spitting out Pinkie pies tail “calm it down a notch” Blazewing walked over to me.

“Is she always like that?” he asked.

“You mean overexcited and with a disregard for personal space?” I said “just go with it, it will be a lot easier for everyone if you do”

“…and finally, we have weapons testing” I said, opening the door to the hall used for sparring and ushering the Elements inside, Boris was currently being trained by Mata Nui, who was wielding his Scarabax shield, as well as a staff, with a long blade that was the same crescent style as his shoulder pieces “this is where we teach our crew to fight using all types of weapons, so that they are versatile in a battle, most of our weapons are unique and made by hand on this ship, for instance we have a sword, now used as the standard, that is a cross between a broadsword and a Katana”

“How did you come up with that idea?” Rainbow Dash asked, whilst watching the two warriors fight.

“I had a team put together, with one individual from every species, they then combined different weapons until they got the perfect combination” I said, I then picked up a dagger and showing it to then “most of the blades on our daggers and swords use the techniques employed in making a Katana’s blade” Pinkie Pie leaned in really close, looking at her own reflection.

“Ooh” she said, lifting a hoof to touch the blade “shiny” I moved the dagger out of her reach.

“These are weapons, not toys” I said, placing the dagger back on the table “trust me when I say that it really hurts to cut yourself on of those”

“Talking from experience, are we?” Rarity asked.

“You have to take care even if you are just moving them from one place to another” I said “I forgot that and ended up slicing my hand open” they winced when I said this.

“Then why make weapons so sharp?” Fluttershy asked.

“Because sometimes it’s a case of kill or be killed” I said, noticing her shocked expression I added “I’m sorry Fluttershy, but the world isn’t as kind and forgiving as you like to think it to be, there are people out there that would kill you as soon as look at you, simply because they felt like it”

“But, how can anyone be so cruel?” she asked, I sighed.

“Multiple personal reasons as well as the upbringing” I said, shrugging “that tends to have an influence, now let’s just leave it at that and move on” Mata Nui and Boris walked over.

“Hail, Brother-Firespitter” Boris said, stowing his swords “anyway I can be a spirit-lift?”

“Eer, what did he just say?” Rainbow Dash asked, saying what the others were thinking.

“He was asking if he can help in anyway” I said, I then looked at Boris “to which the answer is no”

“How did he learn to talk like that?” Twilight asked.

“It’s called ‘tree-speak’” I said “it’s a dialect that toa like him speak, and it gets very annoying at times”

“Past-late to change now” Boris said, shrugging.

“Mata Nui” I said, looking at the golden warrior “why you decided to have Le-people speak like that, I’ll never understand”

“If everyone spoke the same, it would become boring” Mata Nui said, and his shield disappeared in a flash, leaving Click to crawl up onto Mata Nui’s shoulder, I noticed Rarity shudder slightly.

“Don’t like bugs?” I asked, at that moment a female changeling walked in, and Rarity shrieked, causing the changeling to do the same in surprise “I’ll take that as I no”

“Why do you have those things on this ship?” Rainbow Dash said, getting into an aggressive stance which caused the changeling to start backing up, the fear apparent on her face

“They won’t hurt you, they are actually quite useful” I said “and don’t be so aggressive, your scarring her” this surprised the ponies.

“HER!?” they all exclaimed in surprise, I rolled my eyes.

“Yes, Changelings have genders as well” I said, Rainbow Dash relaxed slightly, but still kept a wary eye on her, I turned to the changeling.

“Don’t worry” I said “I won’t let them hurt you, carry on as you were” the changeling nodded her thanks in her language before continuing on her way.

“Oh, I love the Changeling’s vocabulary” I said, Twilight perked up.

“They actually have a language?” she asked “I thought they communicated like insects”

“Technically they do, it incorporates a complex range of clicks, buzzes and pheromones mixed with a spoken dialect” I said, I then demonstrated by saying their greeting.

“How long did it take you to learn that?” Twilight asked.

“Five days” I said “you have to substitute the buzzes for rolled Rs, and even then it’s still a broken version, as the pheromones add context to the sentence, and well, I can’t produce pheromones”

“Whey even bother to try and learn a language like that if you can’t even speak it properly?” Rarity asked.

“Have you ever heard changelings sing?” I asked “it’s probably one of the most beautiful sounds imaginable”

We finally ended up back on the gun deck, and the tour concluded, I lead them on to Frostfang’s back, who was currently hovering at the side of the ship

“Well, I hope you’ve all enjoyed this tour of my ship” I said “but now you must go back to the castle, you have a town to protect, and I have my armour to polish for tonight’s concert, speaking of which, will any of you be there tonight?”

“You can count on me to show up” Rainbow Dash said “no way I would miss out on hearing your worlds music being played live”

“Awesome” I said, giving her a thumbs up.

“I’ll go as well” Fluttershy said, she then hid behind her mane “I mean, if that’s alright with you”

“Hay, Ah might as well show up” Applejack said “some of your music is kinda catchy”

“It sounds like it will be super funarific” Pinkie Pie said, hopping on the Frostfang’s back with excitement.

“I’ll go” Twilight said “for research purposes” I rolled my eyes at her excuse, but didn’t say anything, we all looked at Rarity expectantly, but she didn’t speak for several seconds, as if weighing out the pros and cons of showing up, before she finally buckled under our gazes.

“Urg” she groaned “fine, I’ll go, but not because I like the music” I chuckled.

“I never said anything” I said “but remember, you chose to come to the concert, and we didn’t force you” we then bid our good byes to each other and Frostfang departed for the streets of Ponyville.

I sat in our (mine and Autumn’s) Quarters, polishing my armour with music playing in the background, whilst I was polishing the left upper leg armour I studied the mechanical components on my free arm, I wasn’t, as I had first thought, totally mechanical, there were still patches of ‘untainted’ skin, I was also still able to remove my armour, although it left me severely weakened and vulnerable, it was like the armour was now a part of me, in a manner of speaking. Becoming…whatever form of life I am now, carried other benefits apart from controlling fire, I could run faster and for miles at a time, I even managed to reach about 50 MPH once, I was also stronger and had sharper senses, although I now had terrible endurance for colder temperatures, so winter was going to really suck, on the plus side I had excellent heat endurance, so when we crossed the Appleloosan Desert I would be fine, I looked up to study the world map that stretched across the entire wall, absentmindedly polishing the red-metal armour whilst I mentally traced out the route we would be taking after we played all of our concerts in Equestria, we had decided to not play any concerts in Minotauria, we would use that time to relax and train for combat, we had, however, decided to record an album of our songs, which were in essence, covers of our favourite songs with the vocabulary changed slightly, if it was a Sabaton song, then we would change any locations, or historical events mentioned to ones found on Terra, as long as it reflected actual events and the lyrics still flowed; an example of this was we modified the lyrics of the song ‘Carolus Rex’ to reflect King Sombra’s rise to power in the Crystal Empire, so instead of the chorus saying ‘To the skies see Carolus rise’ it was ‘To the skies see King Sombra rise’. And if it was a song by another band then it was a simple task of changing the grammar to Equestrian-English.

I was shaken out of my musings by the door to our Quarters opening and Autumn walking it, she now had no trouble walking entirely on her hind legs and walked as if she had done so since she were a filly, I’ll admit, she was rather attractive in her new form, and I couldn’t help checking her out as she walked in the room, Autumn noticed this and smirked.

“Like what you see?” she asked, placing a hand on her hip.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t” I said “I mean, it’s not that you were unattractive before, it’s just that, well now you look slightly human and…” I was now stumbling over my words, she rolled her eyes before walking over, sitting on my lap and pulling me into a kiss, silencing me, after a few seconds she pulled away and smiled.

“Stop before you make yourself feel like a fool” she said, nuzzling my cheek “you don’t need to explain yourself”

“But I’m worried I might say something to offend you” I said, she looked me in the eyes and I found myself mesmerised by those maroon pools

“That’s what I love about you” she said, before kissing me “you’re always so worried about saying something wrong, which means you care”

“And I love the fact that you are so understanding” I said, pulling her into a hug.

In the crystal caves underneath Canterlot a shadowy mass was gazing through one of the many crystals that provided a view of the world outside, it had just witnessed the new Toa fend off the dragons, this was an unexpected development, and it infuriated the shadow.

“This will delay my plans considerably” it whispered, the mass glowing red briefly, if it had a physical form it would have crushed the crystal in anger, it calmed down, already making alterations to its plans “but no matter, I will adapt my plans, as I always have, I will wait for these pathetic, half-breed abominations that don’t even deserve to exist, to go gallivanting off on their adventure, and whilst they are fooling around with meaningless matters I will be gaining strength…” some of the crystals separated from the walls of the caverns and floated over to the shadow, changing colour and shape, eventually forming pieces of pitch-black armour, the shadow started to take on a tall, humanoid, appearance, the armour helping to support and contain its form. Red eyes glowed behind the eye-slits of the makeshift mask.

“I will bide my time, I have waited for hundreds of millions of years, what difference will a few extra years be in my plan?” it said, its voice now booming, it’s ‘face’ then contorted into an evil grin “…but soon brother….soon your ‘Toa’ will be unable to stop me, and then, even the rulers of this world will bow to my shadow”

We all stood on the stage, waiting for the wall to part, revealing the crowd that was eager to watch the concert, the rest of the band were all eager to start, there was a clang and the wall slid to one side, immediately a sound, not too dissimilar to a lone wind in a desert, started to emanate from the stage, confusing the crowd, shortly the bass guitarist started to pick out a tune, soon followed by the lead and the drums, eventually forming a heavy riff…

… We finished the first song and I stepped forward, Autumn close behind, a raised the microphone to my mouth.

“GOOOOOOOOOD EVENING PONYVILLE!” I shouted, the crowd went wild “awesome, now, did you enjoy the song?” the crowd cheered in response.

“Do you want to hear some more?” I asked, the crowd cheered, I looked at Autumn and we both shared a knowing smirk.

“You know” Autumn said “I don’t think the rest of the band heard them”

“I said, DO YOU WANT TO HEAR MORE?” the crowd cheered even louder this time and we both chuckled “that’s more like it, now, this next song is about a group of 40 brave soldiers from my world, they were told to hold the border against the invading German Wehrmacht army, despite being outnumbered they held their ground, showed no fear, and even in the face of failure and death, maintained courage, this is, RESIST AND BITE!” Minion immediately sprung into a finger-tapping solo, with Cloddiwr providing a steady beat…

…the song finished and the crowd cheered.

“Well, Autumn” I said into the microphone “I think they’re starting to like my worlds music, don’t you think?”

“Absolutely” she said “let’s give ‘em something they’ll really enjoy” I chuckled.

“Ladies and gentlemen, for this next bit I want you to keep quiet, close your eyes, and let the music flow though you…on the guitar” I said, pointing to Minion “Minion, my brother, show them what you’ve got” he then started to pick out a quiet, calm solo...

...He finished the solo on his knees and the crowd went absolutely wild, a stage hand suddenly walked on, carrying an instrument that looked like a guitar, except it didn’t have strings, instead it had 6 buttons on every fret in the place of the strings, and a touch panel located where a guitarist would usually strum the strings, the stage hand walked up to Vinyl, she put the Keytar on a stand before taking the new instrument and walking towards the edge of the stage, I turned to the crowd.

“Ladies and gentlemen” I said “the instrument the Vinyl is now holding is called a Kitara, it’s essentially a Dubstep guitar, instead of strings it has buttons that produce a sound like so” she then proceeded to tap out a few buttons, producing a heavy, electronic sound.

“Now that you know what it sounds like, I thought we’d play you a couple of songs that incorporates this instrument” the sound of a beach then started to emanate for the speakers, followed by the sound of a fiddle...

...The crowd cheered briefly before quietening down again, some more music started to play, this time an orchestra.

...The song finished and she walked back towards the stand holding the Keytar, she then swapped the instruments around.

“Alright folks, we only have a few more songs to play tonight” I said, I heard some of the crowd murmur in disappointment “but remember, if you pay to watch tomorrow or the day after, we have a much longer set-list , so you can rock out all weekend long, we will also be giving away complimentary audio disks, so you can hear the original songs, played by the bands the originally sung them, whenever you want, now, who wants to finish this off with a bang?” the crowd cheered uproariously, I noticed a group of pegasi were hovering high above the crowd.

“Hey, you guys” I said, pointing to the pegasi, they looked at me and then pointed to their chests, asking if I was talking about them “yeah, you guys, for this next song, a few of the guns will be firing to add ‘impact’ to the song, so could you please get down on the ground, I don’t want the town demanding our heads to be mounted on pikes because we accidentally shot down a few pegasi” some of the crowd chuckled, and the pegasi slowly descended.

“Thank you, now, that warning also applies to everyone else, the guns are really loud, so if any parents, elder siblings, etcetera, brought younger family, please find the nearest unicorn to put an ear protection spell on the little ones, and if you have a problem with unexpected, loud bangs, then have the spell applied to yourself as well” as I said this the crowd began to light up with the glow of spells in several places “thank you, nice to know that common sense still exists today, now, we give you, FEUER FREI!!!” Vinyl started tapping out a tune on the Keytar, before Minion suddenly strummed out a long, heavy note, punctuated by two of the anti-ship guns firing at once, I then began to sing in German, the foreign words coming to me with the ease that only comes with listening to it countless times, we reached the first chorus and one of the automatic AA-gun turrets took over the role of the kicker-drums; providing a steady, fast paced beat...

...“FEUER FRIE. BANG BANG!” I said, the last part punctuated by two of the anti-ship guns firing off, the crowd cheered, suddenly 6 of the anti-ship guns fired off in a row, one after another, and we immediately started playing another song...

...The song finished and the crowd remained silent, as if waiting for the guns to fire again, I chuckled before saying.

“you can cheer now” the effect was instantaneous, the crowd erupted into cheers and applause, I waited for the cheers to die down “now, this next song, is about a Russian air force night-bomber regiment, composed entirely of females, nicknamed… THE NIGHT WITCHES!!!!”...

...The song died down and he crowd cheered.

“Right” I said, after the cheering had died down “this next song is our last one for tonight, but we will be back tomorrow and the day after, so it’s not over yet!” a siren then started to sound off, followed by several of the ships guns firing randomly, Boris stood on the deck of the ship, generating a wind that howled through the night, after about a minute we started the song.

The last note strummed out, adding a finality to the concert, the crowd went wild, their cheers echoing through the night.

“Thank you!” I shouted, the rest of the band bowed, eliciting even more cheers from the crowd, after about a minute we walked off stage, the continued cheers still echoing across the night.

please support the original releases of the songs, buy the albums, show them to your friends, etc.

I walked onto the bridge, I could see Minion and Jörmungandr talking with Twilight, Minion looked really excited.

“Brother, give me your phone” he said.

“Wai-what?” I asked

“Twilight and Jörmungandr have found a way to communicate with our world using our phones” he said.

“Your shitting me” I said, he shook his head, I passed the sleek-white phone to Twilight “how?” Twilight then proceeded to rattle off a complex sum of equations and something about portals and a universal arcane grid whist casting a spell on the phone, she levitated the phone back to me, the light-bar at the bottom was now glowing purple.

“It would even work with your computer” she said “so you could access your worlds ‘internet’ without actually connecting to any one network, think of it as piggybacking”

“Have you talked to our parents?” I asked Minion.

“What do you bloody think?” he said, incredulously “of course I bloody did”

“What were their reactions?” I asked.

“what you would expect” he said “the shouting, asking where you’ve been for the past year or so, asking where I’ve been, the denial, until I sent them a picture of me standing next to Twilight, then the tears of joy from knowing that we are ok, oh, and Mum wants to speak with you and Autumn”

“Aww, you told her?” I complained.

“It’s my job as your older brother” he said, smirking.

“You bastard” I said “anyway, I need to go find Autumn” I then ran off towards our quarters.

I found Autumn sitting at the writing desk, writing a letter.

“Hey, Autumn?” I said, she looked up from the writing desk.

“Hmm?” she asked.

“How would you like to talk with my parents?” I asked, she looked confused.

“first of all” she said “how?, secondly, I though your dad died, so you should only have one parent”

“Twilight made a spell that lets my phone access the mobile networks back home” I said “and my mum remarried” she nodded in understanding, I then took my phone out and went to call home.

“Well” I said, taking my mask off “here goes nothing” and I pressed the call button, before putting the phone on loud speaker, I could hear the dial tone, I heard a click.

“Hello?” I heard a familiar female voice ask.

“Mum, it’s me” I said.

“Oh my god” she said “Luke!?”

“Who else would it be?” I asked, I then nudged Autumn and whispered in her ear “say something”

“H-hello” Autumn said.

“Who’s that?” my mum asked.

“My girlfriend” I said “Autumn Skies” my mum gasped.

“Picture” she said “NOW!” I chuckled before taking a picture of the two of us and sending it to her, I heard my mum gasp again.

“You two look so lovely together” she said, I did a double take.

“You mean you aren’t at all unhappy that I’m in a relationship with an alien?” I asked.

“No” she said “why would I be?”

“Don’t worry” I said.

“Just remember” she said “if you have kids, I want to be the first to know” I smacked my head on the desk, my cheeks red with embarrassment, Autumn wasn’t faring any better, her wings were at full span.

“Mum” I complained “could you not say that in front of my girlfriend”

“But I’m not in front of your girlfriend, am I?” she asked, you could practically hear the smugness in her voice.

“For god sake” I muttered, I could hear my mum and step-dad laughing, I knew just the thing to quiet them “Hey, Mum”

“Yes?” she asked.

“Did Minion tell you that I’m now the captain of a two and a quarter million ton airship?” I heard a load of glasses shattering, a whole host of curse words, all from voices I recognised, I dead panned before saying in a rather dry tone “you had people ‘round to celebrate, didn’t you?”

“Umm, yes” she said, actually sounding a couple shades paler, if that was possible “and no, your brother didn’t tell me” I chuckled, for the next few hours I retold my story of my adventures in Equestria and the surrounding countries.

I was standing on the deck of the ship, looking at the town and the people going about their business, I heard footsteps, I turned around to see Scar walking up to me, minus his Gatling guns.

“Come to enjoy the view?” I asked, he just grunted, that’s the thing with Scar, even though he can talk, he hardly ever does, and when he does he’s always, moody “I never understood why you’re so grumpy all the time” he looked at me, scowling.

“Personal reasons” he said.

“Before or after we encountered each other?” I asked.

“Before” he said.

“Want to talk about it?” I asked, he just glared at me “what? It often helps if you talk about your problems” he quirked an eyebrow, before sighing and resting his head on the railing.

“It was when I was still a timberwolf…a proper timberwolf” he said “I was leading my pack on a hunt, and it went bad…really bad, we encountered a family of Manticores, and I stupidly ordered my pack to attack them, long story short, a lot of my pack got… there isn’t a word in your language to describe it, it’s like the magic that holds us timberwolves together, it got separated from their bodies, permanently, most times a timber wolf can search for a enough wood to create a new body, but this time they couldn’t, and I caused it”

“Shit” I muttered, I went to say something else but I was interrupted by a deafening roar, I looked up to see a absolutely huge red dragon attacking the town, me and scar both looked at each other and nodded before running below deck to our quarters, I ran into my quarters and got my armour and weapons, picking up an arcane auto-rifle as well, Autumn was just finishing putting on her armour as well, I ran up to the bridge.

“Orders sir?” Blazewing asked as I walked into the room

“Aim the anti-ship guns at the dragon, but try to cause as little damage to it, I’m off outside to go and fight” Blazewing nodded before relaying orders, just as I walked outside two of the turrets fired, sending shockwaves across the deck, suddenly a massive white blur slammed into the dragon, sending it flying into an empty field and kicking up a cloud of dust, obscuring the field, when the dust settled I could see Frostfang duking it out with the red dragon, they began talking in draconic briefly before they resumed fighting, the red dragon charged at Frostfang, who sidestepped and grabbed the other dragons tail, causing it to face plant, the red dragon then turned around and swiped Frostfang with its tail, sending him flying into some trees, I turned to the bridge.

“OPEN FIRE” I shouted, the sky then split from the cacophony that followed, but the shot’s just seemed to bounce off “fuck, it’s not working!” the dragon now just looked pissed, it charged at us but just as it got about 500 feet away Frostfang appeared out of nowhere, grabbed the fire-drake by the head, forced its mouth open and unleashed a torrent of ice breath down the fire-drakes throat, his spines glowing blue as he did, I saw ice began to cover the fire-drakes skin and the neck shattered, leaving the now decapitated and half frozen carcass to fall to the ground with a thud, Frostfang dropped the now disembodied head and let out a great roar of victory, silencing any other animals for miles around, the crew of the ship cheered, soon followed by the town.

“Well” Minion said, walking forward “I guess we’re on clean up duty”

*Perspective: 3rd person*

In the caves below Canterlot, Teridax growled, and crushed the viewing crystal that was in his hand.

“Curse that ice dragon” he said, he hadn’t counted on the ice-drake showing up, but he would not make the same mistake again “no matter, that dragon was weak anyway, I will wait until this land is unprotected and then, I will unleash my Rahkshi army on the capital” he then looked through two viewing crystals, this time showing Luna and Sombra, he let out a chuckle.

“Yes” he said, absentmindedly running a finger other the crystal that was displaying Luna “they will do nicely as my advisors, especially Luna, so beloved and cherished by her sister, yet she fails to utilise her sisters true potential, no one appreciates her power, and I will use that to my advantage, to turn her like I did 1000 years before” he then focused his attention on the crystal displaying Sombra in his cell, he focused his powers on the crystal and his sight became one with the crystals.

Sombra was sat in his cell, thinking as he had done for the past few months, he was snapped out of his musings by the cell going dark.

“Who’s there?” Sombra demanded.

“Keep quiet!” a guard barked, after a few seconds Sombra saw two red eyes appear in the shadows.

“Consider me an ally” Teridax said, in a hushed voice “I have a proposal for you” Sombra eyed the eyes suspiciously before saying quietly.

“I’m listening”

“I don’t have long” Teridax said “but you have a choice ahead of you, you can either rot in you prison like a weakling, or, you can join me, gain powers beyond your imagination, and exact vengeance on the one that put you in here”

“I wish I could” Sombra said “but he’ll kill me if I do”

“He’s now part of a group that forbids killing” Teridax said “so you don’t have to worry about his hollow threats” Sombra smirked at this.

“Then consider me in” he said, Teridax chuckled.

“Excellent” Teridax said “but you will have to bide your time in this cell for now, we mustn’t raise suspicion, but I will come back for you, soon” Sombra nodded and Teridax’s red eyes disappeared along with the shadow enveloping the room, and Sombra returned to his thoughts, which mostly included all the ways he would torture and kill Vuur Koning.

*Perspective: 1st person (Vuur Koning)*

Cleaning up the mess took a long time, made worse by the fact that the carcass had started to melt, as you would expect, Fluttershy was not happy with what had happened, I was leaning against the trunk of a tree when Fluttershy confronted him about it.

“How could you do such a thing!?” she demanded to a now shrunken down Frostfang, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“I tried to reason with him” Frostfang said, doing his best to keep calm “but he would not listen, I had no choice, if I hadn’t’ done something, then what do you think would have happened to your town”

“You didn’t have to kill him” Fluttershy said “all creatures have feelings and deserve to live” I chuckled darkly, surprising them.

“You’ve obviously never heard of Xenomorph’s, The Flood, Nazi’s, Rahkshi or Visorahk” I said, counting them off “ask Mata Nui about the last two, as for the first one, well, it’s larval stage gestates inside a live host and escapes by bursting out of its host’s chest, whist the host is still conscious, did I mention it has acid for blood, I’ll leave you to try and convince Frostfang that every creature disserves to live now, Auf Weidersehn” I then walked off, leaving the two of them stunned into silence, and Fluttershy several shades paler.

“What the hell was that about?” Minion asked, walking up to me.

“Fluttershy was upset that we had to kill the dragon, using the excuse that all creatures deserve to live” I said “so I told her about Xenomorph’s as an example of a creature that does not deserve to live” my brother face palmed.

“You don’t tell innocent little ponies about those kinds of things” he said, shaking his head behind his hand, I just shrugged.

“Would you have done any different?” I asked, already knowing the answer, he went to say something before muttering a few choice curses towards me “didn’t think so”

“Oh fuck you” he said.

“One” I said, smirking “I’m not gay, and two, I’m not into incest”

“God dammit” he muttered.

“Don’t you mean ‘Odin’ dammit?” I asked rhetorically.

“Who?” Autumn asked, landing beside me

“I’m Norse-Pagan” Minion explained “Odin is the all-father, the father of all people and Norse gods, but I personally worship Thor and Loki, gods of thunder and mischief respectively” he then rolled up a sleeve to show tattoos of the Norse symbols for Thor and Loki.

“I thought humans couldn’t get cutie marks” Autumn said, booth me and Minion burst out laughing.

“They’re tattoos” Minion said “I chose to get them done, speaking of which, I need to find a tattoo parlour somewhere”

“There should be some in our next stop” Autumn said.

“What symbol this time?” I asked.

“The Three Virtues” he replied, shrugging.

“Count me in” I said.

I was sat at the writing desk, sketching out designs, I was planning a bike that used to same levitation systems that the airships used, but on a smaller scale, just to keep it levitating about a foot of so off the ground, the only problem was propulsion, I would need to talk to Twilight about that, I was interrupted from my musings by Autumn walking in and wrapping her arms around my shoulders from behind, and kissing me on the cheek.

“Hey beautiful” I said.

“What are you drawing?” she asked.

“It’s designs for a bike, similar to one I actually had back on earth” I said, logging onto the laptop and showing her a picture of a bike similar to mine, a Royal-Enfield 500-Bullet, “but more like a ‘chopper’, so it’s more comfortable, I love the classic bike look, but they don’t half give you a sore arse, a chopper is more laid back and comfortable, so it’ll be a compromise between the two types, hopefully I’ll get it built by the time we’re in Minotauria, I’ve looked at a tourist book and the roads look beautiful, I’m thinking when we stop in one of the towns you and me go for a ride along one of the valley roads” I saw Autumn smile out of the corner of my eye.

“I’d like that” she said.

“Oh” I said, remembering something “I’ll need our group of friends to gather for a picture at some point, I want to send the parental’s a picture of us all together, also I want us to do a video call with them, I’m not sure Aurora has met her grandmother yet” Autumn giggled at that.

“I can’t wait to see her face when she finds out” she said, I then got my camera out.

“Smile” I said, we both smiled and the camera flashed “Mum’s gonna love this”

“You’ve been sending a lot of pictures to her since this morning” Autumn said.

“I haven’t talked to her for a year and bit” I said “what would you do in my situation?” she went to say something but stopped, I could see her pouting out of the corner of my eye.

“Damn you and your logic, Human” she said, nuzzling my cheek, I chuckled.

“To which I say; damn you and you pony magic” I said, she snorted.

“Touché” Autumn replied.

“Sometimes I don’t know whether ‘its magic’ is an excuse or a scientific explanation” I said, Autumn lifted her head from my shoulder and put a hand to her chin in thought.

“It’s actually a little bit of both” she said, after a few seconds “it depends on the tone it’s spoken in and the context of the sentence”

I was walking along the corridor towards my brothers quarters, I needed to speak to him about something, I knocked on the door… no response, I opened the door and immediately regretted it, there, on my brother’s bed, was Vinyl straddling Minion, the two of them kissing passionately, whilst Rammstein’s ‘Ich Tu Dir Weh’ played in the background, this went on for several seconds before they noticed me, they just looked at me as if I had walked into them playing a board game, Vinyl waved nonchalantly.

“Sup?” my response was to very slowly close the door and walk off, a few seconds later Minion burst into the corridor and ran after me.

“Bro” he said, grabbing my shoulder “are you O.K.?”

“I did not need to see that” I said shuddering “but seriously, yes, I’m fine” Minion sighed with relief.

“Thank god” he said “for a moment I thought we’d scarred you for life”

“So…” I said “you and Vinyl?” he scratched the back of his neck.

“Heh, yeah” he said.

“Well, who am I to object” I said, walking off “it would just make me a hypocrite”

“You and Autumn are free to join us anytime” he called.

“No, thank you” I said before walking out of sight, I reached my quarters and Autumn noticed the blank look on my face.

“Are you O.K.?” she asked.

“Where is the brain bleach?” I said, sitting down on the sofa, noticing Autumn’s look I added “I walked in on Vinyl and Minion about to get freaky and then they offered for us two to join them” Autumn fell on the floor laughing

You’re not helping” I said.

“Oh wow” Autumn said “I wish I could’ve been there to see your face”

“Oh fuck off!” I said, although my expression showed I wasn’t serious.

“You have to admit” Autumn said “it is a little funny”

“O.K. you got me” I said “the worst part was the song that was playing in the background”

“Which was?” Autumn said, gesturing for me to continue.

“Ich Tu Dir Weh by Rammstein” I said, Autumns response was to once again fall on the floor with laughter

“Ha, they like it kinky” she said, getting up and wiping away a tear, she suddenly got a devious look on her face “I can think of the perfect thing to get them for Hearths Warming now”

“Whatever it is” I said “no!”

“Oh come on” she said “I’m sure they would love a whip”

“Oh my god!” I said, face palming “I did not need to know that” Minion and Vinyl then teleported into the room, and started dancing whilst ‘I just had sex’ played on Minions phone, we both just stared at them, after a few seconds they started to head towards the corridor, still dancing as they did so, when they were out of the room I said.

“You wouldn’t think my brother’s actually three years older than me would you?” Autumn suddenly went pale.

“Oh shit!” she said.

“What, you finally realised how childish he can be?” I asked.

“That too” she said “but also when we go to Trottingham, both of our older brothers are going to meet”

“Oh shit indeed” I said “I hope your brother isn’t as bad as Minion”

“Don’t get your hopes up” Autumn said.

“Great” I said, standing up “I need a drink”

“It’s 11 in the morning” she said incredulously.

“Exactly” I said “it’s only 11 in the morning, what else is going to happen today?”

I was walking along the streets of Ponyville, ponies greeted me as I walked past, I was stopped by Lyra, in case you were wondering how I knew who it was, I got to know her when I was training to be a guard, she was also a big help when it came to learning about other humans who had been sent to Equestria in the past.

"Hey, Vuur Koning" she said, tapping my leg.

"Oh, hey Lyra" I said, I noticed she looked a little nervous "What's up?"

"I kind of have to ask you something" she said, not looking me in the eye.

"Go on" I said, she mumbled something "I'm sorry, I didn't quite hear that"

"Iwaswonderingifyou'dletmejoinyouonyourship?" she said, far too quickly for me to understand.

"Whoa, whoa" I said "take a deep breath, calm down, and repeat what you just said, slowly" she took a breath before saying.

"Would you let me join your crew?"

"why?" I asked.

"Well" she said "I guess I just want to see the world, like you do" I sighed before saying.

"Alright"

"Wait, really?" she asked "Just like that?"

"I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't, just one thing, does Bonbon know?"

"Yeah" she said, nodding, she looked sad "things have been a little shaky between us lately, we both agreed that we kind of need a bit of space for a while, you know what they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder" I chuckled.

"I know it better than most" I said "alright then, go pack your things, we leave tomorrow at lunch time"

in case you're wondering, Yes!, my brother is that immature at times, but I wouldn't have him any other way

Teridax: more commonly known as simply "Makuta" or the "Makuta of Metru Nui", was the leader of the Brotherhood of Makuta after overthrowing Miserix; the original leader. During the final battle on Bara Magna, he was finally killed by Mata Nui

The crew of the Jörmungandr worked like mad to get the ship ready for departure, thanks to the majority of them being from the Royal guard we were soon ready, now we were just waiting for a certain mint coloured unicorn to show up, I was waiting at the gangplank that lead into the hold which we had used to give the townsponies tours of the ship, suddenly I saw Lyra running at full pelt down the street towards us, with saddlebags full of stuff.

“Wait” I heard her call, I suddenly felt the ship shift ‘Oh shit’ I thought as I saw the stair leave the ground.

“Come on, come on” I said through gritted teeth, I dived to the end of the gangplank and held my arm out just as she jumped, thankfully I was able to grab hold of her wrist, resulting in her dangling several feet up in the air “gotcha!” I said, the ship ascended with surprising speed, and soon we were several hundred feet in the air, Lyra looked down and screamed, before wrapping her free foreleg around my arm.

“Vuur Koning, I would much rather be on the ship right now” she said, I pulled her up.

“Welcome aboard the Jörmungandr, Miss Heartstrings” I said as we walked into the hold, the gangplank retracted and the doors closed, she looked around in awe at the size of the hold, along with the menagerie of different species.

“How many species are on this ship?” she asked, looking up in awe as a massive minotaur walked past carrying two large crates on his shoulders

“Just about every major species found on the Northern Continent; ponies, changelings, griffins, thestrals, minotaur’s, even the odd dragon” I said “just treat them all with respect and they’ll do the same to you, especially the changelings, they’re a little sore over what happened in Canterlot, mostly because of the discrimination that followed more than anything else, just don’t stare at them and they’ll treat you like their best friend”

“Got it” Lyra said “what will I be doing on this ship?”

“As you’re technically a crypto-zoologist” I said, walking out of the hold “you’ll be a part of the team that will study any new species we encounter in the lost world, who knows, there might be thriving populations of creatures thought to be myth on this world, but that won’t be for several months, so until then, get to know your colleagues, make some friends, enjoy the view from your rooms balcony, generally just relax, oh, and you’re always welcome to hang out with my group of friends any time” she smiled.

“I’d like that” she said.

“Great” I said “now, I’ll warn you, sometimes our conversations get a little crazy, plus we often prat about” as if to prove my point, I opened the door to the room that our group hang out in to find Minion, Vinyl, Cloddiwr, Scar and Blazewing taking shots, whilst Boris, Autumn and Saphyrus egged them on, and Mata Nui looked on disapprovingly, I looked at Lyra, she just stared wide eyed at the group of people

“This is why I warned you” I said, before walking in and clapping my hands together, causing them all to stop “Alright you lot, we have a new crew member, this is Lyra Heartstrings, and she’ll be our Crypto-zoologist when we travel into the lost world, she’s also a friend of mine from when a was training to be a reserve guard, so she’ll be joining our little circle of friends” they all nodded their greetings, I then started to point them all out

“This is my brother; Minion, Autumn Skies, Vinyl Scratch, Scar, Blazewing, Boris, Cloddiwr, Saphyrus and Mata Nui” I said, I then noticed a plush pony sat in a miniature wheelchair “err, why is there a teddy in a wheel chair?” Minion picked it up.

“Oh, this is Caesar” he said “he’s the disabled friend that everyone tolerates, the reason he’s in a wheel chair is because a group of chavs stabbed him, so now he’s paralysed from the waist down”

“Minion, why the fuck do you have a teddy in a wheel chair!?” I asked, pinching the bridge of my nose.

“The question is why the fuck did I not get it sooner?” he replied, I turned to Lyra

“Behold, the definition of maturity” I said “my Brother, who is three years older than me” Lyra snickered behind a hoof, and everyone else burst out laughing, including Mata Nui.

I was stood on the gun deck of the ship, watching the world go by below us, soon we would be reaching Cloudsdale, I heard mechanical footsteps coming up behind me, they could only belong to one being.

“Hey, Mata Nui” I said, Mata Nui walked next to me and placed his hands on the railings.

“Good evening, Toa Vuur Koning” he said, nodding to me “I think we might find keys to how you got here in the Lost world, as well as clues to what actually happened to my people”

“I have been wondering about that, what happened?” I asked.

“Other than a cataclysmic event, I’m not sure” he said “as far as I know, everyone I knew is dead”

“I find it hard to imagine all of them just dying, a few people are bound to have survived, at the very least we’ll fine the remains of settlement, and you’ll have closure” I said, he quirked an eyebrow at me.

“It’s been millions of years” he said “whatever is left is probably buried under tons of rock and earth”

“Damn, I hadn’t counted on that” I said, I placed a hand on his shoulder “If it means anything, Friend, I’m sorry”

“Thank you” he said, before placing a hand on my shoulder and smiling “Friend”

I stood on the bridge of the Jörmungandr, I could see Cloudsdale in the distance, it truly looked spectacular, Minions reaction when he saw it was priceless.

“Fuckin’ ‘ell” he said, when he saw it, Mata Nui’s reaction was similar.

“That is remarkable “ he said “a city made entirely out of clouds, the question is, how are we going to walk on there? I may have been deactivated for several million years, but even I know that you shouldn’t be able on walk on clouds” they both looked at me.

“Oh ye of little faith” I said, before calling for the ships magical construct “Jörmungandr?”

“You called, Captain?” he said, materialising.

“Apply a cloud-walking spell to everyone on this ship” I said, he nodded and everyone started to glow for a few seconds.

“It is done” the construct said “it should last for the entire time that we are here”

“Thank you, Jörmungandr” I said, the construct nodded before disappearing.

“Does he do that often?” Mata Nui asked.

“What, you mean the disappearing thing?” I asked “yeah, he’s a magical construct, he doesn’t need to be visible all the time, so why go to the trouble, plus it make monitoring the ship’s systems a lot easier if he isn’t utilising his magic to create a form that is purely for show” a small air Tub-boat flew alongside us and the radio crackled into life.

“Equestrian Navy Ship, designation Jörmungandr, you are to follow us to your allocated berth in the port, over?” the tug’s captain said, I walked over to the radio.

“This is Captain Vuur Koning of the Jörmungandr” I said “reading you loud and clear, lead the way, over?”

“Rodger that” the tug captain said, the radio died and I turned to one of the crew, a Pegasus mare.

“Notify Frostfang” I said, the mare nodded before trotting outside and flying towards the dragon, we soon began to follow the tug-boat towards the port.

I stepped off the gangplank and onto the dense clouds, it was like walking on an air mattress.

“This is weird” I muttered.

“This does not feel safe” I heard Minion say, Autumn and Vinyl just walked past us as if they were walking on concrete.

“Come on boy’s” Autumn said “they have nets suspended underneath so you have nothing to worry about” me and my brother looked at each other before walking after them, I turned around to see Mata Nui, followed by Boris and Scar, walking uncertainly towards us.

“Are you sure this is absolutely safe?” Mata Nui asked, pressing a foot into the clouds, Autumn nodded.

“Perfectly safe” she said “the worst that could happen is you trip over, now, shall we?” she then walked towards the customs building, I shrugged at the group before following her to the customs, as senior members of the crew, as well as registered guardians, we had permission to carry weapons into the city, but only to be used if absolutely necessary, until then they would serve as a deterrent to anyone foolish enough to try and attack us, I walked into the customs building and presented the required paperwork, the guards looked at us unsurely before letting us through.

“Enjoy your time in Cloudsdale, ‘Toa’” one of them said, a small amount of venom in his words, once we were out of ear shot I turned to Autumn.

“Not too friendly with outsiders, are they?” I said, Autumn shrugged.

“it’s to be expected” She said “especially considering the only form of foreigners they see are griffins, and you know how well that’s going at the moment” all eyes turned to look at Boris, the faux-griffin now looked incredibly nervous.

“Err, you could have before-warned me!” he said “this could get dark-serious ever-quick”

“As long as you don’t go out of your way to get noticed, you should be fine” Autumn said.

“I’m a huge-big Toa-hero!” Boris said incredulously “I’m going to get noticed” sure enough, when we excited the building, every Pegasus in the street stared at Boris and the rest of us, to be fair we were 7ft tall semi-biomechanical beings, in multi coloured-armour, we blended in about as well as a discord, our destination was a tavern that Autumn was familiar with from her days as a special-ops guard, according to her it sold very good food as well as drinks, we soon reached the tavern and when we entered we all released breaths we hadn’t realised we’d been holding.

“Thank god” I muttered, we followed Autumn to the bar and the Stallion bar-tender regarded Autumn curiously.

“Do I know you?” he asked, he probably didn’t recognise her due to the mask she was wearing, Autumn took off the mask and the stallion’s jaw dropped “bucking hell, Autumn, is that you?”

“Yeah” Autumn said, chuckling “I may have changed but deep down I’m still the Pegasus girl from Trottingham that you all know and love”

“Holy Celestia” he said “how long has it been?”

“Too long” Autumn replied.

“Two things” the stallion said “one, what the buck happened to you, and two, who are your friends?” Autumn introduced us.

“As for how I became this?” she said “Mata Nui is responsible for that”

“let me get you all drinks, and then you can sit down and tell me what’s happened these past few years” he said, we then ordered our drinks, sat down at a table in the corner and Autumn began telling the Bar tender, who was also sat at the table with a drink, everything that had happened.

“Good goddess” the stallion said, when Autumn had finished her story “you’ve had quite the adventure, well, I must get back to work now, it’s been great seeing you again” he then stood back up, after about ten minutes a red pegasus stallion walked in, he did a double take when he saw Autumn, who now looked like she was trying to make herself as unnoticeable as possible, the stallion walked up to her.

“Autumn?” the stallion asked “is that you?” Autumn chuckled nervously.

“He he, hey Red Dawn, long time no see, huh?” she said, the stallion looked unamused.

“Right” he said “who are your ‘friends’?” again the venom was clear in the pegasi’s voice, there was something about this stallion that put me on edge, I looked at the rest of the Toa to see that they felt the same.

“Oh, they’re just friends” she said, the stallion glared at her.

“Why are you lying to me?” he said, getting in her face, I put a hand on his shoulder, pushing him back, gently but firmly whilst partly revealing my hunting knife with the other hand.

“I would think very carefully about your next move” I growled, the stallion glared at me.

“Who are you to tell me what to do, Freak?” he asked.

“Maybe the fact that I’m her boyfriend has something to do with it” I said, he now glared at Autumn.

“So you left me for a freak!?” he asked Autumn, I went to say something but I was beaten to it by Minion.

“You watch it before I fucking deck you, mate” he said, standing up, the stallion narrowed his eyes at my brother.

“This doesn’t concern you, Freak” the stallion said, minion walked towards the stallion and leaned towards him

“It does, because that ‘freak’ is my younger brother” he growled “and if you continue, I will knock the ever-loving fuck out of you”

“I’m not afraid of a bunch of freaks” he said, narrowing his eyes at my brother, the rest of us stood up and Minion stood up to his full eight foot and crossed his arms “especially if they have a griffin with them” I got out my spell pistol.

“You have five seconds to get out” I said “or as the leader of a Celestia approved group of guardians, I am authorised to use any force I deem necessary to get you to stand down” I then snapped the fingers in my free hand, conjuring a ball of fire.

“Hey” the bar tender said to the stallion “you aren’t welcome here” the stallion backed off, he looked at Autumn.

“I’ll be waiting outside for you, Whore” he said, before walking out the door, we all sat down

“What a knob’ead” my brother said “he’d fit right in at home” we made small talk for the rest of the evening, and the incident was forgotten, Autumn was right when she said the food was good, eventually we bid farewell to the bar tender and made our way outside to head back to the Jörmungandr, it had gotten darker, it was also much colder.

“Bloody hell, it’s freezing” I said, just then I saw several pegasi stood together, I noted with disdain that one of them was the red stallion from the tavern, they started walking towards us “Mata Nui?”

“Yes?” he asked.

“Take Autumn and Vinyl and double back towards the ship” Autumn and Vinyl objected.

“No bucking way” Vinyl said “we can hold our own in a fight” I sighed.

“Are you totally sure?” I asked, they both nodded.

“Hey!” the red stallion shouted “Freaks!” I got my fire sword out, silencing the group.

“Yes?” I asked, I then began to extinguish all of the street lamps, flames began to dance along the blade “Are you really sure you want to do this?” the rest of the toa readied their weapons, and Mata Nui readied Click and his mouth guard slid up

“Dude, don’t be stupid” one of the pegasi in the group said to Red Dawn, he just shrugged him off.

“Shut it” Red Dawn said, walking forwards “Get them!” he barked, the pegasi charged forwards, when they were close enough I brought up a wall of flame, stopping them in their tracks, I lowered the wall and they hovered in place, Boris brought his swords together, sending a gust of air towards the pegasi and knocking them to the floor, I went to taunt Red Dawn but he was nowhere to be found, I suddenly heard a cry from above and saw the red stallion diving towards us, just as he was about to hit us a golden circular rune appeared and Red Dawn smacked into it, full force, Red Dawn groaned in pain.

“Brother!” Minion said “your mask power!” I looked at my hands and sure enough, the glow from my mask shone onto the armour of my hands, the glow faded and Red Dawn fell to the cloud cover, he didn’t get up, instead he laid on the floor, groaning in pain.

“Typical” I said, I turned to the others “let’s go” they nodded and we walked off, Red Dawn raised a hoof.

“This isn’t over” he wheezed, I laughed.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure it is” I said, flipping the finger at him, his ‘friends’ quickly moved out of our way as we walked past.

*point of view, 3rd person*

Teridax watched the events unfold with interest, it seemed the Toa of fire had gained his mask power, as for this, Red Dawn, he would do nicely as a Makuta, he summoned a portal and the red stallion fell through it.

“Get up, weakling” Teridax said, the stallion slowly stood up.

“What are you?” Red Dawn asked “I’m not afraid of you” Teridax chuckled, causing the pegasi’s brave façade to crumble.

“I control fear” the Makuta said “so I know for a fact that you a very afraid of me, but what if I told you I could take away that fear, give you the power to kill the ‘freak’, and get back Autumn Skies” the stallion regarded him.

“What do I have to do?” Red Dawn asked.

“You simply accept me as your ruler and do exactly as a say” Teridax said, the stallion smirked.

“Deal…hey” whatever he was about to say was interrupted as two Rahkshi appeared from behind him, picked him up by his forelegs and began to drag him over to a pool of silver liquid “let go of me, you freaks, what is that liquid?” Teridax chuckled.

“That is energised Protodermis, it’s going to give you your power” he said, turning around, he then looked as if he remembered something “oh, and by the way, this is going to hurt, a lot” he then began to walk away as the stallion was slowly lowered, kicking and screaming, into the pool, which began to glow as his head was dunked under the surface and held there.

We walked back towards the ship, we were in high spirits, seeing as I had earned my mask power, but I was still concerned about Autumn, I placed my hand on her shoulder and whispered in her ear.

“Do you want to talk about what happened between you and Red Dawn?” Autumn shook her head.

“there is nothing to talk about” she whispered, shrugging “it was a long time ago, me and Red Dawn had a fling, I left him because he was starting to be a flankhole and he’s still sore about it, it’s as simple as that”

“O.K.” I said, patting her shoulder “as long as it’s not bothering you” she placed her hand on top of mine and looked at me, smiling.

“I don’t let things like this bother me” she said.

I stood on the gun deck of the Jörmungandr, watching the sun set blow the clouds, Aurora flew over and perched on the railing next to me.

“Hello, Uncle” she said.

“Good evening” I replied, Aurora looked at the sunset.

“What are the sunsets like on your world?” the young dragoness asked.

“Depends on what part of the world you live in” I said “in the cities, where there is lots of pollution, it’s often tainted and muted in colour, but out at sea, it’s quite spectacular, the whole sky looks like it’s on fire, in the town me and your dad comes from, they have a metal works, and when they pour the unusable slag-metal at night, the whole sky lights up a bright orange for miles around, it’s definitely worth seeing at least once in your life” Aurora’s eyes widened.

“Wow” she said.

“So, have you been making friends?” I asked.

“I’ve a couple of friends who are diamond dogs” she said “there’s also the three fillies from Ponyville, I often send them letters, Dad helps me to write to them, but I’m starting to learn how to write on my own”

“That’s excellent!” I said, an awkward silence followed, Aurora began to blow flames out of her nostrils, I got a mischievous thought and began to manipulate the flames, until they formed a mirror image of Aurora, she jumped, having only just realised the shape the flames had taken.

“How did you do that?” she asked, I brought the flames towards me and form them into different shapes

“Fire is my element” I said, I then looked behind me “just don’t tell Mata Nui about this, okay? I shouldn’t really be messing about with my powers”

“Yes, Uncle” she said, I tussled the spines on the top of her head.

“I knew I could trust you” I said, I then lifted her off of the railing and onto the deck “now go on, it’s about time you went to bed” Aurora moaned.

“But I’m not *yawn* sleepy” she said, yawning mid-sentence.

“Nice try” I said, I then picked her up and put her on my shoulders “come on, I’ll give you a piggy-back ride” I then walked below deck towards Minions quarters.

Rahkshi were a species of creatures made from Kraata, and acted as servants and field soldiers of the Brotherhood of Makuta. They were not living, but instead suits of armour controlled by the leech-like Kraata.

*P.O.V. 3rd person*

Red Dawn woke with a start and found himself hanging from chains

“Ah” Teridax said “I thought you hadn’t survived the transformation” Red Dawn glared at the Makuta.

“What the buck did you do to me, you freak?” he demanded, looking at his now mechanical arms, which ended in hands which sprouted into five talon-like fingers, Teridax growled and stepped forward, grabbing the former pegasus by the throat and pinning him against the crystalline wall with enough force to crack the crystals, he leaned in closely, so that his eyes reflected off of Red Dawn’s dark crimson and black armour

“You will show respect to your new ruler” he snarled, before yanking the former pegasus out of his bonds and dropping him unceremoniously on the floor “from now on, you do exactly as I say, without question, do that, and I won’t kill you” Teridax began to walk away

“I don’t even know who you are?” Red Dawn said, Teridax stopped and looked at Red Dawn out the corner of his eye

“I am Makuta Teridax” he said “and soon, I’ll teach the ponies what it truly means to live in fear, now, come, you need a mask and weapons” Red Dawn stood up unsteadily, he leant against the crystal wall and looked at his reflection, he was now about 10 foot tall, with angular, dark crimson and black armour, he now had wings like those of a dragon, which were currently wrapped around him like a cloak of some sort, his feet were also like those of a dragon, except they were made up of mechanical parts and metallic plates, he raised a shaky hand to touch his transformed face, which now looked like some twisted blend between a pony and a dragon, the reflection mirrored his movements.

“What the buck am I?” Red Dawn roared rather than asked, turning to look at Teridax.

“You are a Makuta” Teridax said, simply “a being of darkness and shadow, you should feel honoured to earn such a privilege”

“I-I’m a f-freak” Red Dawn said “you turned me into a monster”

“I gave you power” Teridax said “if it shuts you up then you have the power to shape-shift, now, I will not tell you again, you need weapons, and a mask” Red Dawn hesitantly walked after Teridax, he was beginning to wonder if he made the right decision, Teridax led him into a smaller cave filled with an assortment of weapons and several strange masks, Red Dawn picked up a boxy silver mask.

“The Kenohi Komau” Teridax said “it lets you control the minds of others” Red Dawn nodded and put the mask on, it suddenly glowed and changed its shape to better fit Red Dawns head, the mask changed from silver to black and red, when the mask finished changing Red Dawn picked up two scythe-like blades and grinned, Teridax put a hand on his chin in thought.

“I think it’s time you had a new name” Teridax said “how does…Sauradox sound?” the former pegasus looked at Teridax and smirked.

“Sauradox” he said “I like that”

“Good” Teridax said “I have I mission for you, complete it, and you’ll prove yourself to be a true Makuta”

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning*

We were walking through the streets of Cloudsdale, Minion had Aurora on his shoulders, and we were going to surprise her by taking her to see the Wonderbolts.

“Where are we going?” Aurora asked.

“You find out when we get there” Minion said.

“But I want to find out now” the young dragoness complained.

“We’re almost there” I said, we walked into an open area, with a large stadium in the middle, with large banners advertising the upcoming show “oh look, what’s this?” Aurora gasped.

“Are we going to see the Wonderbolts?” she asked.

“Yep” Minion said “surprise” Aurora squealed with delight.

*POV 3rd person*

Sauradox, now disguised as his pegasus form, flew into the stadium, he needed to be careful, he didn’t need to go revealing the presence of Makuta’s yet, the purpose of this mission was to cause mayhem without revealing his presence, he landed at the rear of the stadium, a stallion next to him tapped him on the shoulder.

“Pst, you wanna buy some saltlicks?” the stallion asked, showing the disguised Makuta a tied up bag, Sauradox rolled his eyes and activated his mask power, his eyes glowed gold

“You don’t want to sell me saltlicks” the disguised Makuta said.

“I…don’t want to sell you saltlicks” the stallion said, hiding the bag.

“You want to go home and rethink your life” Sauradox said, the stallion nodded and stood up.

“I…want to go home and…rethink my life” the stallion walked off, Sauradox may now work for an evil being, but he still had personal morals, he smiled, if he was here, he may as well enjoy the show, whilst it lasted at least, he smirked, and his eyes flashed red, a small amount of red mist trailed off of them briefly

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning*

We all sat down in our seats, a pegasus stallion with a spaced-out look on his face walked past muttering something, but I paid him no mind.

“The hell is up with him?” Minion asked, to no one in particular, I shrugged, we then turned our attention to the centre of the stadium, the show was about to start.

*POV 3rd person*

Sauradox watched the show, waiting for the right moment, about halfway through he saw an opportunity and he focused his power of electricity and weather control, making it look like a cloud had electrocuted the Wonderbolts and knocking them unconscious, her smirked as he watched them fall to the ground.

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning

About halfway through the show, all hell broke loose, a thundercloud discharged just as the Wonderbolts flew over it, rendering them unconscious, I watched in horror as I saw them begin to fall to the ground, next thing I knew I saw a gold flash and a green blur shot past me, too fast for me to make out the details, I turned around to see Boris missing, that explained that then, I refocused my attention on the stadium, Boris was zipping around, way faster than should have been possible, he suddenly dived after the Wonderbolts, causing a green and gold sonic rainboom, he flew to each member, grabbing him or her as he went past, when he had all of them he did a U-turn and flew back up, he slowed down and carefully placed the Wonderbolts on a cloud platform, his mask was glowing gold, the entire crowd cheered and he bowed, what surprised me even more was Princess Celestia teleporting onto the platform, Boris looked just as surprised as me, the crowd went silent in respect for the Princess.

“My little ponies” she said “were it not for the heroics of this brave hero, this show would have turned into a tragedy, this griffin is one of six guardians, a group collectively called the Toa Jörmun, made up of members of several different species, they defend Equestria from dangers that are serious, but ether do not require the elements of harmony, or the Elements of Harmony are ineffective or unavailable” I saw her horn glow and next thing I knew I was standing on the platform, the crowd gasped, I leaned towards Celestia.

“Do you always come to these shows?” I whispered.

“Yes” she whispered, she then turned to the crowd “these Toa represent unity, they each have control over a different natural element, leader of the team: Ta-Toa Vuur Koning; Element of Fire, Le-Toa Boris; Element of Air, Bo-Toa Scar; Element of Plant life, Fa-Toa Minion; Element of Magnetism, Fe-Toa Autumn Skies; Element of Iron, and De-Toa Vinyl Scratch; Element of Sound” we stepped forward when she mentioned us, the crowd gasped when she called Vinyl Scratch forward.

“What’s up Everypony?” Vinyl said, using her power over sound to amplify her voice and waiving to the crowd, the crowd began to chant ‘Toa, Toa, Toa’, we just stood there, a little overwhelmed by the situation, Celestia giggled and walked next to me.

“Considering our history with beings trying to endanger this country” she said “I’d get used to this sort of thing”

*POV 3rd person*

To say Sauradox was pissed off would be an understatement, but he didn’t show it, he calmly stood up and left the arena, he found a dark alleyway, with only a single homeless pony, he nodded to the homeless pony before activating his silence powers and changing into his true form, he then dragged the pony into a portal leading to Teridax’s lair.

“Well, that went well” Sauradox said sarcastically “hopefully this will make up for that disaster of a mission” he then tossed the pony to Teridax, who beckoned for two Rahkshi to take the pony away.

“What happened?” Teridax asked, raising an eyebrow “were you discovered?” Sauradox shook his head.

“No” he said “but those Toa saved the ponies” Teridax shrugged it off.

“I only asked for you to make sure you weren’t discovered” Teridax said “the fact that they were saved doesn’t matter to me, besides, I have another mission for you”

“Go on” Sauradox said.

“You are to stow away on their ship, assume a false identity, replace an existing crew member, stay hidden in the shadows, I don’t care, just try to remain undiscovered and relay any notable information to me, if it helps, try to get close to the Toa” Teridax said, he then looked thoughtful “the Humans have an old saying; Keep you friends close…and your enemies closer”

*1 week later*

Under the cover of night Sauradox flew onto the Jörmungandr, using his chameleon powers to blend in, rendering him almost invisible, save for his eyes, and his silence powers to stop any noises escaping, it was mostly empty, save for a few Thestrals and changelings, he looked at the changelings with disgust, he wanted very much to kill them, but he had to remain hidden, he walked to the lower deck, as he was a Makuta he didn’t have to sleep, so he could be constantly surveying the ship, first things first, he needed to familiarise himself with the ship’s layout, after walking the corridors for several hours he found an room marked ‘Minion’, his curiosity piqued and he changed his density to become intangible, he walked through and saw one of the Toa, putting a young dragoness to bed in a room located to one side of the living room.

“But dad, it’s too early” the dragoness complained, Sauradox raised an eyebrow, the Toa had an adoptive daughter (!?).

“Come on Aurora, you know the rules, 10:00 is bed time”

“Tell me a story” the dragoness, apparently called Aurora, said, the Toa sighed before getting a book off of the bookshelf.

“Very well, but only if you promise to go to sleep afterwards” the Toa said, sitting down “Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together, and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her Alicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies. But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful day, the younger Alicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon.” Sauradox recognised the story, the tale of Celestia and Luna, Aurora gasped and the Toa continued.

“She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night” the Toa said “reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to the world: the Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister, and banished her in the moon for 1000 years, the elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon, and harmony was maintained in Equestria for 1000 years, until the day Nightmare Moon returned.” The Toa closed the book and Aurora whined.

“Aww” she said, pouting and folding her wings “but I want to hear the rest of the story”

“But that would mean that I wouldn’t be able to tell you the rest of it tomorrow, wouldn’t it?” the Toa asked, the dragoness huffed.

“Yes Dad” she said, the Toa kissed the dragoness on the forehead.

“That’s my girl” he said, before standing up “now go to sleep” the dragoness sighed before shuffling further down the bed and pulling the covers up, the Toa smiled kindly before turning the ceiling light off, leaving a bedside table on, the Toa the walked out of the room, just before he shut the door he turned to look at the dragoness.

“Goodnight, Aurora” he said.

“Goodnight, Dad” Aurora said, the Toa then shut the door.

Sauradox left the quarters and entered the hallway, he was conflicted, on the one hand he wanted to give Vuur Koning what he deserved, but on the other hand, what would happen to the child if Teridax succeeded?, he would have to make sure Teridax did not find out about the child, he would have to watch over her from the shadows, even if her adoptive father is a being with control other the elements, you could never be too careful.

That night, he stood outside, stargazing and thinking things over, he would still relay information, but he would make sure that Teridax did not find out about the child. His moral compass may have skewed since he became a Makuta, but there was a line that he refused to cross, even now; never put a child in danger, he would watch over her, and any other children on this ship. If it meant going behind Teridax’s back about it, so be it, he would protect them, even from Teridax, he’d seen the things Teridax was capable off, and that scared him slightly.

“I promise” he whispered “as long as I live, no harm will come to the children on this ship”

I though I would try writing a chapter in mostly 3rd person, focusing on Sauradox and his conflicted emotions

And in case you're wondering where Sauradox stands in all of this, he's sort of like a reluctant villain, he'll protect the kids, but he has no qualms about killing anyone who threatens them

listen to the song Two Worlds by Disturbed, it's about having conflicting emotions inside of you, like two worlds are at war inside your mind, and neither side is willing to back down, kind of like the situation with Sauradox.

After a week of travelling we reached Manehatten, it was incredibly similar to Yew York, going by what I had seen on the internet, Autumn agreed with me on that point, I had also started working on building the bike, I had developed a propulsion system with Twilight, it worked like a levitation generator, except instead of directing the energy down it sent it out the back, today, we would not be carrying out weapons, I doubted we would need them.

“That’s quite the view” Minion said, with Aurora sitting on his shoulders, we were all stood on the gun deck, looking at the city skyline.

“Definitely similar to Cities on our world” I said in agreement, Aurora perked up at that.

“Is this what you world looks like then?” she asked, I did a ‘so-so’ motion with my hand.

“This looks like a copy of one City on our world, London however, looks very different to this, and for one thing, this city doesn’t have a massive clock tower” I said, Blazewing walked towards us.

“I’s gonna be really weird walking through the streets withou’ ‘avin’ the guards after me” he said, the rest of us looked at him and raised our eyebrows “Wha’? I used to be wanted ‘ere” I pinched the bridge of my nose.

“Of course you would be wanted in this bloody city” I said “I’m not even gonna ask what you did the make yourself wanted, just stick with us and try not to cause too much trouble”

“Err” he said uncertainly “yes, sir?” I sighed, this was going to be interesting.

We were walking through customs and check in of the Airport we were just about to leave the building and enter the city when Blazewing was tackled by a guard, the two of them fell to the ground.

“I finally have you, you pirate scum” the guard said in a New York accent, standing on Blazewing whilst pinning his arm behind his back, I sighed before walking up to them.

“Excuse me sir” I said “would you kindly cease trying to apprehend my Chart master” the guard looked taken aback.

“W-what?” he stammered, he then turned to the dragon “Chart master!?” the dragon did the closest thing to a shrug he could manage in his current situation

“Yes” I said “Did you see the 20 gunner navy ship out there? Big thing, called the Jörmungandr, has the figure head of a serpent, I’m the captain of that ship, and you are technically assaulting a member of the Royal Equestrian Navy and my crew” the guards eyes reduced to pinpricks before he hastily pulled Blazewing back up and cleared his throat.

“Sorry about that” the guard said.

“It’s understandable” I said “it’s true he used to be a pirate, but that changed after I blew his ship out of the sky” the guard went pale.

“W-well” the guard said “as you were” I nodded.

“Thank you” I said, walking past “keep up the good work”

“I’m watching you” the guard whispered to Blazewing as he walked past, I rolled my eyes, but pretended I didn’t hear.

“Thanks for the save back there” Blazewing said.

“Get used to it” I said, sighing “I suspect it will happen quite a lot today”

As we walked down the streets of Manehatten we ended up in an alleyway.

“Right” Minion said “I think we should head back to the main streets” I nodded and we turned to find a group of about 10 teenage colts blocking our path.

“Can I help you?” I asked, they chuckled.

“Yeah, ma’e” one of them said in a Trottingham accent, which surprised me, he also talked like a chav, I was not liking where this was going “we wan’ your money ma’e”

“Or what?” I asked, a Pegasus colt unfolded a butterfly knife using a wing, me and Minion looked at each other, Minion put Aurora on Autumns shoulders before walking forward.

“Alright, you chavs” Minion said, dropping into his northern accent “ge’ lost, before I fookin’ deck yah” he punched his palm as he said this, they just laughed.

“looks like this one’s star’in’ on us, ma’es” one of them said, Autumn and Vinyl stepped back, leaving me, Minion, Boris, Scar and Blazewing standing side by side.

“You fight one of us? You fight us all” I said, I suddenly heard a commotion behind us.

“Oi, look ‘ere, ma’es” I turned around and my heart dropped, a Pegasus had grabbed Aurora and had a knife to her throat “none of you move and I won’t hurt the girl”

Sauradox perched on rooftop watching the scene unfold, he felt conflicted, Teridax had told him not to reveal himself, but he was close to killing the pegasus out of rage, he could just use his mask power, but it wouldn’t be anywhere near as satisfying, he sighed silently before teleporting down behind the pegasus and revealing himself, startling the Toa and the group of ponies.

I looked on in stunned disbelief as a mechanical Dragon-like being appeared behind the Pegasus

“Ma’e?” one of the ponies said “don’ turn around” the Pegasus gave him a funny look before turning around and freezing.

“Give…me…the…child” the being said, sounding extremely pissed off, the Pegasus shakily gave Aurora to the being, who carefully took her “now get out of here before I kill you and mount your head on a pike” the pegasus nodded dumbly before shooting off, the rest of the ponies didn’t hang around, the being flew over to us and gave Aurora to Minion

“Thank you” I said “we would have been screwed if you hadn’t of shown…”

“I didn’t do this for you” the being snapped, his voice sounded familiar.

“You sound familiar” Autumn said, the being looked at Autumn, almost sadly, before he changed into Red Dawn, Autumn ran up to him and punched him in the jaw.

“So all this time” Autumn said “you’ve been that…thing!?” he changed into his true form.

“Not always” he said “when we last met, I was still a pony, now go, if my master finds out about what has happened, he’ll kill all of us” we looked at each other, Autumn turned around and walked out of the alleyway, the rest followed after her, just before I left the alleyway I turned around.

“Seriously, Red Dawn” I said “thank you” he nodded and I left the alleyway.

Sauradox looked at the exit to the alleyway.

“That went well” Said a voice that made his blood freeze, he turned around to see Teridax, looming over him with one eyebrow raised, Sauradox turned into his Pony self, and he then walked out of the alleyway and into the street.

“I didn’t do it for the Toa” he said, Teridax chuckled.

“Ah” Teridax said, shape shifting into a black Unicorn with red eyes and mane and following him “the young Dragoness, I presume?”

“You leave her out of this” Sauradox said, walking down the street, Teridax followed, blending in with the crowd “I’ll do whatever you want, but if involves hurting her on any other children on that ship in any way, then you can go buck yourself”

“I’ll let that comment slide” Teridax said, scowling “your mission is surveillance, I need a pair of eyes and ears in the ship, I never said you had to make your presence known”

“As long as I don’t have to do any damage to the ship” Sauradox said.

“Fine” Teridax said, he then blocked Sauradox path and looked the Makuta in the eyes “but pull anymore stunts like you did back there, and I will kill you” Sauradox narrowed his eyes.

“Whatever” Sauradox said, he then walked around the elder Makuta “come on, I’ll show you somewhere that sells good food”

“What?” Teridax said, raising an eyebrow.

“If you’re going to disguise yourself as a pony, then you need to do the things ponies do, including eating, it helps you to blend in” Sauradox said “also, I’m hungry”

We were sat at a restaurant, but one that wasn’t too expensive, we were sat outside eating and making small talk, I felt a hoof tap me on the leg, I looked down to see a small brown filly with a purple/maroon mane and tale.

“Err” I said “can I help you?” I asked.

“Vuur Koning?” the filly said “it’s me, Babs Seed, I visited my family in Ponyville whilst you were staying there” I suddenly remembered, I smacked my forehead.

“Oh, of course” I said “sorry about that, I totally forgot” the filly giggled, she then noticed the rest of our group.

“Who are they?” she asked, backing up slightly and looking a little intimidated

“My friends and crew” I said, noticing her expression I added “I have a ship, if your parents are O.K. with it, I can show you when we’ve finished eating” she nodded.

“Just a sec’” she said she then ran across the street to two ponies, she said some things to them before pointing to our table, I waived, the ponies looked at each other before looking at Babs Seed and nodding, she then ran back across “they said yes!”

“Great” I said “now, I don’t think I’ve properly introduced you to my friends, you already know Autumn Skies, yes?” Babs Seed looked at Autumn in awe.

“Gosh” she said “What happened to you?”

“Magic” Autumn said, winking.

“Anyway” I said “this is Scar and Boris”

“You mean your Timberwolf and Falcon!?” Babs Seed asked, the two Toa nodded their greetings to the filly

“Blazewing, my brother Minion and his daughter Aurora” I said, Aurora hopped off of her chair and walked over to Babs Seed.

“Hey” Aurora said “I met your family in Ponyville, and I’m an honorary cutie mark crusader” Babs Seed perked up at that.

“Really!?” Babs Seed asked “I’m a cutie mark crusader too”

“Babs?” I said, gaining there attention “are you familiar with Vinyl Scratch?” Vinyl leaned across.

“Sup, Kiddo” Vinyl said, Babs Seed gasped.

“But the last I heard of her she’s been…” she trailed off, realising the implications “are you kiddin’ me!?” we all chuckled.

“Nope” I said “we are The Wolfpack, give or take a few members, and we are staying in Manehatten to play a few shows, if you want to watch tonight’s show, I might be able to pull a few strings and have you watch it with Aurora” I then winked at her, Babs Seed’s eyes lit up.

“Really!?” she asked, he eyes shimmering slightly

“Yep” I said, she ran over and tackled me in a hug.

“Thanks” she said, I chuckled.

“No problem” I said.

“Aww” Boris said “the Life-dawn of today” Babs Seed looked at him, confused.

“Where did he learn to talk like that?” she asked, I shrugged.

“From whoever taught him Equestrian” I said.

“So, young life-dawn” Boris said “Tell us more about yourself, apart from Fire-spitter Vuur Koning and Autumn, we know-nothingness about you” Babs Seed went blank faced, trying to comprehend what he had just said.

“Well done, Boris” I said, face palming “you just broke the girl, good job”

“I aim to make you happy-cheer” he said, sarcastically.

A disguised Sauradox and Teridax walked down the streets of Manehatten.

“I am never doing that again” Teridax said, looking sluggish

“Oh come on” Sauradox said, walking with a slight spring in his step “the food was good”

“Maybe for your semi-organic body” Teridax said “but not for me, it doesn’t mix well with my Anti-dermis, and stop walking like that, you look like an idiot”

“Come on, old timer” Sauradox said, lightly punching Teridax in the shoulder, Teridax gave him a glare that would put Fluttershy’s stare to shame “you need to relax and unwind, and to Tartarus with the consequences, not everything is about doom, gloom and mysteriousness, BEHOLD, I AM THE NIGHT! HISS” as he said this he put a hoof in front of his snout, doing an impression of a vampony, Teridax rolled his eyes.

“If we weren’t surrounded by a bunch of weak flesh-bags…” Teridax muttered darkly, trailing off.

“Hey!” Sauradox said “I resemble that remark” Teridax actually face-hoofed.

“Brother, help me” he muttered behind his ‘hoof’ “look, you can prat about with careless abandon all you want, but I have an uprising to prepare for” he then walked through a portal leading to his lair, making sure to emit a subtle perception-filter as he disappeared, when Teridax disappeared Sauradox stopped and put a hoof to his chin in thought and smirked.

“Hmm” he thought aloud “he did say I could prat about with careless abandon all I wanted, oh well, a stall...Makuta has his needs” he then walked off in search of the nearest bar, preferably one that sold alcohol.

“…and that’s pretty much everything” Babs Seed said, nodding, we were walking along the streets of Manehatten towards the docks, Babs Seed was currently on my shoulders, “golly, it’s really high up here”

“That’s the tenth time you’ve said that!” Autumn said.

“Doesn’t make it any less true” Babs said, sticking out her tongue, we soon reached passed through customs and Babs Seed freaked out when she saw the ship “That’s your ship!?” she asked, craning her neck.

“Yep” I said “she may be getting close to 100 years old, but she’s still one of the largest ships in the skies” Babs started trying to pronounce the name.

“Gur…george…jurma, what?” she asked, giving up.

“Jörmungandr, you see the figure head, how it looks like a giant snake?” I asked, she nodded “That is a depiction of the snake that this ship is named after, Jörmungandr is also called the World serpent”

“What?” she asked “he was actually as big as the world?”

“At least long enough to wrap around the world and swallow his own tail” I said “a rather fitting name for such a large ship, don’t you think?” Babs nodded dumbly.

“Eeyup” she said, we then made our way onto the ship and everyone split up to do whatever, whilst I showed Babs Seed around, after a few hours I had to take her back home, to ask her parents if it was O.K. for her to go to the concert, I reached the house and knocked on the door, a maroon coloured earth-pony stallion opened the door, his eyes began to slowly trail upwards and he saw Babs Seed on my shoulders, she smiled and waved at the stallion.

“Oh” the stallion said, slowly “you must be the…person my daughter knows” I nodded.

“Yes, I came to ask something” I said, the stallion motioned for me to go on “I am the frontman of a band, and I am asking for your permission to let your daughter watch tonight’s concert”

“Will she be safe?” the stallion asked.

“Don’t worry” I said “several of my friends will look after her, I’d trust them to look after the Princesses, so she’ll be safe”

“Well” the stallion said “as long as she’ll be safe, I don’t have a problem with it, but if she comes back cussing, I’ll have your head”

“Yes sir” I said, me and Babs saluted him before walking back towards the ship.

Sauradox left the bar with a blue unicorn with a silver mane and tail tucked under his wing.

“The great and powerful Trickshie thinksh you are my besht friend” she said, obviously very intoxicated, Sauradox rolled his eyes “ever since that Twilight Shparkle pony showed me up, no one has taken me sherioushly” Sauradox perked up at that, perhaps this drunkard mess of a pony could be of some use to Teridax, he began to lead her to a dark alleyway, he quickly made sure no pony was following him before he sent the drunk former show mare to sleep and opened a portal to Teridax’s lair, he the shifted into his true form and carried the Mare into the crystal caverns.

“What have you brought this time?” Teridax asked, Sauradox lowered the pony to the floor.

“She could be of some use to use” he said “she seems to have a past history with Twilight Sparkle” Teridax walked closer.

“Ah” he said “I thought she looked familiar, she could prove a valuable ally, good work, Sauradox” the other Makuta nodded

“If I were you” Sauradox said, turning to leave “I’d let her sober for the night up before you turn her, she could barely think straight when I found her, let alone walk more than two paces” with that Sauradox walked out of the caverns.

I would add Trixie to the Character list, but I'm only allowed a maximum of five character tags

I walked through the streets of Manehatten with Babs Seed in my arms, as soon as we’d left the stadium she was out like a light, I walked towards her house and very gently kicked the door with an armoured boot, a dull ‘thud thud’ resounded from the door, after a few seconds the stallion from earlier opened the door, I carefully knelt down, I chuckled slightly.

“Heh, the lass was out like a light once we left the stadium” I said, placing her on the stallions back.

“Do you want to come in for a drink perhaps?” the stallion asked

“Thank you for the offer” I said “but no thanks, it’s late, even by my standards” the stallion nodded.

“Well I won’t keep you” the stallion said “well, good night”

“Good night” I said “and tell Babs Seed I said goodbye” he nodded and slowly shut the door, I began to walk back down the street towards the docks, it was rather quiet, so I was mostly left to my thoughts, I heard a female scream up ahead and bolted towards the source, I got my pistol out and set it to stun, I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice, I looked down an alleyway and saw a group of about 15 stallions trying to attack a mare.

“Oiy!” I shouted “what the bloody hell do you think you are doing!?” one of them turned towards me, whatever he was about to say was silenced as a pony in a dark costume landed next to me.

“Get outa here” she (!) said to me.

“Fuck that” I said “I can hold my own in a fight”

“Really?” she said, sarcastically, I conjured some flames, which began to swirl around my armour, the mare took several steps back to avoid getting burnt.

“You were saying?” I said, raising an eyebrow, one of the stallions started to run towards us, not looking in his direction I levelled my pistol and fire a round, send him sprawling to the ground at our foot.

“Whatever” she said “just don’t get in my way” she said, the stallions started to advance on us.

“So” I said “you take the seven on the left, I take the seven on the right?” she nodded and we charged towards them, I levelled my pistol on one stallion that tried to take me from the side and I shot him point blank in the stomach, the force of the shot sent him flying into a wall, one punched me in the back, I turned around and punched him in the chest, sending him sprawling to the floor, clutching his sides, winded, I kicked another stallion in the side, sending him flying into the wall and landing on top of the other pony, one charged towards me and I sidestepped, elbowing him in the back as he ran past and sending him sliding into the winded pony, all of that was in about five seconds, I looked over to see the masked pony was doing just as well, in my distraction I was tackled to the ground by a huge earth pony who hit me with the force of a freight train, he placed his fore hooves on my chest and began to press down, hard, I cried out in pain, thinking quickly I activated my mask power, the expanding shield sent him flying into a wall, I stood up, ignoring the pain in my chest, I’d probably need to get that checked out tomorrow, I looked around at the ponies still standing, they didn’t seem as confident, the masked mare started backing towards me.

“Get the fuck out of here” I said to the group, getting my sword out, their eyes went wide and they turned tail, leaving the mare that they had tried to attack, once they were gone I slumped to the floor, clutching my sides, the masked mare gasped.

“You’re hurt!” she exclaimed.

“No shit *nng*, Sherlock” I said, I then jerked my head towards the mare “just go and check if that mare is uninjured” the masked mare seemed to hesitate before walking over to the mare, after talking briefly the mare walked of, saying a quiet ‘thank you’ to me as she walked past.

“Right” the masked mare said “let’s get you back to your ship” I nodded and stood up, the masked mare reared up and I put an arm over her shoulder, we then began walking back to the docks

“How exactly do you know I have a ship, and for that matter *nng* who are you?” I asked.

“Call me Mare Do-Well” the mare said “as for how I know you have a ship, anything weird catches my attention very quickly…no offence”

“*nng* none taken” I said.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“Here I go by the name of Vuur Koning” I said, I groaned “Autumn’s going to throw a fit when she finds out”

“Because you’ve got cracked ribs, or because you’ve got a mare in your arms?” she asked, I had to suppress my laughter.

“Don’t make me laugh” I said, I paused “Probably a bit of both” she chuckled.

“Mares” she said “Can’t live with ‘em…”

“Can’t live without them” I finished, I saw the rest of the Toa in the distance.

“Vuur Koning?” I heard Autumn call

“Yeah” I called back.

“What happened?” Minion asked when they got closer.

“Ran into a gang in the process of mugging a mare” I said, transferring from Mare Do-Well to Autumn “she showed up, we fought them, and I think I’ve got cracked ribs to show for my trouble”

“How the fuck did you get cracked ribs under all that armour?” Minion asked, I deadpanned.

“I got tackled and pinned by an earth pony that puts Arnold Schwarzenegger to shame” I said “I’d *nng* like to see you come out of a fight with him unscathed, fuck! This really hurts”

“Thank you” Autumn said to Mare Do-well “we can take it from here” Mare Do-Well nodded before turning to me

“Why don’t you lot stay in the city?” she asked “I could use a team”

“Tempting” I said “but we have concerts to perform and a world to explore, plus hiding in the shadows isn’t the Toa way, but if ever we are in Manehatten again sometime in the future and you need help, you’re welcome to come to us”

“I’ll keep that in mind” Mare Do-Well said “well, I bid you farewell, I best be off, somepony has to keep an eye one this city” she tilted her hat towards us before free-running up an alleyway and across the roofs of an apartment block until she was out of sight.

“Right” Autumn said “let’s get you to the ship”

*the next day*

“Tut, tut” the doctor, a white unicorn with brown hair, said in a thick Germane accent “cracked ribs? zis von’t do at all” I was sat on the table at the ship’s infirmary, whilst the doctor was applying a healing spell to my ribs

“Sorry doc…ARG!” I screamed as the ribs cracked back into place “fucking hell that hurts”

“Language, Captain!” the doctor chastised “you may be allowed to say vhatever you want vhilst running this ship, but in here, my vord is law and I say don’t swear”

“Sorry, Doctor Blutaderstauer” I said

“How did du end up vith such an injury?” the doctor asked “I may spend most ov my time down here, but even I know du valk around in that armour all zee time” I chuckled nervously.

“Heh, I was protecting a mare from a gang” I said “I ended up getting tackled and pinned by a huge earth pony” he shook his head.

“Really, Vuur Koning?” the doctor said, rolling his eyes “must du alvays go charging in to save zee demzel in distress?”

*POV 3rd person*

The two Makuta waited for Trixie, who was chained to the ceiling, to wake up, the azure mare stirred.

“Ung, what?” she asked still half asleep.

“Rise and shine, Trixie” a disguised Sauradox said, smirking.

“Hmm, five more minutes” Trixie said, a few second later her eyes shot open “What!? What is this place, the great and powerful Trixie demands that you tell her…”

“Oh, be quiet” Teridax said, walking forward, Trixie’s eyes widened and she screamed, loud enough to crack some of the crystals, the two Makuta raised an eyebrow at that “Are you quite done?”

“Wha-what are you?” Trixie stammered, trembling.

“Someone of great power” Teridax said “you go around saying you are great and powerful, but what if I told you I could make you truly great and powerful, powerful enough to rival even the princesses”

“Trixie already made that mistake once before” Trixie said, trying to escape from the chains “she will not do so again” she tried to teleport, only for her horn to spark, Teridax chuckled.

“oh” Teridax said “I’m not offering you a mere trinket, I’m offering you immortality, control over shadows, and abilities which will make your most advanced spell look like a parlour trick, and you will be able to finally get revenge on Twilight Sparkle” as he said this Sauradox changed into his true form, Trixie’s ears perked up.

“No mind alterations?” Trixie asked “no becoming mad with power?”

“No” Teridax said, he then gestured to his fellow Makuta “ask Sauradox, he used to be a pony, just like you” Trixie looked at the former pegasus.

“Is he telling Trixie the truth” the mare asked, Sauradox nodded before walking away, Trixie hung her head “*sigh* Trixie will do it” when she said this the section of the floor that was directly below her slid away, revealing a pool of energised protodermis, she barley had time to question what it was before the chains disappeared and she dropped into the pool, which began to bubble and glow, after a few seconds Trixie surfaced and let out a bloodcurdling scream as she began to change, her horn elongated and sharpened, her fore-hooves split and began to turn into batwings, her eyes became predatory, her snout elongated and her teeth sharpened into fangs, blood seeped out of her nostrils and eyes and dripped off of her face into the energised protodermis, sizzling once it came into contact with the silvery liquid, her skin and fur turned into blue and silver armour and Teridax walked over and pulled her out, the last thing Trixie heard before she blacked out was Teridax leaning in and saying.

“Welcome to the Brotherhood of the Makuta…Sister Chiratrix”

*POV 1st Person Autumn skies

I stood on the gun deck of the Jörmungandr, looking at the Manehatten skyline, I could swear there was someone standing next to me, but whenever I looked I didn’t see anyone, after about 5 minutes of me rubbernecking I’d had enough.

“For Bucks sake” I said “if you don’t show yourself right now…”

“Don’t talk so loudly” I heard Red Dawn whisper, I could now see a faint outline of…whatever he was, he was about ten feet tall.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“I’m here to warn you” he said.

“About what?” I asked.

“I can’t tell you specifics” he said “but sooner or later, Equestria will fall, whilst I am on the winning side, I still care about you enough to warn you, our side is going from strength to strength, so be ready for it, I don’t like my opponents to be unprepared”

“Join us” I said “help us to stop the threat”

“I’m sorry” he said “but I can’t, I’ve told you too much already” he then disappeared.

“Red Dawn” I said “you show yourself right now you coward…” Red Dawn appeared in full form and pinned me to the railing, a snarl on his face, after a few seconds his expression softened to shock and he withdrew his arm from my neck

“I-I’m sorry, I lost control” he then took a step back and sighed “I don’t like this any more than you do, but I have no choice, if I join your side, he’ll just come after me and kill us all, including your niece, and then nopony will be left to stand in his way, I will be on this ship, but don’t go out of your way to find me and don’t tell Vuur Koning about this, and my name isn’t Red Dawn anymore, I’m Sauradox now” and with that, he disappeared.

“*Sigh* oh, Red Dawn” I said “what have you gotten yourself into”

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning*

I stood in the sparring hall, leaning against the wall, Mata Nui was teaching Scar to fight with a blade, he still needed training, but he had potential, and he was a vicious fighter.

“Anticipate you enemies next move” Mata Nui said, parrying Scars lunge “before he does it, study your opponent, find his weakness” I walked forward and the stopped

“If you know the enemy, and know yourself, you need not fear the result of 100 battles” I said “if you know yourself, but not the enemy, for every victory gained you shall also suffer defeat, if…”

“If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle” Minion said, walking into the sparring room, I walked towards him and gave him a bro-fist “Sun Tzu; the Art of War, am I right?” I nodded.

“Good to see you, Brother” I said “care to spar, like old times?” he grinned, before walking over to a rack with body length bamboo sticks and picking one up, I did the same.

“I thought you’d never ask, Brother” he said, we walked on to a sparring square “same rules as usual, first to get the other on the floor five times, no head shots?”

“Do we ever do different?” I asked rhetorically, he rolled his eyes before going to strike me from the side, I blocked him and used the opening to jab him in the stomach, he looked suprised “I’ve improved since all those years ago, but I won’t hold back”

“Good” he said, getting back into stance “then neither will I” I grinned before going to strike.

*POV 1st person Autumn Skies*

I walked through the corridors towards the sparring hall I opened the doors and froze, Vuur Koning and his brother were going at each other with bamboo sticks.

“You’ve gone slack after all these years, Brother” Vuur Koning said, smirking and striking Minions right hand, causing him to drop the staff, he then struck him in the chest, sending him sprawling.

“Bloody hell” Minion said “where did you learn that move?”

“I taught him” I said, walking forward and surprising them

“And she can still beat me” Vuur Koning said, looking slightly annoyed, I giggled “laugh it up fuzz ball”

“Oh, don’t be so sore about it” I said

“I’m not sore about it” he said “I just like to be the best I possibly can be, and the fact that I can still be beat annoys me” I leaned towards Minion and mouthed ‘He’s still sore about it’, Minion chuckled.

*POV 3rd person

Trixie, or Chiratrix, woke with a groan.

“Ung, my head” she said, sitting up.

“Ah” Teridax said, sitting on a crystal throne “You survived the transformation” Chiratrix’s eyes snapped open.

“What!?” she said, looking at her body and screaming, eventually she broke down crying “what did you do to me?” tears streamed down her cheeks, Teridax rolled his eyes.

“I gave you power” he said “the power you need to defeat Twilight Sparkle”

“You turned me into a freak” she said “I’m a monster” Teridax growled before sending forth two crystal spikes and embedding them in the ground at Chiratrix, she backed away and Teridax stood up, closing the distance between them.

“I grow tired of your incessant complaining” he said, walking towards her, she backed away until she was against the wall “I gave you gifts, power beyond imagination, and all you do is sob at my feet like a pathetic weakling” he knelt down and lifted up her chin.

“P-please, don’t hurt me” Chiratrix said.

“I would never hurt my own kind” he lied “you should be proud of your new form, now, come child, you have to pick out a mask” he then led her into the chamber filled with masks.

“Why so many masks” Chiratrix asked.

“Each one has a different power” he said “such as shielding, stealing energy from others, invisibility or silence” Chiratrix walked over to a table and levitated a tall, rectangular mask.

“What does this one do?” she asked

“That is the Kenohi Mahiki” Teridax said “it will let you change into anything you can imagine” she hesitantly put it on and it changed to fit her face, the mask glowed and she then began to change to different creatures, a Manticore, a Timberwolf, a Dragon, a Chimera, and finally an Ursa Major; which filled up most of the cave, she changed back and used her Makuta powers to shape shift into her unicorn form, she let out a chuckle and her eyes began to glow red.

“Heh, heh, heh, let’s see Twilight Sparkle beat me now”

*POV 1st Person Vuur Koning*

I was in the part of the ship that was used to carry heavy weapons and vehicles, working on my hover-bike, I was working with a brown female Minotaur, called Gwyneth, who was the daughter of one of the workers in the boiler room, we had just got the propulsion system wired up and we were about to test it.

“Right” Gwyneth said in a north-welsh accent from underneath one of the two propulsion turbines “try it now” I pushed a button and they began to spin, getting faster and fast, they soon reached their idle speed of about 30’000 rpm (turbines are really fast), Gwyneth crawled out from underneath the turbine and gave me a high five.

“Proper job” I said in a Cornish accent, I went to say something else but I heard a bang from one of the turbines and it began to spin faster “Shit, turn it off!” Gwyneth ran the master switch, one of them stopped but the other kept going

“I just did” she said, going pale, the turbine began to spark, she turned to me and meekly said “how do you stop a runaway arcane turbine?”

“Hell if I know” I said, the turbine casing suddenly exploded, sending a row of fan-blades flying towards the door, it was at that precise moment that Minion opened the door, he just managed to move out of the way as it shot past him and embedded in the wall behind him.

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?” he exclaimed.

“That was what’s left of one of the turbines” Gwyneth said “you’re lucky it didn’t hit you” we walked over, Minion examined the blade and gave a low whistle.

“How fast was that going?” he asked, looking at us.

“They fail at about 200’000 rpm” I said, Minion went pale

“Are you sure that bike’s safe” he said, looking at the shredded turbine, which was only just beginning to slow down.

“Probably not” I said, shrugging, I pulled the turbine fan out of the wall and examined the blades “well, that’s scrap now” I chucked it at the shredded casing, I then walked back into the workshop and over to one of the spare turbines, I looked at Minion.

“Can you give me a hand?” I asked “these things weigh a ton” he rolled his eyes before walking over and hefting it up… on his own.

“What do you mean?” He said, walking over to the shredded turbine “I could carry two of these no problem” I rolled my eyes.

“Show off” I said, he flipped me the finger before placing the turbine on the ground “well, we should be able to take it from here” he nodded before going off to do whatever it was he was doing, me and Gwyneth disconnected the shredded turbine, Gwyneth burnt her hand on it.

“Tartarus ffycin sy'n creu dolur!” she said, the pain clear in her voice

“You alright?” I asked, she nodded, shaking her hand to dull the pain, I pulled the Shredded turbine away and pushed the new one into place before connecting it up and walking over to the control panel “Right, fingers crossed it won’t blow up this time” Gwyneth laughed and I started up the Turbines and they spun into life, this time without any problems, I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Right” Gwyneth said “on to the next…” she was interrupted by a massive bang, followed by the lights flickering and dyeing for a few second before turning back on.

“The hell…?” I muttered, walking out of our section of the workshop, I heard Minion cheering, I ran towards the source of the sound, he was stood next to a massive cannon, which had leads attached to it, and there was a section of the wall missing, revealing the sky “what the hell is that?”

“I’ve just completed the prototype for a working rail-gun” he said, grinning, before pulling the trigger, electricity arced along the barrel before flames shot forth, the next thing I heard was ringing in my ears.

“AH FUCK THAT THING IS LOUD!” I yelled, holding my ears, the ringing died down eventually “next time, fire it outside, and warn us beforehand” I then went to find the infirmary to get my ears checked

my Brother has an obsession with rail-guns, the last time there was a power cut in out town he theorised that it was the British military working on a top secret Rail-gun project

seriously, those things eat electricity like a star burns hydrogen, but they are a really cool type of weapon, they use an electric pulse (hence the temporary power cut on the ship) to fire a metal slug along two metal rails at about Mach 7, no one is gonna dodge that, and the speed at which the slug leaves the barrel actually causes the air to combust around the slug as it leaves the barrel

Railgun promotional video

I was stood outside the Jörmungandr, they were fitting the rail gun on the front on the Gun deck, behind the bridge and raised up so it could turn 360’ without hitting anything.

“There’s just one problem with it” I said, the rest of the Toa and Mata Nui looked at me “Well, two problems”

“Which are?” Minion asked.

“1. it’s a kinetic-projectile weapon, meaning it requires physical ammo” I said.

“We’ll find space” Minion said.

“Two. Every time we fire that thing, it drains the power for 30 seconds, we will be totally defenceless for that time” I said, Minion chuckled.

“You think I don’t know that?” he said “I had a bank of generators fitted underneath the gun, it’s on a completely isolated system”

“You…have this all thought out” I said.

“I may not be the science geek, but I do have common-sense, plus the internet helps” he said, shrugging, he them turned to Boris “Speaking of which, Boris, I found an Earth dialect that is similar to your dialect” we all looked at Minion in surprise.

“What?” Boris asked.

“it’s from Norse, it’s called Kenning and it’s a lot like tree speak except it’s not limited to 2 words, an example of kenning would be ‘Weather of weapons’ which means war, just thought I’d let you know, it might help to expand you vocabulary”

“For gods-sake Brother” I said, face-palming “he’s bad enough as it is”

I was in one of the workshops, at the forges, I was creating masks, so we could each have a set of six masks, just like the Toa Nuva did, there were six pots filled with molten metal, Mata Nui told me I would need to have a small piece of the original mask to give the copy its power, so I had taken a scraping of each mask, hopefully it would be enough to last for all of the batches, the only problem was the mask wouldn’t activate until the original did, still, Minions mask would be useful, I picked up the pot with metal to create Boris’s mask and poured it into a mould, which would create a stylesed version of the original mask of speed, rather than one designed to fit a griffin, I left it for about half an hour before coming back to check, it had cooled into a bright gold colour, I guess this one was mine, I removed the top piece of the mould before lifting out the mask, not bad for a first attempt, it needed a bit of cleaning up and polishing, but it was passable, I heard Minion walk in.

“What are you doing, Brother?” he asked.

“You remember how I took a scraping of your mask?” I asked, he nodded “I’m creating a set of masks for each of us, I needed a piece of your mask so the copies would have the same power, this is an adapted version of Boris’s mask of speed, for myself” I put it on and activated it, I managed to run the length of the ship is a few seconds before ending up back at the workshop, I took it off and touched both masks together, the Kakama disappeared into the Hau, I put the Hau on and thought about changing to the Kakama and the mask changed to the Kakama, I switched back to the Hau.

“Bloody hell that is cool” Minion said, I nodded before pouring some metal for Minions mask into a mould.

“Yours” I said, placing the top piece of the mould on “is going to be tricky, as I need to do the electronic lenses, I’ll probably have to speak to Vinyl about it”

“Speak to me about what?” I heard Vinyl ask, walking in.

“I’m making a set of masks for everyone on our team” I said “most Toa teams had sets of each-others masks, so I’d have six masks, you’d have six masks, Minion would have six masks, you get the gist of it, you have the most experience with electronics out of all of us, so I need you to fit the lenses to this mask when it’s done, it’s my version of Minions mask, complete with Thermal vision, night vision and a telescoping lens, I’ll also need you to do the same with everyone’s copy of this mask”

“I’ll see what I can do” she said

The Jörmungandr was preparing to leave for Stalliongrad, I was stood on the docks, Babs Seed had come to the docks to watch us leave, so I was quickly saying goodbye

“Take care of yourself, Kid” I said, giving her a hug and ruffling her mane.

“Are you going to be coming back?” she asked, pulling away from the hug.

“Eventually” I said, standing up “we’ll be heading to the Minotaur country before heading south via Appleloosa, so we’ll be coming back this way, right, I better got back on the ship, someone has to keep the crew in line” I then teleported onto the deck.

“Captain on deck” Blazewing said.

“How soon can we leave?” I asked.

“Immedia’ely” he said.

“Set a course for Stalliongrad” I said “we have a long haul flight ahead of us” he nodded before ordering various crew members, I saw them dis-connecting the ropes holding the ship in place, and the ship shifted, Frostfang pulled the ship out of the docks and we began to ascend and accelerate soon we were cruising towards Stalliongrad, we had the length of the country to fly over, so it would take about a month, which was a very long flight considering the time from it took us to walk from Trottingham to Germany was half a month, and total time from the Crystal Empire to Gryphus and finally Canterlot was a month, by the time we reach Trottingham we will have been travelling for 4 months and it will be getting into summer, I teleported into my quarters and walked onto the decking, Autumn was sat outside.

“It’ll be 1 year and 4 months since I first arrived in Equestria by the time we get Trottingham” I said, sitting down.

“You’re getting reminiscent” Autumn pointed out.

“I’m too young to be reminiscent” I said.

“I all honesty” Autumn said “I’m scared about returning to Trottingham” I placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t worry” I said “if they truly love you, your family won’t care what you look like, besides, I’m more worried about our brothers meeting” we both chuckled at that.

Teridax gazed at his Viewing crystals, he was watching a female griffin, one who, if he recalled she had a history with the element of Loyalty, he opened a portal to the area and shape-shifted into a black griffin with green feather tips.

“Where are you going?” Chiratrix asked.

“To gain a valuable ally” Teridax said simply, before stepping through the portal, he was followed a few seconds later by Chiratrix, also now disguised as a blue griffin with grey feather-tips, Teridax looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

“You are more likely to gain an ally if you are with someone” Chiratrix said, Teridax rolled his eyes before walking towards Gilda, Gilda took one look at them and had to hold in her laughter.

“Dude, did you two jump in vats of dye or something?” Teridax smirked.

“Would you rather me look like this?” he asked, turning into his true form, Gilda’s beak dropped, after a few seconds he resumed his disguise.

“What the pluck are you?” she asked, taking a few steps away.

“An ally” he said “I have a proposal for you”

“What is it?” the griffeness asked.

“Are you familiar with Rainbow dash?” he asked, knowing the answer, she scoffed.

“You mean that backstabbing bitch?” she asked “yeah, I used to know her, why?”

“What if I told you I could give you the power to get revenge on her?” he said “the ‘Griffin’ you see next to me has similar goals to you, she has a vendetta against Twilight Sparkle”

“You mean that pansy-Princess?” Gilda asked, raising an eyebrow

“Yes” Teridax said “Twilight Sparkle is a friend of Rainbow Dash, there is an old saying; ‘the enemy of my enemy is my ally’, so what do you say?” he held out a talon, Gilda looked at the two of them, she hesitated before placing her talon on his and saying.

“Deal”

I was in the forge room, heavy metal music played in the background as I heated up metal to pour into one of the moulds, Vinyl Scratch walked up towards me, and she had the gold version of Minions mask in her hand.

“Here you go” she said, passing me the mask “I’ve even added a communication system”

“Think you could do that for all the masks?” I asked, putting Minions mask on the table and passing her my mask, she nodded and took the mask.

“Shure, I’ll just go find the others” she said, walking off, I then put on some wielding goggles and began pouring metal into one of the moulds.

Teridax pulled an unconscious Gilda out of the energised Protodermis pool, and motioned for some Rahkshi to take her away, her dark brown armour glistened as they dragged her into a small room, Chiratrix looked slightly pale, if that was possible.

“That looked horrifying” she said, Teridax looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

“I have seen things that makes that seem like a mercy” he said, rolling his eyes.

*One month later*

The Jörmungandr pulled into the docks at Stalliongrad, the city was very industrial, full of uniform looking tower blocks, with several factories and metal works dotted around the outskirts, and the sky was constantly cloudy, curtesy of the pollution from all of the industrial facilities, and the fact that it was in a valley which blocked any wind, you could actually smell the pollution in the air, it smelt like a mix between coal-dust and sulphur, something which was quick to affect Minions sporadic asthma problem, he walked onto the bridge spluttering.

“Bloody…hell…the…air…is…terrible” he said between coughs.

“It shouldn’t be as bad at street level” Vinyl said.

“Just hold on” I said, walking towards the door “I’ll see if someone in the workshops can knock something together for you” I stepped outside and the ‘aroma’ hit me in the face with the force of a freight train, I had to hold onto the railing for a few moments as the air made me lightheaded, I saw Boris stood on the decking with Mata Nui, he also had his swords, he began to summon a powerful gale, the effect was instantaneous, the thick clouds began to clear and I walked over to the edge of the boat, the sun began to light up the streets below and I could see ponies looking up in amazement, I inhaled, the air was fresh, Boris deactivated his powers but the wind kept blowing, but not as severely.

“What the hell!?” I exclaimed, turning to Boris and Mata Nui.

“Once the strong-wind starts, it draws more in wind-air” he said, shrugging “thus, it keeps on blowing”

“W-well” I said, stumbling over my words “good work, keep it up” I them walked back toward the bridge.

“What was that?” Minion asked me.

“Boris just did Stalliongrad a favour” I said

Sauradox had to admit, the Toa did have their uses sometimes, he flew into the city and landed on the roof of a building, he could wait for the Toa to leave the ship and then keep an eye on them from afar, he was about to activate his chameleon powers when he heard a familiar young voice.

“What are you doing?” Aurora asked, making him jump, he calmed himself before turning to the young green dragoness, who was perched on the edge of the roof

“Young one” he said, raising an eyebrow “you should be on the ship, not in a city as dangerous as this” the dragoness crossed her wings and pouted.

“I’m not young” she said “I’m 10 and a half, and I can handle myself” she then blew out a puff of flames, Sauradox chuckled, before getting out one of his swords and quick as a flash, brought it to her neck, stopping it just in time, Aurora froze.

“That just proves my point” he said, putting he sword away.

“Why do you follow us?” Aurora asked.

“Grown up business” he said “now go on, get back to the ship, I’m sure your father is worried about you”

“O.K.” Aurora said begrudgingly, before flying off, once she was out of sight Sauradox sighed.

“Cute kid” he heard a voice say, he turned towards the voice to see Chiratrix and a ten foot tall bipedal griffiness in brown armour.

“Who’s she?” he asked Chiratrix.

“Hey!” the griffiness objected “you could just ask me” Sauradox got out his blade and pressed it to her throat, he then leaned in close.

“I am technically your superior, as I don’t know who you are, I could within rights assume you are a threat and dispatch you” he brought the blade away from her neck and stowed it away, he walked to the edge of the building and watched the ponies walking “who are you and why did you come here?”

“The name’s Leorahk” the griffin said “and tall, dark and gloomy wants you to acquaint us with the Toa” Sauradox looked down the street and saw the Toa walking in their direction.

“Shape shift, now!” he ordered, the other two Makuta nodded before turning into their respective disguises and walking to the edge of the building, he then pointed towards the Toa “O.K. first things first, the red one is their leader, he goes by the name of Vuur Koning, he is a Toa of Fire, wields a fire blade and a mask of shielding; a common combination according to Teridax, the big guy with black and gunmetal armour is Vuur Koning’s blood brother, he goes by the name of Minion, he has an un-activated mask of accuracy and is a Toa of Magnetism, so engage him with caution, also steer clear of his arm mounted cannon, its plasma rounds will melt right through your armour and keep going out the other side, next we have Vinyl Scratch, former D.J. and Toa of Sound rather appropriately, with an unactuated mask of sonar, watch for her concussion cannon, the decibels alone will rupture your eardrums if you concussive force doesn’t shatter your armour first, next is Autumn Skies, former special-operations guard and Toa of Iron, teamed up with Minion they are a force to be reckoned with, her wrist mounted retractable swords and wing blades make a formidable combination, that big wolf is Scar, Toa of Plant life, that might not seem like much of a threat, but he could call forth a pack of Timberwolves and have them combine into a king-Alpha, also watch out for the twin rotary auto guns, just one of them is something to be nervous of, he is very much the heavy support of the team, lastly on the team is Boris Toa of Air, he is the reason the air is so clear today, he has twin rifles on his hips, so he’ll be most likely to be circling around taking pot-shots, if he does get in close quarters combat he has two swords which are a unique mix between a Griffonian Broad-sword and a Neighponese Katana, so make sure he doesn’t catch you with them, any questions?” he then turned to the two She-Makuta’s, Leorahk raised a talon.

“How do you know so much?” she asked.

“I spent a month hiding on their ship” he said with a deadpan, he went to say something but was interrupted by a spell gun going off and a mage round going past him, he looked towards the source of the firing to see a dark blue stallion with a trench coat step forward.

“Alright” he said with a prevalent south Equestrian accent “I don’t know what the hell you three are, but from what I’ve seen and heard, it just screams shady evil plot, and I don’t mean the good kind” the three Makuta raised their eyebrows before activating their chameleon powers and flying away, The pony stood there, open mouthed.

“Now that’s not fair!”

We were sat in a restaurant, grabbing a bite to eat, I noticed a dark blue stallion in a trench coat walking towards us, one that I recognised, I leaned toward Autumn and whispered in her ear.

“Here comes trouble” I said, she looked in the direction of the stallion and groaned, the stallion walked up to us “‘allo, ‘allo, ‘allo, Captain Jack Harkness, long time no see, come to talk to another world jumper again”

“Not this time” he said “Someone is planning something, and you are a part of it”

“I already know” I said “join me and my friends for a drink, I can introduce you to them and explain what we know” the stallion pulled up a chair, I began to introduce everyone to him, Minion was quick to speak up.

“What, Captain Jack Harkness, as in…Torchwood?” he asked.

“Yes” both me and Jack said

“Before you say anything” I said “he already knows about the whole T.V. show thing, he is from an alternate version of our world, Daleks, Cybermen, they all exist, he somehow fell through into this world, I met him whilst staying in Canterlot, helped him out a few time as well”

“Right” Jack Harkness said “the reason I came looking for you…”

“We already know” I said “someone, or something, is plotting against us, we don’t know who, or what, but I met one of their minions, so to speak, and from what we can tell, he seem a rather reluctant villain, now, I have something to ask of you” he quirked an eyebrow.

“Go on” he said.

“Join us” I said, he seemed taken aback “we could use someone with your abilities, you literally cannot die, that is unbelievably useful” he pondered for a moment before smirking

“Look” he said “if you wanted me for some messed up kink of yours, you could have just asked” Minion, Vinyl and Scar burst out laughing, I face planted the table.

“God fucking dammit” I muttered.

“But seriously” he said “I don’t see why not, it’s pretty much a round the world cruise, plus I have a feeling whatever is plotting against you is following you around”

“We know!” everyone else on the table said.

Sauradox frowned, the last thing he needed was the Toa gaining an ally who couldn’t die, but still, he could always give him to Teridax for amusement, he opened up a portal to Teridax’s lair.

“What is it?” Teridax asked.

“Something has come up” Sauradox said “the Toa have gained an ally, one who can’t die” Teridax turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

“How is that possible?” Teridax asked.

“From what I could read from his mind, he is also a world jumper, like two of the Toa” Sauradox said “he knows a being called the Doctor, one of the Doctors companions looked into a dimension called the Time Vortex, the companion used her new powers to destroy an entire species of war machines and revive the then recently killed ally of the Toa, who calls himself Jack Harkness, now he is immortal and if he is killed he revives a few seconds later”

“What an interesting ability” Teridax mused “if I could absorb him…”

“Do you want me to capture him?” Sauradox asked, Teridax waived a hand dismissively.

“Not yet” he said “once I rise to power, until then you are to keep as hidden as possible”

“Yes, my Lord” Sauradox said before walking back through the portal.

All Makuta have the ability to absorb enemies via a 'Shadow Hand', they gain all of their enemies abilities, including physical abilities such as wings, but to do so, they have to destroy the mind of their opponent

this is a shadow hand

the reason Teridax was so easily defeated in the second movie was because he had just absorbed three different individuals, and as such, he was mentally strained

We walked onto the deck of the Jörmungandr, with Jack Harkness in tow.

“Well” he said “you certainly have quite the boat, named after the Norse World serpent if I’m not mistaken”

“Correct” I said “now, I’ll warn you, there are many individuals of just about every species found on the northern continents, just treat them as you would anypony you meet, and I don’t mean start chatting them up!”

“I wasn’t gonna” he said, feigning innocence, we lead him to our communal room, where Mata Nui, Lyra, Saphyrus, Cloddiwr and Blazewing were chilling “Ladies and gentlemen, our last addition to the group, Captain Jack Harkness, and he has a cool party trick” I then pulled out my pistol and shot him in the skull, he slumped to the floor, everyone gathered stared at me in shock.

“What in the name of Celestia was that for!?” Lyra shrieked, a few seconds later Jack inhaled loudly.

“Ta da” I said “behold, the immortal pony!”

“That still hurt” he said, getting up “don’t do that again” everyone was staring at him.

“He…but…you…gun” Lyra stuttered

“He can’t die” I said, Jack walked up the Lyra, took her hoof in his and kissed it.

“Hey” he said “Name’s captain jack hark…” I then pulled him back by the tail, causing him to face plant.

“Down boy!” I said “calm your hormones, she doesn’t swing that way” Jack stood up and quirked any eyebrow

“Is he always like that?” Lyra asked, blushing slightly and looking a little overwhelmed.

“His preference is anything that can talk” I said “I wouldn’t be surprised if he tries to make a move on Mata Nui” Mata Nui raised an eyebrow at this.

“Am I missing something?” the biomechanical god asked.

“Better you don’t ask, Mata Nui” I said.

“Meh, not my type” Jack said, actually considering what I said “too much metal” me and Autumn face palmed.

“Never stopped you before” I muttered.

I was stood on the gun deck of the Jörmungandr, watching the sun set over the city, I heard the flapping of wings and Aurora landed on the railing beside me.

“Hey uncle” she said.

“Hey” I replied.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“Hmm?” I said, not fully hearing what she asked “oh, nothing, just lost in thought I guess” suddenly the sky lit up a bright orange colour.

“Whoa!” Aurora exclaimed “what is that!?”

“That’s the metal works dumping the unusable slag-metal” I said “remember what I told you about my home-town, how he sky lights up?”

“Uhuh” she said, nodding.

“Same thing” I said “there’s a reason my home-town’s motto is caelum referat laboris”

“What’s that mean?” she asked.

“It roughly translates to the sky reflects thy labour”

*3 days later*
The weekend in Stalliongrad was fairly successful, although we didn’t explore the city much as it wasn’t exactly the tourist capital of Equestria, but now we were flying towards Trottingham, I was in the workshops, adding the finishing touches to the bike, I had managed to get it done quicker than I’d anticipated, and I was now sat on the bike setting up the steering with Gwyneth’s help.

“Right, try turning left” she said from underneath the bike, I turned the handlebars as requested and I heard several flaps open, and one struggling, I heard Gwyneth grunt, followed by a dull thud and the bike shaking “There we go, that should do it” she got out from under the bike as she said this.

“Right” I said, giving her a fist-bump “we just need to wait until we stop in Trottingham to give it a test”

I was stood on the gun deck with the rest of the Toa and Mata Nui we were getting close to Trottingham, Several pegasi had noised our ship and had flown over to ask about it, things like ‘how do you say the name?’ ‘Why are we here?’ that sort of thing, I was stood next to Autumn with my arm around her shoulders.

“Don’t worry” I said “everything will be fine”

“I’m not worried” she said quickly, her eyes darting around “who said I was worried?” I deadpanned.

“Look, if you are that worried, I’ll go ahead of you and warn them” I said, she took a deep breath and looked at me.

“You’d do that?” she asked.

“Anything for you, my love” I said, the others, minus Mata Nui, face palmed.

“Good god” Minion said, with Aurora on his shoulders “could you get any more clique?” Autumn giggled.

“I think it’s very sweet” she said, the ship soon docked and I ran ahead, I could see Winter Chill and Midsummer Night.

“Where’s Autumn?” Winter asked.

“Before you meet her, I need to explain some things” I said, they motioned with a hoof to go on “O.K., first off, me and Autumn are now together”

“As in, ‘together’, together?” Winter asked.

“Yes” I said “secondly, a while ago, when we visited Canterlot, we met this being, long explanation short, the being has a mask that activated around us and turned us into bipedal, biomechanical warriors” I took my mask off, revealing the exposed metal jaw-struts, they both stared at me slack jawed, at that moment Autumn walked up to us, they stared at her, wide eyed.

“Autumn?” Midsummer asked, Autumn took off her mask “Oh my Celestia…” Midsummer and Winter then promptly feinted.

“Great” I said, picking up Midsummer and placing her over my shoulder, Autumn did the same with Winter “I think we broke your siblings” the rest of the Toa walked over to us.

“Who are they?” Minion asked.

“Allow me to introduce Autumns brother and sister” I said, me and Autumn then span around to reveal their unconscious faces “Winter Chill and Midsummer Night”

We eventually carried them to the House of Autumns parents, I had the others hang back, as I was the only one out of the group that they would recognise, I passed Midsummer to Minion and knocked on the door, Winter Storm, an older Pegasus stallion who resembled Winter Chill but with darker colours, opened the door.

“Oh, Vuur Koning!?” He said “What brings you here, without Autumn?”

“Funny you should say that” I said, stepping to one side to reveal the group “you might want to get some smelling salts for your son and youngest daughter” Autumn waived awkwardly

“Heh, hey dad” she said, Storm just stood there, slack jawed, before turning to me and glaring.

“Explain why my daughter looks half human before I buck you to low Tartarus” he growled, he was one of the few ponies that truly intimidated me, considering he was a similar stature to Big Mackintosh, I quickly explained the situation, he then went inside and brought out a few bottles of smelling salts, we then revived thee two unconscious Pegasi.

“Huh… what?” Winter said from Minions shoulder, after a few second he realised to position he was in “WHY AM I UPSIDE DOWN!?” Minion chuckled before placing him on the ground, Midsummer looked up at Minion.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“Minion, I’m Vuur Koning’s brother” he said.

“Brother!?” Midsummer, Winter and Storm said at once

“Did I not tell you?” I asked, they all shook their heads “well, now you know”

“Know what?” Skyfall, Autumn’s mother, asked, walking out the door, she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw all of us, then she saw Autumn “oh…” she then feinted, and everyone/pony gathered facepalmed/hooved.

“I’ll go get the smelling salts” Storm grumbled before walking back inside, he then called from the hallway “You lot might as well come in too” we all shrugged before walking inside, Autumn picked up Skyfall and followed us in to the large communal room that they had for social gatherings, once we had revived Autumns mother I began to recall what had happened over the past few months, at the end of it Skyfall asked

So, you’re together?” I nodded.

“And technically, as Minion is my Brother, and Aurora is his adoptive daughter, everyone in our group considers Aurora as Autumns niece” I said, everyone nodded to prove this “so that makes Aurora your unofficial grandniece, congratulations” the look on their faces when they came to the same conclusion was priceless.

“Oh” the both said, becoming spaced out, Autumn giggled.

“Well done” she said “you’ve just broke my parents”

“I try” I said, shrugging.

“You should have heard my mother’s reaction when she found out about Aurora” Minion said, chuckling “I think she damaged to speaker on my phone from the shouts of joy” I laughed before turning to Winter and Midsummer

“That means she’s your niece as well” I said, Midsummer squealed with joy whilst Winter just looked overwhelmed

“I’m an… uncle?” he said, I chuckled and patted him on the shoulder.

“I’m 19, how do you think I felt when I realised I was an uncle”

“But that means that technically, if Aurora is our niece, then technically, you and Minion are now our brothers” Winter Chill said, the realisation hit me like a ton of bricks.

“Oh sh…” I was slapped round the back of the head by Minion “ow” I said as I rubbed the back of my head

“Don’t swear in front of Aurora, please” he said “And yes it does, you now have guardians of Equestria for brothers”

We were all, minus Skyfall and Winter Storm, who were off spoiling their new Grandniece, at a pub having a few drinks, and surprise, surprise, Minion and Winter had started a drinking contest, that wasn’t to say it wasn’t funny to watch, it was actually hilarious to watch my brother trying to out drink…well, my other brother I guess,

“Holy Celestia, this is gonna take getting used to” Midsummer said “I now have two extra brothers, not including the rest of your group, because I know you class all members of your team as brothers or sisters, so there is them as well”

“if the portal to my world reopens, you’re going to have a lot more family” I said “mostly from my late father’s side”

“You never said much about your dad the last time you were here” Midsummer said “what was he like?” I chuckled.

“Bonkers half the time” I said “but the good kind, he was a decent bloke, he made sure me and my brother were happy, he cared about us two more than anyone else in his family, I wish you could have met him” I then burst out laughing as I remembered something.

“What?” Midsummer asked.

“I just remembered something he told me” I said “when he and my mum were still together, he used to ride down the streets of our capital city on a motorbike, with mum on the back, and he would shout at the top of his voice ‘NOOOOOOOORMAAAAAAAAAAAAL’”

“He sounds like he was bat-shit insane” Vinyl said, smirking “But at the same time awesome”

“He listened to old school music like rock and roll and blues” I said “but when Minion played him Dubstep he got up and started dancing to it, he was always open to new types of music”

“He listened to blues?” Midsummer asked.

“He had a record collection of about…” I trailed of, trying to remember to number “1’600 vinyl L.P.s, which Minion and I have jointly inherited, it’s just a shame it’s still stuck on earth”

“Alright” Vinyl said “He definitely sounded like an awesome person”

“We’ve also inherited Lynn Isobaric speakers from him” I said, Vinyl gave a low whistle.

“What’s Isobaric?” Midsummer asked.

“Two speakers arraigned one behind the other in the same enclosure” I said “it gives it a greater tonal range and deeper bass, but at the cost of size and weight, they don’t call them bricks for nothing, they are about 5 foot tall”

“Dude, stop, you’re torturing me” Vinyl said, her eyes shimmering “I have been wanting some Iso’s for ages, and now they’re so close, but so far” I smirked.

“We also have an L.P. player with a spring balanced turntable” I said.

“Aww, you’re evil” Vinyl said, I gave a sinister chuckle, I was interrupted by a letter with the royal seal appearing in front of me, I opened it and began to read

Dear Captain Vuur Koning

Twilight Sparkle has managed to develop a spell that can summon inanimate objects from your world, if you have belongings from your world, then you now have the possibility of summoning them here.

I await your reply

Sincerely
Princess Celestia

“Well hot damn” I said “Royal Enfield, here I come”

“What?” Vinyl said

“You might get to hear my dad’s collection after all” I said, passing her the letter, her face exploded into a grin

“OH BUCK YES!” she said, Minion looked over

“Wazzup?” he asked.

“Twilight developed a spell that can summon our belongings from Earth” I said.

We were all stood in the hold, I had my laptop with me and was going over the spell with my Mum via skype, and Luna was there as we needed someone with immense magical power to summon all of the items.

“You know royalty!” My mum said for the tenth time

“Yes” I said “have you gotten everything I asked for” she tilted her tablet to show the piles of records, all of the stereo system, the Royal Enfield that I had inherited from dad, plus various other items that belonged to me and my brother, such as Games consoles, T.V., D.V.D.s, games and other items.

“I am ready to perform the spell” Luna said to me, Minion, Vinyl , Jack Harkness, Lyra and Frostfang “but I will need to use all of your magic reserves as well to avoid exhaustion on our parts, this is a complex spell even for me” we all nodded before focusing our magic on her, she began to study the image on the screen and lit up her horn, her eyes promptly began to glow white, I looked at the others to see the same was happening to them, I could feel all the different energies of each individual, I saw a flash on the screen and all the items disappeared, a few seconds later they appeared in the hold of the ship, Luna dispersed her magic and stumbled slightly, she looked exhausted, I felt exhausted, but I walked towards her to support her.

“Thank you” Luna said “I will have to rest here for a few days, my magical reserves are completely exhausted, I’m physically exhausted as well, and I shan’t be doing that for some time

“Bloody hell” Minion said, sitting against a wall and catching his breath “I fell like I’ve run a marathon uphill”

“We can rest now, we’ll move all of this later” I said, Jack Harkness walked over to the Royal Enfield, Luna sat down and I walked over to the Enfield as well.

“Nice Bike” he said, sitting down, I nodded and sat on the bike seat

“Can’t beat the classics, just a shame the Indians can’t build a decently working bike for shit” I said, Jack chuckled “It will need a complete engine refit as there isn’t any petrol reserves in Equestria, my dad was constantly tinkering with it, trying to get it to work for more than a few miles, I plan to continue where he left off” I looked at the various parts scattered around it

“Aren’t you more concerned about keeping it original?” he asked, I deadpanned.

“It was made in the 90s” I said “the only original things left is the engine case, the fuel tank, frames and wheels, everything else was replaced with better parts, so why bother keeping it original, when I’m done, it’ll be one of a kind” I then picked up the fuel tank off of the frame, and opened the fuel cap, the inside was completely rusty, I showed it to Jack.

“As I said, the Indians can’t build a bike for shit” he looked inside and gave a low whistle.

“I see what you mean, I think I’ll stay away from Indian built Enfield’s” he said, he then looked at the bike “except for this one” I gave a chuckle and placed the tank back on the frame

“I’ll be the only one that rides this, I might teach Autumn to ride it, but that’s about it” once we were all rested we began to move all of the stuff to where they were going to go, I ended up having to wheel the bike through the ship to get to the workshops, Gwyneth saw it and raised an eyebrow.

“What is that?” she asked.

“This” I said, wheeling it beside the hover bike “is a 1996 Royal Enfield 500cc bullet, inherited from my father, a word of advice, never wheel one of these through the ship, super strength or not, it’s not fun having to push it up stairs, strip the engine and gearbox and start giving them the once over, I’m off to get the rest of the parts”

*POV 3rd person*

Minion and Vinyl were moving one the speakers into the communal room for their group, some of the records were already there, but most were still in the hold.

“Wow” Vinyl said “I can see why they are called ‘bricks” they set the speaker down at the other end of the room to the first speaker, with the stereo system right in between them.

“Right” minion said, picking up a wiring diagram “now to wire these up”

Luna looked through the different L.P. sleeves with Aurora, there was just about every audio subject imaginable recorded on these, Birdsong, audio books of literature; she recognised the name Shakespeare from what Vuur Koning had told her (amongst others), audio recordings of transport, and most of all music, there was all kinds; classical, blues, rock & roll, rock, pop, country and western, the occasional metal group, she was shaken from her musings by Vuur Koning walking back in.

“How did your father collect so much?” Luna asked, Vuur Koning chuckled.

“Various sources” he said “oh, if you see a white L.P. sleeve with just the words ‘the Beatles’ written on it, and unopened in its original packaging, let us know, and if you see another with a bunch of flags around a podium with the words ‘Sabaton’ and ‘Heroes’ on it, come find me, that’s the first L.P. I ever bought, I had mum order it as soon as I found out about it” Luna and Aurora both gave a mock salute before continuing their exploration of human music, Aurora spoke up.

“Could this be the one Uncle Vuur Koning was looking for?” she asked, hefting up an L.P. that depicted an altar of some type at the top of some steps, with the statue of and Eagle with its wings spread around a globe of some type mounted on a podium, there were 8 unique flags, 4 each side, and printed in big silver stylised letters at the top was the word ‘Sabaton’, and at the bottom in smaller and relatively plain letters was the word ‘Heroes’

Luna took it in her faltering magic before holding it in a wing.

“Yes, I think that that’s the one” she said, standing up and looking for Vuur Koning, she soon found him in the Toa’s communal room with Minion and Vinyl Scratch “Vuur Koning, is this the album you described?” Minion took it and nodded.

“Sabaton!?” Minion exclaimed “you never told me you bought a Sabaton L.P.”

“When did you get that?” Vinyl asked.

“Around the time we managed to open communications to earth” Vuur Koning said “All this time it’s been waiting for me” he then turned on the stereo system and removed the packaging from the L.P. sleeve and placed the record on the turntable, he looked at Luna.

“Behold, there latest album” he said, before placing the needle on the outside of the Record

Enjoy, I've provided a link to the full Heroes album on YouTube for you to listened to in the link at the end, it's also available to listen to on Xbox Music for free as long as you have an internet connection, I would definitely recommend it, I love all but two of the songs on there, those other two I just tolerate,

all of the songs are about soldiers that went above and beyond the call of duty in war

Whether they are German soldiers protecting citizens from the Red army and escorting them to western allied forces to surrender as the city burnt in flames at the end of WW2 (Hearts of Iron)
an all female Russian night time bomber regiment (Night Witches)
Or the story of Witold Pileski, the man responsible for exposing the horrors of Auschwitz (Inmate 4859)

all of them are about heroes, regardless of what side they fought on or what beliefs they fought for, to quote 'Hearts of Iron':

it is not about berlin, it is not about the Reich, it's about the men that fought for them

the album doesn't support any particular mind-set, religion, or political group, any comments arguing about the matter will be deleted, however, if you wish to discuss, then feel free, but please be civil and mindful of others opinions, beliefs, religions, etc.

thank you

We were getting ready to leave for Minotauria, I was just about to order them to retract the gangplank when I saw Winter Chill and Midsummer night running towards the ship.

“WAIT!” they called, they ran onto the ship.

“We want to join your crew” Winter said, I raised an eyebrow.

“Do you parents know?” I asked, they both nodded, I sighed “alright, follow me, raise the gang plank!” a crewmember nodded and pulled a lever the door closed as we walked away.

“What skillsets do you have?” I asked.

“Winter has really good endurance in cold weather, I’ve seen him shrug off blizzards like they are nothing” Midsummer said “And I can withstand working in the sun better than most, plus we both have experience in weather patrol work, we know clouds like the bottom of our hooves”

“So endurance to specific conditions and an above average knowledge of weather patterns?” I clarified, the both nodded “looks like you’re both on navigation”

“Wait, just like that?” Winter asked.

“You’re family now, I trust you won’t fuck it up” I said, they both blinked at that, I eventually led them to the bridge I turned to Blazewing “Blazewing, this is Winter Chill and Midsummer Night, they are brother and sister to Lieutenant Autumn Skies, they also have increased endurance in their namesake seasons and an above average knowledge of weather patterns, so I’m assigning them to the navigation team” he nodded.

“Aye, aye, Captain” he said, I turned to the ships construct.

“Jörmungandr, add their names and roles to the roster and assign work shifts” the construct nodded before conjuring a notepad out of magic and scribbling a few notes down.

“It is done” he said “they will work standard 8 hour shifts from 9am till 5pm, with slightly longer shifts in the appropriate season” he then walked off to carry out some task or another, I turned to the two ponies and chuckled.

“I told you I was the captain of this ship” I said “and I’ll have Princess Celestia transfer your employment status from weather patrol to Royal Navy Navies, with the appropriate pay of course” Summer raised a hoof.

“What’s a ‘Navie’?” she asked.

“Short for Navigational Engineer” I said “term from my world” Winter said the word a few times, trying it out.

“Navie, I like it” he said.

“Right” I said “let’s go tell your sister and find you a couple of rooms”

I lead them to our common room.

This is where our not so little group of friends hangs out” I said, opening the door “I’ll warn you, it sometime gets a little crazy, thankfully most of us are working at the moment so it should be quiet” sure enough there was just Minion sat on a sofa with a pint of cider, listening to Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ via the record player, I noticed that several cabinets had been set up, which were filled from floor to ceiling with Vinyl records, Minion noticed us walk in.

“What are you two doing on the ship?” he asked, more surprised than anything.

“They decided to join the crew” I said “they’re now a part of Navigation, if you see Autumn, tell her” he nodded, I then turned to them.

“for a few day, you won’t do any work, as it will take some time to get your documents arraigned, so you can either chill here, or go explore the ship, but stay out of the engine room and anywhere obviously dangerous, and take care if you go to the workshops, however, there is usually someone with a stall of some kind that produces tech for individuals by commission, so if you need something making, go there” they nodded “I’ll come find you when your rooms are ready” they nodded before walking to the sparring room, I felt a little rusty in my combat training, time to remedy that, I quickly stopped at my quarters to pick up my Sword, my phone and headphones before heading for the sparring hall proper.

I practised my moves whilst music played through the headphone, as I was practically in a trance, I only just noticed Discord, he calmly held up a hand to stop my sword, I took of my headphones.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, walking over to a table and downing a bottle of water.

“Merely passing through” he said “I noticed you’ve changed”

“No shit, Sherlock” I deadpanned.

“Why the hostilities?” he asked, sounding genuinely curious.

“nothing personal” I said, half sitting on the table “well not all of it is, I’ll admit some of it is to do with what happened during the Tirek incident, and yes, I know you won’t try and pull that move again, but it’s also the fact that you just seem to set me on edge, you’re unpredictable, and I hate unpredictability, it’s also the fact that your appearance is totally kicking my O.C.D. into overdrive” he nodded.

“Fair enough” he said, shrugging.

“You seem very subdued with your chaos magic” I pointed out.

“If I was always using chaotic magic then that would just make me predictable” he said, I snorted.

“Touché” I said “anyway, because of what happened with Tirek, if you dare pull that backstabbing move again, Toa or not, I will kill you and mount your head on a pike”

“Get in line” Discord said, at that moment Luna walked in “What are you doing here, dear Lulu?” Luna snorted before answering

“I performed a complicated and energy consuming spell” Luna said “so I’ve been grounded for the past few days, but, my magic reserves are now replenished and I’m ready to return to Canterlot, I was just saying my farewells” I nodded.

“See you whenever” I said, she nodded before disappearing with a flash, discord looked at a watch that had randomly appeared on his wrist.

“Well, I should get going as well, chaos to cause and all that, tata!” he said, before clapping his hands together and disappearing in a pink mushroom cloud the promptly started raining chocolate milkshake, I shook my head slightly and rolled my eyes, he may be reformed, but there are something’s that will never change, one of which was his apparent lack of morals.

we were several days into our flight, and we were well past the border, the terrain had changed from relatively flat and forested to mountainous and forested, it actually reminded me of north Wales, I was sat in the common room with the others going over the map of Minotauria, and Vinyl insisted on pronouncing the names with Equestrian Pronunciations.

“For the last time” I said, beginning to lose my patience “double L is pronounced ‘H’L, and the W is pronounced like two Us”

“But there is literally doubles of every letter” she said “it just looks like someone had a seizure on a type writer”

“Well to a Minotaur, Equestrian seems guttural and unintelligent” Gwyneth said indignantly

“Sie haben offensichtlich noch nie gehört, Deutsch” I said, making every one present look at me with a confused look on their faces.

“What is that language?” Mata Nui asked.

“German” I said, I went to explain more but I was interrupted by the coms in our mask crackling into life.

“Guys?” I heard Minion say “you might want to come up to the gun deck and take a look at this” we all looked at each other before I teleported up. I saw Minion standing on the gun deck, leaning against the railing and looking down.

“What is it?” I asked, making him jump.

“Oh, it’s just you” he said, he then pointed to a clearing some distance away “change to my mask and tell me what you see on the thermal lens” I did as requested and I saw a thermal spike, I then changed to the telescopic lens and zoomed in as far as it would go, what I saw surprised me, a camp site of some sort, with an American pickup truck and a caravan, of all things.

“Are you seeing the same thing as me?” I asked, looking at Minion and raising an eyebrow.

“You mean a pickup and caravan?” he asked rhetorically, the others joined us on the gun deck.

“What’s up?” Autumn asked.

“All of you change to Minions mask and switch to thermal vision” I said “when you see a thermal spike switch to the telescopic vision” they all switched to the correct mask.

“What in…” Autumn said, trailing off.

“Well Brother” Minion said “What we do next is your call, I personally want to find out what the hell is going on down there”

“Suit up” I said.

We stood in the part of the hold used for airdrops, we were all fully armoured up and armed, Mata Nui pulled a lever and part of the floor slid away, revealing a clearing, I turned to Blazewing.

“Keep the ship here unless I call for you” I said over the din “I’ll keep up communications with Jörmungandr” I then nodded to the others and we jumped off, Minion and Scar landed first with dull thuds, I landed next and rolled to lessen the impact, followed by Vinyl. Autumn and Boris landed last, slowing their decent using their wings, I got out my sword and the others armed themselves as well.

“Minion, I want you taking point, with thermal vision active” I said, he nodded “everyone else, single file behind me, keep communications open, I don’t want us getting ambushed by bandits or predators”

“Sir, yes Sir!” they said, Minion then led us to one side of the clearing.

“Vinyl, I want you to alert us of any incoming unknowns” I said.

“Yes sir” she responded, but with none of her usual attitude, we began to walk through the trees.

“Stay on guard” I whispered, Minion began cutting a path through the trees, it was slow going, but eventually we came close to the clearing, I signalled for the others behind me to stop and crouch, I walked forward and tapped Minion on the shoulder “Just you and me will go through, we don’t know how long he or she’s been here” he nodded and we stowed our weapons before entering the clearing.

“Is there anyone here?” I called, after a few seconds there was still no response “If there is anyone here, we mean you no harm” still no response, I turned to Minion.

“Begin searching, but be careful” I said, he nodded, we then split up, I could see that the pickup truck was severely damaged, the font end was caved in around a tree stump and the front wheels were at an angle they shouldn’t be, the number plate confirmed that it was American registered, State of Indiana to be exact, I heard Minion exclaim in Surprise.

“Brother” I heard him say over the coms in a panicky voice “you might want to get over here” I ran around the camp until I saw Minion with his back up against the Caravan, and a human with a small axe pressed against Minions neck, I went to tackle the person but a noticed a grenade in his other hand, the human noticed me.

“Put down your weapons” he said in an American accent, I slowly took out my sword and lowered it to the ground “All of them”

“Bugger” I muttered before getting my pistol, auto-rifle and knife out and placing them on the ground.

“Alright” he said “we’re gonna play a game of 20 questions, and if I think you’re lying, boom” I held my hands towards him.

“Okay” I said “Just take it easy” I could see in Minions eyes, he was actually scared

“Alright” he said “question 1, where the hell are we?”

“Look, I know this is gonna sound crazy” I said “but you’re not on earth anymore, to be exact, we are on the planet Terra, in the country of Minotauria”

“Prove it” he said.

“Autumn” I whispered into the com “Get your flank over here, and make sure you are unarmed, we have a situation”

“What!?” she exclaimed “I’m on it”

“Walk over, slowly and calmly, and take off your helmet” I said, a short while later Autumn walked around and froze when she saw the situation we were in.

“What the hell are you?” the human said, looking Autumn up and down.

“She is a pegasus” I said “don’t worry, she won’t hurt you”

“Who are you?” he asked, looking at us “and how many of you are there?” I sighed.

“Alright guys, come on out, and stow your weapons” I called, the others soon appeared “We are the Toa Jörmungandr, also known as the Wolfpack, we aren’t here to hurt you, we just came here out of curiosity, you are the only human that we know of on this world, besides me and my brother, please, just put down the axe and let my Brother go”

“Are you sure more of you aren’t gonna jump out of the trees at me?” he asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Trust me” I said “I’m British, we don’t use dirty tactics” he snorted in amusement.

“Thought your accent was odd” he muttered, before lowering the axe “Alright, how did you find me?”

“Err” Minion said “that would be me doing” he then tapped the cluster of lenses on one side of his mask.

“We have I ship” I said “we were at an altitude so he was able to see for miles”

“Wait, that was yours that I saw?” he asked “the one with the dragon?” I nodded.

“I’m Captain Vuur Koning of the Equestrian Royal Navy” I said.

“What kind of a name is that?” he asked.

“Human names don’t work here” I said “try for yourself if you don’t believe me” he then tried to say something, it ended up sounding like what I imagined a choking penguin sounded like.

“The hell?” he said “What am I gonna call myself?”

“Do what I did” I said, “use a term in another language, as long as it has a ring to it and sounds like a name” he went to respond but we all heard rustling from beyond the tree line.

“Err, you wouldn’t happen to have any pets would you?” Minion asked, the American looked at him.

“No” he said

“Alright everyone” I said, picking up my weapons “weapons ready and form a defensive formation” me and the other Toa stood in a semicircle around the American with our backs to him and the caravan, I noticed the American getting into a fighting stance with his axe ready, I was looking for anything beyond the tree line when I heard Minion and Vinyl call.

“Several thermal signatures, medium sized beasts” Minion said

“Several audio signatures” Vinyl said, I heard a shout behind us and turned around to see a traditional chimera standing on top of the caravan, just as I was about to aim my pistol at it the American threw the axe at the chimera, causing it to embed in the cat head, the creature stumbled and fell off the other side of the caravan.

“Nice shot!” I said.

“Yeah” the American said “but I’ve just lost a perfectly good tomahawk”

“More signatures!” Minion called, more chimeras started to appear from the trees, soon there was a massive pride of them, I looked at Scar and noticed he was in a trance, his claws were also glowing green, I began to hear the howls of Timberwolves.

“Oh, Scar” I said “you genius!”

“What?” the American said.

“He controls plant life” I explained “that includes Timberwolves” a pack of about ten timberwolves jumped over the caravan and stood between us and the Chimeras, Scar came out of his trance and began barking and yipping at the timberwolves, they nodded before forming a circle around us.

“Those things can talk!?” Vinyl exclaimed

“I used to be one, didn’t I?” Scar said, his Gatling guns then clicked into position, for a few seconds neither side moved, somewhere in the forest an eagle cawed and both sides charged “now might be a good time to call for the ship”

“Oh shit, of course” I said, I them opened communications with the ship “Jörmungandr, we have a pride of chimera’s trying to make a meal out of us here, I could really use some help right about now”

“On our way” Jörmungandr said, as he said this a chimera managed to get past the timberwolves and charged towards us, I brought up a wall of flames, but it jumped through, acting on reflex I pulled out my hunting knife as it ploughed into me, the knife pierced the creature’s chest, the Chimera leapt off and hesitated, but other than that it didn’t seem affected by the wound.

“Come on” I said “don’t be stupid, I don’t want to kill you, but if you persist, then you will leave me no choice” I them flipped the knife so I was holding it blade down, the chimera growled before charging, I waited till it was close enough before jumping, doing a back flip, I landed on the chimera and pierced the knife into the area where the two spines joined, the creature collapsed to the ground and I was thrown off, I rolled before stopping in a crouched position, I stood up, at that point I heard Auto-AA guns beginning to fire at the Chimera’s, I looked up to see the ship looming over us, the Chimeras soon began to retreat into the trees, several Equestrian Guards flew down and formed a perimeter.

“That’s a big ship!” the American said “Quick question, how are we gonna get all of this on there?” he pointed at the pickup and caravan, followed by the ship, I chuckled.

“Oh ye of little faith” I said

yeah, the Human is a character belonging to 'Dragonstoa', I've been I talks with him for weeks about having him join the story, but I've been waiting for the right time to include him

(there you go Dragon, I hope your happy now)

if you wish to appear in his story as well then P.M. me and I'll start discussing it with you

*Takes cover from the impending swarm of requests*

The bottom of the Jörmungandr opened up and several gantry cranes lowered their wires, we helped the American to un hitch the Caravan, or Camper as he called it, so that they could be lifted up separately, whilst they lifted the Caravan I had a look under the bonnet of the pickup truck.

“Well there’s your problem” I said, looking at the ruined engine, I turned to the American “it was a V8 as well. for a start, You’ll need new ball joints for the front axle, followed by a new steering rack, fuel sump is probably buggered, you’ll need new bumper and the chassis will need repairing, could do with new transmission as well, and don’t get me started on the engine” the American stared at me.

“My stepdad’s a mechanic” I said “you pick up a few things after a while, I’ll contact him at some point to get a proper diagnosis”

“I thought you said there wasn’t any other humans on this planet” the American said.

“Magic” I said with a shrug.

“Seriously” he said, deadpanning

“Seriously, magic, it actually exists here, a friend of mine developed a spell that allows electronic devices to connect with networks on earth, including internet and phone networks” I said, noticing the look on his face I added “don’t even bother asking me to explain it, because I understand fuck all about magic, I only use it” I then ignited the magic in my hand.

“Well” he said with a chuckle “how about that?”

“don’t worry about finding new parts” I said “we have a huge workshop on board, with forges, and there is bound to be someone willing to help you, I had help when I built a hover bike, and even now, I’m refitting my classic motorcycle from home to work with tech from this world”

“Why run the risk of ruining a classic vehicle?” he asked.

“It was built in India in the 90s, when they had no quality control, thus, it never ran more than a few tens of miles, the engine was a single cylinder piece of shit, and you could never get the timing valves to stay in sync, the gear box needs refitting, also there isn’t any petrol on this planet”

“Petrol?” he asked, I sighed.

“Gasoline is called petroleum in the U.K., there aren’t any fuel pumps on this world, so I have to re-fit the bike anyway, no way am I leaving that bike to gather dust, my dad was trying to get it to work before he died, I’m carrying on where he left off”

“What part of the U.k. are you from?” he asked.

“Until I came here I was living in the north-east of England, in a shitty little town called Scunthorpe” I said “take my advice, and never go there, in fact, just stay out of the U.K. entirely, it’s just a shitty little 500 mile by 200 mile island which has rain 300 days of the year, and everyone is always complaining, when it rains, they complain it’s too cold, when it’s sunny, they complain it’s too hot, there is literally nothing worth seeing”

“I’ll keep that in mind” he said, smirking, the crew began to tie cables around the pickup truck “How long have you been here?”

“About a year and four or five months” I said “I had trouble adapting at first, but eventually, I got the hang of it, it helps if you make friends with locals”

“Got it” he said, he then jumped into the back of the pickup truck and held out a hand “hop in” I grabbed a hold of his hand and climbed on, the pickup started to lift up into the hold, Autumn and Boris flew up, I watched Autumn.

“How did I get so lucky?” I asked, to no one in particular, the American looked at me.

“What?”

“Her” I said, gesturing to the orange pegasus “what did do to deserve someone as special as her”

“Are you and her…?” he asked, trailing off.

“Together? Yes, for about a 4 months, and I haven’t looked back since” he gave me a look “hey! Don’t knock it ‘till you try it, besides, I don’t see many human females walking around, may as well make the best of what’s available, you certainly have more variety on this planet, some more easy on the eyes than others, most are a damn slight more caring than any girl I’ve met on earth, also, things such as same sex couples are a lot are accepted and even welcomed in countries like Equestria, if you are to that particular preference”

“Yeah, no thanks, I don’t swing that way” he said.

“Fair enough, just though I’d mention it” I said, I then turned to him and poked him in the chest “just don’t go giving others a hard time if they do, as you put it, ‘swing that way’, I also don’t tolerate any discrimination on this ship, if I catch you giving others a hard time, and you don’t have a very good reason, I’ll keelhaul your arse and leave you there”

“Err, what’s keelhauling?” he asked, taking a step back all the same.

“It’s where I tie you to the keel of the ship an leave you there” I said, he took and even bigger step back “originally used by pirates on earth, they would also sail towards the nearest reef, be thankful all you would have to deal with is the heights and the seagulls for a few hours, and before you ask, keelhauling is an official form of punishment in the Equestrian Royal Navy”

“I’ll keep that in mind” he said, looking few shades paler, the pickup truck finally reached the hold and we jumped onto the floor.

“All things considered” I said “Welcome to the Equestrian Royal Navy”

“Just like that?” he asked.

“On my ship, you have to work to earn a place to stay” I said, I then began walking out of the hold, the American followed “Don’t worry about your stuff, the crew will sort it out, now, what sort of skills do you have?”

“Well, I know martial arts” he said “and I’m quite the shot with a paintball gun, I can also make explosives”

“You also seem quite the shot with a tomahawk” I pointed out “that puts you on the defence sector, which means you’ll become a royal guard, so you’ll need a set of armour making”

“Oh, I already have armour, set of swords as well, appeared when I arrived here” he said, I looked at him and raised an eyebrow “the reason I’m wearing normal clothes is because it’s gold and white, not the best for hunting in a forest”

“Oh” I said “fair enough, you’ll still need a set of official armour making though, it’s mostly ceremonial armour, for social events and such, I have a set, even though I have this” I gestured to my armour

“Anything else I need to know?” he asked.

“If you want any tech you have to be connected to wireless networks from earth, then call for the ships magical construct, he’s kind of like the ship A.I.s from Halo if you’ve played that game, he’s called Jörmungandr, you can call for him from any part of the ship and he’ll appear, he’ll apply the spell for you, then you can contact whoever you need to explain the situation to them, also, if you go to the armoury, we have unique weapons there, give some of them a try-out”

*POV 3rd person*

The American walked into the hold of the ship, he walked into the caravan and called for the ships magical construct.

“How may I help you?” Jörmungandr asked, appearing next to the human

“Vuur Koning said you had a spell to connect human tech to networks on earth” he said

“That is correct, would you like me to perform that spell?” the construct asked, the human nodded, all of the Humans technological items glowed briefly “Anything else?”

“You wouldn’t happen to have anyway of sending items from earth to here, would you?” The construct paused.

“Yes…but it is very consuming on magic, please wait whilst I get clearance from Captain Vuur Koning” the construct disappeared, a few minutes later he reappeared “the Captain has permitted the use of the spell, however, I am going to have to access your memories to be able to perform it correctly”

“You better not go messing with any of my memories” He said defensively

“You need only focus on the correct memory” the construct said “and it is against my perimeters to alter memories in any way or reveal them to others without your permission”

“Well…okay” he said hesitantly, the construct nodded before disappearing, the lights dimmed slightly before a glow enveloped the human, who focused on his possessions, soon a mass of light appeared in an empty area of the hold, when the light faded there was a huge pile of items.

“T…sp…s…omplete” Jörmungandr stuttered, his form flickering and braking up, the American quirked an eyebrow before checking through the items, he was interrupted from his rummaging by Vuur Koning exclaiming

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning*
I walked through the ship towards the hold, Jörmungandr had come to me requesting the use of the mass summoning spell for items that belonged to the American, I’d accepted, what I didn’t expect was for the lights to cut out, I walked into the hold and stopped, where there was just the damaged pickup truck and the caravan, there was now a heap of god knows what placed next to them.

“Bloody hell!” I said “I didn’t know you had this much stuff, now we’re gonna be stuck here until tomorrow”

“What!?” the American said.

“The summoning spell” I said “the more items there are, the more energy it uses, same with the mass for each item” I noticed a Kawasaki Ninja sports-bike, as well as a quad-bike and a dirt-bike

“Seems you are also a fan of bikes” I noted, he nodded, I walked up to the sports-bike and placed a hand on the fuel tank “nice bike, although I personally would have gone for a Suzuki Bandit or a Honda Deauville”

“Deauville?” he asked.

“Sort of like a sports-cruiser with panniers, only available in Europe and the U.K., it’s best suited for long haul runs, but the engine packs enough of a punch to get you off the line faster than, let’s say, a Harley” I explained “come on, I’ll give you a hand with the bikes, they’ll go in a designated area of the workshops that, from now on, belongs to you” he grabbed the handlebars on the Sports-bike and kicked the stand out from under it, I did the same with the dirt-bike.

“Lead the way” he said, I then lead him to a lift that we had.

“It’s a shame I found out about this after I got the Enfield sent here” I said, wheeling the bike in and pressing the button for the workshop level (yes, the workshops took up an entire floor) “wheeling a classic motorbike up several flights of stairs is not fun” he chuckled

“What sort of condition is it in?” he asked.

“Could be worse” I said, after a few moments we reached the workshops and we wheeled the bikes to a section of the workshops that was directly next to mine, I walked over to what was left of the Enfield, which was literally the frame, handlebars, suspension and wheels, and the fuel tank, although that wasn’t fixed down, the rest of it was scattered around various tables, in pieces, the hover-bike was over in one corner, still waiting for a paint-job, a placed a hand on the fuel tank of the Enfield and patted it before saying sadly “this is my way of remembering my dad, by continuing where he left off, he would want me to get it working, not just leave it in the corner, of a workshop gathering dust” the American walked over and patted my shoulder, before walking back to the lift, I followed.

“How are we gonna get the camper into the workshop?” he asked, I froze.

“Err, you don’t have a ball joint for towing it with the quad, do you?” I asked, he shook his head.

“It fits over the back of the pickup” he said “why would it have a ball-joint?”

“In the U.K. we tow them via a tow-bar on the rear bumper, they don’t have an overhang like American ones, they’re more like American caravans from the 50s and 60s, you know, those silver ones that look like spaceships”

“Really!?” he asked in surprise.

“Yeah, except they’re all white and made of fiberglass, they’re also built like boxes now, rather than bullets, I wish they did look like American ones, they look a hell of a lot cooler, anyway, I can’t think of a way to tow it into the lift, unless you have another pickup truck somewhere”

“No” he said.

“Oh, bullocks”

Minion walked into the hold and stopped, he raised an eyebrow at what he saw, Vuur Koning and the American were trying to push the caravan into the lift…and failing miserably at it, Minion just stood there for a few moments with a smirk on his face from watching them struggle, after some time Vuur Koning noticed his brother.

“How long have you been standing there?” he asked.

“Long enough” Minion said, walking to the front of the caravan and lifting it up, before pulling it into the lift by himself, Vuur Koning and the American fell to the floor from the sudden lack of caravan that they had been leaning against.

“You bloody show off, you bastard!” Vuur Koning said, getting up.

“You’re just jealous because I’ve got the most muscles out of the two of us” Minion said, lifting up an arm and kissing his biceps

I turned to the American.

“Sometimes I think he’s become even more of a show off since he became a Toa” I said, getting the Quad-bike and following Minion onto the lift

“What powers do you have?” the American asked.

“He controls magnetism” I said “I control fire, we also have a Toa of iron, air, sound and plant-life, I’m guessing you know of Bionicle then” the American nodded.

“Yes, although I didn’t think Toa came in teams of anything other than the standard six elements” he said “I thought Toa of other elements just sort of…wandered”

“The Toa Mahri were technically a team of five in the end” I pointed out “there was also the Toa Mangai, which had Toa Lhikan, 4 Toa of ice, two Toa of water, a Toa of air and 3 Toa that no one knows the exact details of, that’s 11 Toa”

“Ah, I forgot about those” he said, the elevator reached the workshops, Minion leaned out from behind the caravan.

“Where do you want this?” he asked.

“Berth next to mine” I said “the one with the Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle and the dirt-bike” Minion nodded before disappearing behind the caravan, the front of it lifted up and the American and I had to jump out of the way to avoid being run-over by the caravan, once out of the lift he stopped and spun the caravan around a full 180’ before carrying on, the American gave a low whistle.

“I wish I was that strong” he said.

“He was strong before he become a Toa” I said “and now, I’ve seen him lift a ¼ ton turbine with no effort, he could probably lift 4 times as much without breaking a sweat” Minion put the caravan into place and the walked back to the lift, we followed

“Let’s get the pick-up truck” he said, he then turned to the American “if ever you need help getting the engine out, just fine me or Scar”

“Which one was Scar, again?” he asked.

“The wolf” both me and Minion said at the same time.

“He has a scar on his face” I said “so the name is kind of self-explanatory, anyway, once we’ve gotten everything into the workshop, we’ll show you our common room where all of our group of friends hang out, I’ll warn you just as I’ve warned everyone else who has joined our group, one, it gets pretty crazy at times, and two, no one but me and Minion can touch the stereo system or the record collection, if you have a request, ask if we have it in the collection”

“And what do you have in the collection?” he asked

“List what groups you like and I’ll tell you if we have that” I said.

“Michael Jackson?”

“We should have something on C.D.”” I said

“AC/DC?” both me and Minion looked at each other and grinned.

“Just about every album on vinyl L.P.” I said, his jaw dropped

“What exactly do you have in your collection?” the American asked

“About 1600 records” I said, he gawped “our dad was awesome, simple as that, we’ve got just about every single Beatles album, including the U.S.A. versions and an original pressings of the White album and Abby road unopened, Iron maiden? Yep, Black Sabbath? Yep, Led Zeppelin? Yep, I could go on and on, but we would be here all day, I also have an L.P. of Sabaton’s latest album”

“Who?” he asked, both me and Minion deadpanned.

“You don’t know who Sabaton is!?” I asked

“No”

“oh Fantasia” I muttered “they’re a Swedish Power-Metal band that sings mostly about war, their last two Albums have been available on vinyl as well as C.D., speaking of which, I should probably get Carolus Rex on Vinyl at some point” the lift reached the hold and Minion walked towards the pick-up.

“Whack some of the stuff in the back” he said “we can reduce the time spent going back and forth if we use the pick-up as a makeshift wheel barrow” we nodded before putting some of the stuff in there, I picked up a frame of some sort with a navy medal of honour

“Bloody hell” I said, showing the American the medal, he promptly took it off of me “what did you do to be awarded that!”

“I wasn’t” he said, looking at it with a nostalgic smile on his face “it belonged to an old friend of mine who was a Navy Seal” he then carefully placed it in the back of the pick-up, he then looked at me.

“Out of curiosity” he said “what is the British equivalent of the Medal of honour?” I thought for a moment.

“That’s the highest possible award in the U.S. military, correct?” I asked, nodding to the Medal of Honour, the American nodded “soldiers of the U.K. are awarded the Victoria Cross instead, although the grave of the British Unknown Warrior was given a Medal of Honour by the U.S.A. and the U.K. awarded the American Unknown Soldier in kind” he nodded, for several hours we went back and forth, dropping off items at the workshop to be sorted out later, at the end of it I laid down on the ground.

“We can sort out that stuff tomorrow” I said “I’ve had enough of moving things back and forth for one day, and you need to find yourself a name, you can stay in the caravan until we find you a set of living quarters”

“Sure” he said.

*1 week later*

We were currently staying in a town called Llanfair, that’s pronounced Hlanvairay by the way. Anyway, the American, or as he was now called, Vapaa Juoksija (often shortened to just Vapaa), was now an accepted part of the crew. I was walking through the town with Autumn, the general style of Minotaurian settlements was of a typical medieval style, but a lot cleaner. We were looking for somewhere to eat.

“God, this town is incredible” I said “it’s like something from the middle-ages on earth” we stopped to let a group of Minotaur calves run past, but the stopped and looked up at us in awe. They began chattering in Minotaurian, one of them walked forward. I knelt down and tousled the hair on his head.

“I won’t hurt you” I said, Autumn began translating for me “I’m Toa Vuur Koning and this it Toa Autumn Skies, what’s your name?” He responded in welsh and Autumn translated.

“He says his name is Dafydd” Autumn said.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Dafydd” I said, I then pointed to the Jörmungandr “you see that big ship?” he nodded after Autumn translated.

“I’m the captain of that ship” I said, they all gasped “never give up on your dreams, and one day, who knows, you might become a captain like me, maybe we’ll meet each other again someday, well, I best be going” I stood up and they all looked at me, wide eyed. I then continued walking down the street, with Autumn by my side.

Vapaa clambered across the rooftops, earlier he had let Minion shoot him with a paintball gun…without a shirt on, as a way of making them even for what he did when they found him, and now he was distracting himself from the pain by doing one of his favourite past times; free running. He leapt across an alleyway before stopping to catch his breath. He leant against a chimney, he noticed two dragons walking through the streets. Ones that weren’t from the ship, he raised an eyebrow at that. Even he knew that dragons weren’t common in the smaller towns, and most took up the profession of piracy or something similar. He knelt down and started to shadow them, making sure the sun was in a direction that wouldn’t cast his shadow onto the streets. The two dragons started to walk into a more run down part of the town, Vapaa quickly clambered across a washing line to the other side of the street before continuing to follow them. They eventually walked down a dark alleyway and knocked on the door at the end of the Alley. Vapaa watched from a distance, when he was sure the coast was clear he walked over the roofs of the Alley until he found a window to the loft of the building. He hid to one side and slowly looked through the window, through the grime he could see cages, with several different species of varying ages inside of them. He cursed under his breath before carefully opening the window and climbing inside. A young griffin in a cage next to the window, no older than ten, went to speak up but Vapaa held a finger to his mouth.

“Do you speak Equestrian?” Vapaa asked quietly, the griffin did a so-so motion with a claw “what is going on here?” the griffin thought for a moment.

“Bad drakens” he said “sell us to work, beat us, give little food, keep us in cage” Vapaa scowled, he grabbed the dog-tags around his neck and ripped them off before passing them to the young griffin.

“I promise, I’ll be back” Vapaa said, before climbing out of the window. What he didn’t see was a dragon watching them from the shadows.

*1st person Vuur Koning*
Me and Autumn we sat in a restaurant eating. We suddenly heard the com’s from our masks crackle to life, I picked mine off of the table and put it on.

“Hello?” I asked.

“Vuur Koning?” Minion said “you might want to get your arse back on the ship as soon as possible”

“Why?” I asked.

“Not something that can be easily explained over the com’s” he said, I looked at Autumn, she had already put her helmet on and was getting ready to leave.

“We’ll be there as soon as possible” I said, putting the required amount of money on the table and walking out with Autumn. We both changed to the mask of speed and got to the ship within a few seconds. I walked into the common-room, where Mata Nui, Vapaa and the other toa were stood. Vapaa in particular looked like he was about to go on a rampage “What’s the problem?”

“I was doing some free running along the rooftops, to take my mind off of the pain from him shooting me” he said, pointing to Minion “I was taking a break when I saw two dragons I didn’t recognise walking through the town, I followed them on a hunch and found a slavers hideout, with a ton of slaves” I frowned.

“How soon can your Toa be ready” Mata Nui asked.

“Immediately” I said, they took the hint and rushed off to get suited up “You too, Vapaa”

“Yes, Vuur Koning” he said, before walking off to get his armour. I walked out towards the exit of the ship, along the way I found Jack Harkness.

“Someone sure looks like a man on a mission” he remarked, I shot him a look.

“You, arm up, now!” I said “we’re going to raid a slavers camp” his expression immediately darkened.

“I’m on it” he said, before galloping off. I then continued on my way to the exit, I waited for the others impatiently. Soon all of them except for Vapaa were stood at the exit, Jack Harkness was in a dark-blue pony trench coat and had a spell pistol that looked like a modern human pistol. I looked outside and noticed a human in gold and white armour and a white hooded-cloak that looked like something from Assassin’s creed, running along the roof tops with a tomahawk and a double-ended sword.

“For god sake, Vapaa” I muttered, I turned to the others “Alright, we’re moving out, we’re going in through the front door, as Vapaa has jumped the gun he can be a distraction”

Vapaa ran along the roof-tops, he leapt from one side of the street to the other in a single bound, causing several people to exclaim in surprise. He rounded the corner and slowed down, he got into a crouch and shuffled along the rooftops towards the window he slowly opened the window and looked inside, there weren’t any slavers and the griffin was also missing. He cursed under his breath, that couldn’t be a good sign, he slowly walled through the loft towards a door, telling the slaves to keep quiet as he went along. He reached the door and went to open it but he saw the door handle turning, he hid on the hinge side of the door and placed his weapons on the ground. He waited for the door to open and a dragon walked through, dragging the young griffin, beaten and bruised, into his cage. Vapaa walked out from behind the door and all of the slaves went quiet, Vapaa ran forward and stomped the shins of the dragon, causing it to fall to the floor. The dragon bellowed in pain, before Vapaa kicked it in the head, knocking it out cold. Vapaa nudged it with his foot to make sure it was unconscious before taking the keys and unlocking all of the cages.

“Go on!” he said “get out of here!” the effect was instantaneous, people of all different species and ages rushed out of their cages and past Vapaa, the Griffin walked up to him.

“Me sorry” he said “draken…saw you, took what you gave me”

“Don’t worry, I’ll get it back” Vapaa said, he then went and picked up his weapons, he then looked at the griffin “come on”

We walked to the entrance of the hideout after following Vapaa. I turned to Vinyl, she smirked before standing in front of the door and levelling her Bass cannon at it, she pulled the trigger and the blast obliterated the door, along with most of the wall.

“KNOCK, KNOCK!!!” she called, before walking in, we followed her inside to find several dragons on the floor, groaning in pain, I picked one up by the shoulders. He, no, it looked at me.

“Where are the slaves?” I barked, he chuckled before speaking in draconic and biting down on something, he convulsed and started foaming at the mouth before dying. I dropped the now dead dragon on the floor “cyanide capsule, make sure the others don’t do the same!” Minion went to each dragon and ripped the metal capsule out of their mouths using his magnetism powers.

“Spineless bastards” he muttered, kicking one in the stomach, who groaned. I got my pistol out and set it to stun, I noticed a wooden door with a lock, I nodded to Autumn who kicked it, causing the rusty hinges to fail. What we saw when we walked in caused us to stop in our tracks, row upon row of cages, each one filled with someone of a different species.

“Those spineless snakes are going to pay for what they did” I said, Autumn and Boris flew along, cutting open the locks down each row, the slaves soon started to walk out of their cages. We walked along checking each one, Autumn and I stopped at an extra-large cage, three individuals were in there, a Dragoness, and two young Kirin (Pony-dragon hybrids) in there very early teens, the Dagon looked like she was close to dying and the Kirin’s stood in front of her protectively.

“Stay away from her” one, a male, said, swinging his tail in front of us, the blades at the end split into four smaller blades.

“We aren’t here to hurt you” I said.

“You liar!” the other, a female, said, before sending a stream of fire towards us. I dispelled the fire with a flick of my blade, Autumn walked forward cautiously.

“We promise we aren’t here to hurt you” she said “we’re here to get you out of” the dragoness stirred.

“Wh…who are you?” she asked

“We are here to rescue you” I said, the dragoness chuckled.

“I’m past saving” she said, she then looked at the two Kirins “children, come here” the two children walked over and she nuzzled them

“Yes, Mother?” the male said.

“I want you to go with them” she said, tears starting to fall from her eyes. The children started crying and she comforted them as best she could “Shh, it’s going to be fine, promise me you’ll be good”

“We promise” the female said, the dragoness looked at us.

“Swear to me that you will protect them” she said.

“We swear” we both said, she smiled sadly before nuzzling her children, who were now crying freely

“Don’t worry” she said “no matter where you are, I’ll be watching over you” she then started to sing softly in draconic to them calming them down, eventually she laid he head down and stopped breathing.

“Mother?” the female asked, tears streaming down her cheeks, when their mother didn’t respond they both broke down crying once more. We walked towards them and knelt down to comfort them, I placed my arms around the male, who turned around and tried to bury his head in my chest armour. I looked to Autumn to see a similar thing happening with her, I could also see her eyes starting to tear up. I heard Minion walk over, I turned around and saw him go to say something but stopped and sighed before walking off. Autumn and I sat down in the cage and stayed there for some time, I could now begin to pick out the features of them both.

The male was mostly red with an orange underbelly and had the body and head of a pony, his head had two small horns that were swept back with a small orange mane jutting in between. A ridge of scales went from the top of his snout, along his back and to the end of his tail, his rear legs were like those of a normal pony. His front legs ended in clawed hands and he had large, draconic wings.

The female was almost like a reverse of the male, with orange primary colour and red secondary colour. Instead of an equine body and head she had a draconic head and body, her rear legs had small claws. her front legs were practically identical to her brothers except they were scaled rather than furred. Her tail was draconic except it had a bit of a pony tail at the base and she had a relatively large set of pegasi wings. Eventually the two Kirin’s stopped crying and I looked at the male Kirin.

“Are you ready to go?” I asked softly, he didn’t make a response other than nodding his head. Both Kirin’s backed away from us and we stood up “we’ve send someone to get your mother” they both nodded before following us out of the cage, when we got out side we found several dragons being led away by Minotaurian guards, assisted by equestrian guards from my ship. I pulled Minion to one side.

“Get some people to help you carry out their mother and put her somewhere for a burial in a few days” I said “she died when we got there. If anyone kicks up a fuss about me and Autumn taking them, tell them the dragoness’s last wish was for us to take care of them, me and Autumn are going to go back to the ship to comfort them so you’re in charge of things here whilst we are on the ship” he nodded and me, Autumn and the two children began walking back to the ship. Understandably the general mood was very sombre as we walked on to the ship, the two Kirins barely noticed the immense size of the ship, nor did they notice the stares they were getting off of the crew members, they just walked together, the brother had his wing around his sister and placed his head over hers protectively. Aurora flew over, grinning at there being two more kids around her age but stopped when I shook my head and mouthing ‘I’ll explain later’, she huffed and nodded before flying off, we eventually reached our quarters and lead the two children inside. Only when they heard the door shut did they fully react to their surroundings, subdued amazement would be the best way to explain it, we lead the two kirins over to a sofa and patted it as an invitation for them to sit on it, they hesitantly did so.

“Do you want anything to drink or eat?” Autumn asked, hey looked at her in amazement.

“W…we can eat!?” the male asked, a chuckled sadly.

“Do you really think we would bring you up here and not let you eat anything, after everything you’ve been through?” their ears drooped at being reminded of what had happened “oh, jeeze, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…” I sighed and trailed off, Autumn looked at me and smiled sadly.

“Go make them something” she said “I’ll comfort them” I nodded in thanks before walking into the small kitchen we had, I put a pan on the stove and put butter in the pan before I turned the stove on on, I then realised something.

“Autumn?” I called “What sort of diet do they eat, are they herbivores or what?”

“They say the can eat meat and vegetables” I heard Autumn say, I grinned.

“They are gonna love this” I said to myself, before going into the fridge and getting out Bacon, eggs and sausages, I put the food in the pan and began cooking, when it was all cooked I put the food onto two plates and brought them through, the two Kirins eyed the plates with mouths watering, I walked to the table and they followed, I placed the plates on the dining table and pulled back two chairs so they could reach the table, they hopped onto the chairs and waited.

“What are you waiting for?” I asked “you don’t need our permission” the effect was instantaneous, they dug in like two hungry wolves, I chuckled before turning to Autumn and whispering in her ear.

“I’m gonna go find Aurora to explain the situation and so she can meet them” she nodded and I walked out the room towards the corridor.

*meanwhile*

Minion was overseeing the situation at the slavers camp, quite a few of the slaves were Minotaur’s from surrounding towns and villages, the one part he didn’t like was having to carry out the dead dragoness, it’s kind’ve hard to treat the dead with respect when they weigh several tons, he had to get the help of Blazewing and Frost Fang, partly because they were familiar with draconic burial traditions, they would bury her tomorrow, and the two children would be present for the ceremony, the two dragons were really pissed off about the whole situation with the slavers, and they kept muttering darkly in draconic and giving any arrested slavers they saw death glares whilst flames or ice vapour seeped out of their mouths, what surprised him the most was Blazewing’s attitude.

“You know” Minion said, watching the slaves pile out of the building “no offence but considering your past history, your current mood is kind’ve surprising” the crimson drake gave him a glare before answering.

“I may’ve been a dis’onourable, blood thirs’y, savage pira’e, bu’ even I ‘ad morals, if we found a save ship we would ‘ave killed the crew ‘nd either recrui’ed the slaves, or dropped ‘em off as close to their ‘ome towns as possible” he said with a snort of flames “even pira’es consider slavers as scum, slavers are cruel, they leave their cap’ives in cages and give ‘em barely enough food to survive, at least pirates give their captives the option to work and become par’ o’ the crew”

“Really!?” Minion asked, his voice full of surprise, Blazewing shot him another glare “right, shutting up now” Minion grinned nervously, Blazewing snorted.

I found Aurora after some searching, she was perched on one of the railings.

“Aurora” I said “I need to talk to you” the young emerald dragoness looked at me.

“Yes uncle?” she asked.

“Do you remember those two dragon-pony hybrids that me and Autumn brought onto the ship?” I asked, she nodded “Well, earlier, we found a place where some mean dragons were keeping lots of people against their choice, to be sold into work, one of these was a dragoness, and those two hybrids were her children, when we found the place, the dragoness was dying, and when we found her, her last request was for me and your Auntie Autumn to adopt them, so those two are now your cousins” her expression lit up when I finished.

“Really!?” she asked, I nodded.

“Yes” I said “I’m going to take you to see them, but you have to promise me you won’t get too excited or ask too many questions, okay?” she nodded before flying onto my shoulder, I walked back down to my quarters, a opened the door to find Autumn talking with the two Kirin.

“So, what are your names?” she asked.

“I’m Garnet” the male said.

“And I’m Ruby” the female said, I took the opportunity to interject by clearing my throat.

“Garnet, Ruby” I said, trying out the names as much as saying them to gain their attention, I gestured to Aurora, who was on my shoulder “this is my niece; Aurora, and as you are now mine and Autumns adoptive son and daughter, that technically makes her your cousin” they eyes widened.

“We have a cousin now?” Garnet asked, Aurora flew over to them.

“Aurora” I said “why don’t you show them around the ship” Aurora nodded.

“Come on” she said, after some coaxing they followed her out the door, once they were gone I walked over to the sofa and sank into it with a sigh, I took my mask off and brushed my hair back.

“What’s up?” Autumn asked, I looked at her.

“I look at them and I see myself from two years ago, just after I found out my dad died” I said, Autumns ears folded back and she nuzzled me.

“Then you will know exactly what to do” she said.

“Except they don’t have Autism, at least…I don’t think they do,” I said, I then started to get panicky “oh Autumn, I’m not ready to be a father, what if I mess up, what if they don’t like me, what if they don’t like either of us, what if they fly off in the night and never return, what if…” Autumn cut me off.

“Luke!” she said sternly, using my Earth name, which she only used when she was being really serious with me, her expression then softened and she nuzzled me “don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll do fine, these sort of things just take time, besides, you were worried about us being together, and look how things are now, you’ve said it yourself, you haven’t looked back since” I looked her in the eyes and smiled softly.

“Autumn Skies, where the fuck would I be without you?” I asked rhetorically, she scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“Stuck in a cell in Canterlot for punching an arrogant prince?” she suggested.

“Oh, get lost!” I said indignantly, I then paused, before conceding “actually, you’re probably right”

Dafydd is pronounced as David, and is where the second name originated from

I have no problem admitting that I have plenty of shortcomings and flaws, most of which I don't write down as much as I should, one of which is if I think I can't handle a long term commitment, I'll start panicking, Twilight Sparkle style, unless someone whacks some sense into me, which could range from shouting my name, to slapping me in the face

Me and Autumn tucked the two Kirins into bed, we had set up two beds in the spare room.

“But what if one of the slavers gets in?” Ruby asked, I smiled sadly.

“Don’t worry” I said, “they’ve all been locked up, and they won’t be getting near anyone for a long time, and if one of them does somehow get here, they’ll have to go through me” she giggled.

“Okay” Ruby said.

“There’s a good girl” I said “now go to sleep” she shuffled further down under the covers and I stood up, autumn was having a similar conversation with Garnet, she stood up as well and we walked towards the door.

“If either of you have a problem” Autumn said “just come to us, we’ll be up to a few more hours, okay?” they both nodded before settling down.

“Goodnight” I said, they responded in kind and I switched off the light in the room but left the door open, we walked outside and I whispered “I hope they don’t have any problems in the night, their whole life spent in a slavers camp, I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy, actually no, I tell a lie, I would wish that on three people that I can think of”

“Are you gonna tell me?” Autumn asked.

“Nope” I said “there from mine and Minions old life, the less you know about ’them’, the better” she gave me a look but didn’t press the matter.

Me and Autumn woke up the next morning, thankfully we didn’t have any problems in the night, I went to the Kirins room and woke them up.

“Rise and shine” I sang.

“Urg…five more minutes” Garnet mumbled before turning back over, I rolled my eyes, typical early teen.

“Come on” I said “we have a big day ahead of us, or do you want to miss your mother’s funeral” their eyes both shot open.

“That’s today!?” they both asked.

“Yes. Garnet, you’re with me, I’m gonna get you ready” I said, I then turned to Ruby “Autumn is going to get you ready” Ruby nodded, Garnet begrudgingly pulled himself out of bed, giving a yawn that exposed all of his carnivorous teeth, he then walked into the bathroom, grumbling as he did so, I walked in after him and turned the shower on, his reaction to running water was priceless, his reaction to heated running water was hilarious. He jumped under the stream of water, and looked for all the world like an excited Labrador, I eventually managed to grab hold of him and began to wash his mane and coat, a stream of years’ worth of muck and dirt began to drain out of the tub, eventually he was actually sparkling and shining like his namesake gem, I turned off the water and dried him off, I then showed him how to brush his teeth, when that was done I led him into the front room and laid a towel on the floor, I then began to cut his hair, shortening it and neatening it up, before going over it with a comb to straighten it, now I could get a true idea of what he looked like.

“Do a twirl” I said, he spun around and I nodded approvingly “not bad, if I do say so myself, right, let’s go get some breakfast” he looked confused.

“You mean you aren’t cooking?” he asked.

“Whilst I’m flattered you like my cooking, you should still try the food from the canteen, plus I want you to meet the rest of my family, friends as well” he nodded before following me out the door, his attitude had changed since yesterday, he carried his head high and almost had a regal appearance to him, we eventually reached the canteen and he stopped, seems he’d never seen so many people in one place, I chuckled, eventually he got over his shock and continued following me, several individuals stared at him, but thankfully it didn’t spread, I led him to where all of the food was and picked up two trays before walking along and selecting various different items of food, I then led Garnet to the tables, after searching I found the table that our group usually sat at, Winter Chill and Midsummer Night were already sat there, as was Blazewing, Frost Fang, Saphyrus, Cloddiwr, Minion, Aurora, Vinyl, Boris, Scar, and Vapaa, who was also with a young Albino (?) griffin, I sat down at the table, Garnet immediately dug into his food

“Who’s the griffin?” I asked Vapaa.

“This is John Henry” he said “he was the first slave that I met when I entered that place, he doesn’t have any family, so I’m taking care of him, who’s the…” he trailed off, not sure what to call Garnet.

“This is Garnet” I said “he’s a Kirin, that’s a hybrid between a dragon and a pony, the mother of him and his sister died when we found her, her last wish was for me and Autumn to take care of them”

“That dragon was their mother!?” Vapaa asked.

“Yes” I said, I then began to introduce Garnet to everyone, soon Autumn and Ruby arrived, and I quickly recapped who everyone was for Ruby’s sake.

“You have a big family” Ruby said.

“So do you, now” I said “my family is your family, speaking of which, I need to contact my Mom about you two” their ears perked up at that.

“Later” Autumn said, their ears drooped, remembering what was happening today.

“Oh, yeah” Garnet said, sighing and slumping slightly, I put a hand on his shoulder in a comforting manner.

“You’ll get through it” I said.

“How do you know I’ll get through it?” Garnet shot back.

“Because I’ve, to use a term from my world; been there, done that and got the tee-shirt” I said “I understand what you are going through, Minion does as well, if you need someone to be there for you at any point, go to me or him, same applies to you, Ruby” the female Kirin nodded, but looked very down cast, I sighed, today was going to be a long day, scratch that, it was going to be a long week.

Autumn and I led the two Kirin into a park just outside the town, in a traditional draconic burial ceremony, the next of kin and their parents/guardians would go to pay their respects before the ceremony, Minotaur’s have long had a close friendship with dragons, and once even worship them as gods, so whenever a dragon dies, the funeral procession would travel through the town towards the cemetery, allowing the whole town to pay their respects, that was another reason why we were going now, we eventually came to a large temple-like building and we led the two Kirins inside, a Minotaurian priest of some sort greeted us.

“Are any of you the next of kin?” he asked.

“These two Kirin are her children” I said “we are acting as their guardians, as-per their mothers final wish” the priest nodded.

“Very well” he said “if you would follow me, please” he then lead us into a large hall, at the end of it the dragoness was laid out, curled up slightly as if sleeping. The priest left out of respect and we walked up to the dragoness but none of us said anything, what could we say? I heard Ruby sniff and saw her eyes watering, I knelt down and brought her close to me and she began crying silently, Garnet soon did likewise and Autumn began to comfort him, I could start to feel tears welling up in my eyes, partly because this reminded me of when I saw my dad after he died (it wasn’t pretty) and partly because it broke my heart to see them in such pain, no child should have to go through something like this even if they are in their early teens, after about ten minutes we left, we ended up carrying the two children out, what we saw when we walked outside surprised us, two large dragons were stood outside.

“Who might you be?” I asked.

“We are the siblings of Emerald, the dragon that has died” one, a dark blue male said “What business would you have paying your respects to her?” I placed Ruby on the ground and Autumn did the same with Garnet.

“Guardians of her two children, as-per her very final request” I said they raised their eyebrows at that

“How did the situation arise to make her choose you two as their guardians?” the other a bright green male, asked.

“We busted a slavers camp” I explained “her and her two children were locked in a cage, she was already dying when we got there, she had just enough time to name us as their new guardians before she died” the bright green one made to charge at me and I instinctively activated my Kenohi Hau, protecting the four of us.

“Forgive me” the green dragon said, backing up “I did not intend to cause any harm, it was merely to test your worthiness as their guardians”

“You could have perhaps used slightly different methods” I suggested “preferably ones that don’t put them in danger”

“your heart is in the right place” the dark blue one said “we deem you worthy to act as their guardians, under Draconic law, they are legally your children, and as such, any relations on all sides shall be treated appropriately, until such a time when you invoke the nullification of the legal document” he then conjured up a piece of parchment and passed it to me, I quickly read through it.

“So, put simply, they are now classed as our children and any family on mine or Autumns side is classed as your family as well?” the dragon nodded.

“This also extends to your siblings and their descendants, all of them are now a part of their family” he said, gesturing to the two Kirins.

“So that means I’m now a part of…” I quickly counted off “seven separate families” everyone gathered looked at me in surprise.

“How do you figure that?” Autumn asked.

“There’s my dad’s side, my mum’s side, my step-dad’s side, your family, Auroras family, Vinyl’s family and now their family” I said, gesturing to the Kirins and dragons “and that isn’t even going into cousins and such, the next family reunion is going to be chaos”

“We must go and pay our respects now” the blue one said, I nodded and they both walked inside, we then lead Ruby and Garnet away, they walked the same as when we led them onto the ship the first time, we returned to the ship so me and Autumn could get ready for the service, I but on a tuxedo that I’d had summoned from earth, I sighed as I adjusted the tie in front of a mirror.

The last time I wore this” I said “was at my dad’s funeral” Autumn got up from brushing her mane and tail, she was wearing a dress that Rarity had made for her, it was made from darker colours, perfect for an occasion like this, she walked over and put her arms around me comfortingly.

“I’m here for you” Autumn said “if you need a shoulder to cry on? I’m here” I turned around and kissed her.

“I know” I said, I then pulled away from her “come on, let’s go and get the kids”

We walked down the main street behind a huge cart that they were using to carry the dragoness, the entire town was lined up on either side of the street, and most were putting down flowers as we went past, we soon reached a chapel and walked inside several individuals were already there, most notably the dragonesses siblings, I nodded to them and they nodded back, a Minotaurian priest began the ceremony, which mostly consisted of retelling the story of her life, and blessing her body, although I didn’t really pay much attention, I was merely here to comfort Garnet and Ruby.

Eventually the service ended and everyone walked outside to watch her be buried and to talk amongst themselves, I ended up talking with the two dragons.

“So you’ll be checking in on us every now and then?” I asked.

“Of course, you’re family now” the green one said “how might we contact you?”

“My niece, Aurora” I said “she can send messages via dragon flames, or you just look for the massive ship with the name Jörmungandr hauled by an ice drake”

“You’re on a hoard ship?” the blue one asked.

“it used to be, now it’s a part of the equestrian navy” they raised an eyebrow at that “we plan to head into the unexplored southern lands, quite hard to do when you only have a crew of 500 in a ship that should have 70’000, so I made a deal with Princess Celestia of Equestria, the Jörmungandr becomes a part of her navy, and in exchange I get crew and funding” the two dragons nodded in understanding.

“That is quite a deal” the green one said.

“It helps when you are friends with royalty” Princess Celestia said, making everyone present gasp.

“Where the hell did you come from!?” I exclaimed, before hastily bowing.

“Canterlot?” she suggested, I falmpalmed.

“Of fucking coarse” I muttered “may I ask my you are here?”

“I heard about a slavers camp being discovered” she said “and by chance you were in the exact same town, coincidence?”

“Far from it, we recently had another human join our crew, he was the one who found it” I then quickly looked for Vapaa, who was talking with the priest, I called to him “Vapaa, get over here” he walked over.

“Who is this?” he asked.

“Princess Celestia, the one who moves the sun” Vapaa just stood there, I deadpanned “you know, it is customary to bow to royalty”

“Not for Americans” he said “plus there is only one god I bow to, and he doesn’t look like that, no offence ma’am”

“None taken” Celestia said “you are not my citizen, nor are you in my country”

“I’d still bow anyway” I said “considering you have the power to wield the sun”

“We can talk about this later” Vapaa said, he then smirked “or do you want to anger your ‘god’” I went to retort but Garnet and Ruby walked over, looking at Celestia, who knelt down to get closer to their level.

“And who might you two be?” Celestia asked softly.

“Garnet”

“Ruby”

“They are the children of a dragoness that was a slave” I said “she was dying when we found them and her last wish was for me and Autumn to take care of them, they are now officially our children, according to Draconic law” I showed her the document, she stood up and levitated it towards her.

“If we were meeting under better circumstance I would congratulate you” Celestia said “not just for them becoming your children but also because they are the first Kirin that I have encountered in over 500 years”

“Are you telling me they are part of an endangered species!?” I asked, not trying to hide my surprise, Celestia nodded.

“Sub-species but close enough” Celestia said, I sighed.

“well that just made things interesting” I said.

We were currently flying towards the coast, seeing as the kids hadn’t seen the sea before, I thought we’d give them a little bit of a surprise, I was watching Autumn and Saphyrus teach Garnet and Ruby how to fly, Autumn was teaching Ruby, who had pegasi wings and Saphyrus was teaching Garnet, who had dragon wings, I had ordered Frost Fang to fly up really high so they would have plenty of time if something went wrong, we were now currently sailing through the clouds like a ship through water.

“Your tail is just as important to flying as your wings are” Saphyrus told the both of them, as they both had long reptilian tails with those odd splitting blades at the end, Saphyrus the walked over to them and gently pressed down between their shoulder blades, causing two rows of spines to sprout up along their backs, the two twins looked back at their spines and they snapped into one row several times, they looked in amazement at the older dragoness who chuckled “every dragon has their secrets, even half-breeds, those will help you with stability and cornering, control them in tandem with your tail, and you will become impressive flyers, Autumn, if you could take Ruby and show her how to use her wings” Autumn nodded and lead Ruby to the edge of the ship, Ruby poked her reptilian head through the railings and quickly withdrew.

“It’s so high up, what if I fall” Ruby asked, Autumn chuckled.

“Then I’ll catch you” Autumn said “climb on my back and do exactly as I say, okay?” Ruby hesitated before climbing on Autumns back, Autumn then flew off the ship and out of the reach of the energy shield.

“Ruby” Autumn shouted over the wind “I want you to slowly stand up and spread out your wings” she felt Ruby slowly stand up on her back, and started to feel the Kirin lifting off of her back, she looked back to see Ruby’s huge feathered wings lifting her.

“You’re doing great” Autumn encouraged “I’m going to need you to trust me for this next bit, okay?”

“O-okay” Ruby said, Autumn slowly began to lower herself, she then began to bank to one side and ascending until she was flying, or rather gliding right next to Ruby.

“You’re doing great” Autumn said “can you feel all the little air currents flowing around your wings?” Ruby nodded

“Yeah” she said in amazement.

“I want you to close your eyes and just let your instincts kick in” Autumn said, Ruby hesitated “I’m right here, I won’t let anything happen”

“Okay” Ruby said, before hesitantly closing her eyes, after a few moments her wings loosened up and her tail began to steer her, her wings started to flap, that was when Ruby opened her eyes and stiffened up, causing her whole body to tense and sending her spiralling towards the ground faster than Autumn could react “MUM!!!”

Something click in Autumns mind and she dove after Ruby, she put every ounce of strength she had into pushing herself faster, she cursed herself for not putting on her mask or any of her armour, she drew her wings together and burst through the cloud cover before continuing her powered dive, she slowly began to draw closer to Ruby but she was beginning to tire and she could see the ground getting closer

“Ruby!” she shouted “I need you to spread your wings to slow yourself down”

“I can’t” Ruby said, tears starting to stream from her eyes “I’m scared, Mum” Autumn felt an extra burst of strength and began to draw closer, arms outstretched, after a few tense seconds Autumn managed to grab her and spread her wings out, slowing them down, they landed in a field and Ruby clung onto Autumn, trembling and sobbing with tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Shh, shh” Autumn said, hugging her comfortingly “it’s alright, I’m here, I’ve got you”

“I was so scared” Ruby said “I thought I was going to…” she trailed off and began crying anew.

“I told you I wouldn’t let anything happen to you” Autumn said “I’m sorry I didn’t get to you sooner, can you forgive me?” Ruby nodded into Autumns chest, before bringing her head away to look her in the eyes.

“Autumn?” Ruby asked.

“Yes, Ruby?”

“Can I call you Mum?” Ruby asked, Autumn’s eyes watered before she brought her into a hug.

“Of course you can” Autumn said “why would I say no?”

“Because you might think I would forget my real mother” Ruby said.

“Oh, don’t be silly” Autumn said “I’ll tell you something, you know how Vuur Koning said he understands what you are going through with your mother dying?”

“Yeah” Ruby said “why, did his mother die?” Autumn shook her head

“Two years ago he was getting ready to visit his father, when he heard the news that his father had been killed in an accident” Autumn said, Ruby’s eyes widened in shock “he still hasn’t forgotten about him, so don’t worry, I don’t think you will, when we have stopped exploring the southern lands, we’ll visit your mother’s grave on her birthday, okay?”

“I’d like that, Mum” Ruby said, and they both laughed.

“Come on” Autumn said “let’s get back to the ship, I’m sure Vuur Koning and Garnet are worried, and we can try again, but only if you want to, okay?”

“Okay”

Of all the things that could go wrong, this was the…worst…possible…thing!

Now I knew what it felt like to be useless, I couldn’t send anyone else down after them, no one would be able to reach them, Saphyrus had gone down after them, but I knew her wings weren’t built for diving like pegasi’s wings were, all I could do was wait there with Garnet, both of us stood there, watching the clouds for any sign of movement, I was starting to lose hope when I saw three shapes burst through the clouds, one of which was Ruby, she was flying all by herself (!), Autumn and Saphyrus were flying either side of her, making sure she didn’t fall like earlier, they reached the calmer air within the shields of the ship and landed on the decking, Autumn leaned down and nuzzled Ruby.

“I am so, so proud of you” Autumn said, hugging the Kirin, Garnet and I walked over.

“Is Ruby okay?” I asked.

“A little shaken over what happened, but I caught her in the end and she’s fine now” Autumn said, nuzzling Ruby, who giggled, I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank Fantasia” I said, Garnet then rushed forward and began nuzzling his sister.

“I was so worried” Garnet said, his eyes watering, Ruby hugged her brother with her wings.

“I’m fine, Mum was there to save me” Garnet gave Ruby a look that someone usually used when they doubted someone else’s sanity “not ‘Mum’ Mum, ‘Autumn’ Mum” I looked at Autumn and raised an eyebrow, she just shrugged and smirked, after some coaxing we managed to get Garnet to start flying, with his dragon wings he was better suited for longs bursts of gliding with the occasional couple of flaps, whilst Ruby was better at sustained powered flight and higher speeds, soon they were playing with each other in the air, at one point Aurora flew over and looked at the two older relatives in awe, I chuckled.

“Go ahead” I said “it’s time you three started to bond properly” Aurora then jumped off of the railing and flew after them, me and Autumn just watched them play, but kept a close eye on them in case anything went wrong, I then heard Footsteps walking towards us, turned around to see Vapaa decked out in his armour with John Henry walking beside him.

“You want to join in as well?” Autumn asked, Vapaa nodded “how good is his flying?”

“Good enough” Vapaa said “at least, according to Baldric”

“Alright” I said, looking at the young, albino griffin “up you go John” he nodded before jumping off the deck and flying, if a little unsteadily, towards them, suddenly we all felt a massive gust of wind and next thing we knew, we were watching in horror as John plummeted out of the sky, Vapaa swore before jumping off of the ship after him we could only look on and hope against hope, suddenly a golden glow enveloped Vapaa and he grew bigger before changing completely into an giant red-yellow-orange winged creature with black stripes and blue crests on its top and bottom jaw, the creature flew underneath John Henry and caught him on its back before banking around towards the ship, everyone on the deck just stared, slack jawed as the creature flew towards us, people scattered as it landed on the deck, John Henry jumped off and backed away from the creature in fear, the creature changed back into Vapaa, whose mask glowed for a few seconds.

“What the hell, how comes you get to become a Toa so easily!?” I asked “and better yet, why can you change into a Great Leonopteryx, as far as I know, there isn’t a Kenohi ‘Can-change-into-Toruk-from-Avatar’”

“No” he admitted, walking over to John and comforting him “but there is a mask of shape shifting”

“You shouldn’t even be able to transform into one of these” I said “they breathe hydrogen and them come from a planet with a lower gravity” he just smirked.

“I’m now a Toa and I’ve got a Kenohi Mahiki, to hell with logic and physics” he said, standing up, I just crossed my arms and muttered under my breath “you’re just annoyed because I’ve got a truly useful mask power, all you can do is create a bubbles”

“I will burn you in a minute if you carry on, mate, and it’s a Kenohi Hau, not a Kenohi ‘Derpy’” he just gave me an odd look “don’t worry, long story, but seriously, it’s great that we have another Toa now, all we have to do now is work out your element”

“Hello” he said “white and gold ring any bells? It’s obvious what element I am”

“Well if you are so sure” I said “then what element is it?”

“Light” it wasn’t Vapaa who spoke, but Mata Nui, who had only just walked onto the deck, I bowed to him, Vapaa had a thoughtful look on his face, before he began changing colour.

“Now that is cool” Vapaa said “yay for chameleon powers”

After a few days we reached the coast, I had made sure the kids didn’t find out about it until the day we arrived, Autumn and I led them onto the gun deck of the ship, covering their eyes, Vapaa was in on it as well, and he was doing the same with John we walked them over to the railings on the side facing the coast, I counted to three and me Autumn and Vapaa removed our hands from in front of their faces, the three kids gasped in amazement.

“Surprise!” I said to the Kirin twins and the albino-griffin “we’ll be spending a few days just outside of a coastal town, with the ship stopping on the beach, think of it as a holiday within a holiday”

“I’m sure there is an inception joke in there somewhere” Vapaa said, smirking.

“oh hardy har har” I said sarcastically, we soon reached the beach and sections off the hull lifted away, revealing insectoid legs that dug into the sand and supported the massive bulk of the ship, I had announced to the crew that this weekend was for everyone to relax and enjoy themselves, and soon they started to pour out of the ship and onto the beach, Frost Fang began to sun himself in the sand, whilst the crownd began to split off into groups to do whatever, whether it was something like volleyball, cricket, or football, the kids charged for the sea, giggling as they ran, I was sat on the beach in shorts enjoying myself, but an arm’s reach away my sword was embedded in the sand, better to be safe.

“You should really stop worrying” Autumn said, laying on a towel, chest down facing the shore.

“With the type of luck that this world is prone to?” I asked “no thanks”

“Oh please” Minion said “it’s not as if…”

“Finnish that sentence and I swear to Fantasia I will bury you in the sand and leave you to face whatever foul creature you would have summoned forth!” I said, he promptly shut his still open mouth “thank you”

“I’ve heard you say Fantasia several times” Vapaa said, not taking his gave off of the children “is that the deity of a religion that you follow?”

“In a manner of speaking” I replied “the Equestrian religion is more like an old world religion, with several gods to ‘chose’ from, I’m not one for religious zealousness, but I love the ‘symbolism’ of the multi-god religions, I follow it loosely, partly because I’ve actually met Fantasia, the ‘god’ of imagination and creation on this world, they have three ‘high-gods’, Fantasia, who I’ve already mentioned, Tempus; god of time and destiny, and Anima; Goddess of nature and new life, what religion do you follow?”

“Christianity” he said “but I’m accepting of others beliefs” he went to say something else when we heard the kids screaming, I looked in their direction to see Ruby, Aurora and John running out of the water.

“Where’s Garnet!?” I asked.

“S-something grabbed him and dragged him under” Ruby said, her eyes watering.

“Stay here” I said, before conjuring my armour, the other Toa did the same, I then grabbed my sword “I hope you all can hold your breath” I then dived into the water, my armour glowed and began to change, it became slimmer, smoother and airtight, the ends of my feet turned into flippers and my mask changed, a re-breather of some kind appeared and I could now breath underwater, the eyeholes and tribal slits on each side merged into two large visors, my hearing improved, sounding less like I was underwater and more like was on land, I heard the other 6 Toa enter the water and saw that they were going through similar changes, Boris and Autumns wings had actually changed into large wing-like fins, and Scars paws had become webbed and his Gatling guns had become two spear guns, Minions armour was less bulky looking and his plasma cannon had changed into a spear gun, Vapaa’s cloak had turned into a thicker material that resembled the wings of a manta ray.

“Every one alright?” I asked, I was surprised when they all responded perfectly clearly “okay, it seems we have adaptive armour” Vinyl lifted up a hand.

“Yeah, what’s adaptive armour?” she asked.

“Kind of speaks for itself” I said “it adapts to suit any major changes to the surrounding enviroment, it seems our bodies also change with it, so long as we wear the armour”

“I wonder if they would adapt to outer space” Vapaa said.

“We can wonder about that later” I said “we need to look for Garnet. Minion, can you see anything?” I heard his lenses ‘hunting’ but he shook his head”

“the temperature of the water is fucking with my thermal vision” he said, slapping the lenses, Vinyl’s mask glowed and I heard a loud ‘ping’, followed by a ripple originating from Vinyl’s mask.

“Your mask power!” Minion said “it’s activated”

“I can sense several individuals heading that way” Vinyl said, nodding to a cave, we all began to swim towards it, Autumn and Boris shot ahead of us, aided by their ‘water-wings’, we soon reached a cliff, which over looked a large underwater canyon, Minion gave a low whistle.

“Bloody hell!” he said “that’s deep, good thing we can swim” I turned to Vinyl.

“Send out another ‘ping’” I said, I heard another audio ‘ping’ sound off and a ripple went over the terrain, I could momentarily see the terrain as the ripple passed over, in the distance I could see three figures swimming towards the cliff, one of which was slightly smaller and being dragged by the other two “Minion, zoom in on that group” I heard his lens zoom in.

“That’s him” Minion said, before he could say anything else me and Autumn rushed forwards.

“I don’t care what reason they have for taking our son” I said, looking at Autumn “if they have harmed him in any way, they…will…BURN!” I then drew my sword, apparently they heard my because they stopped and I could just see them turn around, we swam closer, I could see that they were mere-ponies, and they had tridents in one hand and one of them was holding an unconscious Garnet in the other, I noticed he had a bubble of air around his snout, we stopped in front of them.

“What have you taken our son!?” I demanded, they tilted their heads in confusion and spoke in a language that sounded like a cross between a whale and a dolphin, I pointed at Garnet “Him, our son” I then pointed to me and Autumn, they just looked even more confused, one of them let out a really loud whale song, me and Autumn had to cover our ears, the other Toa swam up to us, that was when a whole pod of them appeared out of nowhere and began to circle us, the one holding Garnet said something in their language before swimming towards to cave and the pod held their tridents in an aggressive manner, blocking out path, the rest of the Toa got out their weapons.

“You can still back down” I said to the other Toa “this is mine and Autumns problem”

“No way am I leaving my family to get killed by a bunch a fish-ponies” Minion said, the others all agreed.

“Well then” I said “WE’RE HAVING FISH TONIGHT!”

And thus, the shit hit the fan.

from now on, chapters will be named after whatever comes to mind

The Mere-ponies did the best approximation to a charge, I conjured forth flames, creating a wall of superheated steam that blocked off their path.

“YOU PICKED THE WRONG DAY TO KIDNAP THE SON OF A TOA OF FIRE!” I yelled, dispelling the steam, several of them looked to be scalded slightly, Scars mask glowed and the same glow enveloped the mere-ponies, who promptly fell to the seabed, overpowered by their own gravity “Gravity!?” Scar nodded, we then swam past the pod, and we could see the two mere-ponies and Garnet in the distance, heading towards a city underneath a large dome

“What the fuck do we do now” Vinyl said “because I don’t speak fish-pony”

“We go in there and take back what is ours” I said “come on” I then swam forward with an extra burst of speed, I saw one of the Mere-ponies look behind them and go wide eyed, they then began to swim faster.

“Oh no you don’t!” Autumn said, blazing past me and tackling one of the sea ponies and knocking Garnet away from them “Vuur, get Garnet” I wasted no time in swimming over and grabbing the Kirin as Autumn proceeded to batter the shit out of the mere-ponies.

“Take Garnet” I said to Minion as I passed him the Kirin and swam towards Autumn and held her back “hey, stop!” she struggled against me.

“Who’s side are you on!?” she spat, I turned her around.

“Do you want to go rouge and kill them!?” I yelled, the two mere-ponies looked on in confusion and fear “we have Garnet, let’s just go, before more arrive” Autumn relaxed and hung her head.

“Err, Vuur” Scar said “about that?” I looked over to see the pod from before surrounding us, and looked the other way to see more were approaching from the city, Autumn and I swam over to the other Toa and we formed a circle around Garnet, I activated my Kenohi Hau.

“IF ANY OF YOU CAN UNDERSTAND ME THEN YOU WILL NOT BE TAKING MY SON!” I bellowed, an older looking one in more showy armour swam forward, I pointed my sword at him “STAY AWAY, IF YOU DARE…”

“Please, surface dwellers” he said, I pretty good Equestrian “lower your shield and weapons, I come bearing you no ill will”

“We aren’t the one who has an armada” Scar said, the older mere-pony said something in his native language and the guards brought their spears away from us.

“Now” he said “why did you attack those two?” he looked at the two beaten mere-ponies.

“They took my son!” I shouted, gesturing to Garnet, who was actually starting to come around, he started to panic but Autumn began to comfort him

“He doesn’t share your features” the mere-pony said.

“Adopted son” I said “biological or not, he is still my son, and I don’t know about in your city, but on the surface we don’t take kindly to others kidnapping our children” the mere-pony looked at the two who took Garnet and began talking to them in his language, and he didn’t sound too pleased, after a few moments he turned back to us.

“They didn’t mean any harm, they are terra-biologists, and assumed that your son was an undiscovered type of animal” he said “they didn’t know that he was sentient, let alone someone’s son, please, as an apology, let us take you to our city and show you true Atlantian hospitality”

They soon escorted us into their city, which was under a giant bubble of air, John Henry, Aurora and Ruby were now with us after Autumn went back to the beach with a couple of Mere-ponies, or rather Atlantians, who spoke equestrian, we were now being taken to their palace, it turned out the older mere-pony was brother to their king, and in charge of their armada.

“This place is incredible” I said looking around in awe, many of the Atlantians began to stare at us as we walked past, I took note of this “I take I they don’t go up top much” Harbour-wave, that’s the brother of the king shook his head.

“Unfortunately, no” he said “most assume that as the open waters are dangerous, then visiting ‘up top’ as you put it is suicide”

“Shame” I said “I hear the Crystal empire is nice this time of year” he looked at me with interest.

“It seems you have a story to tell, perhaps over lunch with the king?” he suggested.

“That sound great” I said.

“My I ask, what do you call yourselves?”

“We all have individual names, but collectively, we are known as the Toa Jörmungandr of Equestria” I said “not including the younger ones of course, they are just the children of some of us” Harbour-wave nodded and led us to two large metal doors.

“Please wait here” he said “better to warn my brother first” I nodded and Harbour-wave walked through the doors, I quickly turned to Vapaa.

“American or not” I said “when we enter that room, I don’t care if it goes against what you believe in, or social norms in the U.S., you…will…bow!, I’d rather not end up with our heads mounted on tridents because of petty cultural differences, you are under my command now and you will follow my orders, am I clear?” he looked like he was about to retort but didn’t.

“Crystal, Sir” he said, scowling.

“Good” I said, Harbour-wave walked back out, he noted the look on mine and Vapaa’s faces.

“Am I interrupting anything?” he asked.

“No” I said “we’ve just finished”

“Very well” he said, the doors then opened and Harbour-wave began announcing us in his language, in the middle of a large hall was a round table, sat in one seat was an Atlantian who I assumed to be the king, myself and the rest of the Toa bowed, if a little hesitantly for some.

“This is my brother” Harbour-wave said “King Archimedes”

“It is an honour your majesty” I said “I only hope we haven’t offended you with our little…incident earlier” the King nodded.

“Such a reaction to having one of your own taken is understandable” he said, he then gestured to the table “please, take a seat and tell me of your adventures, you look like you have had quite the journey” we all sat and I began telling the tale that I had told many times, this was also the first time Vapaa, John and the twins had heard the story, turns out King Archimedes had been to the surface to other countries several times, and he had also had the displeasure of meeting the Griffin king, so he liked how I had handled the situation.

“It’s about time someone put that idiot in his place” Harbour-wave said “although I hope you were joking when you were mentioning the weapons from your lands”

“Unfortunately no” I said “even the griffins would get decimated if they went up against our world, I’m pleased I don’t have any weapons from my world, I dread to think what the griffins would do with them”

“Quite” Archimedes said “now please, continue”

“And that about wraps it up” I said

“And you still have more to see!” Archimedes said “and your powers, they are truly remarkable, may I ask, why do you plan to visit the by your reckoning undiscovered southern lands”

“You remember what I told you about Mata Nui?” I asked, Archimedes nodded “his civilisation was around millions of years before this era of life, some kind of natural disaster happened and as far as we know, he is the only one left, we are going to try and look for any remnants of their civilisation, at least so we can work out what happened”

“Ah” Archimedes said, nodding “so you are seeking closure then?”

“I guess” I said.

“Well, I truly wish you the best of luck” he then paused, as if considering something “hmm, I have a…proposal for you” I leant forward.

“I’m listening” I said.

“I give you several terra-biologists” he said.

“And in return?” I asked

“You allow them to study whatever they please, within reason of course”

“As long as we don’t have a repeat of earlier” I said, he nodded “very well, I’m sure we have room on our ship”

“How big is your ship?” Harbour-wave asked “you have mentioned it several times, but you haven’t given a clear impression of its size” I thought for a moment.

“Length is 3620 metres, height is 720 metres, gross tonnage is just over 2 ¼ million tons, maximum possible crew is 70’000 personnel, current crew is just over 50’000 personnel” their jaws dropped.

“And you are in command of all of it?” Archimedes asked.

“Technically it’s split between me, Autumn, Vinyl and Minion” I said “but yes, I’m the captain of the ship”

“I’m thankful your ship isn’t submersible” Archimedes said.

“I’m not the type to destroy a city over a kidnapping, burning it to the ground?” I said “maybe”

“WHAT!?” Archimedes and Harbour-wave exclaimed, I burst out laughing.

“I’m kidding” I said, conjuring a fireball and letting it hover above my hand, they both went pale, Autumn slapped me on the arm.

“Stop intimidating them” she said, at this point a young female Atlantian, in her late teens, waked in, she froze when she saw us, she then turned to Archimedes and said something in their language, Archimedes said something back to her and she walked over and sat down at the table, he then turned to us.

“This is my daughter, Orca” he said

“Hello” I said, giving a wave, the rest of the Toa all gave their greetings, she just stared at us, wide eyed.

“Err” she said, in a thick Atlantian accent “hi?”

“Never seen my kind before?” I asked, she shook her head “you aren’t the only one” Orca began talking to Archimedes in Atlantian, they seemed to be discussing something, and neither wanted to back down, eventually Archimedes had a resigned look on his face and slumped before nodding, he then turned to us.

“Orca wants to join you on your travels” he said “would you be generous enough to let her join you?”

“Your majesty” I said “it would be an honour to have your daughter join us” Orca’s face lit up.

We were swimming back to the beach, we now had five terra-biologists and Orca with us, as well as Garnet, Ruby, Aurora and John, we were just reaching the canyon when Vinyl spoke up.

“Hold up!” she said “I’m picking up movement on my radar, and it’s not us”

“How many?” I asked.

“A lot” she said.

“Aright” I said “Weapons ready and form a circle around those that can’t fight, we don’t know what could be heading towards” the Toa began to surround the Atlantians and the children, weapons drawn, I peered through the murky water but I couldn’t see anything.

“Contacts to my left” Vinyl said, I looked to the right and saw movement in the distance.

“oh no!” Orca said.

“What?” I asked.

“There is more than one type of sea-pony” she said “Atlantians, and Carcharo’s”

“I’m guessing the Carcharo’s are those ones” Minion said.

“Yes” she said “and they always hunt in groups” the group of Carcharo’s began to swam closer, sure enough, instead of them looking like Atlantians, which were ponies with grey skin, an eel like tail and fin like frills instead of a mane, these ‘Carcharo’s were more like a cross between a pony, a shark and a deep sea fish, instead of four hooved legs of the Atlantians, they had two arms ending in webbed claws, a shark like fin on each elbow, a sail like fin running along their back, their faces were so ugly not even a mother could love them, with a huge under-bite and lots of needle like teeth poking through and a shark like tail

“Those things are ever-ugly!” Boris said

“Tighter formation” I said “we have to protect the princess and the others, our safety comes second, understood?”

“Yes sir!” they said.

“Vuur Koning” Vapaa said “I have an idea, but it’s risky”

“Let’s hear it” I said, the Carcharo’s we beginning to swim closer.

“I need you to keep their attention off of me whilst I swim towards the canyon” he said.

“Are you insane!?” I asked “you want us to keep them distracted so you can ditch us?”

“No, just trust me” he said.

“Alright, but you better come back” he nodded and swam off towards the canyon, drawing the attention of several of the Carcharo’s, I yelled over to them “Hey, fish sticks!” they stopped and looked at us, my sword began to glow red hot, causing bubbles of steam to start forming, one of them growled and the charged towards us.

“Vinyl” I said, she looked at me “DROP THE BASS!” she smirked and levelled her cannon on the Carcharo’s, she pulled the trigger and a massive shock wave blasted across the sea bed, sending up dust and mud, the Carcharo’s wreathed in pain at the force of the shockwave, a massive glow emanated from the canyon and Orca let out a scream, I turned to see a colossal monster rise out of the canyon, it had long, scythe like horns either side of its head, and four arms, one set was almost comically small compared to the larger pair, it placed a two large clawed hands down on the seabed and stared down at the Carcharo’s, who promptly swam for cover, the creature let out a roar that could be felt more than heard.

“What is that thing!?” Orca shrieked.

“That is a category four Kaiju” I said, smirking “also known as Vapaa” the Kaiju promptly began to shrink back down to Vapaa’s size, before turning back into Vapaa, who collapsed.

“I won’t be doing that again anytime soon” Vapaa said, holding his head, he winced.

“Are you alright” Orca asked, he nodded.

“I’ll be fine in a few hours” he said “changing into something large like that always does a number on me”

“Why change into something so big?” Orca asked.

“If it’s worth doing?” he said “it’s worth overdoing” I scoffed.

“Show off” I said “alright, let’s get out of here”

We soon reached the beach and the kids resumed playing almost straight away, myself and the rest of the Toa were resting on the beach, out of our armour, Orca seemed fascinated in Minions and Vapaa’s tattoos

“Why would you do that to your body?” Orca asked Vapaa, looking at a tattoo of a rattle snake wrapped around his right leg in a striking pose with the words ‘Don’t tread on me’ above it.

“Personal reasons” Vapaa said

“I personally don’t see the point of stretching your ears to the size of the moon like Minion does” I said, laying in the sand in shorts and covering my face with a black Stetson that Applejack had given me for hearths warming “Tattoos, I don’t have I problem with” I then sat up and showed her the tattoos on my shoulder.

“What do those symbols mean?” Orca asked.

“The one on my left shoulder stands for the three virtues; Unity, Duty and Destiny, the one on my right shoulder is the album cover for a band that I listen to, and represents the symbols of four major religions from my world” I then counted off on my fingers “the pentacle of Paganism, cross of Christianity, Islamic crescent and the Jewish star of David, together they represent ‘universal belief’”

“How is it ‘universal’ when it doesn’t include the Terran religion?” Autumn asked, I thought for a moment.

“Maybe I should design an ‘updated version or something” I said.

“Could do” Autumn said “but I can’t see how you could fit it amongst all of that” she then began idly tracing out the patterns on the tattoo with her finger, I looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

“Having fun?” I asked, she jumped and blushed.

“Sorry” she said.

“I’m not complaining” I said, smirking.

“Stop it” she whined, hiding her face.

“Stop what?” I asked, still smirking.

“That look” she said.

“OH, you mean this look” I intensified my smirk and she burst out laughing.

“Now you just look like a prat” she said, I pouted.

“Thanks a lot” I said.

It was morning on the Jörmungandr, I was walking though the hallways when I heard several small explosions coming from the sparring hall, I bolted towards the hall and rushed in the find Vapaa stood behind John Henry, who was holding a large pistol in his front claws and aiming it at a target.

“Breath in” Vapaa said, John took in a deep breath and tensed up “take your ti…”

BANG

The gunshot rang out through the hall, and there was now a bullet hole in the wall just to the left of the target.

“Too soon” Vapaa said “but that was darn close for a first shot, remember, take your time, it isn’t a race” John nodded and raised the handgun, taking aim once more, he breathed in, and waited a few seconds before pulling the trigger, the shot rang out once more, this time hitting the target just on the edge of outer ring.

“Bloody good shot for a first time” I said, startling them, I walked forward “forgive me, it’s a little hard to go un-noticed when you are using a pistol from earth, may I have a look?” I held my hand out, Vapaa nodded to john and the young griffin passed me the pistol, it was large and bulky, at least compared to my arcane flintlock-style pistol.

“What type is this” I asked.

“Desert Eagle” Vapaa said, I gave a low whistle.

“May I have a go?” I asked, he nodded, I took aim and fired after a few seconds, hitting just off from the bulls eye, I passed it back to him “a bit bulky and loud for my tastes, but then I’ve used an arcane pistol for the past year or so” I then got out my spell pistol and aimed at the target, I fired and it hit dead on the middle of the bulls eye, Vapaa gave a low whistle.

“Where can I get one of those?” he asked.

“I could convert your Desert Eagle into a spell gun, if you want” I said “it will considerably increase accuracy at long range as the arcane rounds aren’t affected by wind or gravity, they just keep on going until they dissipate”

“If it makes it a better weapon then sure” he said “just let me use up all of the bullets first, better than letting them go to waste”

“Sure” I said “just come find me when you’ve done”

“Will do” he replied “and when you get a free moment, it’s not totally important, but I want to show you something”

“Okay” I said, before walking out the door, as I walked down the corridor I passed the common room, where I saw Orca looking at all of the different L.P. sleeves, I leaned on the doorway “do you listen to any music?” she gasped.

“Oh, it’s just you, Vuur Koning” she said, she then looked back at the shelves full of L.P.s “do these contain music!?”

“Yes” I said, I then gestured to the shelves and stereo equipment “all of this, bar a few albums that I bought, are inherited from my father, along with several other items that aren’t in here, I’m just passing through at the moment, plus I plan to head out with Autumn and the kids into the town today, but most nights, we have a group that gathers in here to relax and listen to music, you are free to join us if you wish”

“I’ll consider it” she said “thank you for the offer” I nodded before turning to leave.

I was walking through the coastal town near the Jörmungandr with Autumn and the twins, we were looking for somewhere to grab something to eat, I noticed a quiet fish restaurant at the corner of a street.

“Let’s try there” I said to Autumn, pointing to the restaurant.

“Sure” she said “as long as they have a vegetarian option” I nodded and quickly looked at the menu that was scrawled on the A-board, I stopped after a few seconds when I realised it was written in Minotaurian runes.

“Err” I said “I can’t read Minotaurian” Autumn shook her head slightly before looking at the menu.

“They have a vegetarian option” she said “I’ll tell you what’s on the menu when we sit down”

“Fair enough” I said, we all walked in and sat down at a table, Autumn picked up the menu and began scanning through it “I really wish I had a mask of translation”

“But I remember you told me you once learnt to read in a totally different text system” Autumn pointed out “what was it again, acrylic?”

“Cyrillic” I corrected “but I forgot after a few weeks, I should really refresh my memory of Cyrillic at some point”

“What’s serilic?” Garnet asked.

“Cyrillic” I said “it’s a typeface used by countries on my world such as Russia and other Slavic countries, they speak in a similar language style to Thestrals, but without squeaks”

“Why can’t everyone just speak the same language?” Ruby asked.

“In a perfect world they would” I said “but it’s impossible to have a ‘universal’ language, as there will always be arguments over which language to use, in my opinion a language like Latin or Esperanto would be a good starting point”

“Why Latin or Esperanto?” Garnet asked.

“Latin because it’s an old language and it’s been around for a long time” I said “Esperanto because it’s a combination of several languages like Italian, Russian and German, so it would be relatively easy to teach people to speak it, as it’s so similar to so many languages” at that point Autumn read out the different options on the menu for me, Garnet and Ruby.

“I think I’ll just go with cod and chips” I said “it’s what they have back home, so I know I’ll like it” at this point a waiter walked over and took our orders for drinks and food, when the waiter went away I noticed a human sitting in a dimly lit corner, he was wearing what looked like sea blue armour and mask with crimson secondary colours and yellow highlights as well as a cloak that was sea blue, he had two swords that resembled Katana’s, one red and one blue, he seemed to be watching us closely, I tapped Autumn on the shoulder.

“What?” Autumn asked.

“Am I the only one seeing a human sat in the corner?” I asked her “one that we don’t recognise” the human noticed us looking back at him and he quickly started looking anywhere but at us.

“We can talk to him after we’ve eaten” Autumn said.

“I just hope he doesn’t speak a language the neither of us know” I said, the waiter soon brought our food over and we ate, I occasionally glanced at the human sat in the corner, just in case he went to leave, as we were finishing our meal he got up and headed for the exit “Stay here and pay for the food” I waited until he walked past before standing up and following him outside, when he saw me following he began to walk faster I matched his pace, ‘don’t run, don’t run’ I thought to myself, he looked back and bolted when he saw me, I began to chase after, I was really beginning to wish I had worn my armour, we both weaved through the crowds.

“Stop!” I shouted, he dived down an alley way and clambered up the walls, his mask glowing as he did so “great, he’s already a Toa, and he has a Calix” I muttered as I clambered up after him, when I got to the roof I saw him running along and jumping from roof to roof, I had to really push myself to keep up, I noticed Vapaa on a building on the opposite side of the street in his armour and cloak, John was with him.

“A little help here, mate!” I called, he looked over, then looked at the human and began running after us, staying on the other side. Up ahead I could see a Y-junction, I had to take a gamble, either he was going to jump to the middle row of houses, or he was going to go down one side, he jumped to the middle row of houses, Vapaa used his powers of flight and jumped after him, he suddenly disappeared in a flash of light and the human collapsed on the roof with Vapaa on top of him and holding the humans arm behind his back, I leapt over the narrow street and ran up to them, Vapaa pulled him up “Why did you run?”

“Because you’re just another one of the shape shifting bug things” he said in a New York accent “you’ve been after me for weeks”

“Bullshit” I said “you saw me in the restaurant, if I was a changeling I would have turned into a Minotaur or something, I’m human, just like you”

“Really?” he said sarcastically, Vapaa pushed his arm further up his back “ah, geeze, taking it easy” Autumn flew over with the twins.

“What’s wrong Vuur?” Autumn asked.

“He seems to think I’m a changeling” I said “apparently they’ve be after him for some time” Autumn frowned.

“If it’s Chrysalis’s hive…” Autumn trailed off, I turned to the human.

“Alright, you’re coming with us” I said “we’ll protect you and find out what’s going on”

“And if I refuse?” the human asked, I nodded to Vapaa who pulled his arm up further “ah, ah, okay, okay, I’ll go”

“Thank you” I said “Vapaa, if you would be so kind as to escort him back to the ship, confiscate his weapons and place him in the brig, for his safety as well as ours”

“Yes sir” Vapaa said, I then looked at the human.

“Trust me when I say this isn’t anything personal” I said “this is for your protection, we can’t have you running off and getting captured by changelings” he didn’t look at me, he just huffed, I nodded to Vapaa and he let go of the humans arm and grabbed his shoulder.

“Don’t try anything” Vapaa said, before leading him away.

“What was that about” Garnet asked, I looked at him

“I’m not sure”

We were back on the ship, Garnet and Ruby were playing on the beach with John and Aurora, whilst me, Minion and Vapaa were walking down to the brig, we were all in our armour.

“I’m going to need to alert the Minotaurian guard about the changelings, tell them to keep an eye open” I said “if changeling are trying to capture a human then that means they’ve heard about our Toa powers and are trying to get one”

“I’ll talk to the changelings on the ship later” Vapaa said “I’m friends with them, so they might tell me more than if you were to ask them”

“How did you become friends with the changelings?” I asked.

“Who knew changeling like Transformers” he said with a shrug.

“Riiight” I said “just tell them that if any of them has been passing along information, if they come forward then their punishment won’t be as severe”

“Will do” he said, we reached the brig and walked inside, some of the cells had occupants, all guilty of minor offences, the human was sat in a room with a table and some chairs, I walked inside and Minion and Vapaa followed, I sat down on a chair but Minion and Vapaa remained standing, I noticed the human was playing with a sphere of water.

“Aquakinesis” I noted “rather unusual for a male to become a Toa of water, most, if not all Ga-Toa have been female, unless there’s something you aren’t telling us” Minion chuckled and the human glared at him.

“Who are you?” the human asked.

“Vuur Koning” I said “captain of the E.N.A.S. Jörmungandr, Toa of fire and leader of the Wolfpack”

“Yeah right” he said “Toa don’t exist, there just a toy made by Lego”

“Then how do you explain the red armour, Kenohi Hau and fire powers?” I said, conjuring a fire ball, I then took of my helmet “or even the biomechanical parts on my body, my jaw for instance”

“I’ve seen creatures walking around with mechanical replacement limbs” he said “you could just have a very advanced version of that”

“Then how do you explain it on your own body?” I said, he went to say something but stopped and frowned, I chuckled “thought so, whether you want to believe me or not, is up to you. All I know is this; I was in town having lunch with my marefriend and adoptive kids, I saw a human sat in the corner with blue armour and two swords, in a world where humans shouldn’t exist, you leave just as I’m about to get up and ask you things like why you are here, you run off down the street and I end up chasing you, Vapaa here ends up stopping you and you seem to think that we are changelings. I want to know why the changelings have been after you”

“I don’t know why they are after me” he said “only that they’ve been after me for the past few weeks, maybe even longer, whenever I ask why they are after me the reply in some strange language, I know as much as you do”

“Are you sure you don’t know why they are after you?” I asked.

“Yes!” he said “why, is there a problem with these ‘changelings’?”

“One of their hives tried to invade a country that we are allied with” I said “they might be trying it again, only this time they might be trying to capture a human to use as a weapon”

“Why would they want me?” he asked.

“Kriegsglück” I said, shrugging.

“What!?” the human asked.

“it’s a German saying” I said “it means ‘the fortunes of war’, it applies rather well to your situation, you’re just a victim of fate, it’s not anything personal, they’re just trying to gain an advantage in the Changeling-Equestrian war”

“There’s a war!?” he asked.

“Sort of” I said “it’s not a serious one, at the moment at least”

“So what happens to me now?” he asked.

“Well” I said “you have two choices; you can stay on this ship, travel the world, join a group of elite warriors and in return you get protection, or you can leave this ship, get captured by changelings, have who knows what happen to you, and be used as a weapon in a war, either way it’s your choice” I sat back in the chair.

“If I join” he said “what’s the catch?”

“You have to work on this ship to earn your keep” I said “I don’t care what you do, just as long as it benefits the crew and running of the ship”

“Like what?” he asked.

“Well, if fighting is your thing, you could always go with the defence division under the command of my brother, Minion” I pointed to Minion as I said this “Good with maps? That puts you on the bridge studying charts and planning out routes with the others. Know how to wire up equipment, or good with a wrench? that puts you in maintenance. Multilingual? That puts you in communications, just want to do odd jobs? Then you’re part of the ordinary crew, or if none of the above take your fancy, then you could always work in the workshops doing commissioned work, you have until we leave this beach to decide, that’s in 2 days”

“Where will I stay until then?” he asked

“I’ll have a room assigned to you” I said “and if you are a little lacking in combat skills then go to Vapaa, he’s usually teaching classes on things like martial arts and looking for weaknesses in opponents” the human nodded.

“Okay” he said “can I leave the cell now?”

“Sure” I said, I then turned to Vapaa “give him back his weapons”

I was in the workshops, working on the Royal Enfield, Garnet was there, helping me out if I needed him the pass something or heat-weld two items together, perfect time for bonding, although my dad’s bike was really making it hard for us, some of the parts in the old engine were seized, and I was getting Garnet to heat up the crankcase to try and loosen them.

“Keep going” I said, the edges of the crank case were starting to glow under Garnets flames “alright, stop” I then picked up the crank case in my bare hand, thanks to my control of fire I could withstand the heat, I yanked on the offending part and it slid out with some effort.

“What is that?” Garnet asked.

“This is the crank pin” I said, shaking my hand to cool it off “the crank and flywheel rotate around this”

“What are you going to do with all of this?” he asked, gesturing to the engine parts.

“Clean and then reassemble the engine” I said “I’m going to put it on display somewhere” I heard footsteps walking towards us, I looked over to see Vapaa, holding his gun.

“I guess you’re done?” I said, he nodded “put it on the table, I’ll be over in a moment”

“Sure” he said, I turned to Garnet.

“No can go and play with Ruby now if you want” I said.

“Thank you” Garnet said, before walking out of the workshops, when he was gone I sighed

“He’s still so terse around me” I said, walking over to the table and looking at Vapaa “how do I get him to open up and accept me?”

“I know just as much about parenting as you do” he said “probably better off asking your brother”

“Probably” I said “anyway, you want me to convert this to use an arcane mechanism, correct?”

“Yeah” he said.

“Okay” I said “I’ll work on it whenever I get spare time, but I’m not sure how long it will take”

“That’s fine” he said “oh, there’s something I want to show you” he then walked into his workshop and I followed, he held up a vial of a clear green jelly like substance.

“What is that?” I asked.

“Natural secretions from changelings” he said, I took a step back.

“Why are you showing me a vial of changeling shit?” I asked

“Well” he said “I heard that they used this stuff to build their hives, so it’s kind of like a natural glue”

“That’s practically common knowledge” I said, crossing my arms “where are you going with this”

“Well, look what happens when expose it to an open flame” he then got out a bowl filled with a miniscule droplet of changeling gunk and a long pole with a lighter at the end “you might want to take a step back” he placed the bowl on the ground and I walked back several meters, he stretched out his arm, holding the pole right at the very end and lowered the lit end into the mixture, when the flame touched the substance it combusted violently with a loud bang, shattering the bowl and sending the shards across the workshop, all that was left was a scorch mark and a large chunk missing from the floor, several people in nearby workshops exclaimed.

“SORRY, SORRY, SORRY!” Vapaa shouted.

“What in the name of Celestia is wrong with you!?” I heard someone shout back.

“The air is thick with envy over my genius” he said, smirking

“So to some up” I said “changeling shit is explosive”

“Only if you add a spark or flame, most of the time it’s very stable, but add an ignition source and it has the same power as ten times its weight in rubidium.

“Fuck!” I exclaimed “I’m surprised the changelings haven’t already utilised it”

“I think it’s to do with the fact that it's their crap” he said.

“Do you think you’d be able to make a grenade that utilises this stuff?” I asked.

“I was waiting for your go ahead” he said.

“Well get to it!” I said, before walking out of the workshop.

Myself and all of the Toa were standing in the sparring hall, Vapaa had made a prototype for the grenades and was explaining how to activate it.

“You press this button, which lights a fuse” he said, gesturing to a button on one side “you should have about five seconds before it explodes, so get ready to run if your throw is terrible” he then pressed the button and I heard a click, he than chucked it to the far side of the room, the grenade exploded with a loud bang and scorched the floor.

“So we’re gonna use shit grenades?” Vinyl said.

“Put simply, yes” Vapaa said.

I never thought I would end up using grenades that use shit” Minion said, chuckling, Natrix, the newest human to join our team, looked like he wanted to say something, but didn’t, I paid him no mind, if he wanted to say something, then he was free to.

*a few hours later*

We were all relaxing on the beach, I was cooking a barbeque for everyone in our group, the exact same way my dad used to do them, by cooking ten times more food than is actually necessary, I was just about to serve some food up when I heard a commotion a ways away, I looked over to see a group of about five changelings from the Chrysalis hive circling Natrix, I ran over.

“HEY!” I shouted, the changelings turned to look at me “back off, he’s under the protection of the Equestrian Diarchy now” the changelings began talking in their language, I called for a changeling that was part of my crew and the senior member of the changeling crew, one of the warrior caste from another hive, flew over, he was called Echo, and he was big, around the size of a pony like Big Macintosh, had a heavily armoured carapace, four bright purple eyes, two pairs of forelegs with small pincers at the end of each leg and two pairs of clear purple wings, shaped and arraigned like those of a Dragonfly, with similar proportions, giving him greater speed in the air than normal changelings, he was a pretty intimidating sight and the other changelings hesitated slightly when he landed, kicking up dust as he did so.

“What do you need?” Echo asked in a deep, baritone voice

“Tell them that Natrix here is under the protection of the Equestrian Diarchy” I said, Mirage began talking to them, and they said something back rather harshly, Echo’s ears and fin pinned back and he bared his teeth, I walked forward “Alright you scum, if you don’t get out of here within the next five seconds I’ll order the ship to open fire on you” I then tapped something on my phone and all of the cannons of the ship turned towards us, including the rail gun, Echo relayed the message to the changelings and their eyes widened, they then took off like a shot.

“AND TELL YOUR QUEEN CHRYSALIS THAT IF I SEE YOUR HIVE OF CHANGELINGS ANYWHERE NEAR ME OR MY FRIENDS, I’LL AIM THE RAIL GUN STRAIGHT AT YOUR HIVE AND BLAST YOU ALL TO TARTARUS!” I shouted, I took a deep breath to calm myself before turning to Echo “are you alright?” he nodded.

“I’ll get over it” he said.

“What did they say to you anyway?” I asked, he scoffed and rolled two of his eyes, which looked weird with the other two still looking at me.

“They called me a traitor for siding with Equestria” he said “I’m not even part of ‘that’ hive”

“Don’t take it to heart” I said “anyway, as you were” Echo nodded before flying back towards his group, which consisted of various castes of changelings from various hives, there was even an exiled princess from the same hive as Echo.

“Thanks for the save” Vapaa said.

“You have Echo to thank just as much as me, he can talk most languages, which is why I chose him to be in charge of the changelings” I said.

“What about the Princess over there?” he asked, tilting his head towards the exiled princess.

“Well someone knows their changelings” I said “but seriously, yes, Princess Mirage is technically in charge of all the changelings on the ship, but Echo relays my orders to the other changelings, he’s just one rank below her, so they answer to him as well, plus I can’t give orders to a princess, even if she is exiled and works on my ship” the princess in question saw us and waived, I waived back before walking back to our group.

*the next day*

We were getting ready to leave, I was sat in the captain’s chair on the bridge in full armour when I heard Minions voice through my mask.

“We have a situation on the beach” he said.

“What is it?” I asked, startling a few ponies who were working, I waived for them to continue with their work when they looked my way

“Remember you sent those changelings packing?” he asked, I sighed and slouched back in the chair, squeezing the bridge of my nose.

“Let me guess” I said “they’re back?” he scoffed.

“And the rest” he said “Queen Chrysalis is here, Princess Mirage is trying to resolve the matter, but things aren’t going well” I sat bolt upright before standing up, apparently Autumn heard it as well as she stood up from where she was sat and looked at me.

“Blazewing, take over for now” I said, he nodded.

“Aye, aye cap’n” he said, before taking my place in the chair, I walked out of the bridge with Autumn.

“Just when things couldn’t get any worse” I said, looking at Autumn “we now have Chrysalis to deal with” we soon reached the beach where the rest of the Toa were stood. About 20 changeling drones were stood in rank behind Chrysalis, opposite them was Princess Mirage with 800 changelings from various hives that made up the entire changeling crew.

“I’ll be taking it” Chrysalis sneered “and a pathetic exile like you can’t stop me”

“No, but I can” I said walking up “I’ve already said he’s under the protection of the Equestrian Diarchy” Chrysalis laughed.

“Oh really?” she asked “and what exactly would you do if you were to take it?” I tapped on the keypad on my phone and all the guns aimed at Chrysalis specifically, credit where it’s due, she has a brilliant poker face, her drones? Not so much.

“You see the really big gun on the front of the ship?” I asked.

“What of it?” she asked, looking bored.

“That is a lovely piece of technology from my world called a rail gun” I said, she raised an eye “it consists of two metal rails that fires an explosive warhead at Mach 10 using a magnetic pulse, I could, within rights, aim it at ooh, let’s say, your hive and fire it from here, it would hit your hive and level it in about 2 minutes, ‘wham bam thank you ma’am’ no more Chrysalis hive!” she snarled.

“You wouldn’t dare” she said.

“Fucking try me you succubus whore!” I shouted, several of her drones hissed and began hovering “I can think of quite a lot of people that would thank me if I did” Chrysalis growled, I then aimed it at the coordinates of their hive and charged it up, a loud buzz filled the air and electricity began to ark between the two rails.

“Either you get out of here and cease your war with Equestria or I fire this baby” I said.

“Never” she said, I smirked and turned to the ship “FIRE THE RAIL GUN!”

ZAA-BANG

“NOOO” Chrysalis screamed, holding a hoof out at the rail gun.

“You have two minutes” I said, my phone began beeping as I timer began counting down from 1 minute and 59 seconds “to cease war with Equestria, I can still remotely and safely detonate the warhead with no casualties”

“You bastard!” Chrysalis shouted.

“All’s fair in love and war” I said “1 minute and 20 seconds” she looked conflicted, as the timer reached one minute she sighed and slumped to a sitting position, a resigned and tired look on her face.

“Fine” she said “you win” I smiled and pressed the detonate button on the phone.

*meanwhile in Ponyville*

POP

Rainbow Dash woke with a start from the cloud she was napping on, she swore she heard something, after a few moments she shook her head before falling back to sleep, as she drifted off Pinkie Pie shouted.

“Ooh, fireworks!”

We were stood outside the Jörmungandr, after Chrysalis agreed to cease war with Equestria Celestia teleported over at my request so that Chrysalis could sign the official papers.

“I have one condition” Chrysalis said.

“Go on” Celestia said, Chrysalis’s façade broke at that point and she pointed a pitted hoof at me.

“Keep him away from me and my hive!” she yelled, her eyes wide.

“Very well” Celestia said, she then turned to me “Vuur Koning, stay away from her and her hive” although she didn’t look all that bothered as she said this, I turned to Chrysalis

“I don’t need to be anywhere near you to attack” I said, smirking, I then conjured a ring of fire around her.

“Vuur Koning, play nicely with the changeling queen” Celestia sang, I dispelled the ring of fire and Chrysalis took several steps back, eyeing me warily “I hope we can put any old grudges behind us and usher in a new era of piece”

“Yes…” Chrysalis said, still not taking her eyes off of me, she then took flight and her drones wasted no time in following her as she departed, when she was gone Celestia turned to me.

“What exactly did you do to make her cease her war with Equestria?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I fired the rail gun on her hive and in exchange for me detonating the warhead before it reached her hive I made her cease the war” I said shrugging.

“You wouldn’t actually let it hit her hive” she said, she then hesitated “would you?” I deadpanned.

“Keep telling yourself that, Princess” I said, before turning around and walking onto the ship as the doors closed behind me and the ship took off.

in case you were wondering how a changeling can 'roll' their eyes, I have a theory that their eyes are like those of a jumping spider, with a fixed lens and a retina that moves using muscles, like so

sometimes you can actually see their eyes 'scanning'

Succubus (medieval folklore): a female demon or apparition that seduces mortals through *cough*... you can probably figure out how, and absorbs their 'energy', repeated encounters with a succubus can lead to deteriorating health and even death.

I feel chrysalis is a perfect example of a succubus in modern culture.

Yes folks, there is a literal sex demon in M.L.P: F.I.M.

I've probably ruined any positive opinions of changelings for good

The rest of our time in Minotauria was rather uneventful, the only things of note over the next few months were, Autumn and Minion finally unlocked their mask powers, Autumn had the mask of stealth, which was like an advanced version of the mask of concealment, in addition to rendering her invisible it muted any common noises; such as footsteps or breathing, but not speech, it did however reduce the volume of her speech.

Minion’s mask power was accuracy, which is kind of self-explanatory, it dramatically improves his accuracy, to almost impossible levels, and in addition to this we gained several new Toa, all of which were existing members of the crew:

Echo: the senior member of the changeling crew, became a Toa of lightning, with blue and white armour, he was now bipedal with four arms, which made him incredibly fierce in combat. he had a mask of Quick travel and also wielded four thunder staffs, which he could use to summon storm clouds so that he could have a constant supply of elemental energy in battle.

Winter Chill: Autumns older brother, became a Toa of ice, with an ice axe and a mask of conjuring, which summoned random animals, although when they actually arrived we had absolutely no control over them, as we found out when he accidentally summoned a swarm of hungry parasprites into the sparring hall.

Midsummer Night: Autumns younger sister, became a Toa of fire with two fire Sai and a mask of Psychometry, which let her see an inanimate objects past and place of origin by touching it.

A Thestral called Sumerki became a Toa of shadows with black and purple armour, with a mask of Rahi (or rather animal) control. She also wielded two shadow staffs, at first Mata Nui and the rest of the Toa were extremely weary around her, almost bordering on confrontational, as the only other shadow Toa to have ever existed were created when an ordinary Toa was drained of all their morals and light, with their only goal being destruction, put simply, a good Toa of shadows should not exist, nor should a Toa of shadows just ‘occur’, they have to be made via draining a toa of light using a shadow leach, or doing the same to a matoran. But in time, we came to realise that she was just another Toa, like the rest of us, sure, she is slightly more aggressive and quicker to anger than most, but deep down she has her heart and morals in the right place. Mata Nui now reckons that it’s the Kanohi Ignika’s way of ‘testing’ her.

Add Natrix and Vapaa now had his own team

In addition to these, three new Toa appeared as part of a new team.

Princess Orca became a Toa of water, the leader of the new team, with a water trident and a mask of healing.

Saphyrus became a Toa of Psionics with blue and gold armour, which is mind based powers, in other words, she now had powers similar to those of a unicorn as well as powers like mind control and illusion. She also wielded two staffs of levitation and had a mask of translation.

Cloddiwr became a Toa of earth, with his hands becoming digging claws that he could use to channel his elemental energies. He also wore a mask of sensory aptitude which, when activated, greatly increased his senses and balance.

Other than that, generally not much really happened that could be written down as individual events, Ruby one day just out of the blue started calling me Dad, Garnet has opened up and now calls me Dad and Autumn Mom, I also had them learn how to fight. Vinyl and Minion have been getting really close, to the point that Aurora has started calling Vinyl Mom, I managed to get the Royal Enfield rebuilt, and Vapaa managed to get his dirt bike rebuilt and refitted with a new engine, I also managed to add all of their masks to our selection, meaning we could all switch between any of the masks in addition to the masks on our own teams

We had exited Minotauria and were well within the Equestrian border, or our way to Ponyville, by my estimate we would be arriving shortly, I was standing on the gun deck, leaning against the railing and enjoying the view when I saw a rainbow blur streaking towards the ship, I calmly stepped to one side as Rainbow Dash went barrelling past me and into the wall with a loud clang.

“Hey, Skittles” I said.

“Hey” she said, nonchalantly, still leaning upside down against the wall, she then span around until she was standing upright “so how’ve you been doing without somepony as awesome as me to protect you” I rolled my eyes.

“Well” I said, putting a hand to my chin in mock recollection “I now have an exiled changeling princess as part of my crew, we fitted a rail gun to the ship, found two new humans, busted a slavers camp, I now have an adopted son and daughter, we have a sea-pony princess amongst us, three toa teams, and I ended the war between ponies and changelings for good” Rainbow went wide eyed.

“How did you end the war?” she asked.

“By firing the rail gun at her hive and making her agree to end the war in exchange for me prematurely detonating the warhead” I said, shrugging.

“How would you be able to hit it from Minotauria?” she asked.

“it fires the warhead at Mach seven, it would have reached their hive in about two minutes” I said “a rail gun is a type of artillery with continental range, the perfect weapon, you can hit your enemy before they even have time to prepare, plus it is silent and could give you a run for your money in terms of speed, no I won’t put that to the test, before you ask” she placed her front hoof back on the ground and huffed.

“So” she said “you have two kids now?”

“Yeah” I said “two Kirins, both are about 13”

“What’s a Kirin?” Rainbow Dash asked

“A very rare hybrid between a dragon and a pony” I said “they are the only two to exist for the past 500 years, they also both have wings and magic, their mother was a dragon, and their father was a unicorn”

“Doesn’t that make them alicorns?” Rainbow asked, I shook my head.

“No, an Alicorn is all three types of pony” I said, at that point Ruby and Garnet walked outside “speak of the devil, and he will appear” the two twins heard me and looked over.

“Hey Dad” Garnet said, walking over.

“This is my friend, Rainbow Dash” I said “Rainbow Dash, this is Ruby and Garnet” Rainbow dash didn’t respond at first

“Your…wings” Rainbow said.

“Yeah, what of them?” Ruby asked.

“Open them up” I said, they both shrugged before taking a few steps away from each other and opening their wings to the full, 14 foot wingspans, Rainbow didn’t respond at first.

“How do they get such big wings?” Rainbow asked.

“That’s part of the dragon gene” I said “even if they have pegasi wings like ruby, they still have large wings”

“You do realise Twilight’s probably gonna freak out when she sees them?” Rainbow said.

“Yeah” I said, but they can be very ‘persuasive’ when backed into a corner” Garnet snorted and smirked.

“You mean we have these babies” he said, swiping his long tail in front of him and splitting the blades in the end several times, Rainbow gave a low whistle, I turned to Rainbow.

“Come on” I said “I’ll show you the other Toa” I then led off of the gun deck, once Garnet and Ruby were out of ear shot Rainbow turned to me.

“Anyone ever tell you your kids are awesome?” she asked.

“Not really” I said, shrugging “they’ve had a really hard life, we found them when we busted the slavers camp, their mother was dying and her last request was for me and Autumn to take care of them, several months later here we are” Rainbow bristled when I mentioned the slavers camp.

“How can anypony be so cruel?” she asked.

“One, they were dragons” I said “and two, there’s king Sombra for a start, and don’t even get me started on Nazi’s, the things they did would make the slavers camp look like a five star hotel”

“True” she said, we eventually reached the sparring hall and Rainbow froze a few steps in, all of the Toa were sparring with one another, I noticed that Echo was nowhere to be found. Next thing I knew I heard a massive bang and saw a flash, followed by a huge electric shock originating from my back.

“AHH” I yelled, looking up the see Echo standing on a cloud that he had generated, laughing his arse off “YOU FUCKING WANKER, THAT HURT!” Rainbow wasn’t fairing any better, it had hit her right on her back between her wings.

“My wings are numb you jerk!” she shouted at the changeling, her wings were twitching slightly.

“Oh learn to take a joke” he said, smirking “I thought the great Rainbow Dash was a prankster”

“Rainbow” I said through gritted teeth “this is Echo, warrior caste changeling and Toa of lightning” Echo jumped down, Rainbow eyed the changeling warily.

“Why do you have four arms?” she asked.

“Did you not hear the warrior caste” Echo said.

“But when changelings invaded Canterlot they all…” Echo cut her off

“Were drones” Echo said, stowing his staffs and crossing his arms “Plus I’m not from that hive”

“Right…” Rainbow said, I then introduced her to the rest of the Toa.

“I thought sea-ponies didn’t exist” Rainbow said, after I introduced her to Orca.

“Thanks a lot” Orca said, scoffing “nice to know I don’t exist”

“Well your kind hasn’t really been to the surface much since Nightmare Moon” I said “So can you blame the ponies for thinking you don’t exist”

“When you put it that way” Orca said, thinking it over, she then deadpanned “yes!”

“Well, your chance to change that will appear soon” I said “we’re near Ponyville, our next stop”

The Jörmungandr soon reached Ponyville and landed in an large empty field on the outskirts, I had all of the newer Toa switch to the masks of stealth before following me outside, Twilight and all of her friends, besides Rainbow Dash, were waiting for me, the moment Twilight saw the two Kirin twins she shot forward, ready to bombard them with questions, right up to the point where she ended up with Garnets tail blade pressed lightly against her throat, silencing any questions that she had thought of.

“I understand that you want to ask questions about us” Garnet said, calmly “but me and my sister don’t like being crowded” he then slowly moved the blade away from her throat and took a step back.

“Uh” Twilight said, before blushing with embarrassment and rubbing the back of her neck “sorry”

“Allow me to introduce my adopted son and daughter, Garnet and Ruby” I said, they both bowed to Twilight.

“WHAT!?” all of the elements, beside Rainbow Dash, exclaimed.

“Long story” I said, deadpanning.

“Did I mention we also gained nine new Toa?” I asked rhetorically, the toa took this as their cue and deactivated their mask powers, until I had a small armies worth of Toa standing behind me “Behold, the Wolfpack!” Fluttershy promptly fainted and Autumn sighed, face palming and shaking her head.

“Well done, Vuur Koning” she said “I’ll go get the smelling salts” she then turned around and walked back onto the ship.

“Oh come on!” I called to her “that was cool”

We were now in the dining hall of the crystal castle eating dinner, I was once again retelling the story of our journeys, and the kids were off playing with the crusaders.

“Wait a minute” Twilight said “are you saying you would have willingly destroyed the Chrysalis hive, for one human!?”

“What do you think they would have done with Natrix?” I said “simply ended the war? No, they would have launched into full scale war, using him as a weapon”

“But that doesn’t mean you have to destroy an entire hive” Fluttershy said.

“Fluttershy” I said, sighing “not everything can be solved through kindness, I asked her to cease the war, and she refused, that’s when I brought the rail gun into play”

“Why would you even have a weapon so powerful?” Rarity asked, I pointed to Minion.

“He was the one that built it, not me” I said, incredulously “technically it’s his fault” the eyes of the elements zeroed in on him.

“Sure, blame it on your older brother” he said “nice to know the needs of others are put before yours”

“Oh, fuck off, Brother!” I said.

“Ah’m jus’ gittin’ confused” Applejack said “one minute yer best buds and the next yer trying tuh kill each other”

“It’s called banter” I said “plus we’re brothers” Twilight just scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“Humans” she muttered, shaking her head.

“Hey!” Vapaa said “I resemble that remark” myself, Minion and Natrix laughed at that, after that we just began small talk, at one point a turned to Natrix and Vapaa.

“Oh, guys” I said “you know how people seem to think that the Germans are still sore over World War 2?” they gave me an odd look before nodding, Minion sighed and face palmed.

“Well, Minion once met a German ex-soldier, his words the moment he met my brother were, and I quote; ‘Vhy du zee Englisch nevar menzion zee var? It ist alvays zo confusing’”

“oh, god, why that one” Minion said “of all the stories you could tell, you had to tell that one?”

“Oh, come on, it’s funny” I said “you didn’t know how to respond, you were just sat there thinking ‘shit, what do I do, someone help me’”

“He was nuts!” Minion said “it’s not like you could do any better”

“I would have turned to him and said; Rosen sind rot, mein Verstand ist verrückt, bück dich Miststück, du wirst gleich gefisted” Vapaa and Autumn choked on their drinks, as did Saphyrus, who’s mask activated as I spoke.

“I hope to god you did not just say what I think you said” Minion said, I smirked, Natrix looked confused.

“What did he just say?” Natrix asked

“Don’t ask!” Minion, Autumn, Vapaa and Saphyrus all said, I smirked before leaning over to Natrix and whispering the English translation in his ear, Natrix went wide eyed and his cheeks flushed.

“Dude!” he said, pulling away from me “I did not need to hear that!” I just chuckled.

“Of all the things you could have said…” Minion trailed off.

“You were the one who said it originally” I said “I’ll pay you 100 bits to walk outside and shout it in English”

“No” he said “I don’t have a fucking death wish”

“How did you learn that?” Autumn asked “I definitely didn’t teach you it”

“Yes you did” I said “you were very drunk at the time” Autumn proceeded to face plant the table.

“Why did I do that?” Autumn muttered, she then lifted her head off of the table “if you dare say that to Ruby or Garnet…”

“I wouldn’t dream of it” I said.

translation for 'Rosen sind rot, mein Verstand ist verrückt, bück dich Miststück, du wirst gleich gefisted' is very kindly provided by Nikolaier, who is kind of my unofficial German grammar checker, thanks mate.

although I'm probably going to hell for including it in the story, if you understand it then you will realise why

*the next day*

I was wondering around the town, mostly for the sake of wondering when I heard a loud bang and got struck by lightning…again.

“FOR FUCKS SAKE, ECHO!” I yelled, looking up I saw not only Echo, but Rainbow laughing her arse off on the cloud and Vapaa floating next to them “you two as well!?”

“Oh come on, Hothead” Rainbow said “that was hilarious, besides, Echo’s an awesome prankster” I looked at Vapaa and gave him a look, he simply deadpanned and folded his arms

“That was for what you said last night” he said.

“Wait, what did he say?” Rainbow asked, I smirked before looking around to make sure no one was in earshot before getting on one knee, I cleared my throat.

“Roses are red, my mind is twisted” I said, her face contorted into confusion “bend over bitch, you’re about to get fisted” her cheeks flushed, her wings shot out and she promptly fell off the cloud.

“that, is for electrocuting me” I said, standing up and walking away.

“Oh, it…is…on!” I heard Rainbow say.

“Try it” I said “bitch” her wings shot out again, I laughed as I walked away, Rainbow got up and flew in front of me.

“Oh, no” she said, prodding my chest plate with a hoof “you are not walking away after what you just did!”

“What can you do to stop me?” I asked her, raising an eyebrow “no boasting, truthfully, what could you physically do to stop me?” she faltered for a split second and I smirked, I have you now, bitch.

“I’m faster than you” she said, I rolled my eyes.

“Oh, please” I said “lots of things are faster than me, it’s not that big of a deal, as for fighting, I bet I could floor you in less than ten seconds”

“Yeah ri…” I cut her off by grabbing her throat pinning her to the floor “gak, what the buck, dude!”

“Not even two seconds, and I was holding back” I said, releasing her, she flew up and hovered at my eye level “nothing personal, Skittles, but a Toa of fire is always easy to provoke, with me that takes the form of wanting to actually back up my claims, you would actually be pretty good as a Ta-Toa, you certainly have the personality for one, I’ll be seeing you around” I then walked off, she didn’t stop me this time, she quickly moved out of the way.

*pov 3rd person*

Vapaa and Echo flew over.

“If you tell anyone, I’ll deny it” Rainbow dash said, Echo chuckled

“You weren’t there when pirates took Autumn hostage” Echo said “I was one of the first members of the crew, so I saw it”

“What did he do?” Rainbow Dash asked “he mentioned it the last time he was here, but he never explained what happened, something about it being messy”

“He slit all of their throats” Echo said “and we were left to clean up after him, it took several hours to clean the blood up” Rainbow dash and Vapaa went considerably paler

“But I thought Toa couldn’t kill” Vapaa said.

“This was before he became a Toa” Echo said “he may be calm most of the time, but just under the surface is an inferno, waiting to ignite, Minion says it’s to do with his past, but he didn’t tell me what exactly, just don’t tell his kids about it, as he’ll probably hunt you down and do unspeakable things to you”

I ended up in the Everfree forest, for some reason it didn’t really scare me now, if needs be I can use the Kenohi Mahiki and turn into a bird or something, I eventually reached a clearing where I found Scar, talking to a pack of timberwolves, presumably his original pack, I switched to the mask of translation and my mind was filled with all kinds of conversations, I focused on what Scar was saying and most of the voices began to filter out.

“Why can’t you return to us, Alpha?” a timberwolf said, I walked forward, startling them “who is that?” Scar turned to look at me and sighed.

“Oh, it’s you” he said.

“I’m just a friend of Scar” I said, gesturing to the former timberwolf “this your former pack?” Scar nodded

“How do you understand us?” one of them said, I tapped my mask.

“This lets me speak in your language, among others” I said what “seems to be the problem?”

“We want him to return to us” one, a younger male said “with his powers we could unify all of the Everfree packs into one”

“You seek unification?” I asked, clarifying, they all nodded, I nodded “I’ll make you a deal, as he is part of my team, we are going to be travelling to the uncharted lands, but when we come back, he can help you to unify the packs, the rest of my team can help as well if you want” I then shape shifted into a timberwolf for a few seconds

“What’s the catch?” and older female asked.

“my team is tasked with protecting the innocent, whenever my team is needed, he has to help as well” I said, I noted the hesitant looks on their faces “think of my team as like a pack, each member is vital and there must always be six members, but new ones can’t join an existing team” an old male wolf stepped forward.

“Very well” he said “you may take him on your journey, but when you return, you must help us”

“Of course” I said, I then turned to Scar “do you have a problem with any of this?” he shook his head.

“It satisfies both parties” he said, shrugging “I don’t have a reason to object”

“Well then” I said “I’ll leave you to catch up with the pack” I then walked off, after some time I stopped, an idea forming in my head, I smirked, I then switched to the Mahiki and turned into a Utahraptor, imagine a raptor, but about 7-8 foot tall and 23 feet long. Jurassic Park, eat your heart out, I then began running back towards Ponyville, raptors are really fast, so I managed to reach the outskirts in about a minute, I then began to dart behind houses, altering my colour to make myself harder to see. I soon reached the castle, thankfully no one was actually around and I quickly darted across and towards the entrance, I snuck towards the throne room. Twilight was sitting on her throne, reading a book, I levitated a candle and placed it back down with an audible clang, she didn’t react.

“Perfect” I whispered to myself, before crouching down and crawling along the floor, which is hard to do when you can’t actually move your tail. I eventually made my way behind her throne and tapped a clawed finger on her shoulder, when she turned around and saw me she screamed and flew into the air. I promptly fell on the floor, laughing, quite a sight to see when a raptor is literally ‘rofling’.

“Vuur?” she asked “is that you?”

“Yeah” I said, moving my jaw in time with my speech just for the sake of clarity.

“What is that?” Twilight said, landing and walking over.

“This is a reptile from the Clade of Dinosauria” I said “called Utahraptor, these things lived on earth about 125 million years ago, things like birds of prey evolved from things like this”

“This is unlike anything on this world!” Twilight said in amazement, she then got right in my face “show me more!” for the next few hours I went through all of the Dinosaurs I could think of, whilst Twilight furiously scribbled down notes and sketches.

“Just so you know, the colours of these are purely guess work” I said, I was currently a T. Rex, at that moment Rainbow Dash walked in. She froze when she saw me, I waived as nonchalantly as I could with my tiny arms “hey, Skittles” the moment Rainbow Dash heard my voice, and saw the tiny arms, she put a hoof over her mouth and started snickering.

“Dude, those arms” she then lost it and fell on the floor laughing “you look ridiculous”

“Rainbow!” Twilight said “we are in the middle of an important scientific discussion” suddenly my nose began to itch

“Oh shit” I said, scrunching up my snout

“What?” Rainbow asked.

“My nose itches!” I shouted, I then began stomping around and rubbing my long snout on the floor trying to stop the itch, unfortunately smooth crystal is not good for solving itches “for god’s sake, stop itching” Rainbow promptly fell about laughing once more, Twilight just face hooved.

“You could just change back to a human” she said, I stopped and chuckled nervously before changing back and scratching my nose.

“Ah, that’s better” I said “right, where were we, oh yeah, you might like this one, Skittles” I then turned into a Deinonychus, complete with feathers, she just looked at me, unimpressed.

“You look like a 4 hoof tall turkey” she said “I’m not really impressed”

“These were like the cheaters of the dinosaurs, they were incredibly fast and intelligent” I said, I them started tapping the sickle claws “and then you’ve got these babies”

“Okay, a 4 hoof turkey with claws” Rainbow said, still not looking impressed.

“No pleasing some” I muttered, before changing back into a human and turning to Twilight “that about exhausts my database of dinosaurs, I’ll search up some of them for you, in fact, I’ve just been thinking, I have a tablet computer, in addition to my laptop, I could give you the tablet and its charger, and then I can use it to email you any information, I can also use it to contact you whilst we are exploring the southern lands”

“I’d like that” she said, nodding.

*a few hours later*

I passed the tablet and charger to Twilight, I had wiped the memory on it, activated the safe search and filtered all results; didn’t want her to go stumbling upon anything that might damage her innocence or give her access to things like the blue prints to a nuclear reactor, I also set up an email account for her.

“now, if you search up something and it come up as blocked, then it’s for a reason, email me about why a particular search is blocked and I’ll explain why” I then went through the steps for email, when that was done I showed her the basic search engines “also, don’t create accounts on social media websites without asking me first, I don’t want MI6 after my arse because you created a Facebook account, okay”

“Yes” she said, looking impatient.

“Well, someone’s eager” I said “anyway, hope you enjoy, but take care, the entire sum of human knowledge is contained on the internet, but not all of it is true, whatever you read, take with a bit of salt until you have proof that it’s true”

“Yes, yes” she said, already going on the browser, I took this as my cue to leave and walked out of the palace.

I walked into the sparring hall of the ship to see Vapaa and Sumerki sparring, they were blade-locked. Sumerki jumped back, using her wings to propel her and fired a beam of purple shadow energy at Vapaa, who dispelled this with a blast of pure light. Vapaa then sent a beam of light at Sumerki who responded in kind, the beams met halfway and refused to budge.

“Urg, we’re matched” Sumerki said in a ‘Slavic’ accent, scowling.

“An unstoppable force meets an unmovable object” Vapaa said, smirking. They both nodded and counted to three before dispelling the beams.

“Nice work” I said “you might make a Toa yet, Sumerki” she just snorted and gripped her staffs tighter.

“I think that was a compliment” Vapaa sang, Sumerki scoffed and walked off, once she was out of ear shot he said “ever since she became a toa she’s almost constantly moody”

“Becoming a toa with a distinct lack of morals can do that” I said, dryly.

Sumerki walked through the corridors towards her quarters, she was seething, she didn’t ask to become a Toa, she was perfectly happy working as a night shift technician, he thought’s started to drift.

“Sumerki” a deep voice said, she suddenly realised that the corridor had gotten really dark.

“Show yourself!” Sumerki said, two red eyes appeared.

“I understand how…” the voice was cut off

“You don’t understand gówno!” Sumerki snapped “I don’t care who, or what you are, but I never asked for your opinion on it, and if you are trying to turn me to some dark cause then you can go and pierdolić!”

“Very well” the voice said, before the shadows disappeared. Sumerki snorted before continuing towards her quarters.

Teridax punched the viewing crystal and growled, he hadn’t expected such a reaction from his own element.

“That went well” Leorahk smirked “you just got chowed at by a bat pony”

“Know your place!” Teridax growled

“Look, thestrals don’t take skit from anyone, they hate condescension and they are also very stubborn” the former griffin said “I’ve seen thestrals kill each other because they can’t agree on something” Teridax and Chiratrix raised an eyebrow at that.

“So, despite the fact that her element is shadow, she isn’t really suited for working under shadow” Chiratrix said, Leorahk nodded "well, there goes that idea"

seriously, what's a T.rex supposed to do when it get's an itchy nose

also, thestrals speak a language that's a mix between Russian, Polish and Czech, basically a generic Slavic language

*the next day*

I was in the workshops, I was going to use our stay in Ponyville as an opportunity to test the Enfield on the route of ‘the Running of the Leaves’. I walked into my area and stopped, admiring my work. All of the bare metal had been polished, where the single cylinder 500 cc engine used to be there was now a vertically mounted turbine that drew magic from its surrounding. Don’t ask me how it actually works, I still don’t know (it’s just another of those “magic *shrug*” things). The original fuel tank was still there, but I had converted the inside into a storage area. The whole bike was now painted a metallic-red, and on the fuel tank was a D shaped area of cream with the words ‘Royal Enfield’ panted in the same shade of read as the rest of the bike. And lining, can’t forget the lining. On a small triangular toolbox on each side was the Royal Enfield ‘wing’ emblem. All in all, it looked awesome. I pressed a button on a control panel and the wall slid away to reveal Ponyville in the distance, a ramp slid out allowing me to ride straight onto the path. I sat on the bike and waited a few moments before pushing the bike forward, causing the stand to swing up and out of the way. I turned a switch, swung out the kick-start (which I had reworked to release the brake holding the turbine-rotor) and stomped down on it, the Turbine burst into life with a whine. The only thing I liked about the original engine was the sound it made, I wheeled the bike around so it was in line with the ramp and engaged the gearbox. I pulled back on the throttle and the bike started to roll down the ramp under its own power.

“Let’s take things steady to begin with” I said to myself, once I was on the path I opened up the throttle slowly and the bike began to accelerate like a literal bullet “SHIT!” I glanced down at the speedometer I had fitted to see that I was already doing 50mph, and I wasn’t even out of first gear. I let the throttle down until I was cruising along at about 30mph. the turbine was letting out a quiet whine as it settled down, and I could feel the unevenness of the dirt path as it cruised along. I soon reached the path that made up the course used for the running of the leaves and gently opened up the throttle, I felt the acceleration trying to rip me off the bike.

“Looks like that rust bucket really lives up to the name of ‘bullet’” I heard Vapaa say, I looked over to see him on his dirt bike, keeping pace, I deadpanned.

“It’s the same age as me” I said, I then looked down the course “last one to reach the finish line is buying the drinks”

“You’re on” he said, I didn’t give him the chance to get in front and really opened up the throttle.

“BLOODY HELL!” I shouted as the bike accelerated to 70, I slowed down as I came to a corner and Vapaa shot past, spraying dirt on me and the bike “watch the paint!” I charged after him, I drew up behind him and kept pace just behind and to one side. We came to another corner and I applied the front brake causing the back end to swing out to the outside of the corner, I put my foot down to stabilise the bike. I then throttled the engine and a great spray of mud was kicked up as I performed a power-slide past Vapaa, covering him and his bike in dirt and muck. I flipped the finger at him as I straightened up and accelerated away.

I was stood, leaning on the seat of my bike, waiting for Vapaa to turn up, I had pulled away from him and he hadn’t been able to catch up for the rest of the ‘race’. Rainbow Dash was also stood next to me.

“Ah” I said, noticing a very mucky Vapaa riding towards us “Speak of the devil” Rainbow burst out laughing when she saw his armour covered in mud.

“It’s not funny” Vapaa said, crossing his arms and glaring at me

“I thought you said ‘if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing’, besides, you started it” I said, gesturing to the odd specks of mud on the tank “it’s just by chance that you ended up swamped in mud, and by the way, you’re buying the drinks” Vapaa changed into a wolf and shook the mud off of himself and onto me and Rainbow.

“Hey!” Rainbow exclaimed “watch it you jerk” Vapaa changed back to a human, who was now totally free of mud, and started laughing.

“Not so funny when it’s you who is covered in mud, is it?” he said, I changed into a Manticore and growled, he looked very nervous and started backing up “okay, I take that back” I changed back into a human.

“Thought so” I said, I then smirked “god I love having a bunch of masks at my disposal, although Mata Nui would be pissed if he knew I was using them like this”

“Where is tall and golden anyway?” Rainbow asked “I haven’t seen him at all”

“He’s in his quarters either meditating or reading most days” I said “he does appear every once in a while, I personally think he’s trying to deal with the fact that we might not find anything of his kind in the southern lands, I’m hoping against hope that we find something, but truthfully, I’m doubting will find anything besides a few individuals clinging onto life, at most. Several million years is a long time for things to go to shit, plus there’s the mysterious apocalypse-thingy that happened”

“Is that what it’s called?” Vapaa asked, smirking.

“Yes” I said “it is now called the ‘Apocalypse-thingy’ event”

*meanwhile*

Twilight was on the tablet, she was trying to think of something to search up. She got an idea in her head and smiled, she then went to search up ‘Nuclear energy’ but when she pressed enter a small cartoony depiction of Vuur Koning popped up.

“Naughty, naughty, Twilight” the cartoon said, shaking his head disapprovingly “I know you too well it seems” the cartoon disappeared and the screen was back on the Google browser, she just sat there with her mouth open and her eyes twitching.

“Uh…” Twilight said intelligently.

I wheeled he bike back onto the ship, I had used a quick water spell to wash it off and now the paint was gleaming.

“That’s better” I said, I looked over to see Vapaa working furiously to wash his dirt bike whilst glaring at me, I smirked and waived to him before walking out of the Workshops. Whilst I was walking through the corridors Garnet shot past me, I had to jump out of the way “whoa! Watch it buddy”

“Sorry, Dad” he said, a few seconds later Aurora, John, a couple of diamond dog pups and the Crusaders charged around the corner after him.

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS: KIRIN HUNTERS YAY!” they all shouted and Garnet’s eyes widened.

“Shit! Gotta go” he said and ran off.

“Watch your language, Garnet!” I shouted after him

“Sorry, Dad!” he shouted back before running around the corner, I had to jump out of the way once again to avoid being trampled by the crusaders.

“Hi, Uncle” Aurora said as she flew past, once they were out of sight I saw the door to a storage room open and Ruby poked her head out.

“Are they gone?” she whispered, I nodded and she slunk off in the opposite direction that the crusaders were traveling in, I chuckled.

“Kids” I muttered, shaking my head whilst smiling, it was good to see the two Kirins starting to lighten up and act their age rather than a couple of years older than they really were. I eventually reached the exit for the ship and walked outside, heading for Ponyville, whilst I was walking I got an idea “I wonder what it would be like to fly” I went to change to the Mahiki but no sooner had I spoke than my armour began to change. A pair of metal, bird-like wings sprouted from my back and my armour and body as a whole became lighter and more streamlined. I gave the wings a few test flaps before taking to the air. Oh wow, why hadn’t I thought of this sooner? No wonder Pegasi and griffins are so proud about being able to fly, I felt…freedom, total, unlimited freedom, I went to see if I could land on a cloud and found to my surprise that I could.

“Now that’s something you don’t see every day” I heard autumn say, I turned to find her hovering.

“The wonders of adaptive armour” I said “why didn’t I think of this sooner?”

“Can you see why all flying people are so proud to have wings?” Autumn asked, landing on the cloud, I nodded, she took my hand and began leading me to the edge of the cloud “come on, it’s a pegasi tradition for couples to go flying together” she then took off and I followed after her. She led me high up into the clouds, the H.U.D. on my mask displayed that we were at a height of 30’000 feet and climbing. I looked around and the clouds were like giant caves with several chambers. Autumn led me above this level of the clouds before levelling off, we reached a brake in the clouds and I looked down. The towns below were dotted around like cherries on a cake, with the fields looking like chequer squares

“Holy hell, we’re high up!” I exclaimed, Autumn chuckled before flying under me and gliding upside down, she looked me in the eyes as she kissed me.

“I have been wanting to do this for ages” she said, her eyes shimmering slightly. She then flew out from underneath me and moved to fly beside me, after flying for a couple hours she led me to a small cloud and we both sat down, enjoying each-others company. A lump started to form in my throat, I sighed and Autumn lifted her head off of my shoulder.

“Are you okay, Vuur?” she asked.

“Moments like this always remind me of the times with my dad” I said, I felt a tear go down my cheek and wiped it away. I rested my head on Autumns shoulder and broke down crying “god, I miss him”

“He would have been proud of you” Autumn said, putting her arms around me, after some time I wiped the tears away.

“Okay, I’m done…” I was cut off by my phone going off, there was a text from Minion saying ‘where are you’, I replied saying ‘on a cloud with Autumn, adaptive armour’ before putting the phone away. We ended up spending the night on the cloud. I learnt one thing that night; clouds are really comfortable, I also didn’t feel the cold, I woke up th4e next morning and walked to the edge of the cloud, watching the sunrise.

“We should get back soon” I heard Autumn say, standing next to me.

“Race you back to Ponyville” I said, before jumping off the cloud and diving, revelling in the feeling of the wind rushing past me as I freefell, Autumn drew up beside me and we fell side by side, I opened my wings before climbing back up and above the clouds, we began gliding back. Sometime into our flight a large shadow descended upon us, I looked up to see a large wyvern diving at us “SHIT, AUTUMN MOVE IT!” we both dived down, the wyvern roaring at us. The thing about wyverns; unlike their four legged brethren they are driven purely by instinct and you can’t reason with one, only run away or fight. I saw the Everfree forest below.

“Into the forest” Autumn said, we dived down below the trees and landed on the ground, just outside a clearing. My wings disappeared as I landed, we both hid behind trees, waiting with bated breath as the wyvern landed and began searching for us. I slowly poked my head out from behind the tree to see the wyvern walking around like a large therapod dinosaur, with its wings loosely tucked into its sides. It looked in our direction and I quickly moved back behind the tree, I switched to the mask of animal control just in case. The wyvern poked its blunt snout between the trees that me and Autumn were hiding behind, I looked over and I could see the fear in Autumns eyes. I held my breath, it stank of rotting flesh. Eventually the wyvern snorted and brought its head away from the trees and roared in rage before flying off, once we were sure it was gone we both burst into laughter, just happy to be alive. Eventually we flew back to Ponyville where we found Minion waiting for us.

“Where the hell have you been!?” Minion asked “I had to put Garnet and Ruby to bed and they have been worried sick about you, so have everyone else, and what does adaptive armour mean?” I extended my mechanical wings and he rolled his eyes

“We were on our way back” I said “unfortunately a wyvern can make it hard to get back on time” he just scoffed and shook his head disapprovingly.

“Whatever” he said “just go to Ruby and Garnet, they’re worried about you” we both ran onto the ship and into our quarters, Garnet and Ruby ran up to us and tackled us into a hug, both of them were crying.

“We were scared” Ruby said

“Oh, geez, I’m so, so sorry” I said “we won’t do it again, okay” Garnet looked up at me and nodded before burying his head in my chest armour, tears running down his cheeks. Me and Autumn just sat there, comforting them, now we felt really guilty, we both looked at each other and realised the same thing, we had fucked up as parents.

I have tried taking the advice of several people and changed the way I structure my paragraphs, tell me if it's any better

the colour scheme for the bike is going off this picture

and the winged emblem is this

don't prat about with bikes, folks, leave that to the idiots that charge around on crotch-rockets giving the good bikers a bad name

and yes, it is possible to power-slide/drift a motorcycle, but it's meant for loose dirt-tracks (like on speedways), on grippy tarmac it's risky and It could go very bad very quickly

have 4 power-sliding speedway bikes to prove my point (notice the metal plate just behind the rear wheel keeping the dust-spray down)

Wyvern (Celtic/Welsh mythology):


although they grow to a much smaller size than their dragon cousins; only growing to a maximum length of 50 feet from snout to tail. Wyverns are older as a species, more vicious and highly instinct driven; capable of understanding spoken languages, but not speaking them. They are also incredibly dangerous. Now a days, the most common method of dealing with a wyvern that enters a town is to evacuate the town until the wyvern leaves the area, as they are incredibly stubborn and difficult to reason with, even dragons have a hard time trying to reason with a wyvern.

Wyverns have also been known to kill much larger dragons single handed.

Wyverns posses a tail which is armed with a poison stinger, as well as regrowing spines that it can flick at enemies (much like a deadly nadder in the 'how to train your dragon' film franchise, but bigger)

if you encounter a wyvern: do not attack, wyverns are incredibly stubborn, fiercely territorial and have incredible endurance, they have been many sightings of wyverns walking around missing a wing or a tail with little or no hindrance to terrestrial mobility. The best tactic, no matter how big your group, is to run, hide and prey it doesn't find you.

Wyverns are found in two major varieties:
the larger variety is more draconic in appearance.

the smaller variety, growing to about 11 feet long, is more serpentine in appearance and has the ability to 'spit' venom from its fangs to blind its prey, these 'classic' wyverns also hunt in packs of about 5-10 individuals

We were preparing the ship to leave for Appleloosa, I was saying goodbye to the former elements as we would be away for a long time.

“I’ll talk to you via skype once a week to tell you how things are going” I said to Twilight, giving her a hug, she had really got the hang of how to use the tablet computer and she could work things out really quickly.

“Sure” she said, before taking a step back.

“On the slim off-chance that something happens and I get killed, thank you for everything you’ve done” I said, looking at all of them “thank you all”

“Aw, shucks” Applejack said “don’t be gittin all mushy on me now, and say howdy to Braeburn for me when yawl git tah Appleloosa”

“Will do” I said, she then stirred, as if remembering something.

“A quick word of warnin’” she said, “best if yer changelin’ friend doesn’t go into the town, ah know he’s a decent pony, but they don’t, I don’t want him gittin’ ‘urt”

“I’ll keep that in mind” Echo said “and thank you for being so trusting of me and my fellow changelings” Applejack nodded.

“Ah can tell pretty quickly if someone’s up to no good” Applejack said “and you aint”

“Well” I said “we must be off now”

“Are you sure you can’t stay for a little longer?” Twilight asked.

“Sorry, but I’ve been wanting to do this for ages” I said “I’ve made my decision, plus it would be a waste of resources” I then jerked a thumb towards the ship, they all said goodbye and myself and the rest of the Toa walked onto the ship.

“I still can’t believe we’re finally doing this” I said to Autumn.

“I still can’t believe you two pulled that stunt on the cloud and left me to look after not only Aurora, but your kids as well” Minion said.

“Brother” I said, sighing “I do not want to spend to entire expedition with you pissed off at me, I feel bad enough as it is, I’m sorry okay, it was stupid, we both fucked up and we both realise that” Minion just rolled his eyes and walked off.

“He’s still pissed off at you” Vinyl said, crossing her arms.

“No shit, Sherlock” I said “and I don’t need two family members constantly pissed off at me and Autumn”

“Can you see why we’re pissed off though?” Vinyl asked rhetorically.

“For fucks sake” I said “YES!”

“Dad?” Garnet asked, poking his head around the corner “are you okay?” I took a deep breath and sighed.

“Yes, Garnet” I said “I’m fine” Garnet deadpanned.

“They’re still annoyed over what happened, aren’t they?” he said, giving Vinyl a look.

“Don’t worry about it” I said “go and play with your sister” he hesitantly walked off.

“Did he just…?” Vinyl trailed off.

“Even the kids are starting to get annoyed by how you and Minion are acting towards us” I said, before walking off, I saw Autumn glare at Vinyl before walking after me, once we were out of earshot I turned to Autumn and said “I really hope this doesn’t affect how we work as a team” Autumn lent her head on my shoulder.

“You know Minion isn’t the type to let it affect how we work as a team” Autumn said “as for Vinyl, I’m not so sure”

“I BUCKING HEARD THAT, BITCH!” Vinyl yelled, I face palmed.

Fucking great” I muttered “our siblings hate us hates us and I’m a terrible parent”

“Vuur!” Autumn chastised “don’t say that”

“How am I not a terrible parent after what I did?” I shouted, before walking away, ignoring her protests as I did. I needed some space to think.

I was stood on the bow of the ship, with a bottle of cider in my hand.

“Bet you’re really fuckin’ pleased with me now, aren’ you, Dad” I said, slipping into my northern accent and taking a sip of the cider.

“Vuur Koning?” I heard Sumerki ask.

“What?” I growled “if you’re here jus’ ‘ere to bi’ch abou’ ‘ow fuckin’ terrible a father I am, then you can go fuck yerself!”

“Look!” she said, reflecting my tone of voice “I might not know you that Vell, but even I know that you need to stop beating yourself up over vhat happened”

“Ave you ever been a parent?” I asked, raising an eyebrow, she didn’t answer “tha’s wha’ I though’, those two mean the world to me, an’ I screwed up big time, nothing can change tha’, Minion and Vinyl are righ’ to keep reminding me about i’”

“Vith all due respect, sir” Sumerki said “but they can go pieprzyć się, yes you screwed up, yes what you did was stupid, but what’s done is done, and not even a Kenohi Vahi can change that, you need to stop Vallowing in self pity” I glared at her.

“Who are you to tell me what to do?” I growled, I turned around fully and started walking towards her “I am your captain, you’re jus’ a techy who can turn ou’ the ligh’s, you don’ know what it’s like to ‘ave children, you ‘ave no idea how I’m feeling a’ the momen’. So go fuck yerself!” to her credit, she didn’t back down, she matched my glare.

“You need to stop beating yourself up over vhat happened” she said “just think about vhat I said” she then walked off, I walked back over to the railing.

“Fuckin’ emo bi’ch” I muttered, taking a sip of cider.

*pov 3rd person*

Sauradox watched the scene unfold with worry, he may be their enemy, but he knew they had to stop tearing their team apart over what happened, he walked up behind Vuur Koning.

“I know you’re there, Red Dawn” Vuur Koning said “and you can fuck off! I don’ ‘ave time to deal with the likes of you”

“I’m simply here to say that the Toa of shadow is right” Sauradox said “and that you need to remember why you ended up adopting the two Kirins, you are supposed to protect them, not drown your sorrows every time you buck up” Vuur Koning glanced over his shoulder, looking at the former Pegasus, his eyes widened in realisation and he looked at the bottle of cider before chucking it over the edge.

“Whatever, just get out of here” Vuur said, as Sauradox was leaving Vuur Koning turned around “by the way, thank you” Sauradox stopped and looked over his shoulder, he nodded to the toa before leaving, next Sauradox looked for Minion, he was on his own, perfect, he isolated the Toa in a vail of shadow.

“Sumerki?” Minion asked “if this’s your idea of a joke then it’s not funny”

“This is no joke” Sauradox said, revealing himself, minion drew his blade but Sauradox waived a hand dismissively “I come bearing no ill will towards you…yet”

“Why are you here?” Minion asked, lowering his blade.

“I’m merely here to tell you that your actions towards your brother have led to him to a pit of self-loathing” Sauradox said, smirking slightly “and I didn’t even need to do anything to make it happen, Vuur Koning truly regrets what he’s done, only you can’t see that”

“What do you mean?” Minion asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Even the Toa of shadow was trying to help Vuur Koning” Sauradox said “only to be pushed away and rejected, under the excuse that she didn’t know what it’s like to be a parent”

“Why are you trying to interfere?” Minion asked.

“Because I know what it’s like, to take care of someone young and buck up” he said “you need to go easy on your brother. Otherwise when the time comes, your team will fall apart. All because you constantly pushed him over a mistake that could be easily forgiven. The Toa are divided over what happened, you need to grow up and forgive him, his children already have” Sauradox then disappeared, leaving Minion to think about things.

*pov 1st person Vuur Koning, the next day*

I walked towards Minion’s quarters, I needed to talk to him about a few things, I knocked on the door and after a few seconds Minion opened the door.

“Oh, hey brother” he said.

“There’s something I need to tell you” we both said at once.

“Oh, you go first” Minion said.

“Look” I said “you were right, me and Autumn fucked up big time, what we did was stupid, and unforgivable, but I hope you can find it in you to forgive your younger brother”

“Well” Minion said, rubbing the back of his neck “I’m sorry as well”

“What!?” I asked.

“I shouldn’t have constantly reminded you about it every chance I got, you felt bad enough as it was and I was just making things worse by pressuring you, what’s done is done, and we can’t change it, but what do you say we put this behind us and forget the stupid thing. Friends?” he held his fist out and I bumped it with mine

“Friends” I said, and smiled.

*1 month later*

After weeks of almost constant flying we finally reached Appleloosa. Smooth desert stretched out for miles, with Apleloosa acting as Equestria’s, and the other northern countries, gateway to the south of the world, it was now a thriving community. Myself and the rest of the Toa stepped off the gangplank and was greeted by a pale yellow earth pony with a Stetson and felt jacket. Standing next to him was a large buffalo with a chieftain’s crest.

“Howdy yawl, and welcome to A-aaaapleloosa” he said “the names Braeburn, and it’s nice to meet y…” then he noticed the changeling.

“Is there a problem?” I asked.

“We don’t take too kindly to its kind being here” he said, frowning and pointing at the changeling.

“Even if Applejack trusts them and all of the changelings on this ship are part of the Equestrian navy?” I asked.

“You know cousin AJ?” he asked, I nodded.

“I command Echo here” I said “and Echo commands the changelings. They wouldn’t dare undermine my authority, because they know what I can do when angry” Echo stepped forward.

“If I may be so bold” Echo said “all of the changelings on this ship are exiled from their hives, they have no reason to cause trouble, if you want, I can have them walk around in disguise if that would make you happy”

“How do ah know ah can trust you?” Braeburn asked.

All of us are guardians” I said “and I chose him personally to lead the changelings on my ship because he’s loyal to me”

“Alright” he said, uneasily “but first sign of trouble, and they aren’t welcome no more”

“Thank you” I then turned to the buffalo “and who might you be?”

“I am chief Thunderhooves” he said, I noticed that his voice sounded very similar to the voice actor that played Toa Tahu, but slightly more gruff “I lead the buffalo in these lands”

“It’s an honour to meet you” I said, giving a quick bow “I am Toa Vuur Koning; Toa of fire and commander of the Toa Jörmungandr”

“What is this ‘Toa Jörmungandr’ you speak of?” Chief Thunderhooves asked.

“A Toa is a type of warrior, specifically one that has great proficiency in controlling a specific element, I control fire but there are other elements” I said, we all got out our weapons and demonstrated one after another our elements “Jörmungandr refers to our location, namely my ship, all Toa teams are named after the location that they are based in”

“So you are elementals?” chief Thunderhooves asked.

“In a manner of speaking” I said, Braeburn then showed us around Appleloosa on a lightning tour by pushing us to each location, despite the fact that the combined weight of all 15 of us was getting close to a ton. For most of the day we all explored the town, some of the settlers were wary around us, but eventually they warmed up to us. later that night my team of Toa, Aurora the two Kirin twins visited the buffalo camp, where I told the buffalo the story of our adventures, I also found out the buffalo have a deep respect for dragons, so Garnet, Ruby and Aurora ended up being spoilt with gems, Minion reaction to the fact that dragons eat gems was hilarious, I think he actually shed a tear when he saw Aurora eat a diamond, the kids also ended up talking with a young female buffalo called Little Strongheart.

“You are certainly well travelled” Chief Thunderhooves said “and blessed, a Toa of water could cure a drought for instance”

“I know” I said “I’m still adjusting to the fact that I can control fire” I absentmindedly manipulated the camp fire as I said this, Autumn tapped me on the arm and gave me a look before gesturing towards the campfire. I stopped manipulating the fire and gave Autumn an apologetic look.

“What is it that you plan to do now” Little Strongheart asked.

“The south of this world is almost totally unexplored due to the some of it being cut off by great mountains” I said “we plan to head into the unexplored lands, seeking new people and civilisations” the moment I said that Little Strongheart started talking to Chief Thunderhooves in their native language, they seemed to be having a verbal tennis match, eventually Chief Thunderhooves sighed and turned to me.

“Little Strongheart wishes to travel with you” he said “I don’t like it, but if she wishes to travel with you, then it is her decision” I looked at the young buffalo.

“Are you absolutely certain you want to travel with us?” I asked.

“Absolutely” she said.

“I can’t fully guarantee your safety” I said “I will try my best, but there may be times when you’re on your own”

“I can take care of myself” she said.

“Nor can I be held responsible for your death” she hesitated for a moment before answering with a determined look on her face.

“Understood”

*the next day*

Little Strongheart was saying goodbye to her tribe, she had some form of saddlebag on her back, filled with what little physical possessions she had. I was stood on the ramp leading onto the Jörmungandr waiting for her, she said goodbye to the buffalo before walking over to me. I held out a hand and stopped her before she could walk on.

“This is your very last chance to back down, once you enter my ship, there is no going back” I said, she looked back at the Buffalo for a few seconds before walking on the ship. I turned to a crewmember that was manning the ramp “close the door” he nodded before pulling a lever. A few seconds later I felt Frostfang pull the Jörmungandr into the sky, heading towards uncharted territories. I led Little Strongheart towards the Bridge.

“When we reach the bridge I’m going to go through a list of all the potential jobs you can do, however” I said, holding up a hand “because you’re under 18, you will only be working if the ship gets damaged and we need everyone working, so most of the time you’ll be under the reserve crew as lowest priority”

“What do I do then?” she asked.

“Whatever you want” I said, I then added “as long as you don’t cause trouble, you seem to get on with my kids and niece rather well, so hang out with them” we then entered the bridge, Little Strongheart ended up being assigned to standard crew, I then sent her away to do whatever.

*pov 3rd person*

Garnet stood on the gun deck of the Jörmungandr, leaning on the railing and watching the desert slide past. He suddenly heard some of the crew chatting, he turned around out of curiosity to see a changeling drone talking to a griffin. They noticed him looking at them and stopped talking.

“Vhat are you looking at veirdo” the griffin said, the changling next to him opened its second and third pairs of eyes.

“Yeah, weirdo” the changeling said, smirking and baring his fangs, Garnet heard a hissing from above him and looked up to see an eight legged warrior changeling climbing down the rigging. The warrior climbed down onto the deck and Garnet backed up.

“Free-loaders should learn to mind their own business” the warrior said.

“W-what?” Garnet asked, confused, the changeling lunged forward and picked the kirin up by his throat using a clawed foreleg.

“Maybe your ears don’t work so well” the warrior said, Garnet gaged, this changeling stank

“Too bad my nose works just fine” Garnet said in disgust, turning his head away as best he could, the warrior growled.

“Why you insulant little…” the warrior changeling spun around and slammed the kirin into the wall, holding him here as the others started jeering, the warrior brought a sharp pincer to Garnet’s throat “any last words, boy” Garnet struggled trying to get out of the changelings grasp. He split the blades on his tail before swinging it at the changeling forearm, the blades cut clean through the changelings forearm and Garnet collapsed to the floor. The warrior let out a roar of pain.

“YOU LITTLE SHIT!” the warrior changeling roared, before kicking the kirin away. Garnet impacted against the railing hard, knocking the wind out of him. The changeling walked towards Garnet and pinned him to the floor, standing on his tail to make sure he didn’t try anything.

“Get off of me!” Garnet said, clawing against the changelings foreleg that was pinning down his throat

“Not a chance in Tartarus you bastard” the Warrior said “I’m going to kill you, slowly and painfully, I think I’ll start with your foreleg first” he then stabbed a clawed foreleg down on Garnets right arm, cutting it off at the elbow. Garnet shrieked out in pain and the changeling laughed sadistically before turning to the others.

“Which part goes next?” he asked.

“Take his wing” the changeling drone said. The warrior put a free claw to his chin and tapped it before sneering. The warrior never got a chance to carry out the request, as an orange and maroon blur slammed into the changeling, sending him into a metal wall and embedding him in the metal.

“GET THE BUCK AWAY FROM MY SON YOU BASTARD!” Autumn shouted, standing in front of Garnet protectively with her wrist-swords and wing-blades in an X formation. Her blades began to glow orange and parts of the metal rigging unknotted themselves and tied up the warrior, drone and griffin.

*1st pov Vuur Koning*

I heard Garnet scream and ran onto the deck, I heard Autumn shouting on the other side of the ship and ran around to see Garnet on the floor in a growing pool of blood and Autumn stood in front of him facing two changelings and a griffin, who were tied up with rigging. I noticed Garnet’s arm lying separated and ran towards him, he was pale, but still conscious, I got out my sword and moved what was left of his arm so I had a better look, all that left was a bloody stump

“Garnet, this is going to really hurt, but it will help you, okay?” he nodded weakly and my sword began to glow red hot “on three; one, two, three” I pressed to flat of the blade to the wound, cauterising it. Garnet screamed out weakly.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” Autumn screamed.

“Cauterizing the wound to stop him from bleeding out” I said, I moved the blade away to see the wound burnt-shut, at that point some of the other toa appeared, including Saphyrus “Saphyrus, put him to sleep and block out his pain signals” the dragon nodded and Garnet fell unconscious a few seconds later.

“What the hell happened?” Minion asked, I stood up and rounded on the warrior changeling, punching him in the jaw and splattering green blood on the wall. Minion pulled me back.

“Get the fuck off me!” I said, trying to pull away, Scar grabbed hold of me as well “that bastard cut off my sons arm!” all of the Toa looked at the Warrior changeling and drew their weapons, Minion and Scar let go of me and I grabbed my pistol and pointed it at the warriors head.

“Vuur, don’t do it” Echo said, putting a hand on my shoulder “let my people deal with him” I yelled before pistol whipping the changeling, knocking him out, I then looked at the drone and griffin.

“Did either of you do anything to my son, or was it just him?” I asked “and you better tell the truth”

“Just him” the griffin said, I turned around.

“Get those scum out of my sight before I kill them” I said, several Equestrian guards appeared and took them away. I walked over to Garnet and picked him up, a lump formed in my throat when I saw his arm, I turned to Orca “can this be healed?” she shook her head sadly.

“The mask of healing doesn’t work on this kind of injury” she said “I’m sorry”

Garnet was in the infirmary, under sedation, Doctor Blutaderstauer walked out of the room and towards me.

“Quick thinking vhen you cauterized zee vound” he said “he might have bled out if you hadn’t”

“Is there any way of reattaching his arm? I asked, he shook his head.

“Our medical science isn’t advanced enough for zat” he said, sadly, he then stirred “zere is…an alternative, if you vould be villing to hear it”

“Anything’s better than him living the rest of his life with three legs” I said.

“Zere are working replacement limbs” he said.

“Really!?” I asked.

“ja” he said “if you vould follow me” he then lead me to a room filled with metal robotic parts.

“And you are sure it will work?” I said.

“Please” he said, rolling his eyes “I vouldn’t be a doctor if I didn’t”

*pov 3rd person*

Garnet woke up in his room, the memories of what happened came flooding back and he looked at his right arm. He sighed deeply before getting off of the bed and placing his back legs on the ground, followed by his left arm and finally a metal right arm which depressed slightly in the middle, a row of springs compressing slightly to support his weight. It was silver in colour, reaching up to his shoulder. The arm consisted of several metal panels, with all of the mechanical workings were hidden away. At the end was a robotic claw, a mirror of his left claw. He took a deep breath before taking a step forward, searing pain shot through what was left of his right arm and he collapsed to the floor. He slowly got back up and hobbled to the door. The mechanical arm seemed to respond to his thoughts and he could ‘feel’ with it, he clumsily lifted the arm up and grabbed the door handle before twisting it, he hobbled back to open the door to find his Vuur Koning standing there, about to open the door. His dad looked at him with a sad look on his face and knelt down to comfort the kirin, who hobbled forward and collapsed into his arms, sobbing.

“I am so, so sorry I wasn’t there to protect you” Vuur Koning said, stroking Garnets back “this shouldn’t have happened”

“Why would they do this, Dad?” Garnet asked between sobs, causing Vuur Koning’s heart to break.

“I don’t know” he said, his eyes watering, he then looked the kirin in the eyes “but we can overcome this, okay, if you need me, I’m here for you” Garnet nodded before sitting back and studying his robotic arm.

“How can I still feel?” Garnet asked, sniffing.

“It uses magic” Vuur Koning said, shrugging “it’s removable, so we can replace it when you get bigger, there are also optional extras” Garnet’s ears perked up at that.

“What do you mean?” the kirin asked.

“Well, for starters, you could have it replaced with an arm that can switch between a hand and a weapon, or tools” Garnets eye widened, Vuur Koning noticed the look on his face “let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, you need to get used to walking first” Garnets ears drooped.

“Maybe for Hearths Warming if you’re good and can walk around using that” Vuur Koning said, Garnet nodded before standing up, gingerly applying his weight to the metal arm. Vuur Koning stood up and supported him.

*pov 1st person: Vuur Koning*

I helped Garnet into the corridor, after a few meters walking he started to walk unsupported, if with a slight limp in his step. We soon reached the room where Garnet, Ruby and their friends usually hung out in. I opened the door and Garnet was tackled into a hug by Ruby

“Ow! Watch the arm, Ruby” he said, although his expression said that he didn’t mind.

“Sorry” Ruby said, she then began studying the arm “can you feel with that?”

“Sort of” Garnet said, he then looked at the arm and frowned “it feels weird though, it’s like I can feel with it, but at the same I can’t, it’s hard to explain” I then took them both to the dining hall, better to get it out of the way. The moment we entered the usual chatter of the dining hall began to die down until it was deafly silent…except for the quiet *clink* *clink* *clink* of Garnets new arm. All of the crew were looking at Garnet, with looks ranging between sorrow and pity. Garnet just frowned and carried on walking, the limp in his step becoming rather noticeable as he sped up. Eventually the usual chatter began to return as we ate, although Garnet seemed disinterested and hardly touched his food.

“Garnet?” I said “if you have a problem, just tell me” he sighed before sliding his plate out of the way and resting his head on the table.

“I hate being the center of attention, Dad” he said, bitterly “now I’m even more of a freak than before”

“You want to know something” I said.

“What?” he grunted.

“Where I come from, we don’t have replacement limbs like that” I said, he just grunted “I personally think it looks rather cool, I mean, now you’re a cyborg”

“You mean like that pirate in Treasure Planet” Ruby asked, I nodded.

“Exactly” I said “just think, you could have an arm that turns into a cannon” his ears perked up slightly.

“You’d actually let me get one like that?” he asked.

“Maybe” I said “but when you’re older, we’ll start off with something like a short sword or gun first, okay”

“Garnet’s a space-pirate” Ruby said, giggling. Garnet chuckled and lifted his head off of the table before squinting on eye.

“Avast thee scurvy space-lubbers” he said in a pirate’s voice, I tussled the small patch of mane on his head and chuckled.

“You might just give Blazewing a run for his money” I said, he started to eat his food now with more enthusiasm.

“Ye called?” Blazewing said, walking over to the table with a tray of food, he noticed Garnets metal arm “well…tha’s jus’ unfotiona’, I’m guessin’ tha’s wha’ people mean’ when they mentioned an ‘incident’”

“You’d be correct” I said, he snorted in anger.

“Tha nerve o’ some people” he muttered, I gave him a look and mouthed ‘drop it, not in front of Garnet’ said Kirin was totally oblivious to our conversation, he was too busy watching his hand rotating like a drill-bit, I raised an eyebrow.

“That’s interesting” I muttered, I then spoke up “that could be very useful”

“How so?” Garnet asked.

“For one thing, if you were in a fight, you could use that to flip someone over” I said “or use your hand like a drill” he thought for a moment before the arm split into thousands of metal pieces and reformed until it was a pneumatic drill, much like Whenua Hordika’s ‘thumper’.

“Cool!” Garnet said.

“How did you do that?” I asked, he shrugged.

“I just thought about using my hand like a drill” he said, the drill changed into a cannon, like Minions “I thought you said I would need to replace it”

“I thought you would have to as well” I said, he then began changing it into different tools, he essentially had Hordika weapons as well as a Rhotuka launcher and other tools.

“Why do you have a Rhotuka Launcher?” I asked.

“I saw the third movie” he said, shrugging “seems whatever I think of, it turns into, although I need to know what they do” I got up.

“I think I need to have a word with someone” I said “Blazewing, watch the kids for a few minutes” I found doctor Blutaderstauer quicker than expected. He was sitting at a table, eating some food.

“Guten tag, Vuur Koning” he said, I stood there with my arms crossed

“Care to explain why you gave my son a universal weapon?” I asked

“Taking precautions” he said, shrugging “I may have also asked Mata Nui to give me a hoof with the power source”

“How exactly is giving him a robotic arm that turns into any weapon or tool he can think of ‘taking precautions’?” I asked.

“Vhat if he gets into another fight, hmm?” he asked, I didn’t answer “vhat about vhen you are no longer able to protect him? Vhat if he decides to follow in your hoofsteps?”

“Okay, you are just trying to help” I said, in an annoyed tone, I walked back to the table. Some of the other Toa were sat there and Garnet was replicating their weapons, much to their amazement.

“Looks like someone will need to be taught how to use all of those weapons” Minion said, Garnet then turned his arm into a smaller version of my sword and it ignited in flames.

“Looks like someone’s taking after me” I said, his cheeks flushed and he changed the arm back to its default form.

We all began to teach Garnet how to properly defend himself, using his new arm to great effect. He had a habit of changing his tool every few seconds, making him unpredictable, however, if a tool was working well for him, he would stick with it. He seemed to take a preference to a smaller version of my sword or other fire based weapons, looks like Garnet had a little ‘Firespitter’ in him, to use the words of a certain green griffin. I made Garnet a set of armour and a mask that had the combined powers of all toa, but at a greatly reduced level, they also only worked for a very limited amount of time and needed to recharge afterwards. I also made Ruby a set, but Autumn and I would wait until Hearths Warming to give the armour to them, along with a short sword for Ruby. The new ‘elemental’ armour would be the prototypes for the armour that we would give all of the crew eventually. Garnet had his mechanical arm painted the same shade of red as the rest of his body, with a dragon scale pattern as well so it didn’t stand out too much, although if you looked twice you would realise it was a metal limb.

*a few months later*

After months of flying, we had finally reached the southern lands. Besides a few countries lining the coast, the southern continent was mostly thick forests. We briefly stopped in a Zebrican city before continuing on our way, after a while of flying over forests the scenery began to change and the wildlife became more prehistoric, greatly resembling dinosaurs on earth, much to the surprise of everyone on board. We eventually stopped for the night and I couldn’t resist going down onto the ground. The other Toa shared my opinion, and we all ended up going down, along with a small group of scientist for each of our teams. Lyra, Captain Jack Harkness and a few Equestrian scientists accompanied my team, as well as the Kirin twins and Aurora.

“Alright” I said “tonight we’re only having a quick look around, okay? We can explore further tomorrow” the scientists nodded and we picked a direction before walking in said direction. We eventually came to a large clearing and stopped dead in our tracks, all kinds of prehistoric reptiles were grazing, and all of them were herbivores, thankfully, I turned to Aurora.

“Remember what I said about dinosaurs?” I asked, she nodded, I noticed some of the scientists were wandering off, studying the great reptiles “Be careful of predators!”

“Oh, lighten up, Vuur” Lyra said, rolling her eyes.

“Actually” Minion said “he’s right to be cautious, these are totally undiscovered animals, who knows what’s out there?”

“I think we both have a pretty good idea” I said, he looked at me before nodding in understanding, Garnet and Ruby walked towards a group of large iguanodonts with really big thumb-claws.

I carefully followed the two Kirins and kept an eye on them as they marvelled at the dinosaurs.

“These things are huge!” Garnet said, a large one regarded use with curiosity for a few moments before walking off. I noticed that none of them strayed too far away from their herd.

“Safety in numbers” I noted, for about half an hour the scientists noted down all the different types. But eventually we regrouped, we were just about to head back to the ship when we saw a huge therapod dinosaur with three large spikes on its back, lurking at the edge of the forest on the other side of the clearing.

I turned to the scientists “you might want to watch this next bit closely”

“What is that!?” Garnet asked.

“I do believe it is a type of Tyrannosaur” I said, the scientists began taking notes “although it’s not like any fossils I’ve ever seen, any ideas” I looked at the scientists as I said this.

“Powerful hind legs appear to be designed for long sprints, the spikes on its back are probably for display and intimidation, the large teeth and claws are obviously meant to deal out some serious damage, large eyes mean it has a keen eyesight and it probably has a good sense of hearing and smell” a biologist said, as he said this the tyrannosaur looked our way and narrowed its eyes, the biologist then added nervously “as it has just proven, we should move before it decides to make a meal out of us” I quickly took a picture before nodding. We turned to walk back to the ship, only to find a large pack of orange and black-stripped raptors pointing spears at us.

“Tahw ni eht eman fo eht Laitselec Rothem era uoy!?” one of them said, it’s voice laiden with what sounded like surprise.

Tools and armour:

Robotic arm: as well as serving as a prosthetic limb, it also has the ability to replicate any tool or weapon the user can think of. However, the user must have a basic understanding of what the tool or weapon is capable of, he/she can't just see a weapon and instantly replicate it.

Elemental armour: has the ability to channel most known Toa elements (besides shadow as this can actually negatively effect the mind of the wearer), but at Turaga levels and only for a couple minutes at a time, requiring a short recharge time afterwards. once a power is used it becomes locked until the user has used two other elements

Mask of Kenohi powers: has the ability to channel most known Kenohi powers (besides legendary or 'immoral' masks), but at Noble Kenohi levels and only for a couple minutes at a time, requiring a short recharge time afterwards. once a power is used it becomes locked until the user has used two other mask powers

p.s. the arm, mask and armour are the first 'Bionicle' items of power that I've created. That's right, they are totally unique to this story, however, I have given them weaknesses. If you look at the Kenohi Mask powers, you'll see they all have strengths and weaknesses, for instance, the mask of healing can't heal amputations or mortal wounds, the Kenohi Hau can't shield against unexpected or surprise attacks, and the Kenohi Kakama, despite vastly improving the wearers speed, doesn't improve reflexes or reaction time (unless it's a 'Nuva' Kakama).

yes, if you write your own Bionicle crossovers, you are allowed to use the mask, armour and Robotic arm in your story, as long as you ASK first and credit me for the idea. If you ask then nine time out of ten I'll say yes.

and no, this does not mean Garnet or Ruby will be Toa. they're both 13 years old, plus to be a Toa they would both have to undergo a physical transformation into a 7-8 foot biomechanical biped with one elemental power each.

the Dinosaurs are from this group The Known World and the ideas for them ultimately belong to The Changeling Prince 2, please go and check out his group(s), they are full of awesome ideas and the forum threads are a great read, there are even a few Bionicle species in there.

the native locations of the species mentioned in the threads are not cannon to this story, however, the societies of any sapient dinosaurs in this are as true to the original ideas as possible

Thinking quickly I changed to the mask of translation.

“Could you repeat the question?” I asked, the one that spoke hesitated for a moment.

“I-I said, what in the name of the Celestial Mother are you?” he asked, hesitantly.

“My name is Vuur Koning” I said “the taller amongst our group are called Toa. The herbivores are called Equestrians, or simply ponies. The cross between reptiles and ponies are called Kirin and the young winged one is a dragon”

“Why have we not seen your kind before?” another asked.

“Did any of you see a giant floating object being pulled by a great flying reptile?” I asked, they nodded “I’m the captain of that ship”

“Where do you come from?” a younger one asked.

“We come from a land in the north” I said “from beyond the forests” their jaws dropped.

“Impossible” one said “nothing exists beyond the great forest”

“Well how do you explain us then?” I asked, they didn’t answer at first. Eventually the first one spoke, a troubled expression on his face

“This is a matter for the Celestial Mother” he said, he then turned to walk away before looking back at us “come on, we will take you to our leader” they then led us on a long walk towards a tribal city of some kind, with several different types of raptor-like people. Most of them eyed us like we were their next meal.

“I have a bad feeling about this” Minion said in English, we were eventually led towards a primitive temple of some kind, the Raptor stopped us before we could enter.

“Please wait here” he said to us, he then turned to his fellow raptors “make sure the others don’t go after them” he then walked inside, once he was gone the other types of raptors started to circle us as one, a predatory look in their eyes, the raptors that were with us glanced around nervously.

“I have a really bad feeling about this” Minion said, readying his cannon, the rest of use followed his example and drew our weapons, Garnet stepped forward and changed his arm into a flame claw before sending forth a spew a flames, causing some of the raptors to jump back in surprise.

“Garnet!” I said, he looked at me sheepishly before backing down, he didn’t change his weapon back though. I turned towards the raptors and activated my mask of translation “we do not wish to fight you”

“And yet you carry weapons” an aged female voice said from behind us, I turned around to see an older raptor, holding a staff in one claw.

“They are merely a precaution” I said, stowing my blade, I them bowed “would I be correct in assuming you are their leader?” the raptor nodded.

“Yes” she said “how can you speak our language?” I tapped the mask.

“this mask lets me talk in most languages” I said, I glanced at the crowd eyeing us hungrily “do you think we could continue this inside?” the raptor nodded and beckoned with a claw, we followed her inside the temple where several grey raptors were standing guard with swords and shields. The leader sat down on a throne and gestured for us to sit.

“Please, sit. You are guests” she said “quite important ones, it seems”

“We are merely travellers, seeking new lands” I said, sitting down cross legged “I can tell you our story if you like” their leader gestured for me to continue, soon after I started even the stoic guards were gathered around to listen. A few hours later I finished my tale, and all of the raptors sat there, wide eyed.

“Truly remarkable” their ‘Celestial Mother’ said “can you really control the elements like you claim to?” I stood up and the guards made to stop me but the Celestial Mother stopped them with a claw gesture, I concentrated for a few moments, making a ball of flame appear between my hands. I then started to manipulate the flames, making it form likenesses of all the people that I had met on my journeys. Tirek, Discord, the Elements of Harmony, the Griffin king and finally, an impression of Celestia raising the sun. Once I finished I took an unsteady step backwards and panted slightly, apparently the guards weren’t too pleased with my display.

“Such images are heresy!” a guard yelled, before charging towards me, sword drawn. I quickly drew my sword just in time to block his attack. The Celestial mother didn’t look displeased, but at the same time she made no move to stop the guard from attacking me. I parried his sword away and took a step back. We began to circle each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. The Toa quickly moved out of the way.

“I meant no disrespect” I said, the guard roared and charged, I parried each strike with expert ease. But eventually I’d had enough and sent forth a stream of flames, causing the guard to jump out of the way, he went to strike me with the sword but I struck him on the wrist with the flat of my blade, causing him to let go of the crude blade. I flicked my wrist, causing his blade to go sailing through the air, I caught it and pinned both blades against his throat. I heard clapping and turned to see the Celestial Mother applauding us and chuckling.

“Impressive” she said “not many can beat a Grik in single combat” I passed the blade back to the, Grik it seemed, he nodded toward me before walking back to stand guard.

“Grik?” I asked.

“A Grik is a type of Kothrah” the Celestial Mother explained “there are several types; Kig-Yar, Jackals, Tagranesi, Zebesians, Miako and Grik” that night we ended up staying in the settlement, we even ended up forming an alliance between the Kothrah and Equestria, and the next morning, when we went to leave, the Celestial Mother stopped us. Stood near her was one of each type of Kothrah.

“Allow me to present the best fighters of each type of Kothrah” she said “I would like you to take them with you, as a gift, from one nation to another”

“Oh” I said “well, thank you, thank you very much” after a brief introduction we headed on our way back towards the ship, there was Hij Black-scales; the Grik. Gold-quills; the Kig-Yar. Blood-claw; the Maiko. Shield-arm; the Jackal. Bright-stripes; the Tagranesi and finally Red-crest; the Zebesian. I used the walk towards the ship as an opportunity to explain something’s

“First of all” I said “you cannot kill whilst on my ship, nor can you kill any of my crew ever”

“What about food?” Hij Black-scales asked.

“Food will be provided” I said “I’ll also have someone teach you our language”

“But we can understand you just fine” Gold-quill said, I deactivated the mask of translation.

“Are you sure?” I asked in English, I then reactivated the mask

“Ah” Bright-stripes said “I see what you mean” we were getting close to the ship when I heard a roar and before we realised what was happening we were surrounded by a large group of dark-skinned, 40 ft. long therapods, possessing some rather nasty claws on their fore arms.

Next thing we knew we were being dragged through the forest by our feet, or tails in the case of the Kothrah and Equestrians.

“Sod’s law strike’s again” I muttered, crossing my arms. I then got an Idea, I was being pulled by the rearmost…whatever it was. So I pulled out my phone and began sending a message to the Jörmungandr, I smirked before hiding my phone. After several hours, during which I got a really sore bum, we ended up getting dragged to a large city and into a dungeon of some kind, once the Therapods were gone I turned to one of the Kothrah “What’s going on?” I asked, using the mask of translation.

“They are Stone Cutters” Hij Black-scales said “they have brought us here to fight in their arena tournament” I sighed and leaned against the bars of the cell.

“Fucking great” I muttered in English “hardly been here a day and we’re already captured by Roman-dinosaurs” Garnet and Ruby walked over to me and Autumn, a scared expression on their faces.

“Mum, Dad” Ruby asked, her eyes watering “are we going to die?” my heart broke at that point and I held my arms out towards them.

“Come here” I said, they walked over and snuggled up to me and Autumn, I looked at the orange pegasus and saw that she felt exactly the same as me. I saw Minion pull an acoustic guitar out of his hammer space, he noticed the look I was giving him.

“What?” he said, shrugging “it’s for musical emergencies” I shook my head before continuing to comfort the two Kirins, Minion started to pluck out a bluesy, freestyle tune as we all sat there, waiting for the inevitable. Vinyl rested her head on Minions shoulder as he continued to play and Aurora rested in his lap. Some of the other prisoners started to hear the music and looked towards us, surprise riddled their faces when they took in our strange appearance. After a few minute a Stone Cutter stomped towards our cell. I switched to the mask of translation.

“Oiy” the Stone Cutter said in what sounded like a Scottish accent and hit the bars with his claws “quit yer noise, yer time’ll come soon enough” Minion stopped for a few seconds, before changing his playing style. He then proceeded to play ‘Inmate 4859’ by Sabaton, smirking whilst looking at the Stone Cutter, the Therapod growled before stomping off, muttering under his breath in his own language. I began to sing along in English.

“Inmate in hell or a hero in prison? Soldier in Auschwitz, who knows his name? Locked in a cell, waging war from the prison, hiding in Auschwitz, who hides behind 4859?” eventually Minion finished the song.

“What was that music?” Bright-stripes asked, I then began to tell the story of Witold Pilecki (pronounced Vitold Pileskee) in their language. Eventually a Stone Cutter walked toward our cell and opened it, he jerked his head towards the arena entrance. We stood at the gate, waiting, I checked to make sure the Stone Cutter wasn’t looking before a typed something on my phone. The gates opened with a rumble and we all walked out, our heads held high. Once we reached the center of the huge arena myself and the other Toa surrounded those that were unarmed in a protective formation. Garnet stood beside me with his right arm changed into a smaller version of my sword, I draw my sword and pistol and the rest of the Toa drew their weapons.

“if we don’t make it” I said “I just want to say it’s been an honour fighting alongside you all” the other Toa nodded in agreement, I looked towards a podium, where a male and female Stone Cutter wore stood, I nodded to them and they gave a signal to start, a whole bunch of gates started to open and one exploded n splinters as a very large Stone Cutter, riddled with scars, burst through the gates and charged towards us.

“Scar!” I yelled and he jumped around to face the Therapod before unleashing the full force of his twin Gatling gun upon the Stone Cutter, who promptly fell to the ground. Silence reigned throughout the arena, before the other Stone Cutters charged towards us, oblivious of their fallen comrade. I plunged my fire blade into the ground and called up a stream of lava, Boris began to manipulate the winds, causing a tornado, I turned towards him and sent a stream of fire into the tornado, turning it into a fire twister, Autumn disappeared and a few seconds later a Stone Cutter fell to the ground, a wrist blade plunged deep into the Therapods neck, Garnet began taking pop-shots at any Stone Cutters he could aim at using his cannon.

“I thought Toa weren’t supposed to kill intelligent life” Garnet said.

“The ability to speak doesn’t make something intelligent” I said “these guys obviously don’t know when to quit” more and more began to pour into the arena, until the tides started to turn in the Stone Cutters favour. Just as a Stone cutter was about to lunge for me it was shot down by an AA gun round, I looked up the see the Jörmungandr floating above. I heard a sonic boom and a white blur slammed into the ground in an explosion of light and fire, sending Stone Cutters flying in all directions

"ENOUGH!!!" Princess Celestia boomed in her royal Canterlot voice, her mane was flaming a deep red and she proceeded to levitate all of the Stone Cutters, sending a pillar of flames into the air as she did so, she yanked the alpha Stone Cutters over to her “WHY DO YOU MERSILESLY SLOUGHTER INOCENTS, FOR SPORT!?” the two alphas didn’t answer, stricken with fear, she promptly flung them both into a far corner of the arena and began lifting herself into the air, she then began to talk in their language using her Royal Canterlot voice, I was pretty sure the entire valley could hear her, I looked at the Kothrah and smirked, there jaws were wide open in shock.

“Allow me to present my friend: Princess Celestia” I said in their language “ruler of an entire nation and immortal with the power to move the Sun”

Celestia be pissed

Surprisingly, no one was actually killed as a result of Celestia’s rage. I found out that Stone Cutters are the type of species that only submits if you show them extreme force, it seems Celestia had actually visited this land once before and ended up having to result to similar tactics. Although why she denied to inform me that this land was full of talking dinosaurs beforehand, I’ll never know. Things were starting to settle down and Celestia actually formed an alliance with the Stone Cutters, who were really quick to accept for some reason, honestly I couldn’t work out why. After a few days we left the Stone Cutter city to carry on exploring. We gained one new crew member, a young Stone Cutter aged about 11 years old called Little Claw. After several days flying we reached the southernmost tip of the equatorial continent, now we were in really unknown territory.

We soon found a large sub-continent and we went ashore using a landing craft, about the size of a river-ferry with a capacity of 200 individuals. Made up of 150 guards for protection, plus all of the Toa and various diplomats, biologist, naturalists, scientists and botanists plus the kids (you didn’t think we’d make them miss out on this, did you?). The ship landed on the sandy beach, kicking up clouds of dust and sand. A platform on the rear of the ship opened up and myself and the other Toa stepped outside. I was wearing my cloak on top of my armour like a hooded cape; as a way of denoting myself as the leader of the Toa more than anything else. The beach was tropical in nature, with tall palm trees dotted around randomly. In the distance was a line of jungle-like trees, providing a distinct border.

“Wow!” Minion said “I wouldn’t mind coming here for a holiday”

“Can’t argue with that” I agreed, we were just about to start heading into the jungle when I spotted a troop of individuals I couldn’t quite make out heading towards us on some fore of steed “everyone stand close!” the figure were getting closer, eventually I could make them out. Their appearance was reptilian in nature, but they also had huge similarities to Equestrians, looking like some weird reptilian pony. Their steeds were giant monitor lizards. Their troop ran up to us and one of them pointed a spear at me, but I stood firm.

“Who are you?” the reptile said in perfect Equestrian “from your clothes you are warriors”

“We are travellers, from the distant land of Equestria” I said “we have come seeking new lands and we mean you no harm” the reptile lifted his spear away.

“Travellers so strange” he said “you must have come a long way”

“Far enough north for the seasons to be the other way around” I said, he quirked a ridge of scales above his eyes, in the same manner one would quirk their eyebrows.

“Come with us” he said “we will take you to our leader”

They soon led us to a city of some kind filled with more of the reptilian ‘ponies’, from what I could gather they didn’t have the variation of Equestrians. Instead they had variations in cranial features such as horns and crests, and their colours ranged from dark green to black, with brighter ‘secondary’ colours such as yellow or red. They also wore clothes made from what looked like leather or cloth. We were taken to a large building of some kind where one of the Reptilian ‘ponies’ stopped us.

“Which of you are diplomats or representatives?” he asked.

“I am the leader of my band of warriors, called Toa and the instigator of this voyage” I said, I then gestured to one of the diplomats “and this pony is in charge of diplomacy on our voyage”

“You two will come with me” he said, he then looked at the rest of our group “the rest of you are free to explore the city, as long as you obey our laws and don’t cause trouble” the rest of our group nodded and began filing out of the building, Garnet hesitated.

“Garnet?” I asked “what’s wrong?”

“Dad, I-I’m worried” he said “what if this turns out like a repeat of the Stone Cutters?” I walked over and knelt down, resting my hand on his shoulder.

“Trust me, everything will be fine” I said “now go on, go and explore the city with your sister and the other kids” he nodded before walking out, stopping just before he left the building to glance back at us, his eyes filled with worry. I stood up and followed the diplomat and reptilian into a hall, where an older male was sat at a throne of some kind. The Reptilian bowed to him, the diplomat and I followed his example out of respect. The reptilian turned to us.

“This is King Dja Dragool, king of the Atque people” he then walked up to the king “your majesty, these are representatives from” he paused, having seemingly forgotten the name of our nation, he looked at us.

“We are from the sovereign Diarchy of Equestria” the diplomat said “I am Sure Scribe, and this is Captain Vuur Koning. We have come seeking new lands and civilisations to form alliances with. Our intentions are strictly non-hostile, your majesty” he king looked at me and quirked an eyebrow.

“And yet your friend is armoured as though for war” he said, I stepped forward.

“Your majesty, I am only armoured” I said, before adding “and armed admittedly, out of necessity, not every nation we have come across has been as peaceful this, for instance the last nation we came across physically dragged us to their arena to be slaughtered for sport” the kings eyes widened.

“Would they happen to be 40 foot-lengths long and possess long claws?” he asked.

“Add moody and that describes them to a tee” I said “are you familiar with the Stone Cutters?”

“We have an alliance with the governments of Sauria and their associated islands” he said, he then shook his head, a sad look on his face “but unfortunately it is a shaky alliance at best”

“We can assure you” Sure Scribe said “if you were to agree to align with us, our alliance would be much stronger, and we also have plenty to trade”

“For instance?” the king asked.

“Equestria is abundant in natural materials such as gem-stones and metals” Sure Scribe said “we also have a large enough royal guard to provide assistance should you require such”

“And in exchange?” the king asked.

“A loyal alliance, plus whatever you could offer for trade” Sure Scribe said, the king didn’t say anything for a few moment, deep in thought. Eventually he looked at us and smiled.

“Your terms are acceptable” the king said “I; King Dja Dragool accept your terms of alliance, we can discuss the specific terms at a later date. For now, you are free to explore my city as you wish”

I soon found Autumn and the twins in a market, we were now sat at a restaurant, eating lunch

“So we’re now allies with this country?” Autumn asked.

“Yeah” I said, I noticed Garnet staring in the direction of the streets. I followed his gave to find him looking at a young female Atquean, wondering through the streets. She was a dark green with yellow highlights, she also appeared to be roughly Garnet’s age. Garnet looked at me.

“Dad, do my wings look alrigh’?” he asked, realisation quickly dawned on me and I gave him a knowing look.

“Yes, your wings are find” I said, I then nudged him off of the chair and jerked my head towards the Atquean “go on, go to her” he quickly walked over to the Atquean and they began talking, although I couldn’t hear what they were saying, they seemed to be getting on. Autumn gave me a look.

“Honestly, Vuur?” she asked, shaking her head.

“What?” I asked “it would happen at some point, and we can’t exactly object to it given our situation”

“We are traveling” Autumn said “how do you think her parents would react to finding out that not only has she got a…whatever they call a coltfriend here, but he is also a hybrid and from another country?”

“You’ve obviously never heard of long distance relationships” I said “and in this day and age, I’m sure they wouldn’t have a…” I was cut off by a yell and Garnet getting flung across the street by a very large, male green Atquean, he looked to be a few years older than Garnet. I ran over to Garnet but the male ran over before I could get to him and got really lose to Garnets face

“You keep your filthy half-blood claws off of my girlfriend, you freak” he growled, the young female ran over.

“Don’t do this” she said “he didn’t know” the male glared at the female who shrank under his gaze.

“I’ll deal with you later” he said, before turning back to Garnet. He went to say something only to end up with a fire claw grasping his throat. The gathered crowd began murmuring amongst themselves.

“One” garnet said “I didn’t know she was taken, if I did I wouldn’t have even approached her. Two, I didn’t touch her in any way and three, if you ever call me a freak again I will burn you to Tartarus” I walked forward.

“Garnet” I said “leave it, he’s not worth it” Garnet sighed before turning the fire claw back into his normal claw.

“Yes, Dad” he said, before walking back towards the restaurant with me, the male chuckled.

“That’s right” he said “go running back to your freak family” Garnet halted dead in his tracks and didn’t move for a few seconds. His expression contorted into a snarl and flames started to seep out between his bared teeth. Before I could react he leapt into the air and sent himself flying towards the Male with a roar of rage. I ran over and at the same time an older male Atquean ran towards the brawling pair, we both yanked the two teenagers away from each other. Garnet was struggling to get out of my grasp whilst cursing in draconic at me. As for the young Atquean, he hid behind the older male, he was also sporting three fresh claw marks running down one side of his face.

“Mitte me stupri!” Garnet roared at me, he then glared at the Atquean “mihi praeter te, ego capiam, et partem mauris!” the Atquean retreated further behind the older male.

“GARNET” I yelled “CALM DOWN, NOW!” he stopped trying to get free and just glared at the young male, Autumn ran over, I passed Garnet to her before walking over to the older Atquean.

“I am so, so sorry, but my son really doesn’t like being insulted” I said, I then looked at the teenager “and for that matter, neither do I. You would do well to not insult others so readily” the older male glared at the younger one.

“We’ll talk about this later” he said, before turning to me “And I’m sorry your son had to deal with mine, he can be a bit cocky at times” the younger one hung his head in shame. I then walked back to the restaurant. Garnet was sat at the table, resting his head on the table with a look of shame, he looked away when I sat down opposite him.

“Garnet…” I went to say.

“Just leave it, Dad” he said, scowling “I don’t want to talk about it” I sighed.

“Alright” I said “but if you need me…”

“I said leave it!” Garnet said, getting up from the table and flying off. I noticed the look Autumn gave me and rested my head in my hand and drumming my fingers on the table in annoyance.

“Yes dear, you were right” I said.

“And?” she asked, smirking.

“And I was wrong” I said, Ruby stood up.

“I’ll go and find him”

*pov 3rd person*

Garnet stood on a stone bridge, resting his head on the wall. He barely registered hoof steps approaching.

“There you are” Garnet recognised the voice as belonging to the female from the market. Garnet snorted and moved his head in the other direction.

“What do you want?” Garnet grumbled “because I’m not in the mood to hear some half-arsed apology on behalf of your boyfriend”

“He isn’t the type to give apology’s, let alone send others to apologise for him” she said “and it’s ex-boyfriend, now” the female walked over and sat beside the kirin, who shuffled away

“Just leave me be” Garnet said.

“But I never even got to know your name” the female said.

“Who would want to know a ‘half-blood freak’?” Garnet said bitterly.

“Well, me for starters” she said, Garnet groaned and lifted his head up to look the Atquean in the eyes.

“If this is an attempt to get with me because you feel guilty, then forget it” he said, before standing up and walking away, the Atquean gave an exasperated groan and rolled her eyes before walking after the kirin.

“Would you quit being so stubborn” she said.

“No” Garnet said, before increasing his pace.

“Can’t you see that I’m actually interested and I want to get to know you?” she asked, Garnet stopped walking and sighed.

“Why?” he asked, looking back at the Atquean.

“What?”

“Why are you so quick to want to be with me?” he asked “it wouldn’t work out anyway”

“Why?” she asked.

“Follow me” he said, before leading here to the top of a hill and sitting down the Atquean sat down next to him, he pointed to the Jörmungandr, floating in the distance “you see that ship?”

“Yes, what of it?” she asked.

“I live on that ship” he said “we are almost constantly on the move, looking for new lands, if I got with you, either I’d have to stay here, on a totally unfamiliar land, or you would have to come with me, and leave all your friends and family behind, and I’m not so keen on the first option”

“So what if I come with you?” she said, shrugging “Atquean’s leave their parents at 15, I’m 16 and I was looking for somewhere to stay anyway”

“What about your family?” he asked.

“What of them?” she asked “when I said ‘leave my parents’, I meant that literally, once you reach 15, you are no longer a part of any one family, you become a part of the community. Whatever I do is my choice and by law they can’t object, sure most stay close with their parents, but the parents have no control over what they can do”

“Why?” Garnet asked.

“Means there’s no chance of parents forcing their young to marry into a powerful family” she said, shrugging, Garnet sighed.

“Are you absolutely sure?” he asked “because chances are, we won’t be coming back here for a long time, if we end up ending our relationship, you won’t be able to just ‘get away’, plus there’s the fact that my dad is the captain of the ship”

“I’m not the type to hold grudges after a relationship” she said.

“It’s my family you have to worry about” Garnet said “they would hunt you and then keelhaul you”

“What?” the Atquean asked, looking confused.

“They would tie you to the bottom of the ship and leave you there” he said “and don’t even get me started on what happened to the guy that did this” Garnet grabbed his right arm with his left claw, pressed a button and twisted the arm anti-clockwise until in clicked, he then pulled it away, revealing a stump with a metal cap on the end and various brass electrical-contacts. The Atquean’s jaw dropped.

“What happened?” she asked, looking slightly pale. Garnet put the arm back on and tested the motion before answering.

“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, a changeling tried to kill me, I cut off his arm using this” he swung his tail around to show her and split the blades, there was a small chip on one of the blades “he returned the favour, I almost died that day, no one actually knows for certain what happened to him, the changelings that punished him won’t say what happened, although it apparently involved an airtight metal box, a can of Zyclon-B and a jug of water”

“What’s Zyclon-B?” the Atquean asked.

“You really don’t want to know” Garnet said, shuddering slightly and turning pale, he then muttered “I still don’t know how they could have gotten hold of it” the Atquean shuffled closer and rested her head on his shoulder.

“So…does this mean I can come with you?” she asked.

“I don’t see why not” he said “The name’s Garnet by the way” the Atquean smiled and leaned in closer to the Kirin.

“I’m Thel D’jagaar” she said, for the rest of the day they sat there, enjoying the view and getting to know each-other better

For those that don't know what Zyclon-B is, I'll give you a hint: Auschwitz-Birkenau Konzentrationslager

on a not-so grim note, this chapter was an absolute bitch to write, I got writers block about 500 words in and ended up having to totally re-write the whole chapter

We were walking back to the beach to set up camp for the night, it was getting dark and Garnet still hadn’t shown up. I was starting to get worried, we reached the beach to find Garnet laid next to the female Atquean from the market, they were both asleep in front of a campfire and Garnet had his reptilian wing draped over the Atquean and a soft smile on his face.

“Well, would you look at that” I said “looks like things turned out alright between those two after all” Autumn had a more troubled expression on her face.

“What about her colt friend?” she asked, looking at me.

“She probably saw sense and left him” Minion said “Although I don’t know what we’ll do when the time comes to leave”

“Let them be for now” I said “I’ll discuss it with them in the morning” I then got a thin blanket from the landing craft and placed it on top of them, the Atquean snuggled closer to Garnet. I then walked back towards the landing craft to get changed and to get a hammock. I was now dressed in shorts and a white shirt, Natrix walked over.

“They certainly make a cute couple” he said, nodding his head towards Garnet and the Atquean.

“Well, you know what they say” I said “liebe ist für alle da” Natrix tilted his head.

“What?” he asked, half laughing.

“It’s German for ‘love is for everyone’” I said, Natrix shook his head and rolled his eyes.

“Why do you always make quotes in German?” he asked.

“Do I need a reason?” I said, shrugging whilst picking up a hammock and hefting it over my shoulder “I personally like the way it sounds, although some people say it’s a brutal, guttural language, I say it’s all in how much force you put into pronouncing it” I picked up a hammer and some nails and walked towards a couple of palm trees that were reasonable close to where Garnet and the Atquean were sleeping, a few moments later I had the hammock set up. Autumn made a hammock out of clouds and Minion attached a hammock to some trees a small distance away. He was now lying in the hammock, smoking his Tabaco pipe with all of his armour in the sand nearby. He was now wearing shorts and a loose, unbuttoned shirt, with a bandana decorated with a ‘skull and crossbones’ pattern on the top of his head and looking for all the world like an stereotypical pirate. Piercings, tattoos and all.

“Why is Uncle dressed like a pirate?” Ruby asked, quietly, lying down near Garnet and the Atquean.

“It’s always been one of his little perks” I said, getting in the hammock “back when we were still living on earth he dressed like that all the time”

“What did you used to dress like?” Ruby asked.

“Formal trousers, formal top and a knee-length fleece trench coat” I said “I like to look formal”

“Well, all you succeeded in doing was looking like Hitler” Minion said, I glared at him.

“You know how much I hate that man” I said “and Hitler didn’t wear a trench coat, he wore a jacket”

“You know” Minion said “whenever Hitler was in his car being driven around and he stuck his hand out, he wasn’t giving the Nazi salute”

“Oh, really?” I said sarcastically.

“Yeah” Minion said “He was simply telling the driver to take the third Reich” after a few seconds of silence Vapaa and Natrix burst out laughing and I face palmed.

“Oh my god, Brother” I said “that joke was terrible and you should feel really bad for that”

“I did Nazi that joke coming” Natrix said.

“If I wanted a comeback I would have gone to your mum” I said, smirking, he frowned before laying back down in his hammock.

“What do you mean?” Ruby asked.

“Don’t worry” I said “you’ll understand when you’re older” Autumn glared at me, maybe I went a bit too far with that one.

I woke up early the next morning, before everyone else in fact. I checked the time on my phone, it read 6:30. I got out of the hammock and glanced towards where Garnet and Atquean were laid, they were still fast asleep. In the night Ruby had snuggled closer to her brother, who had draped his other wing over her. The campfire had died down in the night, so I put on my armour. Got my hunting knife and spell pistol and walked into the jungle to get some firewood and a meal. Half an hour later I returned with a large bundle of wood on my shoulder and the gutted carcass of a medium sized herbivorous dinosaur, most likely a Hadrosaur or Iguanadont, dragging along behind me by the tail. When I reached the camp I saw that Minion was now awake and sitting on a log in front of the extinguished fire, smoking on his pipe and deep in thought. I dropped the man-sized carcass on the sand in front of him, the carcass landed with a dull thud and shook him out of his musings. His eyes widened when he saw it.

“Morning, Brother” I said, quietly “ever wondered what barbequed Hadrosaur tastes like?”

“Not particularly” he said.

“Well, you’re going to find out anyway” I said. I then began cutting off slices of meat, it was a very dark meat. As I began cooking, small green bipedal dinosaurs began to appear from the jungle. My brother and I were very wary about them, if you’ve seen Jurassic Park you understand why. Thankfully these ones didn’t seem interested in us, they were more interested in the food that was cooking. I cut off a large piece of meat from the carcass and chucked it into the distance, most of them ran after it but one stayed behind.

“Heh, cute little fellah” I said, the dinosaur walked over and laid down next to me. It was about 2 feet long, and therapodic in appearance, I stroked it under the jaw and it leaned into my hand. Garnet stirred and noticed that he had his sister on one side, and the Atquean on the other.

“What happened last night?” he asked, the confusion evident in his voice.

“We came back to the beach to find you laid next to her” his cheeks flushed and I soon got a pretty good idea as to why, apparently Minion did as well and chuckled.

“Heh, Garnet got laid” he said, Garnet’s face exploded into red and I whacked Minion on the head.

“No need to tease him about it” I said, I then turned to Garnet “so, what’s her name?” he hid his face and mumbled something behind his arms.

“What was that?” Minion asked.

“Thel D’jagaar” he said quietly.

“Okay” I said “not now, but at some point we need to discuss what will happen when we have to leave” he got a determined look on his face.

“She’s coming with us” he said “she already explained it to me”

“Was this before or after you got laid?” Minion asked, smirking. I rewarded him with another whack upside the head.

“Would you please stop teasing my son” I said.

“It’s not like you weren’t thinking it” he said, I turned back to Garnet.

“You were saying?” I asked.

“Thel said that once they reach 15 they are no longer under the care of their parents and are a part of the community” Garnet said “by Atquean law, she’s technically an adult and can make her own decisions, and she was looking for a place to stay anyway”

“And what about her boyfriend?” I asked.

“Ex-boyfriend now” he said. Before nuzzling Thel, who sighed and snuggled closer to Garnet.

“I’ll repeat my earlier question” Minion said “but this time I’m being serious” Garnet didn’t answer straight away.

“Erm…before” he said “she dumped him straight after the ‘market’ incident”

“Good on her” I said “there’s something not right with the way he said ‘I’ll deal with you later’”

“He reminds me of so many people back home” Minion said.

“Garnet actually managed to scare the life out of him” I said, I then turned to Garnet “Don’t let Autumn know I told you this, but well done” his eye widened in surprise.

“Really!?” he asked.

“He was in the wrong” I said “by all rights you would have had my permission to knock the living shit out of him, were we not in a public place I wouldn’t have stopped you” Garnets eyes widened when I swore.

“But” Minion said “that doesn’t mean you can go around whacking anyone that looks at you wrong” I nodded in agreement

“what he said, it isn’t about being able to win every fight” I said “it’s about knowing when it’s better to just walk away and forget about the matter. Up until the point he insulted us it would have been better to walk away. After that moment, you had the right to beat the shit out of him, and you actually gave him something to remind him not to mess with you”

“Really?” Garnet asked.

“You gave him quite the scar down his face” I said, Minion gave a low whistle.

“Good on you, kid” Minion said, at that moment some of the food was done and I passed a plate to Garnet, who then nudged the Atquean awake. He then began to share the food with her. I gave Minion a look before he could come up with a witty comment, soon everyone started to wake up. The moment Ruby realised how close she was to her brother was rather hilarious.

“Err…what?” she said, startling Thel in the process.

“Err, who are you?” Thel said.

“Garnet’s brother” Ruby said, glaring at the Atquean “and you are?”

“Thel” she said “I’m his girlfriend” Ruby gave her a death glare

“Not even a day after what happened in the market and you’re already lifting your tail to him” Ruby said. Garnet looked helpless, and Thel looked hurt.

“Ruby” I said “please don’t do this, who your brother decides to be with is his choice, even if you don’t like it”

“Well it’s true” Ruby muttered, Thel stormed off and Garnet glared at Ruby before following after the Atquean. I glared at Ruby.

“You have half an hour to think of a proper apology or your grounded, young lady” I said.

“But…” Ruby went to object but I cut her off.

“No buts” I said “apology in half an hour or you’re staying at the camp for the remainder of our time on this continent” Ruby snorted before storming off, silence reigned around the camp fire.

“Bloody hell” Minion said “that’s the first time I’ve ever seen you threaten her with punishment”

“And I intend to follow through with it” I said “if she doesn’t apologise to Thel, she’s staying at whatever camps we set up during our time on this continent, no exceptions”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea, Vuur?” Autumn asked.

“It’s less than what she deserves” I said “not even 1 minute and she practically called Garnets girlfriend a slut”

*pov 3rd person*

Garnet followed after Thel, who refused to stop.

“Thel, wait!” Garnet called, he run up to her and grabbed her shoulder, stopping her in a clearing in the forest. Garnet turned her around and looked her in the eye “look, I’m sorry about what Ruby said, it’s just she’s not used to anyone ‘taking’ her brother, and she feels threatened”

“But she didn’t have to say it like that” Thel said, her eyes watering. Garnet walked forward and began nuzzling Thel.

“Just…give her time” Garnet said. Thel rested her head on his shoulder before freezing, her eyes reduced to pinpricks and her blood turned to ice.

“Garnet” Thel said, her voice full of worry. Somewhere at the edge of the clearing an hissing could be heard.

*pov 1st person Vuur Koning*

We were sat at the camp fire in full armour, planning a route to the next camping spot when we heard two young voices scream, one of them was Garnet’s, myself and the rest of my Toa team all jumped up and grabbed our weapons before running towards the direction of the screams, the other two teams stayed behind in case they turned up back at the camp. We were getting near a clearing where the screams originated from when Minion stopped dead in his tracks, a scared expression on his face.

“Oh shit!” he said.

“What?” I asked, stopping.

“What’s 14 foot tall, biomechanical, and has a slug for brains?” he asked, chuckling nervously. I shook my head in denial.

“No fucking way! They were all destroyed” I said, I then opened communications with the other Toa “Guys, we need back up, NOW!”

“What!?” I heard Vapaa say “Why?”

“I’ll give you a clue” I said “it begins with ‘R’ and is the bastard child of a certain master of shadows” I heard Vapaa and Natrix curse really loudly.

“No fucking way!” Vapaa said, his voice laden with panic “we’ll be on our way with Mata Nui as soon as possible” I then heard him barking orders to the guards about protecting the civilians whilst they were gone, several agonising minutes later the rest of the Toa ran over. Mata Nui was also with them.

“Alright” Vinyl said “what the BUCK has got you four so spooked!?” I walked to the edge of the clearing before turning around and looking at all the Toa.

“Rahkshi”

*TO BE CONTINUED*

My keyboard is on fire!!!

“What?” Vinyl asked.

“Rahkshi” I said “shadows that cower in the depths, they are the bastard sons of the Teridax, there are 42 different types all together, originally led by Teridax, until he was killed”

“So what’s the problem?” Vinyl asked.

“Evan Teridax was reluctant to use them, because they destroy everything in their path” I said “and when they aren’t under his influence they are extremely territorial and aggressive, if they’ve got Garnet and Thel…oh god”

“Right!” Minion said, stepping forward “we need to go after them, get Garnet and Thel, and destroy every last fucker left”

“I thought Toa weren’t supposed to kill intelligent beings” Midsummer said, we all looked at Mata Nui.

“I think we can make an exception this time” he said, we all nodded before running into the clearing, it was totally empty.

“Scar?” I asked “can you find any tracks?” he quickly looked around before nodding and pointing at a mud pathway.

“Over there” he said “fresh tracks” we began following the tracks until we reached a dark cave.

“Vinyl, send a sonar ping down there” I said, she nodded before a loud ping resonated through the jungle and into the cave, but it stopped after a few feet.

“Something’s blocking my mask power” she said, I got out my spell rifle and sword.

“Alright, we’re going in” I said “Vapaa, you’re up front lighting the way” the Toa of light nodded and he began to glow, the effect of the light only stretched a few feet in front of us, we then began walking into the cave. After several minute of walking through the darkness we came to a fork.

“Well, shit” Echo said, suddenly we all heard a hiss from our left and looked to see a creature. It was a Rahkshi alright, but it was unlike any I had ever seen. It was gunmetal in colour with a long, segmented tail, and its jaw was open to reveal a jawed tongue, saliva drooled out of its mouth and onto the cave floor.

Minion looked at it in disgust for levelling his plasma cannon and firing, the round hit the Rahkshi and it shrieked before exploding and sending green blood splattering against the wall. After a few seconds the wall began to dissolve and bubble, Minion scoffed.

“If it wasn’t bad enough that they even exist” he said as we walked past “they are also fucking xenomorphs now, fucking great!”

“Alright guys” I said “whatever you do, do not let its blood touch you”

“You don’t need to tell me twice” Vinyl said, she then retched as she walked past the body “by Celestia that shit stinks!”

“Hydro-sulphuric acid” I said “alright, I can’t stress enough how careful we need to be, don’t use melee attacks unless you absolutely have to, elemental and ranged attacks only” as we walked on the tunnel began to slope down, after several minutes the tunnel opened up into a large cave to reveal…oh shit. Hundreds upon thousands of individuals of various races from Spherus Magna were attached to the wall in much the same fashion as with the real Xenomorphs. Small, unopened cocoons hung in front of each one, surprisingly none of the captives were actually dead.

“What the fuck is going on here!” Vapaa shouted, some of the captives stirred and began calling out for help.

“Alright” I said “start freeing prisoners, but make sure they don’t leave yet” Vapaa agreed to stay at the door and everyone else nodded before splitting up to begin freeing people, I heard Garnet calling and ran towards the source of the shouts.

“Dad!” he called, he was imbedded in the wall, next to Thel “We’re over here”

“Oh, my god” I said “I’ll get you out” I cut down the cocoon in front of them both before cutting them out, it turned out to be a Kraata, which I promptly stamped on.

“Dad…” Garnet went to say, but was cut off by a voice.

“Is someone there?” the voice asked, I followed the source of the voice to find a matoran. The matoran gasped when he saw us “are you… a Toa!?” honestly I looked just as shocked as he did

“Yes, we’re here to get you out” I said, I cut him out and he slumped to the floor, his body was almost entirely covered in rust, I helped him up and Garnet began supporting him.

“400 million years I’ve waited for rescue” the matoran said, seemingly overcome with emotion “and finally it’s here”

“What is going on here?” I asked.

“These…Rahkshi, they appeared a few hundred years after Teridax was killed, just after the ‘event’” he said “they capture people and just keep them here, for what exactly, no one knows, but they keep them alive, for longer than should be possible” he began to get excited

“Shh” I said “take it easy old timer, you can tell us after we’ve got everyone out” the matoran nodded, after a few hours we managed to free everyone. Those that could stand on their own offered to help, to which we agreed.

“Alright!” I called “your freedom is through these tunnels, but I warn you, the world above has changed” and with that, I led then up to the surface.

We soon reached the mouth of the cave and most of the prosoners exclaimed at the bright daylight. We then led every one onto the beach, there wasn’t just Matoran or Agori or Glatorians, there were individuals from most sapient species, except for Toa. I was counting up all the individuals when Vapaa pulled me aside

“We are getting Celestia here, and we are going back down there to exterminate every last one of those things!” he spat, I placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Not yet” I said, I then scowled “tonight, we go back down there with all the guards from our ship, and eradicate every last trace of them until there is nothing left” he nodded and went to say something when I heard someone exclaim, we both ran over to find Mata Nui stood in front of a very familiar, albeit very aged, fire tribe Glatorian in rusty, pitted armour.

“Friend!?” Mata Nui asked, he voice filled with disbelief.

“By the great beings!” the Glatorian said “is that really you!?” They both stood there, open mouthed

“A-Ackaar!?” Mata Nui asked “how can this be?”

“Holy shit” I muttered “we’ve just rescued a prime Glatorian” Mata Nui then took a step back and his mask glowed, he then began to rise into the air and all of the former prisoners began to glow as well. They soon began to change, becoming younger, the armour on the Spherus Magnans began to renew itself and eventually all of them looked as though they were brand new. Eventually Mata Nui finished and he lowered to the ground and stumbled slightly, his armour was slightly duller now. I ran over and supported him.

“Are you okay?” I asked, Mata Nui nodded, but accepted my help all the same

“Tahu!?” Ackaar asked, I chuckled slightly and shook my head.

“No” I said “if anything, I’m closer to a Glatorian than a true Toa. I’m Toa Vuur Koning, leader of the Wolfpack team of Neu-Toa and captain of the Jörmungandr”

“Neu-Toa?” I heard a female voice ask, I looked to the source to see Kina, a Glatorian from the Water tribe.

“Unlike regular Toa, we don’t start out as Matoran” I said “we are each a different species, for instance, I’m a Human”

“I thought some of you looked odd” she said, eyeing me warily.

“Oh, by the way” I said smirking “I’m also from another dimension” Kina’s eye twitched before she feinted with a groan.

“I think you just broke her” Echo said, walking forward, Ackaar’s eyes widened as he beheld the four armed, winged Toa.

“What are you?” Ackaar asked.

“Warrior caste changeling” Echo said, before changing into an exact copy of Ackaar, he then changed back “we’re natural shape shifters” for the rest of the day we began counting off all the different former prisoners. Most of the Glatorians I recognised were there, but none of the Toa were anywhere to be found.

“Where are the Toa?” I asked.

“Oh, you mean those backstabbing, no good traitors?” Kina asked sarcastically “the fired off a nova blast and left us here to the Rahkshi”

“What!?” I exclaimed “the Toa would never do that” Kina scoffed.

“How do you think we ended up in that pit then?” she asked.

“I’m sure there is a very good reason for why they would have let of a nova blast” Vapaa said “Toa only use it as a last resort, it must have been a very serious threat” Kina scoffed before storming off.

“Kina, wait!” Gresh, a second Glatorian from the jungle tribe, said, before going to chase after her, but Ackaar held him back.

“Give her time” Ackaar said, he then turned to us “we don’t know what exactly happened, some say it was a nova blast, others remember seeing a spectrum coloured wave of energy”

“That sounds a lot like the elements of harmony” I said, seeing their looks I explained “its six items of power, each representing a different element of friendship; Loyalty, Laughter, Honesty, Kindness, Generosity and Magic”

“That sounds a lot like a team of Toa” Ackaar said.

“Not quite” I said “I’ll admit, there are similarities, but there are just as many differences as well, we’ll figure it out, some way or another. For now, let’s focus on eradicating those Rahkshi” Ackaar nodded and we began planning, Ackaar seemed sceptical as to how many guards we had.

“I doubt you have 50’000 battle ready warriors” he said, scoffing.

“Oh, ye of little faith” I said, I then tapped something on my phone and a few minutes later the Jörmungandr landed on the beach, the Glatorians jaws dropped when they saw the size of it “Behold, Jörmungandr: the Midgard serpent” Gresh pointed at the ship.

“Boat” he said, dumbly, a few minutes later a white flash filled the sky and I saw a golden shooting star, followed closely by a silver one.

“You guys might want to move” I said, before walking back a couple feet, the Glatorians ran back and with a loud bang, Celestia and Luna hit the beach, kicking up clouds of dust. They were both wearing armour, Celestia had Gold armour and Luna had silver. And they both wielded stylized spears, levitated in their magic “Glatorians, allow me to introduce my friends, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, did I mention them move the Sun and Moon in their spare time?” Celestia rolled her eyes and walked over.

“I would hardly say we move them in our spare time” she said “but yes, what he says is true, although you really need to stop relying on me so much, you’re lucky Twilight was so understanding”

“Why would a time of day be understanding?” Ackaar asked, once he had gotten over his shock, Luna giggled.

“Twilight Sparkle is a pony, and a princess” Luna said “if we are both called away she watches over the Kingdom for us, but my sister is right, you should stop relying on us so much”

“Two things” I said “one, I’ve only requested your assistance all of two times including this time, and two, I’m just making sure we have enough fighting power to totally irradiate every last Rahkshi down there” Celestia and Luna’s eyes widened.

“Surely thou can’t be serious!?” Luna said. Myself, the rest of the Neu-Toa, all of the Glatorians, Skrall, Bone hunters, Vortix, Steltians, Skakdi, Matoran and Agori deadpanned. Luna chuckled nervously “Just how serious a threat are they?”

“Enough to warrant eradication” a voice said, I looked to the direction of the voice to see Turaga Vakama walking over “Rahkshi are foul creatures, sons of Teridax himself, they should not even exist, these Rahkshi are mutated, organic beasts, a shadow even of their former selves, even Teridax would want them destroyed” the two sisters glanced at the assembled Spherus Magnans.

“Surely you can’t be thinking of actually wiping out an entire race?” Celestia asked.

“Okay” I said “let’s see you get trapped down there for 400 million years and still be merciful”

“Ah” Luna said “thou point is duly noted”

“I thought so” I said, we then began planning and eventually, we had an attack plan, we would go into the caves and go up the other tunnels, destroying any Rahkshi that we saw, we began arming all those that could fight with spell guns and teaching them to shoot using them, Ackaar and the other Glatorians with elemental weapons kept their weapons but also acquired an arcane gun.

“I prefer the feel of a blade over a ranged weapon” Ackaar said, but took an arcane pistol anyway. Kina picked up a type of arcane shot-gun, often call a buck-shot by the royal guard, she pointed it at a tree, holding it in one hand. Before she had a chance to fire I tapped her on the shoulder and shook my head.

“If you fire it like that the kick-back will rip your hand off, hold the barrel with your other hand” I said, before taking another one and showing her, I cocked it back before firing. Pain shot through my right arm and I dropped the buck-shot. I began shaking my am, trying to ignore the pain…it didn’t work “AHH, YOU FUCKING BITCH!” Kina fell on the floor laughing.

“What was that about holding the barrel?” she asked.

“It’s not funny” I said, rubbing my arm to try and alleviate the pain “let’s see you try it then” Kina scoffed before aiming the buck-shot and firing, she yelped.

“AHH, THAT REALLY HURT!” she exclaimed, before launching the shot gun across the beach

“I told you” I said.

“Looks like you both need to find yourselves better weapons” a female voice said, I groaned in exasperation before turning around.

“What the hell do you want, Roodaka?” I said, crossing my arms “because I’d much rather not have to deal with a two timing, double crossing, back stabbing, seductive, and above all annoying bitch like you” she growled before striking for me, I spell-jumped behind her before kicking her legs out from under her, she fell to the floor and both her and Kina looked at me in surprise.

“H-how did…?” Roodaka went to say, but I cut her off.

“Magic” I said, spell-jumping several times, before levitating a spell auto gun over to myself “is a wonderful, wonderful thing” I said.

“That’s my line” Discord said, appearing in a pink mushroom cloud, he then glanced around in surprise at the Bara Magnans “Well, you’ve been busy”

“Discord!” I said cheerfully, holding my arms out “glad you could make it”

“What is that!?” Roodaka said.

“I could say the same about you” Discord said “but where are my manners, I’m Discord, reformed god of chaos” he the conjured a chocolate milk of glass and drank it, before chucking the center away, which landed in a fire ball. Roodaka stared at Discord wide eyed and her eyes reduced to pinpricks

“Mata Nui, he’s worse than Vezon” she said quietly, I smirked.

“And guess who gets to work with him” I said, patting her on the shoulder Roodaka’s eyes got even smaller and she went pale slightly.

“Who is this Vezon that everyone keeps talking about?” Discord asked “he sounds like he’d be fun”

“He has an obsession with the severed heads of his enemies being mounted on the wall of his dwellings” I said, Discord frowned.

“Urgh, gag” he said, sticking his fingers down his throat “honestly, what’s the fun in killing your enemies when you can just do this”

“Do what?” Roodaka asked, confused. Discord smirked and snapped his fingers, Roodaka then turned into Queen Chrysalis…coloured bright pink with yellow polka dots. Both me and Discord fell about laughing.

“Nice to see I’m not the only one to notice that” I said, giving Discord a high five, Roodaka realised what had happened and screamed.

“You turn me back right now!” she said, stomping a forehoof, her voice now possessing the same buzzing voice of chrysalis, her eyes widened “AAH, MY VOICE” Kina started laughing as well

“You might have something in your throat” Kina said

“YOU CHANGE ME BACK RIGHT NOW!” not-Chrysalis shouted.

“It’s kind of ironic” I said “seeing as you always like mutating others so much” not-Chrysalis seethed.

“Okay Discord” Celestia said, walking over “you’ve had your fun, turn her back” Discord huffed before snapping his fingers, Roodaka turned back to her original self.

“Thank you” Roodaka said.

“You’re still working with him” Celestia said, before walking off, Roodaka’s eye twitched.

seriously, Roodaka and Chrysalis have the same voice actress, so I kind've had to put that little scene in

*POV 3rd person*

Ruby walked amongst the Spherus Magnans, casting the occasional wary glance towards the odd Bone Hunter or Skakdi that saw her. Every one that saw her gave her a look that sent shivers down her spine, and not in a good way. She soon found Garnet and Thel talking with a…Turaga if she remembered correctly. This one was blue and spoke in a soft female voice, she also were a rather plain mask. Ruby walked over and cleared her throat.

“Umm, Garnet, Thel?” Ruby said, Thel scowled.

“Oh, what do you want?” Thel said.

“I’m…I’m sorry” Ruby said “for earlier, what I said was wrong and I shouldn’t have said it, if it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have gotten captured by those things, can you forgive me?” Ruby looked at the Atquean with a hopeful expression on her face, after a few moments the Atquean smiled.

“How about we start over?” Thel said.

“I’d like that” Ruby said, Turaga Nokama gestured for the female Kirin to sit near them.

“Why don’t you come join us, young one?” she asked “I was just starting to tell the tale of how I became a Toa”

“I think I’d like that” Ruby said, before glancing behind her “besides, those Bone Hunters and Skakdi just creep me out” Turaga Nokama took note of this and glared at a small group that was eyeing up the young female Kirin, the group quickly dispersed and so Turaga Nokama began to tell the tale of her adventures with the Toa Metru.

*POV 1st person* Vuur Koning.

I was stood talking with Ackaar about The Art of War by Sun Tzu whilst we waited for everyone to finish preparing.

“I’ve got an audio recording of it on the ship” I said “so whilst we are searching for the Toa you can have a listen”

“I’ll consider it” Ackaar said nodding.

“Hey boys” Autumn said, walking over.

“Who’s this?” Ackaar asked.

“Autumn Skies, Pegasus and deputy of my team” I said, before adding “and significant other of yours truly” at this point Turaga Vakama walked over.

“I would keep an eye on the Skakdi and Bone Hunters” he said “Nokama has told me that they have taken an interest in your child; Ruby”

“I’ll tear them apart if they go anywhere near her!” I said, loud enough for a group of them to start edging away from me “honestly, if they weren’t such good fighters I’d leave them here”

“What about that thing?” Gresh said, pointing at Discord, who was currently following Roodaka.

“He breaks up the monotony” I said, shrugging “but seriously, he’s going to be sticking around keeping the ones like Roodaka in line, if they’re too busy trying to deal with him, they won’t have time to think about double crossing us, and if they do he can simply use discorded touch on them”

“What?” Ackaar asked

“It completely inverts their personality” I said “so a double crossing Vortix like Roodaka would become incredibly loyal, but it works both ways, so you have to be careful” I went to inspect one of my grenades, only to find it missing. I saw a blue foot disappear around a tree and sighed in exasperation, I then crossed my arms.

“I hope they don’t press the big red button!” I said loudly, five seconds later there was a loud bang and Berix exclaimed as he was flung across the beach. When he landed in the sand he was smoking slightly, I walked over and crossed my arms “you should really learn to stop taking things, or you might find that this happens a lot more often” Berix didn’t say anything, he just groaned before falling back into the sand. I rolled my eyes before walking back over to the planning table.

“What was that?” Gresh asked.

“A grenade” I said, picking one up “I was going to demonstrate but that little blue shit did it for me, press the button and throw it as far away as you can, five seconds later you get a big boom”

“How does it work?” the Jungle tribe Glatorian asked, picking one up and examining it.

“Changeling crap” I said, Gresh put the grenade back on the table and took a few steps back.

“Okay” he said “that’s just disgusting”

“It brings a whole new meaning to the term ‘explosive diarrhoea’” Minion said, myself, Vapaa and Natrix burst out laughing, the Glatorians just looked ill.

“You’ll find we have a very dark sense of humour” I said.

“Oh great” Kina said, rolling her eyes, I smirked and Minion saw the look I was giving.

“Oh no you don’t” he said, cupping his hand over my mouth. I stuck my tongue out and he groaned in disgust before pulling his hand away.

“Roses are red, my mind is twisted” I said, Vapaa and Natrix face palmed, waiting for the inevitable “Bend over bitch, you’re about to get fisted!” Kina responded by punching me in the face, knocking me off my feet and braking my nose, the other Toa burst out laughing.

“You really deserved that” Vapaa said.

“Still worth it” I said, standing up and blocking my nose to stop the blood “err, does anyone have a tissue?” the Glatorians just stared at me, slack jawed.

“I cannot believe you just said that” Gresh said.

“Fick dich, ich tue, was ich will” I said, grabbing a tissue off of Minion. The Glatorians just looked at me, confused. I gave Vapaa a look and he smirked, getting the same idea as me.

“Ich weiß nicht, was das Problem ist” Vapaa said, shrugging “wir reden, wie wir normalerweise tun”

“Sie wahrscheinlich zu alt und altersschwach sind” I replied, the Glatorians were just looking at us, getting more and more confused with every sentence.

“What are they saying?” Kina asked, looking at Minion, who just shrugged.

“Hell if I know” he said “I don’t speak German”

“Alright” I said “we’re just messing with you”

*later that day*

We were all stood at the entrance to the cave, several thousand individuals that could fight were there out of the 70’000 individuals that made up the combined numbers of the crew of the ship plus the Spherus Magnans (that’s right, we rescued close to 20’000 Spherus Magnans from that hell hole). I was stood at the front of the group alongside Celestia, Luna and Ackaar, who had sort of become the leader of the Spherus Magnans.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Celestia asked, both me and Ackaar deadpanned and Celestia soon took the hint “right, shall we?” I nodded and drew my power-sword before sending a column of fire into the sky. This was the signal everyone was waiting for and they all cheered, we then began to descend into the mouth of the cave. After a few minute we reached the fork and I pointed to turn right.

“They should be through there” I said. At that moment one appeared from nowhere and jumped at Celestia, who promptly incinerated it with a beam of focused sunlight, lighting up the cave in the process and revealing the right hand corridor to be swarming with them, I paled slightly “oh, shit”

“Quite” Luna said, looking down the corridor wide eyed, I turned to Celestia.

“Ladies first?” I asked, gesturing down the corridor, she rolled her eyes before charging up magic on her horn for several minutes, she the reared up.

“BE GONE!!!”

She then stomped her fore-hooves on the ground and released all of the charged up magic in one, concentrated beam of sunlight. Eradicating all of the Rahkshi in the corridor from existence, Ackaar gave a low whistle as he stared at the now smooth and smoking corridor.

“Where can I learn to do that?” he asked, gesturing to his sword, Celestia snorted.

“If you tried to there would be nothing left of you but ash and dust, and that would before you could even think about firing the spell” she said, giving him a pointed look. We soon began to descend the corridor, which was still really hot.

“Exactly how much power did you put into that, Cellestia?” I asked.

“Enough to make the ground completely sterile” she said, shrugging and increasing her pace slightly. After several minutes of walking we reached the end of the corridor and entered an absolutely massive cavern, filled with ‘Xeno-Rahkshi’. It soon dissolved into total chaos, with countless battles raging around. I had just slain one when another jumped on me and pinned me down, it went to attack me with its jawed tongue but I grabbed it with my hand. A few seconds later a gold beam hit the Xeno-Rahkshi and left nothing except for the tongue which I was still holding. I looked other to see Celestia, one of the Xeno-Rahkshi went to attack her from behind but she spun her staff at a very high speed and obliterated the creature in a shower of green blood.

“Thanks” I said, getting up. I noticed a doorway off to one side and nodded to Celestia, she followed after me as I walked into the cavern. It seemed to be mostly empty, and nothing was showing up on any of the masks, I rounded a corner and pulled Celestia back very quickly.

“What?” she asked, I motioned for her to be quiet and wait before slowly walking towards the corner. Pacing back and forth was a huge therapod-form xenomorph, about 70 feet long.

“Shit” I muttered, I turned to Celestia “you better start charging up that spell…what?” I asked, noticing that she had frozen in fear. I felt some kind of liquid splashing on my armour, I looked up to see the Xenomorph ‘looking’ straight down at me.

“Err, Vuur Koning?” Celestia said, panic riddling her voice.

“Run!” I shouted, bolting for the doorway, Celestia flew through it and I followed through soon after, most of the Xeno-Rahkshi were now destroyed. The Xeno-rex crashed through the wall, making everyone stop and stare. The Xeno-Rahkshi were now starting to climb up the walls of the cavern and out of the way “EVERYONE OUT, NOW!” they didn’t need telling twice and began running up the corridor. Celestia and Luna were at the back, sending offensive blasts of light. But it didn’t seem to affect the Xeno-rex as it charged up the corridor after us. We rushed back to the beach and a few moments later the Xeno-rex stumbled onto the sand, causing people to go running for their lives. I teleported onto the bridge.

“What in Tartarus is that!?” Blazewing asked, looking out the window

“I don’t care!” I said “fire all the guns, give it everything we’ve got. I don’t want anything left of it, you hear me!” Blazewing nodded and began sending orders, a few moments later all of the guns began firing on the beast. The rail gun sluggishly began to aim at the Xeno-rex and fired, hitting the Xeno-rex square on the forehead and causing its head to explode in a shower of blood and gore. The carcass fell to the ground with a loud thud and everyone began cheering as I sighed with relief.

“Thank god, it’s over” I said, leaning over the control panels. I turned to Blazewing “aim the rail gun at their nest and keep firing” the fire drake nodded and barked out orders to the crew, the rail gun re aimed towards the nest and began firing with a slow *bang*…*bang*…*bang*…*bang*.after several minutes I ordered for them to stop and send out a search party, who confirmed that the nest had been destroyed.

“May I ask why you were so eager to destroy the nest?” Blazewing asked.

“If you’d seen the things I saw you’d understand” I said, the night we celebrated. Not only for the eradication of the nest, but also for the discovery of the Spherus Magnans.

I was stood talking to Celestia and Luna.

“So” I said “we’re planning on doing one last concert before we begin our search, care to join us?” Celestia thought it through.

“Hmm, sure” she said, shrugging.

We were stood in the hold of the Jörmungandr with part of the wall slid away to reveal the beach below, we were out to sea by a couple hundred meters, meaning as much of the beach as possible could be used for the crowd. Most of them were stood there, confused as to what was happening, I stood forward.

“Ladies and Gentlemen” I said “let me play you the song of my people” the stage went dark and Vinyl began to tap out a ditty on the Keytar

(Warning: this song is worse than the ‘Roses are red, my mind is twisted’ joke, but please watch the video as it’s the only way you’ll understand the next bit)

*POV 3rd person*

Ruby was singing along to the song, she had heard it several time and although she didn’t understand it, she really enjoyed it. She look over to see Princess Celestia and Luna stood there staring at her with their eyes twitching, their cheeks flushed and their wings fully spread out. She shrugged before continuing to sing along, totally oblivious to the songs true meaning. Right up until the point where her dad proceeded to dump Vinyl in a bathtub and pour red hot cinders onto her, only for her to jump out at the end totally unharmed. That made her do a double take, she turned to the two Alicorns.

“Err, what exactly was that song about?” she asked, Celestia and Luna looked around helplessly and let out whimpers.

“Um, probably best if you ask your father” Celestia said, her voice rising a pitch as she tried to get her wings under control “when you’re a lot older”

The song finished and I stepped forwards.

“Discord!” I shouted “where are you, you goat-faced bastard?” he appeared with a flash and I chucked him the microphone, he caught the microphone and snapped his fingers, Demonic looking armour appeared on him. The band started playing and Discord let out a sinister laugh before starting to sing.

*song finishes*

Discord chucked the microphone back to me and disappeared with a flash.

“Thank you, Discord” I said “alright, on a more serious note, Princess Luna, this one is for you” I could just see the night Alicorn looking around in surprise as the song started before a huge grin began adorning her face, seems she actually recognised the song.

The song finished and Vapaa and Natrix walked onto the stage wearing full armour, holding microphones and the band began to play again, this time playing two songs, one after the other. With the two male Toa providing backing vocals during the chorus.

We finished those two songs and Vapaa stepped forward, the band once again began to play, but this time Vapaa sang.

The song finished and Vapaa and Natrix walked off stage and Blazewing stormed on, I feigned surprise but in actual fact this was just an act for the crowd.

“Give me ye mic” he said.

“Err okay?” I said, passing him the microphone and taking a couple of steps back, Vinyl began to tap out a ditty on the Keytar and violinist began to play.

Blazewing chucked the microphone back to me and walked off the stage.

“Uh…what?” I said, feigning shock “anyway, where were we, oh yeah, take it away, Minion” Minion pulled up a stool and began to pluck out a soft tune on an electric-acoustic guitar. I glanced to a cliff briefly and smiled before singing

*POV 3rd person*

Garnet and Thel were sat on a cliff overlooking the beach where the Wolfpack were playing, meaning they got their own private viewing area. The song started and Garnet gasped before smirking.

“Oh, he didn’t” he said quietly.

“What?” Thel asked.

“I think they’re playing this song for us” Garnet said, nuzzling Thel “my dad actually looked at us before singing” Thel blushed and they both closed their eyes, enjoying the music. They failed to notice the Atquean figure watching them from some distance away, before it walked off into the night.

looks like the princesses are a couple of freaks
someone did recommend that 'diggy diggy' song, but Ich Tu Dir Weh was so much more hilarious, because they wouldn't actually know what it's actually about.

and the second song just screams 'Discord', for that matter why isn't their a Discord emoticon?

Sabaton drinking game: grab a bunch of your friends and listen to the song Metal Machine on repeat and take a shot every time they make a reference to a classic rock/metal band/album. the first one to pass out has to pay for the drinks.

and you can consider the voice in the Alestorm song to be Blazewing's 'canon' voice... so... for Scottish pirate-dragons

I woke up and climbed out of my hammock before donning my armour, several Skakdi, Skrall and Bone Hunters were also awake and chatting amongst themselves.

“Hey” I called quietly, gaining their attention “I need you help with something”

“What with?” one of them asked, not looking very interested.

“Do you want food or not?” I asked, crossing my arms, they took the hint and grabbed their weapons, the weapons of the Skrall and Bone Hunters were standard bladed weapons, but the weapons of the Skakdi were double ended, with a ranged weapon on one end and a blade on the other, I nodded to them and we headed into the forest.

*POV 3rd person*

Garnet awoke to a commotion and saw the young male Atquean from the market trying to pull Thel away from the campsite, any thoughts of sleeping in were forgotten and he charged towards the pair. He barrelled into the male, knocking him off his feet and winding him.

“Well…if it isn’t…the freak” the Atquean sneered between gasps.

“Look, can’t you see she doesn’t want you anymore?” Garnet said, the male scoffed

“She just doesn’t know what she wants” he said, Garnet growled, by now a small crowd had started to form.

“Look around you” Garnet said “I’m sure they would have no problem in helping the son of their leader, especially to get rid of scum like you” the Atquean growled and charged at Garnet, who changed his arm into a Rhotuka launcher and fired a paralysis spinner at the teenager. Who proceeded to face plant in the sand, Garnet hobbled over and turned his arm into a fire claw

“HEY” a voice said “what the hell is going on!?” Garnet turned to see his dad’s brother; Minion, who looked pretty intimidating in the bulky, black and gunmetal-grey armour.

“I was just claiming my girlfriend back, you freak!” the Atquean shouted, the crowd promptly took several steps away from Minion whilst muttering. Minion drew his sword and walked towards the Atquean.

“So you’re the little shit that picked a fight with my nephew in the market?” Minion said, lifting the Atquean’s chin up using the flat of his sword “may I ask why you are even within a mile of Garnet

“Thel’s mine!” he said “and no others” Minion growled before punching his fist right next to the Atquean’s head and leaning in close.

“People are not mere possessions!” Minion thundered, the Atquean’s eyes reduced to pinpricks “she part of our family now, so if you come within 100 yards of her ever again I will personally beat the ever-loving shit out of you, DO YOU HEAR ME!?” the Atquean didn’t say anything, instead starting to hyperventilate whilst staring wide eyed at the human, who stood up before grabbing the Atquean by the tail, spinning on the spot several times and then launching him deep into the jungle. Garnet and Thel stared at Minion slack jawed as the Atquean’s screams faded into the distance, followed by a dull thud and a laud yelp.

“Uh…” Garnet said.

“He reminded me of a chav” Minion said simply before walking off, the crowd gave him a very wide berth before they also dispersed.

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning. Later that day*

I was preparing some of the Spherus Magnans on the sorts of things we would be coming across and the appropriate way to act in certain situations, and joy of joys I had, amongst others, the Lower Steltians to deal with (that’s Krekka’s species for those that aren’t aware).

“Right” I said “You’ve just stumbled into a canyon filled with dragons, one at the top of the canyon has spotted you and you are about to be the guest of honour at a barbeque. What are you going to do?” before anyone else had a chance to answer a lower Steltian butted in.

“Smash him?” he asked, several of the more intelligent individuals pace palmed whilst muttering.

“He’s up there” I said, pointing to a nearby cliff “you’re down here” I pointed to the beach that we were stood on, the lower Steltian actually looked up at the cliff as if a dragon would magically appear.

“He’s not up there” the lower Steltian said incredulously “did he run away?” I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed in exasperation.

“No” I said “but why don’t you?” the lower Steltian shrugged.

“Because I like it here” he said, every intelligent being including myself face palmed and groaned in exasperation.

“Someone else?” I asked, a Skakdi spoke up.

“If you are close enough to the exit, get out as fast as you can, if not then try and find a good enough hiding place that is well protected” the Skakdi said.

“Thank you!” I said “yes, another alternative would also be to try and fight them off, but that is extremely foolish and I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have a death wish”

“Erm” a Skrall said “why not?”

“Dragon fire is half as hot as the surface of the Sun” I said “even a toa of fire will have a hard time surviving that, alright, next creature, who can tell me what this is” I pointed to a whiteboard with a depiction of a Wyvern stuck to it.

“A dragon?” a Bone Hunter asked.

“Close, they are even in the same family of Rahi, this is a Wyvern” I said, I then wrote out Wyvern in the Matoran language “although smaller, Wyvern are much more dangerous, they can’t speak and are much more primal in nature. Their tails not only have a poison stinger at the end, but they can also flick spines at prey or opponents, however they have the upside of not being able to breathe fire, alright, next” I pointed to a picture of Princess Celestia.

“Scary Fire Rahi” a lower Steltian said.

“Well” I said, chuckling “I won’t argue with the scary part. This is Princess Celestia; one of the leaders of the Nation of Equestria. She is Immortal and powerful enough to move the Sun, in fact, her role is to keep the Sun on its correct orbit”

“I thought planets revolved around Suns, not the other way around” a Votixx said.

“They should” I said “but something screwed with the order of this solar system and now this planet is the center. Anyway, what should you do if you meet Princess Celestia?”

“Run away?” a Bone Hunter asked.

“Run really far away?” a lower Steltian asked.

“Be polite” I said “if you meet her, bow, and be formal, but don’t act brunt…”

“Thank you, Vuur Koning” Celestia said right next to me, I promptly jumped several feet into the air and yelled in surprise.

“Bloody hell, Celestia!” I said, trying to control my racing heart “I thought you were back in Canterlot”

“I was just having a quick look around before I headed back” she said, before walking off. Once she was out of earshot they all gave me an odd look.

“I thought you said we should be polite” a Vortixx said.

“And you should” I said “the difference with me is I’ve known her for a while”

*POV 3rd person*

Ruby was having a really bad day, the Bone Hunters, Skrall and Skakdi wouldn’t stop staring at her and to make it worse a lower Steltian would not stop following her around.

“Would you please leave me alone?” Ruby said.

“But I want to be the pretty Rahi’s friend” the Steltian said in a deep voice, Ruby groaned in exasperation.

“For the last time, I’m a Kirin, not a Rahi!” Ruby said “and my name is Ruby”

“I want to be pretty Ruby’s friend” the Steltian said, Ruby growled before taking off and flying right in the Steltians face, the behemoth actually looked intimidated for a few moments

“Don’t you get it!?” Ruby said “I don’t want to be your friend, just leave me alone!” she then spun round and sped off, using the Steltians chest plate as a makeshift launch pad to kick off from. The Steltian whimpered. Ruby landed a short way away and began walking again, only to bump into a red Skakdi.

“‘Ello, Missy” the Skakdi said, leering at the Kirin. Ruby tried to walk around him only for the Skakdi to block her path “whoa, where are you ‘eaded in such an ‘urry?” Ruby began to back away only to bump into a green Skakdi.

“Come on” the green one said, giving her a predatory look “let us show ya a good time” Ruby began to panic, this was not good. The red one chuckled sinisterly before picking the Kirin up by the tail.

“Let go of me!” Ruby said, thrashing around “do you have any idea what my Dad will do to you if he finds out?”

“Who says ‘e’s gonna find out?” the green one said, at that moment a large shadow covered the green Skakdi

“I do” a voice said, the green Skakdi gulped before turning around to see the Lower Steltian from before “you leave pretty Ruby alone” the Red one sneered.

“Or what?” the red one asked.

“Or I hurt you” the Steltian said, the red one rolled his eyes.

“Oh I’m so scared” the Skakdi said, the Steltian growled before shoving the green Skakdi out of the way and taking a couple of steps toward the red Skakdi, who now looked slightly nervous “now, now ma’e, lets no’ ge’ to ‘asty” the Skakdi dropped Ruby before walking away.

“Thank you…err” Ruby tilted her head “What is your name?”

“Skohka won’t let mean bullies hurt pretty Ruby” the Steltian said “pretty Ruby friend?” Ruby giggled before nodding.

“Yes, ‘pretty Ruby’ friend” she said, rolling her eyes.

Garnet and Thel were walking along the beach when they saw something that made them do a double-take, Ruby was sitting on the shoulder of a 15 ft. tall lower Steltian with orange armour.

“Err, who is this?” Garnet asked.

“Me Skohka” Skohka said, smiling “me pretty Ruby’s friend” Garnet raised an eyebrow.

“Pretty Ruby?” he asked, Ruby just shrugged.

“What? He keeps the Skakdi away from me, but he’s really a big softy” she patted his shoulder plate as she said this and he smiled “Skohka, this is my brother Garnet, and his girlfriend Thel”

“Pretty Ruby’s friends, my friends too?” Skohka asked. The Kirin and Atquean gave him wary looks, Ruby saw this and frowned.

“He might sound stupid, but he’s not” she said, crossing her arms.

“True, me not smart as Vortixx or Skakdi” Skohka admitted “but me smart enough to know right from wrong, me just have trouble saying so” he gave a shrug as he said this.

“Ruby, a word please?” Garnet asked, Ruby flew over “care to explain how in Tartarus you managed to befriend one of those things?”

“At first I wasn’t so eager to accept him as a friend either” she admitted “right up until the point where he saved me from a couple of Skakdi, he can be useful to us”

“You mean he can do the dirty work” Garnet said, dead panning.

“I’m not the type to exploit him like that” she said “look, he cares about me, I don’t know why, and frankly, I don’t care either, if it means he can protect us. What if Mum or Dad are off fighting and it all goes to shit when they are gone?” Garnet simply sighed before nodding.

“Alright” he said “but you’re telling Dad, okay?” Ruby nodded.

*Meanwhile*

The Toa were searching for Vapaa, last they heard he was in his room but when John went to check he wasn’t there. Orca was currently searching in the service tunnels.

“Vapaa?” she called, her voice reverberated along the tunnels, but other than that there was no response. She rounded a corner and found herself in a rather large junction room, she eventually found Vapaa sitting in a corner “Vapaa? What are you doing here?” she asked, walking over

“Just leave me alone” Vapaa said, Orca sat down next to him.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, Vapaa didn’t answer “Vapaa?” Vapaa sighed.

“My family just found out I’m still alive when I didn’t exactly want them to know” he said, Orca gave him an incredulous look and he rolled his eyes “my brothers have given me hell for most of my life and my Mum only cares about getting money from the government because of a certain…condition I have”

“What did your brothers do?” she asked, Vapaa scoffed

“Breaking my stuff, stealing the money that I’d earned. And telling me that no one will ever care about me because I have Autism, and don’t even…” he didn’t get to finish his sentence as Orca leaned in and kissed him, silencing whatever he was going to say. Orca pulled away and smiled.

“I guess you and I are just going to have to prove them wrong, aren’t we?” she said, Vapaa didn’t say anything at first.

“Uh…” he said, Orca giggled before speaking into a com.

“It’s alright guys” she said “I’ve found him, but don’t come looking for us just yet”

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning*

With Vapaa found we could relax now, and he and Orca were now in a relationship, not sure how the Atlantian King would react to that but whatever, their choice. I was currently sat on the beach under a palm tree writing out an official moral code for the Toa, or Neu-Toa, as we would be called from now on to differentiate ourselves from the original Toa. I’d had to address the whole killing thing, I’d discussed it with Mata Nui and the Turaga and they’d agreed that because of the common use of lethal force amongst enemies nowadays it would be acceptable to use lethal force in return. But, it would only be allowed if the opponent was A; armed. B; using, or attempting to use, lethal force and C; they showed no signs of surrendering or retreating. This would also extend to anyone who tried to kill any of our family deliberately, so with that changeling that tried to kill Garnet, I would have, by rights, been allowed to use lethal force to stop him if necessary.
I was interrupted from my musings by a shadow looming over me and I looked up to see a hulking behemoth of a lower Steltian with Ruby riding on his shoulder.

“Who’s this?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Me Skohka” the Steltian said “me pretty Ruby’s friend” I gave Ruby a look and she blushed.

“Dad!” she exclaimed “it’s not like that, he’s just a friend. Besides, you should be thanking him. If it wasn’t for him, I would be with a couple of Skakdi whilst they did gods know what” she shuddered and I soon realised why.

“Oh my god!” I exclaimed, jumping up “Ruby, are you okay, they didn’t do anything to you, did they?” she giggled.

“I’m fine, Skohka stopped them before they could drag me away” Ruby said, I turned to the Steltian.

“Thank you, Skohka” I said, the Steltian nodded and Ruby began to hang upside down from Skohka’s Shoulder pad and look me directly in the eyes whilst giving me the ‘puppy dog’ look, I swear she has super natural powers over the mind.

“Please, can I keep him, please?” she pleaded, putting her claws together in a begging manner. I resisted her charms…for all of 1 second.

“Fine” I said, I then turned to Skohka “Skohka, henceforth you are to protect Ruby, her brother Garnet and any of their friends, is that understood?” Ruby fist pumped and the Steltian nodded whilst smiling softly.

“Yes, Sir” he said, nodding

“Well, as you were” I said, Skohka nodded before walking off, I returned to writing out the moral code.

Skohka is pronounce 'Skow-ka' and looks like this:

except with orange armour instead of Green/blue, and he still has both eyes. He's kind of a gentle giant, but that doesn't mean he's unwilling to protect his friends. expect to see a lot of scenes with Ruby (and sometimes some of the other kids) sitting on his shoulder.

I was on the Jörmungandr in my quarters, the ship itself was currently flying south over the southern continent, I had assigned the different Spherus Magnan species with jobs based on what they did originally. The Vortixx were assigned to weapons building and general repair of the ship, the Skakdi were assigned to weapons building and defence. The Steltians, Skrall, Glatorians and the odd Titan amongst the crew were assigned to defence. The Matoran and Agori were assigned to the general crew doing whatever they were good at, like Balta; who was a Ta-Matoran skilled with technology and good with making small, practical devices, he went bonkers when he saw my phone. There was even Keetongu, who went into the Medical ward.
I was writing something up when I felt a mental twinge from the mask of Sonar. I switched to the mask and activated it and for the briefest of seconds I saw a tall figure, but other than that I couldn’t make out their features. I stood up and got out my sword but I heard a tittering.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you” a voice said and I felt a blade press against my neck, although I couldn’t see it, I dropped the sword and I felt the blade move away from my throat “that’s better”

“I’m guessing you are the one that’s setting off my mask of sonar” I said.

“Could be” the voice said “My name is Jerbraz, once one of the most handsome and dashing members of my little circle of friends... that is, back when I could be seen. Now I have to rely on my charm alone to make an impression... that and this nasty sword that conveniently turned invisible with me. If you see someone's head just suddenly go flying off for no reason, it's not your imagination" my stomach dropped at that moment

“Wh-why are you here?” I asked, this guy was really setting my nerves on edge.

“My friends have been watching this world from the side-lines for millions of years, and you’ve piqued our interest” he said, I could hear footsteps moving around and a picture of myself and my dad lifted up “you’re not from this world and yet, you know an incredible amount about us, more so than the inhabitants of this world”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” I said, crossing my arms.

“Rahkshi ring any bells?” Jerbraz asked “we want to know why you know”

“You really want the truth?” I asked “you aren’t gonna kill me once you know?”

“No, you’re too important to our interests” Jerbraz said, I walked over to my laptop.

“Better if I show you” I said, I brought up the page for the Bionicle Wikia “in all honesty, you, as in the Spherus Magnans as a whole. Are nothing but something imagined by someone from my world. Not that I’m complaining that you exist”

“Prove it” Jerbraz said.

“Okay” I said, I searched up for Jerbraz and a page came up displaying information about him “I thought your name rang a couple of bells, I’m guessing the Order of Mata Nui sent you” he didn’t say anything straight away

“Yes” he said, I heard a blade being sheathed “we want you to join our little group”

“I don’t see why” I said, shrugging “I’m busy enough as it is, between leading the Neu-Toa, running a family, acting as captain and searching for the original Toa I don’t really have much time to go running off assassinating people for you”

“Oh no, nothing like that” he said “just keep an eye on the ones like Roodaka”

“Why not ask Discord to do that?” I asked, he laughed.

“You mean that Draconequiis?” he asked “don’t make me laugh. He’s, as you would say, more ‘bat-shit-fucking-insane’ than Vezon, harder to track as well, trust me, we already asked him and he just laughed and disappeared”

“What other non-Spherus Magnans have you asked to join?” I asked.

“That’s need-to-know I’m afraid” he said “although you’d be surprised who actually accepted. You know one of them rather well, although she’s usually too busy to go on missions”

“Autumn?” I said.

“No, we don’t usually recruit Toa” he said “think much older and more powerful” the realisation dawned on me.

“You don’t mean…” he cut me off.

“Not here, not where people could hear us” he said “so, what do you say, you with us?” I thought for a few moments.

“Sure” I said “what do you want me to do?”

“Just carry on as normal, unless something of interest comes up. A different member will come back each month for a report”

“Well, okay” I said, no response “hello?” he was gone, I shook my head before walking out of my quarters, whatever I was writing could wait for another time. I walked down to weapons building and testing to find my usual crew working with Skakdi, Vortix and the odd matoran and Agori like they were best friends and even swapping the odd story. I chuckled before moving on, they could chat for now. I soon reached the sparring hall the see the Glatorians and Neu-Toa taking turns in sparring. What surprised me was Ackaar teaching Garnet to fight, and he was having quite a hard time keeping up with the Kirin, whose tactic of using his arm and tail at the same time was proving quite effective in fending off and even matching the more experienced Glatorian.

“You’re getting slow, Old Timer” Garnet said, smirking whilst striking with his arm, which was currently a blade much like my own, and using his tail to block Ackaar’s parry, Ackaar snorted an amusement.

“Watch it, ‘Boy’” he said, attempting to kick Garnets legs out from under him, only for the Kirin to take off and hover for a few seconds before landing and continuing his assault “I’m just a little out of practice” the Glatorian parried the Kirin and pinned his tail on the floor. At what looked like quite an uncomfortable angle.

“Ahh” Garnet said, trying to pull away “that really hurts” the Glatorian smirked before releasing him.

“That’s for calling me old timer” Ackaar said, he noticed me watching and walked over “your son is quite the fighter, might I ask how his arm ended up like that?”

“Wrong place at the wrong time” I said “a changeling attacked him and cut his arm off” the fire Glatorian winced.

“At that age!?” he asked, jerking a thumb towards the Kirin, who was currently talking with one of the Glatorians.

“Some people are just nasty like that” I said, shrugging

*a few weeks later*

We were camped at our next stop on the continent, this area was more desert like in nature. So, Little Strongheart was also with us as she was experienced in desert conditions, in addition to her Skohka and some of the more familiar Glatorians were with us. We were sat around a camp fire, shielding us from the cold of the night.

“What is that!?” Little Strongheart exclaimed, we all looked to where she was pointing to see several individuals. But other than the red lights of their eyes we couldn’t make anything out, after a few seconds they disappeared behind the outcropping.

“Alright” I said “tonight, we’re taking turns in keeping watch, okay?” they all nodded or muttered their agreements.

“Skohka will take first watch” Skohka said.

“Fair enough” I said, shrugging, Ackaar also agreed to stand watch with him

*POV 3rd person, later that night*

Ruby carefully made her way through the camp site until she walked up to the outcropping that Skohka was sat on.

“Hey, Skohka”” she said quietly, the Steltian didn’t visibly respond.

“Pretty Ruby should be asleep with the others” Skohka said, not taking his eyes away from scanning the horizon.

“I couldn’t sleep” she said, shrugging.

“Not much difference between sitting here and laying by the fire” he said “except fire is warmer”

“What did you do?” she asked “I mean, before the Rahkshi”

“Skohka was builder” Skohka said with a shrug “all big Steltians were builders before Teridax took over, even after we built buildings. There was one that worked for group of warriors but we don’t really talk about him”

“Why not?” Ruby asked, Skohka looked the Kirin in the eye and frowned.

“Because he help Teridax” he said, he heard a rustling in the distance, his head shot in the direction of the sound and his disk launcher sprung up from behind his right shoulder and began charging. After a few seconds he shook his head dismissively and cancelled the charge on his disk launcher before it folded back down. Only for a rock to fall on his head, causing him to pass out. Just before he lost consciousness he saw someone or something drag an unconscious Ruby away, he barely noticed someone starting to drag him away as well.

*1st person Vuur Koning*

I awoke to someone shaking my shoulder, I opened my eyes to see Autumn looking at me with a worried look on her face, it was early morning judging by the tint of blue in the sky.

“Autumn?” I asked groggily “what’s wrong?”

“Ruby and Skohka are missing” she said.

“What!?” I exclaimed, I leapt to my feet, any thoughts of sleep gone “What happened?”

“We’re not sure” she admitted “but Scar and Little Strongheart both agree that at some point in the night Ruby got up and walked over to where Skohka was keeping watch, Ackaar can confirm this as he heard voices that sounded familiar although he couldn’t quite place them. At some point they both hit the ground and were seemingly dragged off”

“Well why aren’t we going after them?” I asked, putting my armour on.

“All the Glatorians say that it’s too dangerous at night, they used to live in desert conditions” she noticed me walking towards something which had a tarpaulin over it “What are you doing?”

“I never got a chance to properly test this, guess now’s as good a time as any” as I said this I pulled the tarp off to reveal my hover bike.

“You can’t be serious!” she said.

“She’s our daughter!” I shouted, startling the others “I will not sit idle whilst God knows what do God knows what to her. Now you can either come with me, or get the fuck out of my way” I sat on the bike and turned it on as I said this, she opened her wings and flapped them a few times.

“No way am I letting you go out there by yourself” Autumn said, the Glatorians and Toa ran up.

“No way are you going out at this time” Kina said.

“Watch me” I said, pressing a button that caused two Gatling guns to fold out, one either side. Vapaa disappeared in a flash and a few moments later a panel on the side of the Jörmungandr opened up and a vehicle of some sort went flying out. It landed in the sand with a thud and when the dust cleared I could see that it was Vapaa’s pickup, or at least, it used to be. It was longer and heavily armoured, with two Gatling gun turrets on the back. I heard a click and two panels on the bonnet slid away and two Gatling guns rose up. Vapaa leaned out the window and a Dukes of Hazard horn went off.

“Mind if me and my team join you?” he asked, smirking.

*POV 3rd person*

Ruby woke up with a groan, when she tried to open her eyes she found something blocking them. She moved her hands to her eyes and found a cloth of some sort blocking them

“Urgh, my head” she said, rubbing the back of her head. She felt a warm wetness on the back of her head and the pain increased dramatically, causing her to cry out.

“Is pretty Ruby okay?” she head Skohka say.

“Skohka?” she called, she tried to move but she found that her arms, legs and tail were all tied, only giving her enough movement to be slightly comfortable.

“Skohka is fine” she heard the Steltian say “small bump on the head is all” at that point she heard a chuckling and footsteps approaching, as well as a slight dragging sound, she heard Skohka growl quietly.

“Well, I wouldn’t call it a small bump” a voice said, it was the type of voice that didn’t exactly reek of confidence, more so they knew exactly what they were capable of. The voice also had a light accent that she couldn’t quite place.

“Who’s there?” she growled “if my father finds out…” she let a few licks of flame seep out between her teeth, the voice tittered and she felt a clawed hand clamp against her throat and lift her up until the chains securing her limbs were taught.

“Seems you have some fight left in you” the voice said “I love it when they have some fight left in them” this was more said to himself than to anyone in particular.

“Ack…who are you?” Ruby choked out, the hand lessened its grip slightly, the voice hummed quietly and she felt the hand shift.

“Well” the voice said “I guess if I’m going to kill you I could at least give you the privilege of letting you gaze upon the face of your killer” after a few moments the cloth covering her eyes fell away to reveal a red Rahkshi of some sort. But it was unlike any she’d seen or even heard of, it was actually strikingly similar to the Elites from that halo game her brother played. It stood up straighter than ordinary Rahkshi and it was totally devoid of any space for a Kraata, its head was serpentine but the eyes showed high intelligence.

“Rahkshi!?” Ruby exclaimed, the Rahkshi scoffed and dropped her unceremoniously.

“Once perhaps” he said, walking away. Ruby noticed he had a long tail which dragged behind him “but now I and others like me have intelligence and sentience which elevate us above our more bestial brethren” he practically spat the last part.

“What do you mean?” Ruby asked, the Rahkshi smirked and his hand began to glow a dark crimson. Ruby found her mind filled with countless horrors, rendering her stricken with fear for a moment.

“my kind is known as Turahk" he said "what happened to elevate us to this…level…I do not know. All I remember from my inferior state was a wave of energy, causing each breed to develop their own…unique appearances and personality. For instance, I and others like me would take great pleasure in filling your mind with unimaginable horrors whilst watching you slowly bleed out until you nothing but a dry, empty husk” a long reptilian tongue snaked out between his teeth and he gave a small hiss as he picked up a dagger. Before walking towards Ruby, just as he reached the Kirin he hesitated and then hummed in thought. He then turned and began walking towards Skohka, she noticed for the first time that he had a massive crack running along the length of is cranial plate and the lens of one of his eyes had a noticeable crack

“What are you doing?” She asked, panicking.

“I thought I could increase your suffering if I start with your friend” he said, before stabbing the dagger into the Steltians chest plate, causing Skohka to grunt in pain. The Turahk’s long tongue snaked out and he gave a chuckle as he looked at Ruby “I am a Turahk. And your fear is delicious” he then pulled out the bloody dagger and began walking towards Ruby.

Okay, for reference because some people were confused, the last lot of Rahkshi were Guurahk (The reason they were black is because they've spent so long down in a cave), because there isn't a Rahkshi with Acid powers and Disintegration was the closest power.

character Bio:
Turahk
"I am a Turahk. And your fear is delicious"

Natural sadists, Turahk are extremely intelligent and they know it, they often take great pleasure in torturing victims and feeding off of their fear before killing them as slowly and painfully as possible.

Turahk absorb the fear of their victims to use later, rather than expelling the natural reserves that they already have.

The Turahk walked closer, at a deliberately slow pace to try and drag this out as long as possible. He wanted to prolong this for as long as possible, to draw as much fear from her as possible. He eventually reached her and crouched down, placing the knife on her left cheek.

“Tell me child” he said, idly spinning the blade around on its point “do you fear death?” Ruby’s eyes widened, she nodded and whimpered, tears started to flow from her eyes. The Turahk sneered and began applying pressure on the knife, in one swift motion he drew the knife upward. Blinding her in one eye and leaving a long scar along the left side of her face, she screamed out in pain.

“Ahh!!!” she screamed “Please, don’t” she pleaded, blood flowed out of her left eye.

“Shh” the Turahk said, wiping the blood away with a clawed hand and then licking it off his hand “it’ll soon be over, know that this is nothing personal, everything need sustenance. It just so happens that I need fe..” he never got to finish his sentence as an energy disk slammed into him, sending him crashing into the wall.

“You leave pretty Ruby alone!” Skohka thundered, Ruby looked over with her good eye to see him with his disk launcher out and aimed at the Turahk. The Steltian began to struggle against his restraints, which started to groan and creak. Eventually they broke with a rending crack and he began to stomp towards the Turahk, his disk launcher charging up as he did so.

“I thought you would know better than to attack a Turahk” the Turahk said, and his hand began to glow. The glow faded after a few seconds and the Turahk looked surprised “What!? How!?”

“We Steltians are very stubborn” Skohka said, before firing the disk launcher at the Turahk several times until there was nothing left but a bloody mess. Skohka then stomped on the Turahk’s head for good measure, before walking towards Ruby and breaking her restraints “is pretty Ruby gonna be okay?” the Kirin laughed weakly.

“If Garnet can get over a severed arm, then I can get over losing an eye” she said, Skohka helped the Kirin up, who walked over to the remains of the Turahk and burning it in dragon fire, before walking towards the door next to Skohka.

*just outside the door*
Two Turahk stood outside the door, they heard two loud thuds before an explosion sent then flying into the opposite wall. Skohka stepped through the remains of the doorway and stomped towards the two Turahk with Ruby walking close behind.

“Exit” he growled “WHERE!?” the two Turahk whimpered before pointing to the left.

“Thank you” Ruby said, an innocent smile on her face. This quickly changed to a snarl and she promptly roasted them in her hottest dragon fire, reducing them to molten protodermis and carbonised flesh in a few seconds. They both began walking down the corridor and soon came across a large room filled with Turahk. Ruby walked forward before clearing her throat “I would just like to say…I HOPE YOU LIKE YOUR MEAT WELL DONE!!!” she then proceeded to unleash a torrent of fire and Skohka began firing his disk launcher at any Turahk that decided to try and attack Ruby.

*1st person Vuur Koning”

We busted through the door to the Rahkshi lair and were surprised to see it seemingly deserted.

“What?” I muttered, cautiously walking forward, the other Neu-Toa following slowly behind. The glow from the burning Rahkshi outside slowly dying down as we walked through the corridors, we soon came to a large hall at were surprised to see Ruby and Skohka sitting back to back on a pile of smouldering Rahkshi. I noticed that Skohka had a bottle of some form of drink “Ruby!?” the Kirin turned to me and my stomach dropped, she was missing her left eye and there was a long scar stretching the entire left side of her face. Both me and Autumn ran over and Ruby met us half way.

“Oh my Gods” Autumn said, holding the Kirins head and inspecting the injury “What happened?”

“Nasty Turahk” Skohka said, before taking a swig “big knife, Turahk is nothing but ash now” the realisation hit me and I smiled at Ruby.

“That’s my girl” I said, tussling her mane, I then switched to the mask of healing but it refused to heal the injury “why the hell won’t this work” I smacked the side of the mask as I said this.

“I don’t think it works on nerve damage either” Autumn said, I sighed.

“Great, the one time I actually need this to work it won’t” I said “alright, let’s get her back to medical bay, Skohka too” I looked at his damaged skull plate and eye as I said this, the Steltian simply nodded before taking another swig.

*Later that day*

“Will you please hold still?” Balta said the Ruby, I’d had him make a robotic eye. Now he was trying to turn it on, although Ruby was making that rather difficult.

“But it feels weird” Ruby said, jerking her head away

“Ruby dear” I said, placing a hand on her shoulder “please hold still for Balta” the Kirin huffed and resisted moving away.

“Why do I have to be awake for this bit?” this asked, crossing her arms and huffing “you put me to sleep when you fitted it”

“Because we need you to tell us when it’s working” Balta said, slowly adjusting something with a screwdriver “almost…there! Can you see anything?” the aperture on the robotic eye opened and closed a couple of times and the lens began hunting for focus.

“Ahh!” Ruby exclaimed, covering the lens with a hand “that’s really bright” Balta got out a tinted lens filter and screwed it onto the end.

“How about now?” he asked, Ruby gasped.

“Wow!” she exclaimed “I can actually see better than before”

“See” I said “was that so hard?” she rolled her good eye and the aperture did likewise.

“Wait…” she said, trailing off “why are there loads of weird symbols?” I groaned and face palmed.

“For god’s sake, Balta” I said, the Ta-Matoran chuckled nervously and he retrieved something from the side. It looked like an S.D. card.

“It’s just switched off!” Ruby exclaimed.

“Just a moment” Balta said, before walking to a set of trays filled with mechanical parts, he then retrieved an identical S.D. card and placed it in the lens “what can you see now?”

“That’s better, now I can read what it says” she said, the aperture then clicked and I saw the lens turn red “whoa! Thermal vision!?”

“Don’t activate the night vision just yet” Balta said “you’ll destroy the sensor if you do”

We were now back on the ground, exploring whilst Frostfang was lazing on the ground with the ship moored to him. He was keeping an eye on the kids with Skohka whilst my team of six explored a network of caves nearby.

“Do you really think we’ll find anything” Vinyl said sceptically “all I see is a bunch of rocks and…hold the phone”

“What can you see?” Minion asked, we all looked in her direction and soon found out “well…slap me thrice and hand me to my mother” laying in a corner was a large, red, biomechanical dragon with a fire staff laying on the ground near him.

“Is that who I think it is?” I said, walking closer

“Who do you think it is?” Scar asked.

“Makuta Miserix” I said, two things happened at that moment. One, the Makuta’s eyes snapped open and focused on me. Two, the other Toa pointed their weapons at Miserix.

“Who dares disturb my slumber” Miserix said in a baritone voice, narrowing his eyes at me as he grabbed his staff and sat up.

“Guys, don’t attack!” I said, they warily lowered their weapons and I walked forward “Miserix, my name is Toa Vuur Koning…” he cut me off with a laugh.

“Toa?” he asked, walking closer and scrutinising us “you look nothing like Toa, or have they started letting anyone become a Toa?”

“Things have changed in the last 400’000’000 years” I said with a shrug, his eyes widened.

“Have I truly slept that long?” he asked.

“Why don’t you come with us and see for yourself” I offered “we are part of a team that’s exploring the world, looking for the original Toa” he seemed to consider this for a few moments.

“Very well, ‘Toa’” he said, we lead him outside the cave and his eyes widened when he saw the ship and the 200 ft. long ice-drake attached to it, he looked at me and I shrugged.

“Told you so” I said, Garnet and Ruby flew over and their eyes widened.

“Err, Dad?” Garnet said “who’s the dragon with the staff?” Miserix chuckled.

“Curious looking one” Miserix said “I am no mere dragon, I…” he was interrupted by Frostfang, who snorted a jet of mist.

“YOU SAY THAT LIKE BEING A DRAGON MAKES US INFERIOR” Frostfang said, standing up to his full height, Miserix actually looked ever so slightly intimidated looking up at the colossal ice dragon for a few seconds “I COULD FREEZE YOU WHERE YOU STAND BECAUSE OF YOUR INSOLENCE, FIRE-DRAKE”

“My apologies” Miserix said, before turning back to Garnet “as I was saying, I am Makuta Miserix, original ruler of the brotherhood and last of the true Makuta” both Garnet and Ruby got into defensive stances and Garnet changed his arm into a Midak Sky Blaster.

“Now, now, children” I said “no need for hostilities, he’s a friend”

“But, he’s a Makuta” Garnet said.

“That is correct, young ones, however, I do not have dreams of universal domination, unlike someone else I could mention, I do not mean you harm” he said, he then leaned right in and a some dark red flames seeped out of his mouth, causing the two Kirin the start backing away in fear “but act like that again, and children or not, I will kill you where you stand” I scowled.

“Mind how you talk to my son and daughter” I said “I just so happen to be the captain of that vessel, and it is within the Neu-Toa code for me to blast you to Tartarus with every single gun on that ship for threatening my children” Miserix humphed before backing off.

“When do we move on?” he asked.

“Now” I said.

I was stood on the deck of the ship, watching Miserix fly alongside Frostfang.

“I don’t understand why you let him come with us” Natrix said “He’s a Makuta and I don’t trust him”

“What if we come across more Rahkshi?” I asked, looking at Natrix “like it or not, because he’s a Makuta that means he can control Rahkshi”

“Seems you have something against me” Miserix said, startling us both, he was now flying really close to where we were stood “I may be old, but a Makuta’s hearing doesn’t fade with age, plus you talk rather loudly”

“Uh…” Natrix said.

“You mentioned Rahkshi?” Miserix said.

“Yes” I said “we recently came across some rather nasty Turahk”

“Do tell” Miserix said.

“They were evolved to a high level of intelligence, and extremely sadistic towards my daughter. They’re the reason she has a robotic eye”

“If so then how do you know that they will obey me?” he asked.

“I’m an optimist” I said, shrugging “it’s human to hope” he raised an eyebrow.

“Human?” Miserix asked, I took off my Kenohi Hau “You’re organic”

“So are about 60 thousand or so of the crew” I said “as I said, a lot has changed” he nodded before scowling

“Know this, ‘Human’” he said, pointing a clawed finger at me “I am no one’s pawn, and I will not be used like some chess piece, least of all by a lowly organic like you”

“Am I truly lowly?” I asked “read my mind, see the things my kind has done, all without elemental powers” I began to feel a presence in my mind, sifting through my knowledge. After a few minutes the presence left

“Interesting” he said, smirking “seems I’ve found a species that is worse than Skakdi or Vortixx, no other species I’ve come across is so bent on self-destruction”

“We could also destroy you in an instant” I said “I’m sure you now know about the nuclear bomb now”

“But you don’t have any with you” he said, chuckling before flying out a couple hundred meters and following us from there.

for those that were wondering, Yes, the Turahk was supposed to have the voice of the guy that played Davie Jones in PotC 2/3, his voice just seems to suite a Turahk.

Either that or Sombra, both seem like the type of characters he would play.

as for Miserix, imagine him speaking with Vin Diesels voice (now imagine Miserix performing Death by Teacup )

I should probably make a list of voices that would suit the characters

After flying across deserts for several days we reached a forest filled with tall pine trees, my team of six were currently camped out in a small clearing with Aurora, Garnet, Ruby, Skohka, Jack Harkness and Miserix.

“Are you truly immortal?” Miserix asked Jack Harkness, who sighed before pulling out his pistol and shooting himself in the head. Only to jump back up a few seconds later.

“Tada” Jack said sarcastically “Seriously, the novelty wears of pretty quickly”

“And yet you were part of a sideshow at one point” I said, stroking my chin in thought “one called the ‘Night Travellers’ if recall, the ring leader ended up escaping from an old film reel and walking around stealing the ‘last breath’ i.e. souls, of victims” the campsite fell silent and everyone except for Minion cast wary glances between me and Jack Harkness.

“I hate you sometimes” Jack said, glaring at me.

“Two things” Vinyl said “one; that’s really creepy. Two; how do you know that?”

“Myself and the other Humans come from a universe where everything in this universe is the subject of various Television shows or franchises” I said, giving a shrug “there’s probably even a show about talking ponies as well, but that’s not my sort of thing so I can’t know for sure” the colour from Vinyl’s face drained.

“Am I the only one that feels violated at the possibility that someone could be watching us right now?” Vinyl asked, after a few seconds Minion began imitating the theme for the Twilight Zone, breaking the tension that had built up. Vinyl slapped him on the arm “I was being serious”

“Who said I wasn’t?” he asked, smirking. At that point we heard a rustling from the tree line and I quick drew my pistol. I could just see a pair of red eyes

“Who’s there?” I asked “Show yourself!” I heard a hissing and a brown and green armoured Rahkshi, similar in build to a Turahk sans tail, stepped out. All of the Toa, plus anyone else with a weapon aimed at the Rahkshi, who…cowered?

“Please” it said in a soft voice “don’t shoot, I mean you no harm”

“You’re a Rahkshi!” I spat, pointing my sword at it “and the last two nests we came across have been nothing but trouble, give me one reason not to reduce you to molten slag”

“I’m a Rahkshi of plant control” it said “my kind and others like us have sworn to protect this forest” at that point a song bird landed on its hand for a few seconds before flying off.

“A ‘hippy’ Rahkshi?” Minion said, rolling his eyes “now I’ve seen everything” Miserix stepped forward and the Rahkshi bowed.

“His motives are honest” Miserix said, sounding surprised, he then turned to the Rahkshi “What do you mean ‘others’ like you”

“the ones that control a different aspect of nature” ‘he’ said, he then began listing off “Weather control, Rahi control, Insect control and Plant control are all sworn protectors of this forest, there are a few others as well”

“Show us where there are others like you” I said.

The Rahkshi soon led us to a settlement of some sort, where several Rahkshi with staffs stood guard outside, they stiffened when they saw us.

“Brother Botrahk” a gold one said in a female voice “why have you brought these…outsiders to our settlement”

“I am merely showing them that we mean no harm, Sister Merahk” the ‘Botrahk’ said, at that point I was barrelled over and pinned by something. The air rippled before revealing a red Rahkshi with gold limbs and nasty scar across one, dead eye, pinning me to the ground and holding a bladed forearm against my throat.

“Why have you come here!?” the Rahkshi hissed “we have lived in piece, the last thing we need is Toa interfering”

“Brother!” the Merahk said “enough, they aren’t here to cause trouble” the red and gold one looked at her in confusion.

“But…Sister…” the red and gold one said, but stopped when he saw her expression “yes, sister” he then stepped away before disappearing.

“What’s his problem?” I asked, standing up

“Brother Charahk had a run in with true-Toa a long time ago” the Merahk said, walking towards me and leaning on her staff

“How do you know we aren’t true-Toa?” I asked, surprised.

“The fact that some of you look more like Rahi than Toa is a big giveaway” Merahk said, glancing at the rest of the Neu-Toa, who were casting wary looks towards to approaching Rahkshi.

“When did you encounter the true Toa?” I asked “we’ve been searching for them”

“A few hundred years ago” she said, shrugging “after a brief conflict we managed to prove we meant no harm, they stayed for a few days before moving southwards. They mentioned something about Dark Hunters but I can’t recall exactly what they said” I frowned.

“Dark Hunters, that can’t be good” I mused, I turned to the Merahk “err, do you mind if I have my ship moor up nearby? We’ll be here for a few days at most” the gold Rahkshi thought for a few moments before nodding.

“I will speak with the rest of the counsel but as far as I’m concerned you’re free to stay as long as you wish” she said.

We soon got the okay to stay near the village, things were a little tense at first but eventually everyone warmed up to the Rahkshi, most of whom were rather friendly towards my crew. Those that weren’t just avoided us, like that Charahk, most times I saw him he was sitting on a cliff overlooking the village. Against my better judgement I decided to go up there and talk to him.

“Hey, Charahk” I said, he scowled.

“Why are you here?” he said.

“Exploring mostly” I said “we come from way up north, where the land is inhabited by…”

“Equestrians” he said, cutting me off. He chuckled “I’m aware of the northern lands, your ruler visited these lands long ago. Plus your accent is similar” I raised an eyebrow.

“I do not have a bloody Equestrian accent” I said.

“I said similar” he retorted, I snorted.

“Vorpissen” I muttered.

“ich kann noch verstehen” he said, chuckling.

“How the hell do you speak Germane?” I asked.

“One of the other Rahkshi tribes speaks it” he said “I don’t know why, they just do”

“What do you have against us Toa?” I asked.

“Last time your kind came here I ended up with this” he pointed to his dead eye.

“Can you blame them?” I asked “after all, you are the son of Terida…” the charged towards me and pinned me against a tree with a blade to my throat.

“Mention him again, and I’ll kill you where you stand” he snarled, before taking a step back.

“How come I haven’t seen any more of your type around here?” I asked.

“My Kin don’t exactly share my opinion” he said bitterly “so I got out when I had the chance. These guardians found me half-dead after a muaka attacked me, fixed me up and accepted me as one of their own. But I’m an outcast amongst them, I’m too aggressive to help them protect the forest and I can’t help them any other way”

“Why not join us?” I asked, he looked at me like I’d gone mad “I’m serious, we could use someone with your ability on scouting missions”

“What would be in it for me?” he asked.

“You get a place to stay” I suggested “plus a chance to really hone your abilities”

“What about the rest of the crew?” he asked “I don’t think they would take kindly to a Rahkshi living on their ship”

“My ship” I corrected “if they have any problems they can go shove it, I don’t tolerate discrimination”

“I’ll consider it” he said.

*one week later*

We were getting ready to set off, the other Toa were slightly wary about Charahk joining us.

“Are you sure this is a good idea Brother Fire-spitter?” Boris asked, watching Charahk say goodbye to his fellow Rahkshi.

“He’s an outcast amongst his own kind” I said “I’m giving him an opportunity to put his powers to good use”

“I still don’t like it, Brother Fire-spitter” Boris said, before walking inside. Charahk walked over with another Rahkshi, this one was black with red limbs and carried a staff.

“This is Krarahk” Charahk said “Rahkshi of darkness, the guardians felt it would be best if he came with us”

“Fair enough” I said, I then held my hand out to Krarahk “welcome aboard the Jörmungandr” he nodded and we shook hands.

“Thank you” he said, they both followed me inside and the door shut behind us. I felt the ship shift as we took off.

“Right” I said “I’m gonna say this now, if anyone gives you trouble, tell me and I’ll sort them out. You maybe Rahkshi, but you’re a part of the crew just as much as anyone else, got it?” they both nodded.

Charahk and Krarahk were eventually accepted as part of the crew, although they mostly suck around with Miserix. Sumerki seemed to take a liking to Krarahk and they soon became close friends. We eventually reached a mountain range and the climate began to get much colder, I was sat in the bridge when Ruby rushed in.

“Dad, you might want to see this” she said, I followed her outside and I saw her look around before her robotic eye zoomed in on something in the distance, I switched to the mask of accuracy and zoomed in as far as I could. I was surprised to see an Ironclad of some kind (that’s an airship built like the Jörmungandr i.e. covered in armour and with all the flotation devices hidden away), it was also armed to the teeth with cannons and headed for us from the left of the ship.

“Thanks for telling me, Ruby” I said, leaning down and patting her on the shoulder. I walked back onto the bridge “Blazewing”

“Aye cap’in?” he asked.

“Stop the ship” I said “and ready the guns, just in case” he nodded and began relaying my orders. After a few minutes the ship drew closer and sounded off its horn, we replied in-kind. Our much lauder horn silenced the crew on the other ship. I looked over to see Spherus Magnans, mostly Bone Hunters and Skakdi.

“What do you think, Vuur?” Vapaa asked.

“I’m getting a major pirate vibe” I said, I turned to Blazewing “what do you think?” he got out a telescope.

“Ah ‘ave to agree with ya” he said “even the Bone ‘unters an’ Skakdi say tha’ if you see a ship full of them, they’re probably pirates” I nodded before walking onto the bridge and over to the tannoy system.

“Alright everyone!” I said “to stations, we have an ironclad warship full of Skakdi and Bone Hunters and I don’t want to take any chances” I soon heard the crew clamouring to get ready, eventually the ship drew alongside us and a walkway extended across, a blue Skakdi with a scythe-like blade walked across with several others.

“Who would you name as captain?” he said, eyeing my crew with interest, I stepped forward.

“That would be me” I said, they took one look at me and drew their weapons.

“You are in the territory of the Shadowed One, Toa” he spat “turn back now”

“Look, I don’t know what quarrel you have with the Toa” I said “But I’m not from around here, ergo I’m not a part of it” he laughed.

“You think I’m a fool?” he said “oh sure, you aren’t usually the type to use warships, but I wouldn’t put it past you” he then stepped forward and pointed the tip of his blade against my chest plate, I scowled.

“I would think very, very carefully about your next move” I said and myself and my crew all drew our weapons “you obviously have no idea who you are dealing with, I am Vuur Koning, Captain of the Jörmungandr and leader of the Wolfpack team of Neu-Toa, I have a crew of 70’000 and an Ice-drake on my side, who are you to threaten me” the Skakdi chuckled.

“I am Nektann” he said “Skakdi warlord and general in the Shadowed One’s army, you are nothing compared to me, Boy”

“Is that all” I said, laughing before pointing my sword at his neck “I have ended wars with mere words, I have destroyed entire Rahkshi nests. I have witnessed the horrors of Auschwitz and walked through the void between worlds. I come from a land where the ruler is a god who moves the very Sun. I am the Huntmaster, the Weidman. The Fire King, I command the very last of the Makuta; Miserix. You sir, are nothing in my eyes” at that point Miserix landed on the deck and banged his staff on the deck to drive home the point.

“You wouldn’t kill me” Nektann said “you’re a Toa” I tittered.

“I’m a Neu-Toa and unlike ordinary Toa we aren’t afraid to get our hands dirty” I then got out my pistol and pointed it at his head “you go crawling back to your Shadowed One and you tell him that he has me to worry about now” Nektann snorted.

“He has an army of 2 million” Nektann said.

“I have a Rail gun that fires a projectile at 7 times the speed of sound” I said “ I could aim it at his base and it would hit before he even knew I’d fired it” Nektann snorted before backing off and walking back on his ship, once the ship was gone Miserix stepped forward.

“Might I ask what you are playing at?” he asked “do you have any idea who the Shadowed One is?”

“Yes I do” I said “he’s the former leader of the Dark Hunters, as for what I just did; it’s called diplomacy”

“Who are the Dark Hunters?” Garnet asked

“Kind of like mercenaries” I said “Warriors for hire” Miserix snorted.

“He will unleash his armies upon you until there is nothing left” he said.

“Then I’ll Nova blast him” I said, Miserix’s eyes widened.

“Why Mata Nui decided to make you a Toa, I’ll never understand” he said.

*A few weeks later*

I was stood on the bow, watching Frostfang pull the ship when Minion walked up and lit his pip.

“Hey, brother” I said, Minion nodded whilst taking a drag.

“Any sign of the Shadowed One?” he asked, blowing away some Tabaco smoke. I shook my head.

“Either we’re out of his territory or my tactic actually worked” I said, I went to continue but I heard a quiet-but-rapid ‘thwump-thwump-thwump-thwump-thwump’ of propeller blades, and they were getting louder. Apparently Minion could hear it too and he looked into the distance and saw something.

“Is that a…helicopter!?” he asked, I looked where he was looking and my eyes widened.

“Shit!” I exclaimed “GET DOWN!” I pulled Minion to the deck just as something orange and grey slammed into the deck, kicking up a cloud of sand.

the names for the following breeds of Rahkshi I came up with myself, the actual breeds are official types:
Forest guardians:

their general appearance follows this (with size comparison next to Toa):

Botrahk (Pronounced Bowt-rack): Rahkshi of plant control (green body & brown limbs). 'Bot' is derived from botany; the study of plants. the official Matoran prefix for plant life is 'Bo', and is also derived from Botany. the reason I didn't call it 'Borahk' is because I didn't want people getting it mixed up with Bohrok

Merahk (Pronounced Mee-rack): Rahkshi of Weather control (gold body & gold limbs). 'Me' is derived from Meteorology; the study of weather.

Arrahk (Pronounced Ar-rack): Rahkshi of insect control (orange body & orange limbs). 'Ar' is derived from Arthropod; invertebrates with an exoskeleton like spiders, insects, crustaceans, etc.

Faurahk (Pronounced For-rack): Rahkshi of Rahi/animal control (magenta body & limbs). 'Fau' is derived from fauna; the collective term for animals.

other Rahkshi:

Charahk (Pronounced Ka-rahk): Rahkshi of chameleon abilities (can totally blend in with its environment, the only give away is when it's moving you can see a slight ripple in the air) (red body & gold limbs). 'Cha' is derived from Chameleon; the little reptiles found in tropical countries that change colour (kind of obvious).

a guy on Deviant art was doing free Rahkshi art on request, I requested the Chameleon Rahkshi and he can out with this masterpiece:

Krarahk (Pronounced Krah-rack): Rahkshi of darkness (black body & red limbs). 'Kra' is derived from Kraahkan; Kenohi mask of shadows

I stood up and blew the cloud of sand away with a wall of fire.

“Do you fucking mind attacking my ship unpro…” I trailed off when I saw who it was. Standing there, looking just as surprised as me was Toa Pohatu Nuva, complete with adaptive armour.

“Uh…” we both said “what?”

“Are you…” Pohatu said “a Toa?”

“Neu-Toa, actually” I said, taking off my mask “try and think of a Glatorian with Toa abilities, I’m Vuur Koning, leader of the Neu-Toa” he just looked at me like I had two heads.

“You’re organic” he said.

“Well aren’t you perceptive” I said, sarcastically, at that point the rest of the Neu-Toa ran over, Vapaa and Natrix froze when they saw Pohatu.

“Uh…” they both said, before pointing at Pohatu “I see a Toa” Pohatu eyed the Neu-Toa warily, his gaze hung on Echo the longest.

“Can I help you?” Echo asked, smirking whilst changing into an exact copy of Pohatu.

“Am I missing something?” Pohatu asked, turning to me.

“You mean the fact that we are all organic and come from multiple different species?” I asked “another thing about Neu-Toa, anyone can become one, but they have to be ‘chosen’ by the mask of life” I heard a high pitched whine in the distance and I spotted five objects

“Well” Pohatu said, chuckling and walking next to me “took them long enough” Minion and I walked back to stand in line with the rest of the Wolfpack. Soon the entire Toa Nuva, including Tahu who was back in adaptive flight armour were standing on the bow looking at us with wary glances.

“Welcome aboard the Jörmungandr” I said “I am Toa Vuur Koning, leader of the Wolfpack” Tahu scoffed.

“You look nothing like Toa” he said, walking forward.

“I’m not just a Toa” I said, also walking forward and meeting him halfway “I’m a Neu-Toa, we’re what happens when the Ignika deems an ordinary person worthy to carry the title of Toa, I would also think carefully before you start a fight with us. We may not be Nuva, but we have ways of compensating”

“I’d like to see you try” Tahu said, I spell-jumped behind him and kicked his legs out from under him.

“And that was without using a mask power” I said, clapping the dust off of my hands and walking back towards my team.

“I like him already” Kopaka said, smirking ever so slightly, Tahu glared at his brother as he stood up.

“Why are you here?” Tahu asked, giving me a look that would melt diamonds.

“We are merely explorers from the far north” I said “I also happen to be the captain of a crew of 70’000, some of whom you might recognise” a Skakdi walked past as I said this, glancing at the Toa briefly before walking on.

“You are allied with Skakdi?” Gali asked.

“They are part of my crew” I said “and they know what happens when they step out of line, just ask the changeling that cut off my sons arm, although don’t expect him the give you an answer” their eyes widened when I said that.

“What exactly did you do, Fire-spitter?” Lewa asked.

“I personally didn’t do anything” I said “but let’s just say it involved a metal box, a can of poison and a bucket of water” I heard Garnet sigh followed by the clanking of his robotic arm.

“Why do you have to intimidate…” he trailed off as he walked around the corner and saw the Toa “uh, Dad?”

“Yes, Garnet?” I asked.

“When did they get here?” he asked, pointing at the Toa Nuva

“Why is that Rahi talking?” Onua asked his fellow Toa.

“Three things” I said “One; he’s not a Rahi, he’s a Kirin. Two; his name is Garnet and three; we can hear you”

“Okay” Onua said “why is the Kirin talking?”

“Why is it such a difficult concept for you to understand?” Garnet asked “I can talk, big deal” he rolled his eyes.

“You watch how you talk” Tahu said, I stepped forward.

“You dare talk to my son like that?” I asked “I don’t care if you are a Toa Nuva, I will end you if you speak to him like that again” Tahu scowled.

“I doubt it” he said, I chuckled and nodded before blasting him back with a pulse of magic.

“You know” I said, walking towards him “we were actually looking for you, I was wanting to meet you, but now I’m not so sure, because frankly you’re an arsehole” Tahu growled and stood up, the other Toa Nuva went to help but he motioned for them to stand back. He then got out his razor shield with 2 foot long blades and Nynrah ghost blaster, I scoffed before getting out my 5 ft. long power sword and arcane pistol.

“It’s not the weapon” Tahu said “it’s how you use it”

“True” I said, as my armour adapted to flight mode “but a big arse sword helps” I gave my wings a few test flaps before charging towards him, using my wings to propel me. I drew back my sword before swinging, he blocked my attack, the force causing his blades to stop spinning. I spell-jumped behind him and kicked him in the back, sending him stumbling forward. He growled before swinging at me, I parried his blow and struck with my sword, causing him the take a step back. He then activated his thrusters and took off, I followed him up and swung my sword. He blocked and I kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying back. I then flew after him and kicked him down to the ground below, he recovered and stopped his descent before he hit the ground, flying back up towards me with rage in his eyes. He let out a war cry and sent forth a beam of elemental energy, which I just absorbed. He stopped and looked at me in surprise.

“Same element, genius” I said, before diving towards him. I charged up a concentrated ball of fire in my left hand, using the elemental energy he gave me to add to it. Once I had enough elemental energy compressed into a ball I encased it in magic before hurling it at the Toa Nuva of fire with a battle cry. The ball hit him and exploded, sending him flying towards the ground. He impacted the frozen ground with a boom and I landed nearby before walking towards the smoking crater, I walked up to the edge and a robotic hand grabbed my throat.

“You’ve just made a grave mistake” he said, lifting me up I laughed before spell-jumping behind him and sending a blast of magic into his back.

“Oh really?” I asked “because I’m not the one getting his arse handed to him by a 19 year old” he levelled his blaster at me and fired, I activated my Hau to deflect it before firing my pistol at him. He blocked it with his shield before charging towards me, I side stepped and crouched down before tripping him up and sending him falling into the crater.

“Are you quite done?” I asked, walking over “Because I can keep this up all day, you may be more experienced but I have one advantage”

“And what’s that?” he asked, I charged up an offensive spell.

“Magic” I said, before I had a chance to fire the shot Autumn and Gali flew down and stood between me and Tahu.

“Brothers, enough!” Gali said.

“We don’t have time for petty squabbles” Autumn added, Gali nodded.

“We should be working together” Gali said “not trying to rip each-others throats out”

“I’m sorry!” I said, indignantly “I wasn’t the one threatening my son, I was merely showing what happens when he does” I looked at Tahu as I said this

“Well your ‘son’ is a rude little bastard” Tahu said, and Autumn punched him in the face.

“He’s my son as well” she said, massaging her knuckles and sending a death glare towards the Toa of fire, Gali raised an eyebrow and looked between me and Autumn.

“He’s adopted” I said, I then walked towards Tahu “when you are on my ship, like it or not I outrank you and you will obey my command, and if you don’t like that. Well, I’m sure the 70’000 crew plus the ice dragon will provide enough incentive for you to keep your mouth shut”

“Whatever” Tahu said, before flying back onto the ship, the rest of us followed close behind. Tahu landed on the deck and walked towards the railing.

“Right” I said, turning to Kopaka, who acted as deputy of the Toa Nuva “where are you headed?”

“We were headed towards the city of New Altero” he said, stoically.

“Which way is that?” I asked.

We soon reached New Altero, which looked a lot like Metru Nui, except it was in the middle of an arctic tundra and filled with all manner of Spherus Magnans. It was also rather war torn, with a large number of buildings reduced to rubble.

“What the hell…?” I asked as we drifted past a bullet ridden tower block, I turned to the Toa “what caused this?” Tahu sighed.

“The Shadowed One’s army is ruthless, plus they have floating warships similar to this one” he said “at first we thought you were a new vessel, that’s why Pohatu appeared the way he did” I scowled.

“Which direction is his fortress?” I asked, they shrugged.

“They just appear out of nowhere and start attacking the city” Pohatu said, sadly “we have lost so many over the years”

“Well” I said “it’s about time you got some help, did I mention I managed to intimidate Nektann when we accidentally encroached on the Shadowed One’s territory?” they looked at me like I’d gone mad.

“I doubt it” Tahu said.

“Trust me” I said “I don’t think they have anything like this vessel, it’s the biggest iron clad I’ve ever seen, that’s for sure”

“I’ll admit” Onua said “I haven’t seen a ship as big as this amongst the shadowed ones fleet”

“Perfect” I said, smirking

“What?” Autumn asked.

“I’ve just thought of a plan for chasing the shadowed ones fleet back to whatever hole they crawled out of” I said “do you know when the will next attack?”

“They usually attack every few days” Kopaka said “the next one is soon”

“Even better” I said, I explained the plan to them and we began preparing.

*the next day*

The Jörmungandr was in position behind a several towers, obscuring it pretty well. All of the Toa apart from the Toa Nuva were on board. We would wait for the Shadowed Ones forces to attack and then, we would unleash hell upon them. Pohatu flew over.

“They’ve been spotted” he said.

“Perfect” I said, a few hours later I began to hear cannon fire and I saw a pillar of fire shoot into the sky. That was the signal, the ship ascended rapidly and eventually stopped above the towers. We began opening fire upon the vessels and they began to drop out of the sky until only a few were left, they began turning back “after them!” Frostfang charged forward after the few vessels and followed at a distance. The Toa Nuva soon flew over and landed on the deck.

“Nice work” Pohatu said, looking at the fleeing vessels. We followed them for several days until we came to a valley.

“That son of a Vorox!” Tahu said “we searched here and couldn’t find him” we followed the ships to a large fortress and a small vessel flew over.

“Turn back” a Skakdi said from the ship

“How about this?” I said “you go fuck yourself and jump off your ship, we aren’t leaving until the Shadowed one agrees to surrender”

“And if we don’t?” he asked, I nodded to a crew member and a few moments later the Rail gun aimed at the fortress. The Skakdi paled “I-I’ll just go tell him”

“And tell him Vuur Koning sends his regards” I said.

*POV 3rd person*

The Shadowed One was not pleased, after all these years of almost constant victory this…’Vuur Koning’…had to show up, he was shaken from his musings by a Skakdi walking into the throne room.

“Um…S-Shadowed O-One?” the Skakdi said.

“What?” the Shadowed One asked.

“Um…a Toa calling himself Vuur Koning is outside with a warship…” he didn’t get to finish his sentence as the Shadowed One disintegrated him with his eyebeam before walking to a balcony. He actually did a double take, about half a mile away was a colossal warship with a dragon attached to it.

“Well” the Shadowed One said “this complicates things” he then headed towards a hangar and got into a speeder.

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning*

Sometime later I saw a small aircraft of some type approaching, it landed on the substantial area on the front of the ship and a tall, dark figure stepped out. I was the only one there to greet him.

“I presume you are the Shadowed One” I said.

“That would be correct, Vuur Koning, I presume” the Shadowed One said, I nodded “why do you attack my vessels, threaten my Fortress?”

“You’re one to talk” I said “I saw New Altero”

“Ah” he said “what are your terms?”

“Unconditional surrender” I said.

“Or?” he asked, I snapped my fingers and the Rail gun fired at the fortress.

“It wasn’t up for discussion” I said as the top of the fortress exploded and collapsed into the valley below.

“HOW DARE YOU!” He thundered before firing his eye beam. I spell jumped behind him and slashed the back of his heels with my hunting knife, sending him onto all fours. The rest of the Neu-Toa walked forward and pointed their weapons at him, Minion held him down with his magnetic powers.

“I’m sure the Order will just love to get their hands on you” I said, walking around. His eyes widened.

“What do you know of the Order?” he asked.

“I’m fucking part of it, mate” I said, throwing my arms out, I then walked forward and knelt down “I could hand you in or, I could just kill you right here. I somehow doubt the Toa will object after what you’ve done”

“You don’t have it in you” the shadowed one sneered.

“Fucking try me!” I shouted, I then began twirling my hunting knife “you see, Neu-Toa don’t have any problems with killing, especially when it involves scum like you. Here are my terms; Surrender to the order, or die at our hands” his eyes followed the hunting knife, eventually he snarled.

“Fine!” he spat “you win, but this isn’t over” I laughed.

“Oh, I think it is” I said, as several Order of Mata Nui agents walked over and picked him up “enjoy your time in the pit, I hear it’s rather nice this time of year” he snarled as he was dragged through a portal.

“Well that was anti-climactic” Vinyl remarked as the portal closed.

When we got back to New Altero the entire city began celebrating, not just because the war was over, but because countless friends were reunited. We were all sat in a great coliseum watching a kohli match when I turned to Turaga Dume.

“Do any of you know what happened 400 million years ago?” Dume sighed and nodded.

“The Toa were out scouting when they came across a tree of some sort, Lewa touched it and it seemed to explode into bright lights. The world was transformed as a result and we fled to the south” he said.

“The Tree of Harmony?” I asked, Dume shrugged “why didn’t you stay up north”

“our time was over, it was time for new civilisations to have their turn in the world” he said, I went to say something but he stopped me “I know what you are going to say, and the answer is no, we aren’t going to go back up north, we are perfectly fine here, we just need to rebuild” I sighed, before bowing.

“Very well, Turaga Dume” I said, Autumn turned to me.

“What do we do now?” she asked, I shrugged.

“The rest of the Neu Toa can do what they wish” I said “but I wouldn’t mind staying here for a while, as long as you are willing to as well”

“I don’t have a problem with it” she said “although I don’t know about the…” whatever she was about to say was interrupted by a loud boom and a blinding flash of light, when the flash faded I could see 12 individuals of varying sizes. I switched to the mask of quick travel and reappeared down there in a flash, just in time to see a beaten and bloodied Celestia collapse into a heap.

“Oh shit!” I exclaimed “what happened?” Luna was shaking her head in denial.

“All this time” she said “right under our feet”

“Who?” I asked, at that moment Teridax from the Melding universe walked forward and Luna ran in front of the others protectively

“STAY AWAY FROM THEM, FOUL SHADOW-DAEMON” she boomed, causing the crowd to murmur.

“I can assure you I have no shadow in me” alternate Teridax said, I quickly put two and two together.

“Oh shit…” I said, falling to my knees and shaking my head, I looked at the Mane six, Spike and the C.M.C. who were all teary eyed “is Celestia going to be okay okay?” Twilight nodded.

“She’ll recover” Twilight said, nuzzling the unconscious princess. She choked out a sob “how could this happen?” at that point the rest of the Neu-Toa ran over.

“What happened?” Autumn asked, I sighed.

“It’s over” I said.

“What?” she asked confused.

“I should never have left Equestria” I said.

“Why?” Minion asked, I sighed and a tear fell down my cheek

“Equestria has fallen” I said "Teridax has returned"

*TO BE CONTINUED*

Bionicle: Equestrian Saga will return in Book 2 'Fall of Equestria'

Celestia was in a bed, recovering. I was trying to understand how Teridax managed to overpower not one, but two 1 thousand year old Alicorns.

“He’s been recruiting ponies” Luna said, we were both stood outside the hospital room “but they aren’t ponies any more, they’re…changed” I suddenly remembered something.

“Were they bipedal, generally reptilian or bat-like in appearance and roughly 14 feet tall?” I asked, she nodded and I punched the wall in rage, embedding my fist in the solid protodermis “FOR FUCKS SAKE, HE FUCKING WARNED ME AND I DIDN’T FUCKING LISTEN!!!”

“Who?” Luna asked.

“Red Dawn” I said “Autumn Skies ex-boyfriend, he now goes by the name of Sauradox and matches that description almost perfectly. I still don’t understand why he would warn us, he fucking hates me plus he’s kind of an arsehole”

“Maybe deep down he cares about Autumn enough to warn you?” Luna suggested, I shrugged.

“Fuck knows” I said “I’m just really pissed off that I let this fucking happen”

“Do you have to swear so much?” Luna asked.

“Yes” I said “it stops me from going to Canterlot on my own and killing myself trying to stop Teridax. Oh fuck, what’s going to happen to our friends in Canterlot, what about the Crystal Empire?”

“We can only hope and pray that Teridax isn’t too cruel” Luna said, I nodded.

“Thankfully he isn’t the type to kill unless provoked” I said “which is why we need to keep the elements of Harmony from getting back to Equestria, teach them to fight” Luna smirked.

“What luck that I and my sister are both members of an organisation that is the sworn enemy of Teridax” she said.

“What!?” I exclaimed “both of you!? I could understand Celestia but you’ve been on the moon for 1’000 years, how could the Order…?” Luna cut me off by jamming a hoof in my mouth.

“Not here” she hissed “I’ll explain on the way”

“What do you mean ‘on the way’?” I asked making quotation marks with my hands.

“Do you want to get help or not?” she asked “we need to get the former elements as well, and the Neu-Toa…” she then began listing off everyone that would need training.

“Let’s just get everyone that can fight and go” I said, deadpanning.

*later at an undisclosed location*

I was stood outside the fortress of the Order of Mata Nui along with Luna and the former elements and the ship was a short distance away, Luna turned to all of us.

“What you are about to see, you must never tell anyone outside of those who will also become members” she said “I would actually have to kill you if you did” Fluttershy whimpered.

“Why?” Rainbow asked.

“There are two groups who enforce Mata Nui’s will” Luna said “Toa like Vuur Koning are for doing deeds in the public eye, the Order of Mata Nui on the other hoof do the more secrete work”

“Ooh-ooh-ooh” Pinkie pie said “you mean like Ninjas?” she then struck a Kung Fu pose and I swear I could hear a gong go off somewhere, Luna rolled her eyes.

“If you like” Luna said, she then walked up to the huge door and knocked on it. After a few moments a grey and black Toa with a Kenohi in the shape of a Hau opened the door.

“L-Luna!?” the Toa said, obviously surprised “What brings you here”

“I need to speak to Helryx” She said “sooner rather than later”

“What about your friends?” he asked.

“Their coming with me” she said, in a tone that said she couldn’t be swayed in the matter.

“Oh, okay” the Toa said, before stepping aside to let us through, he raised an eyebrow at the Technicolor ponies as they trotted past, Rarity humphed as she trotted past with her head held high. Luna led us through a long hallway towards a set of doors, just as we reached them Rainbow exclaimed.

“Whoa, hey!” she exclaimed as an invisible force grabbed her and hung her upside down by her tail. She began trying to get free and I heard a chuckle.

“Feisty one, ain’t she?” I heard Jerbraz remark “Hey, Luna, hey, Vuur Koning”

“WHAT!?” all of the ponies exclaimed, looking at me, I shrugged.

“Need-to-know only” I said, simply, Jerbraz chuckled

“He’s good” Jerbraz said, before dropping Rainbow on the ground.

“Am Ah the only one who’s just a tinsy bit unnerved that yawl can’t see im?” Applejack asked, looking around frantically.

“You can’t see his sword either” I said, all of the ponies went pale.

“Dude” Rainbow Dash said, crossing her for hooves and scowling at me “not cool”

“Doesn’t make it any less true” Jerbraz said from behind Rainbow, said spectrum maned pony shot into the air and ended up hanging from a chandelier.

“D-dude” Rainbow said, trembling “r-really n-not c-cool”

“Jerbraz” I said “leave the ponies alone, they’ve just lost their homeland to Teridax”

“Ah” Jerbraz said “well, I won’t keep you” I then heard footsteps walking away, only once they had faded away did Rainbow speak up.

“I-is he gone?” she asked.

“Yes, he’s gone” I said, and rainbow dropped to the floor.

“Tell anyone and you’re dead” she said, pointing her hoof at all of us

“We would be dead anyway” I said “literally no one can know of this place besides my ship’s crew, but they will be sworn to secrecy as well”

“Wait here for a moment” Luna said, walking over to the door and entering the room. After a few minutes she returned “when you meet Toa Helryx, bow like you would to royalty. She’s the very first Toa, at least four hundred million years old and outranks both me and Celestia, she could kill me and you wouldn’t be able to stop her. Do not speak unless spoken to and do not aggravate her, she will not hesitate to kill you if she deems you could jeopardise the secrecy of this organisation” I nodded and the others all recited the Pinkie Pie promise, Luna nodded and opened the door for us to enter.

Sat on a raised throne was a female blue Toa, leant against one side of the throne was a spiked mace and leant against the other was a shield. We all walked over and stopped a short distance away before bowing.

“State your names” the Toa, presumably Helryx, said. I stepped forward.

“Toa Vuur Koning” I said “Captain of the ironclad airship Jörmungandr, leader of the Neu-Toa and an informant of the Order of Mata Nui, I was the one who apprehended the Shadowed one” Helryx nodded and Twilight stepped forward.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle” she said “Princess of friendship and Element of Magic” one by one the rest of the Elements stepped forward.

“Applejack, Element of Honesty”

“Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty”

“F-Fluttershy, um…Element of Kindness”

“Rarity, Element of Generosity”

“Pinkie Pie, Element of Laughter” Helryx regarded them with curiosity before standing up and walking towards Luna, who actually looked intimidated.

“Let me get this straight” Helryx said, walking over until she was looking Luna in the eye “you compromised the location of the base, and then come crawling to me begging to let me train your precious elements. All because you lost your kingdom?” Luna’s eyes darted around.

“She lost it to Teridax” I said, her head whipped round

“Know your place, Boy” she said “I am well aware the Teridax has inexplicably returned, despite the best efforts of my order and the Great Spirit, I want to know why you thought it was a good idea to reveal our location, you could have led him straight to us”

“I’m pretty sure no one knows we’re here” I said, she snapped her fingers and an agent came in carrying the Cutie Mark Crusaders by their tails. The Crusaders smiled sheepishly before waiving.

“Heh heh” Scootaloo said, sheepishly “hey guys” myself and the Element groaned and I pinched the bridge of my nose.

“They were found snooping around” Helryx said “if mere children can infiltrate this fortress, then what Teridax will do!?”

“To be perfectly honest” I said “they have the uncanny ability to get into even the most guarded of fortresses without being detected” she glared at me before her features softened.

“Actually…” she said “that could be of some use” Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack all stepped forward.

“No way are we gonna let you train them to fight” Rainbow Dash said, stomping a forehoof “they’re just kids”

“What would you do to stop me? Element of loyalty” Helryx asked, she then walked back up the steps and chuckled quietly “you’re definitely loyal, I’ll give you that. But I wasn’t going to do much to them, merely teach them to defend themselves and use them as messengers”

“You promise you won’t make them do anything too dangerous?” Rarity asked.

“Please” Helryx said, rolling her eyes “I’m not heartless. Suppose I were to let you train as members of this order, what would be in it for me”

“Well” I said “for one thing you would gain 70’000 foot solders” her eyes widened.

“Tempting” she said, nodding “very well, but they will all be sworn to secrecy as well, no one can know of this”

“Know of what?” I said, smirking. Helryx snorted “but seriously, they already know what happens when they defy me and I’m sure you know what happened to the changeling that cut off my son’s arm”

“What!?” the Elements and Luna exclaimed. Helryx chuckled.

“Yes, I’m fully away of his fate” she said “honestly, anyone would think you’d gone rogue”

“Neu-Toa follow a different moral code” I said “he tried to kill my son and I merely had some friends of mine return the favour” Rainbow chuckled nervously.

“You’re kidding, right?” she asked.

“I never mess around when it comes to others threatening my family” I said “a leader protects his own”

“Quite” Helryx said “from this moment, you are now members of the Order of Mata Nui, you begin training tomorrow, you too” she looked at the Crusaders as she said the last part.

*later that day*

All 70’000 members of the crew of the Jörmungandr were stood on the ground below the ship, I was stood on an outcropping of rocks. Vinyl was stood next to me amplifying my voice.

“My fellow crewmen” I said “we face dark times ahead of us, Makuta Teridax has returned and is now in control of Equestria” the Spherus Magnans started to murmur.

“But!” I said “fear not, we have our princesses with us. We will prepare for battle, you are all now part of an organisation sworn to uphold the will of Mata Nui and will be trained as such. So, brothers, sisters. ARE YOU WITH ME?” they responded by letting out a war cry that could be heard for miles, once they had quietened down I nodded.

“Good” I said “rest well tonight, because tomorrow we prepare for war

Autumn and I were with Garnet and Ruby in our quarters.

“Were going to wait until Hearths Warming to give you these” I said “but I guess now is as good as time as any to give you them” I then handed Garnet a box, he opened it and gasped.

“My own armour!?” he asked, picking up the mask.

“Yep” I said “these are the prototypes, the very first elemental armour in existence” Ruby picked up a sword and a couple of wing blades and gasped before looking at Autumn, her eye watering.

“Thanks, Mum” Ruby said, before putting them on the ground and hugging Autumn, tears ran down her right cheek.

“Hey, shush” Autumn said, rubing ruby’s back “it’s fine, you need to be able to protect yourself. You’re going to be a member of the Order now, both of you”

“Really!?” they both exclaimed, their eyes wide.

“Yeah” I said “you’ll be training to become protectors for the Crusaders and Aurora, seeing as they have a knack for getting into places undetected. But you’ll be there in case they run into trouble.

“What about Skohka?” Ruby asked.

“He’ll be there for when you need that extra muscle” Autumn said.

“So…he’s the backup for the backup?” Garnet asked.

“Pretty much” I said “well come on, I want to see what you look like with all that armour” they both put their armour on, with some help from me and Autumn. Garnet’s was red & gold and Ruby’s was orange & gold. The main difference between the two sets was Garnet didn’t have any armour for his right arm other than a shoulder pad. Garnet reared up on his hind legs and changed his right arm into a plasma cannon.

“I look fucking awesome” he said.

“I’ll let that one slide” I said “but only because I agree, let’s go show the others” we soon found the Elements of Harmony, they turned a couple of shades paler when they saw Ruby’s robotic eye and Garnet’s robotic arm.

“What happened to you two” Rainbow asked, looking at Garnet’s arm.

“Wrong place at the wrong time” Garnet said

“Rahkshi” Ruby said, shrugging. At that moment Charahk walked over, the Elements looked up in awe.

“What are you?” Twilight asked.

“Rahkshi” Charahk said, the Elements all took several steps back and gave him wary looks “I’m not the one her hurt her, if that’s what you’re thinking. Pray you never meet a Turahk, even other Rahkshi avoid them”

“Why?” Fluttershy asked.

“Well” I said “lets sum up, their sadistic, brutal, bloodthirsty and just plain vulgar. Did I mention they control fear?”

“They wouldn’t scare me” Rainbow said, I scoffed.

“Well, the Order just so happens to keep one prisoner” I said “I could very easily arrange to have you share a cell with him for the night”

“I think I’ll pass” she said.

Eventually we bid farewell to the Elements and continued on our way, we soon reached the fortress and entered on of the training rooms, where the Crusaders, Aurora, John and Spike were undergoing defensive training. Celestia was also there, keeping an eye on the griffin and two dragons as Mazeka taught the three filly’s defensive tactics, or rather trying to.

“Can you try and take this seriously?” Mazeka asked “I need you to calm down for a few minutes” Scootaloo huffed.

“But you’re boring” she whined.

“Girls” I said “not a good idea to anger him, just do as he says and you’ll have more time to play later” they all sighed before nodding.

“Okay” they said in unison as they sat down in a row, Mazeka looked at me like I had just walked on water.

“How did you do that?” he asked, I shrugged.

“Just ask kindly” I said “they’re kids, and you need to keep that in mind, but don’t be condescending”

“Right” he said, before turning to the three fillies “from the beginning” Celestia chuckled as she watched Mazeka.

“What?” I asked, she shook her head.

“Nothing” she said “just memories of when I and Luna were being trained, I think it was somepony called Trinuma. He could be very persuasive at times”

“You know” I said “I’ve always wondered, did you ever get a Kenohi?” she shook her head

“They didn’t think I needed one” she said.

Over the course of the next year we gradually began the process of training all of the crew on the ship. The order gave us new weapons, mostly better versions of our old weapons. However, my sword now had a handle that could extend, turning it into a staff. I also had a shield that could split into two climbing claws, shoot concentrated elemental energy like a gun or direct the elemental energy into concentrated jets, and I now had a cape that could withstand most elemental attacks, shield me from the hottest of dragon fire and allow me to glide, add the claws into the equation and I could practically fly. Vinyl’s bass cannon had been changed into two swords that vibrated the air around them, often creating interesting audio effects when she used them in battle. Vapaa now had hidden blades that could extend from his wrist like in Assassins Creed, multiple throwing knives that were enchanted to return to him and a hooded cape that could conceal him.

Moving onto the Elements of Harmony, they somehow managed to unlock Toa elements without physically changing. Twilight now had Psionic powers, Pinkie Pie seemed to just use random elements whenever it suited her. Rainbow Dash now controlled plasma. Applejack controlled stone. Fluttershy controlled Plant-life and Rarity controlled ice.

Garnet and Ruby had matured a surprising amount over the last year, rather than looking like equine-dragons they now looked more like draconic-equines (if that makes sense). Their teeth were sharper and their legs were longer, allowing them the walk around on their hind-legs most of the time. They also looked a lot fiercer and were much bigger, before their wingspans were around 14 feet, now they were close to 20 feet. Celestia says that it’s normal and that Kirins often have several dramatic growth spurts.

The Crusaders, Aurora, John Henry and Spike were now messengers for the Order and were trained to be as hard to catch as possible. The crusaders had small blades fitted to the armour on their wrists, meaning they could defend themselves if necessary. Spike had two arcane pistols and a dagger. Aurora had gauntlets on her talons and John had a short sword.

We were flying towards New Altero when Tahu flew over.

“Long time, brother” he said “where have you been for the past year?”

“Can’t really say, only that I’ve been training” I said “how’s the city?”

“Rebuilding has been hard as we lack the materials” he said, sadly.

“I have a solution to that” I said, he looked at me warily.

“What are you planning?” he asked.

“Wait and see” I said, we soon reached the city and I had Tahu call a council meeting. It was comprised of representatives from each Spherus Magnan species, but myself and Celestia were also there.

“The council is now in session” Turaga Dume said, and I stepped forwards.

“Gentlemen” I said, leaning on the table “I come here today, with a request and a proposal”

“Go on” Alternate Teridax said.

“Is it not true that your city is mostly in ruin?” I asked, the majority conceded the point “well, this is my proposal” I then placed a holo-gem on the table and an interactive map of the known world came up.

“Is this the rest of the world as it is now?” Tahu asked.

“Yes” I said, I then tapped on the area where Equestria used to be “up until 1 year ago, this was Equestria, where Celestia and Luna ruled side by side, now Teridax rules”

“This is practically common knowledge” Jaller said “where are you going with this?” I zoomed out and refocused the map on Appleloosa.

“This is the settlement of Appleloosa” I said “south of this town it’s mostly uninhabited, I propose that we demolish all of the buildings, begin building airships and fly everything over to the desert just south of Appleloosa” after a few seconds of silence the council room dissolved into laughter.

“Why would we put ourselves deliberately near harm’s way and put up a settlement there?” Raanu asked.

“So we just let Teridax rule as he wishes?” I asked “because that’s essentially what we are doing if we remain here. This has already happened on my world; the rest of the world just sits idle whilst he steadily gains power, eventually he will tire of just one nation, and where do you think he will set his eyes on next? Celestia here has several powerful allies. We won’t exactly be short of soldiers if we request their help” at that point I let Celestia take over.

“Please” she said “I am begging for your assistance in helping me to reclaim my nation”

“If we agree, what happens then?” Dume asked.

“You get to play a part in stopping Teridax, for good” I said, the room soon descended into chaos as everyone began arguing over whether to help or not. Celestia sighed.

“This is madness” she muttered.

“This is politicks” I said, wryly. Celestia sighed before rearing up and slamming her fore-hooves on the table, cracking the Protosteel table-top.

“ENOUGH!!!” she boomed, stunning them into silence “TERIDAX IS GATHERING STRENGTH UNCHECKED AND YOU SIT HERE BICKERING LIKE CHILDREN” no one said anything for several minutes, eventually Tahu cleared his throat.

“Celestia” he said “My Toa Nuva are yours to command”

“The Skakdi pledge their allegiance to Equestria” Nektann said.

“My fellow Glatorians will aid in your cause” Ackaar said

“The Toa Haga will help you as best we can” Norik said.

“The Toa Mahri are behind you all the way” Jaller said.

“The Skrall will provide support” Tuma said

“The Vortixx will supply weapons and machines to aid in your cause” the Vortixx Queen said.

“The Steltians are united to help you” a higher Steltian said.

“Well” Alternate Teridax said “seems we all agree on something for once” one by one all of the species agreed to provide support, work started immediately to demolish the City for the mass migration.

Soon all that was left of the City of New Altero was a large patch of earth in the sub-arctic tundra, now hundreds of warships were flying away from the sight of the former fortress of the Shadowed One’s army. We had seized all aircraft and demolished the fortress for resources. Building several large armour-clad warships from the materials. The Order soon joined us with warships of their own, giving us a total fleet of 500 battle capable airships, with the Jörmungandr at the front leading them north. I was stood on the bow of the Jörmungandr when Mata Nui walked over.

“Are you sure this is the right thing?” Mata Nui asked.

“I’m positive” I said “Teridax needs to be stopped, permanently, there’s still several groups we haven’t contacted”

“Who?” he asked.

“Ever hear of the Skrall Sisters?” I asked, he shook his head “that’s our next stop” we stopped the fleet a small distance away from where the Skrall sisters where know to reside and myself, Celestia and Helryx walked the rest of the way. We were walking down a canyon when Helryx stopped.

“They’re close” she said. I noticed a cloaked figure disappear from the edge of the canyon and I got out my sword, turning it into a staff and butting the end against the ground.

“I wish to speak with the leader of the Sisterhood” I said “we are here looking to form an alliance”

“We do not trust males” a female voice said.

“But surely you will be willing to trust another female” Celestia said, walking forward “I am Princess Celestia; former ruler of Equestria, and I have come requesting aid”

“Speak, Princess Celestia” the voice said, I then saw a cloaked figure approaching.

“You may be familiar with a Makuta called Teridax” Celestia said.

“We are aware of him” the cloaked female said “what of him?”

“He has seized my nation” Celestia said, approaching the female “I ask of you, no, I beg of you to provide assistance”

“It is of no concern to us” the female said “leave this place” Celestia looked as if she had been slapped.

“You won’t help me?” Celestia asked.

“No” the female said “you have hundreds by your side already, what good will we do”

“You know what?” I said “I absolutely agree, you probably wouldn’t be able to do much good. I mean, where are the horrific visions, the mind control? I heard so many good thing about your kind, how you were so powerful that you have no need for weapons or armour. But where is all of that now?”

“You dare!” the female snarled “who are you to down talk us?” I pointed my staff at the female’s neck

“Who am I?” I asked “I am Vuur Koning. I have walked the void between worlds, I command an army of several million. I am the first of the Neu-Toa, I have a colossal ice drake as any ally. What are you compared to me?” the female looked like she was concentrating but after a few moments her expression turned into shock

“You…you aren’t reacting to our attacks” she said, taking a step back.

“You’re powers have no effect on me, witch” I said “so, what will it be, will you join us? Or will you stay here cowering from Teridax?” I could hear whispering, after a few moments the Female nodded.

“Very well” she said “we will agree to help” with that tens of female Skrall appeared and we began to walk back to the ships, as we were walking I noticed something.

“Weren’t there less trees when we were walking towards the Sisterhood?” I asked Celestia.

“I’d suggest stowing your weapons, Toa” one of the Female Skrall said “baterra don’t take kindly to armed individuals” I put my staff back in my hammer space and we warily walked through the canyon until we reached the fleet. The male Skrall didn’t take too kindly to the female Skrall showing up.

“Why are those witches here?” Tuma spat.

“Don’t like it?” I asked “then you can go fuck yourself with a thornax” I then walked past him and back onto my ship. After a few days we reached the Rahkshi of the forest and they agreed to help, they directed us to Rahkshi nests where Miserix could seize control.

“Never thought I would end up working alongside Rahkshi” Takanuva said, watching a group of them fly alongside the Jörmungandr.

“We need all the help we can get” I said, leaning against the railing “it’s time we fought fire with fire”

“What’s your world like?” he asked

“Deferent” I said “for one thing there is only one sapient species, Humans. On the whole we’re a bit like a cross between Vortix and Higher Steltians”

“Industrious and destructive?” he asked “I’d hate to get on your bad side”

“Just ask Tahu what it’s like” I said “in all honesty, I hope Teridax never finds a way to get to my world, I dread to think what would happen”

“To him or to your world?” Takanuva asked.

“Both” I said. After months of travelling we finally reached the northern continent and began to set up camps.

Sauradox opened a portal to the throne room in New Destral, Teridax was sitting on a throne.

“Teridax” Sauradox said “we have a problem”

“What is it?” Teridax asked, sounding board. Sauradox opened a portal to the desert near Appleloosa “what is this?”

“Every single Spherus Magna left in existence has allied with several other southern nations” Sauradox said “allied against you” Teridax stood up.

“Summon the other Makuta” Teridax said “we’re going to give them a little welcome party” Sauradox smirked and walked through a portal.

I was helping to set up a tent when a heard a weird whooshing sound coming from the sky, I looked up to see a portal of some kind.

“That can’t be good” Autumn said, I saw multiple figure appear.

“Summon the Toa” I said “all of them, I think I have an idea who that might be” Autumn nodded before flying off, I adapted my armour for flight and flew over to where they were stood.

“Well, if it isn’t Vuur Koning” Sauradox said.

“Shut the fuck up!” I said “I’m not part of the ordinary Toa, so I will not hesitate to kill you”

“Aren’t you the confrontational one” the tallest one said. He was about 25 foot tall and his mask was instantly recognisable.

“Teridax, I presume” I said.

“That would be correct” he said.

“Alright, why are you here?” I asked.

“I’m merely here to show that, as a gesture of good will, I will leave your settlement alone” he said “but, you must never set foot in New Destral”

“And how about you take your staff of shadows” I said “and go fuck yourself!” the other Makuta’s jaws dropped, Teridax simply chuckled.

“My good will refused?” he said, before sneering “so my hand is cast” at that moment Celestia and Luna impacted into the ground next to me.

“Thou hast a lot of gall, showing thou’s face here” Luna snarled.

“What do you want, Teridax?” Celestia barked.

“I came here trying to strike a deal” Teridax said “but your little pet seems so certain on starting fights he can’t finish that he didn’t even think it over”

“The only terms we will accept is your surrender” Celestia said “you are currently on my land, if you do not get out I shall have to let my ‘pet’ loose on you”

“I will not hesitate to nova blast you to high hell!” I said, Teridax actually hesitated for a few seconds. One by one the Toa and Neu-Toa impacted against the ground in line with me and the two princesses “you’re out numbered, and the big difference between you and me is I won’t kill those that serve under me just to makes sure that I don’t have competition” some of the Neu-Makuta hesitated when I said this.

“What?” Sombra asked.

“The last time he got in control he killed every other Makuta just so he didn’t have competition” I said “where do you think that leaves you once you are of no more use to him?”

“Is that true?” Sauradox asked.

“He’s lying” Teridax said.

“Said the master of shadows and deception to the Toa” I said, wryly “now, you can remain under him, and be killed when he grows tired of you. Or you can side with us” After a few moments Sauradox flew over, followed by someone else, but other than that they stood firm.

“Right” Celestia said, to Teridax “get out” the Makuta snarled.

“This isn’t over” he said.

“You’re right, it’s only just begun” I said, they then took off and flew into a portal. I turned to Sauradox “if you defected so easily then why even join him in the first place?”

“You get with the wrong crowd” he said “and you start to lose sense of what’s right”

“And you” I asked, looking at the other one.

“Eh, he was an asshole” She said, before turning into a griffin and walking towards the settlement. After a couple hundred paces she was swept away by a rainbow blur that shot towards the mountains on the horizon.

“And Rainbow just found her old friend” I quipped, before getting out my climbing claws, adapting to my air mode and taking off after them

Rainbow slammed Gilda into the mountainside and landed a few feet away.

“Heh, it’s great to see you too, Dash” Gilda said, wiping the blood from her mouth and taking a few steps back, she then noticed the armour Rainbow was wearing “nice armour”

“How could you!?” Rainbow Dash snarled “After everything, you side with Teridax”

“It’s not like you were ever there for me” Gilda shot back “all these years we’ve know each other, we were practically sisters. Everything we went through together and you left me for ponies you barely knew, some element of loyalty you are”

“You were acting like a jerk!” Rainbow said.

“If you have a problem” Gilda said, changing into her true form “then bring it!”

“Oh, you wanna do this the hard way?” Rainbow Dash asked, flicking her wrists, making a couple of small blades flick out and causing fire and lightening to dance along the blades “we’ll do this the hard way!” she then charged towards Gilda before spinning around and bucking the griffin high into the air. She then sent several bolts of plasma at Gilda, who retaliated by shooting plasma back at the Pegasus. Rainbow Dash just shrugged it off.

“I control Plasma, you bitch!” Rainbow Dash said “so it doesn’t affect me”

“Wanna put that to the test?” Gilda asked.

“ENOUGH” Vuur Koning yelled, sending blasts of fire at both of them and hovering between them.

“I don’t have time to deal with your fucking personal grudge match” I said “you want to kill each other? Do that after we’ve defeated Teridax. Now, you have two options. You can both put aside your differences and work together become a formidable force. Or, you stay the fuck away from each other, what’s it gonna be?” after a few moments Gilda spoke up

“You know?” she said, smirking and changing back into her griffin form “I wouldn’t mind seeing what you can do, Dash. What do you say we put our differences aside? It’ll be just like old times”

“Only if you promise not to be a jerk” Rainbow said, smiling.

“So it’s settled then?” I asked, they both nodded.

“The number of Rahkshi in Appleloosa has been increasing” Rainbow dash said. She had just returned from a scouting run to Appleloosa with Gilda and they were relaying the information to me. Said griffin groaned in frustration.

“Urg, when are we going to get that town back?” she asked “if we keep sitting on out asses all the time they are just going to keep on coming”

“I am fully aware of what will happen, Gilda” I said, calmly “but we are still trying to figure out an attack plan”

“I have a plan” Gilda said “attack”

“Which is exactly the reason why you aren’t in charge” I said “we can’t just go blindly rushing in” Gilda just groaned in frustration before walking out of the tent.

“She’s right you know” Rainbow said “we need to take Appleloosa, sooner rather than later” I nodded and sighed.

“I know, I just don’t want to order an attack that will end in too many needless deaths” I said, leaning on the table with a map of the desert. Several settlements were now marked with a flag of the 3 virtues, symbolising settlements that we now controlled. Appleloosa, amongst several other northern settlements, still had a flag with a picture of Teridax’s mask above a stylised ‘M’ “if you told me 3 years ago that not only would I be in a land of talking ponies, but also leading a rebellion against Teridax, I would have laughed and told you to take up stand-up comedy” Rainbow snorted.

“Still have a terrible sense of humour I see” she said, I rolled my eyes before walking out of the tent. Most of the settlement of the new-New Altero was comprised of tents with the odd wooden building forming things like shops, the only problems are the sweltering sun…and the Cendox’s. They’re 10 foot long snakes that have a nasty habit of hiding in the rafters of buildings and under furniture, they also like eating anything inedible.

“FUCK OFF!” I yelled, grabbing one of the anaconda sized pests from the rafters of a shop and launching it into the air and past the borders of the city. Rainbow gave a low whistle as she watched it sail through the air before landing some distance away from the settlement with an audible thud.

“Never thought I’d see a Cendox fly” Rainbow said, chuckling before turning to follow after me “Just…don’t let Fluttershy see you do that”

“I somehow doubt even she would object after they ate her tent” I said.

“True” Rainbow conceded. We began walking towards the council tent, Ackaar was discussing something with Tahu when I entered.

“Summon the council members” I said “we’re going to take Appleloosa” they both nodded before leaving, soon they returned along with Turaga Dume, Mata Nui, Tuma, the leader of the Skrall sisters, Nektann and the rest of the leaders of the individual species and groups. Since we had left the tundra the Order had revealed themselves and Helryx was also a part of the council.

“Why have you summoned us?” Helryx asked, I brought up a holo-map and several pictures that Rainbow had taken.

“Teridax has been sending more and more Rahkshi to Appleloosa” I said “if we are going to take Appleloosa, we need to strike sooner rather than later, otherwise Teridax is going to send more, and more, and more, until he has enough to overrun us”

“What do you suggest then?” Mata Nui asked.

“It’s an old tactic from my world called a pincer technique” I said, I tapped the holo-map and multiple arrows began to appear, a gold one at the south of the settlement began moving north “we will drive the Rahkshi back. Then our Teridax, Miserix, the Toa Nuva and Takanuva, Toa Haga and Vapaa’s team will drop from the Jörmungandr and stop the Rahkshi from retreating by blocking their escape and taking control of their forces” as I said this, the red arrow signifying the Rahkshi forces began moving north. And another, smaller gold arrow appeared and moved to block their path. The Rahkshi forces then changed from red to gold.

“What makes you think that this plan will work?” Tuma asked.

“I don’t” I said, crossing my arms “I know it will”

It was the next morning, the Jörmungandr was about 30’000 feet above Appleloosa and myself and my team were armouring up and preparing to drop. Tremors rocked the ship as I climbed into the drop-pod.

“Guy’s?” Said Rainbow Dash over the com-link, I could also hear the crack of lightening “you better get your flanks down here, we have *urgh* a lit...shit… little problem”

“Rainbow?” I asked, strapping myself in to the pod “what’s the problem?”

“Oh nothing” Rainbow said sarcastically “Teridax has only turned an old…BUCK OFF, YOU BITCH! *ZAP-BOOM*...’friend’ of mine from the Wonderbolt academy into a Makuta, she’s the only pegasus I know to keep up with me…oh for Celestia’s sake, GILDA? GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE NOW! Look guy’s, just get here and fast” I could hear several lightning strikes in the background.

“We’re on our way” I said, I brought up several screens showing the other five Toa “alright guy’s, you ready?”

“This is Vinyl Scratch, waiting for the drop, motherbuckers”

“This is Scar, ready and waiting”

“Toa-hero Boris, ever-quick and waiting for ground-bound, Fire-spitter”

“This is Minion, ready to bring forth Ragnarok, brother”

“Well then” I said “What are we waiting for?” I then grabbed hold of a lever and pulled it down, I heard five muffled thuds before I heard a loud bang and my drop-pod lurched. I was momentarily dazzled as the morning son pierced though the window.

“WOOOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOO!” Minion called out, I could see five other pods falling just below mine.

“Alright, Rainbow needs some help with an old friend of hers” I said “She’s really fast, think you can give Rainbow a hand, Boris?”

“I’ll do my best” he said, I saw Boris’s drop-pod veer off towards a low level thunderstorm.

“Alright, Rainbow” I said “Boris is on his way, hang tight”

*POV 3rd person*

Rainbow Dash hid behind a large boulder.

“Celestia damn it, she’s fast” she muttered, absentmindedly rubbing the shoulder where she was struck by lightning. She peered out from behind the boulder and pulled out a spell pistol “I just need one good shot”

“Oh, Rainbow Dash” Lightning Dust sang, looking around “come out, come out where ever you are” Rainbow Dash quickly pulled herself back behind the boulder and tried to slow her breathing. She could hear the hoof, no, footsteps of the former pegasus approaching, slowly but surely.

“Oh come on, I promise I don’t bite” Lightning said, she then chuckled “heh, heh…much”

“Why are you doing this?” Rainbow asked, she heard the footsteps stop.

“Well, let’s recap” Lightning said “you humiliated me, ruined my reputation and crushed my dream!” Rainbow then heard a blade being unsheathed and Lightning Dust began approaching again.

“You brought it upon yourself” Rainbow said “I didn’t do anything” the Lightning leapt around the boulder and pinned Rainbow Dash by her throat, causing her to drop the spell pistol.

“Try saying that to my face” Lightning said, Rainbow responded by spitting on her face. Lightning punched Rainbow in the stomach before launching her across the desert, the cyan pegasus’s head slammed into a boulder, dazing her. She could just hear Lightning Dust approaching over the ringing in her ears “I’m going to take my sweet time killing you, I want to make this as painful as pos…*oof*” Lightning was cut off as the door to Boris’s drop-pod slammed into her, pinning her to a builder. Boris walked over to Rainbow and helped her up.

“Sorry for the delay” Boris said “can you still battle-fight?” Rainbow nodded.

“Just hold her off for a few minutes” she said, leaning against a boulder and rubbing her head with a hoof “I think that bitch gave me a concussion *ungh*” she winced as she touched a sensitive spot.

“If so, then it’s probably best for you to sit-out this one” Boris said “you can barely ground-walk, let alone battle-fight” Rainbow nodded.

“Sure, just keep her busy” She said, before sitting down and activating her com-link “Fluttershy? Think you could get over here? I think I’ve got a concussion”

“Just a minute” Fluttershy said “DIE RAHKSHI…um…if that’s alright with you”

“Sure” Rainbow said, before resting her head on the boulder and shutting her eyes to try and block the pain. Boris walked towards Lightning when the door shot past him.

“You know?” Lightning said, walking forward “it’s a really bad idea to piss me off” she had a long cut down her chest plate

“Past-late to change that” Boris said, getting out his katanas and pointing one at the former pegasus “sure you don’t want to second-think about this? Not-never too late to turn-back”

“I’m going to enjoy taking you down” Lightening said, before charging towards Boris with her sword drawn.

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning*

The drop-pod shook as it impacted into the ground, I kicked the door off, taking out a few of Teridax’s Rahkshi as it shot away. I noticed a Rahkshi had its back turned to me so I got out my hunting knife, I ran towards it, grabbed one of the spines and pulled it down before taking the hunting knife, slicing a big gash in the Kraata compartment and shoving an armed grenade inside. I jumped back and threw my cape in front of me to protect me from the blast.

“Fucking show off” Minion said, walking over after the grenade went off. I let the cape fall behind me to see half of a Rahkshi still standing there, before it promptly collapsed to the ground “Autumn and Vinyl have stuck together, shall we”

“Sure” I said, getting out my sword and shield “just like old times?”

“When have we ever done anything like this?” he asked, shooting and killing a Rahkshi that was approaching from the side without looking, I shrugged.

“Fuck knows” I said. At that point a Rahkshi Kaita, a fusion between three different Rahkshi with all three of their powers, burst through a building, it was built like a centaur and wielded a staff, my jaw dropped “oh come on!” Minion took a shot, but the round just passed straight through without harming it.

“Shit!” he said “density control, try to keep it busy” he then ran off behind a building.

“OH FUCK YOU TOO, BROTHER!” I shouted, the Kaita started to approach and I sent forth a stream of fire from my sword, but it just shrugged it off “Fire resistance as well, great” I jumped to avoid a bolt of lightning sent from its staff. It charged and went to strike me with its staff but I parried just in time, and so we began trying to a back and forth, both trying to land a hit but the other always managing to block.

It seemingly had enough of this as it snorted and promptly kicked me into a building, hiding inside the building were a family of earth ponies and I motioned for them to be quiet, they nodded shakily and I hid behind the wall before getting out my spell pistol and priming it. The pistol gave off a quiet whine that increased in pitch, I could hear the Kaita stomping towards the building.

I took in a deep breath before running from cover and out into the open, the Kaita took the bait and followed me. I levelled my pistol and opened fire, shot after shot went through the Kaita as it charged. Suddenly Minion leapt from the roof of building I was in and landed on the back of the titan sized Rahkshi fusion.

“Überraschung Mutterficker!” he said, before unloading his plasma canon into the Kaita’s Kraata chamber, reducing the top half to molten slag and causing it to drip down in to the other two Kraata chambers, killing the Kraata inside. He then leapt off and landed in front on me just as the twitching, smouldering remains of the Kaita slumped to the floor, he cocked the canon and a red hot, empty cartridge flew out of the side.

“Took you long enough” I said, smirking and giving him a fist bump all the same

*POV 3rd person*

Boris dived out of the way to avoid another bolt of lightning, maybe he should have waited for Fluttershy to fix up Rainbow Dash before attacking Lightning Dust, now they were several thousand feet up in the air.

“Stay still” Lightning said.

“Not-never” Boris said, blowing her back with a strung gust of wind. Lightning just laughed.

“Is that all you’ve got?” she asked “a light breeze? You’re Princess must be truly desperate if she sent you to deal with me”

“She was your princess too!” Boris said, charging forward and striking with his katanas, only to be blocked by Lightning’s blade.

“She is weak” Lightning said, pushing back and sending electricity coursing through the blades “Teridax just helped us to see that”

“If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree you will spend your whole life thinking it’s stupid” Boris said, straining slightly.

“That makes no bucking sense” Lightning said, before kicking the Toa away and sending a bolt of lightning towards him.

“Hey, bitch!” a voice said, Lightning looked towards the source of the sound only to get struck by a bolt of plasma.

“AHHH!” Lightning cried out in pain as electricity and fire coursed through her. Her muscles locked up and she plummeted towards the ground, Rainbow sighed with relief before flying towards Boris.

“You okay?” she asked, Boris nodded despite the arcs of electricity flowing over his armour.

“Had bad-worse” he said, twitching slightly.

Lightning Dust lay on the ground with a hole through her stomach and a sharp, bloody rock a few feet away, she spat at some blood and chuckled bitterly.

“Not getting out of his one are we, Lightning?” she said to herself, leaning against a boulder. She heard wing beats approaching, followed by Rainbow Dash gasping.

“Oh buck, Lightning!” she exclaimed, flying over. Lightning stopped her by folding up a clawed hand.

“It’s too late” she said, before changing into her pegasus form which also had a hole through the stomach “I’d bleed out before you could get help” Rainbow shook her head in denial.

“No” she said “you must have some way of healing yourself”

“Even if I did I wouldn’t” she said.

“Wha-why!?” Rainbow asked, hey eyes watering, Lightning chuckled.

“Let’s just say that your shot knocked some sense into me” she said, spitting out some blood “just, do one thing for me”

“What?” Rainbow asked.

“Don’t blame yourself” Lightning said, she saw Rainbow go to object and weakly held up a hoof “just don’t, I know what you’re going to say so don’t”

“But I was the one that hit you” Rainbow said, tears streamed down her cheeks “I did this”

“I…forced you to…do this” Lightning said, looking drowsy “it’s…not your…fault” she then shut her eyes and stopped breathing, Rainbow Dash fell into a sitting position and broke down. The rest of the elements then appeared.

“Rainbow” Twilight said “we’ve started to force the Rahkshi back, we’ve…oh” Twilights smile fell when she saw Rainbow Dash sobbing, Fluttershy slowly walked forward.

“R-Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked “are you going to be okay?” she slowly placed a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder, the cyan pegasus sighed and her shoulders slumped.

“I-I don’t know” she said, between sobs, she turned around and rested her head on Fluttershy’s shoulder, the yellow pegasus put her arms around Rainbow.

In the Jörmungandr multiple drop-pods of varying sizes were being prepared for launch.

“Are you sure this is safe?” Gali asked as she climbed into one.

“Absolutely not” Vapaa said, strapping himself in “but it’s the only way to fall 30’000 feet in 60 seconds”

“How fast is that exactly?” Norik asked.

“340 miles, or 529 Kio per hour” Vapaa said “give or take a few Kio, 30’000 feet is about 6.6 Kio” the eyes of all of the Spherus Magnans widened and Lewa gave a low whistle.

“Mata Nui!” Lewa exclaimed “that’s what I call quick-speed”

“Are you all ready to drop?” Vapaa asked, they all nodded their conformations and Natrix selected a song to play through the coms, Vapaa rolled his eyes “really, this one!?” Natrix just shrugged.

“It fits” Natrix said, Vapaa face palmed before pulling the lever. The pods dropped just as the song settled into a steady riff, about 60 seconds later they impacted against the desert ground, followed by all of the doors flying off. In the distance they could see the Rahkshi forces retreating, with no sign of the Makuta assigned to lead them, Miserix chuckled.

“This makes things so much simpler” he said, stepping out of his shipping container sized drop-pod.

“What do you mean?” Vapaa asked, stepping out of his

“I would usually have to mentally overthrow the original leader of the Rahkshi, in this case the female Makuta assigned to control them whilst in Appleloosa, I can neither see her nor sense her control” Miserix said, he then flew into the air and raised his fire staff into the air “RAHKSHI, YOUR LEADER HAS FALLEN. YOU WILL BOW DOWN TO ME OR FACE DESTRUCTION” the Rahkshi all stopped and the Toa and alternate Teridax could see the entire battalion of Rahkshi drop down like a wave, signifying their submission to Miserix, who slowly lowered down to the ground.

*song ends*

“Well that was anti-climactic” Natrix said “Why exactly are we even here if all you had to do was fly up there and shake your staff” Miserix chuckled and looked down at the human out of the corner of his eye.

“What do you think would happen if I was unable to take control of them, hmm?” the Draconic-Makuta asked “did you expect me to take on a millennia of Rahkshi by myself?”

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning*

We were helping to rebuild the town when the Elements of Harmony walked past, Rainbow was distraught and was carrying a filled body bag on her back.

“Oh, no” Gilda whispered.

“What?” I asked.

“I think that is, or was Lightning Dust” she said, sadly, rubbing the back of her neck “they weren’t exactly friends, but Dash isn’t the type of pony to wish death upon someone, enemy or not” I sighed.

“Will she be okay?” I asked, Gilda shook her head uncertainly.

“I don’t know” she said “I’ve known her for years, I know things about her that no one else does and I’ve never seen her this distraught about someone she knows dying, unless…” she trailed off and her eyes widened.

“What?” I asked, she looked at me, her eyes full of worry.

“Unless she feels guilty” she said, before flying over to Rainbow Dash, they briefly talked and Gilda’s eyes widened before her expression softened and she placed a talon on Rainbow’s shoulder comfortingly before flying back over and helping me to lift up a door.

“What happened?” I asked, Gilda sighed as we placed the door back on its frames.

“She killed Lightning Dust” she said.

“Shit” I said “if you want to go and comfort her then I won’t hold it against you”

“Whilst I appreciate the gesture” she said “I’m terrible at mushy stuff, better her fellow ponies are there for her. But I promise you this, when I find Teridax, that jäveln är död” she slipped from a southern Equestrian accent into a Griffonian accent as she said this.

“That’s probably the first time I’ve ever heard you speak Griffonian” I said “let alone swear” she shrugged

“My Mom died in childbirth” she said “my Dad re-married with a pegasus whilst I was still a chick, as a result I can speak both languages in their respective accent, what about you, even I know you aren’t from around here, yet you and your brother speak with a Northern Equestrian accent, whilst Vapaa and Natrix speak with Southern Equestrian accents.

“Me and my brother come from a small island where everyone speaks in accents that are practically identical to Northern Equestrian accents” I said “but with a hell of a lot more variation”

“And the other two?” she asked, gesturing to Vapaa and Natrix.

“They come from a continent where everyone speaks with Southern Equestrian accents” I said

*later that day*

Lightning was laid out on a funeral pyre that was yet to be lit, Twilight had placed a spell on her so her wounds weren’t visible. Rainbow Dash stepped forward with a bow strapped to her left arm and touched the fitted arrow to a torch before aiming at the pyre and pulling the bow back with her wing and firing the lit arrow, Celestia began reciting a prayer as the arrow hit the pyre, setting it alight.

“Lo, there do I see my father. Lo, there do I see my mother, and my sisters, and my brothers. Lo, there do I see the line of my people, back to the beginning” as she said this Gilda, myself, all of the Neu-Toa and the Elements of Harmony aimed and fired lit arrows at the pyre “Lo, they do call to me. They bid me take my place among them, on the plains of paradise, where the brave may live forever” no one said anything as the funeral pyre burnt into the night

I was stood on a hill, on the outskirts of Appleloosa. I had specifically requested to be alone for this, I also had a small mini-fridge standing on the ground. A portal opened and Teridax walked through.

“Why exactly have you summoned me?” he asked.

“To threaten you” I said, I then walked over to the mini fridge and got out two glasses and a bottle of Baileys imported from Earth “drink?” he raised an eyebrow.

“You intend to stall me?” he asked.

“No” I said “threaten, no drink, you sure?” I then began pouring myself a generous glass of the Irish cream “you really do not seem to grasp how pissed off everyone is after the battle of Appleloosa”

“That was the plan” he said.

“Fucking terrible plan” I said “because now the Union will stop at nothing to bring you down”

“Union?” he asked.

“It’s what we call ourselves” I said “let’s do a quick head count. Your brother; the demi god” Teridax grimaced.

“Two Immortal Princesses with the power to move planetary objects. Myself and my team of Toa. The entirety of the population of Spherus Magna, the world’s first Toa and her team of worriers sword to follow the will of Mata Nui, a 2 ¼ million ton airship with a crew of 70’000, the Elements of Harmony plus all of the Saurian nations” I said “and you, have managed to piss off every single one of us” Teridax smirked.

“I take it Rainbow’s old friend didn’t survive the battle?” he asked.

“You would be correct” I said “when exactly did you think it would be a good idea to piss us all off?”

“You think this gives you any more chance of defeating me?” he asked “I have a nation…”

“We have a rail-gun” I said “which, might I add is pointed directly at you. The Spherus Magnans think you immortal, shall we test that?”

“This isn’t over” he said, before walking back through the portal. When he was gone I heard whispering and some rubble shifting and sighed.

“I can hear you” I said, walking over to the source of the sound. One by one Garnet, Ruby, Aurora, John, Thel, Spike and the Crusaders all poked their heads up, I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose “what am I going to do with you kids?”

“Not tell our parents?” Garnet said, sheepishly. I deadpanned.

“I am your parent” I said “Garnet and Ruby, you stay here, the rest of you get back to Appleloosa now. Before I tell your parents and sisters to ground you” the rest of them walked back to Appleloosa with their heads hung low.

“Why did you want us to stay?” Ruby asked, nervously, I picked up the rather weighty mini-fridge and handed it to them.

“As punishment for needlessly putting yourselves in danger, you can carry this all the way back to Appleloosa” I said.

“But, Dad…” Garnet said, struggling to hold it up.

“No buts” I said “mini-fridge, Appleloosa, now” they both grumbled before making their way back towards Appleloosa with the mini-fridge laid across both their backs.

“You know you should really go easier on them” Autumn said, deactivating her mask power “they’re just kids”

“Garnet and Ruby are both 17” I said “they’re only about 4 years younger than us, but they’re still our children, and I can’t just let them go walking into danger” Autumn raised an eyebrow.

“Were we so different?” she asked “when we first met?”

“I just…” I trailed off and sighed “I don’t want to see them get killed” Autumn walked forward and pulled me into a hug.

“I know” she said “I worry about them as well, but we can’t hold them back” she then stepped back and watched Garnet and Ruby walk back to the settlement.

We were all stood around a holo-map of what was Equestria, trying to plan where to strike next.

“I’m telling you” I said “Manehatten would be the best target”

“Why exactly would it be a good idea to strike there?” a Matoran asked “it’s a huge city, it could take all of our warriors to take it. We can’t risk something like that. We should take Ponyville, if we take Ponyville then Canterlot would literally be a kanoka’s throw away”

“It’s too soon to take Ponyville” I said “plus it’s too close to Canterlot, Manehatten has a lot of political power and it’s outskirts are full of factories. All Ponyville has, and I mean no offence Applejack, is a large apple orchard, strategically speaking it isn’t that important”

“Non taken” Applejack said “ah have tuh agree with yawl, Maneha’en would be best fer buildin’ up our troops an goin’ from there, plus ah have kin livin’ there who are rather high up the political ladder, so I could help to get them on our side” I nodded to her in thanks and she tipped her Stetson towards me.

“That would be a big help” Mata Nui said “does anyone have any sound arguments against taking Manehatten?” no one went to say anything.

“Very well” Celestia said “then it is agreed, we next strike for Manehatten”

*POV 3rd person*

An ice tribe Agori stepped through a portal into a cave.

“They plan to strike Manehatten next” he said, two humans stepped forward out of the shadows.

“Good” one of them said in an American accent, and chucked a rather large bag of money to the Agori’s feet.

“You have done well, Metus” the other said, before turning to his brother “What do you say we give our big brother a small surprise, I hear he’s rather good at controlling light these days”

“Well let’s see how well he can stand against the power of shadow” the other said, and they both shape shifted into Makuta.

I was in the armoury, the kids were picking out some firearms and I was supervising them, just in case.

“Skohka likes” I heard the Lower Steltian say, I looked over to see him holding an arcane-Gatling gun with the power pack already strapped to his back

“If you like” I said “then it’s yours, it’ll do 4000 rounds per minute if you’re feeling brave” Skohka went to say something but was interrupted by several loud bangs in quick succession, we looked over to see Ruby pointing a large gun at a target, or lack of said target.

“I think I’ll keep this” she said, smirking.

“…And my daughter just found the arcane 50 calibre machine gun” I said “that’s a comforting thought”

“Was that genuine or sarcastic?” Autumn asked, walking over.

“Honestly, a little bit of both” I then saw John Henry walk up to the firing range with a gun, very similar to the one Ruby had. Except when he fired it, it fired at a much slower rate and the arcane round spread out a lot more. It also totally obliterated the target in a couple of shots “and now the 14 year old griffin has an automatic shotgun as well”

“Detta är nu min bom-pinne” John said in Griffonian, smirking whilst sticking the shot gun in his hammer space “ingen får röra min bom-pinne” Autumn face palmed and shook her head.

“What did he say?” I asked.

“I’m not even going to bother translating” she said.

*POV 3rd person, a few weeks later*

The battle raged through the streets of Manehatten as the Crusaders, Spike, John and Aurora, all covered from head to toe in armour, ran for cover around a corner as the edge exploded into rubble.

“Of all things” Scootaloo said “it had to be a Kaita Rahkshi. John, think you can take that thing out?” she motioned to the automatic shotgun held in the albino-griffin’s talons as she said this.

“Not at the range” he said “the shots would just bounce off”

“Spike?” she asked.

“These are just pistols” he said, shaking the aforementioned weapons.

“Gosh darn it!” Applebloom said, Aurora opened a com link.

“Dad?” she asked.

“What’s up?” she heard her adoptive father ask over the sound of plasma fire.

“We might have provoked a Kaita” she said, chuckling nervously.

“What!?” he exclaimed “I’ll be there soon, where are you?” Aurora looked around for a street sign.

“28th street” she said.

“Why did it have to be halfway across the city?” she heard her dad say before the com-link cut out, they could hear the footsteps of the Kaita approaching and John readied the shotgun only to hear plasma fire and the carcass of the titan to fall to the ground next to them. Minion poked his head around the corner and smiled.

“You okay, kids?” he asked, they all nodded and he pointed to a school building located across the street “good, Rahkshi have taken some kids and their teachers hostage, think you can rescue them?”

“We’ll do our best” Aurora said.

“I’ll be outside making sure nothing gets in, Garnet and Ruby should be here with Skohka by the time you bet back” he said “so if you need help, just buzz me, now go!” he then ran across the street covering the young teens as they ran inside. Applebloom kicked open the front door and they walked in, it was seemingly empty.

“Am I the only one who gets really creeped out by empty schools?” Scootaloo asked, nervously.

“Never been to one” both John and Aurora said, they soon came to a large hall, John looked through the window and ducked down before cursing in Griffonian.

“They’re in there” he said “with about 6 Rahkshi, how are we gonna go about doing this”

“Activate our cloaking garments and each sneak up behind one” Sweetie Bell said “then we use these to take them out” she took out a pole from her saddlebags that she extended out to 8ft, at the end of it was a nozzle.

“So were gonna hit them over the head with a long stick?” Scootaloo asked, Sweetie Bell and John face hoofed/clawed.

“No, Vapaa made them for us, he says they fire out lots of ball bearings with enough force to cut through barbed wire” John said “or the armour of a Rahkshi” Sweetie Bell then passed one to each of them and showed then how to set them up, once they were proficient in using them they activated the cloaking garments and John slowly opened the door just enough for them to sneak inside. They each walked around the back of a Rahkshi and set up the pole so it was at the same height as the Kraata chamber on the Rahkshi.

“On three” Sweetie Bell whispered through the com link “one, two, three”

BANG

Tongues of fire spat out of the top of the poles, children all screamed and the Rahkshi promptly collapsed to floor. The kids all deactivated to cloaking garments and stepped forward.

“Alright Everypony” Sweetie Bell said “you need to calmly walk outside and make your way to the nearest shelter, we’ve got friends who will escort you there” an adult pony, most likely a teacher, scoffed.

“Why should we listen to you?” he said “your just kids” the Rahkshi nearest Sweetie Bell stirred and she grabbed it by the head before twisting violently, breaking the Kraata’s spine. The whole room dissolved into shocked silence.

“Anypony else got any stupid questions?” she asked, raising an eyebrow “you want a reason why you should listen to us? Okay, our nation has been taken over by a Makuta, we’ve been stuck outside our own country for 1 and a half years. We managed to enter this building undetected and take out all of the Rahkshi in 2 minutes, and frankly I’m not particularly in the mood to deal with ponies who are sore over the fact that they got rescued by a bunch of kids, now get moving!” she pointed to the door as she said this and the teachers began directing the school kids towards the exit. Applebloom was looking through the crowd when she saw Babs Seed.

“Cuz!” she called, Babs Seed looked over and her face was riddled with confusion.

“Uh, do I know you?” she asked, realisation struck Applebloom.

“Oh, the uniform” she then took off her full face helmet and Babs Seed ran over and tacked her into a hug “careful, watch the blades”

“When Teridax took over, you disappeared” Babs said, her eyes watering “I thought you’d…”

“Hey, it’s okay” Applebloom said “come on, Ah got friends who’re helping to take back this city for the Princesses” the kids then led everyone outside, the school kids began to panic when they saw Skohka.

“Hey, it’s alright” Sweetie Bell said “he’s a friend, we’re going to escort you to the nearest shelter” the school kids calmed down but they still looked nervous.

“Alright” Minion said, stepping forward “my name is Toa Minion, whilst were escorting you, we’re going to need your help. If you see any Rahkshi, I need you to tell us, okay?” the kids all nodded but the teachers looked sceptical.

“Again, why should we listen to you?” the one from before asked, Minion hefted up his plasma cannon.

“You really want to argue with this?” Minion asked, tilting his head towards his plasma cannon “better yet, do you want to argue with my niece and nephew who friends a Steltian wielding a mini-gun. We are in the middle of a bloody war here and we don’t have time for ponies like you asking questions all the time, you can either come with us or stay here and get slaughtered by Rahkshi” as he said that a swarm of Rahkshi flew around the corner towards them.

“Skohka!” Ruby said, the Steltian grinned before levelling his mini-gun and unleashing a torrent of arcane energy at the Rahkshi.

“Alright, let’s move” Minion said, he then turned to the Kirins, Crusaders, Spike, Aurora and John “protect the school kids, me and Skohka will hold the Rahkshi off” the teens all nodded before leading the school children and teachers away. Skohka guffawed as the Rahkshi began dropping like flies.

“WAAAAAAAA, CRY SOME MORE!” the Lower Steltian said “is like music to Skohka’s ears” Minion rolled his eyes

“Of all the times to make that reference” Minion said, sending 20 of them into the wall with a flick of his sword before unloading his plasma cannon at the pinned Rahkshi, causing them to explode in a fireball that took out several stray Rahkshi “you had to use it now!?”

“It fits” Skohka said, taking out the last few Rahkshi before lifting up the mini-gun and kissing the barrels “you did well my friend!”

“Again with the Team Fortress 2 references” Minion said, rolling his eyes before placing a new plasma cartridge in his cannon. A few more few around the corner, Minion went to take a shot at one when they all got obliterated by lightning as Rainbow Dash and Gilda flew past “thanks, the kids are escorting a group of school kids and teachers, think you can give them a hand?”

“You bet” Rainbow said over the coms.

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning*

I was with Autumn, Vapaa and Orca as we made our way towards the city hall. A Rahkshi jumped out of an alleyway and Vapaa got out his Tomahawk before throwing it at the Rahkshi, hitting it square on the head.

“Bloody good shot” I said.

“Thanks” Vapaa said, walking over and yanking the small axe out of the Rahkshi’s skull plate, we all heard chuckling and two humans walked out of the alleyway, flanked by Rahkshi, they were soon blocking our path.

“Hello, big brother” one of them said, looking at Vapaa, who scowled.

“Long time no see” the other said “it’s been what? 2 years, since you ran off to pony land”

“Seth!? Gabe!? What do you two want?” Vapaa said “because I don’t have time to deal with you two”

“Care to explain who these are, Vapaa?” I asked, walking forward. The two humans looked at me and raised their eye brows.

“So you finally made some friends” the one on the left said “even if they are British”

“You got a fucking problem with me being British!?” I asked, stepping forward and getting out my sword.

“Which country was it that needed our help to win World War Two?” the one on the right asked.

“I’m sorry, but you can’t say much considering your country constantly tries to claim other countries inventions as your own?” I shot back, running my finger up the blade of my sword “we could just stand here all day talking shit about each other’s countries, but I’m quite frankly not in the fucking mood…” I was cut off.

“Quite the foul mouthed one, aren’t you?” the one on the right asked, smirking.

“Go fuck yourself” I said, pointing my sword at him “I don’t care if you are Vapaa’s brothers, I will fucking end you if carry on”

“You and what army?” they both asked, at that moment a centurion of Chameleon Rahkshi, led by the Charahk that we knew, all made themselves visible.

“You were saying?” I asked, they sneered before walking up to Vapaa.

“We’ll be back” the one on the left said “and next time, your boyfriend won’t be there to protect you”

“We aren’t gay” I said “we both have girlfriends, now fuck off before I deck you!” they both turned into Makuta, with one of them looking like the grim reaper, and flew off. Their Rahkshi followed soon after.

“No offence, Vapaa” I said “but your brothers are dickheads”

“Tell me something I don’t know” Vapaa said “to make it worse they’ve sided with Teridax” I sighed.

“Just when things couldn’t get any more complicated” I said, before turning to Charahk “we need you to defend the entrance to the city hall, if we can take it, then they city is ours” Charahk nodded before relaying the message to his troops in their language.

“Hag nah kini Metru duh ye ignika” he said “dreg nah makoki rah nah Metru” the other Charahk all cheered before charging and swiftly dispatching the Rahkshi that were standing guard. Myself and my fellow Toa all walked inside the city hall, where a troop of Vahki were surrounding the Mayor. I walked forward.

“Halt!” one of them said, they all readied their staffs.

“This city is now under the control of the Union” I said “all Vahki law enforcers are to obey our commands as per override protocol 4859” they stiffened up momentarily, before disarming their staffs.

“Override protocol received” they all droned “Thank you for choosing the Nynrah Ghost Tech standard law enforcement unit”

“You directives are to protect the city and help in rebuilding” I said.

“By your command” they droned, before walking out and driving Teridax’s Rahkshi out of the city. Within a few hours we had Manehatten back under Equestrian rule.

I was stood on the rooftops of night time Manehatten when a dark figure bounded across the tops of building towards me.

“Nice work” Mare-Do-Well said “with Teridax’s Rahkshi gone, I can get back to stopping the gangs that prowl the streets”

“You’ll have some help as well” I said “I’ve discreetly reprogrammed the Vahki so that they don’t apprehend you” Mare-Do-Well nodded.

“Thank you” she said “that will be a big help, it’s hard to track down a gang of thugs when you have several Vahki on you tail. Well, I best be going” she then leapt off the building and ran into an alleyway.

The leaders of all the races in the Union were in the war room, planning where to strike next.

“Now would be a good time to go for Ponyville” I said “all we would need is just the Jörmungandr and we could take the town within a few hours, if not immediately. Then Princess Twilight could take back her castle. That means we would be able to gain access to the Elements of Harmony, we would also have a suitable location for the Railgun”

“I will not have you turn a weapon of mass destruction on Canterlot!” Celestia exclaimed.

“I wasn’t going to unless absolutely necessary” I said “we British have a saying; ‘expect the best, plan for the worst’. Sure we’ve been pretty successful so far, but how long will our luck hold out? Till the end of the war? Till the end of the month? Till the end of next week? It could run out at any time and I don’t want to get caught with my trousers down when it does, if Teridax wins I will not hesitate to point that at whatever city he’s hiding in”

“If you fire that thing at Canterlot, hundreds of thousands would be killed” she said

“Acceptable losses after everything Teridax has done” I said, we began to stare each other down.

“Enough, both of you!” Luna said “we can’t afford to squabble like children. Celestia, Vuur Koning was merely preparing for the worst”

“Thank you” I said, backing down.

“But Celestia is right, Vuur Koning” Luna said “you can’t be so willing to fire that thing upon a populated area”

“My decision still stands” I said “now are we going to take Ponyville or not?”

“I personally see no reason why we shouldn’t” Luna said “as Vuur Koning pointed out, it does contain Princess Twilight’s castle and the Elements of Harmony. Plus, it can be well defended and is within close proximity to Cloudsdale and Canterlot, we could take Ponyville and then take Cloudsdale and Canterlot at the same time” Celestia sighed.

“Very well, sister” Celestia said “if you agree with it then I see no reason to argue with it” everyone else agreed and the meeting was adjourned. Everyone except for me and Celestia left.

“Look, Celestia” I said “for all it’s worth, if it did come to me firing the Railgun at Canterlot, I would probably kill myself afterwards, I would fire it and make sure the war was won, but after that I don’t think I could cope with having that many deaths on my hands” Celestia’s eyes widened.

“Then why even consider firing it?” she asked.

“I’m not the type to hold back with what I’ve got” I said, resting my elbows on the table and placing my head in my hands “I would use everything short of a nuke to make sure Teridax doesn’t get back up, but I’m not sure I could cope with the guilt of destroying the city we’re trying to take. *sigh* I’m not cut out for waging a war”

“You’ve haven’t made that many bad calls yet” she said.

“What about planning to fire the Railgun on Canterlot?” I asked.

“I said you haven’t made many” she said “doesn’t mean all of you decisions have been good, that’s up amongst your more stupid ideas”

“You mean it’s worse than me singing Ich Tu Dir Weh during a live show?” I asked, Celestia giggled.

“they’re both up there with punching Blueblood” she said “you should really be careful what your children listen to, I recall Ruby singing along to it” I shuddered.

“That was not an image I want in my head” I said.

“Also, why didn’t you play me a song?” she then began pouting.

“Really!?” I exclaimed “I’m having a crisis, the fate of Terra hangs in the balance and you choose this moment to complain about a concert that happened about 1 and half years ago?”

“But you played a song for Luna” she whined.

“What would you have us play?” I asked “Sonne by Rammstien?”

“Um, on second thoughts, maybe not” she said.

*a few days later*

The Jörmungandr was flying towards Ponyville and I was on the gun deck, talking to Frostfang and Blazewing.

“I need you two to keep an eye on things whilst I’m gone” I said.

“What exactly are you planning?” Frostfang asked.

“That’ll spoil the surprise” I said “but I’ll be in Ponyville in time for the battle, whilst I’m gone you are to take orders from Autumn or Minion only, okay?”

“Yes cap’in” Blazewing said, I then bid them farewell before walking off to find Miserix, and I soon found him talking to one of our Rahkshi in the hold of the ship.

“Miserix” I said “I kind of need your help with something” the elder Makuta dismissed the Rahkshi before turning to me.

“What exactly?” he asked.

“I might need your help with some business in the Everfree mountains” I said “plus I need a lift” Miserix snorted.

“Very well” he said “climb on, but you owe me one, Toa” I then jumped onto his back and a panel on the side of the ship opened. Miserix gave a roar before jumping out of the hold and flying towards a mountain range visible on the horizon.

“Now that we are away from prying eyes” Miserix said “care to explain why I am currently giving a free ride to the Everfree Mountains?”

“We’re going to get the Dragons and Wyverns on our side” I said “plus I need to catch myself a wyvern”

“I hear even Dragons avoid Wyverns” Miserix said.

“Dragons don’t have a mask of translation or Rahi control” I said, after flying for a few hours I spotted a Wyvern flying just ahead of us “Miserix, I need you to fly above that Wyvern so I can jump on its back”

“You’re crazier than Vezon” he said, before ascending into the clouds. I got a long rope out from my hammer space before jumping off of Miserix and letting my cape catch the wind, I slowly began to catch up with the draconic beast which thankfully hadn’t seen me yet. I switched to the mask of translation and landed on its back before taking the rope and rapping it around the Wyvern’s neck, the Wyvern responded by trying to throw me off.

“Get…off” the Wyvern said in a female voice.

“No chance” I said, the Wyvern then began to barrel roll whilst ascending “and now the spinning”

“I said get off!” the Wyvern said.

“And I said no chance” I shot back “I need you for something” the Wyvern then levelled out and flew at a steady pace.

“What exactly?” she asked.

“I need to convince the dragons and Wyverns to unite” I said “I need you to help sway the Wyverns to my side”

“And the Dragons?” she asked, at that moment Miserix appeared out of the clouds.

“That’s what grumpy over there is for” I said “so what do you say?”

“What would be in it for us?” she asked.

“You would no longer have a reputation as stubborn, mindless beasts” I said, the Wyvern looked back at me and growled

“We are not mindless!” she said, baring her teeth.

“Then prove it” I said “help to return Equestria to Alicorn rule” the Wyvern snorted.

“Fine!” she snapped.

“Which way is the nearest Wyvern nest?” I asked.

“We need to go bigger than just a nest” she said “we need to go to the colony”

We soon flew deep into the mountain range and reached a cave that was thriving with Wyverns

“I can’t guarantee this will work” the Wyvern said, looking around nervously as she walked through the cavern.

“I’m beginning to doubt your judgement, Toa” Miserix said, walking next to us “you may as well give us to Teridax”

“Just trust me” I said, the Wyvern soon led us to a chamber that was filled with gems. Sat on top of the horde was a rather large male Wyvern.

“Why have you brought two…outsiders into this sanctuary?” the male asked, I jumped off of the female wyvern.

“That would be my doing” I said, the Wyvern’s eyes widened.

“How do you speak in our tongue?” he asked.

“Such is the wonders of Kenohi magic” I said “I was the one that made her bring us here”

“Why?” the alpha asked.

“I came here hoping to form an alliance” I said, before looking at the Wyverns roosting in the walls of the chamber “between the Wyverns, the Dragons, and Equestria”

“And why would we agree to that?” the Alpha asked.

“The Equestrians currently view you as beasts” I said “driven purely by instinct” the Alpha growled before charging towards me.

“You dare to call us beasts!?” he roared.

“I never said I did” I said “I was merely stating what the Equestrians view you as” the Alpha growled before backing down.

“Continue” he said.

“As I was saying, if we were to unite, you could dispel the notion that you are mere animals for good” I said “Equestria is currently under the rule of a great shadow, he hasn’t made a move for more land yet. But one day he will yearn for more and I’m willing to bet that he will go for your colony first, help us to bring him down” the Alpha thought for a moment before busting into laughter.

“You think you can just walk into my colony and expect me to become allies with Equestria?” he asked “get out! Before I let my subjects feast on you” I walked back towards the female Wyvern and climbed on.

“Very well” I said “but when Makuta Teridax bursts through here slaughtering your ‘subjects’ don’t expect help from Equestria, or the Spherus Magnans” I then signalled for the female Wyvern and Miserix to leave, the last thing I saw before we left the chamber was the pensive face of the Alpha Wyvern.

“Well” the female Wyvern said “I don’ think they’ll let me back in there any time soon, you mind if a tag along with you?”

“Actually” I said “I was going to ask you to come with us, I can’t rely on old grumpy over there to give me a ride all the time”

“for the last time, I am not grumpy!” Miserix growled.

“I rest my case” I said “by the way, I never got your name”

“Wyverns don’t have names” she said, I thought for a moment before turning to Miserix.

“Are Spherus Magnan names affected by gender?” I asked.

“Not particularly” he said, I nodded before activating my mask of translation.

“How does Lhikan sound?” I asked the Wyvern.

“Does it have any significance?” she asked.

“Lhikan was a great Toa” I said “he’s held with the same reverence amongst certain people as you Wyverns view your Alpha, and greatly respected even by those that don’t hold him in high reverence”

“Then I would be honoured to be named after Lhikan” the Wyvern, now called Lhikan, said, smiling. After flying for a few hours we stopped to make camp for the night.

We woke up the next day and began making our way towards the Senate of the Dragons. Whilst the Dragon’s weren’t united as such, the Senate was in charge of uniting them in a time of need and represented the Dragons as a whole. If we wanted to unite the dragons then here was our best shot at doing so. The Senate of Dragons wasn’t exactly a hall as it was an entire city, located on the side of the Everfree’s tallest mountain, and it was huge. Canterlot had nothing on this city, both in sheer size and beauty, it was like something out of Lord of the Rings. We landed at the gate to the city and a small dragon, about the size of Garnet or Ruby, walked over.

“Outsider, state your name and intention” he said.

“I am General Toa Vuur Koning of the Terra Union army” I said “I come here wishing to speak to the Senate”

“And you, dragon?” he asked, turning to Miserix.

“I am Makuta Miserix of the Terra Union army” Miserix said “I have come here also wishing to speak to the Senate”

“What about the…Wyvern?” he asked, looking at Lhikan warily.

“Do you really want me to leave her out here with you?” I asked, Lhikan growled quietly as I said this

“Uh, no” he said “you uh, can’t miss the Senate building”

“Thank you” I said, before directing Lhikan forward. She walked past the diminutive dragon, who looked like he was bricking it. Once we entered the city, dragons large and small quickly moved out of the way when they saw me riding a wyvern, Miserix just snorted and rolled his eyes as he watched a 200 ft. long fire drake quickly step aside to let us pass. We soon reached the Senate building and, not surprisingly, they let us straight in. we entered a hall full of senators.

“May I ask why you have come to this fine…uh city?” a gold dragon asked, his gaze warily flicking between me and Lhikan, who I was still sat on.

“Dragons of the Senate” I said “Myself and Makuta Miserix come here today on behalf of Princess Celestia to form an alliance with your senate, as you probably already know, Equestria is now under the control of Makuta Teridax, I come here asking for your help in taking back Equestria”

“Might I ask why we should agree to join your alliance?” a 500ft. long jet-black dragon said, not the least bit bothered by the fact I was sitting on the back of a Wyvern.

“I’m the first person to do the one thing that no one has ever done since Wyverns have first appeared” I said “I’ve tamed one, I could always just let Lhikan here go on a rampage if your answer doesn’t please me” the jet-black dragon now looked nervous, whilst the rest of the senate looked ready to run out of the hall.

“If…we were to agree to join” the jet-black dragon said “what would be in it for us?”

“the fact that I don’t turn my pet Wyvern on this city?” I suggested “plus you also become allies with Equestria, but I think you a bit more worried about the Wyvern that I’m currently riding on and have complete control over” all of the dragons gulped before looking at the jet-black dragon.

“V-very well” the Jet-black dragon said “we will help you to take back Equestria”

We were now flying towards Ponyville with twenty 200 foot dragons, Lhikan also had her own set of armour, and much to the relief of my aching behind, it came with a saddle.

“So I’m your pet, am I?” Lhikan asked, she now had a gem infused with a translation spell located on the chest plate of her armour, I laughed nervously.

“Heh, that was just to get the dragons on our side, okay?” I said “I didn’t actually mean it”

“Oh sure” she said, sarcastically whilst rolling her eyes “also, what was that about you having complete control over me?”

“Same excuse as before?” I suggested, suddenly feeling very nervous, she gave me a very evil smirk and her gaze flicked down towards the ground and I suddenly realised that we were at a very high altitude “you wouldn’t dare” she responded by stooping into a dive and doing a barrel roll.

“Oh, yes I would” she said, over the sound of my totally manly screaming, I noticed the ground was approaching at a rather swift pace.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry” I said, she instantly stopped spinning and levelled out.

“Apology accepted” she said, smiling innocently as she re-joined the dragons, some of whom were giving me sympathetic looks. I just groaned before lying back in the saddle.

“Why did I think it was a good idea to pick a wyvern?” a muttered.

“Because Dragons are terrified of me?” Lhikan suggested.

“Rhetorical question” I said.

“She has a point” I heard a dragon mutter. I sighed.

“This is going to be a long flight” I said.

“And I’m going to love every minute” Lhikan said, doing a barrel roll.

“Of all the Wyverns I had to choose” I said “it had to be the childish one with the sassy attitude”

“You love me really” Lhikan said.

“Tempus, kill me now” I whispered, so that a certain Wyvern couldn’t hear me.

*meanwhile in Ponyville*

The Crusaders snuck into Ponyville along with John, Aurora, Spike, Garnet, Ruby and Thel.

“Why exactly are we here?” Thel whispered.

“Did you not listen?” Sweetie Bell asked “*urgh* we are here to protect the school”

“You could do that without us” Thel said “why do you need me, Garnet or Ruby?” the Crusaders and Spike quickly pulled everyone behind a bush as a Kaita walked passed.

“Because of that” Spike said.

“What is that?” Thel asked, shaking slightly.

“It’s a Kaita Za” Sweetie Bell said.

“In Atquean?” Thel asked.

“*Sigh* it’s three different Rahkshi magically fused into one” Sweetie Bell said “it’s faster, stronger, has tougher armour and is a heck of a lot smarter”

“How do you take one down?” Thel asked, Spike smirked.

“We don’t” he said “you do” John chucked his extra automatic-shotgun to Thel before giving a two clawed salute.

“Well” Scootaloo said “it’s been fun knowing you” they then shoved the three older members of the group out of the bush before running for the school house and activating their cloaking garments.

“They are so going to pay for that” Ruby said, a large shadow loomed over them and she chuckled nervously, they looked up to see a three headed Kaita with absolutely huge fists, Ruby got out her 50-cal and looked to Thel “uh, Thel, now would be a good time to start firing” Thel took aim and pulled on the trigger, bangs echoed across the street as shot after shot impacted into the Kaita’s thick armour. Ruby began firing but none of their shots seemed to affect it.

“They are definitely going to pay for this” Garnet said, turning his right arm into a plasma cannon and sending a shot at the armour. Only for said armour to catch the round, stretch and then snap back into shape, sending the round right back at him “What the fuck!?” he jumped out of the way just as the shot hit the ground where he had been standing.

“What kind of power is elasticity!?” Ruby exclaimed “that’s just cheating!”

The younger of the kids soon reached the school house.

“Wait a second” Sweetie Bell said, the others could just see her walking towards the School house and looking inside, she quickly walked back over “They’re in there, there’s also a Rahkshi. Scootaloo, Applebloom, with me. Spike, Aurora, John, you three stay here and look out for trouble” the Crusaders then walked over to the School house and snuck in before walking around the back of the lone Rahkshi, the three of them deactivated their cloaking garments. Cheerilee’s eyes widened when she saw them and the Crusaders quietly signalled for her to keep on teaching, Cheerilee nodded discreetly before carrying on. The Crusaders looked to each other and nodded before getting out their short swords, jumping up and thrusting them into the Rahkshi’s Kraata chamber. The Rahkshi gave a final screech of surprise before collapsing to the floor, the students all turned around and their eyes widened when they saw the Crusaders.

“Heh, hey guys” Scootaloo said, the entire class then rushed towards them and enveloped them and a hug “Hey, we missed you too, but could you please give us some space, we haven’t finished yet” as if to punctuate the point they all heard an explosion outside, the Crusaders ran outside followed closely by the school kids. Running towards them were Spike, Aurora, John, Thel, Garnet and Ruby followed closely by a Rahkshi Kaita.

“Run for it, kids!” Garnet called, the school kids all screamed before scattering.

“I told you guys to take care of it!” Scootaloo exclaimed, as she ran after the group.

“Kind of hard when it’s practically made of rubber” Garnet said, running alongside her “we should have waited for an adult, but noooo, you were too worried about the bloody school”

“Just get behind it and take it out from there” Scootaloo said, Garnet huffed before taking off and flying around and behind the Kaita. He landed on the back and turned his arm into a flame sword.

“Let’s hope this works” Garnet muttered, before igniting the sword and plunging it deep into the Kraata chamber, the Kaita let out a screech before collapsing whilst still in motion and throwing the Kirin off. Garnet impacted with a thud and shook his head to clear his thoughts, he looked towards the Kaita to see it was still alive and kicking.

“Oh come on!” Sweetie Bell exclaimed, Garnet stood up and fired several plasma rounds at it, this time the rounds melted through, killing the Kaita for good. The school kids began to warily approach the remains of the Kaita.

“Is it…dead?” Pipsqueak asked, looking at Garnet, who turned his right arm back into its normal mode.

“Yep” the Kirin said “you won’t need to worry about it now, or pretty soon Rahkshi at all for that matter, we’ve come to liberate the town” Diamond Tiara scoffed.

“I doubt that” she said “you haven’t been here 5 minutes and we’ve nearly died”

“Diamond?” Sweetie Bell said, extending a hidden blade in her hoof “shut up, now!”

“Or what?” Diamond Tiara asked

“What do you think we’ve been doing for the past year and a half, Diamond?” Scootaloo asked, walking forward “Looking for our cutie marks? No, we’ve been training non-stop and fighting to put an end to Teridax’s reign”

“Um, I don’t mean to doubt you” Cheerilee said “but you’re just 9 kids, how are you going to stop him?”

“What do yawl think those guys are for?” Applebloom asked, as the Jörmungandr, flanked by several smaller vessels, came into view over the Everfree forest. The school kids, and Cheerilee’s, mouths dropped.

“And that isn’t even a tenth of our total fighting force” Sweetie Bell said, Scootaloo looked at Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon and smirked.

“Who’s the blank-flank looser now?” she asked, one of the smaller craft landed near them and Skohka walked out wielding his Mini-gun. Ruby beamed before running over and jumping on his shoulder, she then got out her 50-caliber automatic spell rifle and took aim before taking down several Rahkshi that were flying towards them.

“Come on, Skohka!” she said, Skohka nodded before charging into the town center after several Rahkshi. Autumn, Minion, Boris, Vinyl and Scar walked over.

“You okay, kids?” Autumn asked, the school kids all nodded “Follow us, we’ll take you to safety, Miss Cheerilee, ma’am? If you could make your way to the town hall please” Cheerilee shook her head.

“These children are under my care” she said “where they go, I go”

“Very well” Autumn said, before turning to the younger members of their team “I need you to scout ahead, we need to get to the town hall and I need you to find the safest route” the younger members all nodded before running for the town.

“Alright, kiddies” Vinyl said, getting out her swords and flipping them over several times “let’s go” the Toa the began to lead the children down the streets.

Twilight and the rest of the Elements of Harmony walked into Ponyville Castle.

“Girls?” Rainbow Dash said as they entered the empty hall “does it seem a little strange that this castle is deserted?” they all heard sinister chuckling

“Who said this castle was deserted?” Sombra asked, materialising out of the shadows. He was now bipedal, about 14 foot tall and he had a distinct feline quality to his appearance. He had silver armour and a black cape that dissipated at the end, as if made of smoke, and he wielded a staff with a blade made out of crystals. He walked forward and looked around at the hall “I must say, Twilight, I do approve of your aesthetical choices for this castle”

“You aren’t Trixie!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Oh, were you expecting that bumbling half-rate showmare?” he asked, running a metal clawed finger up the crystalline blade of his staff “She couldn’t handle a position of power to save her life”

“What do you want, Sombra?” Rainbow Dash demanded.

“I do believe there should be a ‘King’ somewhere in that sentence” he said “as for what I want; all of you…dead” the Elements began backing up as he walked forward with a predatory gleam in his eyes. He flipped his staff 180 degrees and thrust it into the floor, causing a wall of crystals to spring up behind them and block their escape.

“I am going to enjoy this moments, very much” he said, pulling his staff out of the floor “they say revenge is a dish best served cold...

Rainbow Dash reared up.

“Well I say it’s a dish best served heated…” she then slammed her forehooves down, sending forth bolts of plasma which sent the dark king flying into the opposite wall “…super-heated” Sombra chuckled.

“You ponies are just full of surprises…” he said, standing up, he then sent a bolt of chain lightning at Rainbow Dash, the bolt connected and jumped to the other five elements “…but you’ll have to do better than that to stop me” Twilight stunned him with an attack of mental ‘noise’, Sombra cried out in surprise before dispelling the chain lightning.

“Rainbow isn’t the only one with new powers” Twilight said, stepping forward and levitating her staff out of hammer space

“Indeed” Sombra said, scowling before charging towards them.

The first team of Neu-Toa led the school kids and their teacher through the streets.

“Guys?” Vinyl said “hold up, there’s something approa…UNGH!” she never got to finish her sentence as a bolt of red energy slammed into the unicorn, sending her crashing through a shop front.

“VINYL!!!” Minion exclaimed, running over to her. She was sat against the wall, trembling and she had a red aura around her “Vinyl, are you okay?” Vinyl cowered when he tried to put a hand on her shoulder.

“P-please…d-don’t h-hurt m-me” She stuttered, looking at him in fear. Minions eyes widened in shock

“Vinyl, babe” he said “I would never even think of hurting you, come on, we need to protect the kids” she shook her head.

“I-I c-can’t” she said, trying to back away. Minion sighed before opening the com-link.

“Guys?” he said “Vinyl’s been emotionally compromised, she’s been hit by a blast from a staff of fear, I can’t help you from now on”

“What! Why!?” Autumn exclaimed.

“Because I need to stay and protect her!” he shouted, causing Vinyl to cower in fear, he sighed before lowering his voice “you’d do the same if something happened to Vuur Koning” he then shut off the com-link.

“P-please…d-don’t leave me” Vinyl pleaded. Tears were starting to form in her eyes, Minion sat down next to her and pulled her close.

“I promise” he said “I will never leave you, I will always protect you, no matter what”

The crusaders and John ran through the streets and into an alleyway. A white Rahkshi appeared at the end of the alleyway and fired its staff, hitting Sweetie Bell. John took it out with several shots from his shot gun. They turned to look at Sweetie Bell, who hadn’t moved, she just stood there panting, she also had a white aura around her.

“Uh…Sweetie Bell?” Scootaloo asked “Are you okay?” she placed a hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder and Sweetie Bell glared at her.

“Get…away” she growled, starting to walk towards Scootaloo, who had begun backing away “what have you ever done for me!?” she ignited her magic and launched Scootaloo down the alleyway.

“Sweetie Bell!” Applebloom exclaimed “What’s wrong with yawl!?” Sweetie Bell sneered and started to stomp towards her earth pony friend, who also began backing away until her flank was up against the wall.

“You never did anything for me either!” she said, before raising up a forehoof and punching Applebloom in the face, sending the earth pony sprawling on the ground. She went to walk towards Applebloom when she felt something poke the back of her head.

“Don’t make me pull the trigger” John said, Sweetie Bell snorted before bucking him down the alleyway. She sneered at Applebloom before turning and walking away.

“If the world isn’t going to love me?” she said “then I’ll teach it to fear me instead” she saw several walking down the street, he noticed her and waived.

“Hey, Sweetie Bell” he said, he then looked around in confusion “uh…where are your friends?”

“Which friends?” she growled, before sending him flying into a shop with her magic. The other Toa all pointed their weapons at her, if a little hesitantly.

“What the hell, Sweetie!?” Vapaa exclaimed, getting out his converted Desert Eagle and setting it to stun before aiming it at her. She growled before igniting her magic and ripping it out of his hands and pointing it at him “Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you!?”

“You’ve never been there to help me!” she said, Vapaa heard the click of the gun being set to kill and he went pale.

“Sweetie Bell” he said, getting out a throwing knife “I really don’t want to do this, but if you don’t stand down then I’ll have no choice”

“Go ahead!” she snarled, Vapaa hesitated and she sneered “you don’t have it in you, do you? Well let’s see if this changes your mind” she then pointed the gun at Orca and the other Toa tensed up

“Saphyrus” Vapaa hissed “now would be a good time”

“I can’t” the blue dragon said “she’s received mental training, just like us” Sweetie Bell snorted.

“If you really love Orca” she said “you’ll throw the bucking knife!”

“I won’t kill you, Sweetie Bell” Vapaa said, Sweetie Bell smirked.

“Then she dies” she said “in three, two…” a bolt of blue magic slammed into her, a shocked expression came over her face as her magic failed and she collapsed to the ground before falling unconscious. Natrix walked out of the shop holding an arcane crossbow.

“Check for her friends” he said “I think I saw them in the alleyway” Vapaa ran into the alleyway and found John sitting with his back against the wall.

“Are you okay, bud?” he asked, john nodded, if a little woozily.

“She bucked me in the head” he said “but I’ll be fine, check on the others first”

“Ow” Applebloom muttered, holding a bloody nose with a forehoof “that filly can really throw a good punch, I think mah nose is broken”

“Urgh, is Sweetie Bell okay?” they heard Scootaloo ask, and looked over to see her standing up unsteadily. One of her wings was hanging limply and twisted at an unusual angle.

“Scoots!” Applebloom exclaimed “your wing!” Scootaloo groggily looked at her wing.

“Oh...” she said, before collapsing and falling unconscious.

The first team of Neu-Toa led the school kids towards the town hall, only to find it blocked by Rahkshi.

“Well this was a stupid plan” Diamond Tiara sneered.

“You know what?” Scar said, walking over to the pastel pink filly “I’ve had just about enough of you” Diamond Tiara just smirked.

“It’s not like you can actually do anything to me” she said “you wouldn’t hurt an innocent little filly, would you?” she batted her eyelids and her eyes flashed red.

“Don’t push your luck, kid” Scar said, narrowing his eyes, before walked towards Autumn “Sister, I think we might have a little problem”

“What do you mean, brother?” Autumn asked.

“I think a certain little brat we all hate might be a shadow-pony” he said, Autumn frowned.

“Don’t do anything yet” she said “but keep an eye on her” Scar nodded before walking back towards the back of the group and keeping a wary eye on the pink filly. Autumn and Boris got their weapons out and crept towards the corner, they were about to charge when they heard a high pitched whistling that got louder and louder.

“WYVERN!” Boris exclaimed “GET DOWN!” everyone/pony hit the dirt as the ground in front of the town hall burst in to flames, obliterating the Rahkshi that were standing guard and a Wyvern clad in silver armour landed on the ground in front of them.

“What a minute…” Autumn said “is that…?” the flames sprang up and flowed into the red-armoured rider sitting atop the Wyvern.

“That magnificent, crazy, son of a bitch” Scar said, walking over and crossing his arms. Twenty 200ft. dragons landed on the ground behind Vuur Koning.

“I’ve already told you which targets to go for!” Vuur Koning said “Now get moving! We’ve got a war to win!” he got out his sword, thrust it into the air and sent a column of concentrated fire into the sky, the dragons all roared before taking flight.

“Vuur Koning!” Autumn called, Vuur Koning jumped off of the Wyvern and walked over.

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning*

“Hope I’m not too late for the party” I said, walking over and pulling Autumn into a hug.

“Well, you were needed a few minutes ago” Autumn said, stepping back

“What happened?” I asked.

“Vinyl got hit by a blast from a Turahk” she said “and Minion stayed with her to protect her, and I heard over the coms that something has happened to the Crusaders”

“Damn” I muttered, before turning to the group of school kids “alright kids, into the town hall, now!” Cheerilee led them inside and I turned to the other Toa, who were eyeing Lhikan nervously.

“Um, Vuur Koning?” Scar asked “Are you sure that thing is safe”

“’That thing’ has a name” Lhikan growled.

“Easy girl” I said, before turning to the Toa “this is Lhikan, she’ll be helping us”

“The Wyvern just talked…” Autumn said.

“Yeah?” I said “And?

“I always thought they were dumb-beasts” Boris said, scratching the top of his head

“And I still think the same of the tall green griffon” Lhikan said, snorting.

“Hey!” Boris exclaimed “I’m a Toa-hero!”

“Enough! We need to work together” I said, before running back to Lhikan and jumping back on the saddle “Boris, Scar, I need you to protect the town hall. Autumn, you’re with me, we’re going to the fly to the castle” Boris and Scar nodded before running over to the town hall and Autumn began hovering.

“Let’s get going” Autumn said, before flying towards the castle. Lhikan gave a roar before flying after her.

*POV 3rd person*

Twilight slid backwards from the force of Sombra’s attack, the rest of the Elements were either pinned against the wall by crystals or unconscious. Sombra sneered.

“You’re a skilled magician, I’ll give you that” he said, his staff began to glow a dark red “but now it’s time for your parting gift”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“As in it will part you” he said, smirking “Part of you here, part of you there and part of you way over there, staining the walls” he then fired the charged up magic at Twilight, who brought up a shield just in time.

“Even if…you kill me” Twilight said, straining “others will rise up and one day, you will fall!” she closed her eyes and when she reopened them they were glowing a pure white, her shield turned into pure, limitless magic before pushing the red beam back towards Sombra and sending him flying into the wall. Sombra groaned before standing up.

“H-how did…!?” he trailed off when he saw Twilight, she was much taller, with a longer horn and a long, ethereal mane that flowed in some unseen wind “Impossible, how did you reach full ascension so early?”

“Ascension does not have a set time in which to bestow its gifts upon a chosen individual, Sombra” she walked towards him as she said this “nor can it be taken as you tried, all those years ago, ascension must be earned and used for noble purposes, not to conquer and enslave. Henceforth, I release you of your curse” she then began to levitate and her aura of magic engulfed Sombra, before drawing out the Makuta virus from Sombra and restoring him to his original form.

“NOOOOOOOO!” Sombra exclaimed as the virus was ripped from his very being, Twilight brought the swirling black and green mass towards her and examined it before moving it away and looking at it in mild disgust.

“Be gone, spawn of Teridax” she then exposed it to pure, unfiltered light, eradicating any trace of it.

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning*

We were flying towards the castle when pure light shone through the windows, stunning us and sending us crashing into the ground.

“What the fuck was that!?” I exclaimed, standing up. Autumn was just as surprised as me, I checked to make sure Lhikan was okay before running into the castle with my sword and shield drawn. We entered the main hall and stopped dead in our tracks, Twilight had somehow reached full ascension and was extracting a black and green mass from Sombra, who was turning into a grey Stallion. I put away my sword and shield and smirked before crossing my arms “well, Teridax is fucked”

A couple of our Rahkshi dragged Sombra towards us.

“You may have defeated me” he said “But Teridax still stands, and when you are dead at his feet, I will take my rightful place alongside him, where I belong.

“The only place you belong in is an M.C. Escher drawing” Sombra gave me an odd look whilst Twilight rolled her eyes “you’ll understand what I’m talking about soon enough, take him away”

“M.C. Escher?” she asked, raising an eyebrow “Really?” I shrugged, Vapaa ran over.

“Guys, we have a problem”

“Let me out of here” Sweetie Bell snarled, trying to get out of her cell.

“Let me guess” I said, turning to Vapaa “Rahkshi of anger?” Vapaa nodded as Sweetie Bell fired a bolt of magic at the Plexiglas wall, causing it to ricochet all around the cell.

“How can we solve this?” he asked, at that moment Rarity galloped in.

“Sweetie Bell!?” she exclaimed, before turning to us “Let her out of this cell right now!”

“That wouldn’t be such a good idea” I said “she’s been struck by a blast from a Rahkshi of Anger, until we figure out how to help her she’ll try to kill anyone she come across, she even tried to kill her fellow Crusaders and leaving Scootaloo with a broken wing” Sweetie Bell groaned and held her head in her hooves.

“G-g-get out of my head!” she screamed, before slumping slightly and looking at us with a pleading look “I’ve… got a moment…I can’t…hold it off…for long, but…if you can’t help…me. Promise me you’ll stop me…permanently” Rarity put a hoof against the see-through wall.

“Sweetie, don’t talk like that!” she pleaded.

“Rarity…ungh, Scoot’s got a…argh…broken wing…GET OUT...Because of me” she said, shutting her eyes tightly to try and block it out “I…don’t want…to…hurt you too…’but I will if a have to’…get out of my head”

“Come on, Sweetie Bell” I said “fight back”

“I’m…trying” she said, holding her head in her hooves, the white aura surrounding her was starting to falter “it’s…no…I…won’t…hurt them…noooo…” the white aura glowed brightly and Sweetie Bell returned to a rage driven state.

“Come on, Sweetie Bell” I pounded the wall of the cell with a fist “don’t you dare give up”

“I hate you!” she growled, before her resolve failed slightly “No…I…don’t…help me!”

“How is she able to fight it?” Vapaa asked.

“I think it’s to do with the mental training she received” I said “I think it’s allowing her to resist it, but only just” Luna walked in.

“I came as soon as I could” she said, before watching Sweetie Bell for a few moments and turning to me “this is a potent curse, I cannot remove it. This is her battle, but if she can’t win, it will consume and destroy her”

“Hang on” I said “I think I have an idea, you’ll probably hate me for it, but it might work”

“What are you suggesting?” Luna asked.

“Cognitive recalibration” I said, before teleporting inside the cell and punching Sweetie Bell on the back of the head, knocking her unconscious in the process. The white aura dissipated completely.

“What in Celestia’s name!?” Rarity exclaimed, banging her hooves against the wall.

“Cognitive recalibration…” I went to say, but was interrupted.

“A restart of the synapsis” the recently ascended Twilight said, walking forward “most commonly caused by a sudden impact to the cranial region”

“In English?” Vapaa asked.

“I hit her really hard on the head” I said, rolling my eyes, before kneeling down and picking up an unconscious Sweetie Bell “and it seems to have worked”

“I did notice the sudden lack of white aura” Luna said, Rarity just stood there, mouth agape.

“You hit my sister on the head!” she exclaimed.

“I saved your sisters life!” I shot back, before teleporting out of the cell, Rarity just humphed before turning around and walking out with her head held high, once she was gone I muttered “still as snotty as ever. Twilight, if you would be so kind as to transfer her to more comfortable accommodation” Twilight frowned at me before nodding and taking Sweetie Bell in her magic, she then teleported away.

“Whilst I can’t say I totally agree with your methods” Luna said “I’ll admit they do yield results, only time will tell if it totally cured her. Until we meet again I bid you two farewell” she then teleported out of the room.

“Right” I said “time to check on Vinyl”

I was stood outside a hospital room.

“How is she?” I asked, Nurse Redheart sighed.

“The effects will wear off, eventually” she said “but if you want my advice, let her sit the next battle out. I understand that every Toa is important to you, but it’s better letting her sit this one out and having her for the battle after, than making her fight in this battle and being unable to fight ever again” I nodded and sighed.

“Thank you, Redheart” I said “can I go see her?” she nodded.

“Yes, but make it quick” she said, I thanked her before walking inside. Minion was sat on a chair, watching Vinyl, who was sleeping peacefully. Aurora was sleeping on Minions laps

“Hey, brother” I said.

“Hey” he said.

“Look” I said, sitting in the chair next to the one he was sitting in “the nurse said it would be better for Vinyl to not fight in Canterlot. I know you really care abut her, so if you want to stay here and look after her, I’ll understand” Minion nodded.

“Thank you, brother” he said “I would have stayed with her anyway. I promised her I’d stay by her side, and I’m not going back on that. Plus I’ve been meaning to spend some quality time with her and Aurora, she was so upset when she heard what happened to Vinyl, she was in floods of tears and it took me forever to calm her down” at this point Aurora stirred.

“Mmm, Dad?” she asked.

“Yes, dear” he asked.

“Is Mom going to be okay?” she asked, tears starting to form in her eyes. I can’t even begin to imagine what my brother felt like, because my heart broke at that point.

“Oh, come here” Minion said, pulling her into a hug “yes, she’ll be fine. The Nurse says she’ll get better and you, me and your Mom are going to be taking it easy for a little while, your Uncle says we can stay here whilst they go to Canterlot” Aurora looked at me with her eyes full of hope.

“Really!?” she asked, I nodded.

“Yes, because Vinyl, Minion and you are part of my family, and because you’re my favourite niece” I said, she gave me an odd look

“I’m your only niece” she said.

“That doesn’t mean you aren’t my favourite niece” I said “it just means there’s no risk of anyone else taking your place as my favourite niece” I tapped her snout with my finger, making her giggle. Vinyl woke and sat up with a groan, Aurora’s eyes widened. Vinyl looked at Aurora and smiled softly.

“Hey, kid” she said softly, before holding her arms out “come here” Aurora didn’t need to be asked twice and she flew over to Vinyl.

“I was so scared, Mom” Aurora said “I thought you were going to…” she trailed off and began crying again.

“Oh shh, I’m fine” Vinyl said, holding her adoptive daughter and rubbing her back comfortingly “a little thing like this isn’t gonna keep me down for long”

“Vinyl?” I said “about Canterlot…” she looked at me.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“The nurse said it would be best for you to sit this one out…” Vinyl cut me off.

“What!?” she asked “no way, I want to help”

“Very well then, if you want to make this difficult” I said “Vinyl Scratch, as your superior officer, I’m ordering you to sit this one out, no excuses”

“So you’re pulling rank on me” she said.

“If it means you’ll survive until the fight after, then yes” I said “Minion’s sitting this one out as well”

“I will not stand around doing nothing whilst you go and kill yourself!” she said.

“Mom! Stop!” Aurora pleaded “please, Uncle V.K. doesn’t want you to hurt yourself, and I don’t want you to either” Vinyl’s expression softened and she sighed before nodding.

“Okay, Aurora” she said “I’ll sit this one out, for you” at that moment the nurse poked her head around the door.

“Vuur Koning?” she asked “I’m afraid your time is up here” I nodded before standing up.

“I guess I’ll either see you just before or after the battle then” I said, Minion and Aurora nodded, but Vinyl just pouted as I left the room.

*POV 3rd person*

Sweetie Bell shook her head to try and block out the…voices, for lack of a better word. That’s the best way she could describe them; voices that whispered in the back of her mind. She was currently strapped to the bed she was resting on, and Applebloom was sat in a chair placed against the wall.

“Come on, Sweetie Bell” Applebloom said “yawl can fight it”

“And if I don’t!?” she snapped, before her expression softened “sorry, that was the anger talking, how’s Scootaloo?” Applebloom sighed.

“She took it pretty hard” Applebloom said, rubbing the back of her neck “Ah don’t know if she’ll trust yawl”

“Bucking great!” Sweetie Bell snapped “sorry, anger again. But seriously, our friendship in tatters is the last thing we need” Applebloom nodded.

“Ah agree, but if it does come to you and Scoots not talking to each other?” she said “Ah’ll be there, for both of yawl”

“Thank you” Sweetie Bell said “I think it’s gone, for now at least”

“Ah’ll admit” Applebloom said, absent mindedly rubbing her jaw “you have a mean swing” Sweetie Bell giggled quietly, it soon got louder and eventually Applebloom joined in until they were laughing like friends again.

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning*

I stood on one side of a set of iron bars, Sombra was on the other side glaring at me.

“I suppose this is your Idea of a joke” he said, glancing back at his large cell. It was based off of an M.C. Escher drawing, with multiple points of gravity and floors on every wall, plus a hell of a lot of staircases.

“You can thank Discord for this” I said “look on the bright side, at least you won’t get bored, you have multiple gardens. And the stairs, don’t forget the stairs” Sombra facehoofed.

“Why does everypony think I have some weird obsession with stairs?” he asked rhetorically “the castle was very tall, how else was somepony to get to the top”

“You could also use it for letting Slinky’s go down” he gave me an odd look and I chucked one at him, he caught it in his magic.

“What is this…thing?” he asked, holding one end in his magic and letting the other stretch down to the floor.

“A children’s toy” I said “place it upright at the top of a set of stairs and give the top a nudge, that should keep you entertained for the next few hundred years, ta-ta” I then walked around the corner and stopped before activating my mask of stealth and creeping back up to the door. Sombra looked around before walking to the edge of a stair case and placing the Slinky at the edge, he then nudged the top with a hoof and his face lit up when it proceeded to slink down the stairs.

I was stood on the bow of the Jörmungandr, looking at the steadily approaching Mt. Canter with the capital city of Canterlot located on the side. It was a shadow if it’s former self, with a dark cloud looming over it like an oppressive shadow. I looked at my team, two members down, we would have to make do.

“You ready?” I asked, they nodded but didn’t say anything, we all knew what would happen if we failed but no one wanted to say it. I’d spoken to Minion and Vinyl, if we didn’t make it then they were going to look after Garnet and Ruby, who were in Ponyville. Celestia walked over, she was covered in golden battle armour and had a staff levitating next to her. She sat down next to me and looked at Canterlot.

“Captain” she greeted, not taking her eyes off of the capital.

“Princess” I replied. “How’re your Honour guard doing?”

“Nervous” she said simply, Celestia’s Honour guard were a group of six ponies from my ship that were the best fighters we had, they were also equipped with elemental armour that only used light based powers. Luna had a set of six Honour guard, with the same powers, except they had silver amour and were thestrals. I spotted a couple hundred Rahkshi approaching and sighed before speaking into a small red and gold bracelet on my right wrist.

“Shoot them down” I said, I heard a dull whirring, followed by the staccato pops of one of the auto-turrets and I could see glowing, magic infused metal slugs whizzing through the air towards the Rahkshi who began to drop out of the sky. Two dark figures slammed onto the deck inform of us and stood to their full height, of course, Vapaa’s brothers decided to show up. I turned to Vapaa and nodded, he and Takanuva flew off, the ploy worked and Vapaa’s brothers flew after them. My armour adapted to its airborne mode and the rest of my Toa followed my lead, seeing Scar with a set of heli-rotors sprouting out of his back was certainly a new one to me. His Gatling guns had also moved and were now located on his hips, much like with Boris. Speaking of whom, he now had a set of booster jets on his back, as did Autumn and her two siblings; Winter Chill and Midsummer Night. “Right, our priority is to get to the palace and contain Teridax. Our personal safety is lowest priority, no exceptions. Am I understood?”

“Perfectly, Sir!” they all said.

“Good” I said, before getting out my sword and shield “let’s get out there” and then ran to the edge and jumped off. After free falling for a few seconds I heard a pair of jets kicking in and I shot forward, my wings keeping me airborne as the jets propelled me along. Autumn flew alongside me.

“What’s the plan?” she asked “you have a plan, don’t you?”

“Honestly, I doubt we’ll get very far” I said “so, if I can’t take down Teridax in single combat, I want you and other Toa to surround the Castle in an energy shield. I’ll hold him in the throne room so that I can nova blast him to Tartarus…”

“You’ll bring the castle down on top of you!” she exclaimed.

“That’s a price I’m willing to pay if it means Teridax is stopped for good” I said “look on the bright side, at least I’ll see my dad again” she sighed before pulling me into a kiss.

“Just try and be careful” she said.

“You know me, dear” I said, giving her a two fingered salute “I’m always care…fuck” I slammed into a billboard, Autumn pulled me upand gave me a pointed look.

“Shut it” I muttered. Before flying off towards the castle with Autumn, Celestia and Luna in tow.

*POV 3rd person*

Fantasia walked into the great hall of paradise.

“Brother, sister” she said “I’m begging you let me go down there and help restore my daughters to the throne”

“You know the rules” Tempus said “we cannot meddle with the affairs of mortals”

“Suppose Teridax wins” Fantasia said “he will hear of us and he will try to claim this sanctuary for himself, we all saw what happened all those millennia ago. His heart is a pit that will never be filled”

“He will not get past the gates” Anima said, before sighing “but very well, I will give you a few months” Tempus looked at the goddess of nature in shock.

“You can’t be serious” Tempus said, Anima rolled her eyes

“Brother” she said to the god of time “Fantasia is the only one of us three with anything even remotely resembling a sense of humour. Go sister, before I change my mind” Fantasia nodded before turning to leave, ornate gold armour faded into existence as she left the hall.

“Why the generosity all of a sudden?” Tempus asked.

“You’re a male” she said, looking at him out of the corner of her eyes and giving him a wry smile “you wouldn’t understand the bond shared between a mother and her children”

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning*

We flew through the streets of Canterlot until we came to large square with shops around the edge, I got out my sword and shield before diving into the group of Rahkshi.

“Have at you!” I yelled as I spun around, taking the heads of several Rahkshi as I went. I landed on the ground and sent a column of fire into several that were charging towards me, incinerating them. One went to attack me from behind and I went to slice its head off only for the Rahkshi to have a golden blade thrust through its chest and turn to dust. A white and maroon Alicorn in gold armour materialised “Fantasia?”

“Hail, Vuur Koning” she said, before thrusting her blade into the ground and sending out a golden shockwave that turned all the Rahkshi in the square into dust “I have come to assist in restoring my daughters to their rightful place on the throne” Celestia and Luna landed nearby and their jaws dropped.

“M-mother?” Celestia asked.

“We have plenty of time for a family reunion later” I said “we need to get to the castle, think you can eliminate the Rahkshi?” Fantasia smirked.

“It would be my pleasure” she said, before turning to her daughters “come children” the three Alicorns then took off and I looked at Autumn.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Just thinking what the buck we’re standing around for” she said, before taking off. I followed her and we flew towards to castle I put the jets to full and aimed for a stained-glass window depicting Teridax overthrowing Celestia and Luna, I crashed through the window and rolled across the floor.

“Okay” I muttered, wincing as I pulled a shard of glass out if my arm “not one of my better judgement calls” Teridax chuckled and stood up.

“Ah, Vuur Koning” he said “have you come to surrender” at that moment Autumn flew inside and landed next to me.

“Over my dead body” I said, drawing my sword and shield “surrender or I’ll nova blast this castle to Tartarus” Teridax chuckled as he got out his staff of shadows and stepped forward.

“Your hollow threats are worthless, human” he said “you give yourself so many titles, when they are meaningless” at that point Fantasia, flanked by Celestia and Luna crashed through the ceiling.

“Surrender, Teridax” Fantasia said, drawing her sword “we’ve just destroyed your Rahkshi, you have no forces” Teridax chuckled.

“Ha! You think you can stop me?” he asked “so called god, only the Great Beings could bring me down…”

“I am a Great Being!” she snapped, cutting him off, the rest of us stared at her, wide eyed “now, be-gone” she then thrust the sword into Teridax’s chest, only for it to phase through, Teridax flickered.

“Then your reputation has left me underwhelmed” he said, and began picking at his long, thin fingers “I’m not even in Canterlot, I’m currently on an ironclad, sailing away from your miserable city, you’ve won this war. But I’ll be back, and then not even you so called gods can stop me”

“What are you planning!?” Fantasia demanded.

“That would spoil the surprise now, wouldn’t it?” his hologram then disappeared.

“FOR FUCKS SAKE!!!” I yelled, before blowing out another of the stained glass windows, launching my sword across the room and imbedding it into Teridax’s crystalline throne, I then slumped to my knees “once again, that bastard has fooled us all”

*POV 3rd person*

Vapaa crashed into the side of a building, his brothers flew over and landed. Takanuva had been taken out soon after the start of the battle. Vapaa stood up and coughed.

“This time” Gabe said, pulling his scythe out of hammer space “Your farewell will be forever, brother”

“You lost the right to call me brother long ago” Vapaa said, before spitting his blades into two.

“Then we will have no problem with killing you” Seth said “Drew” he then pulled out his swords and the three of them charged. Vapaa brought his swords up to block their attacks before kicking Gabe away and pushing Seth into the wall, he then took off into the air and flew up to a great altitude.

“Trying to run away, are we?” Gabe asked, and the two Makuta flew over to Vapaa and blocked his path.

“Actually” Vapaa said, smirking “I was drawing you into the middle of the Union army” the clouds cleared to reveal hundreds of Pegasi, Thestral, Griffins and the Neu-Toa, all surrounding them, with the Jörmungandr directly behind Vapaa. Frostfang growled and the two Makuta slowly put their hands up.

*POV 1st Person Vuur Koning* (1 week later)

We were all stood in the celebration hall of Canterlot castle, Celestia, Luna, Fantasia and Mata Nui were there.

“Toa Jörmungandr” Celestia said “for playing a crucial part in returning Equestria to order, it is my honour to award you all the Celestia Cross; for most conspicuous bravery and valour in the presence of the enemy” Celestia levitated 15 gold crosses hung from red ribbons and clipped them to our left shoulders.

“Toa Jörmungandr” Luna said “for helping to return Equestria to our rule, it is my honour to award you all the Luna Star; for conspicuous gallantry at the risk of life and going above and beyond the call of duty” she then levitated 15 silver stars hung from blue ribbons and clipped then to our left shoulders, next to the Celestia Cross.

“Toa Jörmungandr” Mata Nui said “For protecting the innocent and fighting with courage and honour, I award you all the Lhikan Star; for acts of gallantry in the face of exceptional danger to life and limb, whilst demonstrating staying power in order to fulfil the mission in an ethically sound way. You are all truly deserving of the title of Toa” a Royal guard then levitated 15 red, metal circles with a golden depiction of the figure on Mata Nui’s mask, all hung on golden ribbons, and placed them on our left shoulders, on the other side of our Celestia crosses. Celestia then spoke up.

“Would Ruby, Garnet, Thel, John, Aurora, Spike, Applebloom, Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo please step forward?” she asked, the kids eyes widened and they nervously walked over from the assembled audience, I noticed Scootaloo had a cast on her wing, but had no problems standing right next to Sweetie Bell “For assisting in protecting Equestria, I award you all with the highest civilian award I can bestow upon you. The Equestrian Cross; for acts of the greatest heroism and courage in the face of extreme danger” she then levitated 9 silver crosses with an engraving of the Equestrian flag in the middle and clipped them to their shoulders. We then heard clapping and laughing.

“Bravo, bravo” said a voice that made me groan in frustration, we all looked around to see Metus. Myself, Minion, Vapaa and Natrix all exchanged glances and nodded before pulling out pistols and pointing them at him.

“What are you doing!?” Celestia exclaimed.

“That” I said “is Metus, an ice tribe Agori who has made quite the name for himself selling secrets to the enemy, whether they be Skrall, Bone Hunters, or Makuta” the Guards all pointed their weapons at Metus.

“Now, now, let’s not be too hasty” Metus said “oh, sure I’ve sold the odd bit of…information to the enemy, but it brought everyone together in the end, I united the Glatorians the first time around”

“Whatever you have to say?” I said “you can tell me behind prison bars, take him away” the guards then dragged him out of the room, despite his protests.

“Honestly” I said “it’s like some cliché scene out of a movie”

“Oh, don’t be silly” Pinkie Pie said “that happened because the writer of this fan-fiction was bored and wanted to add some surprise drama to the scene” everyone stared at her, wide eyed, a cricket could be heard chirping in the background.

“Pinkie” Rainbow Dash said, facehoofing “you are so random”

*a few days later*

“What do we do now?” Garnet asked me “with Teridax still at large”

“We’ll be ready for him” I said, leaning on the railing “when he comes back, and he will, the whole world will be united against him. But for now, we will rebuild and celebrate our victory. Anyway, look at you, with your Equestria cross” he smirked and puffed his chest out, showing off the medal he was still wearing over his armour, his expression then fell.

“*Sigh* you’ve still got more medals than me” he said, I placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I don’t care about the medals” I said “what’s a medal, other than a tacky lump of metal? All I care about, is that I’m proud of you and Ruby” I then turned and leant against the railing of the Jörmungandr as it flew away from the foundations of New Altero.

*POV 3rd person*

“I still can’t believe you just gave up like that” Trixie said, herself, Roodaka, The Shadowed One and Teridax were on the bridge of a small airship with about twenty or so Rahkshi.

“Did you know that there used to be a species of fish” Teridax said, Roodaka sighed, she’d heard this one a hundred times over already “it wasn’t particularly large, or strong, or fast, but it was cunning”

“Here we go again” Roodaka muttered.

“It would swim around, without any regard for predators” Teridax said “and if a predator, let’s say for arguments sake, a Ruki fish were to eat it, it would release a toxin that was so powerful, that a small drop could kill a venom eel the size of this ship, then it would eat the carcass of the dead predator before swimming off”

“Where are you going with this?” Trixie asked.

“That fish won by pretending to lose” Teridax said, holding a mask of Dimensional gates “let them have Equestria, compared to how much we will win, Equestria will seem a pitiful prize. Tell me, Chiratrix, what do you know of the Multiverse theory?” Trixie’s eyes widened and the others all smirked.

Celestia walked onto her balcony to raise the sun, she looked over to her left and saw Luna standing on her balcony, ready to lower the moon. Celestia nodded to her sister and they both ignited the magic in their horns, they then pulled on their respective Celestial bodies and soon the dark tranquillity of night time gave way to glorious sunshine, Celestia had a feeling that today was going to be a good day.

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning*

I was at the edge of a cliff, sat in a saddle strapped to Lhikan, my Wyvern steed, watching the sun peek over the horizon.

“Celestia sure knows how to make a sunrise spectacular” Lhikan said.

“Amen to that” I said to her “the last time I saw something that awe inspiring, was when I was watching a sunset on a cruise ship, sailing through the gulf of Mexico”

“A full year and I still don’t know what you are talking about” Lhikan said.

“Well, Twilight has been working on a dimension teleportation spell” I said “so at some point in the future you’ll understand” I heard wing beats and Rainbow Dash landed nearby.

“You’re up early” Rainbow Dash said.

“Look who‘s talking” I said, Rainbow Dash chuckled.

“Touché” she said “so, why exactly are you up so early?”

“Lhikan here was restless” I said, patting the female Wyvern on the shoulder “plus I felt like taking my patrol early” Rainbow sat down next to us.

“Can’t blame you” she said “despite the fact it’s been a year, Celestia’s sunrises are still as awesome as the day we took back control”

“I agree” I said.

*POV 3rd person*
Trixie snuck through Ponyville, the sun had only just risen, so ponies were still asleep but she would be able to see. She was disguised as a mere fly so that she could get into the castle and steal the spell Twilight had been working on, who cared if it wasn’t 100% complete, the odd safeguard didn’t make much difference anyway. She made her way into Twilights study and deactivated her mask power, she then began rummaging through all the draws, looking for the correct piece of parchment.

“There you are” Trixie whispered, levitating the parchment over to her, she got a blank piece of paper out of her saddlebag and used a spell to copy all of the runes onto the blank parchment. Once that was done she put everything back in its place and turned back into a fly before making her way out, when she was on the outskirts of Ponyville she deactivated her mask power and shuddered in disgust before teleporting out of there. She reappeared on Teridax’s ship; ‘The Hand of Shadows’ and levitated the copy out of her saddlebag.

“I take it you were successful” Teridax said, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes” Trixie said “never make me do that again, I’ll need to wash before I feel clean again” she then shuddered in disgust.

“Are you sure this will have the desired effect?” He asked.

“Trust me” Trixie said “it will do exactly as intended”

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning”

I was flying back to Ponyville on the back of Lhikan.

“Looks like this day is going to be perfect” the female Wyvern said.

“Don’t you dare start breaking out into a musical number” I said, we were just coming into land when I saw a pillar of Energy shoot up into the sky “WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?” the ground shook briefly and a blue shockwave raced out from the pillar, I could see objects starting to appear in the sky. Wait…not objects, planets! Several planets.

“Vuur Koning?” Lhikan asked nervously “please tell me you’re seeing what I’m seeing”

“Seeing” I said “still working on believing, alright, take me to Canterlot” Lhikan gave a snort before taking off, as we were making due haste towards the capital we passed Rainbow Dash.

“What the buck is going on!?” she exclaimed.

“The fuck should I know?” I asked “look, if anyone askes, I’ve gone to Canterlot to speak to the princesses, and tell the Toa to switch to be ready for battle, I don’t want us caught with our trousers down if aliens start invading, got it?” Rainbow Dash saluted before shooting of towards Ponyville, I urged Lhikan on and we began flying towards Canterlot.

*POV 3rd person*

For the first time in her life, Celestia was truly speechless.

“I…wh…uh…” she said, failing to form a coherent sentence as she stared at the planets in the sky, Luna rushed in.

“Sister” Luna said “what is happening?”

“I was hoping that maybe you had gone overboard with a prank, sister” Celestia said, finely finding her voice, Luna shook her head “then may our mother help us all” Celestia then heard wing beats approaching and a few seconds later Vuur Koning landed on the balcony, riding his Wyvern.

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning*

I climbed off of Lhikan and walked over to Celestia.

“Care to explain why I’m seeing shit straight out of Doctor Who?” I asked.

“Perhaps I can provide some insight into what has happened” a voice said, I looked over to see Fantasia phasing into our plain of existence.

“You’re back early” I said.

“I do believe a situation such as this warrants an early return” she said, before quickly nuzzling her two daughters "What do you know of the multiverse theory?"

"It speculates that for every universe, there is another universe created for every decision someone doesn't make" I said "but it can't be real...can it?" Fantasia scoffed

"Did you really think that there was just one universe in the entirety of reality, Vuur Koning?" Fantasia asked, raising an eyebrow "Despite that fact that you are currently living in, and protecting, a country ruled by a species which is considered a mere beast of burden on your world"

"Honestly" I said "yes, this could just as well be a planet floating somewhere out in space" Fantasia shook her head disapprovingly.

"There are countless universes!" she said, stretching out her wings "each one filled with countless worlds, and countless possibilities, and they've all merged into one giant plain of existence thanks to Teridax's folly"

"So what do you want me to do?" I asked "I'm just one insignificant human"

"The universes cannot be unmerged now" she said "But Teridax has gone in search of like-minded individuals to conquer the entirety of reality, I need you to track down people who can assist you in putting a stop to Teridax's schemes, some of whom...you might recognise"

“How exactly did this happen, mother?” Luna asked.

“One of Teridax’s disciples copied the spell that Princes Twilight was working on” Fantasia said “except it was incomplete, meaning that instead of merely opening a portal to other universes, it drew all universe into this one, such a mistake cannot be rectified, only adapted to” I sighed.

“So the whole universe has gone to shit” I said.

“Whilst I wouldn’t normally use such vulgar language” she said “yes, it has gone to shit” Celestia and Luna looked at her wide eyed.

“How exactly am I going to get from world to world?” I asked “I mean, no offence, but this world isn’t exactly one known for its space travel capabilities”

“You’ll use the Jörmungandr” Celestia said.

“I will repeat my previous statement” I said “this world isn’t known for space travel”

“Oh ye of little faith” Luna said “we have other means to travel to other worlds, not just using crude rockets”

“You mean ‘magic’” I said, making quotation marks with my fingers.

“Actually, yes” she said “that is how we are planning to get you to each world, we’ll slingshot you”

*half an hour later*

We were in the Canterlot air dock, The Jörmungandr was inside a warehouse.

“we’ve made some alterations to Frostfang’s ship” Luna said “they were originally intended for if ever there was a time when Frostfang became separated from the ship, but they will also work on worlds where magic isn’t as prevalent” Frostfang pulled the ship out of the warehouse to reveal 4 huge hover-rotors on each side. The top of it was also vastly different, all the areas the used to be open air had clear domes, and all of the guns were outside the domes.

“It is also suitable for floating on water, and going beneath it” she said. “However, they can deactivate, allowing let’s say, a Toa to fly from the deck”

“If it can go underwater, or into space” I said “What about Frostfang?”

“He now has a special suit of armour that totally conceals his body” she said “with airlines going back towards the ship, allowing him to breathe”

“So, he’s space worthy?” I asked, Luna nodded.

“So, what are your plans, Vuur Koning?” she asked, I turned to look at the ship.

“Summon the Neu-Toa” I said “all of them”

“Are you sure you don’t want our help?” Tahu asked, the Toa had caught wind of what was happening and had come over as soon as they could.

“I need you to stay and protect this world” I said, Tahu nodded before placing a hand on my shoulder.

“Very well” he said “farewell, brother, try not to make too many bad calls”

“You know me” I said, walking backwards towards the ship “when have I ever made a bad call?”

"Exactly!" he said, chuckling, I laughed then span around and began walking at a brisk pace towards the ship, since the end of the war the roster of crew had been played around with, meaning we had pretty much equal numbers of every type of sentient species working on the ship. Garnet flew over, he was in his elemental armour and had a large bag slung over his back.

“Hey dad” he said, walking alongside me

“Hey kid, how’s Thel?” I asked “she on the ship?” what? You didn’t actually think I would let the kids miss out on an opportunity like this, did you?

“Yeah, although she’s been a little moody lately” he said, looking a little glum “I hope we don’t break up whilst we’re on the ship”

“Don’t worry” I said “from what I’ve seen and experienced, relationships on this world are a hell of a lot more long lasting than ones on my world, some people just need a bit of space every now and again”

“Was that intentional?” he asked “because we’re going into space, and you said people need space every now and again” I bust out laughing.

“Ha, no, it wasn’t intentional” I said “but well spotted” we soon spotted Ruby, also in full elemental armour, riding on Skohka’s shoulder, honestly, those two have been practically inseparable since they first met, not in relationship sense, he’s more like an uncle to her and Garnet. I called over to her and waived, Ruby said something to Skohka before jumping off of her Steltian friend and walking over.

“Hey, dad” she said, as I gave her a loose hug.

“Hey, dear” I said “you ready to explore other worlds?”

“Hell yes!” she said, doing a fist bump “um, when do I get my gun back?”

“Patience, young padawan” I said, waiving one of my hands like a Jedi “let’s get our stuff on the ship first”

*7 hours later*

I was stood on the bridge, overlooking the proceedings.

“Ship is ready to depart” a pony said.

“Captain Blazewing” I said “if you would be so kind” that was another thing, I was no longer captain of the ship, That wasn’t to say I didn’t call the shots around here, but Blazewing was much better suited for the role of captain. Blazewing nodded before tapping something on the controls, a few seconds later I got the feeling of weightlessness and the view outside the windows went dark.

“Activate artificial gravity” Blazewing said, I landed on the floor and stumbled slightly. I looked outside the window and I could see countless stars.

“We’re in space!?” I blurted.

“Yes sir” Blazewing said, I quickly rushed outside and my jaw dropped.

“Magnificent, isn’t it?” Luna asked.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Twilight is taking my place temporarily” she said “I’m representing my nation when we visit other worlds”

“Makes sense” I said, I then opened up the com-link “Frostfang, how are you coping?”

“Trying to comprehend the sheer beauty of what I’m seeing” he said “but other than that, I’m doing just fine, these booster rockets are a huge help”

“Good to hear” I said, I then heard Minion over the com-link.

“Luke, get your arse over here, we have a fucking huge problem” he said, he never said my real name unless there was a huge problem, I teleported to his location on the other side of the ship and was confronted by the sight of several Covenant cruisers.

“Oh shit!” I said, Luna teleported over.

“I don’t see what the problem is” she said “it was to be expected that we would encounter extraterrestrial life forms”

“Luna” I said “I want you to send a letter to Celestia and have her relay the following message to the other world leaders, if ships matching that description enter their world and try to form an alliance, they need to politely decline and ask to remain neutral”

“What’s got you so spooked?” Luna asked.

“They are Covenant cruisers” I said.

“And?” she asked.

“The Covenant make Nazi’s seem like fucking care-bears!” I exclaimed, drawing the attention of several crew members “if you piss them off, they will reduce the surface of your world to glass and kill everything until your world is just a cinder floating through space!” Luna went pale.

“I-I’ll relay the message for you then” she said, I teleported into the Bridge.

“Captain” a pony said “someone is…trying to contact us”

“Put them through” Blazewing said, a hologram of an elite in full covenant armour popped up and my stomach dropped.

“Unidentified vessel” the Elite said “please state your identity and intentions” I stepped forward.

“This is Vuur Koning of the planet Terra” I said “this vessel is designated Jörmungandr and our intentions are strictly neutral, our world does not wish to form an alliance with the covenant but we do not wish to be your enemy either. If you are in need of food, our planet can provide only that, nothing more, am I understood?” the Elite did a double take.

“You’re…human” he said.

“Yes, but not from the earth you know” I said “look, several universes have merged into one, the humans you’ll meet on unfamiliar worlds, probably won’t know who, or even what you are. So please, just leave them be, they are completely innocent of any crimes” the Elite narrowed his eyes.

“Whilst I won’t trust the likes of you” he spat “I will heed your words, we will not attack unless provoked”

“Thank you” I said “I will transmit the coordinates so you know which planet is neutral. But know this, that world is protected, not just by soldiers, but by beings with the power to move suns, and one more thing, do not piss of the leader of Equestria” I then cut off comunications and noticed that the entire of the Bridge was silent.

“H-How do you know of them?” Blazewing asked.

“Just know that they aren’t to be messed with and leave it at that” I said, before walking onto the deck and watching the Covenant ships leave for Terra, Luna soon walked over.

“I notice they’ve headed for Terra” she said.

“Let’s hope they don’t do anything stupid” I said.

A few weeks later

We reached our first planet, from what I could tell, it was earth. Thankfully, the covenant hadn’t pulled anything whilst on terra, they’re still there, Celestia explained the situation with Teridax and they even agreed to be on the look out for him.

“Ah, it’ll be good to be home” I said “Can’t wait to try my mom’s cider chicken” Natrix groaned.

“You have been talking about cooking a chicken with a can of cider stuck up its ass for weeks” he said “I’m never going to your mom’s house”

“But you have no idea how good it is” I said “it’s to die for”

“As you have told everyone ever since we left Terra” Vapaa said, we soon entered the planet and landed in the ocean somewhere between the U.K and northern Europe. I was on the deck with Autumn, Garnet and Ruby when Minion spoke up over the coms.

“Guys, you are not going to believe what is currently on the bow of the ship” he said, I put on my mask before teleporting over to the bow. Standing there, plain as day, was Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third, with his Night Fury, Toothless.

“Alright” he said “who’s in charge here”

“That would be me” I said, pushing through the crowd.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“Depends if you’re a friend of not” I said “for now, you can call me Vuur Koning” I gave a slight bow as I said this, Toothless growled at me and I glared back.

“Are you in allegiance to Drago Bloodvist?” he asked, I burst out laughing.

“You think I would side with a bastard like him?” I asked, Hiccup got out his sword and ignited it, I scoffed before getting out my sword and letting flames dance along mine “You should learn to pick you fights, kid” he hesitated slightly, Toothless growled before charging up a fire ball and shooting it at me, I held my hand up and stopped the fireball in its tracks. I absorbed the flames and dispelled the smoke before walking forward, Toothless began growling.

“H-how did?” Hiccup asked.

“You think you have power?” I asked “just because your dragon spits fancy fireballs, I control fire. And I don’t wish t become you enemy, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third, in fact, you’re just the person I was looking for” I put my sword away.

“What!?” he asked looking confused.

“You noticed the planets in the sky?” I asked, he glanced up before nodding “I’m from one of those, guide us to you island, and I’ll explain everything there, until then, I’m in the mood to go flying”

“Where in Thor’s name did you get that dragon?” Hiccup asked, eyeing Lhikan warily, we were currently leading the Jörmungandr towards Berk.

“I’m a Wyvern” Lhikan said, startling both Hiccup and Toothless.

“There’s a difference” I said “for one thing, Wyverns can’t breathe fire, their speciality is venom”

“You can talk!?” Hiccup asked.

“So what?” Lhikan asked.

“Where we come from, most dragons, like Frostfang over there can talk” I said, I leant over and tapped the crystal on her throat “Wyverns can’t usually talk, but thanks to this little number, her thoughts are converted into speech”

“So if I stuck one on Toothless…” he trailed off.

“Sorry, but no” I said “I don’t think it would work on life forms from this world” at that point Garnet and Ruby flew over and began flying around Toothless.

“What are those?” Hiccup asked.

“Kirins” I said “a hybrid between a dragon and a pony” Toothless heard this and snorted in disgust.

“Well excuse me!” Garnet said, crossing his arms “we can’t help who our parents were” Toothless snorted.

“They’re also my adoptive children” I said, both Hiccup and Toothless stared at me, wide eyed, mouths open, I shrugged “What? Their mother died and myself and Autumn Skies promised to look after them, isn’t that right, kids?” Garnet and Ruby both rolled their eyes.

“Yes, Dad” they droned.

“I have no idea how the others will react to that” Hiccup said, I shrugged.

“So what” I said “I personally don’t care what other people think, but if they have a problem, they come to me about it” Ruby sighed.

“Dad, can you stop threatening people, please” she complained.

“What?” I asked “I care about you” at the point the Island of Berk came into view and Garnet and Ruby gasped.

“Whoa” Garnet said.

“It isn’t much” Hiccup said “but it’s home” we soon landed in the town, whilst the ship anchored just out to sea, Garnett and Ruby were promptly swarmed by several smaller dragons.

“Um, Dad?” Ruby hissed “a little help…hey!” at that point a Nadder tried to lift up her tail, only to receive a tail blade to the face, the dragons soon got the message after that.

“Feisty one’s, aren’t they?” an older female voice said, I looked to the source to see Hiccups mother, Valka, walking over “might I ask who you are?”

“I am Vuur Koning, from the planet Terra” I said

“Planet!?” she exclaimed, before chuckling “and I thought I was crazy” I looked to Garnet and Ruby and jerked my head towards Valka, they soon got the message.

“Our dad isn’t crazy” Garnet said, all of the gathered people gasped.

“H-how is that possible?” Valka asked.

“Where we come from” I said “dragons can talk, you’d love it”

“Talking dragons?” Snotlout scoffed “yeah right, my foot can probably talk better that a dragon can”

“You better believe it, boy” Frostfang said, poking his head up from the docks and causing everyone to fall deadly silent.

“Is that proof enough?” I asked, deadpanning “right now that you are all silent. We have come here to forge an alliance, between your people and my world”

"and why should we join you?" Hiccup asked. I pulled out a hologram and chucked it on the ground, it activated and displayed Teridax and his allies. causing the crowd to murmur

“Is that proof enough?” I asked, deadpanning “right now that you are all silent. We have come here, to ask for your assistance, a being, called Makuta Teridax, has pulled our Universes together, and I’m asking for the help of your dragon riders to stop him…”

“But, you have such a large and well-armed ship” Hiccup said “what good will we do?”

“If you help us” I said “then that means we have that much more chance to defeat Teridax”

“Who is this…’Terrordacks’ that you keep mentioning?” he asked.

“Teridax, is a being of pure shadow” I said “and I’m being serious when I say that, he has powers beyond imagination, and he is unbelievably ancient”

“Exactly how ancient are we talking?” Astrid asked “a couple thousand years old?”

“Try 400 million years old and you’re on the right track” I said, the crowd began muttering

“What exactly has he done that is so bad” Hiccup asked “he just seems like a really old guy with shadow powers”

“He practically wiped out his own species to ensure he didn’t have competition” I said, causing the villagers to gasp “he is fiercely intelligent, his backup plans have backup plans, he will stop at nothing to ensure he controls everything in existence, he’s the reason why you can see planets in the sky. You think Drago Bloodvist was bad? He is nothing compared to Teridax”

“Suppose we agree to help” Hiccup said “what would happen then?”

“Well for one thing” I said “I would need you to come with us, however, we will provide some soldiers from my crew to compensate”

“But they won’t be able to fly” Astrid said

“Actually” Autumn said, landing next to me “we have Pegasi, Griffins, Thestrals and Dragons, all of whom can fly”

“What are you?” Valka asked.

“I’m a Pegasus” she said “in a manner of speaking” Hiccup turned to Valka and the looked like they were discussing something, after a few moments Hiccup turned to me.

“We will help you” he said “but only if you can promise the safety of my village”

“I will lend you the best fighters that I can spare” I said, Hiccup smiled

"Then we will gladly help you in your quest" he said, we shook hands and the crowd cheered.

Drago Bludvist sat on an island, by himself, he was lucky to have been able the swim that long after the Bewilderbeast skulked off to nurse its wounded pride. He spat into the water, he didn’t need that idiotic dragon anyway. He was thinking about how he could get back at that dragon master when he heard footsteps approaching.

“You look cheery” he heard a deep voice say, he turned around to see a mysterious, 20 foot tall armoured man of some sort.

“What do you want?” Drago spat.

“You look like someone who tried to take it all and lost” the mysterious man said.

“How did…?” Drago asked

“I’ve been there” the man said “if you were to join me, I could help you to get revenge on those dragon riders” Drago raised an eyebrow before smirking and saying.

“I’m listening”

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning*

I was currently in the training arena showing the riders, including Erit and Valka, what we would be going up against. I had one of the Rahkshi that Miserix had turned to our side to demonstrate with.

“Now a Rahkshi comes in 42 different varieties” I said “with each one having a unique power. For instance, a Charahk, which is red and gold, can blend in just as well as any Changewing” Tuffnut groaned.

“Why are you telling us this?” he said “we don’t really need to know abou…” he never got to finish as the commander of the Charahk materialised in front of him before walking off to one side, shutting him up.

“Yeah” I said “you were saying? These aren’t dragons, Teridax’s Rahkshi will not hesitate to kill you. Now, the best way to disable a Rahkshi is to take a blade or a ranged weapon and aim for the Kraata inside” I then opened up the back and pulled out the Rahkshi, which thrashed around and hissed, causing several of the riders to make their disgust known to us.

“Okay” Ruffnut said “that’s really gross”

“This is a Kraata” I said “it’s sort of like an overgrown slug-slash-snake thing and is essentially the brains of the Rahkshi, you kill this, and you kill the Rahkshi it controls. Now, your current weapons won’t be able to penetrate their armour, which is why I took the liberty of making exact copies out of Protosteel” I then placed the Kraata back in the Rahkshi and hefted up a Protosteel copy of Astrid’s battle axe and chucked it to her, she gave it a few test swings.

“It’s lighter” she noted.

“it’s also the strongest metal known to us” I said “the blade can cut through solid granite and not get chipped or blunt, it’s also got a handle made of black carbon fibre, which is almost indestructible” she raised an eyebrow before throwing it at a target, only to go straight through and embed in the wall twenty feet behind the target, Gobber, who had been watching from the side-lines, gave a low whistle

“Where can I get some of that proto-whatchamacallit?” he asked.

“Protosteel” I said “I’ll supply a couple of blocks to you” I then picked up a Protosteel copy of Hiccups fire-sword and chucked it to him.

“This is really light” he said.

“It’s stronger and lighter” I said “meaning the handle could be made of a thinner sheet of metal, which means it now has more space for fuel, the rest of you can chose whatever takes your fancy” then all walked forward, except for Valka, I walked over to her.

“None of the blades take your fancy?” I asked, she absentmindedly ran her hand up her staff, before shaking her head.

“No, I prefer a staff over a blade any day” she said.

“May I?” I asked, gesturing to the staff, she hesitantly handed it over and I spun it around in my hands a few times “it’s well balanced, if you want I can have the spikes replaced with Protosteel ones and have the edges plated with Protosteel to strengthen it, I don’t want you to go against someone and have it damaged”

“As long as you don’t throw off the balance” she said

“By the time I’ve done” I said “it will be even better”

*POV 3rd person*

Garnet sat on the edge of a cliff, looking out to sea, he heard footsteps approaching and turned to see Toothless plodding over. The large dragon sat near the Kirin, but not too close. After a few minutes Garnet noticed that Toothless was staring at him.

“What?” Garnet asked. As was to be expected, Toothless didn’t say anything, he just tilted his head slightly and snorted. Garnet rolled his eyes before returning his gaze to the ocean, he could hear Toothless edging his way towards him and began sniffing at his prosthetic arm. Garnet raised an eyebrow “you’re a curious one, aren’t you?” Toothless just snorted before sitting up. He towered over Garnet, who was sitting upright, by a good couple of feet.

“I never understood what your problem was over the fact than me and Ruby are hybrids” Garnet said, Toothless began making arfing sounds whilst opening and closing his jaw, as if trying to talk. Garnet rolled his eyes “like that makes sense” at that point Ruby flew over and sat down next to Toothless, who eyed her warily.