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.

Next Chapter: Chapter 21 Estimated time remaining: 16 Hours, 30 Minutes