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”

Next Chapter: Chapter 24 Estimated time remaining: 15 Hours, 43 Minutes