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.