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.

Next Chapter: Chapter 58 Estimated time remaining: 9 Hours, 37 Minutes