"Since I have my own pool of mana now... is it possible for me to have an aspect as well?" Twilight asks me.

"You want your own aspect?" I reply to her question.

"Well... with everything that's going on, and with Ponyville... gone, I want to be of more help than just sitting around. If I can help protect my home and friends then I want to," she tells me with determination.

I take a long sip from my bottle of water and glance back to her. "Are you positive? Once you make a contract with an aspect it's for life, or until you break the contract you made... which will kill you," I warn her.

She frowns and looks down in thought. After a few seconds she looks back up at me. "Yes, I'm positive," she replies.

"Alright then, it's now just a matter of what remaining aspect would like to make a contract with you," I tell her and finish off my water.

"Well, what ones are left?" she asks.

"Water, lightning, earth, cold, ice, and steam. I'm going to make a contract with the arcane myself later," I inform her.

"I see... what about the wind aspect?" she then asks me.

"I plan to ask Vortigan to make a contract with the wind aspect," I reply.

"Okay..." she says and frowns in thought again.

I sigh and look at her. "Take a few days to think about it and what element you'd be most comfortable with. I'll even ask Discord to ask if the others are willing to see you. The aspect will also have to like you as well," I tell her.

"Discord?" she asks confused.

"Yeah, he's the Aspect of Chaos," I reply.

Her jaw drops and she stares at me dumbly. "He's an aspect!?" she yells making everyone jump again.

"Yes, there's also an order aspect who I still don't know the name off... I'll have to ask Discord later," I say and stretch my arms.

"An Aspect of Order?.. So he or she is the exact opposite of Discord?" Twilight asks me with wonder.

"I guess so. I haven't met them yet so I wouldn't know," I tell her and sit on the railing with my legs dangling overboard.

"Could I meet them? I'm interested in that one," she asks me with a smile.

"As I said, I'll have to ask Discord first and the Aspect will have to be willing to meet you," I reply and lean forward, falling off the ship where I land back on the ground and resume my training.

For hours I practised my fire breathing and keeping our mana stable. Twice I lost control and my wyvern form broke away, but I think I'm getting better, I just hope I can hold it before the Dragonlord arrives.

We're now heading back to Canterlot to take the others home, then tomorrow Luna, Celestia, and I will bring their personal airship to camp out in the badlands and train for a week. They also want to prepare in case they need to aid me in the battle. Though I'm not happy with Luna doing so now that she is pregnant... at least it's at the start and not mid way.

I'm sitting on a lounge chair just looking at the horizon when Spike and Ember start glowing.

"What's with the freaky light show?" Rainbow asks them.

"It's the Dragonlord, he's summoning all the dragons to himself. The light is telling us to go to him..." Ember replies and her eyes start to look unfocused.

"Can we stop it?" Twilight asks with panic as she uses her magic to hold Spike down who is trying to jump overboard.

"Is it magical in nature?" I quickly ask Ember while I still can.

"Y-Yes... but I-I don't know how t-to stop it. F-Father never t-told m-me..." she replies and then gets a blank expression as she tries to fly off before Applejack and Rainbow grab her.

I quickly channel the elements for a nullify spell and cast it. The glow around the two dragons fades and Spike shakes his head.

"W-What just happened... last thing I remember is talking to Pinkie and now I'm on the floor..." Spike asks us with a confused expression.

"Apparently the Dragonlord can mind control other dragons," I reply and look to Ember who looks furious. "Do you know how your father did that?" I ask her.

"Yes, he has a sceptre that can forcefully summon any dragon he wants to him... I can't believe he used it on me! He told me he never would!" she fumes in anger.

"Where did he get such a sceptre?" I ask her.

"Since he became the Dragonlord seven-hundred years ago. Any drake that wields it is declared the Dragonlord," she replies.

"So if I were to defeat him, I could take it?" I ask her.

She hums in thought for a few seconds. "I don't know, with that dragon form of yours you could convince the dragons you're some kind of ancient dragon... with the power you posses it could work. You could use the excuse that your current form is for keeping your power contained and not to harm others near you," she replies with a shrug.

"What if I beat him and give you or Spike the sceptre?" I ask her with intrigue.

She goes to reply but stops mid way, she frowns and hums. "Maybe, I am his daughter and technically next in line should he be defeated by anything other than a dragon... but then I'll be challenged for the sceptre by stronger dragons than me," she replies.

"What if you had the protection of Equestria and that should any dragon attack you I'll punish them, severely," I suggest to her.

She looks at me and then to Spike who just shrugs at her. "Don't look at me, I just look after an archive, I ain't no leader," he says and shakes his head.

"Fine, you get me that sceptre and I'll keep the dragons in line," she tells me.

I grin and shake her hand. If this works, we'll have the dragons on our side when we face Grogar... or at least a few of them. "Deal. I've already got enough on my plate as it is, I don't need to manage another race and its lands as well," I reply as we reach Canterlot.

---

---

Shella and Cadence have taken over court duties while Luna, Celestia, and I head back to the badlands to resume our training. Discord is also playing the babysitter along with my parents and is looking after our children for us while we're away.

Speaking of Discord, I asked him about the order aspect and he gave me an expression of sucking on a lemon, he said he hasn’t spoken to her in over five-hundred years and asked if she was the aspect Twilight really wanted. At my nod he sighed and rubbed his face with his lion paw. He then told me he’ll try and it might take awhile to get an answer from her.

We've also spoken to Celestia and Luna's parents yesterday about our Dragonlord problem, they recommend that I don't play fair or follow their rules of combat as dragons are known to throw them away if it means getting the kill. Why have rules of combat if they don't even follow them themselves? They've also told me they've noticed elven magic near them from time to time and it's getting them worried... I need to figure out a way to get a portal open to them soon. I just hope the mirror can give us a hint on how.

We've set up camp inside of our little airship instead of tents, why rough it out when we have a nice bed and cosy room on board? We've also got a couple of Celestia's and Luna's most trusted guards with us as well, including a human mage that came over with the guard exchange program named Kevin Gilthorp. He's a nice guy if quiet when we talk to him, says he's not used to dealing with royalty.

So far I've lost control three more times the last two days, but I'm holding it together much better than when I first started.

---

I take a deep breath and gather our mana together in my lungs and then forcefully breathe it out. The ground is scorched and glasses over from the intense heat.

I take a moment to catch my breath, which I turn to see Luna and Celestia practising with their own aspects to my left a good distance away.

Luna has now acquired her magical form this morning, she looks like she's transparent and has a cloak of shadows around her which obscures her body completely, the only thing I can see of her face due to the hood like appearance are her two moonlight glowing eyes, her wings are gone but she can now move in the air freely without the need for them.

Celestia has also unlocked her physical form. Which confused me at first thinking what it would look like as light has no physical properties... Her body still looks like her magic form's but is covered in some kind of golden sleek metal armour that looks like it is containing her energy based body and her wings are back, though they look like they're made of light instead of her natural feathers with the same sleek metal along the limbs.

She also has two swords made from light that cut through boulders and the ground like butter and leave this cool light after effect trail when swung.

'Stop staring at your females and get back to training!' Infernus scolds me.

I frown and grunt in annoyance as I take another deep breath.

The ground suddenly caves in below me and I fall through a large hole in the ground. I roar out in surprise as I flail about trying to right myself back up.

"ADRIAN!" I hear my wives call out and hover over the hole.

I groan in discomfort as I lay on my back, I cancel the champion form and it melts away from me. I rub the back of my head and stand up off the rubble and look around, it seems like an abandoned changeling city that hasn't seen life for centuries.

I look back up out of the hole and call out to my wives. "Yeah I'm fine! Though I think I just found an old city!" I tell them and go back to looking around.

I walk off the rubble as I look around, it looks like a plaza with buildings built into the walls, it also seems I landed on a large statue of a changeling queen. It certainly isn't Chrysalis but shares some of her characteristics, maybe it was her mother? I also notice a lot of bones lying about the ground around me.

I hear my lovers talk to the guards before they land beside me and check me over, Luna more so. "Are thou alright, our love?" she asks with worry.

"I'm fine." I wave her off. "Just landed on my ass," I tell her and walk over to a ground level building with a cracked door. Seems like they're made from the same black organic rock like substance I saw at the small Hive I first met Shella at.

I grip the door handle and gently push the door only for it to not budge, feels like it’s barricaded. I point my left hand at the door and cast a four element earth spell and blast the door open with a large rock. We all then walk in and look inside; It's a small room with three doors at the back, there's an old torn painting of a changeling family on the wall tilted at an angle. Old furniture that looks like it's about to collapse are placed around the room, a couch, table, bookcase with dusty books, cabinet with broken knickknacks on it, and a mouldy and torn pelt rug near the front door.

"What is this place... I don't remember there ever being such a city here," Celestia says looking around the room.

Luna tries to pick up a book, only for it to crumble in her hands. "This place feels older than we are..." Luna says in awe at how old this place seems.

I walk over to the left door and open it. Inside is an old looking bed, but it's what's on the bed that shocks me. A couple of changeling skeletons are laying on the bed hand in hand with their curved horns crisscrossing each other.

"Luna, Tia, It seems something bad might have happened here..." I tell my wives and they walk over to me.

They stare at the remains for a few seconds before I walk in and look around. A wardrobe is to the left and a dresser with a broken mirror is to the right, a brush and some other grooming utensils are on the dresser.

"What happened here?" Luna asks with a frown as she examines the remains of the changelings.

"Let's check the other rooms and see if there's anything of note there," I say and exit the room. Luna and Celestia following behind me.

I open the middle door and look around; it appears to be a storeroom with materials and a foul stench in the air... There seems to be centuries old food now black and rotted on the shelves, what catches my eyes though is the popped cocoon like pod with an earth pony skeleton inside curled up in a fetal position.

Poor sod must of been this family's food source...

I notice some old Equestrian bits on the left shelf and pick one up, it has the faces of Celestia and Luna's parents on each side.

"Bits? And with our parents faces on them... but, how old is this place..." Celestia mutters looking at the coin.

I pass it to her and exit the room. I then head to the right door and open it to find an old bathroom with no plumbing at all. The bathtub is just a tub with what appears to be a water tank behind it, which is bone dry, and is also connected to a sink. Nothing of interest is in here as most of the utensils and objects are damaged or destroyed by time.

I walk out and meet my wives in the main room.

"So, what do you think happened here? There must have been a reason they boarded themselves in here," I ask them and point to the remains of the barricade they placed behind the front door.

"It is too soon to make even a guess. We'll have to consult with the changelings of the Lapis Hive," Luna replies with one last look around the room.

"I agree, I'll send a letter to Canterlot and order some guards and ask the changelings to come and investigate this city... I must admit I am curious as to what has transpired here," Celestia says and summons a piece of parchment and a quill.

"We'll just have to be careful when we're training now as there may be other large chambers nearby," I tell them and wait for Celestia to finish writing her letter.

Once done she sends it off in a flash of magic.

"Let's continue our training, as much as I would like to explore this place and get some answers, we have a Dragonlord to deal with first," Celestia says and heads for the exit.

Luna follows behind her and I stop at the door, I look back at the open door with the two skeletons on the bed. 'What happened here?' I wonder to myself.

Next Chapter: Chapter 85: The Dragonlord Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 10 Minutes