Somewhere out in the depths of space, a transport ship was making its way through the cosmos.

Inside the ship, a large group of people were sitting there keeping themselves entertained. The inside of the ship was almost like an RV, with a lot more space. At the helm was Shining Armor, who was piloting but looked like he was just driving around on his own. Cadance sat beside him, looking amazed at the sights of deep space.

Twilight and Flash were sitting at a table behind them, Flurry sitting in a booster seat next to them appearing asleep. Twilight was reading something on a tablet, whilst Flash had his headphones in and was listening to music.

Further back, Trixie and the rest of the Rainbooms were at different tables as well. Trixie, Sunset, Rainbow, Applejack and Pinkie were playing cards, whilst Fluttershy sat in front of Rarity whilst the girl brushed her friend's hair.

Flash's parents were at the back, Misty leaning against Trail as she read her book and he was asleep.

Rainbow drew a card from the deck, then smiled before putting three of her cards down and placing the last one on a pile of up-facing cards. "I win." She laughed, as the others put their cards down and seemed to be doing math. "That's forty points for me."

"Don't get too excited," Sunset told her as she finished counting her cards on the table. "Fifty five."

"What?" Rainbow frowned, "how'd you have more cards than me?"

"Getting high count cards down and keeping the low count cards in hand." She grabbed a notepad and smiled, whilst the others gave their points. "And with that...Pinkie is still in the lead."

"Yeah!" Pinkie cheered, as Applejack grabbed the cards to rebuild the deck. "Ready for another game?"

"Do we have time?" Sunset asked, turning to Shining as he drove.

"We should be getting there pretty soon," he called back. "You guys should probably get ready to land." Everyone nodded and the girls put the cards away, whilst Twilight smiled.

"I can't believe we get to vacation on an entirely different planet."

"Thank Clawcer," Flash told her. "He's the one that arranged all of this." He smirked, thinking back to the meeting he had had with the crab the previous week.

"Vacation?" Flash asked, as he and Shining stood in Clawcer's office.

"Yes," he nodded. "I understand your school will be taking a break next week." Flash nodded. "Well why not take this time to take a vacation and recharge. From what I understand, you and Shining haven't taken a break from your Plumber duties since you were given the role."

"Yeah," Shining nodded. "Things have been a little too hectic to take a vacation."

"Exactly. But you don't have to worry about that anymore, since the Plumber ranks on Earth have expanded. You two should take advantage of the team you have here. You've done more than enough to earn a break. Here." He held something out and Flash took it, finding it was some kind of coupon. "I won that whilst doing my galactic crossword. I do the puzzle to keep my mind sharp, so I normally throw anything I win away. But I thought you two might enjoy it."

Flash read it. "All expense paid trip for you and your family to the vacation planet of X'Nelli?"

"Wait," Shining looked shocked, "you want to send us on vacation to another planet?"

"Why not?" Clawcer shrugged. "Lots of interstellar capable species go to other planets for vacations. Why should you humans be any different? I can arrange transport for you if you wish."

"I...I don't know what to say." Flash smiled, "thanks."

Clawcer shrugged. "I'll admit, I was a little harsh on you when we met. But you've done nothing but impress me since then. I'm hoping this will help us turn over a new leaf." Flash and Shining smiled, excited to go to another planet.

And so, Flash, Shining, their families and their friends had all left Earth half a day ago and were making their way towards the planet in question.

"So what's this planet like?" Trixie asked, as Twilight showed them an image of the planet they were heading towards. And it was completely different to anything any of them had ever seen before.

It wasn't as big as a lot of other planets, looking only about half the size of Earth. Located on opposite sides of the planet were two massive mountains, that looked big enough that they could cover the entirety of the United States. Surrounding the base of the mountains were large forests, with several other areas located around the planet that were a bunch of different biomes.

Wrapped around the middle of the planet was a massive ring of water, which had sandy beaches on either side of the ocean.

"Amazing," Misty smiled, "so many different environments."

Twilight nodded. "The planet doesn't have an axis tilt, so the different areas stay in one season all year. That's why it's such a loved vacation spot. Each area is the same every day." She flipped her finger over the screen, causing it to change and show multiple different parts of the planet. "And there are so many different areas, anything is possible. Swimming at a beach, snowboarding on a mountain, exploring caves and that's just the start."

Everyone smiled, looking forward to this trip more and more. Applejack then noticed something. "Hey, what's with all the Arctiguanas?" She pointed at an image that showed multiple different versions of Flash's icy alien. They were all over the snowy mountains, some images showing them snow boarding or making ice sculptures.

Twilight smiled. "Polar Manzardill are one of the native species of X'Nelli."

"It is?" Flash grabbed the tablet and stared at it. "Huh, cool. I've never been to one of my alien's home planets before."

"You've never been to any other planet before," Shining pointed out to the teen. "Polar Manzardill are one of ten Manzardill variants. Each kind inhabits a different area of the planet."

"He's right," Twilight nodded. "According to the data I got from the Plumber computer, each Manzardill species is believed to be descended from the great Manzardill." Everyone looked confused. "It's a god-like entity that was believed to be the creator of all life on X'Nelli. Legends says that the god could take one of ten different forms and each of those forms, is embodied by the Manzardill that live on X'Nelli today."

"Interesting," Sunset nodded. "I guess all planets have their own form of religion."

"Planet's coming in range," Shining announced. Everyone quickly got up and moved to the cockpit, all looking out and seeing a planet in the distance.

With each passing second, it got larger and larger. And eventually, they were able to make out the planet that Twilight had shown them before. The place looked just as amazing as the image Twilight had shown them. And as they approached, they got a message over the radio asking for a clearance code.

Shining sent his over and once it was accepted, autopilot took over and the ship was flown to the landing area they had been given. As the ship flew down, everyone grabbed their things. Cadance made sure Flurry was up and had a clean diaper, as the ship finally landed and they were clear to step out onto a completely different planet.

Flash opened the door and was about to jump out, but then stopped and smiled. "Who wants to be the first human to ever step foot on this planet?" Everyone looked shocked, realising he was right. Technically, they were about to do something that would make them historical figures.

"Rock paper scissors?" Shining suggested, everyone smiling and quickly playing several games. Eventually, it was down to Fluttershy, Trixie and Twilight. The three played and whilst two of them picked the same thing, the other smiled.

"I believe paper, beats rock." Twilight squealed in delight, as she moved to the door. "This is one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind." With that she jumped out and landed on the ground, the feeling of being the first human on the planet almost overwhelming her.

The others followed suit and everyone looked around, amazed by the sights.

They were in an area of the planet that was on the edge of the woods and close to the beach. Multiple landing pads had been built there and several ships were taking off or landing all around them.

As they looked around and marvelled at the environment, an alien stepped onto their landing pad and headed towards them. It was a quadrupedal lizard alien, whose body was a mix of red, white and black. It was wearing a piece of clothing around its legs and part of its tail, as it stepped towards them.

"Hello," it spoke in a feminine voice. "Armor Party, correct?"

"That's right," Shining held out the coupon Clawcer had given them. The lizard took it and after placing it in some kind of scanner, she nodded.

"Excellent. Now, your sleeping area isn't too far from here. If you like, we can take your luggage over to it whilst you folks enjoy your time here. I'd suggest starting at the beach. I'm sure you could use some unwinding time after your long voyage." Everyone smiled and after grabbing what they would need for the beach, they let their luggage get taken away

It was a short walk to the beach and along the way, everyone was amazed by the number of different aliens they saw.

When they finally got there, they found an area where they could change into their beach wear. One by one, they headed into a changing room and came out in their normal beach attire. Cadance was dressed in a blue bikini top and shawl, whilst Flurry was wearing a white swimsuit one piece that had a frilly dress.

The baby had been smeared with enough sunscreen to cover six people, as everyone else headed for the water as soon as they were changed. As they did, they spotted bunch of aliens in the water and on the beach that looked like a fusion of a shark and a lizard was laying on it.

They were different shades of blue in colour, their head and body being that of a shark whilst their tail was lizard-like despite having a shark's fin on the end of it. They had four legs, two long ones at the front and two shorter ones at the back.

"Coastal Manzardill," Twilight explained. "They live on the coastline of X'Nelli."

"Cool," Flash smirked. "Maybe I should scan one of them to unlock my own." He thought for a moment, as the girls headed into the water. Flash eventually decided to hold off on the scan, instead deciding to check out the ocean.

He activated the Ultimatrix and once he found his alien of choice, he slapped the dial down and transformed. "Skydiver!" He spread his wings and took to the air, then dived down once he was far enough away from the beach.

The rest of the girls began to play around in the shallow area of the water, whilst Shining, Cadance and Flurry began to explore more of the beach.

As they did, they found a bunch of restaurants and snack bars on the boardwalk. One such place instantly called to them, the family seeing an ice slushy stand. "Gather round. Gather round. Get your ice call slushies here. The perfect way to beat the heat." As they got close, Shining heard the voice and instantly knew he had heard it before. And sure enough, he soon spotted a familiar looking Polar Manzardill.

"Gelidafur?" The ice lizard stopped and turned to him, but instantly froze when he saw him.

"You?" He cried, seeing one of the Plumbers that had arrested him once before. "What are you doing here?"

"That's a question I should be asking you," Shining glared at him. "You should be in jail."

"I'm out on parole," Gelidafur stated. "It's the least the Plumbers could do, after what happened to me." Shining gave him a confused look. "What? You didn't know. After you arrested me and Hectrix, the ship carrying us was attacked and destroyed. If it weren't for that capture cube, we would have been dead. But we drifted through space for weeks afterwards. If a passing ship hadn't detected the cube's energy, we might never have been saved."

Shining could hardly believe that, but reached into his bag and took his badge out.

He logged onto the Plumber system and typed his name in, finding everything he had just said was true. "I see." Shining frowned at him, as Gelidafur suddenly used his ice powers to fill a bucket with ice. He then used his claws to scrape the ice into plastic cups as a bunch of snow.

He gave them the cups and offered a bunch of different flavoured sauces. "Here. Take these and leave. I don't need the fuzz hanging around scaring customers off."

"Fine." Shining grabbed one and squirted it on the ice, Cadance doing the same.

"What happened to that kid with the watch?" Gelidafur asked, as Shining raised an eyebrow. "Is he still going around pretending to be a hero?"

"He is a hero," Cadance told him. "And he happens to be here with us and our friends." Gelidafur heard this, Cadance turning to Shining. "He went swimming, didn't he?"

"Yup," Shining nodded. "He's probably exploring the deepest parts of the ocean." He gave Gelidafur a look, "so don't try anything."

"Would you relax," he told him. "I've turned over a new leaf." Shining clearly didn't believe that, but walked off whilst giving Flurry a small spoonful of the ice. As soon as they were gone, Gelidafur pulled out a radio and tapped several buttons. "Fin? Fin? Are you there?" The radio was static for a few moments before it cleared and a voice replied.

"What up, bro."

Out in the water, resting on a rock sticking out of it, a Coastal Manzardill was sunbathing.

He was dressed in a yellow Hawaiian style get up, that covered his chest and had leg sleeves for all four legs. He was also carrying a radio, which he was currently talking into. "Fin. Listen. I need you to kill someone for me."

"Really?" Fin looked surprised, but smiled. "Awesome. Who?"

"I don't know what he looks like at the moment, but he should have some kind of round emblem on his body that looks like a Plumber Badge. Find him, end him and make it look like an accident. I'll stay here and make sure everyone knows I'm here. Don't let me down."

"Relax," Fin told him. "I got this." He turned off his radio and after giving his body a few stretches, he leapt into the water and started swimming around.

Back at the shack, Gelidafur put the radio back and called out to as many customers as possible.

Everyone heard him and would remember seeing him there for a while, giving him the perfect alibi. 'That's right. I'm right here. Nowhere near Sentry.' He couldn't believe he had this chance, to defeat the kid that had thrown him in jail twice. He swore that when Flash Sentry left the planet, it would be in a body bag.

Skydiver swam further and further down, having arrived at an area of the ocean where a bunch of coral could be seen.

Fish that Skydiver had never seen before, were all over the place. There were some with two tails, others that seemed to be using their gills to shoot out water and propel themselves and others that had mouths on the tops of their heads for some reason.

The alien stared at them in amazement, wishing he had brought a camera to show people at home.

As he explored the reef, he was completely unaware that he was being watched. Fin had swam down and spotted him, the Coastal Manzardill seeing the Ultimatrix and smirking when he realised he had found his target.

The predatory alien licked his lips and when Skybreaker wasn't looking, he shot forward whilst using his gills to shoot out water and propel himself like the fish. He was like a torpedo, opening his mouth to take a bite of the teen.

Skydiver was completely unaware of what was happening until the last moment, when he happened to look in Fin's direction and saw him coming. "WOW! He managed to swim out of the way at the last minute, Fin slamming into a piece of coral and taking a bite of it instead. "What the heck?"

Fin turned to him and smirked before swallowing the coral whole. "You're gonna be delicious. I just know it."

"Delicious?" Skydiver didn't like the sound of that, as Fin rushed at him again. The two aliens were suddenly in a race, Skydiver trying to outrun the shark lizard as he swam after him. "Leave me alone!" Fin kept chomping at him, attempting to bite off his tail. But Skydiver kept zigzagging to avoid him.

He tried to get to the surface, but Fin managed to propel himself up and Skydiver was forced to dodge an attack. This allowed the Coastal Manzardill to fly past him and get between him and the surface, blocking Skydiver's escape. "You're not going anywhere except through my belly!" He tried to slash at him with his webbed claws, but Skydiver dodged again.

An idea then formed in his head and the alien hero took a deep breath before hitting the Ultimatrix, praying it didn't give him the wrong alien.

Fin charged at him and as he opened his mouth, he suddenly found a blast of lightning slamming into it and burning his tongue. "GYAAAAAAAH!" He screamed, his tongue feeling like it had been burned black whilst the rest of him was zapped into near unconsciousness.

The cause of the zapping was the alien, Ampfibian. The electric jellyfish stared at the shark lizard, who quickly shook his head before swimming in for another attack. But Ampfibian unleashed another wave of lightning that electrocuted the beast and made him scream in agony.

Ampfibian kept zapping him for another ten or so seconds, eventually stopping as Fin went limp.

As the Manzardill sank into the depths, the jellyfish sighed before heading up to the surface. He needed to get above the water before he timed out, but also had to tell someone what had happened. So far, this vacation planet wasn't getting any stars.

Later on, Gelidafur was still working at his slushy stand with a smile on his lips.

He was sure Flash was dead by now. And with his alibi set, there was no way anyone would be able to pin it on him. "Thank you," he gave an extra large slushy to a tetramand. "Come again." The four armed alien nodded before heading off, whilst he put the money he had made into his cash register.

But as he did so, he spotted a familiar group heading towards him. And a certain someone stood at the front of the group.

"What?" He hid under the counter, as Flash and his friends passed him.

"I can't believe you got attacked," the purple one stated whilst the lot of them stood there. "I know Coastal Manzardill are carnivores, but the brochure said they didn't attack tourists. They're supposed to be too laid back to do that."

"Well I don't know what to tell you," Flash replied. "This one wasn't very laid back. He was more hungry than anything. Good thing I got Ampfibian. I think he's still alive, but he's probably not gonna be able to hunt anyone for a while."

"Still," the white one stated, "I think I'd rather go somewhere that doesn't have possible predatory creatures."

"I think I have the perfect place," the purple one replied. "The Sluice Slopes. That's supposed to be a really fun area." Everyone else agreed and began to head off, as Gelidafur watched them leave.

Once they were gone, he took out his radio. "Fin. Fin, are you there?" The radio was static for several moments before Fin's voice replied.

"You could have told me that guy was totally electric." Gelidafur frowned. "If you're asking me to try again, forget it. My tongue's been toasted and I feel like deep fried fish cakes."

"Fine," Gelidafur stated in annoyance. "I'll ask Dirk to do it for me. He's actually competent enough to do it right, without Sentry knowing about him." He hung up and pressed several more buttons on the radio. "Dirk. You there?"

"What's up?"

"I need a favour."

As soon as the group found Shining and Cadance, they all got dressed back in their normal clothes before following a map to a transport.

The bus-like ship flew them all up towards the area Twilight had suggested. When they arrived, they found themselves in an area of the mountains that had a bunch of muddy water flowing down it. The place had several buildings build into the side of the mountain, whilst massive dirty rivers were running between multiple canyons located between gaps in the mountain.

To say Rarity wasn't happy was an understatement. "Twilight! What were you thinking, bringing us to such a disgusting part of the planet? Why would anyone want to come here?"

Twilight smiled, as the transport went down for a landing. "Don't worry, Rarity. I checked this place out on the system and found a little something about it. One of the facilities in the Sluice Slopes is a spa." As soon as she said that, Rarity's disgust turned to wonder. "They use a special kind of mud that's developed here, to make your skin silky smooth."

"Twilight. You are amazing." Rarity ran out of the transport as soon as the doors opened up, the others following behind as she looked around to find the spa. As she did, she noticed a bunch of lizard aliens she guessed were another form of Manzardill.

These lizards were brown in colour, standing on two legs but also appearing to be quadrupedal. The sides of their neck had gills on them, along with a pair of big round eyes and a large mouth.

"Excuse me," she called out to one as it turned to her. "Can you direct me to the spa?"

"Sure." He pointed in the direction of a building sticking out the side of the mountain. The only problem was, it was on the other side of the mud river. "It's right there." Rarity smiled, but then frowned when she realised she needed to find a way over the river before she could go there.

"Flash, darling. Any chance Gryforce could give me a lift?" Flash shrugged and was about to use the Ultimatrix. But before he could, a bunch of Mire Manzardill suddenly came swimming up the muddy river whilst pushing or pulling a bunch of boats.

"Need a lift?" One of them asked, the group smiling and nodding. Rarity didn't seem so sure about it, but she begrudgingly got on the boat whilst being careful not to fall in.

The others got in as well, the Mire Manzardill taking them across the river. Once there, Rarity, Cadance and Fluttershy all got out to head to the spa. This left Flurry in Twilight's arms, as she and Flash rode the boat whilst the Manzardill raced down the muddy river.

Everyone enjoyed the ride, laughing at the many sudden turns and some tricks the Mire Manzardill were doing.

But what the pair didn't realise, was that the Manzardill pulling their boat was named Dirk. And as they approached an area of the mud river, he grabbed part of the rope that was under the mud and pulled.

"We're coming up to an area of the river that's a little more dangerous than the rest," one Manzardill explained as they came to a fork in the river. One route led down a relatively straight looking path, whilst the other route led to a curve. "The right path leads to a waterfall, which I'm sure none of you would want to take a ride down."

"Depends out high the waterfall is," Shining chuckled.

"Fifty of your Earth Meters." Everyone gulped, realising they really didn't want to go down the waterfall.

"Yeah." Rainbow nodded. "Let's go left." The others agreed and the Manzardill turned to go down the left path. But Dirk, who was at the back of the group, suddenly found his rope snapping before he could pull the boat into the current leading to the left.

Flash and Twilight didn't notice this until the boat started pulling away from Dirk. "What the?" The two shared a worried look, as Flash called out to Dirk. "Hey! What's going on!?" Dirk looked around and appeared shocked by this, as the boat began to pick up speed and flew up the right turn.

"NO!" Dirk cried, as he swam after them. The others heard this and looked around, all gasping when they saw Flash, Twilight and Flurry being sent down a different route. Shining gasped at his sister and daughter's sudden peril, as the rest of the Mire Manzardill began to turn around and go after them as well.

Flash and Twilight held on to the boat, as they found themselves shooting down the fast moving river at over forty miles an hour.

Flurry laughed, clearly enjoying what was happening, whilst Dirk tried to catch up to them. "Twilight," Flash gulped, "can you lift the boat up?"

"Not with us in it," Twilight replied as they took a sharp turn and the boat was almost tipped over. "We've gotta do something." That statement became more true when they saw that they were approaching the waterfall spoken of earlier. Flash activated the Ultimatrix, but the rocking off the boat made finding the right alien tricky.

"HOLD ON!" Dirk cried, though he was only going at half his max speed. And eventually, the boat went over the waterfall. "NO!" He tried to sound as horrified as possible, not taking the chance someone was watching.

He stopped near the edge of the river and held on, staring at the waterfall whilst smirking on the inside. Gelidafur would reward him handsomely for this.

However, as he was about to swim back up river, he suddenly heard a sound. The sound of helicopter blades, making him stop and look back. And to his shock, Twilight and Flurry suddenly appeared from below the waterfall.

Twilight was kneeling on Terraspin, who carefully flew up before moving towards the shore. And as he landed, their friends arrived looking terrified. "Twilight! Flurry!" Shining ran over and hugged them both, as the flying turtle stood up. "Are you okay?"

"We're fine," Twilight told him. "Sorry we gave you a freight."

Shining nodded, as he took Flurry into his arms and held her close. "Let's not tell mommy this happened." Flurry laughed, as Terraspin moved over to Dirk.

"Er...sorry about your boat."

"It's...it's fine," Dirk assured him. "Sorry I let that happen. That rope was brand new. I can't believe it snapped like that." Terraspin nodded, as he turned back to human. Flash and the others returned to the boats on the other river, this little incident not turning them off the mud river rides.

As they left, Dirk groaned before taking out a mud-proof radio. "Gelidafur. You there?"

The ice lizard answered, smirking as he did. "Please tell me Sentry's no more."

"Sorry. I sent him over a waterfall and the guy survived." Gelidafur growled, slamming the radio down as he tried to think of another Manzardill that would be willing to kill him. But none came to mind.

"Damn it!" He breathed a blast of ice a little stronger than he should have, creating a block of ice that was too large. "If Sentry isn't willing to die by another's hand, I'll just have to get my own dirty." He didn't know how he was gonna do that, but he would find a way. He swore, Flash Sentry wouldn't leave the planet alive.

The next day.

Having spent the rest of the previous day riding the mud rivers, the vacation goers had spent the evening at the vacation house they would be enjoying. And as soon as the sun rose the next day, they all headed out to see the other sights of the planet.

One such sight, was a place known as the Lush Jungle. This area was a large forest that had trees growing in many different shapes and directions. Some were shaped like letters and numbers, whilst others were curved or growing in a zigzag pattern. The leaves were many different colours and in one area, several really thick trees had been hollowed out into buildings.

This was where Flash and his friends currently were, the group amazed as they made their way through the small town.

Said town was home to a bunch of large green lizards, that had stripes and lower jaws of multiple different colours. Their head were round and toad-like, some of them having a purple slime dripping off their lips, whilst they walked around on all fours with three long finger-like appendages on the end of each leg.

"Tropic Manzardill," Twilight explained as the others stared at them. Several Tropic Manzardill were running stalls, showing off a bunch of different crafts.

"What's this?" Pinkie asked, moving up to a stall where a Tropic Manzardill was stirring a purple substance inside of a large cauldron.

The Manzardill smiled as she grabbed a bowl. "This is a special jam we make from the jungle's most famous fruit. Ama-kian." He pointed up at the trees and everyone saw a bunch of orange fruit hanging from it. "it's our speciality here."

"Here it is," Twilight smiled as she stared at her tablet. "Ama-kian. The Tropic Manzardill have the ability to digest it and use the sticky substance they produce to create a sticky string-like substance." Suddenly, one Tropic Manzardill flew overhead. It was jumping from one tree to the other and when it missed a branch, it spat out a long purple string.

That string hit the branch and it swung on it in order to get to the next branch.

Once it grabbed the branch, the string snapped and hung from the branch. "Cool," Flash smirked before looking at the cauldron. "You didn't...you know."

"No," the Manzardill sighed. "I didn't eat this stuff and spit it out. I just mixed it with a few more ingredients, boiled it and made sure it didn't stick to the pot. The only mouth it'll be in is yours."

Twilight checked something and smiled. "It's said this stuff is safe for humans to digest. Might actually be healthier than most of the stuff we eat on a daily basis." Everyone gathered around the stall, as the Manzardill filled bowls of the stuff.

They quickly realised the jam had a similar consistency to jello, the group taking spoons and using them to cut up the snack and try it. As soon as they did, they were amazed by the taste.

"Wow," Trixie smirked, "now that's good stuff." The others nodded, as they walked around the rest of the stalls.

As they did, none of them noticed someone was watching them. Gelidafur was hiding behind a tree and glaring at Flash, as the teen enjoyed his ama-kian dessert.

"There's gotta be a way to get him." It was then he noticed a stall carrying jars of different coloured substances, which he knew worked like glue, paint, varnish and other stuff. But to a human, most of it would be poisonous. "Perfect." He moved over and bought a jar he knew a human wouldn't survive touching. "Now to get it on Sentry without him noticing."

The group continued to explore the market, they found themselves coming across a large stage.

There, a bunch of Tropic Manzardill were playing a rather interesting style of music. The band were using drums, harps and other instruments that were all made up of wood and a familiar purple substance. "Is that the stuff the Manzardill produce?" Applejack asked, with Twilight nodding.

"Yup. They make all sorts of instruments and other tools using it." She tapped her tablet again. "Apparently, this style of music is called tonge-gaere."

Flash laughed, "I like it." He spotted a stall selling instruments and went over to check it out, whilst bopping his head to the music. He looked through the different instruments, eventually finding an acoustic guitar with thin purple string. "Nice." He stared at it, seeing the price. He could afford it, but did he want to spend so much on something like it?

Deciding to get the other's advice, he went to ask them. But as he did, Gelidafur snuck over. And whilst the stall owner wasn't watching, he picked the guitar up with his claws covered in the slime. "Interesting." He did his best to cover as much of it as possible in the slime, then put it down. "Little too pricey for me." He ran off before Flash and his parents showed up.

"What do you think?" He asked, pointing at the guitar. "I bet it sounds great."

Misty smiled. "If you want to buy it, go ahead. But will you actually have time to play it?" Flash thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Definitely. I still play my guitar all the time." He was about to reach out and grab it, Gelidafur watching and smiling. At any moment, Flash would be poisoned and there would be no way to cure him.

But before Flash touched it, he noticed something.

Shining and Cadance had moved over to one of the trees and Flurry was trying to reach up and grab a piece of fruit. But even as Shining held her up as high as he could, she couldn't reach the fruit and was starting to get upset.

Flash moved away from the guitar and activated the Ultimatrix, finding his alien and transforming in a flash of light. "Armodrillo!" He cried, the giant robot alien transforming his arms and placing them on the ground. As the pistons in his elbows started thrusting back and forth, the ground around them started shaking.

It wasn't too strong of an earthquake, at least not enough to break anything and get them in trouble. But it was strong enough to cause the fruit to fall off the trees.

The one Flurry wanted fell into her hands and she caught it, laughing in excitement as Shining put her down. Armodrillo then stopped the shaking and turned back to the guitar, picking it up before remembering he was still an alien.

But before he changed back, he noticed the guitar was covered in something slimy. "What's this?" He asked the stall runner, who felt the slime and frowned.

"Another customer must have covered it in this stuff by accident. What a slob. Hang on." He grabbed a towel and used it to wipe the guitar and Armodrillo's hand clean, the earthquake alien changing back once he was clean.

Now human again, Flash started strumming the guitar and everyone who heard it was impressed by his skill.

The only one not impressed was Gelidafur, who growled at his thwarted attempt. "How lucky can one guy be?" As he said that, he was suddenly conked on the head by a piece of fruit and hit the ground. His eyes turned to swirls and a bunch of birds were flying around his head.

After spending another hour or so enjoying the Lush Jungle's market and watching the Manzardill swinging around with a bunch of other aliens, the group decided to head to their next location.

However, they all had a different area of the planet they wanted to check out. So instead of arguing, they agreed to split up and check out the different areas of the planet. As such, Flash found himself heading to an area known as the Fung Gully. He, Twilight, Sunset and Pinkie had arrived.

The Fung Gully was a rather colourful biome, filled with giant mushrooms that were as big as the trees in the Lush Jungle and a hundred times more colourful. Even the water was a bright pink colour, which surprised them as they approached.

But before they could get into the gully, another Manzardill appeared. This one was also quadrupedal and stood at around two or three feet in height.

Its body was the strangest of the lot, being covered in a strange oil that made it look like it was almost glowing. It mostly appeared black, but the oil on its body made it shine a variety of different colours. The oil glowed in such a way, that it made the Manzardill look like a lava lamp.

"If you want to head into this gully, you should probably wear protection." He pointed at a nearby building and the four headed inside, finding the place was full of gas-masks of many different shapes.

The Manzardill, which Twilight explained was the Fung species, held out some kind of scanning gun and unleashed a light that washed over them. He then connected it to some kind of computer.

"Okay. Let's see here." He typed on the computer, accidentally getting the multiple coloured slime all over it. "Wow. You humans are really susceptible to the spores in the gully. If you breathe it in for too long, you'd probably go nuts from the effects."

"Does that mean you're not gonna let us in?" Flash asked, as the Manzardill shook his head.

"No." He reached up and grabbed some masks, fiddling with them. "You just need to have your breathing masks on at a high power." He handed one to Flash and he quickly put it on, the plastic of the mask covering his entire face. He pulled the strap on tight before hitting a button on the side, which caused the mask to become airtight against his face.

Sunset and Pinkie did the same, whilst Twilight needed to wait a few minutes. The Manzardill used a special device to scan her glasses, then altered the mask's structure to mimic them. Eventually, she was wearing a mask without her glasses as well.

"Alright. These masks have a time limit of about two hours at the power they're on. I suggest you enjoy as much as you can before coming back." They nodded and headed out towards the gully, completely oblivious to the Polar Manzardill staring at them.

Gelidafur had his own mask on, the lizard smiling as he watched the group enter the Fung Gully. "Perfect. If I can get him exposed to the fumes of the oil, he'll be driven nuts. That'll be even worse than death." He chuckled before following them into the gully.

Flash and the girls were amazed by the many colours of the Fung Gully. The Fung Manzardill were walking around, using their oil to decorate the place all over. The four of them stopped several times, admiring the many different pieces of art that made up the small village.

"Ooh," Pinkie spotted a small blue mushroom with yellow spots. "I wonder if these things are edible."

"Probably not for humans," Twilight told her. She checked her tablet and nodded. "According to this, the oil the Fung Manzardill produce is made from digested mushrooms. The potency of the oil's hallucinogenic effects depends on the types of mushrooms used in the digestive process."

"Geez," Flash took a closer look at a piece of art that was a bunch of spirals. "I never really got subjective art."

"There's nothing to get," Sunset told him. "It's not about what the image makes you think. It's what the image makes you feel." She pointed at the spirals. "I'm sure the artist that made this, did so in a time of great confusion and lack of clarity. Maybe they were facing a difficult choice in their life and expressed themselves through the artwork."

"Okay..." Flash frowned, wondering if he had made a mistake in coming to see this place. "Still, I don't think I really feel anything from it."

"Maybe you need to be under the oil's effect to really feel anything?" Pinkie giggled at the thought of letting herself purposefully be exposed to the substance, the others laughing as well.

They continued to study the many different pieces of art for another hour, some pieces appearing more interesting than others. One such piece of art, appeared to show the image of a volcano. And inside the volcano was some kind of lizard, which seemed to be glowing many different colours.

"What's that?" Sunset asked, as they stared at it closer.

"I think that's supposed to be Manzardill," Twilight replied. "The god one."

"What's it doing in a volcano?" Pinkie asked, as a Fung Manzardill walked past and heard her.

"Ah," he spoke up, "you must not be aware. They say the Great Manzardill sleeps within a volcano on X'Nelli. In the Totem Cradle, he sleeps within the heart of the volcano. His power is what keeps the volcano alive. And that volcano is what keeps the rest of the planet alive. If he were to leave, the volcano would die and the planet would become a frozen wasteland."

"Like the Polar Peaks?" Twilight asked, the Manzardill nodding.

"Yes. Those mountains are the only part of the planet that is cold. But even they receive the heat and protection of the Great Manzardill. Without him, the Polar Peaks would be even colder than they already are. Cold enough that even Polar Manzardill couldn't survive. And the rest of the planet would be just as cold."

Everyone nodded, Flash turning to Twilight. "Do you think that's all true?"

"Possibly," Twilight shrugged. "There's no proof this Great Manzardill doesn't exist. Unless someone actually went into the volcano, they can't say there isn't a giant lizard there keeping the planet warm."

As this was happening, Gelidafur was hiding behind a large rock that had a giant mural paint onto it. He looked around the rock and smiled when he saw Flash, who had his back to him. "I can do this." He looked around, making sure nobody was looking in his direction.

Once he was sure nobody would see him, he took a deep breath before unleashing a super thin ice beam. It was so thin, nobody was able to see it as it flew through the air towards Flash.

Gelidafur had aimed for the strap on Flash's mask, planning to freeze it and cause it to break off Flash's face. And it appeared to be on target.

But then, Flash happened to step out of range and the beam missed. Nobody noticed it, as it flew past him and Twilight before hitting something else. Pinkie's mask strap.

The ice beam struck the strap and made it freeze over in seconds before it broke apart, the mask falling off Pinkie right as she leaned in close to the wall mural. She didn't notice the mask falling for several seconds, Sunset gasping when she saw it. And these few seconds were all Pinkie needed to breathe the oil's fumes into her.

The next thing she knew, the image of Manzardill suddenly came off the wall and started dancing through the air.

The volcano also came off the wall and actually exploded, Pinkie staggering back as she lost her balance. Looking around, she saw more of the artwork coming alive. Some were funny looking, others were a little scary and a bunch of it were just weird.

The Manzardill image moved over to another spiral painting and grabbed the end, flicking it to straighten it out before grabbing the other side and using it as a jump rope.

"Pinkie!" Twilight cried, rushing to her side as she almost fell to the ground. She girl kept making strange noises, as her head swayed from side to side. "We've gotta do something!"

"We need to get her to a hospital!" Sunset yelled, as Flash frowned.

"We need to stop her from breathing anything else in." He activated the Ultimatrix and once he found the alien he was looking for, he took a deep breath and removed his own mask. As soon as he threw it to Twilight, he slammed the dial down and transformed.

In a flash, Gemini appeared and quickly put a shield up around him. As Twilight up the mask on Pinkie, the alien took a breath and was happy to find his shield was fume free.

"Come on. Let's get her out of here." The girls nodded before Sunset lifted Pinkie up, the lot of them running out of the gully hoping to find some place they could get Pinkie treated.

As they did, Gelidafur's body shook with rage. "Raaaah!" He slammed the stone wall beside him, unable to believe Sentry had escaped justice again. "Could this get any worse?"

"HEY!" He heard one of the Fung Manzardill yell, "you know you've gotta pay for that!" Gelidafur raised an eyebrow before looking at the wall he had just punched, which had a piece of art on it. One that his punch had just ruined.

He gulped, trying to see if he could escape. But there was no way he would be able to get away without attracting a lot of attention to himself. "How much?"

They soon found a hospital, which was set up right next to the gully.

It turned out, Pinkie wasn't the first person to accidentally breathe in the psychedelic oil. "There you go," another Manzardill stated. This one was a rather sickly looking lizard, standing on two feet with a body that was pink and brown. He had glowing yellow eyes and a few other sections that glowed yellow.

This was a Subter Manzardill, who was dressed as a doctor and currently holding a breathing mask over the girl's mouth.

"This should counter the oil's effects. Just give her a few minutes and she'll be back to normal." He pulled out a scanner and used it on Pinkie. "Luckily, she wasn't exposed to it for very long."

"So she's gonna be okay?" Twilight asked, worried Pinkie would have to spend the rest of their vacation in a hospital.

"Of course. Trust me, we get a lot of visitors here that have this condition. You keep treating something over and over, your methods only get better and better. Give her an hour of breathing this gas and she'll be perfectly fine. Though you should keep an eye on her, just in case she has an unusual reaction."

"Thanks," Flash told him before the doctor walked off. He turned back to Pinkie, "you feeling better?" Pinkie gave him a thumbs up.

"Are you still seeing things?" Sunset asked, Pinkie shifting her hand in a 'so-so' manner. "Well if anything weird starts to happen, let us know." Pinkie nodded, as Flash activated the Ultimatrix's messaging system. He quickly sends a short text to Shining, telling him what had happened. A few minutes later, Shining replied.

"Shining wants to know where we're heading once Pinkie's feeling better."

"Good question," Twilight hummed. "Where to go?"

"How about that Totem Cradle we heard about?" Sunset suggestion. "That place sounded pretty cool."

"It's an active volcano," Flash reminded her. "I doubt it's cool." They laughed, as Twilight brought it up on her tablet. "Can we even go there. The place could be over a thousand degrees."

"We should be fine," Twilight assured him. "This says the place is safe for people to go to, so long as we're careful." Flash nodded and sent a message back to Shining.

Once Pinkie had finished her detox, the four of them headed over to the Totem Cradle. Along the way, they met up with the rest of their friends and found the cradle was currently on a section of the planet that was undergoing sunset. As the sky grew darker, they were greeted with the amazing sight of the volcanoes glowing brightly.

This area was a mix of grey stone and grassy terrain. The grey stone acted as pathways between the grassy sections, whilst several areas on the grass had flat rocks that acted as the foundations of the building that made up the town inside the Totem Cradle.

Most of the building her all made up of the same materials, a strange orange substance that looked almost like amber.

"What is this stuff?" Trail asked, moving closer to one of the buildings. But when he did, he was suddenly overwhelmed by the heat coming off it. "Wow!" He stepped back, pulling on his shirt collar as Twilight used her tablet to looking something up.

"The Slag Manzardill have the ability to produce magma, which they can form into bubbles of varying densities."

"So they can use lava to make houses?" Flash asked, surprised by this.

"Houses, vases and plates, even a form of energy generator. It's quite versatile." As she said that, they spotted a bunch of Slag Manzardill walking past. These lizards were bipedal and stood at around seven or nine feet in height.

Their bodies were a mix of red, orange and creamish pink. The most noticeable thing about them, were their large bulbous necks that glowed bright yellow right below their chins.

One Slag Manzardill was working on a house, as part of his glowing neck suddenly expanded before it pulled a bubble of it off to add to the building. "Cool," Flash smiled as they kept heading down the stone path.

They then spotted a bunch of aliens heading up towards the volcano, many of them running as if they were worried they were about to miss something. "What's going on up there?" Cadance asked, as a Slag Manzardill happened to be passing by.

"First time here?" They all nodded. "You're in luck. The Dance of Life is going to take place soon. Once a week, our best performers do a ritualistic dance to give thanks to the Great Manzardill. It's quite the sight to see."

"Awesome," Rainbow smirked, "let's go watch." The others agreed and all headed up the path towards the volcano, many of them unable to believe they were heading towards an area so close to a bunch of lava.

As they did, Gelidafur was hiding behind a building and sweating up a storm. The ice lizard huffed, hating how hot it was.

"Gotta take care of him quick and get out of here." He looked around, trying to come up with a plan. And when he spotted a Slag Manzardill, carrying a wheelbarrow full of lava orbs, he had an idea.

He quickly snuck behind the Manzardill and when nobody was looking, he made an ice club and smacked the guy over the head with it. The Slag Manzardill grunted as he fell to the ground, Gelidafur checking to make sure he hadn't killed him.

"Good. Still alive." He looked round again before grabbing the wheelbarrow and running off.

Flash and his friends had arrived at an area near the mouth of the cradle.

A large stage was right in front of the mouth and on that stage, a statue showing the Great Manzardill could be seen. A large group of different aliens were gathered around the stage, all waiting patiently for the show to begin. And as Flash and the gang arrived, a bunch of Slag Manzardill stepped up on stage.

Once in place, they all got into a praying stance with their hands in front of their necks.

Everyone waited, as many wondered what was supposed to happen. And as the last rays of the setting sun disappeared behind the horizon, music filled the air and the dancers suddenly got into a crane kick stance. Doing so also pulled two bubbles out of their necks, which they held up for a moment before moving into their next pose.

The bubbles left their heads and floated upwards, as the Manzardill made more bubbles whilst dancing to the music.

Everyone was amazed when they saw this, watching as the bubbles floated up and up and up. The dance was also amazing to watch, Twilight having used her tablet to record it so they could remember this when they got home.

Flurry clapped in joy and everyone else was just as bewitched, all of them glad they had chosen to come here. "Gorgeous," Rarity whispered. "Such an amazing display."

"Each of those bubbles represents a life," a Mire Manzardill in the audience explained. "A life given to this planet by the Great Manzardill himself."

Everyone smiled, as the dance continued. They didn't know if the Great Manzardill was a real thing, but they could understand how important he was to this planet. If he did exist, he clearly deserved great respect.

As it was happening, Gelidafur had reached the stage area with his stolen lava bubbles.

The bubbles were currently covered in a lay of ice, keeping them from popping despite how much they had been bumped around. But the heat from the bubbles was causing them to melt, forcing him to constantly refreeze them which was a tiring effort.

"Okay," he smirked. "This can't fail. I roll these things at Sentry and as soon as they melt, he'll find himself standing in a puddle of lava. Even if he does survive, he'll be so burned he'll wish he died." He watched the crowd, as they kept their attention on the dancers.

At this point, the number of lava bubbles in the air were in the triple digits. They were so focused on this and the dance, nobody was staring at him as he tipped the bubbles out of the wheelbarrow.

The bubbles began to roll towards the crowd, as Gelidafur rushed out of sight so nobody could spot him.

The sound of the ice rolling on the ground, was drowned out by the music. Each second, they got closer and closer. However, a small snag appeared in Gelifadur's plan. The heat of the ground caused the ice around the bubbles to melt much quicker than he expected.

As soon as the ice melted away, the bubble popped when it struck the rocky ground.

The lava began to spill across the ground, the heat and light from it finally catching the attention of the crowd's back members. They looked around and all gasped, screaming as the lava covered the entire area.

Flash and his friends spun around, everyone's eyes going wide when they saw the lava. The large puddles began to melt more of the rock below them, adding to the molten rock and forming a large pond that blocked any escape from the cradle for those that couldn't fly.

"What do we do!?" An alien screamed, as a few with wings took to the air. "Carry us out of here."

Flash frowned, seeing some of the aliens who would need to be lifted away. Several were so big, there would be no way for them to be picked up. And even if they could, there wasn't enough time. The lava was spreading fast.

"Flash!" Shining cried, as the teen activated his Ultimatrix and slammed the dial down once he had the alien he was after.

In a flash of light, he was transformed. "WATER HAZARD!" Before anyone could say anything, the alien ran forward until he reached the edge of the lava pool. "Didn't think I'd ever need to put out lava again." He thrust his hands out and unleashed a blast of water, which struck the lava and caused it to give off a blast of steam as it cooled the molten rock.

Everyone covered their mouths to keep from breathing in the hot steam, as the lava was turned back into rock.

Water Hazard blasted as much water as he could, the heat from it and the volcano behind him proving difficult to ignore as he kept going. Luckily, the amount of lava in front of him wasn't enough to exhaust his water supply. Eventually, the entire pond was completely doused and cooled into rock.

Everyone who had been terrified was suddenly excited, the lot of them cheering as they rushed over to lift the alien hero up.

A Slag Manzardill dancer jumped down off the stage and moved over to the crowd, as Water Hazard transformed back into Flash. "Thank you," she told him. "You've saved us all."

"No problem," Flash smirked. "But what the heck happened? Did some of your bubbles pop?"

"Impossible," another dancer stated. "The bubbles should have floated up into the air. Even if they did pop, the fall would have cooled them to rocks." She scratched her head, "this is rather peculiar."

Over where he had hidden himself, Gelidafur stared at Flash whilst slamming his head into the side of a building. "No! No! No! NO!" He stopped, feeling his head ache as he staggered away. He glared over at Flash Sentry and was suddenly exhausted after everything that had happened. "I GIVE UP!" He turned to walk away, heading off to find a ride back home. He didn't know if the universe hated him or loved Flash, but it was clear Gelidafur wasn't going to get his revenge on the teen.

Three days later.

Gelidafur sighed, as he hung around his store looking rather bummed. Over the last three days, he had heard about all the fun activities Flash Sentry and his friends had enjoyed. After the lava incident, nothing bad had happened. As such, the group had had the time of their life of X'Nelli.

Now, the group were about to heard home and Gelidafur had no other chance to make Sentry pay.

As he made a slushy for a Gourmand, he let out a sigh before handing the dessert to the alien and leaning against the counter. And just when he thought things couldn't get any worse, he spotted the subject of his ire heading straight for him. "Great."

"Hey," Flash smiled as he, Trixie and the Rainboom stepped up next to him. "Shining said you were running this shack."

"So?" Gelidafur was just waiting for him to start boasting about beating him.

"Listen. I'm sorry about everything that happened between us." Gelidafur hadn't been expecting that. "I know we have a bit of a history between us. But you understand I did what I did because I had to?"

"I guess."

"And look at where it got you," Rarity pointed out. "Now you're a legitimate business owner. You must be making far more now than when you were a thief." Gelidafur thought about it and couldn't help but agree.

In the ten years he had been a thief and criminal, he had only made about half what he had made since opening his stall. "I guess so."

Flash nodded. "Now you get to live an actual life, instead of always being paranoid someone's gonna try and arrest you. It must be way better to live freely without worry, right?"

"I..." Gelidafur hadn't thought about it like that. He had been so focused on getting revenge on Sentry, he never thought about where is life would have been if he hadn't been arrested. Learning he had almost spent eternity in space, floating without even realising it, had scared Gelidafur straight. He swore he would never do anything that could get him trapped like that again.

He had returned home and started this small business as soon as he was released by the Plumbers. And since coming back, he had been a lot happier. He made good money and had made several friends, like Fin, Dirk and Manzardill that he hadn't tried to get to kill Sentry. He really was better off.

"My life is better now that I'm not a criminal."

Flash smiled. "I know I can't really take credit for your turn around. You're the one who changed your life for the better. I'm just glad I got to be a small part of your redemption tale."

"I guess so," Gelidafur nodded.

"Anyway. Can my friends and I get some slushies? Shining said they were really good." Gelidafur nodded and quickly made the shaved ice dessert, Flash and the girls pouring the flavouring onto it. "Thanks." They paid. "Hope to see you again in the future. So long as it isn't to arrest you again." With that, the group headed off towards their ship's landing site.

As he watched them go, Gelidafur thought about the conversation he had just had. "Should I be...grateful to him?" He couldn't believe he had just said that, especially after spending so long trying to kill the teen. A small part of him wondered if he should forgive Sentry for what had happened.

"He's right. My life's better now than it ever was as a crook." He frowned. "I can't believe I risked losing it by trying to get him killed." He sighed, glad he hadn't actually been caught for what he did. Since no harm was done, he didn't have to worry about anyone coming after him. "From now on, I'll just live my life and forget all about what happened in the past."

He smiled as he got to work, preparing another batch of ice. But as he did, a Torrid Manzardill carrying a bag of letters arrived. "Gelidafur?" The ice lizard turned to him and nodded. "Deliveries." He handed him three letters and Gelidafur thanked him as he walked off.

The Polar Manzardill opened the first letter and when he saw what it was, his eyes went wide. "A hospital bill!" He read through it and realised it was a bill for Fin's electric burns. "He expects me to pay?" He slammed the letter down and opened the next one, seeing it was from Dirk. "Dear Gelidafur. This is the bill to replace the boat I destroyed trying to get that teen. Pay it or I'll tell everyone what you told me to do." He slammed the letter down and growled, "seriously."

He didn't even want to look at the third letting, having a feeling he knew what it was.

Either way, he opened it up and his suspicions had been confirmed. It was a bill for the artwork he had damaged. He looked at the amounts he would need to pay and realised that to pay it would require a loan that would put him in serious debt.

"Ahhh!" He screwed them all up and threw them away, as he tried to think of a way to pay it back quickly. But he couldn't. His financial future was now in serious trouble and all because he had tried to kill Flash Sentry. "Sentry," he growled, "this is all your fault. I swear, I'm gonna make you pay for this!"

Author's Note

I've been looking forward to this one for a while. Flash and his friends all get to go to another planet. And this one is just for a vacation, though they still end up finding trouble. What did you think of the chapter and Gelidafur's return?

Many of you probably feel like this is all looking familiar and that's because I took inspiration for this planet from the Ink Tank's And Beyond series. If you haven't already, check out the videos and all their other works. They're really great.