Bionicle: Equestrian Saga

Chapters

Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118
Chapter 119
Chapter 1
Chapter 8
Chapter 30

Chapter 2 2 Into the West (Ark 1 Chapter 2)

So there I was lying on my back about to be savaged by wolf… made of wood, when all of a sudden a zebra(!) appeared out of nowhere and charged towards the wolf on top of me before stopping and turning on a dime and kicking the wolf off of me with its hind legs, it then ran around me to place itself between the wolf and myself.

The wolf tried to run around the zebra to get to me but promptly received a staff to the face, courtesy of the aforementioned zebra, causing the wolf to let out a yelp of surprise.

“Get back, return to your territory with the rest of your wolf pack” She, it seems, said in a distinctly African sounding voice, the wolf started to back away before howling to its pack and running off into the forest, the rest of the pack following close behind.

I got to my feet and then picked up my sword and put it on my back before walking over to the zebra, noticing for the first time that she was really small, she roughly came up to my chest in height, and was wearing neck rings as well as several bangles on her left foreleg, and really big earrings.

“Thank you, I would have been done for if you hadn’t shown up” I said.

“What else was I to do? I wasn’t going to stand there whilst it made a meal out of you” she responded.

“Ok four things, one, who are you? Two, what is this place? Three, what were those wolves? And four, why are you speaking in rhyme?” I asked, counting off each question with my fingers.

“To my hut we must go, there, I will heal you and tell you everything you wish to know” she said.

“Heal me?” I asked.

“Look at your arm” she said, pointing at my left arm with one of her forelegs “the Timberwolf has caused you some harm”

I looked at my arm and noticed that where the ‘timber-wolf’ had bitted me there were several teeth marks and a small amount of blood trickling down my arm.

“Oh shit, how did I not notice that?” I exclaimed, not even trying to hide my surprise.

“The saliva of Timberwolves dulls the pain, it is so that its prey does not complain” she said.

“So” I said nervously “how about going to your hut then?” it was more of a statement than a question, her response was to simply turn around and walk into the forest.

After a following her for a short while we came across a tree with several windows and a large door as well as bottles of various shapes, sizes and colours hanging from the branches, there was also a couple African-esc tribal masks, including one above the doorway, I had to duck down to fit through the doorway, inside the hut I could see more masks, each one unique, and more bottles, some were hanging from the ceiling but most were on shelves, in the centre of the hut there was a large cauldron.

“Please take a seat at the table” the Zebra said pointing to a table in a corner “a bite from a Timberwolf can make its victim quite unstable”

I walked over to the table and sat down cross-legged on the floor.

The Zebra started putting various things on the table such as a bandage, a cloth, a bowl filled with water and another bowl filled with a mixture of water and an unknown liquid which I presumed to be a disinfectant of some sort.

She started by picking up the cloth (with her hooves, I still don’t know how that works) and dipping it in the bowl filled with water and the unknown liquid and started to clean the wound, I visibly winced when the cloth came into contact with the wound.

“Ah, that stings”

“Please do not complain, the mixture will only cause temporary pain” she responded before dipping the cloth into the ordinary water and then repeating the process a couple more times, she then got the bandage and started wrapping it around my arm.

“So, what’s your name?” I asked once she had finished bandaging my arm.

“My name is Zecora, the reason I found you when I did was because I often go out to collect herb based flora” she replied.

"My name is ..." I tried to tell her my name, but I found myself unable to, it was as if every time I tried to say my name my voice caught in my throat, 'shit, why can't I tell her my name, come on got to think of a name, ah I know, Vuur Koning, yeah that'll do I thought back to when I went to Holland and, as a result, tried (and failed) to learn Dutch, I still picked up a couple of words though.

"You can call me Vuur Koning, I seem to be unable to tell you my real name so it will have to do, anyway, I have to ask, must you speak in rhyme?"

She nodded before saying “In the land where I come from, where the land is baked in hot sun, it is seen as a mark of wisdom, if the healers speak in rhyming rhythm”

“And where do you come from?” I asked.

“It is a place that goes by the name of Zebrica, and the language calls my kind pundamilia” she responded, I was about to ask her what pundamilia meant but she continued.

“But what about you? Of all the things that I have seen, you are something different and new”

“Well, where are we now? And I don’t mean in this hut, I mean what is this country called?”

“This land is called Equestria, it is a place that is full of friendship and devoid of fear”

“Have you heard of any where called England?” I asked, uncertainty creeping into my voice.

“Please excuse me whilst I prepare food for my cooking pot, in the meantime, do tell me of this place of which I know not” she said before standing up and clearing the table.

I could feel myself starting to panic ‘I can’t start freaking out now, not when there’s someone else around’, I started to slow my breathing in an attempt to try and calm myself down ‘I can freak out later’, I turned to Zecora and asked.

“What would you like to know?”

“As much as you want to tell me of where you are from, and also, I am curious to hear some of you home-land songs”

“Oh! that reminds me” I said getting my rucksack off of my back and checking inside ‘who knows what could have got damaged in here’ I thought, thinking back to when I got knocked over by the Timberwolf as I started taking all of the stuff out of my bag and checking to see if any of it was damaged, speaking out loud as I went.

“Alright, head phones are fine, laptops ok, camera accessories are ok, camera’s ok, it’s a bloody miracle, phones ok (no signal though), chargers are ok, everything’s ok, thank god”

I now felt a lot more relaxed, I picked up the laptop and turned it on before turning to Zecora and saying.

“You wanted to hear what some of the music of where I’m from is like, yes?”

She was too busy stirring whatever was in the cauldron using a wooden spoon help in her mouth to talk, so she simply nodded.

“Ok, let’s see” I muttered to myself and started scrolling through the different music groups that I had on the laptop ‘Disturbed? No, Sabaton? No, Rammstien? Definitely not, Gorrilaz? No, 650+ songs and there’s ‘ef’ all to listen to, Alestorm? No, Van Canto? Hmm, I wonder’

“Zecora, what’s the music like where you come from, is it like drums and vocals?” I asked, trying to decide which song to play.

Once again her only response was simply to nod.

“OK, I think I know the perfect song to play, it’s quite a calm and gentle song so it won’t be too disturbing I hope”

This time she placed the spoon down before saying.

“No matter what you play, I will listen with an open mind before I tell you what I have to say”

“OK then” and with that I pressed play

(for this part, just listen to the song)

The song finally wound down just as Zecora appeared to have finished cooking whatever it was she was cooking, she took out two bowls and poured an equal amount into each before carefully bringing them over to the table revealing them to be holding a steaming pale brown liquid, I had a feeling I knew what it was, I turned to Zecora and asked.

“Mushroom soup, By any chance?”

“Yes, that would be the correct guess”

I carefully lifted the bowl and, following Zecoras example, began to drink from the bowl ‘bloody hell this is good’ I thought, I turned to Zecora to express my gratitude.

“Wow, this the best soup I’ve ever had”

“I am pleased that my soup you enjoy, towards your music I felt a similar level of joy”

I glanced out the window and saw it was getting dark.

“Where am I staying tonight? I mean, I wouldn’t want to be a bother”

“Here you shall stay, tomorrow I shall take you to a nearby town, it is not too far away, you will sleep in my bed, though I warn you, you are a little bit big by about a head.”

“But, what about you?” I asked “thanks for the offer, but you need somewhere to sleep as well”

“I will meditate, it will leave me well rested although I will still be awake” she responded in a tone that said ‘this isn’t up for discussion’

“OK, if you say so” I said before finishing off my soup and standing up, Zecora had finished her soup as well, I picked up both of our bowls.

“Where do you want these?” I asked holding the bowls up.

“put them over there” she said, pointing to one of the shelves “I will take care of them later, you needn’t care”

I put the bowls on the aforementioned shelf before turning and saying.

“thank you for your hospitality, but I am feeling really tired so I am going to go to sleep, OK?”

Zecora simply nodded before grabbing her staff and doing an insanely complex acrobatic display which resulted in herlanding upside down on top of the staff, her forelegs together and one back leg pointing straight up, the other pointing off to one side, the staff didn’t even wobble.

“show off” I muttered under my breath, I swear at that moment I saw a hint of a smile flash briefly across her face before she put on a neutral expression.

A walked up to the bed and removed my sword before placing it on the floor and laying in the bed, it was only slightly smaller than I was, I could just fit on the bed without having to adopt the fetal position, my last thought before I fell asleep was ‘I hope my parents aren't too worried’.

Chapter 3 3 Adios (Ark 1 Chapter 3)

I awoke the next morning to the sound of gentle singing in a foreign language, I was momentarily confused as to why I could hear singing due to still being half asleep, as I fully regained my senses I remembered why I would be hearing singing, and why I was also in a hut, ‘Right, ‘that’ happened’ I thought to myself, I yawned before getting out of the bed and walked into the main area of the hut where I found Zecora stirring some sort of liquid in the cauldron.

“Good morning, Zecora” I said whilst rubbing my eyes, more out of habit than a physical need to clear my eyes

“Good morning, I trust you slept well, and that you don’t feel like hell?” she replied

“I slept surprisingly well, thank you” I replied, a small amount of amusement from her choice of words showing in my voice “no offence”

“None taken” she replied, “We shall be going shortly, now that I don’t have to worry about making you awaken”

“That’s fine by me” I said whilst walking over to my bag and checking that everything was there, finding nothing out of place I put the bag on my back

“Before we go, would you like something to eat? You shall be walking for some time on your feet” she asked

“No, thank you” I replied “I’d rather just get going if that’s ok with you, besides, I’m sort of person where unless I’m in the mood for it I won’t eat breakfast”

Zecora nodded before picking up her staff and making her way to the door, apparently done preparing whatever was in the cauldron, I followed her, taking one last look around to check if there was anything I had left behind, satisfied that I had everything I needed I walked out, ducking my head under the doorway as I went.

The forest was rather peaceful as walked outside, a fine mist was in the air as well as a light chill, I spotted Zecora at the start of a small pathway and jogged to catch up, as we walked I noticed that the air had a ‘feeling’ to it, you know the type you find at places that are said to be haunted, the type that puts you on edge, yeah, that kind of feeling, it was as if there was something waiting in the forest for you to stray from the pathway, I increased my walking pace a little, ‘The sooner I get out of this damn forest, the better’ I thought to myself, Zecora seemed to sense my agitation.

“Do not worry” she said, turning her head to look at me with one eye “As long as we stay on the path, there is no need to hurry”

“I just don’t like the feeling of this place, it reminds me of somewhere I would rather forget that I ever visited” I replied

“Where? What place could have given you such a scare?”

“Somewhere I would rather not talk about at the moment, all I will say is lots of people died there a long time ago and it’s now a memorial, it would take too long to properly explain it” I said, trying to put extra emphasis on saying ‘Somewhere I would rather not talk about’ whilst looking at her with an expression that said ‘drop it’.

I noticed that the forest was starting to thin out, ‘About time we got out of this damn forest’ I thought whilst looking about cautiously, as we left the forest I could see a cottage of some type on the left of the path, the roof looked like it was covered in grass and there were bird houses everywhere, I could see a yellow (!) pegasus with pink (!!) hair singing peacefully whilst feeding several animals, I stopped walking, partially out of shock, not only because of the ridiculously coloured mythical horse, but also due to the fact it was flying using wings that should not be able to sustain flight (and don’t start going into the bumble-bee conundrum, the calculation they used was meant for fixed winged aircraft and doesn’t take into account the fact that bumble-bees flap their wings at about 50 times a second, moving on…), I also stopped because her (judging by the voice) singing was amazing, Zecora seemed to silently agree with me (about the singing, the fact that not only do pegasi exist but that they can also defy the laws of physics didn’t seem to faze her).

We both stood there for a while just listening to her voice, apparently she hadn’t noticed us for the whole time that we were stood there because the moment she saw us she disappeared behind a log with an ‘eep’, I looked at Zecora but she just shrugged, I rolled my eyes

and sighed before calling out to the pegasus.

“Excuse me?” I asked, I saw the pegasus slowly poke her head above the rock, “would you mind coming over here for a second”

“Please, Fluttershy, come here” Zecora said “you have nothing to fear”

The pegasus, apparently called ‘Fluttershy’ slowly started to make her way over, ‘Guess the two of them know each-over, that makes things so much easier’ I thought as the pegasus walked over to us, looking wearily at me.

“H-h-hello, Zecora, who is this?” Fluttershy asked, looking fearfully at me as if I would eat her at any moment

“Good morning, Fluttershy” Zecora responded “This is Vuur Koning, he has found himself in this land and does not know why” she said the last part whilst pointing at me, I slowly crouched down, trying to make myself seem not quite so tall.

“Hello, Fluttershy, was it? Pleased to meet you” I said quietly, trying to make myself seem as least threatening as possible.

“H-hello, Vuur Koning” Fluttershy said, “I-if you don’t mind me asking, what are you? If you don’t mind answering the question that is”

“I don’t mind answering the question at all, I was, until very recently, Human, now? I’m not so sure, I used to look very different” I said

“A-are you going to be staying in Ponyville?” Fluttershy asked

“That all depends on what happens today” I replied “I’m just trying to get home, you wouldn’t happen to know anyone who could help me, would you?”

“Oh, there is Twilight” Fluttershy said

“Who?” I asked “I’m not exactly from around here”

“She’s one of my friends and she’s really good with magic, she should be able to help you, I’ve just finished feeding all the animals, I can take you to her, if that’s ok with you?” Fluttershy replied

“Wouldn’t do any harm, I’m willing to try anything to get home, even this so-called ‘magic’” I said “I was headed to Ponyville anyway, are you coming with us Zecora?”

“I am afraid not, there are things that I need to get done, of which there are quite a lot” Zecora replied

“In that case then, goodbye and thank you” I said, Zecora nodded towards me in acknowledgment before turning around and walking back into the forest.

“Thank god I don’t have to go back in there” I said, relief clear in my voice “Right then, onwards to Ponyville” and with that I continued walking down the road with a pegasus this time instead of a zebra, after walking for about a mile we walked onto a small –arched stone bridge, on the other side was what I assumed to be Ponyville, we were standing in what would appear to be the equivalent of town centre, there was what seemed to be a town hall of some kind surrounded in a loose semi-circle by various shops selling all sorts of different items, we walked past the town hall and started to go down one of the side streets, it was at this point that we started to attract the attention of several of the towns folk, some of them tried to be discrete about it (which I was thankful for), but others didn’t even try to hide their curiosity, or fear in the case of some, window shutters were pulled shut, several shops were ‘mysteriously’ closed early (with customers still inside), and then there was the staring, all of the… horses (?) were looking at me with shock, or fear, or just staring dumbstruck and it was really starting to piss me off, Fluttershy looked about ready to sink into the ground, presumably from all the attention on the both of us (but mostly on me).

“Hey, Fluttershy?” I whispered “I hate to rush us along but can we speed it up a little? I really hate it when people stare” she nodded and we quickened the pace a little.

We walked over towards a tree… with doors and windows in it, and a sign that had a painting of a book ‘I guess it’s a library’ I thought to myself as we walked in side, I had to once again duck under the door way, I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.

“*sigh* I never thought that would end, although, why did you bring us to a library of all places?” I asked

“This is where Twilight lives, wait here and I’ll go and find her, if that’s alright with you?” Fluttershy asked before walking up some stairs into another room, whilst I waited I had a look at some of the books there ‘It is a library, I wonder if they any books on what the railways are like here’ I thought to myself, remembering I saw a railway station on the way to the library, learning about railways had always been a pastime of mine, I had even been planning a model railway before ‘this’ happened, I caught sight of a book on the subject of different types of locomotives and was about to start reading when I heard voices from upstairs making their way down.

“I still don’t understand why he would need my help to get home, it’s not like he can’t just find a book on maps and plan a journey using those” I heard a voice I didn’t recognise, presumably Twilight Sparkle, say.

I put the book that I was going to read on the table in the centre of the room and waited for whoever it was to come downstairs, picking out other books that took my interest and placing them on top of the first book.

“Erm, he said he’s ‘not from around here’ and I don’t think he just means not from Ponyville” I heard Fluttershy say just as the two of them came into view, the second one, who I assumed to be Twilight Sparkle, was purple and looked like a cross between a Pegasus and a unicorn ‘A crossbreed maybe?’ I thought to myself.

“Maybe that just means he’s from the United Griffon Kingdoms then” Twilight said.

“And maybe you should try looking a little bit farther than ‘another country’” I interjected, leaning against one of the book shelves with my arms crossed, “Sorry for interrupting but Fluttershy’s right, I’m ‘not from around here’, start thinking ‘from another planet’ and you’re probably on the right track”, the purple equines reaction was priceless, I really wish I’d had my camera out at that moment, she almost feinted when she saw me, then again I had just metaphorically walked up to her and shouted ‘hey, I’M AN ALIEN’.

“Wh-what in Celestias name are you?” Twilight asked, looking rather pale

“Right now I’m not entirely certain” I replied, “Up until about yesterday I was what was known as human, I also looked a lot different then, for one thing I didn’t have this rather awesome looking suit of armour”

“There is no such thing as humans, for all I know you could be a very complex magic construct conjured up by a powerful unicorn” Twilight said, looking rather sceptically at me.

“Two things” I replied “One: I am pretty sure that I exist and two: I have enough proof on my laptop i.e. pictures, music and film, to completely and utterly destroy any arguments you are most likely thinking of as I’m saying this” as I said this I took my rucksack off of my back and sat down cross legged, retrieved my laptop from said bag and started it up, bringing up the photo viewer and selecting a photo that I took at a Christmas market in Poland with lots of people in the photo, I turned the laptop around to show the two equines.

“What do you say to that?” I said, making sure that they could see it

“I… but… what?” Twilight stuttered, her expression became blank for a few moments before becoming worried.

“I think this is a matter for Princess Celestia, SPIKE!” she called upstairs.

“Yeah, yeah, I coming” I heard a young male voice reply

“Bring parchment and a quill” Twilight said, I could hear the pattering of feet on wood, followed by a large purple lizard of some type walking down the stairs on its back legs, its front legs carrying the requested items, he noticed me for the first time.

“Whoa! What is that?” he asked.

“The reason I called you down, take a letter” Twilight said, the lizard put quill to parchment in preparation.

“Dear Princess Celestia, I have encountered a situation and I am not sure how to proceed, a creature who calls himself…” Twilight looked towards me

“*sigh* Vuur Koning” I said, “that’s spelt V-u-u-r space K-o-n-i-n-g” the lizard started writing down my name as I spelt it out

“…Has come to the library requesting assistance in getting home, the only problem is that he does not match any sentient being I have ever seen, either in person or in books, and claims he is called a Human and that he is from another world, he has shown pictures of locations from his world as proof, I believe it would be best if you came to the library to assess the situation and, if possible, help to send him home, Your faithful friend and former student, Princess Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight said, the lizard the proceeded to roll up the parchment and breath green fire (!) onto the parchment which disintegrated and flew out the window as smoke.

“Why the hell did you just set it on fire, I thought you were sending it to a Princess, and also what are you?” I said the last part whilst pointing at the reptile.

“I’m Spike and I’m a dragon” he said, puffing out his chest with pride, he suddenly convulsed before burping out green fire, from which a scroll materialised, spike grabbed hold of the scroll and unrolled it before clearing his throat and reading out the letter.

“Dear Twilight Sparkle, I shall be arriving shortly to assess the situation, Princess Cellestia, P.S. stand back” the dragon looked confused before realisation dawned on his and twilights faces, they proceeded to stand as close to the wall as possible, deciding not to tempt fate I also stood with my back against the wall, Fluttershy obviously had similar thoughts as she also stood as close to one of the walls, I was about to question why we were cowering against the wall when something tall appeared with a blinding gold flash and a shock wave which blew out any lit candles and left a small scorch mark on the floor, whoever it was it looked like a taller version of Twilight, except it was a pure white, wearing what looked like minimalistic armour and had hair that seemed to flow in an unseen wind.

“Holy shit!” I exclaimed, what else did you expect me to do, it had practically exploded into existence in the library.

“Sorry about that” she said “It has been a while since I last teleported” Twilight seemed to be overcome with joy, almost like she was meeting an old friend, whereas Fluttershy started bowing, I assumed that this was Princess Celestia so I started bowing out of respect ‘Better not incur the wrath of royalty’.

“There is no need for that” Celestia said, “If you are who you say you are then there is no need to bow to me”

“So, will you be able to send me home?” I asked, preferring to get this over and done with, Celestia seemed to become ever so slightly saddened

“I am afraid not, until you showed up, no one has even given the idea of life from other worlds any serious thought” Celestia said “I will get my smartest unicorns onto working on an advanced teleportation spell, but I can’t promise anything”

“*sigh* that’s what I thought” I said “still, it was better that I made sure that there was no way back than spent my whole life on this planet not knowing that there was a really simple way to get home, what do you suggest I do? Seeing as I am now a citizen of your nation”

“Well, for a start, you will need to apply for citizenship and get registered as a new species, so you will need to come to Canterlot with me, after that, it’s up to you what you do with your new life” Celestia said, beckoning me with a wing.

“Ok, just a second” I said whilst preparing my backpack, I turned to Twilight “When you next see Zecora, tell her I said thank you and goodbye, and can I borrow the books on the table? I promise I will return them at the nearest possible opportunity once I have read them” Twilight nodded and levitated the books over towards me, I put my rucksack on my back and picked up the books in my left hand, not having any room left in my rucksack, I walked over to Celestia.

“So” I said “Onwards to Canterlot” Celestia nodded before closing her eyes, light started to pool on the tip of her horn before expanding, just before I disappeared from the library I turned towards the remaining occupants in the room and said.

“Auf Wiedersehen”

Chapter 4 4 Decadence (Ark 1 Chapter 4)

We reappeared in a large hall of some kind and I felt really queasy all of a sudden, probably due to the fact that I had just experienced teleportation, ‘Thank god I didn’t eat anything this morning’ I thought to myself.

“Bloody hell, you could have warned me, you’re lucky I didn’t eat anything for breakfast” I said, placing one hand over my stomach.

“Sorry about that, it always happens to anypony who teleports for the first time” Celestia said.

“I am guessing when you say ‘anypony’ you are referring to your species, speaking of which, what exactly are you?” I asked “I know of Unicorns and Pegasi from mythology back on my world, but I’ve never seen one with both wings and a horn”

“I am an Alicorn, they have aspects of all three types of pony” Celestia said

“Huh, that’s odd” I said

“What is?” Celestia asked, her head tilted to one side in confusion.

“The German word ‘alle’ means all or every” I said “Did the term ‘alicorn’ originate from an old language as the word for ‘everypony’ or ‘all-types’?”

“Yes, the ancient language of the Alicorns used the word ‘ali’ to mean all, the language has evolved over time into Germane, how did you come to that conclusion?” Celestia asked

“I’ll explain later, I want to get this registration business over and done with before I go into my life story” I said, Celestia nodded and called to a pony dressed in medieval-esc armour

“Take his bag and books to one of the guest rooms for minotaur’s” she said, the guard, a unicorn nodded before I felt my rucksack lift off of my back, it floated over to him enveloped in a gold glow, the books and his horn enveloped in the same glow.

“Please be careful, some of the stuff in there is really fragile” I said, I really don’t like leaving my stuff in the care of someone else but I don’t really have a choice, plus I wasn’t going to complain if I was getting a room to stay in, the guard nodded before walking out of the hall through some large doors, once he was out of sight I turned towards Celestia.

“So... shall we?” I asked, Celestia nodded and walked towards the doors, I followed her, taking not of the stained glass windows as we walked out, some of them depicting Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy as well as four other ponies that I didn’t recognise ‘Must remember to ask Celestia about the other four ponies once this whole registration thing is done’ I thought to myself, we walked along large hallways and my god the architecture was amazing, think of Lincoln cathedral but about ten times better, we eventually walked into a small room off to one side of the main hallway, at a desk sat a sat a yellow coloured unicorn with glasses, I couldn’t see the mark she had on her rear due to the desk being in the way, on the desk was a plaque that said ‘Golden Tome’, she seemed to be signing or marking documents of some form or another, she hadn’t seemed to notice us walk in because when she stopped writing and looked up she jumped in surprise.

“P-princess, I didn’t see you there” she said and started trying to clean up her desk, Celestia giggled.

“There is no need for that, there is somepony here who wishes to apply for citizenship” Celestia said “normally I would just give him an application form, but I feel that this is a special case, as you can no doubt see for yourself”

“Indeed” Golden Tome said, adjusting her glasses before stacking the papers on her desk neatly and levitating over a quill and piece of parchment, she dipped the quill in a bottle of ink before asking “Name?”

“Vuur Koning, V-u-u-r space K-o-n-i-n-g”

“Species?”

“Human or Homo Sapiens”

“Gender is male” she muttered under her breath “Age and date of birth?”

“18 years old and 29th day of the 1st month 1996 A.D., where I am from, for reference the current time is roughly the 4th month of 2014 A.D.”

“OK, approximate date of birth is 29th of the 1st, 986 C.R., nationality and country of origin?”

“English and I am from the United Kingdom of Great Briton and Northern Ireland, often abbreviated to the U.K.”

“Do you have existing physical or mental health conditions? And if so then what treatment or medication are you receiving?”

“*sigh* I was Diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or A.D.H.D., Autistic Spectrum Disorder or A.S.D. and Asperger’s Syndrome, I take 54mg daily of Methylphenidate-Hydrochloride but it’s only for helping me focus during education and isn’t vital” I said.

“O.K. everything appears to be in order, we just need to wait for this to be officially accepted and you will be a legal citizen of Equestria” Golden Tome said

“Thank you” I said as Celestia and I walked out of the room as we were walking along Celestia turned to look at me.

“What exactly do all of the mental conditions you listed do?”

“Remember when I made the connection between the words Alicorn and ‘alle’?” I asked, Celestia nodded “Well that’s just one of the things that conditions like Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome does, I see connections between things that might not be that so obvious to other people, the big downside is that most people with my conditions have trouble socialising and making friends, the more extreme cases don’t even talk and appear to be in their own little world, so in that sense I’m very lucky, A.D.H.D just makes me hyper and easily distracted, although in my opinion its slightly mislabelled”

“How so?” Celestia asked, tilting her head to one side

“it should be should be Attention Deficit Hyperawareness Disorder, not Hyperactivity, look at that table” I said pointing to a table that we were walking past “where as you see ‘a table’, I see: a table made of mahogany wood with brass candle holders, cream coloured candles that has recently been dusted, although they haven’t done a perfect job as there is still a small amount of dust around the base of the candle holder, the candle holder isn’t perfectly in the centre of the table as it should be, judging by the way there is actually a small gap on one side between the dust ‘outline’ of the base and the base of the candleholder itself, there is also a small scratch on one of the table legs and the candleholder is in need of a good polish” Celestias eyes widened in surprise “of course you will have seen all of that, but you only memorised the absolutely necessary information i.e. the table”

“Were you a detective on your world?” Celestia asked.

“No, for one thing that line of work doesn’t interest me and you need too many qualifications in things I’m not good at to be a detective, I’m more into things like art and photography” I said, we walked back towards the two large doors, Celestia stopped outside and addressed the guard that took my belongings to the room.

“Escort Vuur Koning to the room with his belongings” Celestia turned towards me “I’m afraid I have royal Business to attend to, I will send a guard when dinner is ready later this evening, do you have any dietary requirments”

“Omnivore, but in my case mostly cooked meat and Potatoes” Celestia seemed to stiffen slightly at that “I’m guessing ponies are herbivores?”

“Yes, but no matter, I am used to eating dinner alongside griffins” she said, and with that she walked through the doors, the guard turned towards me, slightly wary this time.

“This way sir” he said before walking off down the corridor, we soon reached what I assumed to be my temporary room, I nodded in acknowledgment to the guard who subtly returned the gesture, I walked in to the room to find my stuff in one corner, finding myself with nothing better to do I got my laptop out of my bag and turned it on, bringing up the music player I put the music on shuffle, letting fate decide which song to play, it immediately started Playing a flute for a couple of seconds before a guitar took over in an old time wild west style, I started singing along with the chorus.

“Crosses grow in Anzio, where no soldiers sleep and where hell’s Six feet deep, but death must wait, there’s no debate, so charge and attach going to hell and back” I started air guitaring when the solo kicked in, for the rest of the song I sat on the bed ‘Hmm, I wonder’ I thought to myself as I brought my hands up to the helmet I was wearing, I removed it with a surprising amount of ease, several aspects of the HUD that was displaying when I was wearing the helmet were now faded, such as the shield status.

Walking into the on-suite off to one side of the room I looked in the mirror, I found my face was almost the same as before I ended up here, the main difference being the faintly glowing green eyes and what looked like the lines that you find on circuit boards were on different parts of my face, for instance, from the middle of my lower lip going down towards my chin, looking at my armour I noticed it was secured by what looked like leather buckles, I took off my armour starting with my shoulder pads followed by my gauntlets and chest plate and finally my leg armour and boots, underneath was what looked like a cloth of some sort, except on my lower arms, where it was plate mail, looking like scales, I took off the cloth shirt and plate mail sleeves, taking care when I removed the bandage, the skin on my chest and arms had I similar line pattern as on my face, my chest had some sort of glowing green crystal embedded in the centre, surrounding the crystal was a thin lining of metal, when I looked at the wounds on my arm I found that they were healing quicker than I expected, ‘Guess I owe Zecora one for that’.

I turned on the water in the sink and let it fill up, once that was done I grabbed a cloth and started cleaning my armour, once I was done my armour looked brand new, I emptied the water from the sink and then stripped off my leggings before turning on the shower and jumping in.

Once I had finished I put my clothes back on but left the armour off for now ‘Wouldn’t look right, eating dinner with a full set of armour on, maybe if I just go without, I’ll need to talk to Celestia about getting some regular clothes tailored as well as formal wear, maybe a cape as well, I’ll need to get my plate mail repaired, I’ll speak with Celestia at dinner’, just then I heard a knocking at the door.

“Speak of the devil” I said, I turned off the music on my laptop before walking towards the door, I opened it to see a guard at the door, this time it was a different guard to the one that escorted me to the room the first time.

“Are you Vuur Koning?” he asked in a deep voice.

“Yes, I’m guessing you are to escort me to dinner?” I asked.

“Yes, if you would come with me please” he said, I walked out of the room and shut the door, taking note of the room number, we walked down the hallways before arriving at a dining hall of some kind, at the table sat Celestia plus two other ponies that I didn’t recognise, one was similar to Celestia except she was a dark blue and had the mark of a crescent moon on her rear and her hair looked like a night sky, complete with twinkling stars, the second one was a white unicorn with blond hair and the mark of what looked like a map compass, Celestia noticed me and looked surprised.

“Vuur Koning, is that you? I almost didn’t recognise you without the armour” she said, the other two noticed me for the first time, the blue one looked at me curiously but the white one looked at me as if I was a stone under his hoof.

“Vuur Koning, I would like you to meet my sister Princess Luna and my cousin Prince Blueblood” Celestia said, motioning to the blue one first and then the white one.

“Good evening” I said, bowing before taking a seat with Blueblood opposite me, Princess Luna looked at me with great interest.

“Forgive me for being blunt, but what exactly are you?” Luna asked.

“I am what is known as human, I’m… not exactly from around here” I said.

“And where are you from?” she asked

“start thinking other world, and you are probably in the right sort of area, I come from country called Great Britain, I was born in the capital city called London, and lived there for about 11 years before moving up north where I have, I’ve ended up with a… unique accent as a result”

“How so?, to me you sound like you are from Trottingham” Luna said.

“And to me you sound an American trying to do an impression of an upper-class British accent, your point? What I meant by ‘unique’ is in Lundun I gre’ up in a part o’ dah ci’y where dey tawk lioyk dis” I said, slipping back in to my London accent and even over emphasizing a bit “The main difference between and London accent and a northern accent is with the northern accent they stretch out the syllables slightly and talk in a slightly bored tone, my accent is.. somewhere in between, the only reason I don't sound like that is because I’ve learnt to subconsciously speak in a neutral British accent when I speak to people with different accents to mine” as I finished my impromptu accent lesson several waiters walked into the room with a tray of drinks, one waiter who was missing a tray walked over to me.

“Excuse me sir, but what drink would you like?” He asked.

“What sweet cider would you recommend that isn’t too strong?” I could swear I heard and saw Prince Blueblood scoff at my suggestion, I ignored him for now.

“I would recommend ‘Sweet Apple Acres” Cider” the waiter replied.

“Then I will have one of those please” I said.

“Certainly sir” and with that he walked away, I turned to Prince Blueblood and asked.

“Do you have a problem with my choice of drinks?”

“As a matter of fact I do, there are drinks that are suitable for meals with royalty, and Cider is most certainly not one of them” he said, I could see Luna roll her eyes.

“Well I am not sure that the other type of alcoholic beverage that I like even exists on this planet” I said

“And what drink would that be?” he said, one eyebrow raised.

“It’s called ‘Irish cream’, it’s a mixture between cream and wine and it’s the sort of drink you have in whisky sized servings, please forgive me, your Highness, for the fact that I only turned eighteen years old three months ago and as a result, haven’t fully discovered my taste in alcohol” I said, the last part dripping with sarcasm, he bristled at my remark.

“Auntie, please have this commoner removed from the table, I fear will start losing my legality if he stays here any longer” he said, in a really snobbish voice, ‘Great, he’s a snobbish twat’ I thought to myself.

“Now, now, Blueblood, play nicely” Celestia said, her smile looked innocent enough, but the look in her eyes was like a barely concealed storm, I got the feeling the it wouldn’t be the wisest decision to piss off the princess, at that moment several waiters walked into the room carrying trays of what I assumed to be food, I was surprised to see that one of them was a griffin, he walked over towards me and placed a plate of what looked like Chicken breast and roast potatoes along with a glass of Cider.

“Thank you” I said, nodding to the Griffin, he walked away with the rest of the waiters, I took a sip of cider and a bite of the chicken before I turned to Celestia and asked “I was wondering if you knew any tailors who could sort out some clothes and footwear for me, I will be the first to admit that it’s impractical to walk around in a suit of armour all the time, and whilst we’re on the subject, I need to get part of my armour repaired”.

“One of Twilights friends, Rarity if I remember correctly, owns a boutique in Ponyville, I could supply you with the necessary funds to cover the cost of travel and however much it will cost for the clothes and repair of your armour, I will send a letter to Twilight to let her know, if you don’t mind my asking, how did you damage your armour? Celestia asked, I swear I saw Blueblood stiffen slightly when Celestia mentioned Rarity.

“When I Woke up in Equestia I was in the Everfree forest, I got bitten by a timberwolf” I said, holding up my left wrist to show her “speaking of which, I will need to go through combat training at some point, when I woke up in the forest I was equipped with a sword, no doubt the guards that I have seen patrolling the palace will have received combat training of some kind, I would join the guard fully but seeing as I’ve found myself in a new world I would like to see as much as I can, plus I’m not particularly keen on the idea of standing around waiting for something to happen”

“You could always apply for a role in the Guard reserves” This time it was Luna who made the suggestion “they go through exactly the same training but are only called into service when needed, for instance when a state of war is declared, or in a time of national emergency, you will be classed as a member of the royal guard, but you will have the freedom to visit other countries as you wish”

"Are you sure that they will accept me?" I asked Celestia "Considering my... mental conditions"

"Of course, if anything the symptoms you described, for instance the 'hyperawareness' and a tendency to notice things that most other ponies would ignore, will make them more likely to accept you"

“Very well then” I said “I will go to Ponyville tomorrow, stay there a couple of days while I wait for my clothes and such to be finished, maybe relax a little, then once I’m done there, I will come back to Canterlot to apply to join the reserve Guard and hopefully if that all works out I will start exploring the world” I said, finishing off my food once I had finished talking, I quickly drank the rest of my cider before standing up.

“Please give my regards to the chef, Celestia, it was a pleasure meeting you Princess Luna, and I will try and stay out of your way from now on, Prince Blueblood, I wish you all a gute nacht” and with that I walked back towards the room I was staying in, I walked in and checked the battery on my laptop ‘Probably won’t last the night’ I looked towards the bedside table to find that, to my surprise, the wall socket that was powering the lamp was the same style as the plug for the charger, I fished out the charger for the laptop and connected it to the wall and the laptop, to my relief the screen displayed that it was charging.

“Thank god, the last thing I want is for the laptop to blow up because it uses a different voltage system” I checked the clock on the table and adjusted the clock on the Laptop to match, I saw a calendar on the table and quickly checked how long each month was, I once again found to my surprise that all of the months were exactly the same as the ones on the laptop calendar, so I changed the year on the laptop to ‘1004’, I set an alarm for 8:00 in the morning, once I was satisfied I went back into my rucksack and retrieved my camera bag.

I got my camera out and checked for any damage, satisfied that everything was as it should be I set it up to check the systems, I looked out the window to find the night sky filled with really bright stars, I decided to test its night time capabilities, I screwed a telephoto end onto the lens, giving a much wider shot of the night sky, I stood as still as I could and pressed the shoot button halfway down, waiting for it to focus before fully pressing the button, I heard the shutter click and the captured image displayed on the screen for a couple of seconds, I took a couple more shots, just encase, before I turned the camera off and placed it back into its bag, I made sure I put everything back in its proper place, I left the camera bag out of my rucksack, putting the books that I borrowed from the library in its place 'I can take some photos on the way to Ponyville tomorrow, once I was satisfied that everything was in order I decided that it was about time I went to sleep.

Chapter 5 5 Underneath a Blue and Cloudless Sky (Ark 1 Chapter 5)

I awoke to the sound of my alarm going off, I blinked a couple of times to try and evade the clutches of sleep before turning off the alarm and slamming the screen of the laptop down.

“Too… fucking…early” I mumbled before climbing out of bed, walking over to the on-suite and turning the shower on.

I stepped out of the shower feeling much more awake, I dressed into my clothes and fixed the armour in place, I switched off the laptop before unplugging it and placing it in my rucksack, I noticed a letter and bag placed atop a dresser located in one corner of the room, I opened the letter:

Dear Vuur Koning.

You will find enclosed with this letter:

• Proof of citizenship card.

• A return travel ticket to Ponyville

• Approximately 1000 bits (Equestrian currency) to cover the cost of food and any clothing you require

A guard will be waiting outside your door to escort you to the railway station, Twilight will meet you at the station in Ponyville.

Signed Princess Celestia.

P.S. I would see you off but I am afraid I have royal duties to attend to.

I put the letter back on the table and picked up the money bag and carefully placed it in my rucksack before putting the rucksack and sword on my back and placing the camera bag on my shoulders using the shoulder strap and placing the tickets and citizenship card in a pocket on the camera bag, satisfied that I had everything I walked out the door, I saw that, as stated on the letter, there was indeed a guard outside the door, I nodded in acknowledgement towards the guard.

“Morning” I said.

“I’m guessing you wish to go to the train station now” he said.

“Lead the way” I said, gesturing down the hallway, eventually we came across hallways that I was unfamiliar with, there was noticeably more ponies walking about, some of them stopped to stare at me as I walked past, ‘oh great, here we go again’ I thought as we exited the castle and walked out into the fresh air, as we walked down one of the streets I noticed two things: one, I was the tallest person in the street, two, as a result of this, I was noticed by every pony walking through the streets and many of them gave me a really wide berth as I walked past, the ones that didn’t had their noses pointed so high up that if they were any higher they would have been classed as astranaughts. After walking for about 10 minutes we arrived at the train station, I stopped and turned towards the guard.

“Thank you, I can probably make my own way from here” I said, the guard nodded before walking back in the direction of the castle, I made my way over to the entrance of the station and found myself in a large hall, of the far wall was an active notice board displaying the times of the next trains, I walked closer and looked for the next train to Ponyville, ‘let’s see, aha, train calling at Ponyville, platform 7,leaves at 10:30, current time 10:00’.

I walked past the information board towards the platforms, following the signs as I went, walking onto the platforms I saw steam locomotives of varying sizes, from mighty Express locomotives to humble little tank engines, if I didn’t have a train to catch I would have taken my camera out and started photographing each and every one, I walked over to platform 7 where I found a small train of coaches similar to tramway coaches from the UK, the locomotive was similar to the Double Fairlie type of locomotive, I walked into one of the carriages about halfway down the train via the steps at one end, the interior of the carriage was an open style (meaning no compartments), there were quite a few groups of ponies, but not enough to make it seem crowded, I chose an empty table seat about halfway along the carriage and placed my rucksack and sword in the luggage rack above the seat, but retrieved one of the books from the rucksack, before taking my camera bag off and placing it on the table, I sat down and having nothing better to do, opened the book and started reading.

As I read the book I started to hear whispers across from me, I looked to the other side of the carriage to find a group of Unicorns sitting at the adjacent table whispering amongst themselves whilst frequently glancing at me, I sighed before turning to them and saying.

“What? Can’t a man have a hobby?” they quickly started looking anywhere other than at me, I shook my head slightly before I resumed my reading.

After about 5 minutes I heard the locomotive give a high pitched whistle, seconds later the carriages gave a jolt before slowly pulling out of the station, the chuffs of the two driving wheel-sets going in and out of synch as it sped up, I resumed my reading as the train made its way down the mountain.

After about 5 minutes the guard entered through one end of the carriage calling out for tickets, he eventually made his way towards me, I retrieved the tickets from my camera bag and passed them to the guard, he checked off one of them before passing them back to me, I placed them back in my camera bag before once again resuming reading yet again the book.

It was about ten minutes before I was yet again interrupted from reading, I looked up from the book to find that it was one of the unicorns from the table across from mine, he was green with white hair, and he didn’t look too happy.

“You don’t belong here” he said, pointing at me with malice clear in his voice.

“Excuse me?” I said, I had a feeling I knew where this was going.

“You heard me, you don’t belong here, in this country, you’re not a pony, so you don’t belong” he said, ‘Great’ I thought ‘hardly been here a week and fate has given me a Xenophobe to deal with’

“Look” I said, “I don’t want to be a problem and if I bother you that much I can move to another carriage if you want”

“What I want is for you to get back to your own land before you spoil this country with you foreign ways” he said, ‘He can’t possibly be serious’ I thought.

“Two things, one, I can't get back to my, as you put it, ‘own land’ and two” I said, retrieving my citizenship card from the camera bag and showing him “I’m technically a citizen of Equestria, so I am not actually classed as foreign”

“That changes nothing, freak” he said, I froze before slowly and deliberately putting the book on the table and standing up and leaning towards the pony.

“Would you care to repeat that, I had a little trouble hearing you from all the way over there” I said, pointing towards the seat that I had occupied.

“You heard me, you are a freak” he said, trying, and failing, to intimidate me.

“You know, you really don’t intimidate me, in fact, I find it downright hilarious” I said, standing up to my full height.

“You watch your tone, freak, before I do something to make you regret ever coming to this country” he said, pawing the ground with a fore hoof, ‘ok, that’s it’ I thought as I turned around and grabbed my sword, I turned back around to face him and stabbed the sword into the floorboards of the carriage.

“You shouldn’t make threats unless you know you can go through with them, there comes a certain point when you stop looking brave and start looking like an arsehole trying to cause a fight” I said, leaning on the sword and absentmindedly looking at my left hand “Do you like my sword? It’s very sharp”, the pony started looking really nervous and started backing away, he turned towards the other unicorns at the table.

“Let’s go, it’s not even worth the trouble” they started walking towards the next carriage, he turned back to me “just remember, I will be reporting you to the guard”

“Oh really? Who was the one who threatened who first?” I said, they walked into the next carriage rather quickly, once they were gone I noticed that it was completely silent except for the frequent beat of the carriage wheels rolling over the joints in the track… and that everyone was looking at me, I placed my sword back on the luggage rack and turned around, I clapped my hands together before saying. “Sorry for the disturbance everyone, I was happy to move to another carriage and forget about it, right up until he called me a freak, I promise I won’t disturb you any more”, I sat back down and tried to resume reading the book, but found myself distracted, I sighed before closing the book and standing up to put it back in the rucksack, I then collected everything together and walked out of the carriage, heading towards the rear of the train, after walking through several carriages I ended up in the guard’s compartment, the guard was there, signing what looked like a time keeping book.

“Excuse me?” I asked, the guard looked up from the book and look startled momentarily before composing himself, “do you mind if I stand on the rear veranda for the remainder of the journey?”

“Go ahead” he said, “jus’ don’t be goin’ an’ jumpin’ off” he said in what sounded like a Texan accent, I walked outside and placed my bags on the floor, making sure they couldn’t fall off, and stood there for a few minutes listening to the sound of the wheels rolling over the joints and allowed my mind to go blank, some people find it distracting, but I’ve always found it a relaxing sound, I took my sword off of my back and placed it down on the floor and sat down, I rested my head on the wall and closed my eyes.

After some time I opened my eyes when I heard the carriage door open, I looked towards the door to see, not the guard as I expected, but an orange pegasus with slightly unkempt maroon hair.

“You come here to find a quiet spot?” I asked, she looked startled when she saw me, “don’t worry, I don’t bite” she hesitantly sat down.

“Unless somepony insults you” she said, in a distinctively Trottingham accent, at least that’s what ponies called it, to me it just sounded like she was from London (think of a light ‘cockney’ accent).

“I’m guessing you saw my little ‘outburst’ then, if you are here to tell me the same thing as the other pony then you can just piss off” I said pointing a thumb towards the door, she just snorted.

“I didn’t come here to pick a fight” she said “I came to say good job, not many ponies could scare off somepony like that”

“For a start, I’m not a pony” I said “It also helps when you have a ‘fuck-off’ sized sword” I pointed to the aforementioned sword with a smirk, she burst out laughing

“The look on his face when you stabbed it into the floor and said ‘do you like my sword’” she said in between giggles, I suddenly realised something

“Why are you taking the train when you could just fly? Your wings seem to be in good enough condition to be able to fly” I asked, she became really serious as I said that.

“Truthfully?” she asked.

“What do you think?”

“I’m a special ops guard that’s been assigned to assess whether you are suitable for enrolment”

“But Celestia said that the side effects of my conditions, specifically the hyperawareness and the fact that I take in everything I see, would mean I would have more chance of being accepted for training”

“Yes, but we have to assess every aspect of your conditions, that fact that you are a completely new species complicates things even further, I’m also assigned to act as a guide… long term” she said.

“As in during training, or whilst I travel as well? I asked, one eyebrow raised.

"As in until you finish your little adventure around the world" she said.

"why would I need someone to act as a guide for me all that time, I could be gone for months or even years" I said, shrugging.

“Do you speak Germain?... or Griffin?... or Minotaur?” She said, pointing at me.

“If the first one is the language I am thinking of, then a little bit, yes” I said, shaking my hand is a 'so-so' motion.

“What language are you thinking of?” she asked.

“Guten Tag, hallo, gut, ‘Feuer Frei ’, ‘Waidmanns Heil’, ‘Gott mit uns’, nicht, Ja, Jawohl, Scheißer, Auf Wiedersehen” I said, listing off my complete vocabulary of German “there are also a couple of songs in that language that I can sing, although from what I have translated… they’re not the sort of things you should sing about in public” I said, shuddering a bit.

“That’s Germain, what did you think it was?” she asked, head cocked to one side.

“German, in their language it’s called ‘Deutsch’” I said “Care to tell me what the other two sound like?” I asked.

“‘detta är vad grip låter som’ and ‘mae hyn yn beth Minotaur swnio fel’" She said, I gave a low whistle.

“I can’t speak a word of either language, although the first one sounds Swedish and the second one sounds a lot like Welsh, which is a beautiful language in my opinion, it also has one of the longest words in any language, just a second, I’ll show you” I said, digging into my rucksack and retrieving my laptop, she seemed confused as to what the laptop was, I turned it on and brought up a word document, I typed in the word before showing her: ‘Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch’.

“Have a go at pronouncing that” I said, smirking, she stared at the screen for several minutes before trying to sound it out a couple of time, ultimately giving up.

“… I can’t pronounce it” she said “I may be able speak the language but that doesn’t mean I can say mile-long words" she said, looking rather annoyed "if you find it so funny then why don't you say it"

“I think it's pronounced along the lines of *inhail* ‘hlan-vairay-poohl-guin-gihl-gogery-u-queern-droboohl-hlatisilio-go-go-goch’… I think” Her face went blank for a couple of seconds, almost as if she was trying to process what I had just said.

“But that’s just describing the place it's located in” she said, throwing her hooves into the air “that’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard"

“And that’s why it is always referred to as ‘Llanfar-P.G.’ when used in a letter and by people that don’t have time to say all of it, the reason they ad ‘P.G.’ is because there are several other towns in wales called ‘Llanfair’” I said, “anyway, you never told me your name, if you going to be my guide for god knows how long then I will need to at least know your name”

“The name’s Autumn Skies” she said, holding out a hoof.

“Vuur Koning” I said, before grabbing the hoof and shaking it.

We sat there for some time just watching the world go by, after a while I turned to Autumn Skies and asked.

“I’ve been wondering, I’ve seen marks on the rears of loads of different ponies, what are they?” Autumn Skies looked at me as if I’d grown a second head.

“You’re kidding right? You’re telling me you don’t know what a cutie mark is?” she said, one eyebrow raised.

“Alien, remember?” I said

“A cutie mark is a mark that appears on a pony’s flank when they discover their special talent, for example, mine represents my talent for fighting using bladed weapons” Autumn said, pointing at her mark, it was an image two swords crossed in front of a sun.

“If that’s the case then what does Celestia’s and Luna’s marks represent?” I asked

“They control the sun and the moon respectively” Autumn said matter-of-factly.

“Hah, I call bullshit on that, there is no way that they control the sun and the moon, which are all the way up in space, from their castle” I said, Autumn snorted.

“They use magic” she said matter-of-factly “and if they don’t use magic then how do the sun and moon move through the sky?”

“Every celestial object generates gravity, and smaller celestial objects, lest say for arguments sake, a moon, orbits around a planet, which orbits around a sun or star, depending on the point of view, which orbits around a galaxy, it’s one of the laws of physics, and you can’t change those… unless you’re a black hole, they are the only exception” Autumn was about to argue the point, but the guard opened the door and looked at us.

“We’ll soon be arriving in Ponyville, if y’all are getting off there then y’all best make your way to the passenger compartments now” he said before walking back into the guard’s compartment, I gathered up my stuff before walking through to the exit at the other end of the carriage, with Autumn Skies following shortly afterwards, having stopped to collect a bag of some sort.

The train eventually pulled into the station, I could see Twilight standing on the platform, I stepped off the train and walked over to greet.

“Good day, Twilight” I said, nodding to the alicorn.

“Hello, Vuur Koning, how was the journey?” she asked, I chuckled slightly whilst pinching the bridge of my nose, I shook my head before saying.

“In a word, eventful, oh, if you see a green unicorn with white hair walking around in town, let me know, ok” Twilight looked confused.

“Why?” Twilight asked.

“No reason, oh by the way this is Autumn Skies” I said pointing towards the aforementioned pegasus, they both exchanged a short greeting “She’s a Guard who’s been assigned to act as a guide of sorts, and she evaluating whether or not I’m suitable to become a reserve guard”

“Why a reserve guard? Why not become a full time guard” Twilight asked

“Two reasons: one it’s kind of pointless to have a weapon and not know how to use and two, I plan to travel the world once I have finished combat training and I would rather not get my arse handed to me like when I first arrived in Equestria”

“What happened?” Twilight asked

“I was set upon by timber wolves” I said, holding up my left arm to show her the damaged armour, she visibly winced “that’s also why I came here, I have been told that your friend, Rarity, owns a boutique, I wish to have several sets of clothes made, and if possible, get my armour repaired, luckily, Celestia gave me some money to pay for the clothes” we all started walking into the town, where I was once again on the receiving end of countless stares.

“Remind me to ask your friend to make me a cape with a hood, Twilight” I said

“Why?” she asked

“I don’t like being stared at” I said, we walked towards a building shaped like a fairground carousel, “Doesn’t exactly fit in with the rustic aesthetic of the rest of the town, does it?” I said, Twilight rolled her eyes, as we walked in a bell at the door jingled, inside there were loads of dresses, as well as the occasional suit, on display on pony shaped mannequins, I heard a female voice call out from another room.

“Be with you in a minute” she said in an upper class accent, I saw I white unicorn with purple hair walk into the room, she seemed startled at my appearance.

“AAH” she screamed, I was about to ask her to calm down but she exclaimed “Your armour!”

“Wait, what?” I said, I was not expecting that.

“It looks atrocious, just look at it, there’s mud on your shoes, the leg armour looks like it hasn’t been washed in weeks and the gold and silver armour looks like it’s never even heard of the word polish, and just look at your foreleg, this won’t do at all” she said before promptly dragging me into another room using her magic, I looked back to Twilight and Autumn for help, but Autumn looked like she was struggling to hold her laughter and twilight just stood there with a look that said ‘you’re on your own’.

“Thanks a lot” I mouthed to them, Twilight just shrugged and Autumn was still laughing, ‘Well fuck you too’ I thought before accepting my fate, but not before I could let out a totally manly scream as I was dragged into the other room, the unicorn, who by this point I had guessed to be Rarity, dragged me onto a raised platform before undoing the buckles on my armour and promptly removing them and my rucksack and camera bag, placing the armour on a table and my bags on to a couple of coat hooks.

“You could’ve asked you know” I said to Rarity, who was currently looking at the damaged part of the sleeve, she tapped her chin and hummed before saying.

“Well, I’m not exactly an expert at making this sort of clothing, but I’m sure I can sort something out, please remove your shirt”

“Erm, ok…” I said before reluctantly taking my shirt off, she levitated it from my grasp and placing it on the same table as my armour, I walked over, curios as to how she would repair it, she removed the damaged scales plus any undamaged scales that surrounded them, leaving a quite a large hole in the sleeve, and a circular piece of scale armour separate from the sleeve, she then levitated a micrometre of some kind over and measured one of the undamaged scales using it, she wrote down whatever measurements she took before levitating countless metal scales of varying sizes over, she started comparing the scales for a match with the ones from my armour, whilst keeping the other scales aloft, ‘I know females are supposed to be good at multitasking but that’s ridiculous’ I thought, she seemed to find one that matched as she compared it a couple of times with one of the undamaged scales, and with the micrometre, she then levitated more of that size over and returned the ones that didn’t fit back into wherever they’re supposed to go, the sleeve was soon looking as good as new, Rarity then started cleaning my armour and polishing it, in the end I could actually see my own reflection on the gold helmet, she then levitated the shirt back to me before asking.

“Now, what can I do for you?” I just stood there for about a minute, just trying to comprehend what had happened, she just sat there the Entire time, I finally found my voice.

“But… you’re not surprised at my appearance?” I said, putting the shirt back on

“No, why should I be?” she asked

“Look at me” I said, throwing my arms out

“I am” she said

“Ok… anyway, I would like several items of clothing made” I said

“Ok, let me take your measurements and you can tell me whilst I do that” she said, walking over to the raise platform, I followed her and stepped up onto the platform.

“You’re probably going to have to take some measurements while I wear the armour, I wish to have some cloaks made” she nodded before levitating the pieces of armour over and refitting them on me, all at once, ‘Damn, she’s good’ I thought, she then went about measuring different parts of me, asking me to move different parts as needed.

“I never did ask your name, hold out your left foreleg please” Rarity said.

“It’s Vuur Koning” I said, doing as requested.

“Judging from your voice, I would have guessed you were from Trottingham, but your appearance says otherwise” She said, I chuckled slightly.

“Pretty much everyone I meet says I have a ‘Trottingham’ accent, but no, I don’t come from there” I said.

“If you don’t mind me asking, where do you come from? Right foreleg please” Rarity said, I lowered my left arm and held out my right arm before saying.

“A nation called the U.K., its full name is ‘The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’ I come from a country called England, which is located in Britain, I’ve noticed that the accent you ponies refer to as ‘Trottingham’ is the same as the accent that people living in the capital of my country have, although I wonder if accents from other parts of my country exist here, I mean, I don’t have true ‘Trottingham’ accent, I used to live in the capital of my country, but until recently I lived in the north” I said, this seemed to pique Rarity’s interest.

“The capital you say? What’s it like? Raise both forelegs please” she said, before measuring my chest and abdomen.

“It’s nothing like Canterlot, that’s for sure, imagine huge city full of skyscrapers and office blocks, it’s not much to look at in terms of aesthetics, but places like Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square are nice”

“A palace, you’re ruled by royalty?” she asked, wide eyed

“We’re ruled by a Queen, Queen Elizabeth the second, although we have a parliament that makes most of the decisions nowadays” I said.

“Anyway, what sort of cloaks would you like?” Rarity asked, finishing off the measurements and levitating a quill and piece of paper over to the table, I thought for a few moments before deciding.

“I have two distinctive cloaks that I want to have made” I said “I want both of them to be hooded, but the first one I would like to be a thin material for spring, summer and autumn weather, preferably a dark coloured material, black if possible with red velvet on the inside, I want it to be rather loose fitting to help get rid of excess heat and conceal my exact form, not everyone is as discrete or polite about their reaction to me as you are, but it can’t restrict movement too much, and needs to be easy to remove if needs be, it also has to have an opening in the back so that I can remove my sword, if possible I would like the outer material to be waterproof” she started taking down notes as I described what I wanted, when she finished I continued.

“The second one I intend for use in winter or snowy conditions, so it has to be good at trapping heat, I want it to be white in colour to blend in with the snow, and maybe a piece of material separate from the hood at the front to keep wind and snow out of my face, but it need to be able to see so have it stop just under my eyes” she took down notes for the second one before turning to me.

“I will be able to have then done by… three days’ from now, how’s that sound” Rarity asked

“That’s sounds great, how much will it cost to make both of them?” I asked, going into my rucksack and retrieving the bag of coins, Rarity shook her head.

“Consider them a gift” Rarity said pushing the bag of bits away from her

“What?” I said, doing a double take.

“I love a challenge or anything unusual” she shrugged “And the design of your armour has given me lots of inspiration for my next line of clothes”

“Are you sure?” I said, feeling guilty.

“Yes, I am sure” she said with a smile, I gathered up my stuff and walk back into the main room, where I found Autumn and Twilight talking, Rarity noticed them as well.

“Oh, Twilight, When did you get here?” Twilight and Autumn burst out laughing.

“Laugh it up, fuzz-balls” I said, crossing my arms, Twilight chuckled a couple more time before responding to rarity

“We walked in with Vuur Koning, you were so busy fretting over how he looked that you didn’t even notice us” she said, a knowing look on her face, Rarity blushed from embarrassment.

“I guess I can get carried away sometimes” Rarity said, Twilight then turned to me.

“Have you done everything you need to do here?” She said, I nodded, “In that case then we best be off, I hope to see you again soon, Rarity”

“Most certainly, and I bid you farewell, Vuur Koning” Rarity said

“Auf wiedersehein” I said, and with that Twilight, Autumn and I walked out the door, Twilight turned towards me.

“So, do you have any other plans for today, Vuur Koning?” She asked, I was about to reply when I heard a yelling coming from the sky.

“GET AWAY FROM THEM!” I was promptly sent flying through the air by something blue, I landed on the ground, hard.

“Ow, that hurt” I muttered, I could hear Twilight saying something, almost like she was having an argument with someone, though I couldn’t understand what she was saying, I was too focused on the dull pain in my chest and the pounding headache I now had, I sat up and took my helmet off before rubbing my forehead, I could see small grey pegasi with blond hair flying around my head, I shook my head to clear my vision, but that just made the headache worse.

“Hey, Vuur Koning, are you alright?” Autumn asked

“Did anyone catch the number of that L.N.E.R. A4 locomotive?” I said before I promptly blacked out.

Chapter 6 6 Remnants (Ark 1 Chapter 6)

I awoke feeling… numb, I as regained my senses I noticed I was in a hospital room, you’re probably wondering how I knew it was a hospital, well once you’ve seen one hospital you’ve seen all of them, a noticed that Autumn Skies was in the room, sitting in a chair, she saw me wake up and walked over to the bed, I tried to get out of bed but she stopped me.

“Take it easy” she said, gently but firmly putting a hoof on my shoulder “you took quite a hit back there, the doctors said you’re lucky you only had bruised ribs, it’s a good thing you were wearing armour or you would have been injured more badly”

“What happened?” I asked, putting a hand on my chest, noticing that my armour had been removed, I heard a voice I didn’t recognise laugh nervously, I looked in the direction of the voice to find a sky-blue pegasus with rainbow hair, looking rather sheepish.

“Heh heh, yeah… that’s kinda my fault, sorry” she said, rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof.

“May I ask why you felt the need to peregrine dive at me?” I said, I noticed her ears pin back as she looked guilty.

“Yeah, I kinda saw you with my friend and assumed the worst” she replied, I turned to Autumn.

“pass me my bags” I said, holding my hand out, I turned back to the blue pegasus “If you have damaged anything in my bags, I will not hesitate to rip you wing off and shove them so far down your throat that you’ll be shitting feathers for the next month, and then I would make you pay for the damage” I saw the blue pegasus gulp and back away slightly, Autumn passed me my bags, I then proceeded to empty them and check everything, after double checking everything I found nothing to be damaged.

“*sigh* You are very lucky that nothing got damaged, I am now willing to accept your apology and start over” I said, she looked surprised at me.

“What‽, just like that?” she said, I chuckled slightly.

“I was mainly worried about the stuff in my bags, they’re all I have left of my ‘old’ life” I said “You thought you friend was in danger and put her life above yours, I can respect that, the name’s Vuur Koning”

“Rainbow Dash” she said, holding out a hoof, I bumped it with my fist “fastest pegasus in Equestria and Element of loyalty” she said, puffing out her chest.

“how fast were you going when you hit me anyway?” I asked, rubbing my chest.

“Fast enough to give you a concussion when you landed, courtesy of Rainbow here” Autumn said, scowling at the aforementioned blue pegasus.

“Hey, I already said I was sorry, ok” Rainbow Dash said “He’s willing to forgive me so I don’t see why you have to be so bitchy about it”

“I’m pissed off because you attacked him without aggravation” Autumn said, walking towards Rainbow Dash, who did the same until they were stood opposite sides of the bed, looking ready to rip each other’s throats out, Rainbow Dash was the next to speak.

“If you want to do this the hard way, we’ll do this the hard way” Autumn made to jump over the bed at Rainbow dash.

“ENOUGH!” I said, pushing them away from each, I didn’t expect them to be sent flying in opposite directions through the room, when they hit the walls I noticed that they had a small amount of smoke coming from their chests, I looked at my hands to find them engulfed in translucent red flames, “ah fuck, my hands” I then proceeded to get out of the bed and run around the room, waiving my hands around.

“Put it out, put it out” I screamed, I was promptly held in place by a purple aura, I was slowly turned around until I saw Twilight at the door, a similar purple aura around her horn.

“Care to tell me what exactly is going on, I leave for five minutes and when I come back, I see those two about to kill each other, then you send them flying across the room and start running around screaming”

“Fuck you, my hands are on fire, put them out” Twilight responded by splashing a cup of water in my face, my hands were still on fire.

“You’re hands aren’t on fire, its magic” she said “And don’t swear”

“Bullshit, its fire” I said, responding to both statements. She just rolled her eyes.

“Do your hands feel like they’re on fire?” she asked.

“No, but…” I said

“But nothing, it’s magic, it just has an odd aura, that’s all” Twilight said, dispelling her magic aura, I dropped to the floor, hands still engulfed in magic flames, Twilight went over to check on Rainbow Dash whilst I checked on Autumn, I shook her slightly, noticing that the flames didn’t harm her, she stirred.

“Urg, what happened?” she asked, looking around.

“I kinda sent you and Rainbow Dash flying across the room, and discovered that I had magic in the process” I said, showing her one of my hands, I looked over at Twilight, who was talking to Rainbow Dash.

“Hey, Twilight” I called, she looked over at me “any idea how to turn this off?” I said, holding up a hand, she said something to Rainbow Dash before walking over and covering my hands in her magic, she sat there for a few moments with her eyes closed.

“What are you doing?” I asked, she sat her for a bit longer before dispelling her magic.

“You haven’t used magic before have you?” she asked, I shook my head “it’s just been building up your whole life, and now it’s been, for lack of a better word ‘unlocked’, it’s getting rid of the excess magic, it should dissipate in about…” she quickly enveloped my hand in magic again before saying “give it a couple of hours and you should be able to control it”

“And how do I turn it off then?” I said.

“Try imagining a candle being extinguished” she said “I’m guessing you’re alright to go now?”

“Chest’s still a bit sore, but other than that I’m fine” I suddenly remembered “Where’s my armour?”

“It’s at the library” she said, I deadpanned

“I can’t walk through town bare foot, please send it here” I said, arms crossed, she closed her eyes in concentration and her horn glowed briefly before my armour appeared in the room with a flash, I stood there, wide eyed “how the hell…?”

“I modified a teleportation spell into a summoning, so instead of the spell caster moving to their intended location, the objet that is being focused on moves towards the spell caster” she said.

“Clever girl” I muttered under my breath, before putting my armour on, I put the helmet on last, the shield status on the HUD flared into life and the armour was enveloped in a pale red Aura that eventually faded when the shield status read 100%

“What the buck was that?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“I do believe I now have active shielding, Rainbow Dash, it seems when I ‘unlocked’ my magic, it activated the shielding” I said, I put a hand to my arm and I could feel some resistance as I did so “so that means no more getting mauled by a walking shrubbery” I noticed Rainbow Dashes confused look “I was attacked by Timberwolves” I gathered up my stuff before turning to everyone and saying.

“So… Who’s hungry, because Rarity won’t let me pay for the clothes I requested and I’ve got a grand to spend, my treat”

We ended up going to a café at Twilights suggestion, it was a nice little place, we sat down at one of the outside tables, when I looked at the menu I noticed that the symbol used for Equestrian bits was the ‘ß’ sign.

“Hah, I never knew that you used a ‘sharp S’ to represent bits” I said

“What do you mean a ‘sharp S’?” asked Twilight.

“It’s a letter often used in European languages, like German, and is pronounced as ‘SS’, where I come from, the U.K., we use pounds and pence as currency” I got my phone out from my rucksack and turned it, I then showed them the symbols for each, I then went into my wallet and placed on the table a 1 and 2 pound coin, a couple of bank notes and one of each type of penny coin (1 pence, 2 pence, 5 pence, 10 pence, 20 pence and 50 pence), I turned to Twilight

“Think you could work out an equivalent value of these compared to your currency?” I asked, she nodded whilst studying the pound coin and 1 pence piece.

“Why do you have two different coinage systems?” Twilight asked

“We don’t, the Pence are used when Pound coins aren’t exact enough, £1 equals 100 pence, don’t you have small change coins?” I asked

“We do but it’s in fractions” Twilight said “for instance, we have 1/10 bits, ¼ bits and ½ bits”, I returned to looking at the menu, most of the options on the menu didn’t appeal to me so I soon found what I wanted, a waiter soon walked over to the table placing drinks that we had ordered when we arrived, we ordered our food and the waiter walked away, I turned to Twilight.

“Hey, Twilight, do you think you could teach me how to control my magic once ‘this’ stops?” I said, gesturing to my hands, she took a sip from her drink before saying.

“I will probably have to modify my teaching methods to accommodate you arcane focal points, but I don’t see why not” she said smiling.

“I’m guessing you mean my hands when you say ‘arcane focal points’” I said and took a sip of my drink, Twilight nodded, I then remembered something.

“Oh, Twilight, I need to visit the library when we’ve finished here” I said

“What for?” Twilight asked

“I need to look at maps of this world, if I plan to travel then I need to know where everything is” I said, Twilight stirred, as if she suddenly remembered something.

“Speaking of maps, do you have any maps of your world?” She asked

“just a sec’” I said, going into my bag and getting my laptop out, I hoped that the laptop had cached the map as it required internet to use properly, thankfully there was enough to make out on the screen “ok, bear with me on this as it requires a network to work properly, it’s only just detailed enough to make sense” I spun the laptop around showing them the U.K. “This is what I am talking about when I mention the United Kingdom”

“How big is it? Relatively speaking” Twilight asked.

“Quite small, Great Briton” I said, pointing to the larger of the islands “is about 200 or so miles from its most westerly point, Lands’ End, to its most easterly point, Lowestoft, Ireland is a similar width”

“Your country has really weird names” Rainbow Dash said, I rolled my eyes.

“Says the pony from ‘Ponyville’”

“Ah, Touché” Rainbow Dash conceded, I suddenly remembered something.

“Although, having said that, there is Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch” (read: hlan-vairay-poohl-guin-gihl-gogery-u-queern-droboohl-hlatisilio-go-go-goch) I said, I saw Autumn Skies face-hoof and I’m pretty sure I saw Twilights eye twitch.

“What the buck kind of name is that?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Language, Rainbow” Twilight chastised.

“But he swears, a lot” she said, pointing at me.

“That may be true, but I try not to when in public places, and to answer your question, it’s in a language called Welsh, which apparently is the language of the Minotaur’s on this world, on my world it is a very old language, and the name roughly translates to: St. Mary's Church in the hollow of the white hazel near the rapid whirlpool and the church of St. Tysilio with a red cave” I said, at that point the waiter arrived with our food, he placed the food on the table before walking away.

“Oh, whilst we’re on the subject of odd names, the town I come from, Scunthorpe, don’t say it out loud but what word do you get when you take away the ‘S’ and ‘horpe’” I waited for a few moments, Rainbow Dash was the first to react, she did a spit, I burst out laughing at her reaction.

“You… are… bucking…kidding…me” she spluttered/laughed in-between coughs, Twilight looked confused.

“I don’t get it” she said, Rainbow Dash leaned over and whispered in her ear, within a couple of seconds her eyes widened and a blush spread across her cheeks. “That isn’t funny” she said.

“That, my purple friend, is a ‘northern’ British sense of humour: crude, rude, vulgar and bloody hilarious if you understand it, most people from other countries in my world don’t understand our sense of humour either, we often poke fun at ourselves, take the weather for instance, here it is rather nice, quiet sunny, but not too hot, in England, it will be like this one minute and the next it’ll be the middle of a rain storm, we even have a saying: if it rains, wait ten minutes” I said, Rainbow dash looked confused.

“Don’t you control the weather?” she asked

“What do you mean?” I asked, Rainbow dash took off and flew up to a cloud, she then proceeded to push the cloud towards me and bucking it, causing it to dissipate with a ‘poof’, she then landed back at the table as if it was nothing.

“My god, how in the hell did you do that?” I asked, slack jawed, Rainbow Dash went to speak but then looked at Twilight, who sighed before saying

“all three types of pony have intrinsic magic, the pegasi and earth ponies have passive magic and a unicorn has active magic, the passive magic in pegasi increases agility and helps then to fly and manipulate weather, whereas the passive magic in earth ponies gives them extra strength and helps plants to grow, the active magic in unicorn means the possibilities of what can be done are limitless, chances are if you’ve thought of something that can’t normally be done then there’s a spell for it” I looked at my bags, in idea popped into my head.

“If so then what about… a pocket dimension? Specifically one for increasing the capacity of a bag, like my rucksack” Twilight thought for a moment.

“I’ll have a look when we get back to the library, you can look over the maps whilst I search for the correct spell”

“Oh, where am I staying tonight? It will be a few days before Rarity can finish my cloaks and even then, I might stay for a couple more days, relax a bit” I said.

“I have a spare room in the library” Twilight said, I looked at Autumn Skies.

“Hey, Autumn” she looked up “when are you staying tonight?”

“As your guide and evaluator, I have to stay where you stay”

“Do you have two beds? I asked Twilight, she suddenly put on a really nervous smile and rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof.

“Heh heh, funny you should ask that” she said, I deadpanned.

“You don’t, do you?” I asked rhetorically, she shook her head, her expression remaining the same.

“Well, this week is going to be awkward” I said, Autumn seemed to agree, we finished our food and I went to pay for it, once that was done I gathered up my stuff and we left for the library, whilst we were walking towards the library I heard three young voices yell: “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS MONSTER HUNTERs, YAY” before I was tackled to the ground by three young ponies, the moment I fell to the ground they stood on my chest, proclaiming their victory, they then turned to each other.

“Anything yet?” the orange pegasus asked before they all looked at their flanks, they seemed disappointed to find their flanks bare.

“Aww, shoot, we aint never gonna get our cutie marks at this rate” the yellow earth pony said, in a Texan accent.

“Maybe we should’ve used a net” the white one said.

“Erm, would you mind getting off my chest so that I get back up?” I asked, starting to sound a little annoyed, I looked to Twilight and the others, they were just sat there, as if this was a normal occurrence, except for Autumn, she was just stood there, trying not to laugh, the three young ponies seemed startled by the fact I could talk.

“It talks!” the orange pegasus said, I rolled my eyes.

“I thought they still taught kid manners these days, seems I was wrong, once again I will ask, please get off” I said, this time they did as asked, I stood up to my full height, they were impressed by my hight.

“Whoa, you’re huge” the Orange one said.

“So, care to tell me why I’ve just been tackled to the ground by you three?” I asked sternly, the orange one spoke up, looking very sheepish whilst she did so.

“Well, we kind of have this show and tell at school tomorrow, but we didn’t know what to take, but then we saw you and thought that if we were to take you in then we would be sure to win” she said, scuffing her hoof on the floor

“And the shouting before you tackled me?” I asked, they perked up at that.

“I’m Scootaloo” the orange one said.

“ah’m Applebloom” the yellow one said.

“I’m Sweetie Bell” the white one said.

“And together we’re the cutie mark crusaders, searching to find our cutie marks” they finished in unison

“So you thought that if you were to ‘capture’ me, then you would get cutie marks in ‘monster hunting’?” I asked, their ears folded back, I turned to Twilight and the others.

“Go on ahead, I’ll catch up to you” I said, they nodded before continuing towards the library, I turned back to the ‘cutie mark crusaders’, they looked rather nervous, I crouched down to get closer to their level.

“Don’t worry, I’m not angry with you, I was just a little surprised that’s all” I said, they perked up slightly “So, this show and tell at your school, when is it?” I asked, they now looked really excited.

“You mean you’ll let us use you as our show and tell?” Sweetie Bell asked.

“Sure, why not, it’ll be fun, although, I will need to speak to your teacher” I said.

“Why?” Applebloom asked.

“Because I don’t think it would be wise for me to turn up unannounced, I would rather not cause a panic” noticing the apprehensive looks on their faces I added “don’t worry, I won’t give away too much information, I’ll arrive before the school day starts and tell him or her: ‘look, some of your pupils want to use me for show and tell, is that ok?’” they seemed reassured by my words.

“So what’s the name of your teacher?” I asked.

“She’s called Miss Cheerilee” Scootaloo said.

“Ok then, I’ll go there early tomorrow to make sure none of the other pupils are there” I said.

“Thanks, Mister…” Sweetie Bell trailed off.

“Vuur Koning” I said, they seemed to be confused by my name.

“That’s an odd name” Scootaloo said.

“I’m not from around here” I said, deadpanning “Anyway I best be off, what time does your school start?”

“9 o’clock” Sweetie Bell said, I nodded in acknowledgment before walking off towards the library, ‘Well, that’s my plans for tomorrow sorted out, I’ll probably arrive half an hour before the school starts, I’ll have to hide somewhere until lesson starts though’ I thought to myself, I arrived at the library a few minutes later, walking inside I saw several book floating in the air, Twilight in the centre of it all, levitating a book closer to herself before quickly flicking through it and groaning in frustration before placing it back on a shelf.

“I swear I read something about pocket dimensions in one of these books” she exclaimed, she noticed me walk in “what happened out there?” she asked.

“What happened is I’ve become a show and tell piece for those three children…”

“Fillies” Twilight corrected whilst looking through another book, she suddenly exclaimed “aha, there you are, ‘pocket dimension spell: vastly increases the carrying capacity of a receptacle, is not suitable for liquids’” she read off, I took my bags off and emptied the rucksack out before passing it to Twilight, she took it in her magical field before quickly rereading the page, she placed the books she didn’t need back onto the shelves before closing her eyes and concentrating, her horn suddenly flared up and my rucksack was enveloped in a similar glow, a blinding flash and the spell seemed to be complete, Twilight floated the bag back over towards me, I looked in the bag to find that, instead of the small compartment that I was used to, there was now an area the size of a large room, I looked at Twilight.

“Give me a sec’” I said, before climbing into the bag “this is bloody brilliant” I exclaimed, I heard Twilight giggle, I then heard hoof steps walking towards the bag, I suddenly had an idea, I walked towards the ‘entrance’ to the ‘room’ and waited for the hoof steps to stop before I poked my head out and yelled out in my best African-American accent.

“SURPRISE MOTHERFUCKER!” I shouted, Rainbow Dash whinnied in surprise and took off, hitting her head on the ceiling and falling back to the floor, I heard Twilight and Autumn burst out laughing and I did so as well.

“Wow” Rainbow dash said, rubbing the top of her head with a hoof “You really got me, I’ll have to think of something to get you back now, that was good, I’ll have to remember that” I climbed out of the rucksack and started putting my stuff inside.

“I could put a bed I here and use this place as a room” I called out to Twilight, she poked her head through the ‘entrance’.

“And how exactly do you intend to fit the bed through this hole?” she said, deadpanning.

“Ikea?” I suggested, shrugging my shoulders “But seriously, do you know any shops that make flat packed furniture?”

“To answer your question, yes, I can think of one or two in town, but you’re seriously considering converting this place into a bedroom?” she asked

“And living room” I said “it will be a lot easier than constantly setting up and dismantling a tent, I’ll just need to find a power source to charge my laptop, weight won’t be a problem will it?” I asked, Twilight shook her head.

“It’s a pocket dimension, the position of the rucksack won’t affect the room either, so you could tip the bag upside down and everything would be fine, we can get hold of a magic generators for power, once you’re magic is under control I can even teach you how to increase the size of this place,” she said, it was at that moment that the magic flames engulfing my hands died down, I snapped my fingers and, sure enough, the familiar red flames once again engulfed my hands, I then imagined the flames being extinguished, it took a few tries, but eventually I was able to ignite and extinguish the flames repeatedly, I climbed out of the bag and zipped it back up before putting it on my back, it felt weird, like there was a weight to it, but at the same time, there wasn’t.

“Right, where are the shops?” I asked “because I would rather get everything I need now, while I have the money”

“I’ll come with you, otherwise you won’t know what you’re looking for” Twilight said.

“Fair enough” I conceded, I turned to Rainbow dash and Autumn, they both nodded, I suddenly noticed that when they were stood side by side they looked remarkably similar, if I was colour-blind I wouldn’t be able to tell them apart, I pushed that train of thought to one side as we walked out the door, I saw Twilight put up a sign telling ponies that the library was closed, after a few minutes of walking we made it to the shopping area, Twilight sopped walking and turned towards me.

“Right, what is it that you need to get first?” she asked, I looked around at the semi-circle of shops.

“Which shop sells flat-packed furniture?” I asked, she briefly searched before pointing to one of the shops with a for-hoof.

“Let’s try that one” she said, walking towards the shop, I followed her inside, there were several different items of furniture on display, as well as the packaging that they come supplied in for demonstrative purposes, a male earth pony walked up towards us, he hesitated slightly when he saw me before walking closer and addressing us.

“Good evening, sir and madams, how may I help you?”

“I would like to buy a couple of beds” I said “I need to be able to fit the pieces in this bag” I took the rucksack off my bag and showed the pocket dimension inside to the sailspony “I plan to travel the world at some point and it would be easier to set up bed in here than constantly setting up and packing away a tent” he nodded in understanding before walking over to a display piece and beckoning us over.

“I feel that this may be to your liking, considering your… generous height” he said, it was a large bed with an ornate styled headboard “it was designed with griffins in mind” he added, I looked at the price-tag, ‘150 bits each, not too expensive I hope’ I thought, giving a low whistle.

“I’ll take two” I said, I saw Autumns surprised look “What, you thought I would make you sleep outside whilst I sleep in a nice warm bed?” I got the bag of bits out of the front compartment of the rucksack (that part wasn’t connected to the pocket dimension) and placed the 300 bits that the sailspony wanted into a bucket that he had quickly gotten whilst I was talking to Autumn Skies, the sailspony then walked off to collect the two packages, I took them off of the sailspony before walking into the rucksack and placing them in a corner of the ‘room’, when I climbed out I found him standing there with two mattresses.

“These come free with the beds” he said, I looked to twilight for help, and she sighed and rolled her eyes before walking into the rucksack and summoning the two mattresses into the pocket dimension, they disappeared with a flash and a few moments later Twilight stepped out of the rucksack, after that we went to a shop selling things like duvets and pillows, that brought the total money I had spent so far, including lunch for everyone, up to about ß335.

“Right, what do I need next?” I thought out loud as we walked through the shopping district “oh, generator” I remembered, Twilight nodded and we walked towards a hardware shop, inside there was all sorts of machinery and electronics, ranging from cables to speakers, computers (although they looked computers from the 80’s) to radios and much more, Twilight walked up to the counter and asked if there were any generators and the Sailspony went into the back of the building, he returned a few moments later.

“We have one left in stock” he said

“Can it be used to charge electronic items?” I asked

“Yes depending on the voltage rating” he said “may I see what equipment you use so I can get a compatible adaptor?” I got the charger and laptop out of the bag, he looked at the plug for the charger before reading the technical information on the transformer, he walked back into the storeroom and returned a few minutes later with several boxes of varying sizes, I paid for them and left the shop, as we walked through the town I heard a male voice speak up.

“My my, you are different, which is saying something coming from me” ‘he’ said, I couldn’t place where the voice was coming from.

“What do you want, Discord?” Rainbow Dash asked suspiciously, getting onto a defensive stance.

“Shame on you, Rainbow Dash, I thought you trusted me” he now sounded like he was behind me, I looked back to find nothing out of the ordinary, there was suddenly a flash in front of me, I looked to find a chimera of some type standing there.

“What the bloody hell are you?” I exclaimed, he slapped his forehead as if remembering something.

“Oh, of course, where are my manners, I am discord, recently reformed spirit of chaos” as he finished his sentence a giant neon sign with the word ‘DISCORD’ appeared above his head in an explosion of streamers, it disappeared after a few moments and he walked towards me, standing roughly the same height as me “I already know who you are, Vuur Koning, and what you are, I’ve seen your kind before, watched them on your world, and the odd one or two that has been ripped into this world” he noticed the confused faces of the three ponies and chuckled slightly.

“Oh, Celly hasn’t told you?” Discord asked.

“Told us what?” Twilight asked, discord shook his head slightly and tutted.

“I thought she was done keeping secrets, Vuur Koning here” he said, gesturing to me “Isn’t the first human to arrive on this world, and you won’t be the last, whilst I don’t know exact details, I do know that more and more will start to appear on this world, and know this, you will meet a friend from your world in the near future, whilst I don’t know when, I do know who” that really caught my attention.

“Who will I meet?” I practically shouted, he suddenly looked really smug.

“Now that would ruin the surprise wouldn’t it, I’ve revealed too much as it is, now if you’ll excuse me, I have low level chaos to cause, I also need to have a talk with Celly, ta ta” and with that he donned sun glasses and disappeared in a pink mushroom cloud which promptly started raining chocolate milk, I turned to Twilight.

“Da fuck was that?” I said, jerking a thumb at the slowly dissipating pink cloud, she just sighed.

“That, was Discord, whilst he isn’t a major problem, he can be a bit of a nuisance at times, he isn’t evil anymore, but his nature means that he isn’t exactly good” she said.

“You know, just because he controls chaos, doesn’t mean he’s evil” I said, Twilight looked at me as if I had just told her that magic wasn’t real, noticing her look, I continued “Chaos drives everything just as much as harmony, chaos is what makes all snowflakes unique, Chaos makes sure lightning never strikes twice, chaos is what creates nebulae, which spawns stars, which groups together into galaxies, chaos is what makes things change, if it wasn’t for chaos, the universe would never have started in the first place, scientist on my world theorise that the death of the universe will occur when entropy stops and things harmonize”

“I never thought of it like that” Twilight said

“When we get back to the library I’ll show you some documentary videos about the universe, one of them goes into the end of the universe, after looking into things, like I do, you start to realise that you need chaos as much as harmony, they both have an equally important roll to play in this universe”

“Geeze, I never took you for an egghead” Rainbow Dash said, I snorted.

“I am not an egghead, I’m just well-read on subjects that interest me, like railways, you could ask me what locomotive pulled a certain train on my world and I could tell you without hesitation, and then I could tell you who designed the locomotive and what railway used it” I said, Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, you’re an egghead” she said.

“I prefer the term ‘railway fanatic’” I said, I noticed a shop selling alcohol.

“Give me a few minutes” I said to Twilight before walking inside.

I stepped out of the shop, now in possession of several bottles of Sweet Apple Cider and a bottle of ‘Hayleys’, which seemed to be the equivalent to Irish cream, as well as several glasses of various sizes.

“What did you get?” Autumn asked.

“Wait and see” I said, tapping my nose, we made it back to the library without incident, I placed the bag on the floor and climbed in, I returned carrying the bottle of Hayleys, three bottles of cider, three pint glasses and a whiskey glass, I placed them on the table before walking back into the bag and retrieving my laptop, I brought up the video app and selected the right documentary before passing it to Twilight, she levitated it over to a desk and summoned several scrolls, a quill and a bottle of ink.

“Either of you two want a drink of cider?” I asked Rainbow and Autumn, the both nodded, I passed them the drinks before turning to Twilight, I was about to ask her if she wanted a drink but she was furiously scribbling down notes, I shook my head before looking at the shelves of books for maps, finding what I needed I sat down with the two pegasi and poured myself a glass of Hayleys, I raised my glass towards the pegasi.

“Cheers” I said and they returned the action before we all took a sip of our drinks, I savoured the creamy taste and texture for a few moments before swallowing.

“*sigh* Like liquid gold” I muttered in appreciation before opening the book and studying the maps inside, the moment I saw the world map I did a spit take, Autumn and Rainbow looked at me in suprise.

“Holy shit, this world is huge, this quest that I’m planning is going to take longer than I thought, a lot longer” I said.

“Are you getting second thoughts” Autumn asked.

“Hell no” I said, I started planning routs to different places, looking at the map I noticed that towards the north of Equestria all the towns and cities had names similar to ones back in England, ‘Windsoar?, Trottingham, Derbyshire!?, Lincolt?, Marechester?, Hoofquey?, wow, talk about play on words’ I thought, I couldn’t help giggling slightly.

“What’s so funny?” Autumn asked.

“The puns in some of these name are ridiculous”

“It can’t be that bad?” Rainbow Dash said, I deadpanned.

“Ok, here are some places in my country with similar names to places in your country: Windsor, Nottingham, Derbyshire, Lincoln, Manchester and Newquey” they seemed to get the picture after that “Hey, Autumn, do all the Equestrian cities and towns north of Trottingham have your type of accent?” I asked, she nodded.

“Yes, although towards the border between Equestria and Minotauria they have slight Minotaurian twang” she said “it’s similar near the borders with the United Griffon Kingdom and Germaney”

“What about the Changeling unions?” I asked, I noticed them stiffen at that “touchy subject?”

“We were invaded by one of the hives recently” Autumn said “until that point we had a passive alliance with the five super hives, now one of them is our enemy and the other four have gone neutral, things are… tense, you wouldn’t understand”

“Actually, I understand a great deal more than you think, my species has seen its fair share of war, tell me, what’s the combined casualties on both sides of your largest war?” I asked, Autumn put a hoof to her chin and started randomly moving the other hoof, as if making calculations, after a few moments she came to a conclusion.

“500’000 lost their lives in the war between us and the griffins” she said, my eyes widened “is that a lot compared to your species?”

“No, definetly not, that is a mere battle compared to the wars on my world”

“How many has your kind killed?” I heard Twilight ask, I suddenly grew tense, I noticed that she had stopped writing and was looking at me, I mumbled the number.

“I didn’t quite catch that” Twilight said

“85 million” I said, it was at that point that Rainbow dash had chosen to take a swig of cider and promptly spat it out, you could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed, Twilights eyes had reduced to pin pricks, Rainbow Dash looked like she had seen a ghost and Autumns mouth hung open like something out of a cartoon.

“E-eighty five… Million?” Twilight said, as if she had trouble comprehending that many people dying.

“Yep” I said bitterly, taking a sip of Hayleys “my kind are a violent bunch, there’s a reason they called it a World War, the second one actually, now can you see why Discord found me so easily?” I said

“My thoughts exactly” I heard Discord say

“Piss off” I said

“No” he said “I am a god compared to you, mortal, so there is nothing you can do to make me go away” I swear at that moment the light in the room darkened briefly, it returned to its normal light levels as he spoke with a mischievous look in his face “Answer me this, how were the showers at Birkenau...” whatever he was about to say was interrupted by my glass hitting him in the face, he wiped the drink off his face.

“Seems I hit a touchy subject, nice choice in drink by the way”

“Thanks, now I will tell you one last time, fuck off, before I ram my sword down your throat” I said, he looked hurt at that.

“Aww, you’re not going to ask me out first?” he said, it took me a few moments for it to ‘click’ in my mind, but when it did I burst out laughing, the ponies looked at me as if I had gone mad

“Well played” I said, noticing the looks on the ponies faces I added “don’t worry, northern humour, but seriously, Discord, I would rather enjoy the rest of today, plus I have some beds to build” Discord looked annoyed at that.

“Fine” he conceded, folding his arms, he snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash, the glass repairing itself as he left, I shook my head slightly, I picked up the glass and put it on the table before pouring myself another glass, Twilight seemed to be finished watching the documentary.

“You finished with that, Twilight?” I asked, she nodded it before levitating it over to me “I’m going to build the beds now" I said before stepping into the bag, laptop and glass in hand.

Chapter 7 7 Brick in the wall (Ark 1 Chapter 7)

I started playing music on the laptop and unpacked one of the beds, I was halfway through building it when Autumn walked into the ‘room’

“Hey, need a hoof?” she asked

“No but you can stay if you like and listen to music” I said, tightening up a screw, for a few moments she just sat there, listening to the ‘strange’ music, after a few moments she spoke up

“What was it that got you so annoyed about what discord said?” Autumn asked

“Nice weather we’re having at the moment” I said, trying to change the subject, she didn't buy it.

“Answer the question, Vuur Koning” she said, I sighed, before selecting a song on the laptop.

“Listen to the song, it will answer any questions you have” I said, before continuing the work on the bed.

By the end of the song Autumn had a shocked look on her face.

“How can anypony be so... evil?” she asked.

“If you saw a changeling from the hive that invaded Canterlot, would you act like best friends, or would you imprison it, regardless of whether they took part in the invasion or not?” I asked, giving her a pointed look.

“It would be my duty to capture it to get as much information as possible… oh” she said, realizing what she had just said

“And the penny drops” I said “the reason that is such a sensitive subject for me is not because I’m a Jew” seeing her questioning look I added “Jews were the main targets of the ‘Final Solution’” I practically spat the last part “the reason it is such a sensitive subject with me is because I visited the place, it’s now a memorial-slash-museum, it’s the sort of place that people should visit, but only once”

“There’s still one thing I don’t understand” Autumn said.

“What’s that?”

“Discord said Birkenau, not Auschwitz”

“Technically they’re the same place, Auschwitz was the ‘official’ name, it was actually three separate locations, there was Auschwitz-I, the main camp, Auschwitz-II or Birkenau and Auschwitz-III or Monowitz, they all existed at the same time and had very specific purposes, Auschwitz-I was used mostly for holding prisoners and performing medical experiments, if you went there you had a fair chance of survival, Birkenau was the ‘death camp’, it’s what most people think of when they hear the name Auschwitz, tall barbed wire fences, seems to stretch on into eternity, that sort of thing, if you ended up there you were pretty much fucked, you were either sent to do work at the third site, or you were sent to die in the gas chambers, they would have told you that you were getting a shower to wash away your old life, I think it was a tradition or something, but you were really on a one way trip to agonizing death, no one should have to die like that” I said, suppressing a shiver. “That's why I reacted the way I did, anyway, let’s change the subject, how exactly did you, a special-ops guard of all things, become my guide?” I asked.

“It’s a long story” she said.

“I've got time” I said, she sighed before saying.

“Let’s just say that I did something wrong, something a guard should never do, and this is my, for lack of a better word, punishment” she said.

“So you did something wrong and now you’re stuck looking after me? That seems a bit of a mild punishment” I said in surprise.

“It’s my ‘final assignment’ before I am honorably discharged, the reason they didn't just discharge me straight away was because of my exemplary service up until the ‘incident’” she went quiet as she finished the sentence.

“Do you regret it? What you did, I mean” I asked.

“I would do it again in a second if I had the choice to go back and change it” she said.

“You were torn between your duty and what you felt was right” I said “there are certain instances where it’s better to say ‘fuck authority’ than to follow the rules blindly, there’s a line from a song by a metal band that I like, it says: so can you tell me what exactly does ‘freedom’ mean? If I’m not free to be as twisted as I want to be, whilst it isn't totally in context, I feel it makes a valid point” I had now finished building the first bed and had moved onto building the second bed, for a few minutes we didn't say anything, Autumn was the first to break the silence.

“So, you got any family back on your world?” she asked.

“Yes, it’s quite a large family, not in-terms of siblings, I've only got an older brother, but when it comes to aunts and uncles, I have more than I care to count, the annual family get-together on my dad’s side of the family is always swarming with relatives, there has to be at least 30 people every time, and technically speaking, I’m part of 3 different families, there’s my dad’s side of the family, he divorced my mum but they were still friends” noticing Autumns confused look I added “think of it as an extreme case of ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’, his family remained friends with us as well and there’s my mum’s side of the family”

“And the third family?” she asked.

“I was getting to that, anyway, there’s my step-dads side of the family, so I also have a step-sister now” I said

“Wow, big family” she said.

“What about you? You got any family” I asked.

“Yeah, it’s not that big a family, not compared to yours at least, they live in Trottingham”

“I never noticed” I said, my voice practically flooded with sarcasm.

“Buck you” she said, doing the equivalent of flipping the finger, but with her wing “anyway, I also have an older Brother, Winter Chill, he can be such a pain sometimes, but I wouldn't have him any other way”

“Same here, I dread to think what it would be like if our brothers met” I said

“Oh Celestia, they would probably start getting into a drinking contest” we both shared a laugh at that, it was at that moment that Rainbow dash poked her head through the entrance.

“Hey, V.K., I’m headed off home, so I’ll see you whenever” she said

“Okay, take care” I said, and with that her head disappeared from view “anyway, you were saying”

“Oh, I also have a little sister, she’s called Midsummer Night”

“Do all of your family have names relating to times of the year?” I asked.

“It’s a family tradition, we traditionally worked in the weather patrol, but it wasn't my thing so I joined the guard, thankfully my parents were understanding” she said

“What’s your favorite weapon?” I asked

“Just a sec” she said, before walking out, she returned a few moments later with her bag, she then got out several weapons that I didn't recognize, she put two blades shaped like feathers on her wings, she then put something that looked like strange shoes on her fore-hooves, she then reared up on her back legs using he wings for balance and coming up to my chest height wise “these are wing blades” she said, motioning to her wings “and these” as she spoke, a long, thin blade extended from each ‘shoe’ “are called ‘huf klingen’, now, pick up your blade” as she said this she pointed her right hoof at me.

“What?” I asked.

“I need to know how skilled you are” she said “now pick up your blade”, I stood up, the second bed now done, and walked over to my sword, Autumn walked over to a clear section of the room and I followed her, we stood there for a few moments before she charged towards me, sprinting on her hind legs, I brought my blade up in a defensive stance as she drew closer, she swung both blade at the same and they impacted against my sword with a *clang*, she brought her swords back and seeing an opening I lunged with my sword, she blocked it with her right blade before knocking it out of my hand with her left blade, she then stepped forwards and I found myself with her wing blades pressed lightly against my neck.

“You barely lasted 10 seconds” she said “you definitely need combat training” I picked up my sword.

“Again” she said before going to strike, the rest of the evening was spent sparring, I gradually improved little by little until eventually I was able to successfully block her attacks, but I was still unable to go for an attack myself and whenever I tried I ended up on the floor with a blade to my throat.

“you’re improving” she said after knocking me to the floor for what must've been the 20th time “you’re getting bolder, with proper training you could shape up to be a pretty decent sword fighter” she held out a hoof to pull me up and I accepted it.

“I think I’m going to call it a night” I said “I’m a show and tell piece at the local school so I've got an early start”

“Fair enough, I’ll probably be up before you, old habits die hard” Autumn said, rubbing the back of her neck.

“If so then wake me up when you get up” I said

“Sure thing” she said.

I awoke the next morning to a hoof shaking me gently, I opened my eyes to find Autumn standing next to my bed, her hoof placed on my shoulders.

“Urg, what time is it?” I asked, rubbing the sleep from my eyes,

“About 8 o’clock” she said, I groaned before sitting up in bed, after a few moments I got out of bed and walked out of the bag into the library, I saw Twilight sitting on a sofa reading some sort of book about spells.

“Morning, Twilight” I said, she looked up from her book.

“Morning, Vuur Koning” she replied before returning to her book.

“Can I use the kitchen?” I asked.

“Sure, just don’t burn the library down” she said, I walked into the kitchen where I saw spike standing at the stove wearing a pink apron, cooking what looked like pancakes, I couldn't help smirking at the sight.

“Oh, hey, Vuur Koning” Spike said, noticing me.

“Morning, Spike, is there any coffee and hot chocolate powder?” I asked, he thought for a moment before nodding.

“Yeah, there is some in that cupboard” he said, pointing to one of the cupboards, I got out the jars and placed 1/3rd coffee and 2/3rd chocolate powder in a pan before filling it with water, spike watched with interest.

“What are you making?” he asked

“a basic mocha, I hate the taste of coffee, but I need the caffeine to wake up, hence why I added the hot chocolate, it makes it sweeter, I've managed to get it down to a fine art, too much coffee and it tastes bitter, too much chocolate and there won’t be enough caffeine to have an effect, about 1/3rd coffee is enough in my opinion” I said, spiked oh’ed in understanding “what are you making?”

“Choc-chip pancakes” he said

“Ah, wunderbar” I muttered, I started singing as I stirred the mixture.

When I finished singing spike looked at me in amazement

“How’d you learn to sing like that?” he asked.

“I’m not that good” I said

“dude, that was awesome, don’t be modest” he said.

“I’m not being modest, I personally don’t think my singing is all that good, compared to the guy that sung it originally at least, and I’ll admit it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't the best singing in the world” I said, pouring the drink into a mug, there was quite a bit left in the pan “help yourself to what’s in the pan” I said, before walking back into the library section and sitting down at a table, groggily drinking the mixture, Autumn seemed to notice the look on my face.

“Not a morning pony?” she asked with a smirk, I shook my head “you better get used to it, they won’t be kind to you during training”

“I’m guessing the other recruits play pranks” I said, starting to feel the effects of the caffeine kicking in.

“Let’s just say that you won’t ever be sleeping in” she said, a nostalgic look on her face “oh, the sort of things we got up to during training”

“I have my methods for exacting revenge” I said, taking a sip of the drink

“Such as?” Autumn asked, I smirked.

“Ever noticed how horseradish sauce and custard are the same colour?” I said, putting on a sinister smile, Autumn looked mortified.

“That’s disgusting” she said, sticking her tongue out in disgust, I chuckled.

“I have other means as well, such as clear sticky tape stretched across the door frame, an air horn for an alarm clock, super glue on the toilet seat and my personal favorite, tipping the bed on its side… with the occupant still asleep”

“I’d hate to share a room with you” she said.

“You already do” I pointed out, she suddenly went pale for a second and her eyes reduced to pinpricks.

“Anyway, quick question, what are the dragons like here? other than spike” I asked. She thought for a moment.

“They mostly keep to themselves, but they can be hostile if you trespass on their cave” she said, I finished my drink and stood up.

“Twilight, where’s the shower in this place?” I asked.

“Up the stairs, first door on the right” she said, not looking up from the book, I picked up my rucksack before walking towards the shower room.

I stepped out of the room a few minutes later, now fully dressed in my armor, and walked down the stairs, everyone was sat at the table eating pancakes.

“Hey, Autumn, are you coming with me or not?” I asked.

“Well somepony has to make sure you don’t get in trouble” she said, getting up from the table “Do you have everything you need?” she asked, I gestured to the rucksack on my back with a thumb, I quickly grabbed a pancake off the plate in the center, I took a bite and hesitated before grabbing another one, smiling sheepishly in response to the glare Twilight gave me, outside it was fairly quiet compared to yesterday, then again, it was still fairly early, the ponies of the town also seemed to be used to me by now, several of them even saying hello as we walked through the town towards the school, eventually we reached the school house, the playground was empty, I never liked empty schools, they just seem… creepy, like an empty hospital, they just feel wrong… anyway, I looked through the window to find the teacher sitting at the desk, marking papers, I knocked on the door and waited.

“Come in” I heard her say, I opened the door slightly.

“When you see me, please don’t panic, my appearance is… startling” I said, before slowly and deliberately walking in, when she saw me she looked slightly unsettled.

“My, I can see why you warned me” she said “may I ask why you are here?”

“Yeah, yesterday I happened to run into a certain group of three fillies with a lack of cutie marks, long, and embarrassing, story short, they wanted to use me as their show and tell piece, just thought I would pop round and give you a heads up before hand, I don’t want to go causing a panic” I said, she nodded.

“Yes, that would be…regrettable, well it’s fine by me, by happy coincidence I've been teaching the class about life in foreign country’s so it will tie in nicely with that as well” she said, smiling warmly.

“Right, where would you suggest I go until the show and tell starts?” I asked.

“You and your friend will be fine standing by the desk until I call them up” she said, addressing Autumn for the first time “What are you here for? if you don't mind me asking”

“I’m a guard that has been assigned as his escort to reduce panic” Autumn said “I am also evaluating him for suitability as a reserve guard”

“Ok then” Cheerilee said, for about half an hour we made small talk until the students started arriving, Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell were some of the first to arrive, they waved to me as they walked to their seats and I waved back, the other students were slightly nervous when they saw me, I noticed that they had all brought something with them, two fillies walked in with their heads held high, they didn't even hesitate when they saw me, soon everyone was sat at their desks and Cheerilee walked to the front of the class.

“Good morning class” she said.

“Good morning Miss Cheerilee” they droned

“Now, I’m sure some of you are all wondering who this is” she said, pointing to me “and all your questions will be answered towards the end of show and tell, so, who wants to go first?” at that a sea of hooves shot up, it went on like this for most of the morning, she would ask who wanted to go next, single out a student, or group of students, and they would come up to the front and show off what they had brought, there were one or two that stuck out in my mind, such as a skinny little pegasus colt called featherweight who had a really nice 35mm SLR camera that belonged to his father, eventually only the C.M.C. were left and Cheerilee called them up, they quickly introduced me, and then told the class how they met me, much to the amusement of the class (and to my embarrassment), it was then my turn to tell everyone about myself.

“Right, I’m not that good at this sort of thing, so does anyone have any questions?” once more a sea of hooves shot up, I picked a student sitting in the back row.

“Where are you from?” She asked

“I come from a nation called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or U.K. for short” I said, showing them the map on the laptop, they all looked on in wonder “next question”

“What’s your cutie mark?”

“My species, Human, don’t have Cutie marks, we often chose our own destiny and don’t limit it to our special talent” I said, the students gasped in surprise, I saw one of the students, Diamond Tiara if I remember correctly, stifle a laugh.

"Sounds like he would fit right in with the Cutie Mark Crusaders" I heard her mutter.

"So what?" I said, "just because I don't have a tattoo on my butt doesn't mean I'm any less of a person, my society doesn't revolve around the fixation that if you have a mark symbolising you talent, you're a better person, what does your cutie mark even represent?" I asked her, she seemed to shrink into her chair as a result of all eyes in the class being focused on her , I heard her mumble something.

"What was that? I don't think the students in the back of class heard you" I said

"My skill in arts and crafts" she said, I deadpanned.

"And that gives you the right to try and belittle other people because they don't have a Cutie mark?" I asked, she shook her head, looking rather sham faced "didn't think so, anyway, moving on, next question"

“Can you do magic?”

“Yes and no, Normally, we humans think of magic as made up nonsense, but we do have stage magic, which usually revolves around sleight of hand or tricks of the eye, but recently I found out that I can control magic” I said, igniting the magic on my hands to show them “humans main strength is intelligence and ingenuity, we weren't strong enough so we invented the steam locomotive to haul freight, we weren't fast enough so we invented the motor car, we couldn't fly so we invented the airplane” I then played a video clip of the first moon landing “we wanted to see what it was like on the moon so we built a rocked to fly people up there” by now they had looks of amazement on their faces, including Cheerilee and Autumn, I continued with my speech “we wanted to watch events from our homes, so we made the Television, we wanted to be able to access limitless information, so we set up the internet, but having said that, a lot of the inventions I have seen here are very similar to the stuff back home” I pointed to the colt with the camera.

“Featherweight, was it, bring you camera up here a second” I said, he nervously walked up and showed me the camera, I got my camera out to show everyone “as you can all see, they are different, but you can tell that they’re both cameras, yes?” the class nodded, Featherweight went and sat back down “does anyone else have any questions?”

“What is it like living here compared to where you come from?”

“In all honesty, there isn't that much difference, there are certain differences, like the money, but it’s roughly the same, except where I come from, ponies don’t talk”

“Do you mean?”

“when I say ponies, I don’t mean ponies like you, where I come from, there more…animals of instinct, and they don’t come in colors of the rainbow, there are only slight similarities, think of it like comparing me with a monkey, we’re similar, but we’re not identical, it’s also like comparing my camera with Featherweight’s camera” at my explanation they all ‘oh’ed in understanding, Cheerilee then dismissed the class for morning break, I was walking out side when I got called over by the students.

“Hey, Vuur Koning” Scootaloo called

“Yes?” I said, walking over to them

“We were wondering if you had any playground games from your world?” she asked, I thought for a moment before responding.

“Do you have a game called ‘British Bulldog’?” I asked.

“Never hear of it” she said.

“Alright, everyone gather round” they all came and sat around me “you play British Bulldog like this, you have all of the players, except for one, in this instance me, stand at one end of the playground, the one player that is left out stands in the middle, all the other players then try to run from one side of the playground to the other without getting caught, if you get caught, you have to help catch the other players, the game continues until there is one player left who hasn't been caught, the game then starts over with the one that was left starting in the middle, the chasers can move freely around the playing area, but you have to go back to the middle once they get to the other side, the ones being chased have to wait until all the other players that haven’t been caught are on the same side of the playing area before they can run to the other side, as long as you are at one end or the other, you can’t get caught, but you only get 30 seconds from the time the last player enters the ‘safe zone’ before you all have to run back across, understand?” they nodded “good, let the games begin”

I played the first round with them, choosing to sit back and watch after that, they were about halfway through the third round when I heard an ear piercing scream, one of the kids was looking in our direction whilst pointing a hoof behind me, I looked behind me to find Timberwolves close behind me and Autumn, we both jumped up and ran towards the playground.

“Get in the school house, now!” I yelled, they didn't think twice, we stopped at the playground and I chucked my rucksack on the floor before hastily opening it and jumping in, Autumn following close behind, I grabbed my sword and ran back outside, Autumn took longer as she was putting her armour on, I held the sword in my right hand and ignited the magic in my left, the latter was purely for intimidation ‘they’re made of wood, so they should think twice before attaching someone with flaming hands’, Autumn suddenly burst out of the rucksack, fully dressed in armour, this armour was different from the type that the normal guards wore, it seemed like it was designed with the goal of reducing drag, it didn't look as bulky as standard armour, and it was also smoother, completely covering up her mane, ears, tail and face, she landed on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust, I turned my attention back to the Timberwolves, the one at the front had a familiar gash on its eye.

“Oh shit, they came here looking for me” I said, Autumn looked at me in surprise.

“What do you mean?” Autumn asked, going into a defensive stance.

“When I first woke up in Equestria, I was attacked by Timberwolves, specifically those ones” I said, pointing to the pack

“How can you tell?” Autumn asked, they were now starting to edge closer.

“Who do you think gave that one the scar?” I said, gesturing to the wolf (let’s call him Scar from now on), I raised my sword in readiness for the attack “so, how do you suggest we deal with them, because I would rather not have to explain to parents why we slaughtered Timberwolves in front of their children”

“Technically they’re not actually alive, they’re constructs made from the ambient magic in the Everfree” she said, rearing onto her hind legs and extending her blades, Scar growled before charging, the other wolves close behind, one of them leaped towards me, jaws open wide, I swung my sword horizontally, hitting it in the jaw line and cutting it in half, another one pounced and I stabbed my sword into its skull, it jerked violently before going limp, I let it drop to the ground, a green aura, much like the one that formed the last time I came across them, seeped out of the carcass and drifted back in the direction of the forest, joined by the aura of its pack mate, the carcass retained its form for a few seconds before collapsing in on itself, leaving nothing but a pile of twigs, I quickly looked for Autumn, she seemed to be taking care of things, several piles of twigs surrounded her, eventually Scar was the only one left, he looked at the two of us before folding his ‘ears’ and dipping his head down in submission, I swear I heard a whimper, I slowly walked towards him.

“Vuur Koning, be careful” I heard Autumn say, I was now standing over the wolf, he seemed scared, I raised my sword and threw it on the ground a few feet away, I slowly crouched down before carefully placing a hand on top of his muzzle, his ‘expression’ went from fear to what I would best describe as surprise.

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you” I quietly said, he seemed to understand me as he pushed us muzzle into my hand, I suddenly got an idea “do you want to come with me?” his ears perked up at that, I ignited the magic in my other hand and gently pressed it to the back of his neck, the flame-like aura suddenly spread from my hand and engulfed the wolf, his eyes and his scar changed from the sickly green to a warm red, much like the aura covering my hand, I removed my hand and the aura surrounding the wolf disappeared, but the eyes and scar stayed red, he now seemed more, for lack of a better word, friendly, I stood up, Autumn looked surprised.

“How did you know that would work?” she asked, still casting the occasional wary glance at Scar.

“I didn't” I said, walking over towards my sword and picking it up “you said Timberwolves are magical constructs, I had a theory, and it turned out to be true” I said, it was at that point that Twilight suddenly teleported into the playground with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity and two other ponies I didn't recognize, the moment they saw Scar they went into a defensive stance, I intervened before things got out of hand.

“No, don’t hurt him” I said.

“We came here because we heard that there were Timberwolves near the school” Twilight said “and we see one right there” she pointed at scar.

“I’m sorry, do you not see the piles of twigs everywhere, or the fact that Scar here isn't trying to attack you?” I said, pointing to the Timberwolf, he was just sitting there, panting with his tongue hanging out and wagging the twigs that made up his tail, I petted him just to prove the point, they seemed to relax at this.

“Jus’ how in Equestria did y’all manage to make a Timberwolf yer pet?” the orange one that I didn't recognize said.

“His pack tried to attack me and Autumn, as you can see that didn't turn out well” I said, I noticed Fluttershy wince.

“You didn't…?” she asked, trailing off.

“I didn't kill them, if that’s what you mean, I don’t know how to, there more magical than actual living creatures, I think the whole ‘oaken-lupine’ thing is just their magical energy creating a form, I think they would probably dissipate it they didn't have the ‘body’, anyway, Scar here, must’ve realized that it would have been stupid to fight me, so he submitted to me, how’d you find out anyway?” I asked.

“A-a little bird told me” Fluttershy said.

“Were you being serious or were you joking, because with this world, I’m not sure what to expect” I said.

“Um I can talk to animals” she said, cautiously walking towards Scar, she sat in front of him and proceeded to start stroking and fussing him “Aww, you’re just a cute little puppy” she said, giving Scar a belly rub.

“That enough proof? Now, I don’t believe I've met you two yet” I said, pointing at the pink pony and the pony with a Texan accent, the others had gone into the schoolhouse to make sure everyone was ok “I’m Vuur Koning, but you can call me V.K. if you want”

“Ah’m Applejack, Ah should thank you for protecting mah sister, Apple Bloom” she said “that makes y’all a good pony in mah books” I was then tackled by the pink pony.

“Hi-I’m-Pinkie-Pie-where-are-you-from-what’s-your-favorite-color-where’d-you-get-that-neat-armor-do-you-like-parties-will-you-be-my-friend...” she started saying before she was yanked off my chest by Applejack, who currently had Pinkie Pies cotton shaped tail in her mouth.

“Hlanth saths herl, se’hel dahn” (Land sakes girl, settle down) Applejack said through Pinkie Pie’s tail before spitting it out “Sorry about that” she said to me “Pinkie can get a bit excitable around new folk”.

“Understatement of the century” I said.

“*gasp* I've just realized you’re new here, and if you’re new here, then that means I haven’t thrown you a welcome to Ponyville party yet” Pinkie Pie said before disappearing in a puff of smoke that I could see rushing towards Ponyville in the distance, I gave a low whistle.

“Gott im Himmel, She’s fast” I said.

“Yep, only pony ah know who’s managed to keep up with Rainbow Dash when she’s in flight, on the level at least” she said.

“I've got to see how fast Rainbow Dash can go, people keep telling me she’s fast, but I haven’t actually seen her flying that fast, I've felt it though” I said, Applejack looked confused.

“What do y’all mean ‘felt’?” she asked.

“When she first saw me she thought I was attacking Twilight and peregrine-dived me, hitting me in the chest” Applejack audibly winced.

“How are Y’all still standing?” she asked.

“This armor” I said, knocking on my chest-plate, it gave a dull thud as it did so and tiny ripples appeared in the shielding.

“That certainly is some mighty fancy get up” she said, at that moment Twilight, Rarity and Rainbow Dash walked out of the Schoolhouse.

“Thank you, Vuur Koning, and Autumn Skies, without your quick action the fillies and colts would have been in grave danger” Twilight said, me and autumn both nodded our thanks, Twilight then looked around, as if looking for something.

“Where’s Pinkie gone?” she asked, still looking around.

“She said something about throwing me a welcome party and then ran off faster than Rainbow Dash” they all ‘oh’ed in understanding “Speaking of which, how fast can you go?”

“You've got a camera, yes?” she asked, I nodded “Now might be a good time to use it” and with that she shot up in to the air, I quickly set up my camera and barely had enough time to aim the camera before I spotted her, she was diving at a speed that should not be physically possible, I could see a cone of air forming around her body, next thing I knew…

KRAKABOOOM

She smashed through the sound barrier, leaving a rainbow colored shockwave in her wake, acting on instinct I pressed the shutter.

“Screw physics, that’s fucking amazing” I said.

“Whilst I wouldn't use such vulgar language, I have to agree with you, it is amazing” Rarity said, Rainbow was now doing all manner of aerobatics, loop-de-loops, corkscrews, I suddenly got an idea.

“HEY, RAINBOW, DO A BARREL ROLL” I shouted, she did said barrel roll and I burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Twilight asked.

“Don’t worry, human joke” I said, waiving my hand dismissively, Rainbow landed a few moments later, kicking up a cloud of rainbow hued dust.

“I've said it once, I’ll say it again, screw physics, that was amazing” I said, looking up at the now clear sky

“What do you mean ‘screw physics’?” Rainbow dash asked.

“for one thing, it should be impossible for something of your mass and power to cause a ‘sonic rainboom’ or to use its proper name, a photonic boom, then again, where I come from, pegasi don’t even exist, let alone manipulate the weather, and the sun and moon rotate by themselves” I said, crossing my arms.

“Yeah, egghead” Rainbow Dash muttered.

“What’s a photonic boom? I know of a sonic boom, but I've never heard of a photonic boom” Twilight said.

“Photonic, as in photon, meaning light, a photonic boom is supposedly what happens when an object exceeds the speed of light, which is 671 million miles per hour, according to physics, when an object exceeds the speed of light, it causes a flash of light, the object would also turn into pure energy, I’m pretty close to just abandoning and disregarding the laws of physics right now, you, Rainbow Dash, should not exist in the your current state, you should be particles floating through the air” I said, twiddling my fingers.

“Oh yeah, I’m fast enough to beat the laws of physics” she said, I face palmed.

“Anyway” I said, turning to Twilight “I don’t know about you, but I wouldn't mind heading back to the library now, you don’t have a problem with pets there, do you?” she shook her head.

“No, as long as he doesn't get out of hand” she said, pointing to Scar, who was still being fussed over by Fluttershy, I snapped my fingers and he immediately sat up.

“Scar, here boy” I said, patting my leg, he complied with my request, standing up and plodding over towards me, standing beside me, he was pretty big, about the size of an Irish Wolfhound, I looked at Twilight. “I don’t think he’ll be a problem, he seems pretty docile now” I said, patting Scar in the side, she cast one last wary glance at Scar before walking off towards Ponyville, the rest of us close behind.

Chapter 9 9 Run to the Hills (Ark 1 Chapter 9)

I awoke to the alarm going off, ‘urgh, 7:00? fucking mornings’ I thought as I turned the alarm on the laptop off before slamming the screen down for the added satisfaction, I sat up in bed, with my feet on the floor, I muttered cursing’s as I stood up and got dressed into my under armour before walking out of the rucksack and starting to look for the bathroom; and the shower located inside, I eventually found it and stepped inside.

I stepped out of the bathroom about five minutes later and made my way back to my rucksack to pick up my laptop (I usually work quicker when listening to music), before walking into the kitchen and placing the laptop on a worktop away from any cooking equipment or sinks, I then went into the music player and selected the Beatles: SGT Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, as I was in the mood for something a little more easy on the ears, I then put on the cooker and started cooking with the sound of the 60’s pouring out of the laptops speakers, bobbing my head along to the tune, Autumn walked into the kitchen as ‘Getting Better’ started playing.

“Good morning” I said, she seemed slightly amused by my upbeat demeanour.

“Well, somepony sure is cheerful this morning” she said, smirking slightly.

“I felt in the mood for something a little more… happy” I said, turning over the sausages “this is the sort of music my dad listened to, so I grew up listening to them as kid”

“How exactly did that develop into what you listen to nowadays?” she asked.

“You mean heavy Metal?” I asked, she nodded “my dad also listened to all of the classic rock bands in the seventies and eighties; Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Black Sabbath you name it, he probably listened to it, he had an impressive collection of vinyl L.P.s”

“How many?” Autumn asked.

“About 1’600” I said, shrugging my shoulders, Autumn did a double take.

“1600‽” she asked in surprise

“Give or take a few hundred” I said, nodding “anyway, my taste in music developed from my Dad’s, just like heavy metal developed from rock, oh, and speaking of heavy metal, when you listen to Sabaton later, take my advice, start with the earliest album: Primo Victoria, and work from there, each album is better than the last, if you start with the most recent one; Heroes, then you just be disappointed with the earlier albums” I placed the sausages on a separate pan to keep them heated and started cooking the bacon

“I’ll keep that in mind” she said “does each album have a particular theme to them?”

“Some of them I’m not so sure about, but I know for a fact that ‘the art of war’ roughly follows a book of the same name, and has quotes from said book, ‘Carolus Rex’ is about war in Sweden, the 30 year war, and the arsehole of a king that they had at the time…” I was about to continue but Autumn interrupted me.

“What do you mean?”

“King Charles of Sweden, now more popularly known as ‘Carolus Rex’, was the person that stared the 30 year war, he was crowned at the young age of 15, long story short, he went mad with power and tried to take over Europe; one of the 6 continental landmasses, he was one of those ‘divine right’ types” I said, noticing Autumns look I continued “he believed that: because he was king, he had the will of god on his side and therefore he had the right to own everything he saw, anyway, moving back to the albums, the ‘Heroes’ album is about heroes in war; those that did good deeds, sometimes at the loss of their own life, but as I said before, listen to the over albums first, save the best till last"

“Sure thing” she said “what exactly do you plan to do today?” She said

“Well once I’ve done what I need to do, I’ll probably just have a walk around, explore the town, maybe have a couple of drinks at a pub and tell anyone who wants to know of my world, to sum it all up, I’ll just be relaxing and taking it easy” I said, cracking some eggs into the pan.

“Are you sure you don’t want me with you?” she said, I could detect some apprehension in her voice, I deadpanned.

“I can take care of myself just fine, I’m not going to be leaving the town so I’ll be fine, plus I’m in the mood to be left to my thoughts today, I have a few things to think over” I said.

“Is it about your father?” she asked, sounding worried.

“A little bit” I admitted “don’t worry, I’ll be fine, trust me, I won’t be drowning my sorrows in drink if that’s what you’re worried about, I generally have trouble finishing my drinks after the 3rd or 4th pint, I just feel ill at that point, but I also need to plan a rough route around the world, I generally think better when I have a little alcohol in my system, otherwise I just dismiss any and all ideas as stupid, oh, would you mind telling Spike and Twilight that breakfast will be ready in about 5 or 10 minutes” I said, Autumn nodded before getting up from the table walking off, she returned a few moments later to confirm that she had relayed the information before walking off once again, I finished cooking everything soon after so I dished everything up on to 4 plates, plus a small amount into a bowl for Scar, and onto a dish for Boris (did you honestly think I would let them go hungry), I was about to take the plates to the table when I noticed an owl sitting at the window, looking at me.

“Oh, I didn’t see you sitting there” I said.

“Who?” the owl responded.

“You, I didn’t see you” I said, pointing at the owl

“Who?” came the owl’s answer, my eye twitched.

“I already said, I…” I trailed off when I realized what was happening.

“God-fucking-dammit!” I shouted, Twilight ran into the kitchen.

“What’s wrong!?” she asked.

“I’ve just been trolled by a fucking owl” I said, pointing at the offending nocturnal avian.

“Who?” came the owl’s response, I threw my hands up in exasperation before face-palming.

“Fuck my life” I muttered, I heard giggling and saw Twilight trying not to burst out laughing.

“Don’t worry, that’s just Owlowiscious, he doesn’t actually talk” she said, rolling her eyes.

“As I said, I’ve been trolled by an owl” I said, picking up the plates and walking towards the table, I saw Autumn look towards

us.

“What happened?” she asked, I put the plates down on the table before pinching the bridge of my nose.

“An owl trolled me, A… Fucking… Owl!” I said, before going back into the kitchen, I could hear giggles coming from the table, I turned to the owl, squinting my eyes “I don’t like you” I said, pointing at the owl.

“Who?” the owl replied, I groaned in exasperation before picking up the other two plates and placing them on the table before getting the food for Scar and Boris, Spike saw the look on my face.

“Dude, don’t worry about it, I totally understand” he said.

“But he’s an owl, do you know how degrading it is to get trolled by an owl?” I said.

“Actually yes, I thought he was going to replace me when he first arrived” I gave him a look “what, it’s true”

“I’m listening” I said, taking a bite of eggs.

“Twilight needed him for when she was up late studying, I took it the wrong way and assumed he was going to replace me as

her number one assistant” he said, sheepishly.

“You know what, what happened to you is so much worse, I feel a lot better now” I said, smirking slightly, he frowned at that, Autumn hummed in appreciation.

“This is really good” she said, pointing at the food with her fork “how did you learn to cook like this?”

“I basically taught myself, although a year’s course of hospitality didn’t go amiss”

“Hospitality?” Twilight asked, tilting her head, I took a bite of the hay-bacon before answering.

“It covers things like being a cook, waiter, receptionist, bar tender, that sort of thing, I was originally planning to be a

photographer, but I also took up a hospitality course in case that didn’t work out, so I know how to cook a fair number of meals” I said.

“Why would you learn two totally different skill sets?” Spike asked.

“Where I come from we don’t have cutie marks, we get our jobs through qualifications, although sometimes I think they rely too heavily upon then, for instance, what good is qualifications maths and English, if you’re going to work in a steelworks” they seemed taken aback by that.

“You’re joking, right?” Autumn asked, I shook my head, as I was unable to speak due to my mouth being full, from that point on we just made small talk, eventually we all finished, I had offered to wash up, but Twilight wouldn’t let me, I then set up the laptop for Autumn, and borrowed the book on maps of the world before putting my armour and rucksack on, donning my summer cloak, and heading outside, with Scar by my side and Boris on my shoulder, ponies would often call their greetings to me as I walked past, as we got to the shopping district I looked at Scar.

“First things, first, I’m getting you a collar, a muzzle, and a lead” his ears dropped at that “don’t give me that look, I’m not having you chase after anything that takes your interest” as I said those words I walked into a pet shop, and returned about 10 minutes later, with a slightly downcast Scar, who was now wearing a muzzle and collar, with a lead attached to said collar, I had also managed to get a rather nice engraved dog tag with his name on one side and a scar mark on the other, in addition to that I had also managed to get one of those ring type things that you often see on birds that are owned by someone, as well as various other bits and pieces, such as dog food, as we walked towards Rarity’s place I noticed Scar’s downcast demeanour.

“Don’t be like that, I would rather you didn’t get taken away from me because you attacked someone” I said, he just huffed and grumbled, I rolled my eyes, before we walked inside I stopped and knelt down, so I was level with Scars face.

“Right, I’m going to trust you to stay put, ok” I said, putting him on the neck and giving him a dog chew, he immediately perked up and laid down, balancing one end of the treat in his front paws and chewing on the other end, I rolled my eyes before walking inside, the doorbell jingled as I opened the door.

“Just a moment” I heard Rarity call, before she waked in to the main room “Oh, it’s you, keep this up and you’ll be my most frequent customer”

“Except I’m technically not a customer, you made me this…” I said, gesturing to the cloak “for free”

“Oh pish-posh, darling” she said, waving a hoof dismissively “now, your clothes are this way” she led me into one of the other rooms where my old clothes were folded up, sporting new scales throughout, as well as what I assumed to be the ‘vest’ for Boris, Rarity levitated the small vest towards me, it was white on one side and black on the other, with red-tinted scale-tips, with some persuasion we managed to fit the vest onto Boris, I packed my old clothes into my rucksack and thanked Rarity before walking outside, where I found Scar still lying down, only his chew was nowhere to be found, ‘figures, he would finish it in one go’ I thought.

“Come on, Scar” I said, picking up his lead, he begrudgingly stood up and we walked back to the shopping district, where I bought various bits and pieces that I was in need of, including several packs of blank C.D.s and a disk reader, whilst I was at it I also got several different music C.D.s, just to see what took my interest, by the time I had bought everything I needed it was getting towards lunchtime, whilst I wasn’t terribly hungry, I did feel in the mood to grab something to eat, I spotted a large building that resembled a gingerbread house, I looked at Scar and shrugged my shoulders before walking towards it and sitting at a table located outside, noting the sign that said ‘Sugar-cube Corner’ as I sat down, Scar lay down beside the chair, I looked at the menu, noting that it was mostly sweet confectionery and drinks that was listed on the menu, no-sooner had I decided what I wanted, than Pinkie Pie hopped over.

“Hiya V.K.” she said, bouncing on the spot, I raised an eyebrow at that.

“Pinkie Pie!? What are you doing here?” I asked, gesturing to the general location.

“I work here silly” she said, rolling her eyes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world “now, what can I get for you?” I

looked at the menu just to confirm my choice.

“I think I’ll have a large mocha and the small triple chocolate ice cream sundae” I said, pointing it out on the menu to clarify, Pinkie Pie nodded.

“Okey-Dokey-Lokey” she said, before bouncing away, once she was out of sight I got out a dog treat and got Scars attention, who stood up, wagging his tail.

“uh-uh-uh” I said, lifting it out of his reach before he had a chance to bite onto it, I pointed to the floor “sit” it took a couple of times repeating the command, but he eventually sat down.

“Good boy” I said, giving him the treat and patting him on the head, it was at that point that Pinkie Pie hopped over with a tray holding my order balanced on her back, which by some miracle didn’t fall off.

“Here you go” she said, bouncing by order onto the table, I paid the money for the sundae and drink and thanked her before she hopped off to serve someone else, I mostly just sat there, taking the occasional sip of the mocha, or mouthful of ice cream sundae (both of which were absolutely glorious), watching the ponies of the town going about their daily business whilst I let my mind wonder, I have a habit of doing that, when I don’t have anyone/anypony to talk to, I tend to go into a trance of sorts, so I kind of freaked out when I looked down at my sundae and saw Discords face looking back at me.

“HOLY JESUS ON A BIKE!” I exclaimed, earning a few stares from passing ponies.

“You called” I heard discord say from behind, I looked in his direction to find him with a brown beard, wearing robes and sandals, and sitting on a bike, I couldn’t help giggling slightly at that.

“What do you want?” I asked, he snapped his fingers and the clothes, sandals, beard and bike disappeared in a flash before he walked over towards me, Scar started growling at Discord, who rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers, turning the Timberwolf into a puppy.

“Not so threatening now are you” he said, patting the puppy on the head, who just growled, I picked Scar up to try and calm him down “my, hardly been here a week and you already have two pets I see, at this rate you’ll need an zoo to hold all of them, as for why I’m here, can I not see my favourite human every now and then?”

“Seriously, why are you here?” I said, taking a bite of the sundae.

“I like checking on my agents of chaos, am I not allowed to do so?” he asked, folding his arms and feigning a hurt expression.

“Well seeing as you’re here, I have a question, does me seeing my dad class as your ‘prophesy’?” I asked, making quotation marks with my hands.

“No, they only apply to anyone who is alive, although I wish it was your dad who’s getting catapulted to this world, he wouldn’t be a spoilsport like you are” he said.

“Can’t argue with you on that point” I conceded, taking a sip of my mocha, I then went for my camera bag, I set up my camera and promptly took a picture of Scar who was still a puppy, he gave me ‘the look’ and whined slightly

“You look adorable” I said to the Timberwolf as I put my camera away, he just grumble slightly, I looked back at discord “now, if you don’t mind, please revert my wolf back to the correct age” Discord huffed and snapped his fingers, to late did I realize what was going to happen and before I knew it I was sprawled on the ground on top of Scar.

“God dammit, Discord” I said as I got back up, I looked around, only to find that discord had disappeared “Fucking chimeras” I muttered before getting up and putting the muzzle and collar back of Scar, I soon finished my lunch and started walking towards the park that I had seen on my way to Sugar-cube Corner, as I walked along one of the designated paths I beckoned for Boris to take off, which he did with pleasure, I found a bench to sit down at and watch him fly gracefully through the sky, several children who were playing saw him flying and stopped to look at the falcon in awe, he seemed to notice this as he started doing all manner of aerobatics, before climbing up high and diving at the children, sending them running in different directions, laughing and giggling as they went, I couldn’t help laughing slightly at that, I heard the flapping of a pegasus’ wings nearby and saw Rainbow Dash land near me.

“Hey, V.K., I see what you meant when you said he was quick” she said, sitting on the bench and looking at the falcon, who was playfully chasing after the kids.

“I told you” I said, smirking slightly.

“He’s still not fast enough to beat me” she said.

“Well duh, he can’t break the sound barrier, but he can get up to 200mph in a dive, which is an accomplishment in its own right” I said, she scoffed at that.

“I’d like to see him try” she said, standing up, I clapped my hands and Boris started banking towards me, the fillies and colts ran behind him, trying to keep up, they stopped when they saw me and Rainbow Dash and looked at us in awe

“You’re the one who saved the school from Timberwolves!” exclaimed a pinto coloured colt in a cockney accent.

“Yep, and this, is Boris” I said, kneeling down so they could get a better look at the Falcon, they all started walking closer to get as good a view as they could of the falcon “now, who want to see Boris give Rainbow Dash a run for her money?” they all cheered at that, I then knelt down and whispered into Rainbow Dashes ear.

“Don’t win by too much, I’ve got to impress the kids, haven’t I?” she just rolled her eyes before walking into the middle of the path, I followed suit and stood next to her, my arm outstretched to one side

“From here to town hall and back, perhaps?” I asked, she nodded ever so slightly, and Boris squawked in acknowledgment

“On three: One. Two. THREE!” Rainbow Dash shot off and I swung my arm forward to give Boris that extra boost, they both sped off, leaving a strong gust of wind in their wake which fluttered my cloak rigorously, we all watched them as they disappeared from view…

…The two rivals sped through the skies, dodging clouds and birds, and even the occasional pegasus, Rainbow dash was clearly holding back, not even breaking a sweat, but the same could be said for Boris, who was literally dancing around Rainbow dash, running circles around her whilst still keeping pace, Rainbow Dash took note of this and snorted.

“Alright buzzard, let’s see what you can really do” she said, before increasing her wing beats 2-fold, she felt herself start to accelerate rapidly ‘let’s see you keep up with me now’ she thought, only for that train of thought to come to a grinding halt when she looked behind her to find Boris right on her tail, ‘What‽ how did he catch up so quickly?’ she thought as she saw the town hall come into view, she pulled her wings into the vertical position to slow herself down to get as tight a turn as possible, only to be over taken by Boris on the turn, who was banking practically vertically as he shot round the town hall and started to climb.

“What’s that bird brain doing, he hasn’t given up has he?” she thought out loud with a smirk, never the less, she flapped her wings as fast as possible, not wanting to take the risk of Boris appearing at the last moment, ‘no way am I getting beaten by a bird’ she thought as she raced towards the finish line at top speed, she could see the colts and fillies cheering and waving, as well as Vuur Koning, who was standing there with his arm crossed, she was just crossing the finish line when she saw a black and white blur shoot past her, causing her to angle her wings vertically out of surprise…

…I saw Rainbow Dash speeding towards the finish line, but Boris was nowhere in sight, I was about to question here he was when I saw him shoot down past the cloud cover in full stoop, he pulled up just before he hit the ground, his forward momentum pushing him towards Rainbow dash at an astounding rate, the two of them crossing the finish line at the exact same time, Rainbow Dash musn’t have been expecting him to pull that stunt, as the shock was clear on her face and she angled her wings steeply to create as much drag as possible, as well as digging her hooves into the ground, leaving deep grooves as she slid past, she finally stopped and turned around.

“How did he do that?” she asked, pointing to Boris, who was now perched on my shoulder, looking about a smug as possible for a falcon.

“what you just saw was what’s known as a stoop” I said, addressing the children as much as Rainbow Dash “as I have said countless times, they can reach speeds of up to 200mph, or possibly more in the case of Boris here” the children all started to crowd round, their eyes full of wonder, I sent Boris of into the sky to play with the children and walked towards rainbow dash, who looked downcast.

“You know, for a moment there I thought you were going to win” I said, she looked up at me in surprise

“Really?” she asked, perking up slightly.

“I swear on my father’s grave” I said, putting my hand on my chest “for a moment I thought he’d fucked off, all I saw was you, speeding towards the finish line, with Boris nowhere to be found, besides, technically you didn’t lose, you both tied, you would have won for sure if he hadn't of dived like he did” she smirked slightly at that.

“Yeah, I’m still the best” she said, rubbing a hoof against her chest before taking off into the sky, I rolled my eyes before sitting down on the bench, watching Boris play with the children, I patted Scar in the side, getting his attention, before patting my thigh, as a sign for him to rest his head there, he did so and I started stroking him as we sat there, I started singing, I didn’t really have a reason for singing, I just felt in the mood to sing.

“Aerials, in the sky, when you lose small mind, you free your life, Aerials, so up high, when you free your eyes, eternal prize” I hummed the rest of the song, Scar seemed to visibly relax, his shoulders slumping slightly, I’ll admit, my singing wasn’t perfect, but it could be a lot worse, I generally sing better if I’m actually listening to the song, as I tend to instinctively tune my voice to the music, for the rest of the day, not much of interest happened, I ended up going to a pub and looking over the atlas whilst drinking a tankard of cider, after a few hours I had a basic route plan written out on a piece of paper, ready to be refined at a later date, I walked into the library to find Autumn laying on a sofa, singing Primo Victoria whilst playing the song through the laptops speakers, I had an idea, so I quietly shut the door and waited for the first chorus to finish, I then snuck up behind her and started singing when the chorus finished, causing Autumn to jump out her fur.

“we’ve been here before, used to this kind of war, crossfire grinds through the sand, the orders were easy; it’s kill or be

killed, blood on both sides will be spilled, in the dawn they will pay, with their lives as the price, history’s written today, now

that we are at war with the Axis again, this time we know what will come” I sang.

“You’re back!” Autumn said, once I had finished singing, she paused the song

“Aww, you were supposed to sing the second chorus with me” I said, crossing my arms, Autumn just rolled her eyes

“anyway, I have a rough journey plan written out, it just needs finalizing” I passed her the notes I had, she looked at them for a few moments before passing them back.

“Why Trottingham first?” she asked.

“People say I ‘ave a Tro’ing’am accen’” I said, slipping in to my northern accent “I wouldn’ mind visiting there, jus’ t’ see what people are talkin’ abou’”.

“You’ve changed your accent” Autumn said.

“nah, I’m talkin’ in my proper accen’, I’ve learn’ t’ speak in a neutral accen’ when I talk with people that speak in a vastly

different accent” I said, slipping back to my neutral accent to prove the point.

“You have a coastal accent” she said “its spoken in the coastal towns and the far north, it’s not the same as a Trottingham accent, there is a difference, I’ll admit, when you speak in your ‘neutral’ accent, you sound like a typical Trottingham accent”

“Yeah" I agreed "expect me to be speaking in my true accent when we are in the north of Equestria, and whenever I actually speak to you, anyway, I’m thinking of heading back to the capital tomorrow to begin my training, you don’t have a problem with that do you?” I asked, she shook her head, for the rest of the night we sat there, listening to Sabaton, drinking cider that I had bought earlier, swapping stories, generally just relaxing whilst I copied songs onto the blank C.D.s, when I finished we eventually went to bed, at about 1:00 am.

“Y’all take care of yourselves, ya hear?” Applejack said, we were all standing at the station, the train had just pulled in, and me and Autumn were about to step on board.

“I’ll try, and if I can’t, I’ve always got Autumn to protect me” I said, chuckling slightly.

“I heard that” Autumn called from the luggage compartment of the brake coach, she walked out of the coach and towards us.

“Anyway, group photo” I said, getting my camera out and turning it on, I walked over to a table to rest it on whilst I set it up, I then set the timer on the shutter before quickly walking back over to the group, after a few moments I heard the shutter click

“I’ll send you all copies of the photo” I said, walking over to the camera and packing it away into my camera bag.

“ALL ABOARD” the guard shouted, we all said our goodbyes, before me, Autumn, Boris (who was perched on my shoulder) and Scar climbed onto the train and walked into a compartment facing the platform and sat down just as the train pulled out of the station, they waved to us until I lost sight of them, the train speeding towards Canterlot, and my future as a reserve guard.

END OF ARK 1

Chapter 10 10 Living After Midnight (Ark 2 Chapter 1)

1 YEAR LATER

1 year, was that really all it had been, just 12 months, training was a total pain, and then some red demon-centaur thing tried to take over the world, so I’ve already go my first taste of combat as a reserve guard, but now that’s all in the past, let’s do a quick head count, there’s me: the alien reserve guard, now armed with a 1600-style pistol that fires bolts of magic, Autumn Skies: Special operations guard, as well as my dear friend and guide to this world, Scar: my pet Timberwolf, now sporting a custom set of metal armour that is directly bolted to his wooden exoskeleton with cool features such as sabre-teeth and longer claws, and Boris: my pet Falcon and messenger, at this exact moment we were on a sleeper train headed towards Trottingham, where we would stay with Autumns family for the week, before beginning the quest for real, we were about a day into the journey, with 2 more to go (it’s about 700 route miles from Canterlot to Trottingham), and we were still climbing through the mountain range that Canterlot is located on, although Autumn says that we should be clear of the mountains and speeding through relatively flat country by tomorrow morning

On the plus side, as someone who is loco about trains, was the fact that the train was being pulled by a massive streamlined Garrett, another plus side was the view, my god the view, the line practically hugged the mountain side, so on one side of the train you could see for miles, I managed to get a really good photo of the sun setting in the horizon.

We had our own en-suit bedroom, first class premier, the entire coach at the rear of the train, complete with a balcony at the rear, so we practically have our own observation carriage, that’s yet another thing I owe Celestia for, although I was a little apprehensive about sharing a bed with Autumn, I wouldn’t be sleeping in the rucksack, not when the bed in the carriage was like a cloud, so I would just have to man-up and deal with it, no more awkwardness, we’re friends, we trusted each-other, and we aren’t interested in each-other in any way that could be considered romantic, so we didn’t have much to worry about, I’d actually had a talk with Autumn about it, and she didn’t see what the problem was, we were friends, nothing more, so there wasn’t a problem as far as she was concerned.

For most of the journey we would listen to music, I showed her movies for the first time; she actually had tears in her eyes when she saw Black Hawk Down.

I was sat in an armchair facing the rear windows, sipping on Hayleys and listening to music, looking at the stars with all of the lights turned off, the rails highlighted in the moon light as they slithered into the distance, with Boris laid on the floor next to the chair, Autumn was currently in the bar carriage so it was just me, Scar and Boris in our room at the moment, speaking of Boris, he was currently perched on my shoulder, roosting, and when he was asleep, no force on earth could wake him up, he slept like a dragon, so I was mostly left to my thoughts, the music providing the background noise that I needed to zone out, after a couple of hours I decided to call it a night and went to bed, I barely registered Autumn climbing into bed and shuffling up close to me.

I awoke the next morning to the sunlight piercing through the windows, I muttered nonsensical grumblings before hugging the pillow next to me and pulling it closer before closing my eyes and dozing, basking in the warmth from the sun.

“You know, not that I’m complaining, but if you wanted to cuddle, you could’ve just asked” the pillow said, I was confused, both from the fact that I was still half asleep, and because pillows shouldn’t talk, it was then that my mind jolted awake and I opened my eyes to find myself cuddling Autumn, an amused look on her face ‘Screw it, it’s still morning, and the bed is so comfortable’ I thought.

“But you’re so fluffy” I said drowsily, hugging her tighter “you’re like a really warm pillow”

“I’ll take that as a compliment” Autumn said “and you pretty comfortable as well” at this point she wrapped her arms around me, we laid like this for some time, enjoying each-others warmth, after about half an hour I decided to get up, I got dressed into my armour, but left the helmet and gloves off, I looked at the clock; 9:05 am

“I’m off to go have breakfast” I said to autumn, she nodded and I walked through the train towards the dining car, the whole train oozed class, think orient express levels of luxury, I sat down at one of the tables, I ended up getting into a rather interesting conversation with a earth pony stallion with an accent akin to a British WW2 fighter pilot ; who was quite the railway fanatic himself, his face when I told him my country hadn’t used steam locomotives for 46 years was rather amusing.

“What do you use now?” he asked.

“Either diesel engines or electric” I said “they look a little bit like carriages, power bogies at each end with the body shell on top, although having said that, there are several projects going on with the aim of build in new members of Locomotive classes that weren’t preserved, they’re all one-off projects, the first one was completed about 6 years ago, there are about 20 or 30 separate groups, each one aiming to build a separate locomotive, most of them are things like tank engines or pacific locomotives”

“Pacific locomotive?” he asked.

“Oh right, different planet” I said, I paused, trying to find the correct term “it’s a 4-6-2 locomotive, 4 front wheels, 6 drive wheels and 2 trailing wheels, it was the most common arraignment for an express steam locomotive in my country, along with 4-6-0 locomotives, they were the ‘standard’ sizes of locomotives that pulled expresses, our north-south main line is only about 400 miles give or take, it’s a small country, about 200 miles at the widest point, so we didn’t really need anything bigger than a 4-6-2, there was a line up in the far north that had big 2-8-2 locomotives, but they were too long for the winding route that they ran on, one thing we didn’t have many of were Garratt’s, our name for the type of locomotive at the front of the train…” at that moment there was a loud bang and the whole train shook violently, I looked out the window just in time to see a large metal beam go flying past the window.

“What in Tartarus was that?” the stallion exclaimed, having seen what I saw.

“Oh shit, it’s chucked a con-rod” I said, the stallion paled slightly at that, the train stopped and I stood up

“I’m going to go get it and bring it back to them” I said, walking to one of the carriages side doors, Autumn ran towards me.

“What are you doing?” she asked, watching me climb down from the carriage.

“going to retrieve the piece that got flung off the locomotive, the reason why we stopped in the middle of nowhere” I said, referring to the grassy fields that surrounded the tracks “you can either help me, or you can go inform a guard so that the know why I’m outside the train” she jumped down off of the carriage, I smiled.

“You’ll need help to carry it back” she said, I nodded and noticed the stallion climb down as well.

“There is no way just the two of you can carry it back, you’ll need my help” he said.

“I won’t complain, what’s your name by the way?” I asked.

“Neighgel Gearsley” he said, I did a double take.

“Do you design locomotives by any chance?” I asked, he nodded.

“Well yes, but how did you know?” he asked.

“My country had a locomotive designer called Nigel Gresley, anyway, shall we?” I asked, they both nodded and we started walking back along the train, I could see the con-rod laying by the side of the track, glinting in the distance after walking for some time we eventually reached it, it was a really big piece of metal, easily about 3 meters long “this is going to be a pain” I muttered, I grabbed hold of the Big-end bearing whilst Gearsley grabbed the other and Autumn grabbed hold of the middle, I looked at the two ponies before counting down.

“On three, we lift, OK?” they nodded “O.K. one, two, three” we strained to lift it up, it must of weighed a good 500kg, it helped that Gearsley was an earth pony, but both Autumn and Gearsley had to stand up un their hind legs, with the con-rod on our shoulders, we started to make our way back to the train, ponies saw us walking down with the con-rod and started cheering us on, we eventually reached the locomotive, the driver and fireman were surprised when they saw Gearsley.

“Mister Gearsley, Sir?” the driver, a pegasus, said.

“Which part failed?” Gearsley asked, the two enginemen stumbled with their words, he rolled his eyes before telling us to lower the con-rod, we walked up to the affected wheel set “looks like the big-end crank-pin failed” he said, he turned to the engine men.

“We’ll need a new crank-pin” the fireman, a unicorn, nodded before going into the support coach.

“It’s a good thing this has internal valve gear” I said.

“Yes, it’s not one of my designs though, these ones are getting rather dated and in need of a rebuild, that was probably why it chucked the con-rod” he said.

“Have you tried the conjugated valve arrangement yet?” I asked.

“The what valve arraignment?” he said

“It’s a type of valve gear that my worlds equivalent of you developed” I explained “it takes the motion of the outside valves and uses a series of rods to covert that motion into the motion required to drive the valve controlling the middle cylinder, reduces maintenance costs and saves space, I’ll show you a technical drawing of it, as well as the locomotives that your parallel designed, when we get back on the train”

“It would be rather refreshing to see what your world has, I’ve found my imagination going a little bit stale as of late” he said, it was at that point that the fireman returned with the required parts, we soon had the con-rod reattached to the locomotive, the driver looked at his watch and started suddenly.

“Gosh, is that t’ time already? Righ’, climb on, you can ‘ead through t’ corridor in t’ side of the bunker when we ge’ underway” he said in an accent similar to a Yorkshire, the urgency clear in his voice, we all quickly climbed into the cab and the driver blasted the whistle before setting the reverser and opening the regulator to full, the train quickly accelerated, its multiple wheel-sets easily coping with the heavy coaches, within a couple of minutes we were back up to speed, I turned to Autumn.

“Have Boris fly towards the locomotive” I said to her, she nodded and walked through to the carriages, Gearsley also headed back through, I stood at the cab window watching the world go by, a few minutes later I saw Boris fly towards me, but didn’t land in my shoulder, instead he just flew alongside the cab, the driver saw this and chuckled.

“That falcon yours?” he asked, jerking his head towards Boris, I nodded, he stood up from the drives seat “right, sit in that seat and keep hold of the regulator, I need to check the motion” and with that he jumped out of the cab and took flight, keeping pace with the train, I sat down and grabbed hold of the regulator making sure it didn’t move from the vibrations, I saw the driver fly down low, watching the motion closely, glancing forward every now and then.

“Open ‘er up as far as she’ll go” he shouted, looking at me and raising a hoof repeatedly, I nodded and pulled back on the regulator as far as it would go, the train slowly started to accelerate, the driver still managed to keep pace, I looked at the speed gauge; 70mph and climbing, Boris landed on my shoulder, I glanced at the fireman, he was also sat in a seat, checking various gauges and dials, absentmindedly wiping the copper pipework with a cloth, I looked in the distance and saw a red light next to a signal box, a few miles ahead, the driver saw this as well.

“Shu’ ‘er off, now!” he shouted, I pushed the regulator forward and the train started coasting, the driver quickly flew into the cab and started telling me to pull this, or turn that, we eventually screeched to a stop outside the signal box, the Signalman walked onto the balcony.

“What happened?” he asked, tapping the watch on his wrist “you’re about 10 minutes late”

“T’ old girl chucked a con-rod abou’ 20 miles back” the driver said, chuckling “luckily this young lad and a couple others retrieved it for us” the signalman tittered.

“That’s been happening more often now a days” the signalman said.

“Well, mister Gearsley ‘imself was one of t’ one helping t’ carry t’ con-rod, so ‘e should order dem rebuilt soon” the driver responded.

“O.K., I’ll alert the next major station to have a replacement locomotive ready, right away, driver” the signalman said before walking back inside and setting the signal to green, the driver gave a blast of the whistle before directing me on operating the controls and jumping back outside and keeping an eye on the motion, he had me hold it at about 20mph for a few minutes before opening it up to full power, as we cruised along I started Singing.

When I finished the fireman looked at me.

“What was that song about?” he asked.

“it’s about my world’s fastest steam locomotive” I said “a London and North-Eastern Railway class A4 4-6-2 locomotive #4468 ‘Mallard’, it was about 76 years ago that she set the world record; 126mph, a record that is unbeaten by a steam locomotive to this day, she’s big, blue and beautiful, and a whistle that sound unlike anything on my world, it sound a lot like the whistle on this loco” I pulled the whistle to demonstrate, the chime whistle blasting through the air as we rolled along the line we eventually came towards our scheduled stop, the driver took over the controls and I thanked them both before walking through to the carriages towards our carriage, it was about lunch time, so the dining car was packed, I rushed back to our room to grab the laptop and Boris flew off of my shoulder and onto the one of the armchairs at the rear of the coach, I then put down some food for Scar before going back towards the dining cars, I found Gearsley, along with Autumn, sitting at a table, Gearsley saw me.

“Ah, Vuur Koning, am I right?” he asked, I nodded before sitting down next to Autumn, a waiter came up to the table and we ordered our drinks and food, Gearsley took a sip of champagne before speaking.

“So, Vuur Koning, before we climbed onto the train you mentioned showing me your worlds locomotives” I nodded before placing my laptop onto the table and bringing up the photo viewer, I then went through different types of locomotives, giving a brief explanation about each type.

“Some of your locomotive are certainly interesting” he said “like the Q1, was it?” I nodded.

“it was an austerity locomotive” I said “built for war and for ease of maintenance, but they weren’t called ‘Ugly Ducklings’, among other things, for nothing, but a word of advice, if you ever design a locomotive like that, at least give it a running board along the side and a proper boiler” he chuckled slightly at that.

“I do know one thing for sure” he said, before taking a sip of champagne

“What’s that?” I asked

I’ll definitely be building some of your worlds streamlined Pacific’s” he said.

“Maybe experiment with the streamlined casing by fitting it to your rebuild of the Garrett’s” I suggested.

“I’ll give it a try” he said “it looks a lot more effective at reducing drag than the current streamlining on the U5” he noted

“U5?” I asked

“It’s a class of what you call ‘Garrett’s’” he said, for the rest of the meal we made small talk, not just about trains, for Autumns sake, eventually Gearsley retired for the day and me and Autumn went to the bar carriage to have some drinks until we decided to call it a night (we generally only eat one good meal a day), we were sat at the bar when I turned to Autumn.

“Listen, about this morning…” I went to say

“It’s fine” Autumn said, interrupting me.

“Really!?” I asked, a little surprised.

“We’re friends” she said, before draining a glass of whiskey “and I trust you not to do anything ‘funny’” she made quotation marks with her hooves before beckoning to the bar tender for another glass of whiskey, she then raised it towards me

“To friendship” she said, I tapped my glass of cider against her glass.

“And trust, cheers” I said, before we both downed our glasses and beckoned for another of each.

“When we get to Trottingham, me, my brother and my sister are taking you for a night on the town, Trottingham style” she said, prodding me in the shoulder with a hoof.

“Nothing dodgy, I hope” I said, she shook he head.

“Oh no, nothing like that, just a few pubs, a club or two, that sort of thing” she said, we stayed at the bar for several more hours, dinking and making small talk, when we finally decided to call it a night Autumn was have quite a bit of trouble walking straight, luckily our carriage wasn’t too far from the bar so we didn’t have far to walk, I did however have to support her as she walked, we reached the room and Autumn stumbled over to the bed, I walked over to one of the arm chairs and was about to sit down when I heard Autumn speak up.

“Come ‘ere” she said, slurring slightly “I need a cuddle” I looked at her, she was laying on her back, looking at me upside down.

“You’re drunk” I pointed out.

“No ‘m not, you’ve more cider than me” she then burst out laughing, ‘eh, what the hell, I’ll have to go to bed at some point’ I thought, getting undressed and walking over to the bed, I turned the light off and was about to climb into beg when Autumn hugged my around the chest, pulling me onto the bed.

“yer soo warm and cuddly” she said, nuzzling into my chest.

“Autumn…?” I asked, but she didn’t respond, having fallen asleep, I settled down and eventually fell asleep.

I woke up to the sun glaring through the windows, ‘Fuck…off…Celestia’ I thought, my head, and Celestia it seems, was already punishing me for all the cider I drank last night, I tried to get up but found myself pinned down by Autumn, who was still sleeping, ‘just great’ I thought, I sighed before using my magic to turn on a tap and levitate a glass towards the tap before bringing the now full glass towards me, I drank the water before repeating the process several times over, I herd Autumn groan and stir slightly, she opened her eyes only to clamp them shut afterwards.

“My… fucking…head” she said, removing an arm from around me to massage her forehead with a forehoof, I levitated a fresh glass of water towards her and she greedily drank it down before requesting for more, several more time than me, seems she had a much larger hangover than me, I got up to go run a bath for Autumn, she needed to relax and take it easy today.

“there’s a bath waiting for you” I said, she raised a hoof into the air to signify that she heard me, I got dressed into some formal clothes and shoes that Rarity had made me during my training and walked out onto the balcony, it was early, about 6:30 and the train was currently stopped in a passing loop, and would remain to do so until about 8:00, we would be reaching Trottingham by about 3:00 pm, so this was the last day of our journey, I woke Scar and Boris up and lead them outside to do whatever business they needed to do , I sat on the steps of the carriage, we were in an open area, but there was more trees dotted around than usual, a sign that we were getting towards the heavily forested county of Trottinghamshire, that’s one thing I found out about Equestria, the south is generally more mountainous, with the north being the more forested half, I looked along the length of the train to find several ponies with the same idea as me, having let out whatever pets they had, I could spot a couple of dogs, rushing about and playing with each other, I noticed that the ponies were in one group, so I snapped my fingers to get Boris and Scar’s attention before walking down towards the group, they seemed a little apprehensive when they saw Scar, fully decked out in armour, but relaxed when they saw him sit next to me when I sat on one of the steps to the carriage, Boris shot up into the air, having obviously spotted a potential meal.

“Is he tame?” one of the ponies asked, pointing at Scar.

“Yes and no, he is still technically wild, but he is now linked with my magic, do you see his eyes?” I asked, they nodded, I flared up my magic and his eyes flared up as well.

“Timberwolves magical aura is usually green” I said, dispelling my magic “plus they can’t venture far from the Everfree most of the time, Scar submitted to me after I defended a school against his pack, and by defended I mean I vanquished them back to the Everfree, minus their wooden bodies”

“Wait, that was you?” one of the ponies asked.

“Unless there is another human who appeared near Ponyville last year that I’m unaware of, yes” I said, I saw Boris dive towards a small bird and knock it out of the sky, after a few moments he flew back over and landed on my shoulder, his beak stained with a little bit of blood, I got out a cloth and started wiping his beak, when I was done he started preening his wings, we all sat or stood there, making light conversation about various subjects, Scar eventually started playing with the dogs.

“It’s about time he started loosening up” I said, ever since he’s submitted to me he’s either been lazing around, or constantly on his guard, then again, we have been sleeping in a barracks for the past year”

“Are you a guard?” one of them asked.

“Reserve, I was training for the past year” I said “I’ve just started a journey around the world and I needed combat in case I run into trouble, my friend, translator and guide has family in Trottingham, so that’s our first stop, before we head into Germaney, followed by the Crystal Empire, the United Griffin Kingdoms and Minotauria before heading down south to the Ibex Empire, then across the ocean to the southern continent to visit Zebrica, Camelu and Cervidas before plunging into the jungles of Lost World”

“You have a heck of a journey ahead of you” one of them said.

“Why do you think my companion is a special ops guard, anyway, I’m gonna head back on, I’ll see you if I see you” I said, before walking back up the length of the train, Scar and Boris following behind, I climbed back onto our carriage to find Autumn out of the bath, brushing her mane.

“Feeling Better?” I asked, she nodded, Scar plodded over to his ‘spot’ beside the armchair and laid down, and Boris flew over to the arm chair and perched on top of it, I walked over to the laptop and put on some music, I walked over to the small kitchenette that we had and started boiling some water for a cup of tea, the tribal style music playing softly in the background.

“Want one?” I asked Autumn.

“Sure, you know how I like it” the said, still brushing her mane, I got another cup from one of the cupboards and placed a teabag inside, the water soon boiled and I poured some into each cup, followed by some milk and sugar, I passed one to Autumn and walked over the armchair, I sat down in the armchair and looked out of the window, absentmindedly sipping my tea, travelling through the Griffin Kingdoms was going to be tough, in the past year relations had been breaking down between Equestria and the Griffin Kingdoms, the northern continent was now divided in two, with the changelings siding with the griffins, and the Minotaur’s and crystal Ponies siding with Equestria, and now there was talk of a war, it wasn’t helped by the fact that the King of the Griffin Kingdoms was a warmongering arsehole.

“History is repeating itself” I thought out loud.

“What?” Autumn asked, brushing her tail.

“I’ve just been thinking about the situation with the Griffins” I said” if it turns into war, and knowing what the king of the Griffin Kingdoms is like it probably will do, then your world is repeating what happened on mine about 100 years ago, that’s one of the reasons why I want to get the Griffin Kingdoms over and done with, so that if it does become war, we don’t have to worry about going into an enemy country”

“But we would have to call off our travels anyway, you are a reserve guard, and my experience would mean they would probably call me back into service” she said “I may be discharged, but I can still fight in a war”

“I would rather not get stuck in an enemy country because we left it till last” I said.

“Fair point” she replied “but don’t think on it too much, I hate it when you get all pessimistic about war”

“it’s called realistic outlook on war” I said “besides, if you think I’m bad now, you should’ve seen me when the trouble in the Ukraine was going off, I would go to sleep worried that my country would get nuked overnight”

“You’ve already told me about 1000 times” she said, walking over and resting a hoof on my shoulder “you need to stop worrying, and relax, this is supposed to be a once in lifetime experience, that’s one of the reasons me and my siblings are taking you out for a night on the town”

“You told them about my worries?” I asked

“No, just that you need to relax” she said, before sitting in the armchair next to me, her cup of tea in her hooves, we both just sat there in silence until it was time to go for breakfast.

The train pulled into Trottingham Central station and me, Autumn, Boris and Scar disembarked from the carriage, I saw two ponies waving to Autumn, one was a large white pegasus stallion with a light blue mane and tail, and a snow flake for a cutie mark, the other, a pegasus mare with a yellow coat, a light blue mane and tail and a cutie mark with a full moon partially obscured by clouds, I assumed they were Autumn’s brother and sister, we walked over to them, Autumn walking in a full canter, obviously excited to see them, she cantered up to them and they all hugged each other.

“It’s so good to see you again” she said, she then pulled away from them “Winter, Summer, I would like you to meet my friend, Vuur Koning, he was the one I mentioned in the letter”.

“Bloody Tar’arus” Winter Chill said “you weren’ jokin’ when you said ‘e wasn’t from around ‘ere”

“‘Hello” I said “it’s great to finally meet you” I couldn’t help chuckling at their reaction to my accent, both of their jaws dropped “let me guess, you didn’t expect me to have a coastal accent?” they both shook their heads slowly.

“Don’t worry about it” I said “anyway, shall we get moving, we can talk on the way” they both recovered from there shock and we all started walking towards the stations exit, as we were walking through the streets of Trottingham Midsummer Night turned to look at me.

“So, Vuur Koning, how did you get that accent?” she asked.

“Where I come from, everyone speaks in a Trottinghamshire accent, with variations depending on the county or city, the accent I’m speaking in is called a northern accent and is spoken in the north east of the country, we even have similar place names, for instance we have a city called Nottingham” both Midsummer Night and Winter Chill oh’d in understanding, Winter Chill was the next to speak

“How exactly does a...you” he shook a hoof around in my direction “get a pet Timberwolf and falcon?”

“when I first arrived in Equestria I ended up defending a school from a pack of Timberwolves, I ended up sending most of them back to the Everfree forest, minus their bodies, he sensed it was stupid to try and fight me, so he submitted to me, now he’s marked by my magical aura” I said, flaring up my magic.

“But why a Timberwolf?” Midsummer Night asked

“We have a saying back on my world” I said “a dog is a man’s best friend, and he has more than lived up to the saying” Winter Chill seemed to get offended

“Oh, is my sister not good enough for you?” he said, I got really nervous.

“I-I didn’t mean it like that, I mean no offence…” I tried to apologise but Winter Chill started laughing.

“Mate, I’m jus’ messin with ya” he said, before bursting out laughing, Autumn face hooved

“One day, Winter, you’ll be the death of me” she said, shaking her head slightly.

“Love you too, sis” he said, throwing an arm around her and pulling her close before letting go “anyway, you were saying”

“Well, as for Boris” I said, stroking the falcon on the neck “I needed a messenger, one that’s fast, and hard to hit whilst in flight, I also use him to pick up girls at night clubs” I added, and Autumn started laughing, Winter Chill and Midsummer Night just looked confused.

“Am I missing something” Midsummer Night asked.

“He’ll show you both later” Autumn said, we were now walking through an area with restaurants, Winter Chill directed us towards a small restaurant off to one side of the street, we all sat on an outside table.

“So, Vuur Koning…” Winter said.

“Call me V.K.” I interrupted.

“OK, V.K., what exactly do you do”

“Before I came to Equestria or after?” I said “because I did totally different things back then”

“Why not both?” Midsummer suggested.

“Very well then, back on my world…” I said, before being interupted

“WORLD‽” they both exclaimed, briefly earning the attention of ponies sitting at other tables

“Yes, I’m an alien…” I was interrupted again.

“how did you get here” Winter asked, I kept silent for a few moments.

“Vuur?” Autumn asked.

“Am I going to get interrupted again?” I said, propping up my head with one hand and tapping on the table with the other.

“Sorry” Winter and Midsummer both said, looking a little sheepish.

“Thank you, now if you must know, it was a magic portal made by the Gods, whether it was my world’s gods, or your world’s, I don’t know, anyway, back on my world, I was training to be a photographer and a cook, ask Autumn if you don’t believe me” I said.

“He is a pretty good cook” she admitted.

“And photographer” I reminded her “I’ll show you some of my best photographs when we’ve finished here, and I’ll cook you both breakfast tomorrow, as for what I do now, I’m an explorer and reserve guard”

“Why a reserve guard?” Winter asked.

“So that I know how to hold my own in a fight, me and Autumn are travelling the world after we’ve stayed here for the week, next stop, Germaney”

“Why Germaney?” Midsummer asked.

“Weil die Deutschen geil sind (because the Germans are awesome)” I said, recalling what Autumn had taught me over the past year.

“Keimähnen, nicht Deutschen (Germanes, not Germans)” Autumn corrected me “dies ist Reiterstand, nicht Erde” (this is Equestria, not Earth)

“Sie sind die gleiche Sache (they’re the same thing)” I replied.

“Nein, Sind sie nicht (no, they’re not)” Autumn said, Winter and Midsummer watched our argument like a verbal tennis math.

“Ach hör doch auf (Shut it)” I said, crossing my arms, Autumn just smirked.

“Why have an argument in Germane?” Winter asked.

“Because it helps me practice” I said “you should have seen the first time I had a proper argument with her in Germane”

“You could hardly speak any Germane at the time” Autumn said, facehoofing.

“It still counts” I said.

“You ended up quoting Rammstein songs” she said.

“What’s Rammstein?” Midsummer asked.

“Don’t ask” both me and Autumn said at the same time, a waiter came to the table and we ordered our drinks and food, the waiter then walked away to notify the chef.

“So, you drink cider” Winter said, noting my drink order.

“Yeah, you?” I asked.

“Every now and again” he said “like tonight” Autumn took note of this.

“Ha ha, no, you are not challenging Vuur to a drinking contest” she said.

“Oh come on” I said “you said I had to relax and stop worrying, if I chose to do it by participating in a drinking contest, so what”

We all walked down the nightclub district of Trottingham, we had already had a few at a pub and we were now looking for a club to go into, Winter eventually pointed one out that he frequently visited, we all walked inside and I saw a giant colour changing flashing checker style floor in the centre of the club with ponies dancing on its surface, dubstep pounded out of the speakers at ridiculous levels and I could see a white unicorn mare with a two-tone electric-blue mane and tail with purple sunglasses at the DJ booth, we all walked over to the bar and ordered a round of drinks, I noticed that there was a subtle sound proofing spell in the bar area, it didn’t block out the music completely, just reduced it to the level of background music, I noticed that some of the music playing was songs that I had supplied to a club in Canterlot, it seems that they had gotten quite popular since then, I sipped my cider, tapping my fingers on the counter in time to the beat, once everyone had the drinks that they ordered we walked over to a set of sofas around a coffee table and sat down, making light conversation, Winter was confused by one of the songs.

“This is weird” he said.

“Human Music” I said, both Winter and Midsummer were surprised.

“You mean…” Midsummer went to say, but I cut her off.

“Yes” I said “I did supply this music to the night club industry whilst I was in Canterlot, how does it feel to know that you’re listening to alien music?”

“Actually, it’s not that different from our music when you think about it” he said, it was at that moment that a song I really knew well came on.

“Oh shit, excuse me please, this is my dance tune” I said, getting up and running over to the dance floor, once I was in a clear enough area I started to dance, earning the attention of quite a lot of ponies

When the song finished I bowed and the DJ turned the volume on the music down and spoke over the P.A. system.

“Holy Celestia, I think he needs a round of applause, don’t you?” she asked, in a thick Trottingham accent, a majority of the ponies in the club started cheering and stomping there hooves on the ground in applause.

“Hey, dancer, come up here a sec” she said, I walked across the dance floor and up the steps to the DJ booth “so, how about you tell everyone your name” I felt a little put on the spot, but regardless I spoke into the microphone.

“It’s Vuur Koning” I said, she looked surprised.

“As in the Vuur Koning that has been hanging around Canterlot for the past year?” she asked, over exaggerating her surprise.

“Unless I have a clone that I wasn’t aware of” I said, shrugging.

“I bucking knew it” she said “fillies and colts, if you don’t know who this guy is, he has been causing quite the stir in Canterlot this past year, not only has he supplied a bunch of songs from his home-land, to the clubbing industry…” the whole crowd cheered “he’s also did something, something so crazy, stupid and awesome all at the same time, that has automatically put him in my good books, and you want to know why?”

“WHY?” the crowd shouted.

“He punched that flankhole, the one who dared to insult this fine city; Prince Blueblood, in the face” she said, now everyone cheered

“So Vuur Koning, are you here by yourself, or with a group?” she asked, I heard Autumn, Winter and Midsummer cheer.

“Erm, with them” I said.

“Well, you know what” she said “I’m in a good mood, so for the rest of the night, all of your group’s drinks are on the house, you hear that bartender?” the bartender in question raised his hoof to show that he heard her

”Everypony, on more time, Vuur Koning!” the crowd cheered really loudly this time, before I had a chance to walk back to the table the DJ stopped me, this time she spoke to me off of the P.A. system.

“Hey, kid, when I’ve finished this set, come find me, I need to speak with you” she said.

“Fair enough, when do you finish?” I asked

“About an hour or so” she said, I nodded before walking back to the table

“Good gods, Autumn” Winter said “you never told me he punched Prince Blueblood in the face”

“Is that good or bad up here?” I asked, taking a sip of cider

“It’s a good thing” he said “he called Trottingham a city of commoners, so he is hated throughout the city, I don’t see why Celestia keeps him around”

“In all honesty, she hates him, she only keeps him around because she would rather keep an eye on him than let him have his way” I said.

“That’s… actually quite clever” Midsummer said, before drinking a mouthful of cola, as she was the designated minder for the night, she wasn’t drinking any alcohol, after some time the DJ finished off the set before hoofing over the booth to another DJ, I downed my cider and stood up.

“Where are you off to?” Autumn asked.

“The DJ wanted to talk to me when she finished her set” I replied, she stood up as well “I’m coming with you”

“fair enough” I said, before walking towards the room the DJ went into, a bouncer went to stop us from going inside but the DJ let us through, the room was full of gold records in picture frames, we all sat down on some chairs.

“Alright” I said “what did you want to talk to me about?”

“I want in on your little adventure” she said.

“What?” I asked.

“You heard me, I want in” she repeated

“How did you know…?” I went to say

“About your little ‘quest’?” she asked rhetorically “when you’re a DJ and song producer, you have to stay in the loop with certain things, plus news travels fast, especially when it originates from Canterlot, as I said, you’ve been causing quite a stir in the capital”

“OK, give me a good reason why we should let you come with us” I said, gesturing to me and Autumn.

“When your a DJ for 10 years straight, you need a break” she said, removing her purple lensed glasses to reveal a pair of vibrant cerise eyes “I need to disappear for a while, you present the perfect opportunity”

“*sigh* alright” I said.

“Look, I’m coming with you, whether you… what?” she asked.

“I said alright, you can come with us, but we’re setting a few rules” I said

“I’m listening” she said.

“One, if we end up in a fight, what me and Autumn say, goes, both me and Autumn have combat training, but ultimately she outranks me” I said “I’m a Royal Equestrian reserves private, she is a Royal Guard Special Operations Sergeant, so if I say to do something, do it, if she says to do something, do it like your life depends on it”

“Fair enough” she said, shrugging.

“Two; I’m an omnivore” I said “and my pet timberwolf and falcon are carnivores, we are going to be hunting animals for food, either get used to it, or get lost”

“I’m used to hanging out with griffins, I’ll deal with it” she said.

“Three; everyone looks out for each-other” I said “that means if one of us get into a fight, we all have to help, however, if you go purposely looking for a fight, you are on your own”

“Four; all of our money is pooled together and divided equally amongst us, regardless of how much we individually earn, and a percentage of the total is set aside for emergency situations”

“Five; any form of racism, discrimination or prejudice will not be tolerated, those are the rules” I said “follow them and you should do fine, now, what’s your name?”

“Vinyl Scratch” she said.

“Well, Vinyl Scratch, in a week, we leave for Germaney, if you aren’t at the start of the road that leads to Germaney by lunchtime, we leave without you” I said, Vinyl nodded.

“I’ll see you in a week” she said

Chapter 11 11 The Huntmaster (Ark 2 Chapter 2)

1 WEEK LATER

Autumn and I were sat at a café that was, rather conveniently, located at the start of the road that stretched from Trottingham, all the way to the border with Germaney, Autumn reckoned it would be a couple of days walk at least, a couple of weeks at most, depending on whether you ran all the way, to which I replied; ‘fuck that’, we were both sat drinking hot drinks, with Scar lying on the floor, dozing, and Boris perched on my shoulder, we were waiting for Vinyl to turn up, there was still a while before we would have to leave without her, so we could relax a little, after a while I spotted her bright blue mane sticking out amongst the crowd, I stood up and waved to her to which her response was to nod and quicken her pace, I noticed she had quite a few bags on her back and flanks, as well as a large set of headphones.

“Hey, guys, how’s it going?” she asked, sitting in chair that I had placed at the usually two-seat table

“Fine” I responded “were just having a drink before we set off, want one?” she nodded and I waived a waiter over, Vinyl ordered her drink and the waiter went away.

“So” Vinyl said “where exactly are we headed?” I went to respond but stopped and looked at Autumn, it took a few second before she clicked as to what I was getting at.

“Oh” she said “it’s a small town near Marelin, it’s called Trotterburg, nice place, I know some ponies there, they run a nice little B&B, so accommodation is sorted out, as for the walk, I hope you brought a tent”

“Why do you think I have all of this stuff” Vinyl said, pointing to the mountain of bags on her back “oh I also brought quite a large sum of money”

“How much?” I asked, she looked around and leaned in before whispering

“About 100’000 bits” both me and Autumn responded by choking on our drinks.

“Holy shit! You are loaded” I exclaimed between sputters

“It comes with being one of the most popular D.J.s and music producers in my genre, in Equestria” Vinyl said, smirking “I’ve got hundred of thousands that are still just sitting in a vault, doing nothing other than gathering dust”

“You have no idea how much that helps” I said “before you joined our group we had about 2000 between us to last for, well, the world”

“Why do you think I’ve brought so much?” she said

“Large room spell?” I asked, she nodded, the waiter brought her drink over before walking off to serve somepony else.

“Where do you actually plan to visit?” Vinyl asked, sipping on her coffee.

“Every major country besides the Changeling Alliance” I said “but if war gets declared, then the whole things off, you go back to being a D.J., and me and Autumn go to fight in the war”

“That’s understandable” she said, she downed her drink before saying “right, shall we make move?” me and Autumn both nodded before downing our drinks and standing up, Vinyl noticed Scar stand up

“Holy Celestia, is that a timberwolf!?” she exclaimed, backing up slightly.

“I told you I had a pet timberwolf” I said, she visibly relaxed at that “his name’s Scar”

“Why is he called that?” Vinyl asked

“Look at his left eye” I said, she looked at his left side before wincing slightly.

“That looks painful” she muttered.

“He doesn’t complain” I said with a shrug “right, let’s go”

We were about two days into our journey to Germaney and we were now walking through dense forest, me and Autumn were both decked out in full armour, minus our helmets, they were currently strapped to the outside of one of Vinyl’s saddle bags via a rope, I had learnt the quick-summon spell that Twilight had developed, so I needed to merely snap my fingers and they would appear on our heads, I was currently recounting to Vinyl how me and Autumn had defended the school from Timberwolves.

“… and then Scar looked between me and Autumn” I told Vinyl “now he must of realised that it would have been metaphorical suicide to try and attack us both, because he then whimpered and laid on the ground, I them slowly walked up to him before chucking my sword away and saying ‘he won’t hurt us’”

“So he gave up, just like that?” Vinyl asked.

“I guess, I mean he’s been with us for this past year and he hasn’t gone bad yet” I said, patting Scar in the side, his armour clanging against my metal gloves, he wagged his tail slightly and yipped “and then I knelt down and placed my hand on the back of his neck before flaring up my magic, and now he’s connected with my magic…”

*SNAP*

I looked down to see that I had stepped on a twig, next thing I knew I was being dragged into the air by a rope, which was now tied around my ankle.

“Shit!” I exclaimed, I was now hanging about 20 feet in the air next to a platform like construction “oh, that’s high” I wasn’t scared of heights, but the fact that I was basically hanging upside-down in the air with nothing but a rope to support me, did unsettle me a little.

“Vuur Koning, Are you Ok?” I heard Autumn shout, I looked down to find her flying up.

“Yeah, just hanging around” I said, crossing my arms, when she got to my height I pointed to the platform “this rope seems to be on a pulley system, see if there is any way to pull me onto that platform” she nodded before flying over, she found a pulley reel and was about to turn it when a human, dressed in a dark hooded trench coat, holding an army utility knife, silently walked up behind her and pressed the blade to her throat

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you” He said, for some reason the voice was familiar “I don’t like your kind touching my stuff, back away” Autumn slowly backed away from the pulley wheel, I could see the fear in her eyes, she never showed fear, and that scared me.

“please” I said, raising an arm to the figure “j-just, don’t hurt her”

“Give me one good reason not to” he spat “after what you did to our family”

“W-what!? Who are you?” I asked, I was really confused, and the blood rushing to my head wasn’t helping, he slowly raised a hand up to his hood and pulled it back, revealing someone I never thought I would see again.

“How can you forget your own brother!” he said, his face was thinner, and it now had several scars

“Holy shit, brother?” I said.

“Don’t call me that” he spat “you lost the right to call me brother, when you up and left to the land of magical talking ponies” ‘Oh that’s it’ I thought.

“YOU THINK I HAD A FUCKING CHOICE” I shouted “NOT ONE, GODS-DAMNED DAY GOES BY, THAT I DON’T WISH I COULD GO BACK!”

“WELL YOU SHOULD HAVE COME BACK!” he shouted back

“I ALREADY TRIED” I said, he did a double take.

“What?”

“I tried to go back the way I came” I said “but I just ended up in the halls of the gods of this world, they told me a have to for fill my destiny before I can go back”

“you expect me to believe that bullshit!?” he said, he took the knife from Autumns throat and pointed it at me, Autumn took the opportunity and reared up, she turned around and knocked him to the floor, knocking the knife out of his hand and standing on his chest.

“Don’t ever fucking touch me again” she snarled, extending one of her hood blades and pressing the tip against his throat.

“Autumn, Don’t” I said, trying to stay calm, her snarl softened into a scowl, she snorted before retracting her hoof-blade and stepping away “bring him into the Platform, now” she said.

“Why” he asked, crossing his arms

“I’m a sergeant in the royal guard” she said “and a special ops, when I say to do something, you do it, and as a sergeant, I am ordering you to bring him onto the platform, before I throw you of this platform to feed to his pet timberwolf” she pointed at me as she said this, he hesitate for a moment, before sighing and walking over to the pulley wheel.

“Only because he’s my brother, not because you ordered me to, I don’t take orders from talking ponies” he pulled a lever and I started to move towards the platform, he cut the rope and I dropped to the platform, I stood up and walked over to him, when I was close enough I punched him in the stomach and he collapsed to the floor, winded

“That’s for being an arsehole” I said “and for assaulting my superior officer”

“You’re…in…the army” he gasped.

“Royal Equestrian Guard Reserves” I said, I held out a hand for him “now get up, you’re coming with us” he grabbed hold of my hand after a couple of moments and I pulled him up.

“Why” he asked.

“Because you are my brother, and I’m not leaving you behind after I’ve just found you” he thought for a moment before nodding.

“O.K. where to?” he asked.

“Well, off of this tree for a start” I said, he nodded before walking off.

“Just let me get my stuff” he said, before walking around the back of a tree trunk, when he walked back around a few minutes later he was wearing bulky armour, in his right hand he had a large sword that resembled a scimitar and a small canon of some kind in his left hand, he also had had a large shield on his left arm, his helmet had an eye piece with 3 lenses on one side.

“No fair” I said “you got a canon and a sword, all I got was a sword”

“You’re forgetting the helmet with heat vision and night vision” he said, I could practically hear him smirking behind the mask, Autumn looked confused.

“OH, fuck you” I replied.

“How can you go from wanting to kill each other to being best friends?” she asked

“Brothers” we both said at the same time, Autumn just groaned in exasperation.

“Just, lead us off of this tree” she said, face hoofing

“This way” he said, he led us to a ladder and started to climb down it.

“So, brother” he said, climbing down “what do you call yourself here?”

“You’ve got the same problem?” I asked him.

“Yep” he responded

“I’m now known as Vuur Koning” I said, climbing down after him “what about you?”

“Just call me Minion” he said “so, you and the pony?..”

“What about us?” I asked, a little suspicious

“Are you two…?” I cut him off

“Fuck no, we’re just friends” I said.

“Denial” he sang, I climbed down faster to catch up to him before stamping on his head.

“I have combat training, I could floor you in about 10 seconds” I said.

“Ow” he hissed through clenched teeth, rubbing the top of his head “so you finally grew a spine”

“I ‘grew a spine’ after I got attacked by a pack of timberwolves 30 minutes after arriving in Equestria” I said, rolling my eyes, he winced

“Ouch, well, you’ve learnt to stand up for yourself at least” he added, jumping the last few rungs and landing on the floor

“It helps when you have a massive sword, a suit of armour, a special ops guard as your friend and a pet timberwolf” I said, jumping of the ladder and landed crouching.

“I heard you call them timberwolves several times, what are they?” he asked.

“You’ll see in a moment” I said, I heard flapping and we both saw Autumn land on the ground, we walked back to where Vinyl was waiting, she started when she saw my brother.

“Who is he” She asked.

“Vinyl Scratch, this is my brother, Minion” I said “oh, Minion, the pegasus you’ve already met is Autumn Skies, try not to piss her off from now on, OK”

“Just keep out of my way” Autumn replied coldly, before walking off down the road.

“Autumn!” I called after her, but she ignored me “just wait here” I said to them both, before running off after Autumn.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing” she huffed.

“You’re a bad liar” I said.

“No bucking shit” she muttered, before rearing up and rounding on me “he could have killed me” she said, prodding my chest with a hoof “and you want him to come with us, how do you think that makes me feel?”

“He’s all I have left of my old home, I’d rather keep an eye on him, put yourself in my position” I said, she sat down, I could see tears start to form in her eyes, I crouched down and hugged her “hey, it’s OK”

“I was so scared” she said, resting her head on my shoulder “I thought he was going to kill me”

“Trust me, he’s not the type of person to kill someone”

“A year is a long time, he could have changed since you last saw him”

“Look, just trust me on this, have I ever made a bad call with this sort of thing?” I asked, she shook her head “my brother is one of the most loyal people I’ve ever met, besides Rainbow Dash, and if anyone double-crosses our group, he’ll be the first one to go after them”

“OK” she said, pulling away from me and standing up, I stood up and walked back over to my brother and Vinyl, they were already talking like good friends, I walked up to minion.

“Right, she just needs time” I said “so stay away from her for now, and if she tells you to do something, just do it, don’t argue with her”

“Sure” he said, Autumn walked up to us.

“Alright, were moving out” she said “pack up your shit and get moving” we all nodded and started to walk down the road.

After a few hours it started to get dark and we set up camp for the night, Minion was really jumpy, he was sat opposite us, next to Vinyl, he would reach for his weapons every now and then, as if they would disappear, and he would look behind him every now and again.

“What’s got you so paranoid?” I asked him, we were all sat around a camp fire

“There’s a reason I acted the way I did when I first saw you” he said “there are things in this forest, things that only come out at night, they are the reason people once feared the dark, that is why I was up in the trees, they only hunt on the ground”

“And you didn’t think to tell us this before we set up camp?” Autumn asked incredulously, we heard a chittering sound from behind us, causing us all to fall silent, I noticed Minion reach for his gun very, very slowly and Vinyl looked absolutely petrified, Scar started to growl.

“Don’t move” he said, quietly “they hunt like bats” he very carefully aimed his gun between me and Autumn, before firing, it sent out a blue ball of energy hitting whatever was behind us, me and Autumn both stood up and drew our weapons, I summoned our helmets and slowly walked towards the creature, it was… horrifying, it was like some weird cross between a bat, a spider, a xenomorph and a predator, and it was still alive, it was thrashing about and making a hell of a racket.

“Shut that thing up” Minion said, I nodded before firing several shots from my pistol into its head, silencing it, permanently, I then cut its head off, horrifying Autumn and Vinyl.

“Better safe than sorry” I shrugged, Minion nodded, smirking “I don’t think tonight is going to be a peaceful one, we stay at the camp, but two of us keep watch at all times, me and Autumn will take first watch”

“Why didn’t they make their presence known before hoof?” Vinyl asked.

“They generally follow their prey for a couple of days, waiting” Minion said “they are incredibly smart, like Velociraptor smart, they hunt in packs, that was just a scout, more will make themselves known, a couple days after I woke up in this forest I ended up in a tree with about twenty of them surrounding it” I grabbed a hold of the carcass and dragged it closer to the fire.

“What are you doing?” Autumn asked.

“Seeing what we are up against” I said, picking up the head and placing it near the body “if you don’t like it then go and stand watch” Autumn just huffed before walking to the other side of the fire and looking into the forest, Minion knelt down beside me and passed me his utility knife.

“Here” he said, I nodded before turning the creature onto its side and cutting into its belly “I’ve found that they hate overwhelming noises”

“Well we’re in luck, because Vinyl is a Dubstep D.J.” I said, sifting through the chest cavity

“You’re shitting me” he exclaimed

“Nope, she even brought a stereo system in her bags” I said, we both looked at each-other before grinning, the same idea in our heads, I stood up and wiped my gloves on the creatures body before standing up and lifting it into the fire, it created quite a stench as it burnt.

“Alright guys, gather around” I said, Autumn, Vinyl and Scar walked over, Vinyl smelt the burning creature and gagged.

“Holy shit, that thing reeks” she said, retching and backing up backing up a couple of steps.

“That’s the point, Vinyl, we need you stereo system” I said.

“Why?” she said, before quickly covering her mouth with her hoof, running over to the base of a tree to empty her stomach, I gave her a sympathetic look before answering.

“Because we plan to kill all of those things, tonight”

Chapter 12 12 Wenches and Mead (Ark 2 Chapter 3)

We were stood around the camp fire, looking out into the forest, each of us had a spell rifle that resembled a rifle from the American civil war era, keeping guard whilst Vinyl set up the stereo system, she has placed 4 speakers facing a different point on the compass, and now she was wiring them up.

“So” Vinyl said “what exactly is the plan?”

“First we play some soft music to draw them in, then when there is enough of them, we start blasting out dubstep, and whilst they are confused we shoot them down”

“So, death by Dubstep?” She asked.

“In a nutshell, yes”

“You’re going to slaughter them!” Autumn said, incredulously.

“Pest control” I replied, shrugging.

“OK, it’s set up” Vinyl said, before walking over to my laptop and putting on some classical music, the organ music started to drift through then trees, and we started to hear chattering amongst the trees.

“Um, Vuur Koning” Autumn said nervously, gripping her rifle tighter, I raised my rifle and looked into the sight.

“Wait for it” I said, I started to see movement.

“Be thankful you can’t see what I can” I heard Minion say.

“NOW” I shouted, floodlights switched on and dubstep started to pound out of the speakers, revealing hundreds of those things, confused from the barrage of noise, Vinyl grabbed a rifle and stood next to me

“OPEN FIRE”

Spell fire started to fly, felling countless numbers, but they kept coming.

“They never give up do they? 34…35…36” I said, counting off as I killed them.

“They are persistent buggers, you have to admire them for it, 40…41…43” Minion said.

“You skipped one” I said.

“Double kill” he replied.

“That still only counts as one, 50…51…52”

“Stow the chit-chat, 90…91” I heard Autumn say with a smirk

“Oh, it is on” I muttered, lining up my rifle and firing, hitting 3 at once “triple kill, 60…61”

“You wanker” Minion shouted.

“At this rate they should be dead by tomorrow night” Vinyl said dryly.

“Bring it on” Minion shouted before switching to full auto, we all followed his example and the creatures stated dropping like flies, then all at once, the sky lit up, the music stopped, the creatures froze and our rifles stopped working.

“What the hell?” I muttered, walking up to one that was frozen in mid-air, I poked it and it moved slightly.

“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS” I heard a voice call

“Oh shit, Celestia’s pissed” I muttered, I saw Celestia, followed by Luna, descend through the trees, they did not look happy, they landed and walked towards us, the bodies of the dead creatures disappearing as they walked past

“Why do you slaughter these creatures?” Celestia said, scowling, Minion walked forwards, surprising them

“Because things like those shouldn’t be allowed to roam free” he said.

“And who are you to decide what can and can’t exist?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Someone who has been running from them for the past 6 months” he said, taking of his helmet an exposing his scars, Celestia and Luna winced slightly.

“That still doesn’t give you the right to kill them in cold blood” Celestia said.

“Who are you to tell me what I can and can’t do” he shot back, Celestia’s astral mane became orange flames and she raised Minion into the air, pure heat radiating off of her

“HOLD YOUR TONGUE, MORTAL, I AM PRINCESS CELESTIA, THE CO-RULER OF THIS NATION, I HAVE MORE POWER THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE, I CAN MOVE THE SUN LIKE IT IS A MERE TOY, I AM A GODESS COMPAIRED TO YOU, YOUR LIFE IS THE MERE BLINK OF AN EYE COMPAIRED TO MINE, YOU ARE NOTHING IN MY EYES” She said in her Royal Canterlot Voice, we just stood there, terrified, she reverted back to her normal form, lowered Minion to the ground and turned to Luna

“Handle this please, sister” she said before teleporting away.

“She doesn’t like being woken up at night” Luna said, shrugging “but she made a valid point, who are you, 'human', to decide what lives and who dies”

“When they are so close to civilisation?” I said “they shouldn’t be here”

“True, I will admit that we were unaware of their existence” she said, before igniting her magic, causing all of the creatures to disappear “they will no longer harm anypony”

“Where did you send them?” Minion asked

“An uninhabited island” she said cryptically, smirking “now tell me, who are you”

“Minion, I’m his older brother” he said, pointing at me.

“Ah, I have heard many things about you from him” she said.

“You know each-other” he asked, looking between the two of us

“When you are a totally new species, it’s hard not to attract the attention of royalty” I said, shrugging, he deadpanned

“I’m supposed to be the one with more friends” he said.

“You mad?” I said, giving him the finger and smirking, he crossed his arms and huffed “well Luna, thank you for sending them away, and tell Celestia that I’m sorry, not sure about him though” I gestured to Minion.

“I thank you for the apology, and I actually understand why you would slaughter them all” she said, preparing to teleport “after all, there was once a time when Celestia and I would do the same” and with that, she teleported away.

“So” Minion said “care to tell me who the fuck that was?”

“Maybe” I said, smirking, “anyway, let’s get all of this packed away” I gestured to all of the stereo equipment “and then I’m off to bed”

I stepped out of the tent and into the fresh morning air with Boris perched on my shoulders, there was a low fog covering the ground, adding a sense of mystery to the area, the campfire smouldered slowly, a wisp of smoke rising from the charred wood, I walked into the trees in search of more firewood, I returned to the fire soon after and lit it again using a spell that I had learnt, I then called to Scar, who was currently laid in the ground, he got up and walked over to me.

“Let’s go hunting” I said to him, before we walked off into the woods, Scar sniffed the ground, having caught the scent of an animal, he lead us to a clearing, where I could see a deer of some type, grazing, I patted Scar in the side, before crouching down, he started to creep along on his belly, he slowly crawled forwards until he was a couple of meters away, the deer looked up, sensing danger, after a few moments the deer returned to grazing, Scar waited for a minute before charging at the deer, he jumped up and clamped around the deer’s neck, the sabre-teeth on his helmet severed the arteries in the deer’s throat, rendering it unconscious within a few moments, I walked over and patted Scar as he released his hold on the deer’s throat.

“Good boy” I said quietly, I then got the knife that I had borrowed from Minion and began cutting away chunks of meat, I then put the strips of meat into a pouch and began walking back to camp, when I got back Minion was sitting on a log, smoking a pipe filled with tobacco.

“I hope you’re in the mood for venison” I said, passing him the utility knife, he wiped it with a cloth before putting it into its sheath, tied around his chest

“As long as it’s meat, I don’t have a problem” he said, shrugging, before taking a drag of the pipe

“How did you get a pipe?” I asked, placing some strips of venison into a pan and placing it onto the fire

“Found it amongst the possessions of a pony that got killed by the creatures” he said, grimacing “it wasn’t pretty, I buried the body, but I kept everything useful, as for tobacco, he had a saddle bag that was bigger on the inside, filled with the stuff, so I kept the bag, that was about a week ago”

“as long as it doesn’t go to waste, but don’t go smoking in the tents” I said, pointing the spatula at him “I may tolerate you smoking, but that doesn’t mean you go abusing the privilege”

“I wasn’t gonna” he said, I turned over the cuts of venison, I could smell them, and apparently so could the two ponies.

“*sniff* what is that smell” Vinyl said, walking out of her tent, weary eyed, I saw Autumn walk out of our tent as well

“Guten tag” I said, waiving the spatula at them, they waved back half-heartedly, Autumn walked over and sat down on a log, her eyes bugged out when she saw what was cooking.

“Is that…meat?” she asked.

“Yes, Venison to be exact” I told her.

“Can I try some?” Vinyl asked, walking over and sitting on a log next to Autumn

“What?” the rest of us said.

“I said I’m used to hanging around with griffons, so I’ve had meat before, I’m just curios is all” she said with a shrug, I cut off a small piece that was now cooked and put it on a plate, I passed it to vinyl who grabbed the plate in her magic, Autumn shuffled away, Vinyl smirked and levitated the plate closer to Autumn, who kept shuffling along the log, she eventually shuffled to the end of the log and fell off, causing us all to burst out laughing.

“You are evil, the lot of you” she said, still lying on the floor.

“Oh come on” I said “how could you not have seen that coming” she raised up a wing and flipped the feather, I turned to Vinyl.

“So, how’s the venison?” I asked, she got a mischievous glint in her eye before taking a bite and saying

“Oh, it’s the best thing in the world” she said, over exaggerating

“La la la, not listening!” Autumn said.

“Seriously though, it’s not half bad” Vinyl said, before spitting it out “my stomach can’t handle it though”

“Fair enough” I said, shrugging, I then served up the venison for me and Minion, I passed a plate to my brother before eating some myself, and I chucked some to Scar, who caught it in mid-air before actually wolfing it down, Minion stare at the timberwolf.

“How exactly did you end up with an armoured wolf anyway?” he asked, before taking a bite of venison.

“Long story, but I will tell you that I had the armour made for him, and it’s permanent” I said, also taking a bite of venison.

“Permanent!?” Minion said.

“Yes, he’s a magical construct made of wood”

“What!?” he said, half laughing, he soon stopped when a flared up my magic.

“What can you do?” he asked, I smirked before teleporting to a tree branch about 30 feet up.

“All in good time, young padiwan” I said, crossing my arms and leaning against the tree trunk, he looked up and his jaw dropped.

“How the fuck…?” he said, I teleported in front of him.

“Magic” I said with a shrug, before placing my hand on his shoulder and teleporting us both in front of the fire, he bent over.

“You could’ve warned me” he said

“You’ll get used to teleporting quicker” I said.

“That wasn’t nice” he muttered.

“Get used to it” I said.

Several weeks later

After weeks of seeing nothing but trees, we were finally at the border with Germaney, I was surprised to see that there wasn’t anything to tell you that you were in Germaney other than a sign saying; ‘Willkommen in Vielekeim’ and a couple of Germane plain clothes royal guards, they stopped us before we could walk across the border

“Hallo und willkommen in Vielekeim, Wie lange wollen Sie bleiben? (Hello and welcome to Germaney, how long do you intend to stay here?)” One of them asked.

“So lange wie nötig (As long as necessary)” I replied, they must have noticed my accent.

“Dat aksent, du ist Trottingham, jäh?″ one of them asked, trying their best at speaking equestrian.

“Jawohl (yes)” I replied “ich und der Pegasus sind auch königliche Wachen (me and the pegasus are also royal guard)” they saluted us and we saluted back, we then walked across the border, once we were out of earshot of the guards I did a little victory dance.

“YES, it worked!” I said.

“So, you speak German fluently now” Minion asked.

“Yes, I often end up arguing with Autumn in German” I saw Autumn facehoof.

“I won’t even bother” I heard her mutter

“What’s she on about?” he asked.

“It’s called Germaney here” I said, shrugging “we often get into arguments about it”

So that’s why it didn’t say ‘Deutschland’ then?” he asked, I nodded, we eventually reached the town we would be staying at, it looked like a traditional mainland European village, Minion noticed the sign as we walked past.

“Trotterburg?” he said “that sounds like…”

“Like Kopparberg?” I asked, cutting him off “I know”

“Do all of the towns have horse puns?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“That isn’t even the half of it, before we entered the forest we were in a city called Trottingham, and they all have a British accent” I said, tittering slightly

“You’re joking” he said.

“Nah mate, we” I gestured to me and him “have a costal accent, spoken in the north east of the country” I then turned to Autumn.

“Your friends don’t have a problem with timberwolves, do they?” I asked, the realisation suddenly dawned on her face.

“Oh damn, I forgot to tell them in the letter” she said, panic clear in her voice, before taking off and flying off at top speed towards what I presumed was the place we were staying at, I noticed the look on Minions face.

“Fast, isn’t she?” I asked him rhetorically, he just nodded, I chuckled slightly “you should’ve met Rainbow Dash…”

“What the hell kind of a name is that?” he said, cutting me off.

“An obvious name, she has a rainbow coloured mane and tail, and she’s really fast” I said.

“How fast is really fast?” he asked

“As in, ‘shatter the visible light spectrum’ fast, for some reason whenever she breaks the sound barrier, she causes a rainbow coloured shock wave, she even calls it a ‘sonic rainboom’” Minion laughed at that, we saw Autumn flying back towards us, looking a lot more relaxed, she landed in front of us.

“I spoke to them about Scar, they don’t have a problem, as long as you can keep him under control, and I told them about Minion, they don’t have a problem with him either”

“Oh, thank Fantasia” I said.

“Who’s Fantasia?” Minion asked.

“Equestrian high Goddess of creation, she actually exists, so I converted” I said with a shrug.

“How do you know?” he said

“Oh I don’t know, maybe because I met her when I tried to get back home” I said “Autumn was there, ask her if you don’t believe me”

“What he says is true” Autumn said.

“Whoa whoa whoa, back up” Vinyl said “you actually met Fantasia?” both me and Autumn nodded

“Holy shit” She muttered

“Right, let’s get moving” I said “I’ll tell you more about it later” we soon reached the B&B, it was a nice looking place, it was like a traditional tavern, there were several ponies drinking and chatting amongst themselves in Germane, Autumn was greeted by two ponies with very thick Germane accents.

“Du bist zurück, und mit Freunden diesmal (Your back, and with friends this time)” an aging green stallion with a grey mane said.

“Ja (yes)” she said, she then pointed to each of us "dies ist Vuur Koning, er kann auch Keimähne sprechen, und das sind Minion und Vinyl Scratch, aber sie können nicht Keimähne sprechen (this is Vuur Koning, he can also speak Germane, and this is Minion and Vinyl Scratch, but they can’t speak Germane)”

“Guten Tag (Good day)” I said, they must have also noticed my accent.

“dat akzent” the mare, who was blue with a white mane, said “du zound like du are vrom Trottingham, but dur body zayz othervise, vere are du from?” I thought for a moment to put together the correct sentence.

“Über das Land, über das Meer, und über den Sternen (over the land, over the sea, and across the stars)” I said, they looked at me in surprise.

“Über den Sternen!? (Across the stars!?)” they both exclaimed in surprise, I nodded.

“Es wird kein Problem sein, wird es? (It won’t be a problem, will it?)” I asked, the stallion waived a hoof dismissively.

“Oh nein, nein, dieser Ort ist offen für jeden, der ein Bett braucht, auch Aliens (Oh no, no, this place is open to anyone who needs a bed, even aliens)” he said with a chuckle, he then looked at Autumn “Ihr Zimmer ist im Obergeschoss. Autumn, wenn sie bitte so freundlich sein könnten es ihnen zu zeigen (your room is upstairs, if you could be so kind as to show them, Autumn)” Autumn nodded and led us all upstairs to a fairly large room with four beds.

“Sweet” Vinyl said, jumping onto one of the beds “How long are we staying her for?”

“just for the night” Autumn said “then we have a quick look around Marelin before heading towards the Crystal Empire followed by the United Griffin Kingdoms, thanks to you rather large sum of money we can catch a train from Marelin to The Crystal Empire”

“Why don’t we just walk?” Minion asked, we all looked at him incredulously.

“If you want to walk 1000 bloody miles through fucking arctic conditions then be my guest” I said, stroking Scar.

“Erm, no thanks, I think I’ll take the train” he said, placing his rucksack on his bed.

“I’ll go through the journey plan with you two properly when we go downstairs” I said to Vinyl and Minion, getting out my personal atlas, and showing it to them briefly, we left Scar and Boris in the room with our stuff before going back down to the Tavern part and walked to the bar, where the stallion was bar tending.

“Welche Getränke kann ich Ihnen bieten? (What drinks can I get you?)” He asked cheerfully, Minion tapped me on the shoulder.

“Ask him if they have any mead” he said, I nodded before turning to the stallion.

“Haben Sie einen Met? (Do you have any mead?)” I asked, he nodded “Ich nehme zwei Krüge Met dann (I’ll have two jugs of mead then)” he nodded before passing me two mugs, filled with steaming hot mead, I passed one to Minion and paid the Stallion the correct amount of bits before walking over to a table in the corner, Autumn and Vinyl followed soon after, Minion took a sip of the mead.

“Ah, mate, this is fucking beautiful” he said, practically melting into the chair, he patted me on the shoulder “cheers” I raised my mug to him and he raised his until they both touched.

“Prost (Cheers)” I said, before taking a gulp, oh wow, I can see why they say mead is like alcoholic honey, it tasted amazing, I could feel myself relaxing, I heard Autumn chuckle.

“It’s good isn’t it?” she said, I noticed she also had a jug of mead, whereas Vinyl had a stein of beer, both me and my brother nodded “Germaney is famous for its mead and beer” my brother sighed.

“I’m in heaven” he said.

“All we need now are wenches” I said, he chuckled slightly.

“What?” Vinyl asked.

“There is a band that Minion and I both listen to that wrote a song called ‘Wenches and Mead’” I said.

“Ah” Vinyl said, before taking a sip of her Beer, for the rest of the day we just relaxed, got a little bit drunk, and went to bed late.

Chapter 13 13 Nothing else Matters (Ark 2 Chapter 4)

We all walked through the streets of Marelin towards the train station, we had seen the sights of the city and were now ready to move onto the crystal empire, which would take a heck of a lot longer than a couple of days, we entered the station building, which was relatively modern looking compared to other places, Autumn walked up to the ticket office and returned shortly with four 1st class tickets on a sleeper train to the Crystal Empire, we made our way to the train, I was surprised to see that Gearsley had already designed and build an A4, we boarded the train and found our room, it was a similar level of comfort to the train that me and Autumn used to get to Trottingham, only we didn’t have a carriage to ourselves.

“I think I can get used to living like a posh sod” Vinyl said as she jumped onto a bed “certainly beats sleeping on benches”

“I’ll agree with you on that one” Minion said, choosing a bed next to hers, those two had become rather good friends in the past few weeks.

“What if I told you two that me and Autumn got an entire carriage to ourselves when we were travelling to Trottingham” I said, lying on my bed and stroking Scar, who was laid next to me.

“You lucky bastards” Minion said “How did you manage to afford something like that?”

“We didn’t” Autumn said, smirking “Princess Celestia just passed us the tickets and said ‘here you go’”

“I’ll say it again, you lucky bastards” Minion said, the train jolted into motion “she still scares the shit out of me though”

“Only because you saw her when she got woken up at night” I replied “she’s usually unbelievably kind”

“I’ll believe that when I see it” he said, he then started smirking “so, did you and Autumn fuck on the train” I went as red as my armour with embarrassment and Autumns wings shot out with a poof.

“What the Fuck” both Minion and I said, looking at Autumn, who looked ready to die from embarrassment, Vinyl burst out laughing.

“Ha, wing boner” she said, pointing at Autumn, who face-planted the bed.

“What?” I asked.

“It means she’s into you” Vinyl said with a shrug, Minion burst out laughing.

“No I’m not” Autumn mumbled through the mattress, chucking a pillow in Vinyl’s general direction, it missed Vinyl and hit the window.

“Vuur Koning just told me he wants to make love to you” Minion said, Autumns wings shot back out, and she threw the duvet over her

“I’m surrounded by immature children” I muttered, before standing up and walking out of the room.

I stood at the veranda of the rear carriage, trying to clear my head, and what my brother said wasn’t helping.

“He really needs to learn to keep his mouth shut sometimes” I muttered, I heard the door open, I looked over my shoulder to see Autumn step outside.

“I thought I would find you here” she said, rearing up and resting her hooves on the railing, she sighed before resting her snout on top of her hooves

“Come here to escape from the two hyenas?” I asked, she nodded slightly, we stood there in silence, enjoying the view, after a few minutes I broke the silence “Autumn?”

“Hmm?” she responded, raising her head and looking at me.

“Is what Vinyl said true?” I asked, her ears drooped and she nodded meekly.

“Yes” she whispered.

“So you really…?” I went to say but she cut me off

“Yes, I have feelings for you” she said, she rested her head on her fore-legs, I noticed tears starting to form in her eyes.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked her, she sighed.

“You probably think I’m weird now and won’t want to be my friend” she said, tears started to stream own her face

“Don’t you ever think like that” I said, pulling her into a hug “I would never stop being you friend just because of something like this” I released her from my embrace and she looked into my eyes, I had never really noticed how striking her eyes were until now.

“I’ll let you in on a secret” I said to her.

“What?” she asked

“My brother may tease us about this sort of thing” I said “but he has been through hell when it comes to relationships, and that’s left me scared to give it a try”

“Really!?” she asked.

“I won’t tell you what he went through” I said “that’s his story to tell, and his alone, but, if you really are interested in me”

“Yes?” she asked, a hopeful expression on her face.

“Then I’m willing to give it a try” I said, she threw her fore-legs around me and rested her head on my shoulder

“Thank you” she whispered into my ear, she released me from her embrace and turned to lean against the railing, I put my arm across her shoulders and pulled her close, she responded by leaning into me, we didn’t say anything, for we felt content enough to just enjoy each-others company and watch the sunset, we eventually returned to the cabin to fine Vinyl and Minion absent.

“They’ve probably gone to dinner” Autumn said “Shall we?” I nodded and we walked towards the Dining car, where we found Vinyl and Minion talking, when they saw us Vinyl begrudgingly hoofed over a couple of bits to Minion, who looked rather smug.

“What was that about?” I asked them as I sat down.

“Oh, nothing” Minion said, an innocent look on his face.

“You were betting other us two getting together weren’t you?” Autumn deadpanned.

“Fucking damn it” he muttered, he then looked her dead in the eyes “but seriously, Autumn, a word of advice, he’s never been in a relationship before, so if you hurt my younger brother in anyway, I will kill you, and don’t think I won’t, I make promises, not threats” he the raised his whisky glass to her before downing it, Autumn went pale, she turned to me.

“Did I ever tell you he scares me?” she asked, the colour starting to return to her face

“Yes, several times” I said, sipping on my glass of cider, the waiter eventually served our food.

“So” Minion said “just think, you’re both going to be stuck in the same carriage for a couple days, but you won’t be able to do anything because we’re in the same room”

“You are evil, you know that” I said, he nodded “But seriously, Autumn and I are taking this slow, so we probably wouldn’t have anyway”

“sure you would” he said, but his tone said otherwise, for the rest of the meal we mostly ate in silence, we were just getting up to retire to the room when we heard a loud roar and the train shook violently, Autumn quickly looked out of the window before bolting in the direction of our room, the rest of us ran after her, not bothering to look out the window, we ran into the cabin to find Autumn just putting the last few pieces of armour on.

“What’s out there?” Minion asked, Autumn just looked at him and said.

“Dragon” before she opened the window and jumped out, a spell rifle held in her mouth

Chapter 14 14 Where Dragons Rule (Ark 2 Chapter 5)

I walked onto the rear veranda of the carriage and climbed up the ladder to the roof, Minion and Vinyl were close behind me, I stood on the roof and my jaw dropped, flying next to the train was a colossal white ice dragon, at least 200 feet from head to tail, with a 50 foot wing span, running along his back and tail was a row if spines that each resembled jagged ice crystsals and it had a great spiny frill on the back of its head, resembling half of a giant snowflake, I could see Autumn flying around it taking pot-shots, mostly trying to distract it from attacking the train.

“Holy shit, that thing is huge!” I heard minion say, his bulky black and gunmetal armour reflecting the moonlight as he climbed up on to the roof.

“Welcome to Terra” I said “where every mythical monster is real and will try to kill you”

“So that is an actual dragon?” he asked.

“Yes, but this type usually never comes this far south of the frozen north” I raised my pistol, and Minion raised his arm mounted cannon “Brother, see if you can get a clear shot at its wings, we need to try and ground it”

“You mean we aren’t going to kill it?” he asked, a little surprised.

“If Celestia has trouble taking down an ice drake, then what chance have we got” I said, shrugging, I saw Vinyl climb up, a spell rifle held in her magic.

“Vinyl, aim for its eyes” I said “when I say, we open fire” I waited a few seconds until Autumn was out of shot.

“FEUER FREI! (FIRE AT WILL!)” I shouted and fired my pistol, hitting it in the jaw, Vinyl aimed her rifle and fired a burst of 3 shots at the dragons eye, I saw it rupture and the dragon let out a roar of rage and pain

“Good hit” Minion said, before he fired his cannon, sending a blue ball of plasma streaking towards its wing joint, the shot impacted against the joint, causing the wing to go limp and the dragon fell out of the sky towards the ground, the dragon impacted with the ground, causing the train to shake, the train gradually came to a stop and we climbed down to the ground, Autumn flew other and landed in front of us.

“Good work” she said, the air suddenly started to ripple and Luna teleported into view.

“What happened?” she asked, walking towards the dragon, who was trying to get back up.

“The dragon attacked the train, we grounded it” I said, the rest of us started walking after her.

“Without killing it!?” she said, surprise evident in her voice.

“Something that big?” I asked, pointing to the dragon.

“Good point” she said, we reached the dragon and Luna motioned with a wing for us to stop, she then walked slowly forward.

“Dragon” she said, the dragons stopped and turned to look at her.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT, PONY?” he rumbled, narrowing his eyes

“As their ruler I was merely curious as to why you attacked their transport” she said, realisation riddled the dragons face.

“THAT WAS A TRANSPORT!” he exclaimed “FORGIVE ME, YOUR MAJESTY, I HAVE ONLY JUST AWOKEN FROM A SLUMBER, WHEN I FIRST ENTERED THE SLUMBER, YOU WERE STILL USING CARTS”

“But why did you attack?” Luna asked.

“I THOUGHT IT WAS SOME MANNER OF CREATURE” he said, making a sound that could be likened to a nervous chuckle “I WAS UNABLE TO FIND ANY CRYSTALS, AND WAS I QUITE HUNGRY” he rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

“Very well dragon” Luna said.

“IF YOU WOUD BE SO KIND, COULD YOU PLEASE HEAL MY WOUNDS, I UNDERSTAND THAT THEY ARE JUST A RESULT OF THE PONIES PROTECTING THEMSELVES” The dragon said, Luna thought for a moment.

“On one condition” she said.

“ANYTHING” The Dragon said

“You are to transport these travellers” she said pointing to us “wherever they wish to go”

“OF COURSE YOUR MAJESTY” he said, bowing his head to the ground, Luna nodded, and her horn started to glow, soon the dragon looked as good as new “THANK YOU”

“It was nothing” she said with a shrug, she then turned to us “I will send a message ahead to all the countries that you wish to visit, just to warn them”

“Thank you so much” I said, bowing “now we just need to get our…” she lit up her horn briefly and our bags, Scar and Boris appeared in front of us, the latter two looking quite confused.

“Never mind” I muttered, I walked over to my rucksack and got my winter cloak out, I put it on with a flourish before picking up my rucksack and walking towards the dragon

“How did you get that?” Minion asked.

“I had it made for me, if ever we end up near Ponyville, remind me and I’ll take to the Mare that made it for me” I said, he nodded before getting out his tattered old cloak and putting that on, I walked up to the dragon.

“What is your name?” I called to him.

“IN YOUR TUNGUE I AM KNOWN AS FROSTFANG” he said, he then moved his head towards me until his shadow blocked out the moonlight “AND WHAT MIGHT AN…INTERESTING LITTLE…CREATURE SUCH AS YOU BE CALLED?”

“On this world I am known as Vuur Koning” I then began listing off everyone else “and this is my brother, Minion”

“Hi” Minion said with a casual waive.

“My close friend, Autumn Skies”

“Hello” she said, trying not to look intimidated by the dragon’s massive size.

“My other friend, Vinyl Scratch”

“Sup” Vinyl said with a waive.

“My hunting timberwolf, Scar, and my messenger falcon, Boris” as I said this Boris took off and landed on my shoulder, and Scar walked up to me and stood next to me.

“TRULY A UNIQUE GROUP OF TRAVELLERS” Frostfang said “WELL, WHERE DO YOU WISH TO GO?”

“Take us as close as you can to the Crystal Empire within the next 3 hours and then find shelter, we’ll continue on tomorrow” I said, he nodded before hunkering down and lowering a wing to provide a makeshift ramp.

“I’LL TAKE YOU TO MY LAIR, IT SHOULD BE CLOSE ENOUGH TO THE SITE OF THE OLD EMPIRE” he said, I nodded before climbing up onto his back, everyone else except for Autumn climbed on.

“Aren’t you going to climb on?” I asked her, she shook her head.

“I haven’t had a good long flight in quite a while” she said, I nodded and she took off, circling around Frostfang, Boris took off as well, flying by Autumn’s side

“HOLD ON, LITTLE ONES” The dragon boomed, I quickly grabbed hold of Scar just as the dragon took off, quickly accelerating until the railway line was just a silver strip in the moonlight.

“Holy Fantasia!” I exclaimed, the dragon chuckled.

“I MAY BE BIG, BUT THAT DOES NOT MAKE ME SLOW OR CUMBERSOME LIKE SOME OLDER DRAGONS” he said.

“How old are you?” I shouted over the wind.

“ONLY A MERE 150 YEARS OLD”

“Only!?” I heard Minion exclaim, Frostfang nodded

“SOME DRAGONS LIVE TO BE WELL OVER 1000 YEARS OLD, SO I AM LIKE A TEENAGER COMPAIRED TO OTHER DRAGONS” he said

“So for reference, 10 actual years for every metaphorical dragon year?” I asked, Frostfang nodded.

“MORE OR LESS” he said, we were now above the cloud cover and I could see the stars in perfect clarity.

“Oh wow” Minion said.

“This is one thing I prefer about Terra over Earth” I said “you can actually see all the stars, it never gets old” I then went over the different constellations with him, with Autumn of Frostfang helping to explain every now and again, eventually Frostfang began to descend, when we got below the cloud cover I could see that the ground was covered in snow and in the distance I could see a bubble of some sort, with a castle made of crystal inside.

“Is that…?” I heard Minion ask, trailing off halfway through the question.

“Yep” I responded “that’s the Crystal Empire”

“That place is fucking huge!” he said.

“Wait till you see it up close” I said “from what I’ve heard, it’s pretty spectacular” Frostfang started to bank away from the Empire, heading towards some mountains on the horizon, after about half an hour we were flying in the shadow of the mountains, Autumn and Boris drifted towards us and eventually landed on Frostfang, the former sitting next to me and the latter perching on my shoulder.

“Enjoy your flight?” I asked Autumn, she just nodded and leaned against me, closing her eyes with a sigh, I put my arm around her, still holding onto Scar with the other, and leaned against her, Frostfang soon landed on a giant ledge, I nudged Autumn and she stirred with a start, having fallen asleep in the 5 minutes between her landing next to me and Frostfang landing on the ledge.

“DON’T GET OFF YET, WE STILL HAVE SOME WAY TO GO” Frostfang said in his usual booming voice, he started plodding into the cave, his footsteps echoing off of the walls, it soon grew pitch black and I was unable to see my hands in front of my face, but it only lasted a moment, Frostfang snapped his claws and torches ignited into pale blue flames, spreading along the walls of the cave, in the distance I could see the cave open into a large cavern, when Frostfang reached the cavern my jaw dropped, it was biblical in proportions, it seemed to go on for miles, and there was a massive pile of gold, I heard Frostfang chuckle.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” he said in a relative whisper, none of us could form the words to answer, Frostfang walked over to a section of the cavern that had a groove in the ground and lowered his wing for us to climb down, I walked down and placed my rucksack on the floor.

I sat on the ground with my back against a pile of gold, Autumn walked over and sat beside me, once again leaning against me, and once again I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her close, she snuggled into me and closed her eyes, signing contentedly, within a few moments her breathing became regular, signalling that she had fallen asleep, I heard Frostfang chuckle, I looked up to see him lying in the indent in the ground, watching us.

“I take it you two are together then” he whispered, I nodded.

“What are you going to do with all this gold?” I asked, he rested his snout and hummed in thought.

“we might as well take it” he said, shrugging, I gawped “I have something for transporting it”

“You’re going to need a ship to transport all of this” I said, he chuckled at that.

“Actually” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“You have a ship, to transport all of this?” a heard Minion ask, Frostfang nodded before getting up and quietly walking behind a particularly large mound of gold, next thing I know I see Frostfang wearing some reins attached to a colossal airborne battleship, think ‘Freedom of the Seas’ and times by 20, that sort of size, I nudged Autumn awake and her jaw dropped when she saw the ship.

“Originally she had a crew” Frostfang whispered, running his hand along the side of the ship “there were once entire companies dedicated to providing transport and protection for a dragons horde, the ship was complimentary, as long as the company got a percentage of the horde, the crew went back to their families when I settled down here”

“When you say protection you mean this has guns?” Vinyl asked, Frostfang nodded.

“Enough to blow any ships foolish enough to attack, clean out of the sky” he whispered, chuckling

“No name” I noted.

“I never got around to giving it one” he whispered “now, how would you all feel about becoming my new crew?” Minion walked forwards.

“I think I speak for all of us when I say, hell yes” he said, we all nodded in agreement.

“Then it’s settled” The dragon whispered, smiling “I get a crew, and you get to travel the world, but first, you all need a good night’s sleep, you can stay on the ship” he them walked over, picked us and our belongings up and deposited us on the deck of the ship, the decking was in remarkably good condition

“How has it lasted this long?” I asked.

“MAGIC” the dragon said, shrugging, he then ushered us towards the steps to the sleeping accommodation “NOW GO ON, OFF TO BED, I’LL MOVE THE HORDE WHILE YOU SLEEP” as we walked down the steps I heard I generator kick into life and lights started to turn on, I looked for a map, found one and followed it towards the high class accommodation, everyone else following close behind, Autumn and I ended up choosing the captains quarters at the very rear of the ship, it was more like a small house, than the room of a ship, there were several floors and rooms, and a balcony at the very rear of the ship, the bedroom was like a room fit for royalty, with an en-suite bathroom, which had something resembling a private swimming pool rather than a bath, the bedroom itself had a writing desk in one corner and a king size double bed, there was also a bookshelf with old navigational charts, some of them in better condition than others, Boris flew to a coat hanger and Scar laid down beside the bed, I saw Autumn sluggishly climb into bed so I walked around turning off all of the lights before retiring for the night.

I woke up the next morning to find Autumn absent from the bed, Boris and Scar were missing as well, I got up and got dressed into my armour and put on my winter cloak before walking onto the balcony, we were still in the cavern, which was now empty, I quickly made my way to the top deck, I noticed for the first time that there were massive guns all the way along the length of the ship, they had angular armour and I subconsciously noted the pot marks on the odd one or two of them.

“AH, I WAS WONDERING WHEN YOU WOULD WAKE UP, LITTLE ONE” I heard Frostfang boom, I turned around to see him looking at me, along with everyone else, boris flew over and landed on my shoulder

“Is everything packed away?” I asked.

“With room to spare” Minion said, the amusement clear in his voice “the hold is like a fucking cave, and they have mobile cranes in there”

“Really!?” I asked, not even trying to hide my surprise.

“I’ll show you when we get under way” he said.

“SPEEKING OF WHICH” the dragon said “BEFORE WE SET SAIL, I BELIEVE THIS SHIP DESERVES A NAME, PERHAPS YOU CAN THINK OF ONE, VUUR KONING?” I thought for a moment before deciding.

“How about… ‘The Jörmungandr’ (read as Yormungander)” I suggested, Minions eyes lit up in realisation.

“I second that” he said, the others just looked confused.

“What the buck is a Jörmungandr?” Vinyl asked “it sounds something from griffin culture”

“Jörmungandr” I explained “otherwise known as the ‘Midgard serpent’ or ‘World Serpent’, stems from Norse mythology, very similar to griffin mythology, according to legend, Jörmungandr was a giant sea serpent that was so long it wrapped around the equator and swallowed its own tail, the Norse believed that the world would end when their god of thunder; Thor, would do battle Jörmungandr, killing both of them in the process, Jörmungandr was huge, this ship is huge, and both me and Minion feel that it suits this ship” when I finished my little lesion on Norse mythology everyone nodded in agreement.

“THEN IT IS AGREED” Frostfang said, his hands glowing with blue magic “HENCE FORTH, THIS SHIP SHALL BE KNOW AS… JÖRMUNGANDR: THE MIDGARD SERPENT” as he finished this he pounded his fists together and a wave of blue magic washed over the ship.

“What just happened?” I asked “other than the temperature dropping by about 20°” the dragon chuckled before saying.

“THIS SHIP NOW BARES ITS NEW NAME” he then walked over to the harness attached to the ship and put it on “NOW, I DO BELIEVE WE HAVE DELAYED FOR FAR TOO LONG” he then began to pull the colossal ship towards the corridor leading to the exit, he pulled it through the corridor very gingerly, there was only about 20 meters to spare on each side, we soon reached the exit and Frostfang slowly took off, the weight of the cargo slowing him down somewhat, but within a few minutes we were cruising along at a comfortable pace. I could see the crystal Empire in the distance, it wold probably take us a few hours to get there so I made my way to the captains quarters and began to unpack my stuff, putting all of my normal clothes into some clothes-draws, I then put the spell rifles into a cabinet for safe keeping, which I locked up, I then placed my laptop on the writing desk and plugged it in to charge, I was pleased to see the charging symbol display on the screen, I then put my books on magic spells on the bookshelf, with all of my stuff unpacked and in their proper places I put my spell pistol in its leather hilt on my chest, and my sword on my back, with that done I went to go and explore the ship, with Scar by my side and Boris on my shoulder, I soon made my way to the bridge.

On a Horde ship, there isn’t a helm, so the bridge is mainly used for communications and navigation, and also to direct the engine room; which control the engines to take the strain off of the dragon pulling it and for docking without the dragon, it is possible to pilot a horde ship without a dragon to pull it, but it is extremely difficult and requires year of experience from both the captain and the crew of the engine room, at the moment our total crew was 4, with 0 experience on a horde ship, Autumn, Minion and Vinyl were all on the bridge, checking things like charts and communications, Vinyl was flipping through the channels on the radio used for communicating with ports and other ships, as was to be expected there wasn’t much chatter on the radio, and Minion and Autumn were going through the navigational charts.

“Anyone need any help?” I asked, Vinyl looked up from the console.

“Go down to the engine room and see it the radio link between here and there works” she said, I nodded before quickly making my way deeper into the ship, the walls and walkways went from a clean white to a dingy gunmetal, I soon reached the boiler room, the boiler was massive, about 12 feet in diameter, I looked at the gauges to find that, as was to be expected, there was no boiler pressure, I found the communications area and turned on the radio.

“Vinyl Scratch, this is Vuur Koning, can you hear me?” I asked, speaking into the microphone, after a few moments of silence the speaker crackled into life.

“Good gods, Vuur Koning, you scared the shit out of me!” Vinyl yelled through the speakers, I burst out laughing “laugh it up, Monkey boy” I heard laughter in the background of Vinyl’s end.

“Autumn!” I shouted “I told you not to tell them” the laughter continued.

“Did the guards really call him that during his training?” I heard Minion ask.

“For fucks sake” I said “yes, they called me ‘Monkey boy’, and I can hear you, anyway, I guess this means that the radio works”

“O.K.” I heard Vinyl say before the radio clicked off into static, I then went to go and explore, I’ll admit, it was a little bit creepy down here, seeing something that should be bustling with life, so empty, I heard Scar whine, I looked down at him to see him looking down the corridor, ears pinned back.

“Easy boy” I said, patting him in the side, before walking down the corridor, Scar followed closely, actually walking with his side against my leg, he whole demeanour suggested he was on edge, and it put me on edge as well, I soon came to a corner in the corridor and when I followed it, all of the uneasiness, the sense of foreboding, just stopped, that unsettled me even more, I quickly ran back up to the bridge and burst through the doors, Minion took note of my appearance.

“Bloody hell, you look like you’ve seen a ghost” he said

“All off you need to follow me, now!” I said, they all looked confused “just trust me” then looked amongst themselves uncertainly before walking towards me.

“Show us then” Autumn said.

“You what?” Minion asked.

“I kid you not, I walked along this corridor” I said, pointing to the corridor near the boiler room “and I felt really uneasy, Scar felt it as well, we walked around the corner and all the feelings stopped, it’s really weird”

“I think you’ve just gotten scared from being down here alone” Vinyl said, smirking, she then reared up and waived her front hooves around “woo-o-o-oh, the scary corridor is coming to get you”

“O.K. then, if your so brave, why don’t you go down there” I said, smirking, her expression hardened and she dropped onto all four hooves before walking down the corridor.

“See, nothing to…” she trailed off when she walked past one of the doors, she stopped dead in her tracks and I could actually see her going pale.

“Vinyl…?” I asked, she didn’t answer, I walked towards her, ignoring he feeling of dread as best I could, I looked at her face to see her frozen in fear, I then grabbed her and pulled her back towards the rest of the group, once I pulled her out of the corridor she seemed to snap out of her trance and the colour started to return to her.

“Vinyl, are you ok?” I asked.

“I’m never going down there again” she said, her eyes reduced to pinpricks her whole body shivering “there’s something in one of these doors…” she shuddered.

“O.K. then” I said “no body or pony goes down there until we land at the Crystal Empire and have some guards come with us to investigate, agreed?” everyone nodded, including Boris and Scar.

“Let’s get the buck out of here” Autumn said, before turning and walking up the steps to the top deck.

After a few hours we were close to the Crystal Empire and the immense size of the palace was becoming apparent, we were all on the bridge when the radio crackled into life.

“Unidentified armed air-vessel, do you copy, I repeat, unidentified armed air vessel, do you copy, state you identification and intention, over?” I walked over to the radio and spoke into the microphone.

“This is captain Vuur Koning of the dragon-hauled horde-ship ‘The Jörmungandr’, reading you loud and clear, are intentions are strictly Non-hostile, I repeat, Non-hostile, Princess Luna of Equestria should have sent Price Shining Armour and Princess Cadence a message alerting them of our arrival, we are a group of four with a dragon called Frostfang, over”

“Roger that, Captain Vuur Koning, please hold you position while we verify you claim, out” the radio clicked off and I ran outside.

“Frostfang!” I shouted, the dragon looked back at me “Air traffic control wants us to stop while they verify our identity” Frostfang nodded and I could feel the ship begin to slow down and descend, I quickly ran back to the bridge just as the radio crackled into life once more.

“Captain Vuur Koning of the horde-ship ‘The Jörmungandr’, do you copy?” the stallion at air traffic control said, I walked over to the microphone.

“This is Captain Vuur Koning, reading you loud and clear, over?”

“You have been cleared for entry into the dock, but you must wait for an escort, over?” in the distance I could see several small airships making their way towards us.

“Roger that, waiting for escort, out” I said, before walking back out.

“Frostfang” I called, the dragon looked at me, I pointed to the ships in the distance “those ships are our escort into the docks, when they get close enough, follow them” Frostfang nodded and I walked back to the bridge, within a few minutes the ships were close enough and I saw Frostfang begin to take off, I felt the ship shift as we slowly started to ascend, I walked outside to see that we were being escorted by five smaller ships, each one about 25 meters long, the crew of one ship were looking at our ship in awe, I noticed that they were crystal ponies, I waved to them and they waived back cheerfully

“Good day” I shouted.

“Gothur dagur” one of them shouted back, I did a double take, I then called to the bridge of our ship.

“Autumn, I’m going to need you help with this” I shouted, everyone came running over.

“What’s up?” Autumn asked.

“Say good morning to them” I said.

“Um, o.k.” she said, before shouting “Good morning!”

“Gothur Dagur” came the response, Minion just scoffed before walking up to the railing and waiving.

“halló, hvernig ert thú allt í dag” he said, the crew on the other ship cheered and we all stared at him, slack jawed “what? I knew a couple of lasses who spoke Icelandic, which is what they’re speaking”

“You speak Crystallion!?” Autumn said “until recently it was a dead language”

“I speak Icelandic” he said shrugging “but you call it ‘Crystallion’” we soon began to pass other air-ships, some resembled blimps, such as small private air-ships built for the wealthy, but others, like those of the Equestrian Royal Navy and our ship, looked like flying battleships, some of the freighters actually dwarfed our ship by several hundred meters, but we were still amongst the larger of the ships out there, I noticed Minions expression.

“you should see the air-port at Canterlot” I said “they have ships that make those ones look small”

“How do they manage to stay in the air?” he asked, wide eyed

“An arcane generator that is enchanted to effect the mass of the ship, rendering it weightless, they can affect the altitude of the ship by ether increasing or decreasing its output” Autumn said “on the largest ones they can have up to ten of them, this only has two”

“What if they run out of power?” he asked.

“They don’t” Vinyl said “they tap into the same arcane field that unicorns and Vuur Koning uses, they still need a boiler to power the propellers, so they have to dock for coal, but they can collect water by flying through the clouds, if it runs out of water they vent the boiler and drift towards a cloud” the escort soon led us into an empty bay and Frostfang unhitched himself from the harness.

“IT FEELS GOOD TO REST mY WINGS AFTER A LONG FLIGHT LIKE THAT” he boomed as he stepped away from the ship, he then snapped his fingers and…started to shrink, soon he was about the height of me or Minion, we stared at him slack jawed.

“What, did you think I would walk around a populated city as a 200 foot dragon?” he said, his speech not quite so booming, he walked towards us “shall we disembark” we nodded and walked towards one of the bridges from ship to the docks, I could see a white unicorn with a blue mane and a pink Alicorn standing on the dock, we walked up to them and stopped.

“I am Prince Shining Armour and this is Princess Me Amore Cadenza” the unicorn said “and as the rulers of this land, we would like to welcome you to the Crystal Empire”

“Thank you” I said, walking forward and bowing “I am Vuur Koning, I’m sure that either Celestia or Luna sent a message to tell you of our arrival”

“Yes” the prince said “although they forgot to mention the air-ship”

“It belongs to Frostfang” I said, pointing to the dragon

“But you said you were the captain” Shining Armour said, narrowing his eyes.

“He’s usually a lot bigger and pulls the ship, I’m the captain of the actual ship and crew” I said “all 4 of us” the Prince continued to scrutinize me for a few moments before his expression softened

“Is that all?” Princess Cadenza asked, the surprise clear in her voice, I nodded.

“We didn’t set out on our journey expecting to be the crew of a ship” I said “in fact, originally it was just me, Autumn, my messenger falcon and my hunting timberwolf that set out with the intention of traveling the world” the princess raised a hoof, silencing me before I could continue

“Please, you can tell us more about your adventure over lunch” she said “I’m sure you are hungry and don’t want to spend the whole of your visit in the docks”

Chapter 15 15 Begging for Mercy (Ark 2 Chapter 6)

“So Vuur Koning” Princess Cadenza said, taking a sip of some form of soup “why don’t you tell us your story, from the beginning?” we were all sat at a table made of crystal, having a light lunch.

“Very well then” I said, and so I began retelling my tale from when I first arrived in Equestria, right up to when we set off in the horde ship.

“Your journey has certainly been an eventful one” Shining Armour said, sipping on some wine.

“Oh, this is just the start of it” I said “we plan to visit every country, except for the Changeling Empire”

“Good choice” Shining Armour said “keep as far away from changelings as possible”

“Why?” I asked “the only reason I’m not going to their Empire is because I would rather not risk us getting into danger, if relations between Equestria and the Changeling Empire weren’t so poor then I would go in a heartbeat”

“Why would you even want to go to a country responsible for invading Equestria?” Shining Armour asked.

“Yes, but I wasn’t there, and did you ever think why they might have invaded?” I said “Changelings feed on love, correct?” they both nodded.

“Well maybe they had a shortage of love, yes it was a stupid decision to invade when they could have simply asked for aid” I said.

“How did you come to a conclusion like that?” Princess Cadenza asked.

“I like to see war from both sides, to quote Sun Tzu” I said, sipping my cider before continuing “if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of 100 battles, if you know yourself, but not the enemy, for every victory gained, you shall also suffer a defeat, if you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle”

“Where did you here that?” Shining Armour asked.

“A book called the art of war” I said “I’ll give you it before we leave”

“It’s a good book” Minion interjected “I would definitely recommend it”

“I’ll give it a read then” Shining Armour said.

“And create copies to supply amongst your barracks and to your allies” I suggested “if your allies know as well, then you can work together to defeat the enemy through superior tactics, although it does take a couple of reads to understand properly, I still don’t understand the whole ‘breaking the enemies resistance without fighting’ part” I then took a gulp of cider

“What?” Shining Armour said, looking confused.

“Exactly” I said.

“Because, my dear, younger brother” Minion said, sipping a glass of whiskey “you should pay more attention to what it says, once you get down to it, it’s incredibly simple, if a little cryptic at times”

“How can something be simple and cryptic at the same time” Shining Armour asked, my brother just shrugged whilst taking a sip of whiskey, he put the glass down

“Read it and you’ll understand” My brother said “our world’s greatest leaders read it, the worst ones read it and misunderstood it by miles”

“That’s a scary thought” Vinyl said.

“Oh, that reminds me” I said “Prince shining armour?”

“Yes?” he asked.

“I need some of your guards to investigate something, we don’t know what it is, but it’s in a very specific part of our ship, it made me very uneasy and it made Vinyl frozen with fear, and once you walk past the area the feeling just…” I snapped my fingers to demonstrate “disappears” Frostfang stood up.

“Why didn’t you tell me of this sooner?” he asked, more out of worry than anger.

“In all honesty I totally forgot” I admitted sheepishly, Shining Armour held up a hand for silence, the expression on his face could best be described as troubled.

“I’ll assemble a team to investigate” he said “we’ll go after lunch”

“Alright, this is the place” I said, leading the team of guards, led by Shining armour, to the corridor in question “Can you feel it, the sense of foreboding?” Shining armour nodded.

“Show me where it’s at its worst” he said, I pointed to the first door in the corridor “O.K. you lot stay behind my team” with that his team started to move forward, I instinctively reached for my pistol, and Scar was whining softly, one of the guards opened the door and stepped back in fear, Shining Armour looked, for lack of a better word, shocked.

“Impossible…” he trailed off.

“What is it?” Frostfang asked, walking down the corridor unflinchingly, as if the emotions of the corridor didn’t affect him.

“This…” he said, levitating over a silver helmet, the feeling grew stronger as he did so “…is all that is left of King Sombra’s original armour, but how did it get here?” he then looked at Frostfang.

“I have no idea” the dragon said “it’s possible that…” but whatever he was about to say was cut off by a sinister chuckling, it echoed through the corridors, smoke started to envelope the helmet and the guards started to back away, I drew my sword and Autumn and Minion did the same, Shining Armour released the helmet from his grasp and ran towards us, drawing his sword, the smoke started to swirl around the helmet, I could see a shape start to form, the smoke cleared revealing a dark pony, I also noticed that part of his horn was missing.

“I have returned” the Pony said.

“Who are you?” I said, stepping forward, pulling out my pistol and pointing it at the stallion, who simply chuckled.

“You are an interesting one” he said “I am King Sombra, ruler of the Crystal Empire…”

“Really?” I said, not very convinced “because I do believe the ruler of the Crystal Empire is standing over here” the pony snarled.

“You dare to speak unless spoken to”

“Oh, what exactly are you going to do?” I asked.

“Be silent!” he shouted.

“Or what?” I asked, putting my pistol and sword away and crossing my arms, I saw Minion do the same, the stallion didn’t respond “go on then, tell me what you are going to do” I began to walk towards the so called king.

“I will make you suffer” he said, I just chuckled darkly.

“I would like to see you try” I said walking in front of the pony, my brother walked beside me, I then opened my arms “go on, I’ll give you a free hit” he seemed taken aback by this at first, he then chuckled before saying.

“Very well” and with that he went to punch me with a forehoof, just before he made contact I turned to one side, grabbed the outstretched hoof and flung him down the corridor towards the guards, elbowing him in the back using my free hand as I flung him, he sprawled on the floor.

“You dare touch me” he said, trying to get up, I started walking towards him, my brother went to follow but I motioned for him to stop.

“you lot are all the same” I said “you think you’re the best there is, but when push comes to shove, you hide behind your smoke and mirrors, anyone can take over an Empire, but it takes a true leader to rule it” as I said this I picked him up by what was let of his horn, he wrapped his hooves around my arm, trying to support himself, I brought him close to my face and looked him dead in the eyes.

“You are not a king, and you never were, what you are is a tyrant and a murderer” I then brought him so close that our fore heads touched “and I hate tyrants, your power is nothing compared to my hate for you” I chucked him at the ground towards the guards, I then walked over before kneeling down and picked him up by the throat to whisper in his ear.

“If I see you this side of a dungeon again, will hunt you down, I will find you, I will kill you as slowly and as painfully as possible, and then, I will cook you up in a stew and eat you” I then let him drop to the ground, he looked as pale as his armour, I then stood up and looked at the guards

“You know what to do with him” I said before turning and walking past them up the steps to the top deck and leaning on the railings, a few moments later I saw the guards drag the former king up the steps bound in chains, as they dragged him past I snarled at him, his terror stricken eyes were the last I saw of him before he was dragged off the ship, I heard shining armour walk up behind me, followed by my friends, Scar walked up to me and sat by my side, I patted him on the head

“Whilst I can’t say I agree with you methods” Shining Armour said, chuckling slightly “I will say that I am grateful for you helping to bring him to justice, you and you friends are always welcome in the Crystal Empire from now on”

“Trust me, if you weren’t there I would have done a lot worse to him” I said.

“Like what?” he asked.

“Ever hear of Keelhauling?” I asked, Minion winced with a hiss, Shining Armour shook his head “It’s what the sea faring pirates of my world used to do for punishment, don’t believe the ‘walking the plank’ bullshit, what they actually did was much worse, they would have sailed towards a reef or some rocks in shallow waters, and before the went through the reef they would have taken the guilty, tied a long rope to his arms and legs, dropped him off the side of the ship, pulled him underneath the ship using the rope and then leave him here as they sailed over the reef” when I finished Shining armour looked pale.

“That’s a bit excessive, don’t you think?” he said, I shook my head “Anyway, my previous statement still stands, you can stay as long as you like, and you can stay in the guest rooms in the castle”

“Thank you” I said, nodding to him, I suddenly remembered something “oh. Just a second” I then walked down towards my living quarters, I quickly grabbed a book from the bookshelf, I quickly ran back up and handed him the book.

“The art of War” he read off of the cover “I’ll read it when I have time” with that he walked off of the deck of the ship and back towards the castle, we soon disembarked from the ship and made our way towards the market.

We were currently in the Market place, Frostfang was absent as he was currently still at the docks, looking for crew and supplies, using his own horde to pay for it, Boris and Scar were currently ‘watching’ the ship so we were free to get whatever we wanted, we were mostly shopping for gifts and trinkets, so we had split off from each other, I was currently looking for a gift for Autumn, I found a nice little shop selling jewellery suck as rings and necklaces, the crystal pony stallion that was minding the shop walked over to me

“Hello, can I help you with anything?” he asked in a Crystallian accent.

“Yes” I said “I have a friend that I care deeply about and I wish to get her a necklace” the stallion nodded.

“I think I have just the one you want” he said before picking up a necklace with a red ruby encased in two metal feathered wings, making a heart shape.

“It’s perfect” I said, I passed him the necessary bits and he put it into a small box, which I put in the pocket in my cloak, I thanked the pony before stepping out of the shop and into the streets, searching for something to get one of the others, as I was walking along I saw a music shop with, low and behold, electric guitars in the front window.

“Well, now I know what to get by brother” I said to myself as I walked through the front door, inside it was a musicians heaven, most of the more well-known types of instrument were available, I saw a rather nice looking matte-black flying-vee type guitar that was being sold with a medium sized amp, for a rather good price as well, I picked up the guitar to get a feel of what it was made of, I couldn’t play for shit, but I knew a well-made guitar when I saw, and heard it, I turned to the griffin minding the shop.

“Do you mind?” I asked “I’m getting it for a friend, and I just want to see how it sounds” the griffin nodded.

“Do you play?” he asked.

“Can’t play a riff to save my life, but, I do know when a guitar has a good tone to it” I said, the Griffin walked over.

“Pass it here” he said, he then began to strum off a few different riffs, demonstrating how it sounded with different playing styles, and needless to say, it was an amazing guitar, the tone was perfect “how’s that?”

“I think he’ll like this one” I said, I took my rucksack off of my back and paid the griffin before putting the guitar and amp in my rucksack, I also bought a crystal guitar pick

“Is your friend currently visiting the Crystal Empire” the griffin asked.

“Yes” I replied.

“Send him my way some time” the griffin said “I wouldn’t mind hearing him play”

“Will do” I said “skal” and with that I walked out of the shop, I soon found another music shop, this time selling stuff like C.D.s and head phones, I bought some headphones for the four of us, I somehow doubted Frostfang would want a pair of headphones, I also bought some C.D.s with dubstep on for Vinyl, I then found a place selling things like daggers, so I now had a hunting knife, complete with a strap-on hilt, so it was now in place on my chest opposite the holster for my pistol.

I walked along the corridors of the crystal Palace, the guards nodded to me as I walked past, I was currently walking to dinner with my rucksack, I hadn’t seen the others all day and I felt this would be the perfect time to give them the gifts, I walked into the dining room to find the others all sitting at the table, chatting with the prince and princess , I sat down next to Autumn and Minion took notice of the hunting knife.

“Nice knife” he said.

“You humans and your blades” I heard Autumn mutter.

“I have to find some terrorising Sombra, don’t I?” I asked rhetorically, she just scoffed and shook her head.

“What do you mean, terrorising Sombra?” Princess Cadenza asked.

“Well princess Cadenza…”

“Please, call me Cadence” she said, cutting me off.

“O.K., Cadence, you might have heard about us capturing Sombra”

“Yes, I did hear about that” she said, nodding

“Well, Sombra is, quite frankly, terrified of me” I said “because I beat him in hand to hand combat and then used a few choice words to…encourage him to cooperate with the Guards”

“And what might those words be?” Cadence asked.

“in all honesty I picked him up by the throat and whispered into his ear saying; If I see you this side of a dungeon again, will hunt you down, I will find you, and I will kill you as slowly and as painfully as possible, and then, I will cook you up in a stew and eat you” I said, silence reined, everyone was wide eyed and slack jawed, my brother was the first to recover

“Dude, that is fucking dark, even by my standards” he said.

“Well it worked, didn’t it?” I asked.

“True” Shining Armour said “if it worked, then who am I to question the methods?”

“Still, I think I’ll pay him a visit, just to provide that extra incentive to stay where he is” I said, taking the dagger out of its sheaf and examining it “in all honesty I won’t hurt him whilst he’s here, just give him something to fear, it’s time the tyrant learnt what fear is”

“Y-you are really creepy when you talk like that” Vinyl said.

“I know” I said, shrugging, the waiters came to serve our drinks “now, who wants to see what I bought them?”

“Wait” Autumn said “now!?”

“Why not” I said “starting with you Autumn” as I said this I passed her the box with the necklace.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Just open it” I said, she took the lid off of the small box and gasped, covering her mouth with her hooves.

“Oh my, Vuur Koning, this is beautiful” she said, starting to get tearful, I took the necklace out of the box and put it around her neck, she hugged me “Thank you” she sounded like she was about cry.

“Only the best for someone as beautiful as you” I replied, putting my arm around her.

“Get a room you two” Vinyl said.

“Aww, they make such a cute couple” Cadence said, gushing over the two of us.

“Nice choice, bro” Minion said, nodding and raising his whiskey glass, I nodded back and raised my glass of cider, I removed my arm from around Autumn and went back into the bag.

“Brother, these are for you” I said, pulling the guitar and amp out of the rucksack, his jaw dropped.

“You, are a fucking legend” he said, standing up and taking the guitar, his jaw dropped further when I passed him the pick “is that actual crystal!?”

“Yep” I said “well go on, I want to hear you play, the amp has a battery” he turned on the amp and began quickly tuning the guitar to the correct tuning, he then strummed a few times

“This is a good guitar” he said “I’ll warn you, I’m a little rusty, I haven’t played in over five months” he then launched into a fast paced guitar solo getting faster and faster until he stopped, finishing with a high pitched note.

“Wait for it” I whispered into Autumns ear, he them began another solo, this time to a much slower overall tempo than before, all of the ponies began to bob their head to the beat, he drifted smoothly from riff to riff, he was truly in his element, and he seemed more upbeat than before, eventually he changed into a fast paced solo and finished off with a bow, Everypony at the applauded and he switched off the amp.

“Bloody hell, Minion” Vinyl said “if you were a pony, your cutie mark would be a guitar pick, you have a natural talent for the six-string, and also, YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOU WERE A GUITARIST!” Autumn and I laughed at that

“So” I said to Autumn “what do you think?”

“Vinyl is right” she said “he has talent”

“Please” Minion said, standing the guitar against the amp and sitting down “I’m not that good” Shining Armour looked shocked at that

“After that masterpiece?” he said “even if you didn’t write it, to be able to play with such perfect timing and precision, that is raw talent, whether you want to admit it or not” he then raised his glass to Minion

“I agree” Cadence said “you have talent, don’t give up with your skill”

“I still don’t think I’m that good” Minion said, sipping on his glass of whiskey, I face palmed.

“Mate, stop comparing yourself to guitar legends” I said, I then got out the C.D.s for Vinyl

“Oh, cheers” she said, levitating them into her saddle bag “thanks mate”

“I also got headphone for the 4 of us” I said, I then turned to Frostfang, who had, up until now, been quietly munching on a lump of quartz “Say, Frostfang, how is the recruitment process doing”

“It could be worse” he said “we now have a crew of about 50, made up of different species, there are crystal ponies, earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns, some griffins, some minotaur’s, a handful of diamond dogs, even some thestrals”

“Thestrals?” Minion asked.

“They are like Pegasi, except they are nocturnal and have bat wings” I explained “they are most famous for being employed in Princess Luna’s Night Guard, but they are extremely popular with ship crews because they work at night, meaning the day crew don’t have to do all the work, so we are lucky to have thestrals among our crew” the waiters then served our food before disappearing back into the kitchen.

“So, Vuur Koning” Shining Armour said “Where exactly are you and your brother from, we gathered than you’re from a different planet, but where on that planet are you both from?” I swallowed my food before answering.

“My brother and I both come from the United Kingdom” I said “currently ruled by her majesty Queen Elizabeth the 2nd, until we arrived on Terra we lived in a large town in the north east of the country of England, called Scunthorpe, it’s one of that countries major producers of metal, such as steel and iron, and is the only metal works on our world with the facilities to create earthquake-proof steel for earthquake prone countries”

“Sounds like it’s a rather important town” Cadence said.

“It is” I replied “it’s just a shame that it’s full of chavs”

“Chavs?” Autumn asked “what’s a chav?” me and Minion looked at each other before we both said

“Council housed and violent” Vinyl snorted.

“Sounds like some rather unpleasant ponies I’ve had the displeasure of meeting” she said

“They walk around in hoodies and tracksuits acting like their tough” Minion said, sneering “but the moment you stand up for yourself they run off, they are cowards and total scum”

“Are you talking from experience?” Shining Armour asked.

“Unfortunately, yes” Minion said, nodding.

Chapter 16 16 No Quarter (Ark two Chapter 7)

2 WEEKS LATER

I walked through the docks towards the Jörmungandr, we were now fully stocked up on supplies for the flight to Gryphus; the Capital of the Griffin Kingdoms, we had been held back an extra week as, due to the fact that our ship is an armed vessel, we had to not only get a licence, but we also had to arrange with the Griffin Kingdoms to get permission to fly through their airspace, on the plus side, because we had been held back, our crew had increased from 50 to around 200, but now that the ship had such a large crew we had to divide leadership amongst the four of us;

I was the Captain: in charge of the ship and navigation, and ultimately, called all the shots

Autumn was the Crew commander and second in command: in charge of any personnel that wasn’t working on specialist jobs and if needs be, could assume command of the ship

Minion was the Defence Commander: in charge of directing the crew responsible for the shields and guns.

Vinyl was the Communications and Technicians officer: in charge of any communications and any systems vital to keeping the ship in the sky and moving.

Frostfang was back to his full size and already hitched up, I walked onto the ship to see the deck bustling with activity, creatures of all kind were rushing about, preparing the ship for launch, I even saw the odd changeling buzzing around, thick black smoke was pouring out of the smoke stacks, seems they had finally got the boiler up to pressure, we were definitely getting ready for launch, I walked onto the bridge to find the rest of command talking casually, Boris flew over and landed on my shoulder.

“How soon can we be in the air?” I asked.

“The boilers are primed and ready” Vinyl said.

“All crew are accounted for and eager to set off” Autumn said, smirking slightly.

“All weapons and shields are at 100% efficiency” Minion said.

“So we can leave whenever?” I asked, they nodded, and I walked onto the small walkway on the outside of the bridge, Scar followed me outside and stood beside me, all of the crew were currently bustling about on the decking in front of the bridge, I nodded to Scar and he let out a howl, all of the crew stopped to look at us, I cleared my throat before speaking.

“Right, first off, I would like to thank you all for choosing to sail on this ship, I would also like to make a few things absolutely clear, first off, I’m sure some of you will be wondering where your allegiance now lies, seeing as the crew is made up a various different species” I saw some of them nod “well, your allegiance is now with me, and my allegiance is to the Equestrian Sovereignty, so if Equestria goes to war, we follow them into war as an ally, regardless of what nation you come from, secondly, we have no definite route planned out, we shall be travelling the world, so we will be going everywhere, eventually we shall even be heading into the unchartered territories of the southern continent, and as a result I can’t guarantee you absolute safety, thirdly, on this ship, my word is law, and you will obey the chain of command, fourthly, forget any mis-conceptions or stereotypes that you may have heard about other species, I will not tolerate discrimination or racism, and finally, if you are unhappy with how I command this ship, feel free to step off now, I will bear you no ill will if you do” none of the crew moved.

“That’s good, NOW WHO WANTS TO SEE THE WORLD?” the whole crew cheered, I then walked back onto the bridge.

“Vinyl, are we cleared to leave?” I asked.

“Yes, I requested clearance whilst you were talking to the crew” she said.

“Good, let’s get out of here” I said, Vinyl then instructed the engine crew to engage the propellers, the whistle hooted and I saw Scar start to take flight, we slowly made our way out of the docks, turned towards the south west and made our way across the frozen tundra, we then accelerated to the ships cruising speed of 100 knots, the ships shields stopped the wind from reaching the deck, so we didn’t have to worry about anyone getting blown off, what we did have to worry about was the mountain range that we had pass through to reach the Griffin Kingdoms, I was currently looking at a navigational chart of the mountain range with the others, trying to decide on a route that was a good balance between safety and directness, some of them were relatively safe to pass through, but would take weeks to traverse, others would only take a few hours, but were impossibly treacherous, one thing we could all agree on was that whichever route we took, it wouldn’t be easy, we eventually found one that would take roughly a few days and wouldn’t be too risky, I had Autumn go over to alert Frostfang of our route to Gryphus, she soon returned and told me that he understood and had changed his course accordingly, with that done I went to see how everything was preceding.

I walked down the corridor towards the boiler room, steam hissed out of the occasional pipe as I walked passed, I would need to speak to Vinyl about that, I reached the boiler room to find a couple of minotaur’s shovelling coal into the furnaces, they stopped after a couple of shovelfuls.

“How are the boilers holding?” I asked.

“The boilers are working like they were just built yesterday, Captain” a female Minotaur with a thick accent said.

“Good” I said “right, carry on” and with that I went to the next section of the ship, the armoury, I had originally found it when we were staying in the crystal empire, and had made a point to have a member of each species assigned to work in the armoury and design a unique set of armour, but when I walked in I realised that it might not have been my wisest decision, they were all stood in front of large chalk board, arguing.

“I say the armour should be inspired by Minotaurian armour” a large minotaur bull said.

“Vell I zay de armour should be inspired by griffin armour” a griffin said, butting heads with the minotaur.

“Why can’t it be inspired by Equestrian armour?” a unicorn said.

“NO” the minotaur and griffin said at the same time, I had just about had enough.

“Enough!” I shouted, silencing them before it got out of hand “what is the problem?” I leaned against the door way with my arms crossed.

“If we be truthful” a diamond dog said “we not decide on armour” everyone else begrudgingly agreed with him.

“Our nations each have a different type of armour” a thestral said “we can’t just choose one particular style”

“Who said you had to?” I asked, they looked confused, I sighed and rolled my eyes before saying “why don’t you all write down all of the strengths and weaknesses of each of your species armour, and then design something that incorporates as many of the strengths as possible and as few of the weaknesses, with minor variations to accommodate things like differences in anatomy, an example would be, the minotaur’s and diamond dog’s armour will be thicker as they are strong and heavily built, but the pegasi, thestral’s and changeling’s will have to have relatively light armour, to allow them to fly without tiring too quickly, you see what I’m talking about?” they all nodded, looking a little sheepish.

“Now me feel foolish” the diamond dog said “why we not think of that?”

“Because you are all used to your own species type of armour, so you all feel that it should be the type you should all use” I said.

“And what should the design look like?” a changeling asked, I thought for a moment.

“A similar style to mine and my brothers armour” I said “our armour is unlike anything I’ve seen, so what could be more perfect, I’ll make a few sketches of helmet designs to signify things like a crew members role on the ship, you come up with the rest” I then left the room to look for the next section, weapons testing, as with the armoury I had a member of each species assigned here to create a unique type of weapon, and once again I realised I may have been a little hasty when I decided to pick a member of every species, I walked in to find a changeling and a unicorn going at each other with swords, I flung them to opposite sides of the room using my magic and fired my pistol into the floor.

“Right, sort your shit out” I shouted, gaining everyone’s attention “you’re supposed to be working together, not trying to kill each other”

“Actually” the changeling said, and then pointed to the unicorn “he was teaching me how to fight with a sword” I scratched the back of my neck nervously

“Ah” I said “right, my mistake, carry on” I then hastily exited from weapons testing before one of them decided to go after me with a katana, I then headed back up to the bridge, as I walked onto the ridge I noticed another ship that was a close proximity to ours, it also had smoke billowing out.

“Vuur Koning, that ship hasn’t moved since we first saw it, and it hasn’t responded to any of our attempts at communication” Autumn said “what do you want us to do?”

“Have Frostfang slow down and stop next to it, but to be careful, it could be a trap” I said, I then walked up to the microphone

“Unidentified airship, this is Captain Vuur Koning of the Horde ship Jörmungandr, do you require assistance, over?” no response “when we get close enough, we’re boarding that ship” Frostfang brought our ship alongside the other ship, it had angular armour, which was dented and shot at.

Myself, Scar, Autumn, Vinyl and Minion stepped onto the decking of the other vessel, Vinyl now had basic metal armour and levitated a spell rifle, Boris perched on my shoulder, Frostfang was watching the ship to make sure none of the crew go any funny ideas while we were gone, my brother was currently in front, using the heat vision on his helmet to look for signs of life, but he had his arm mounted gun ready, just in case it was a trap, so far the chances of us finding any one was slim, Minion suddenly stopped.

“Hold up” he whispered “I think I’ve got something” he then walked up to a door, he knocked twice and waited, after about a minute he looked at us and shrugged before he stepped.

“I’ll need help to open that door” he said to me, I nodded before putting my pistol and sword away I stood in line with him “on 3, 1…2…3” we both charged the door and it flew off its hinges, the first thing I noticed was a shape in the corner of the poorly lit room, but I was unable to properly make it out, I went to go towards it but Minion held his arm out to stop me.

“What is it?” I whispered.

“It looks like a dragon, a young one” he said, and then began to slowly knell down and lower his weapons, eventually leaving them on the ground, I saw the shape move slightly “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you”

“W-what are you?” I heard a young female voice ask quietly, the fear apparent in her voice

“I’m a human” Minion said, in a friendly tone “my name is Minion, and this is my brother Vuur Koning, what’s your name”

“I’m called Aurora” the voice said, sound a little less scared, I could see the shape move towards us.

“That’s a nice name” Minion said “do you know what happened here?” I heard a sniff before the shape lunged at my brother and…hugged him? Now that she was in the light of the door way I could now make out the dragons features, she was small for a dragon, about the size of a small dog, with only 4 limbs, just two wings and two legs, she was a dark green and she was now crying and burying her head into his chest plate, I could see tears glinting in the light of the doorway

“There all gone” she said, her breath hitching slightly as she spoke, she was just a child, alone and scared on a ship, and that broke my heart.

“shhh, it’s o.k.” My brother said, holding the young dragoness “your safe now” he then picked her up and began to walk out the door, I picked up his weapons and followed him out, he whispered reassurances to her as we all walked back to the ship, the crew thankfully gave us some space as we walked past, I turned to the crew.

“Strip that ship of all usable parts” I said, then sighed before following the others down to Minions living quarters.

When I got to the door to my brothers living quarters Autumn, Vinyl and Scar were stood outside, and the door was shut, the atmosphere in the corridor was like that of a funeral, after a few minutes the door opened quietly and Minion stepped out.

“How is she?” I asked.

“To sum up” he said quietly, shutting the door “she’s scared, hungry and grieving, she was the daughter of a couple of dragons that were working on a merchant ship, pirates attacked the ship and killed everyone, the only reason she’s still alive is because her parents locked her in her room.

“oh, the poor thing” Autumn said “how old is she?”

“about 10” he said sadly.

“if we come across those pirates, I’m shooting them out of the skies” I said “how long ago did they attack?”

“Aurora says it was earlier today” Minion said, I stormed off towards the bridge, ignoring my friends protests, I stepped onto the walkway in front of the bridge, and called to the crew.

“My fellow crew mates” I said, everyone on the deck stopped to look at me “the young dragoness that we brought on board is the only survivor after that ship was attacked by pirates” the crew stared to murmur.

“Now, I will not stand for the killing of innocent people, which is why we are going after those pirates, we will find them, we will exact justice upon them, and we will show them NO QUARTER” the crew cheered, anyone that was on the other ship quickly returned and we set off, In the distance I could see a ship, so I ordered the engine crew to take to boiler as far is it could go and we soon began to catch up, eventually we were within 100 feet of them, they looked like you average pirates as well, they even flew the jolly Rodger, I spoke into the radio.

“Unidentified vessel, this is Captain Vuur Koning of the dragon hauled horde ship Jörmungandr, you are to stop immediately, I repeat, you are to stop immediately, or I will not hesitate to blow your arses into high heaven” I snarled into the microphone, after a few second I heard someone reply.

“Why the hostility mate?” the voice on the other end asked in a stereotypical pirate voice.

“Because you mercilessly slaughtered the entire crew of a merchant ship, leaving only a young dragoness, no older than 10” I spat back “you will stop” the ship stopped and we drew up alongside it, I ordered the guns to be aimed at the ship, I stepped out of the bridge and onto the decking, there was about 11 meters between us, most of my crew were hurling insults at the pirates.

“Who be the captain of this ship?” a wingless red dragon that was hanging on the rigging on his ship asked

“I am!” I shouted as I walked up to the railing, just as Autumn, Vinyl and Minion climbed up the steps to the deck, the dragon regarded me with curiosity.

“You are a strange one” he said, his crew chuckled at that, he then glanced at the name of our ship “what is a Jörmungandr?”

“Shut it” I barked “I don’t answer to pirates like you, I just want to know why?”

“Why what?” the dragon asked innocently “I be just a humble captain” his crew chuckled darkly.

“I want to know why you mercilessly slaughtered the entire crew of a ship.” I snarled.

“The captain owed me money” he said with a shrug, I then pulled out my pistol and shot him in shoulder, he clutched it in pain “AHH, you bastard”

“You’ve just admitted to you crimes” I said “and as a member of the Equestrian Royal Guard, I am fully authorised to attack you vessel” I then turned to the people manning the massive guns.

“OPEN FIRE”

The guns all fired at once and the ship rocked as blue energy shot from the barrels, I turned back to the pirate ship just in time to see the captains eyes turn to pinpricks before the arcane rounds impacted the side of the ship, the parts of the hull exploded, and the ship started to slowly drift towards the ground, I quickly snapped my fingers and began teleporting back and forth between the two ships, taking the crew of the pirate ship and depositing them on the deck of our ship, left the captain till last, I teleported a couple of steps away from him, he was currently sprawled on the floor, trying to get up, I walked towards him and wen to grab hold of him but he stopped me.

“Don’t” he said.

“What?” I asked.

“Leave me” he said, trying to get up, and failing, I rolled my eyes before grabbing hold of him and pulling him up, he looked at me in surprise “Why?”

“Because if I’m not merciful, then I’m no better than you” I said “I spared your crew, I will offer them the chance to join me and redeem themselves, I’m giving you that choice as well” I held my hand out to him, he looked at me and smirked

“How do you know I won’t stab you in the back?” he said.

“I don’t, it’s called trust, something that isn’t common amongst pirates” he chuckled at that “so what will it be, die on this ship, or join my crew, and live to travel the world” he slowly lifted his hand and hesitated before placing it on mine, I nodded before teleporting us back to the ship, just as his hit the ground in a spectacular explosion, he removed his hand from mine only to be punched in the jaw by my brother, the dragon chuckled slightly whilst massaging his jaw.

“I deserved that one” he muttered, getting up.

“why my brother decided to spare you, I’ll never know” my brother spat, before getting right up in the dragons face “but know this, if you so much as look at me or Aurora funny, I WILL NOT HESITATE TO BEAT THE UTTER SHIT OUT OF YOU AND THEN KEELHAUL YOU WHILE WE GO THOUGH THE MOUNTAIN RANGE INTO THE GRIFFIN KINGDOMS!” he then punched the dragon in the snout before walking below deck.

“E’s got quite the punching arm” the dragon said, holding his snout.

“And you deserve it” I said “from now on, you and your crew are doing all of the menial jobs, scrubbing the decks, cleaning the toilets, you’ll have to earn our respect, you all do as I say, and follow my word, to the letter, then I won’t be tempted to leave you alone in a room with my brother” I noticed his eyes reduce to pinpricks.

“I don’ think me boys‘ll be givin’ ya much trouble” the dragon said, he then turned to his former crew “ain’ tha’ righ’ la’s?”

“Aye!” the shouted.

“Good” I said “treat my crew with respect, stay out of my brothers way unless you can help it, especially if he is with a young, dark-green dragoness”

“Will do” he said “And thank you, not many people would show mercy like you did”

“Not many people need a crew as badly as I do, now get to work! you can start by scrubbing the decks” I said, before turning and walking away, I walked below deck and rounded a corner only to get punced in the jaw, sending me sprawling to the floor.

“Why?” Minion said, stepping into view.

“Because” I said, getting up “if I were to kill them mercilessly then I would be no better than them”

“How do you think Aurora will feel about this?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“She’ll have an opportunity to confront them about it, show them the consequences of their actions” I said “I’m still pissed off at them for what they did, but anyone can be redeemed”

“That’s bullshit and you know it” he spat.

“Is it?” I asked “you obviously haven’t heard of Discord”

“You called” I heard the aforementioned draconequis say, just as he slithered out of one of the vents, confusing my brother greatly

“Speak of the Devil…” I muttered, face palming.

“What the fuck!?” Minion exclaimed, I sighed before introducing them.

“Brother, this is Discord, the reformed god of chaos, Discord, this is my brother Minion

“What are you?” my brother asked.

“He just said” Discord said, pointing at me.

“What do you want?” I asked, walking past the two of them, Discord started floating after me, my brother regarded him wearily, but never the less, walked after us, I walked up to the bridge and stared out of the window, watching the crews work, I then turned around to look at them “well then, what are you here for?”

“I’m simply here to pass on a message” he said, conjuring winged shoes and a toga.

“Go on” a said, twirling my hand.

“Expect your ship to end up teleporting to Equestria at some point, I can’t tell you the specifics, only that here will be a battle, and your destiny will become clear afterwards, it won’t be for some time, so get ready” he then disappeared in a cotton candy mushroom cloud that started to rain chocolate milkshake.

“God damn it, Discord!” I shouted, Minion took two steps away from the pink cloud, which soon started to dissipate.

“He’s weird” he said.

“Try batshit-fucking-insane” I said “you wouldn’t believe me if I told you he used to be evil, he may be crazy, but he is seriously cunning and clever, it’s almost scary, I would hate to fight him, because you can’t predict what he will do next, anyway, I suppose we should start preparing”

“Why” Minion asked.

“Because given his past history of predictions, we will be ending up in Equestria, whether we want to or not” I said, looking at the navigational charts “only Celestia or Luna have the power to transport this ship several thousand miles, and if they are going to resort to that, then what ever it is that will threaten them, doesn’t bare thinking about” I looked out the window and saw that we were heading into the mountain range.

“How’s Aurora?” I asked my brother

“Sleeping” he replied simply.

“I hope the poor girl doesn’t have nightmares” I said, looking out the window, deep in thought.

Chapter 17 17 Sonne (Ark 2 Chapter 8)

The Jörmungandr slowly crept between the mountains that separated the Frozen North and The Griffin Kingdoms, it had gotten so risky that Frostfang had stopped flying and was now crawling though, dragging the ship behind him, I had even resorted to requesting the help of Blazewing, the former captain of the pirate ship, so he was now stood beside me in the bridge, I was still relatively new to this, and he had more experience, never the less, my brother kept a very close eye one him, and when I say kept a close eye on him, I mean he was constantly stood behind Blazewing with his sword drawn, the crew were uneasy, and that was making me uneasy, the walls of the mountains were no more than 10 feet from each side of the ship.

“If ah may be so bold as t’ speak my mind” Blazewing looking back and forth between both sides of the ship nervously “you are takin’ an ‘uge risk, goin’ through ‘ere”

“True” I said, nodding “but we’ve come too far to back out” he nodded at this.

“Aye, tha’ be true” he said “th’ sooner we ge’ ou’a this cursed moun’ain range, th’ be’er” just as he said this the ship hit the side of one of the mountains, sending us all to the floor.

“See wha’ ah mean?” he said, getting back up, thankfully, we didn’t have much further to go before we were clear of the mountains, I turned to my brother.

“When we get out of these mountains, remind me to have some pegasi check out any damage” I said, he nodded, after about half an hour of tense traversing of the mountains, we finally reached clear skies, you could practically hear the sighs of relief as we accelerated away from the mountains, now we had several weeks of open air before we reached the mountainside capital of the Griffin Kingdom, so we could afford to relax a little, as we weren’t needed we all retired to our quarters, in the couple of weeks since we had rescued Aurora, Minion had become her surrogate father, I noticed that he was now more subdued and matured, he was now starting to act his age, rather than acting like a big kid most of the time, once she got over her grief, Aurora turned out to be a sweet little girl with a mild demeanour, although a noticed she was starting to pick up a British accent, due to her being around my brother, I opened the door to mine and Autumns quarters and was pounced on by Scar, who began to lick my face.

“O.k., I get it, you were worried about me” I said, pushing him off of me and stroking him from head to tail “you’re a good boy” he yipped slightly and I patted him, before getting up and walking over to the stereo system that Vinyl had installed a few weeks ago, I brought up the music player on my laptop and put the music onto shuffle, I stared to bob my head to the music, the pounding heavy metal pouring out of the speakers as I clicked at Boris, who was perched on a special perch that I had built for him, he flew over to me as I walked towards the balcony and perched on my shoulder, I opened the doors and sat down on one of the chairs on the balcony, I sighed as I enjoyed the view, the skies were clear, the sun shone and the view of the mountains was spectacular, I levitated a glass and a bottle of cider over, Scar walked over to me, his claws clicking on the floor, he laid down next to me and I patted him in the side, I then clicked to Boris and he took off into the open air to hunt for some food, I sat back and sipped my cider as I watched a master of his craft at work, he then dived and disappeared for a few minutes before returning, I then spotted Aurora flying alongside Autumn, seems the pegasus was teaching the dragoness how to fly, I waived to them and Autumn waived back before saying something to Aurora, the both of them banked towards the balcony I was sat on and landed.

“Hi Aurora” I said to the dragoness.

“Hello Vuur Koning” she said cheerfully, she then heard the music I was listening to and scrunched up her snout, I chuckled before pausing the music.

“Better?” I asked, she nodded “was Autumn teaching you how to fly?”

“Yeah, my parents never really had time to teach me” she said sadly.

“Listen” I said, lifting up her chin “if it helps, both me and Minion know it’s like, losing a parent, so we are here for you if you need support, okay?”

“Okay” she said, cheering up a little, I then remembered something.

“Aurora, what’s you fire breathing?” I asked, she puffed her chest out and spat out some green flames.

“Really good” she said proudly.

“in that case then” I said getting up from the chair and kneeling down to her level “how would you like to help me write a letter to Princesses Celestia and Luna of Equestria” her eyes went wide.

“You know princesses!?” she asked, if her eyes were any wider they would’ve fallen out of their sockets, both me and Autumn chuckled at that.

“Yep, and who knows, if you are really good for my brother Minion, you may just get to meet them one day” I said, I then walked over to the writing desk and sat down, I turned to look at Aurora “come on then, do you want to help me or not?” her eyes went wide and she flew over, landing on the chair next to mine.

“I’m going to write something quickly, and then you can write something, okay?” I said, Aurora blushed before mumbling something “What was that?”

“I can’t write?” she said, before holding out her wings, I could now see that she only had two claws on the top of each wing.

“Well then, you can tell me what you want to say, and I’ll write it down for you, okay?” she nodded, I then got a quill and started to write:

Dear Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

I just thought I would write to tell you how things are going, I am currently sitting in the captains quarters of the dragon hauled horde ship ‘Jörmungandr: the Midgard Serpent’, Jörmungandr is pronounced Yur-mun-gan-der if you were wondering, anyway, I’m now the Captain of this ship, which belongs to Frostfang, that’s the dragon that attacked the train were on, Luna had him become our transport, we stopped in his cave for the night and well, it kind of just came up in conversation, anyway, Frostfang pulls the ship, whilst I’m in charge of the crew, I’ll tell you now, it is a fully armed vessel, with enough fire power to blow other ships out of the sky, as has already be proven against a pirate ship, and don’t worry, I saved the crew, and they’re now doing work on my ship, speaking of crew, we now have a sizable one of around 250, just enough to keep this ship running, we’ve just passed through the mountain range that lies on the border with the griffin kingdom and we should be in the capital within a few weeks.

In case you were wondering how you got this message, my brother is now in the care of a young dragoness called Aurora, and just before I write down what she wants to say, I’ll say this, if ever Equestria goes to war, I will gladly have Frostfang pull this ship into battle, we have more than enough firepower to make a difference.

Aurora says that she feels very lucky to be able to communicate with you two, that she hopes to meet you one day and that she is excited to be able to help me write to you.

Yours sincerely.

Your friend Vuur Koning, captain of the D.H.H.S. ‘Jörmungandr: The Midgard Serpent’

And Aurora the dragoness.

I rolled up the letter and then bound it in a seal that was enchanted to send the letter to Princess Celestia when burnt by dragon fire, I then held it in front of Aurora.

“Go on then, burn it” I said, she looked confused.

“Why?” she asked.

“Because the seal is enchanted to send the letter to Princess Celestia, but it only works if you burn it with dragon fire” I said, she gingerly took the scroll in her claws.

“Okay, 1…2…3” and then she breathed green flames onto the scroll, the whole scroll burnt up and the flames flew out the window.

“There it goes” I said, Aurora quickly flew to the window to watch the flames fly towards Equestria, a big grin plastered on her face.

“It worked!” she exclaimed, she went to fly out the window but I stopped her

“Don’t you want to wait for them to send a reply” I asked her, she climbed down from the railing and flew inside, we didn’t have to wait for long, only instead of receiving a letter, there was flash and a loud pop, and Princess Celestia herself landed on the balcony, the force of the impact causing the balcony to tilt downwards ever so slightly and sending Boris and Scar running inside.

“Hello Vuur Koning, Autumn Skies” Celestia said, nodding to each of us, as if she hadn’t just teleported out of nowhere and landed on my balcony.

“P-princess” I hastily bowed, she just rolled her eyes.

“There is no need for formality, I simply wanted to see this ship of yours” she said, she then took notice of Aurora and knelt down to seem less intimidating “And you must be Aurora”

“Y-yes Princess Celestia” the young Dragoness said, shaking slightly.

“There is no need to fear me” Celestia said softly, before standing up to full height, Aurora looked up at her in awe Celestia then turned to me “how about showing me your ship then”

“Yes, of course” I said, before walking towards the door, I stopped and turned to Autumn and Aurora “go and tell Minion and Vinyl that Celestia is visiting, I want the crew to be working their hardest by the time me and Celestia are on the top deck” Autumn nodded and beckoned for Aurora to follow, as me and Celestia walked along the corridors she turned to me.

“How did you end up with a dragoness so young?” she asked, I sighed.

“Unfortunately, the pirates I mentioned in the letter, attacked the ship that her parents were working on, Aurora was the only one we could find, alive that is” I said sadly “that is why I blew their ship out of the sky, my brother is looking after Aurora now”

“But why add the pirates to your crew?” Celestia asked.

“Because if I just let them die then I would be no better than them” I said, shrugging “plus I need all the crew I can get, this is a big ship, bigger than any on my world, at the moment they’re on all of the worst jobs, just because their now part of my crew, doesn’t mean I’m letting them off Scott free” we walked up the steps to the outside deck, all of the crew were doing something, Celestia’s eyes widened when she saw the massive 10 foot long gun barrels of the turrets.

“Impressive, aren’t they” Minion said, leaning against the base of the turret closest to us and tapping it with a knuckle “there are 4 barrels to each turret, and 10 turrets dotted along each side of the ship, that’s 20 turrets and 80 barrels of magical destruction ready to unleash ragnarok upon any ship foolish enough to attack us”

“Why so many Turrets?” Celestia asked.

“Dragons covet their horde” he said simply.

“Can you see why I said my ship is your ship?” I said “no doubt something with this many guns will be a big boost to moral, and will no doubt help to turn the tide of most battles, it can attack from both sides at once”

“You would send this ship into battle for my country?” she asked, surprised.

“And the crew” I said “this ship has people from most species, I’ve given some of them the task of creating armour and weapons that are as perfect as is possible, come on, I’ll show you” I then turned around walked back down the steps

“And here we have the armoury” I said to Celestia as I opened the door, there were various creatures, all working on pieces of armour, there was now even a dragon from Blazewing’s crew, a blue dragoness with gold spikes, currently working on a helmet, on one wall there was examples of armour for each species, Celestia looked at the armour.

“How did you design it?” she asked, walking up to the pony armour and examining it closely.

“I had a member of each species list of the strengths and weaknesses of their nations armour” I said, picking up the chest-plate for a griffin’s set “we then incorporated as many of the strengths as practically possible, and the styling was taken after mine and my brother’s armour, better to have a uniform look, there are minor variations depending on the species, like the armour for the flying species is more lightly built than let’s say, that of a minotaur”

“Truly a versatile concept” she said, levitating over the helmet of a pony “do you have spare designs?”

“I’m guessing you want to incorporate this into your royal guard?” I asked, she nodded and I levitated copies of the plans for the armour for all of the pony types “if you want I can have them draw up designs for Alicorn armour” she shook her head.

“I can have some made for me in Canterlot” she said, taking them in her magical grasp.

“Right, onto weapons testing”

As we walked into weapons testing I could see various different species sparing, there were blades and blunt force weapons laid out on a table, I walked over to the table and picked up a sword similar to a broad sword.

“A Griffonian broad sword” I said passing it to Celestia “but built like a Neighponese katana, the steel has been folded over 1000 times, we actually tested it, and it cut all the way through 4 body widths of meat before it stopped halfway through the 5th” Celestia’s eyes widened and she took it in her magic and gave it a few test swings.

“This is very well balanced” she said, looking up and down the length of the blade

“A sword can have the best blade in the world” a griffin said, walking up to us and bowing “but it’s useless if it isn’t balanced properly, your majesty”

“What is your name?” Celestia asked.

“Baldric, your majesty” the griffin said “I helped to design the blade, hence the Griffonian influence”

“How would you feel if this ship went to war with the Griffin Kingdoms?” Celestia asked.

“If I may speak my mind, your majesty, King Alexander is an arrogant bastard, I would gladly follow Vuur Koning into battle against the Griffin Kingdoms with my sword drawn” Baldric said.

“Which is why I’ve put Baldric in command of the griffins on this ship” I said, patting the griffin on the shoulder “I’m grateful to have someone like him on my ship, it also helps because I can’t speak a word of Griffonian, he translates any orders I give to the other griffins”

“Is it like this with every species on your ship?” Celestia asked.

“Yes” I said “me, Autumn, Minion and Vinyl are the senior officers on the ship, then there is a secondary chain of command, with a senior officer of each species, we have a council of sorts, any major disputes between two or more species get put forth and we all discuss a solution, it also makes it easier to keep everyone in line if there is a member of their own species giving orders to them, the former pirates are currently led by their former captain, Blazewing”

“Aren’t you worried about mutiny?” Celestia asked, I laughed.

“I need only threaten to lock them in a room with my brother” I said, Baldric chuckled, Celestia just looked at us, confused “Minion punched Blazewing in the jaw, twice, and then threatened to tie him to the hull of the ship whist we went through the Griffonian mountains, they’re scared of my brother, that’s why they haven’t tried to take command yet”

Celestia and I were stood on the top deck of the ship, looking at the Griffonian Mountain range that we were following to the mountainside capitol of Gryphus, Boris was flying alongside the ship.

“You have a journey of a lifetime ahead of you” Celestia said “not many people get the chance to do what you are doing”

“Why do you think I’m so eager to let people join my crew” I said, Celestia then closed her eyes and raised up into the air, she began to glow and I saw the sun slowly dip below the horizon, she then lowered back onto the decking.

“You have incredible power” I said “I’m surprised every nation isn’t grovelling at your hooves” she scoffed at that.

“That’s just unrealistic” Celestia said, rolling her eyes “every nation has their allies, and their enemies, our situation with the griffins is a key example”

“Still, you are practically a goddess, your sister too, I would hate to go up against either of you in battle” I said “if you can move the sun without effort, then I’m scared to see you at full power” Celestia chuckled.

“If you stay on my good side, you won’t” she said, looking at me out of the corner of her eye, she then stepped back “now, I must be getting back to Canterlot”

“Send my regards to Luna and the Elements” I said, she nodded before disappearing in a flash.

Chapter 18 18 Night Witches (Ark 2 Chapter 9)

I stood, leaning on the railing of the bow of the ship, watching the stars with Boris on my shoulder and with Scar sat next to me, it was fairly quiet, aside from the thestrals and changelings that were sweeping the deck and doing general maintenance of any equipment that was located on this deck, but other than speaking amongst themselves in their languages, they kept to themselves, I was trying to find the different constellations when many winged, wraith like creatures started flying around the ship, Scar growled quietly

“Night vitchez” a Slavic sounding female voice said, I looked down to find a middle aged thestral mare holding a mop “vorgive me capitan, I vaz zimply enjoying de night zky and…”

“Don’t worry about it” I said, she visibly relaxed at that “are they hostile?”

“Only if you provoke dem” she said “juzt leave dem be, and dey’ll do de zame to you” I nodded.

“What exactly are they” I asked, the mare just shrugged.

“Who knowz, no ponies ave been able to ztudy dem long enough to figure out” she said “we theztralz believe dat dey are de zpiritz of de anzeztorz of all zentient beings”

“That’s a nice sentiment” I said, watching them.

“I know dat look” she said “you look like zomepony who’z lozt zomepony dear to you” I hummed in acknowledgement and nodded

“My father” I said sadly “it would have been his birthday today, he’s been gone over two years” the thestral gasped.

“I’m zo zorry” she said, stumbling over her words “I never meant to bring up any bad…” I cut her off.

“Don’t worry about it” I said, chuckling slightly “I would have told you if you were touching on a sensitive subject” one of the night witches drifted towards us and placed its hands in the railing, they were like skeletal claws, the look in its face could almost be called ‘curios’ it had wide, black eyes, a reptilian face with withered skin, and looked like it was wearing a cloak of some sort, with just a tail sprouting out of the bottom.

“It doezn’t recognize your zpeciez” the thestral said quietly, slowly walking over and resting her front legs on the railing.

“It looks like some kind of draconian” I heard my brother say, the night witch’s head jerked to look behind me, I followed its gaze to see my brother, Aurora, Vinyl and Autumn walking over, the night witch took off and flew onto the decking, hovering in front of my brother.

“It won’t harm you” I said, noticing my brother reaching for his sword “just don’t attack it” he relaxed but didn’t let go of the handle, Aurora hugged Minions leg, shaking, the night witch looked down at the young dragoness and reached out a claw, placing it on Auroras cheek, I noticed Minions hold on his sword tighten, the night witch lingered for a few seconds before slowly drifting away, joining the countless others flying silently alongside the ship.

“Those things are creepy” Vinyl said, shuddering slightly.

“As long as they aren’t a threat, I don’t have a problem with them” I said, resting my back against the railing “I actually find them rather fascinating”

Today was a milestone in our journey, we had finally made enough armour to start equipping people, to start off we only equipped the senior officers of each species and those serving under my brother’s command, Autumn got a totally new set of armour and Vinyl final had her own set, I also had a set made for Blazewing that matched mine, minus the helmet, seeing as I had promoted him to my advisor and senior navigator, as a result his former band of pirates had gained more respect amongst the crew, they were now on equal standing with my crew, and they were shaping up to be good sailors, and Minion was finally starting to go easy on them, we had one week of travel left before we reached Gryphus, and it was starting to show, we would occasionally passed another ship, or the occasional patrol.

I was stood on the bridge, as was now the norm, when the radio crackled into life.

“Oidentifierade beväpnade fartyg, är detta en kunglig grip patrull fartyg uppge identitet och avsikt, eller att vi kommer att använda dödligt våld” they said, in what I assumed to be Griffonian, I looked out the window to see a large battleship flying alongside us, a griffin that was sat at the communication area turned around to face me.

“Captain, it’s a royal Griffin patrol ship, they vant to know our identity and intention”

“Tell them that this is the Jörmungandr and that we are simply travelling around the world, and that the armaments are a necessary precaution” I said, the griffin nodded before relaying my message in Griffonian, the patrol ship responded and the griffin turned back around.

“They vish to come aboard for inspection” the griffin said, I had Frostfang stop the ship and I walked onto the deck with any documents they might need to see, the patrol ship pulled up alongside and a walkway of some sort stretched across, several armoured griffins walked across, a griffin in slightly more showy armour stepped up to me.

“Är du kapten på skeppet?” the griffin said.

“I don’t speak Griffin” I said.

“Ar. Du. Kapten” he replied, I only just understood what he said.

“Yes, I Kapten” I said, nodding “I only speak Equestrian” I then pointed to a pony that was walking past, and then to my throat whilst mouthing random words”

“Ah, du speak pony, ve need see papers” he said, I handed him the documents and he took them in his talons, he flicked through the documents quickly, he then looked at me “vhy, guns?” he pointed at the turrets and shrugged.

“Pirates” I replied, he just looked at me, confused, I sighed before turning towards the bridge and shouting “Autumn, I need a little help here!” I gestured to the griffin to hold on and eventually Autumn trotted out.

“What do you need?” she asked.

“Dearest Autumn” I said “please be so kind as to translate for me, we are just confusing each other” she scoffed and rolled her eyes before turning to the griffin.

“Jag kommer att översätta för honom” she said, the griffin quirked an eyebrow “vad var det du ville veta?”

“Jag vill veta varför han har så många vapen på sitt skepp” the griffin replied, pointing at the turrets.

“He wants to know why you have so many guns on your ship” Autumn said.

“Tell him it’s in case we run into pirates or a rogue dragon” I said.

“Det är i fall vi stöter på pirater eller en skurk drake” Autumn said, the griffin nodded before saying.

“Allt verkar vara i sin ordning” he handed the papers back to me “ska jag låta dig på vägen nu, tack för att samarbeta med oss” he then recalled his troops and left our ship.

“Well he was nice” I said, watching their ship pull away from ours, Autumn just scoffed and walked away.

“You obviously can’t read Griffin body language” she said, walking towards the bridge.

“What?” I asked, following her.

“He was practically ready to ransack this ship, things work very differently here, ask Baldric, I’m sure he’ll tell you exactly the same” she said, rearing up and placing her front hooves on the chart table, I absentmindedly studied the map, tracing our route from the Crystal Empire.

“I’m still new to this, remember that” I said, she looked at me, her eyes full of worry.

“Yes, and that’s what scares me” she said “I’m scared you make a mistake and end up rotting in a cell for the rest of your life” I placed a hand on her cheek and she leant into it, a single tear rolling down it and onto my hand

“But you won’t let that happen” I said “and if it does happen, they’ll have to deal with Minion, he’s the most loyal friend I’ve ever had, besides you, and if anyone double crosses him, his friends, or his family, they better be prepared to get the hell off of the planet, because he’ll stop at nothing to bring justice upon them, which will probably involve beating the shit out of them” Autumn laughed at that.

I walked along the corridors towards mine and Autumns quarters, I was just passing Minions quarters when I heard electric guitars, as in more than one, I stopped and knocked on his door, as I expected they didn’t hear me, and I rolled my eyes before opening the door and walking inside, when I entered I was surprised to see my brother in the middle of a jamming session with the blue and gold dragoness from the armoury, who was playing a bass guitar similar in style to a Stratocaster, at that point I had a eureka moment, my brother noticed me and stopped playing.

“Oh, hey brother” he said “what do you think” he gestured to the two of them.

“I’ve had an idea” I said.

“Did it hurt?” he asked, smirking.

“Vorpissen” I said, rolling my eyes “Anyway, I’ve just thought, why don’t we form a band, you two as lead and bass, me and Autumn can be vocals, Vinyl can be keyboardist…”

“She could make always make a Keytar” Minion said.

“Bloody hell, that’s genius” I said.

“What’s a Keytar?” the dragoness asked.

“It’s a keyboard that can be held like a guitar, so the keyboardist isn’t stood in one place

“We just need a drummer” I said.

“I know a diamond dog that is skilled with a drum kit” the dragoness said, grinning

“Perfect, go get the drummer, I just need to talk to Autumn and Vinyl about it” I said “hold on, I’ll be right back” I then bolted out the door.

I ran down the corridors towards the bridge, where I knew Autumn and Vinyl would be, I burst through the doors to the bridge, startling everyone.

“Bloody hell, Vuur Koning” Vinyl said “what’s got you so worked up?”

“Vinyl, Autumn, I need you to come with me, Minion and I have got a genius idea” I said, the two ponies looked at each other uncertainly, before shrugging and following me back towards Minions quarters.

“So let me get this straight, you want us to form a band, and play in every country that we visit?” Autumn asked, the four of us, the dragoness and the diamond dog, who would become the drummer, were gathered in the meeting room

“Yes!” my brother and I both said.

“Well I’m all for it” Vinyl said “it’ll provide a neat source of income”

“Not yet” I said “we have to show the world how well we can play first, we have to get to Minotauria via Equestria, I say we ask for permission from the king to play a couple of free shows in Gryphus, then we head to Equestria and play in several places, Canterlot, Cloudsdale, Ponyville, Manehatten, Stalliongrad and finally Trottingham, the first day is free, but we only play a limited set, the days after that are the complete set of whatever songs we chose, but we charge, then we head to Minotauria and play in a few cities before heading back across Equestria, play a few shows, then follow the continent down south to the Ibex Empire and Neighpon, then across the ocean to the southern continent and Zebrica, Camelu and Cervidas, playing in the capitol city of each, then we head into the uncharted territories of the lost world” Autumn looked at us all before sighing.

“Alright, I’m in” she said, me and Minion high fived.

“Ok then” I said “let’s get preparing” in the next week we managed to covert part of the absolutely gigantic hold into a makeshift stage, with Frostfang’s permission of course, and I was able get permission from the griffin king and Celesta to play in Gryphus and Canterlot, with the other shows depending on how popular we ended up becoming, whilst I was doing that, the other band members were practicing the songs that we had chosen to play, thankfully Vinyl had a spell that detected the individual instruments of a song and put them onto separate music sheets, so everyone could start learning a song pretty much straight away, she also managed to build a Keytar, using a keyboard that she randomly had amongst her stuff, just in time for our arrival in Gryphus.

It was the morning before the concert, The Jörmungandr was moored up in a large field often used for music festivals, just on the outskirts of Gryphus, that we had arrived at late last night, so we had plenty of space, I was currently in the dining hall, drinking a mocha and trying to shake off my tiredness.

“You spent a year training with the royal guard and you still have problems getting up in a morning?” Minion asked, he was sat opposite me, eating a full English, with Aurora sat next to him, eating a bowl of cereal.

“I’m not a morning person” I muttered, before eating a piece of bacon, and it was real bacon “and you know I have trouble getting to sleep”

“Autumn as well I’m guessing” Minion said, smirking, I had to bite my tongue at that point, Aurora looked at him, confused.

“What do you mean?” Aurora asked innocently.

“Nothing, dear” Minion said, pulling her close and kissing her on the forehead, she squirmed in his grasp.

“Daaad!” she whined, trying to pull away from him “I hate it when you do that” that got my attention.

“What!?” I exclaimed “when did she start calling you dad?”

“A couple of weeks ago” my Minion replied, tussling the soft spines on her head.

“Oh damn, I’m now an uncle” I said, spacing out, Minion waived a hand in front of my face and Aurora giggled, I shook my head to clear my thoughts.

“Welcome back” my brother said, smirking “uncle” I face palmed.

“That makes me feel old” I complained.

“What does?” Autumn asked, I turned my head to see her and Vinyl walking towards the table with their breakfasts.

“Guess who is now officially Aurora’s dad, you get bonus points for guessing who her uncle now is” I said, Autumn gasped.

“That’s wonderful!” she said, her pupils then shrank “hang on, that means I’m…” she trailed off, having only just realised where she stood in this.

“Aunty Autumn kind of has a nice ring to it” Minion said “don’t you think so, Vinyl?”

“I think that sound awesome” Vinyl said, sitting down, Autumn was still stood up, her breakfast tray balanced on her back and a blank expression on her face, the two hyenas burst out laughing.

“Thanks a lot you two, you’ve just broke my girlfriend” I said, I then got up and kissed her on the lips, snapping her out of her trance “honey, you were spaced out for a moment”

“Oh, sorry” she said, blushing slightly before walking up to the table and tilting her wings so her tray of food slid onto the table.

“But still” I said, sitting back down “being called an uncle makes me feel like I’m 50 or something, I’m 19, who’s ever heard of a 19 year old uncle?”

“There are probably plenty in Scunthorpe” Minion said

“That make me feel even worse” I said.

“But” Minion said “I can guarantee that none of them have a niece who is a dragoness”

“True” I said, shrugging “so, are you all ready for the concert tonight?” they all responded with varying positive answers, Minion then looked at Aurora.

“Aurora, tonight, I’m letting you stay up late to watch the concert” he said, Aurora’s eyes let up “but, you have to promise me that if either Vuur Koning or Autumn swear, you won’t repeat what they say, is that understood”

“Yes, Dad” she said, hugging him “thank you”

“You’re welcome” he said, he then stood up, lifting up Aurora and placing her on his shoulders “now let’s go and get ready, we going to be sightseeing around Gryphus and I want you looking your best” he then walked out of the dining hall, Aurora squealing with laughter at being given a piggy-back ride.

“Cute kid” Vinyl said, finishing up her breakfast “right, I better go and get ready as well” she then stood up and walked out.

“I suppose we should go and get ready as well” I said, downing the last of my mocha.

“Armour or not?” Autumn asked, standing up

“Armour of course” I said, walking out of the dining hall, Autumn by my side “we’ll be wearing it during the concert, so if we wear it whilst we’re walking around Gryphus then we’ll practically be a walking advertisement, we still need to decide on a name”

“We’ll think of something” Autumn said “don’t worry”

Chapter 19 19 The Wolfpack pt1 (Ark 2 Chapter 10a)

We walked down the streets of the mountainside city of Gryphus, walking with me were Minion, with Aurora on his shoulders, Autumn, Vinyl, Scar, Saphyrus; the dragoness who was our bass guitarist, Cloddiwr (pronounced as Cloddiuur); the diamond dog who was our drummer, and Boris; who was currently perched on my left shoulder.

All of the building were similar to European buildings from the 1600s, so they had some familiarity to them, I would be able to enjoy the architecture, if it wasn’t for the guards that were currently escorting us to the castle of King Alexander the 3rd, turns out he was requesting our presence for lunch with several of his advisors, we agreed of course, but only because we didn’t want to piss off a war mongering, power mad, griffin king. Yeah, most of us don’t like him, and I absolutely hate him, in all honesty, he reminds me of Carolus Rex of Sweden.

We walked into the extravagant dining hall, I’ll admit, the castle was nice, it was a lot like the architecture of Lincoln cathedral, the guards stepped aside, revealing a large table, sat halfway along it was a middle aged griffin siting in a throne, and wearing a crown, his whole demeanour reeked of overconfidence and arrogance, he also looked like he could tear me to pieces with little effort, I would have to tread very carefully with this one, and watch what I saw, this was one person I did not want to become enemies with, last thing I needed was to be enemy number one of the Griffin Kingdoms.

“You may sit” he said, we nodded before sitting in the chairs, opposite this king and his advisors.

“Thank you for this, Your Majesty” I said “And for letting us perform music in this fine Kingdome of yours”

“I like you already” he said, smirking, “you’re …” he trailed off, tilting his head, as looking at me would make the words come to him.

“Human?” I supplied.

“Some-human” he continued “who knows how to treat those who deserve it with respect”

“Just someone who would rather not be enemies with a king, one who looks like he could kill me with ease at that” I said, in all honesty, I was mentally swearing my head of at him, for the time that we were there he was mostly just boasting about how undefeatable he was in battle, he finally stopped to take a sip of wine and eat some food that the servants had brought for us.

“So” he said, after swallowing a mouthful of meat “what do you think, I’m truly an impressive warrior, yes?”

“with all due respect, your Highness” I said, I sipped some cider before continuing “I’m sure, by your worlds standards, you are a skilled warrior, but by mine and my brothers standards, your just an above average warrior, now, before you say anything, how many combined casualties occurred in your last great war?” he looked confused for a moment before smirking and saying.

“20’000” I scoffed.

“Oh please” I said, I then looked to the griffins sat each side of him “who here would like to take a guess at the total casualties of my world’s largest war; the Second World War?” one that was sat next to the king spoke up.

“1/2 million?” I dead panned.

“1 million?” another said, I sighed before sitting back and as nonchalantly as possible said

“Try 85 million” I then began inspecting my fingers as the opposite side of the table erupted into splutters, I looked at the king, and he was decidedly paler “as I said, forgive me if I’m not too impressed” I then stood up and folded my arms.

“Gentlemen” I said “consider this, my species has developed a bomb so powerful that if a small one exploded over this city, there would be nothing left but ash and rouble, if the largest one exploded over this city, it would leave a crater ten miles wide and level the surrounding cities and towns for over 50 miles, now I don’t say this to scare you, but to warn you, more of my kind will be coming to this world, maybe some of your kind might be able to visit my world as well at some point, but when that does happen, I’d be careful with what country you declare war on” I then sat down, the King had gone even paler, he gulped.

“You don’t have one of those with you, do you?” he asked, looking at me as if I would explode at any moment.

“No” I said before eating some stake, I swallowed before saying “my compliments to the chef, anyway, I don’t have one with me, and I won’t tell you how to make one either, I’m not stupid enough to give, from our point of view, a primitive civilisation, the blueprints to a nuclear bomb, they’ve caused nothing but trouble on my world”

“H-how primitive do you mean?” the king asked.

“A couple hundred years or so in some areas, but in other areas you are actually more advanced, your air ships being one of them” as I said this I pointed to the airship flying past the window “ours still look like mere blimps” for the rest of the meal, the king was decidedly subdued, he still had an aura of arrogance, but he wasn’t as boastful.

“That went well” I said as we walked along the streets.

“You scared the hell out of him” Minion said, chuckling slightly.

“My point exactly” I said, Aurora looked worried.

“Was what you said about those bombs true, Uncle” she asked, I sighed.

“Unfortunately, yes” I said “but the king wants to go to war with Equestria, I was just giving him a reason not to, especially when he knows that I am a citizen of Equestria, but don’t worry about it, you’re ten, you shouldn’t have to worry about war, the only things you should be caring about are custard and dinosaurs” I ruffled her soft spines and she giggled, she then looked confused.

“What’s a dino..dinosaw?” she asked, struggling with the pronunciation, I over-exaggerated my shock.

“You’ve never heard of dinosaurs?” I asked “dinosaurs are awesome, they were like our version of dragons, except they couldn’t fly, I’ll show you a video on them tomorrow, once were heading towards Equestria” Saphyrus listened intently as I was speaking.

“You said were, as if there are none left” she said.

“Not many things can survive a 6 mile wide meteor” I said, shrugging, all of the Terran’s eyes widened “even if you’ve been around for 120 million years, besides, if they were still around, me and Minion wouldn’t be here, that meteor cleared the way for mammals, allowing them to become the dominant animal group on the planet, 65 million years later, here we are”

“That’s a long time” Autumn said “how do you know about it, if it was so long ago?”

“Ancient remains and speculation, nothing is certain with those sorts of things” I said “just be thankful a pack of raptors didn’t get sent to Equestria”

“What is Raptors?” Cloddiwr said.

“What Boris evolved from” I said.

“Like that helps” Vinyl said, rolling her eyes.

“About 4 foot tall, smart as hell and really fast, they were the dinosaur’s equivalent of wolves…” I trailed off.

“V.K. are you o.k.” Autumn asked.

“I’ve just thought of the name for our band” I said.

“Well go on then, tell us” Minion said, I grinned before saying

“We’ll call our band… The Wolfpack”

Chapter 20 20 The Wolfpack pt2 (Ark 2 Chapter 10b)

I peered out of one of the windows facing the crowd, there were more than I expected, about 1000 or so griffins, and more were arriving, we only had a few minutes before the concert started, most of the other band members were practicing or preparing their instruments, Minion and Saphyrus were tuning their guitars, whilst Vinyl set up her Keytar, and trying to balance on her hind legs, Cloddiwr, was in the middle of a drum solo, helping to break up the tension and Autumn was reading through the lyrics of each of the songs, we had chosen 10 songs to play, it wasn’t easy, learning that many songs in about a week, but, we had done a quick run through last night and we weren’t too bad, at least we would have longer to prepare for the show in Canterlot, a buzzer went off, telling us to take positions, we quickly stood in our designated places and the lights dimmed, the section of the hull in front of us then split down the middle and Vinyl started to tap out keys, eventually building to a crescendo, the lights sparked into life and the rest of the musicians started playing a heavy, high tempo riff, this went on for 25 seconds, then Minion strummed his guitar five times, signalling for me to start singing.

“A time of religion and war, legends tell the tale of a lion, this beast in the shape of a man, with a dream to rule sea and land, and all those who stand in his way die by god and victorious arms, with the righteous that follows him south, once more set ashore to war. Legends are taught, battles fought, this lion has no fear at heart, Lion come forth, come from the north, come from the no-o-o-o-orth

Gustavus Adolphus, Libera et impera, Acerbus et ingens, Augusta per Augusta

A storm over Europe unleashed, Dawn of war a trail of destruction, the power of Rome won't prevail, see the Catholics shiver and shake, the future of warfare unveiled, Showed the way that we still walk today, the ‘Lowe aus Mitternacht’ comes, once more he is here for war. Stories of old, truth unfold, control over Europe he holds, freedom he'll bring, lion and king, lion and king”

Autumn now joined in with the chorus

“Gustavus Adolphus, Libera et impera, Acerbus et ingens, Augusta per Augusta

(Gustavus Adolphus) Gustavus Adolphus come forth, Libera impera (Libera et impera, Acerbus et ingens) Acerbus et ingens, go forth, Libera impera (Augusta per Augusta)”

The music toned down and Autumn began to sing on her own.

“Mighty eagle rule alone, Liberator claim the throne, Lion from the northern land, Take the sceptre from his hand. Mighty eagle rule alone, Liberator claim the throne, Lion from the northern land, Take the sceptre from his hand”

I started singing again, whilst Autumn kept repeating her words, as if they were some type of mantra.

“(Mighty eagle rule alone, liberator claim the throne) Oo-oo-oh you lion from the north, Ooooooooh you lion from the north (Lion from the northern land, Take the sceptre from his hand)

Mighty eagle rule alone, Liberator claim the throne”

Minion and Vinyl suddenly broke out into fast paced, sweeping solo, looking almost as if they had started a competition between themselves.

“Legends have taught, battles fought, this lion has no fear at heart, lion come forth, come from the north, come from the no-o-o-o-orth

Gustavus Adolphus, Libera et impera, Acerbus et ingens, Augusta per Augusta

(Gustavus Adolphus) Gustavus Adolphus come forth, Libera impera (Libera et impera, Acerbus et ingens) Acerbus et ingens, go forth, Libera impera (Augusta per Augusta)”

The song finished and the crowd started cheering, the were reacting to this better than I thought they would, I stepped forwards, Autumn following close behind, I stood there for a few moments, basking in the applause, before holding my hands out for silence, the crowd eventually quietened down.

“Bloody hell, I was not expecting a reaction this positive” I said into the microphone, I then shouted “Can you all understand what I’m saying, Gryphus?” most of the crowd cheered in response, I chuckled.

“Thank goddess for that, because I can’t speak a word of Griffonian” several groups in the crowd laughed “Right, before we properly start this show, I thought I would go round the band members, one of whom you may recognise, first off, my name is Vuur Koning, and I’m not from around here, as you may have already figured out” the crowd chuckled, I then pointed to Autumn.

“Standing next to me is our second lead singer; Autumn Skies from Trottingham” I said, heard a small group cheer “Are you lot from Trottingham as well?” they cheered again.

“Awesome, anyway” I said, and pointed to Minion and a spot light focused on him “on the lead guitar, we have my brother, Minion” he then quickly strummed off a quick riff, eliciting a few cheers, I then pointed to the bassist.

“On bass guitar, Saphyrus, the dragoness” she puffed out some gold flames and also strummed off a riff “On the drums, Cloddiwr the Diamond dog” he did a quick drum solo, I then pointed to Vinyl, but the spotlight didn’t focus on her.

“and our 5th and final member of the band, you might not recognise her with all the armour she’s wearing, but you will in a second” I then beckoned to her “why don’t you come over here and show everyone who you are” she then walked forwards and the spotlight focused on her, she then very slowly levitated her helmet off, when the crowd recognised her they went absolutely ballistic, I nearly went deaf from all of the cheering.

“That’s right folks” I said, smirking “you thought she was gone for good, but here she is, on the Keytar, all the way from Trottingham; Vinyl Scratch, better known as D.J. PON3!” they then cheered even louder, if that was possible.

“And together, we are, THE WOLFPACK!” the cheers were deafening, and held my microphone out to capture the sheer volume of the cheer and amplify it across the night sky.

Chapter 21 21 Gott Mit Uns (Ark 2 Chapter 11)

The Jörmungandr flew over the Griffonian countryside, the weather was absolutely glorious today, and I was taking advantage of this opportunity by reclining on my deck chair located on the balcony of my quarters, drinking cider, and listening to music, I was letting Blazewing have a go at commanding the ship, I trusted him now and I knew he wouldn’t dare try and commandeer my ship, so I felt at ease, Boris was lazily flying behind the ship, and Scar was dozing next to me, ‘maybe I should get a hot tub fitted at some point’ I thought to myself as I absentmindedly watched Boris flit to and thro, about a month and we would reach Canterlot, so plenty of time to prepare for our next show, I was thinking about what songs we would play in Canterlot when I heard I massive bang and the whole ship jerked violently to one side, sending me crashing into the railing, I landed upside down, with my back against the railing.

“I gave him one simple fucking job and he goes and fucks it up” I muttered, getting up and summoning my armour, weapons and helmet, I also but on my cloak, but tied it u so that it trailed down my back like a cape, I then teleported to the bridge, surprising everyone present “you had one job, Blazewing, one fucking job”

“I’ wasn’ me cap’ain, look” I followed his finger to see a large black ship trading paint with my ship, it also had a large Jolly Rodger.

“Great” I said “it had to be pirates, of course it did” I then walked outside to find several of them already on the deck.

“Hey, What the bloody hell do you think you are doing!?” I shouted, teleporting over.

“Ahoy there, me hearty” said a Griffin “we be takin’ over this ship”

“Over my dead body” I said, the group of pirates laughed.

“I though’ you’d never say tha’” he said, drawing his cutlas “alrigh’ boys, have a’ ‘im” the band of pirates cheered before several of them charged, their swords drawn, I rolled my eyes before quick-drawing my pistol and downing the lot of them in quick succession, I then took out my hunting knife and teleported in front of their leader, pressing the blade against his throat

“You were saying?” I asked, quirking an eyebrow, he just smirked.

“Bring ‘er over, boys” he said my eyes widened in shock when I saw who they had, standing there, with her forelegs tied behind her back and a cutlass wielding pirate holding her shoulder, was Autumn, I narrowed my eyes at the leader, he chuckled.

“Give us the ship, or she dies” he said, I slowly lowered the knife and backed away “good, you did the right thing” I then looked at Autumn and winked before looking at the captain.

“when I kill all of you, I’ll make you suffer the most” I said, before teleporting behind the pirate that was holding Autumn and grabbed his head before slitting his throat with the knife, I then threw him to one side, grabbed hold of Autumn, cut her bonds and teleported her to our quarters, I then began teleporting behind each pirate, slitting their throats, I then walked towards the captain, my boots splashing on the growing pool of blood, he started to back away “you just made a huge mistake, you see that wasn’t just any member of my crew, that pegasus, was my Girlfriend, and now, I’m going to kill you, and I’m going to make it hurt” I then teleported behind him and slashed at one of his Achilles tendons, making him drop to one knee, I then slashed at the other, causing him to collapse face first into the pool of blood. He looked up at me.

“Who are you?” he asked, fear in his eyes, I knelt down.

“Vuur Koning” I then stabbed him in the neck, putting him out of his misery, I stood up and turned to the crew “I want these bodies dumped on the other ship, with a sign saying that this is what happens to anyone who crosses me, and I want this deck spotless by the time I come back up here” I then teleported into the bridge.

“Captain?” Blazewing asked, I glared at him making words he were about to say die in his throat.

“Set a course for Equestria” I said “and don’t fuck it up this time, if anyone tries to take our ship again, you blast them to high heaven”

“Yes sir” he said, before sending orders to Frostfang and the boiler room, eventually the ship started moving again, its hull grinding against the other ship as we went past, I then teleported back to my quarters and was tackled by Autumn, sobs wracking her body, I picked her up and teleported to the bedroom, I walked over to the bed and sat on it, comforting Autumn.

“Shh, it’s O.K.” I said softly “I won’t let anyone hurt you, as long as I live” she lifted her head from my chest and looked me in the eyes

“Vuur Koning” she said, her eyes full of worry “don’t make a mare a promise you can’t keep”

I stood on the top deck of the ship, leaning on the railing and watching the world go by, a heard footsteps approaching.

“Remind me never to piss you off” Minion said as he walked up and leant on the railing, I scoffed.

“You would be able to hold your own in a fight against me” I said, getting out his pipe and lighting it, he took a couple of puffs

“But you can teleport, that’s a massive advantage” he said, pointing at me with the thin end of the pipe

“You got magic yet?” I asked, he nodded and quickly flared up the magic, instead of red flames like mine, a green aura surrounded his hands “about time”

“I still can’t teleport” he said.

“I couldn’t until about 6 months ago, until then I used a quick travel spell, it only works if you can actually see the location, let’s say for arguments sake, the deck of the ship about ten foot away, I’ve got a book on spells if you want to have a read, the first three spells I learnt were levitation, quick travel and offensive blasts”

“What!?” he asked.

“I can shoot fire” I said, hurling an offensive blast off the side of the ship to demonstrate, the ball of red flame dissipated after a while “it’s not as effective or accurate as a spell gun, but it can get you out of a tricky situation”

“Where is that spell book?” he asked, a determined look on his face, I rolled my eyes.

“Those three spells are easy, you don’t need a book to learn them” I said, I then turned around, I looked for a small item that would be easy to levitate, before settling on a mop that was leaning against the wall “you see that mop, focus your magic on it” Minion looked confused, before stretching his hand out, the green aura enveloped his hand and the mop at the same time.

“O.K. what next?” he asked.

“Clear your mind” I said “then try and picture yourself picking up the mop, if needs be, move your hand in the direction you want the mop to go in” after about 30 seconds Minion slowly lifted his arm, the mop followed, wobbling slightly”

“Bloody hell, this is weird, it’s like I can actually feel the mop” he said, lowering the mop

“in time, you’ll come to use your magic as a fifth limb, and you’ll be able to move objects as if you were physically lifting them yourself, however, you won’t be able to lift massive objects, only the most powerful of unicorns can lift immense objects, when we visit Ponyville I’ll show you one who managed to lift an Ursa Minor weighing about 20 tons, as I rule, whatever you can physically lift is the limit, but, if more than one magic user works together, their combined power is multiplied by the total number of magicians helping” his eyes widened at that.

“So if you and me…?” he asked.

“If you and me both lifted the same object, our total power would be would be doubled” I said “now imagine the four Alicorn’s working together, their combined power would be quadrupled, if just one can move the sun with ease, how much power do you think they would all wield together”

“Shiiiiiit” he said “I would hate to piss them off”

“Didn’t you do that already?” I asked, smirking, he paled slightly.

“Fuck” he muttered, I chuckled

“Did I ever tell you about the time I punched a prince in the face?” I asked, his jaw dropped.

“You what!?” he asked “why?”

“Because he is a spoilt bastard, who thinks he’s all high and mighty when in reality he doesn’t have much power, no one actually likes him” I said, Minion chuckled.

“Well then, good on you” he said, patting me on the back, I winced slightly.

“Bloody hell, when did you become so strong?” I asked, rolling my shoulder to get rid of the pain.

“Forest” he said simply.

“Ah” I said.

“What about you?” he asked “when did you get so strong, and healthy” I deadpanned

“Royal Guard Reserves, remember?” I asked, pointing to the small insignia that I’d had painted onto the armour on my left shoulder, he face palmed.

“Of fucking course” he muttered behind his hand.

“Speaking of which” I said “when we get to Canterlot, you’re signing up for the reserves, you’re already trained so you don’t have to worry about that, but if Equestria’s going to war, I’d rather you go with me, we’ve watched each other’s back through the years, have we not?”

“True” he said, puffing on his pipe “you know that even though we but heads at times, even if we get into an argument and not speak to each other for months, in the end, I’ll always be there to watch your back” I placed my hand on his shoulder

“And I yours, Brother” I said, for the rest of the day we chatted, enjoying each other’s company as brothers, for the first time in far too long.

“How much longer till we get to Canterlot?” Aurora complained, resting her head on the table, I rolled my eyes.

“About one day less than the last time you asked” I said, our little group, which consisted of the band, Aurora, Scar and Boris, were all in the dining hall, eating dinner “you should just enjoy your time on this ship, you are free to go on to the top deck and fly around at any time, as long as your dad is okay with it” I looked to Minion as I said this.

“It’s fine by me” he said, shrugging before eating some of his food.

“But it’s so boring with no one to play with” she whined, I’ll admit, she had me with that one, I looked at the others, it seems they were thinking the same thing as me, sure there were ‘kids’ on this ship, but they were all in their mid-teens and older, and I don’t think they would appreciate playing baby-sitter for the captains 10 year old dragoness-niece, put simply, we were screwed, Cloddiwr perked up.

“If Cloddiwr be so bold” he said “Cloddiwr knows friends who have young ones her age”

“Cloddiwr, you are a life saver” I said “when would be the next convenient moment for them?”

“We are on a boat” Vinyl said “It’s not like they are going to go out for dinner”

“A boat that should have a crew of 70’000, and we’ve only got about 500 crew members” I said “the crew are working day and night just to keep the decks clean, let alone general maintenance, keeping the boilers steaming, manning the guns, keeping the shields running, I could go on and on”

“Okay, okay, I get it, it’s a big ship and we need more people” Vinyl said, crossing her forelegs and rolling her eyes, I turned to Cloddiwr.

“So, when is the most convenient time?” I asked

“Cloddiwr will ask them” he said, nodding “Cloddiwr will find out for Captain”

“Thank you” I said “and please, we are friends, call me Vuur Koning”

“Yes capt… Vuur Koning” he said, stumbling over his words

I climbed across the chains that stretched from the Jörmungandr to Frostfang’s harness, climbed onto the walkway on the top of the harness.

“How are you my friend?” I called, he craned his neck to look at me.

“THE CONDITIONS COULD NEVER BE BETTER” he said “WE HAVE A TAILWIND, IT SEEMS ANIMA FAVOURS US”

“Who?” I asked.

“GODDESS OF NATURE AND NEW LIFE” he rumbled “I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT AS SOMEONE WHO WORSHIPS FANTASIA, YOU WOULD KNOW OF THE OTHER TWO ELDER GODS”

“I only know of Fantasia, I didn’t think to study the others” I admitted, Frostfang tittered.

“IF YOU ARE GOING TO TAKE UP A RELIGION, YOU NEED TO STUDY ALL OF ITS DEITIES” he said, shaking his head slightly.

“How long until we reach the border?” I asked.

“WE SHOULD BE OVER THE BORDER BY NIGHT FALL, AND IF THIS TAILWIND KEEPS UP, WE SHOULD BE IN CANTERLOT BY THE NEXT” he said.

“Then we are ahead of schedule” I said “that means we can stay in Canterlot and Ponyville for a while longer than usual”

“IT WILL BE NICE TO STOP FOR A WHILE” Frostfang said, nodding “IT CAN BE VERY TIRING TO BE ON THE WING FOR SEVERAL DAYS AT A TIME”

“I’m also thinking of having a figurehead depicting the actual Jörmungandr added to the front” I said “with your permission”

“OF COURSE” he said, nodding “OUT OF CURIOSITY, WHAT WILL IT LOOK LIKE?”

“Like a giant snake” I said, shrugging “but I’m thinking of taking some artistic license and having multiple sets of eyes and a horny crest” he looked back at me and raised his eyebrow.

“What, I want it to look cool, if it was just a giant snake then it would be boring” I said, he rolled his eye before turning his head to look back the direction we were flying, after a few hours of standing there, watching the world go by a heard the flapping of feathery wings, I turned to see Autumn fly over and called to her “Hi”

“Hey” she said, before flying over and giving me a quick kiss “love you”

“Love you too” I said, she then landed on the platform “you come here to watch the sun set?” she nodded and I turned around to face the direction of the sun, holding Autumn close to me, she leaned into my embrace and sighed contentedly.

“I wish we could do this more often” she said.

“I do too, but unfortunately, we have a ship to run, I’ve already said how low on crew we are” I said, she looked up at me.

“Then ask Celestia to lend you about ten thousand or so royal gourds” she said, I dead panned “just ask her, because then you can’t say you didn’t ask, you’re friends, I’m sure she’ll at least lend you a couple thousand”

“I’ll ask her when we get to Canterlot” I said “but I somehow doubt she just give me 10 thousand guards just like that” I snapped my fingers

“Well you plan to go into the uncharted south west at some point, don’t you?” she said, I nodded “then tell her that it’s an expeditionary voyage, it also means that any undiscovered nations that we come across might become allies with Equestria, of course the ship will technically become property of Celestia from that moment on, but that’s hardly anything to worry about, this would be beneficial to the both you and Celestia, she gets a ‘new’ ship for the navy, and you get a heck of a lot more crew, not just guards, but ambassadors, doctors, technicians, cooks, Equestria has a population of 1 billion, I’m sure she could lend you enough crew” I looked at her, smiling.

“What would I do if you weren’t around to help me out?” I said, she rolled her eyes.

“You’d probably still be stuck in the Crystal Kingdom” she said.

“How has the practice for the band coming along?” I asked.

“Great” she said “in the time between Gryphus and now, the musicians have been able to get their parts down to a tee, we just need to practice the songs together with them”

“Well then” I said “seeing as we are ahead of schedule, we better get started”

I was stood on the bridge when Aurora flew in, a letter clutched in her feet.

“Uncle, it’s a letter from the Princess” she said, dropping it into my waiting hand and perching on my shoulder, I opened the letter and began reading:

Dear Vuur Koning.

Something has recently happened in Canterlot that I feel requires your attention, a strange mask was discovered by a group of fillies and when we saw it, it turned into a 7 hoof tall metal being with similar proportions to you and your brother, that calls himself ‘Mata Nui’, the curious thing is, we showed him a picture of you, and despite the fact that he has never seen or heard of you before, he says he once created warriors with similar armour, he even said that there was one with the exact same style of helmet to yours, whilst you won’t need to rush, I feel that meeting this being must take precedence over your concert, as it could be the key to finding out why you and your brother were sent here in the first place, your concert won’t be cancelled, just moved back a few days, I await your reply.

Your friend Princess Celestia

I was speechless for the next 30 seconds, and troubled, especially since the name Mata Nui was mentioned, Aurora waived a wing in front of my face.

“Uncle, are you okay?” Aurora asked, I looked at her.

“Fetch your dad” I said “I need to talk with him” she nodded and flew out the window, after a few minutes Minion walked in.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“Does the name Mata Nui mean anything to you?” I asked, passing him the letter, he snatched the letter out of my hand and began reading, his expression becoming troubled as he read further.

“That’s…” he trailed off.

“Impossible?” I supplied “we are in the land of magical talking rainbow coloured ponies, here, anything is possible, what it is, is troubling”

“She does make a good point” he said “your helmet does look like something one of those, what were they called again?”

“Bionicle’s” I said

“Bionicle’s would wear on their face” he said.

“Yeah, I kinda noticed” I said “but I assumed that whatever sent me here, also tapped into my subconscious to create the armour, hence why it looks like a mask of shielding”

“So, what do you want to do now?” he asked, crossing his arms and leaning against one of the consoles

“Get us there as fast as is possible” I said, I then began barking orders to the boiler room and we soon began to accelerate towards Canterlot, we eventually reached the airport at Canterlot, I quickly told the others about the situation, and the four of us plus Boris and Scar, started walking towards the castle, fully dressed in our armour, Minion was seriously impressed with the architecture of this city, but we didn’t have time for sightseeing.

“So why exactly did we need to get here in such a hurry” Vinyl asked as we walked up the steps of the castle, I nodded to a couple of guards before answering.

“You’ll find out when we get there, otherwise you’ll never believe me or my brother” I said.

“That totally make me feel like you trust me” she said, her voice flooded with sarcasm.

“Let’s just say that he could be the key to why me and Minion were sent here” I said, I then patted Boris on the head “not that I would want to leave this world in that much of a hurry” we eventually reached the doors to the throne room, I turned to Minion before we walked in.

“This time” I said, placing a hand on his shoulder “when you see Celestia and Luna, you bow out of respect, okay”

“Okay” he said, albeit reluctantly.

“Good” I said “right, let’s do this” I then knocked on the door, after a moment it was enveloped in a gold aura and began to open, I could see Celestia sat on her throne, with a tall golden being stood next to her, we walked up to the throne and I went to greet Celestia but the mask on the being, who I now recognised as Mata Nui, began to glow and shot out six streams of energy towards us, the last thing I felt before I blacked out was an incredible power cursing through me and an extreme heat.

Chapter 22 22 Into The Fire (Ark 2 Chapter 12)

I came to feeling…strange, as I sat up I noticed was I was now on a bed.

“Oh, you’re awake” I heard someone say, I looked in the direction of a voice to see a pony in a doctor’s uniform standing in the door way “I’ll just go and get the Princess” I nodded and she walked away, I was still slightly confused, I remembered that I was visiting Celestia for some reason, but I wasn’t sure about the specifics, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and I noticed that I was still in my armour, ‘that’s odd’ I thought, they always removed my armour beforehand, I was disrupted from my inner musings by hoof steps coming from down the corridor, eventually Celestia walked into the room.

“Thank goodness you are okay” she said, sounding relieved, I was confused.

“Err, why wouldn’t I be?” I asked, she seemed taken aback by my answer.

“You don’t remember?” she asked “you don’t feel any different?”

“No I don’t remember, and other than a little strange, I don’t feel much different, why?” she levitated a mirror over towards me, when a saw my reflection I did a double take, instead of the plated shirt under my chest armour, there were now wires and pistons, I looked at Celestia.

“You have five minutes to start explaining before I lose control and punch something” I said, deadpanning

“I think it would be best if you followed me” she said, I stood up, getting vertigo from my apparent increase in height, I walked after Celestia, trying greatly to resist the urge to punch the centuries old stone walls “do you remember why you came here so quickly?”

“I remember it was something important, but other than that, not much else” I said, she sighed.

“Something was found, an object of great power, a mask, and when it was shown to me and my sister, it formed its own body, the being that resulted from this called himself Mata Nui…” I cut her off, grabbing hold of her shoulder

“Wait, Mata Nui, as in the Great Spirit” I asked, she nodded.

“Yes but, out of curiosity, how did you know of him?” she asked.

“Stories, told to children” I said, simplifying the truth “but where I come from he is supposed to be nothing but a fictional story, the creator of a race of biomechanical beings”

“Well, then you’ll know what power his mask holds” she said.

“Kenohi Ignika, the mask of life” I said “where are we going with this?”

“long story short, when you met him, his mask reacted to the presence of you and your friends, your pets included, and you were all changed, some more so than others”

“What about Autumn?” I asked.

“She is fine, a little shaken, but fine” she said, she then stopped outside some large wooden doors “I’ll warn you, Vinyl Scratch, Autumn Skies and your pets were effected the most, you and your brother, physically speaking, aren’t much different” she then opened the doors with a flash of her horn when I saw what was inside I did a double take, all of my friends were there, but they were vastly different, Minion was taller, a lot taller, about 7-8 feet tall now but other than seeing wires and pistons around his joints he wasn’t that much different, Autumn and Vinyl were vastly different, they were now bipedal, with hands and at each joint I could see various wires and pistons, Autumn had orange armour with maroon highlights and was wielding two thin swords, Vinyl had grey armour with highlights that were the same blue as her hair and was holding some form of cannon, resting the rear of it on her shoulder, but it was Boris and Scar that were changed the most, Scar was now taller and looked like a cross between a diamond dog and a werewolf, he had what looked like small Gatling guns above each shoulder and his claws were longer, looking more like small blades, and he had green armour with red highlights, Boris was the most different out of all of them, instead of a small falcon, he was now a mighty falcon headed griffin, with green armour, with two swords in his hands and what looked like two small rifles attached to his hips, they were all talking amongst themselves, Boris and Scar included, and they hadn’t noticed me or Celestia, I turned to the Alicorn.

“Care to explain why Scar is a werewolf with Gatling guns, and why Boris is a griffon with rifles attached to his hips?” I asked.

“that is something we cannot figure out” a baritone voice said, I looked in the direction of the voice to see Mata Nui walking towards us, with the scarabax Click on his shoulder “when you approached us, my mask activated by itself, turning you into Toa”

“Vuur Koning!?” I heard Autumn say, I looked in her direction to see her running, albeit unsteadily, towards us, she ran up and embraced me, and I returned the gesture “I was so worried about you” I looked over to see Mata nui regarding us curiously.

“I’m not one to let a little something like this drag me down, if anything I was worried about you” I said “how are you holding up?” she looked me in the eyes.

“I’m fine, I was a little shaken at first, but once Mata Nui explained everything, I started to understand” she said.

“Come on” I said “I still haven’t spoken to the others since…” I gestured us all, I noticed the other 4 were walking towards us.

“Vuur Koning, are you okay?” Minion asked, I actually had to look up slightly.

“I’m fine” I said “I’m more worried about Scar and Boris, I gestured to them”

“We’re good-fine” Boris replied, ‘oh god, he talks in tree speak’ I thought.

“Let me guess” I said, “you’re a toa of air?” he nodded

“And the rest of you?” Celestia asked, Mata Nui stepped forwards.

“Minion is a Toa of Magnetism” he said “Autumn Skies is a Toa of Iron, Vinyl Scratch is a Toa of Sonics…”

“What’s Sonics?” I asked.

“Sound manipulation” he explained.

“That isn’t even the best part” Vinyl said “Check this baby out” she gestured to her ridiculously big canon.

“What is it?” I asked, she stepped back and turned around, aiming it towards a target, she then turned her head to look at me, a manic grin plastered on her face.

“Oh, it’ nothing… JUST MY BASS CANNON” she then pulled a trigger, the air rippled around the muzzle, blue energy shot from the barrel and she slid back a couple of feet, it also let out a deafening level of sound, we all had to cover our ears to try and block it out, the blue beam of energy hit the target, shattering it to splinters, she then shut it off and smoke drifted from the nozzle, she brought it to her snout and blew the smoke away “Pretty cool, huh?”

“Gutter Gott!” I exclaimed, bringing my hands away from my ears “that is loud”

“Can you see why I called it the Bass Canon?” she said.

“It’s got quite a bit of kick-back” I said “Anyway, Mata Nui, you were saying?”

“Yes” he said “Scar is a Toa of Plant-life and you are a Toa of Fire”

“Actually” I said “Scars power makes a lot of sense, he used to be a Timberwolf, so theoretically he could, if he so chooses, summon a pack of timberwolves”

“Gee, I hadn’t thought of that” Scar said sarcastically in a deep, gravelly voice and crossing his arms

“What about mask powers?” I asked.

“Toa must earn their mask power” he said, I went to say something but he held his hand up, silencing me “however, if it is a mask that is always on at a low level, like a Hau or a an Anthron, then that will be active, you just won’t be able to control it”

“I’m guessing mine is a Hau” I said, he nodded.

“Your brother’s mask is the Kenohi Sonak” he said “which gives him incredible accuracy, and Vinyl Scratches Mask is the Kenohi Anthron, which lets her see targets through eco-location, as for the other three, I’m not sure, I can only sense masks which are active, so we shall have to wait and see”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Mata Nui shall be joining you on your travels” Celestia said “I feel that he is a key to unlocking the reason why you were sent here”

“Oh” I said “speaking of our travels, I kind of have a favour to ask”

“Go on” Celestia said.

“We’ll you see” I said awkwardly “the ship that we are using, is kind of low on crew, we only have a crew of 500 or so”

“And how many should it have?” Celestia asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“Around 70’000” I said “But, I was thinking of doing something in return, for you lending me a crew”

“I’m listening” She said.

“The Jörmungandr officially becomes a part of the Equestrian navy” I said “and its current crew also become a part of the navy, I plan to head into the uncharted south-eastern lands of the southern continent, so maybe it could be classed as an expeditionary voyage, if we come across any undiscovered civilisations, then we could always try and negotiate with them to become our allies” she didn’t say anything, leaving me quite nervous, after about 30 seconds she smiled.

“I think that I can give you enough crew” she said, we all sighed with relief “how does about 49’500 individuals sound to you?” I did a double take.

“That many? that’ll give us a crew of 50’000!” I said, she nodded.

“Comprised of not just sailors and guards” she said “but ambassadors, cooks, interpreters, survivalists, naturalists, scientists and biologists, Everypony you would need on an expeditionary voyage”

“Once again, your generosity never ceases to amaze me” I said, she chuckled.

“Why do you think I once wielded the Elements of harmony?” she said.

“Also, do you know of anyone that will make a figurehead for a 720 meter tall hoard-ship?”

The next few weeks were rather hectic, the Jörmungandr got put into dry dock for re-fitting, it’s cannons got upgraded, with new, more efficient systems and independently operating two barrel auto-AA guns added on top of each turret, the interior was totally refitted, with new navigation systems that automatically charted any unknown terrain and then sent the information back to Canterlot, we now even had a sentient magical construct that monitored the ship systems, totally new boilers were fitted, the ship was repainted to the colours of the Equestrian Royal Navy; blue with gold railings and lining, they also fitted an absolutely beautifully carved and painted wooden figure-head depicting the Jörmungandr rearing up as if to strike, with its body stretching from the bow and running the full length of the hull, all 3620 meters of it, with the tail actually appearing on the rear of the ship, so it looked like the snake was being keel-hauled, they actually had to install it in sections because it was so long, but you couldn’t tell unless you got up close to it, we actually ended up playing a concert in a stadium, with poster making use of the fact that Vinyl was a part of the band, and we basically played shows whilst the ship was being refitted, after about a month of playing shows in canterlot we headed to Ponyville on the train, with the band, Boris, Scar, Aurora and Mata Nui travelling with me, Frostfang and Blazewing would fly the ship to Ponyville the next day, but I had told Celestia to only tell Twilight that we had a ship, and not to specify its name, size, or the fact that it was pulled by a dragon, I wanted it to be a surprise for them, we would play a weekend of concerts from our stage on the hold of the ship, with us arriving on the Thursday, and the ship arriving on the Friday, so we had two full days of relaxing, the train was soon to arrive in Ponyville and I was just going over specifics with everyone.

“Okay” I said “remember, don’t tell anyone about our ship or the fact that it’s pulled by a dragon, if they ask, just tell them to wait and see, okay?” they all nodded, the train pulled into the station and I stopped them before they could walk out, I could see the Elements of Harmony standing on the platform , but they hadn’t spotted us yet.

“I’ll go first, and tell them about what happened” I said, they nodded “Okay, wait for me to call for you” I then stepped outside and greeted them, they were surprised by my change in hight.

“Whoa, Vuur Koning” Rainbow Dash said looking up at me “You weren’t tall enough already?” I chuckled.

“Yeah, you girls know of Mata Nui, right?” I asked and they nodded “well when I met him, his mask started to glow and it shot out energy at me and my friends, I passed out and when I came to…” I gestured to my body.

“Speaking of which” Twilight said “Where are they?” I poked my head into the carriage.

“You can come out now guys” I said, I turned to the Elements, thir eyes widened when they saw Autumn “you already know Autumn”

“What in hay happened to yawl?” Applejack asked, looking up at Autumn

“Mata Nui happened” she said, leaning against me, I put my arm around her, Rarity seemed to pay close attention to this

“And Mata Nui you already know” I said as he walked out, Vinyl walked out and Rainbow Dash recognised her.

“Vinyl!?” She asked in surprise “what are you doing here” I did a double take.

“You know each other?” I asked.

“I stopped in Ponyville for a short while” Vinyl said, kneeling down and giving a hoof-bump to Rainbow, Scar walked out and the Elements backed away slightly, his immense size casting a shadow on them, plus when he tried to small it showed all of his teeth, Fluttershy started trembling.

“This is Scar” I said “you all remember him, right?” the nodded stiffly.

“L-let me guess” Twilight said “Mata Nui?” I nodded, then Boris stepped out.

“In case you didn’t recognise him, this is Boris” I said

“Hello” he said “I am happy-cheer to see you again” this just left them confused.

“Er… what did he say?” Rainbow dash asked.

“He’s happy to see you again” I said, massaging my brow “don’t ask me why he speaks like that” then Minion stepped out with Aurora on his shoulders.

“This is my older brother, Minion” I said “with his adopted daughter, and therefore my niece, Aurora”

“You’re huge” Rainbow Dash said, Minion just smirked.

“Brother” I said “don’t even think about it”

“Aww, come on” he said “She walked right into it” Rainbow Dash looked confused.

“What?” she asked, looking between the two of us, Minion went to say something but I placed my hand on his mouth.

“I swear to Fantasia, Minion” I said “if you dare say what I think you’re going to say, then I will not hesitate to deck you” he just smirked before licking my hand, really slowly, I groaned in disgust before removing my hand from his mouth to wipe the spit off.

“I wasn’t going to say anything” he said.

“You are disgusting” I said, wiping my palm on my leg “you are lucky your daughter is on your shoulders otherwise you would already be on the floor” Cloddiwr and Saphyrus now walked out of the carriage.

“Dragon!” Fluttershy shrieked before hiding behind Applejack.

“Before you go into a panic” I said “allow me to introduce Saphyrus the Dragoness, she is the Bass guitarist in our band and she won’t hurt you”

“A-are you sure?” Fluttershy asked, trembling behind Applejack, Saphyrus knelt down and looked at Fluttershy.

“By dragons honour” she said, placing a hand on her chest “I will not hurt you, and please, call me Saph” Fluttershy slowly poked her head out from behind Applejack.

“Um, o-okay, Saph” Fluttershy said, Saphyrus smiled kindly and Fluttershy slowly walked out from behind Applejack, I then gestured to Cloddiwr.

“And finally, the last member of our little group, Cloddiwr” I said “that’s with a W, not a UU”

“Why is it spelt like that?” Twilight asked.

“He comes from Minotauria, that’s how they spell things over there, right, shall we all go to the library, or do you want to stand in the station all day?” I asked, Twilight seemed to become downcast at that, this confused me “okay, what did I miss whilst I was away?” Twilight sighed.

“The library was destroyed when I battled Tirek” she said sadly.

“Oh, gosh, I’m so sorry” I said “out of curiosity, where will we be staying?” she seemed to brighten up at that, her horn glowed and I felt the familiar feeling of being teleported, next thing I knew we were all standing in front of a crystal tree.

“Twilight” I said “what the hell did I miss whilst I was away?”

“And that’s how I became the Princess of Friendship” Twilight said, concluding her story, we were all sat in a large study room, minus Aurora, who was off playing with Spike and the CMC.

“So Celestia, Luna and Cadence all gave their power to you to fight Tirek?” I asked, she nodded “Bloody hell, remember what I said, Minion?”

“What did you say to him?” Twilight asked.

“Am I correct in saying that for ever unicorn that casts a spell on the same object, the combined power is multiplied by the total number of unicorns casting on that object, so if you and Rarity both levitated the same object together, you combined power would be doubled?” I said.

“That pretty much sums it up” she said “TP=MxC”

“What?” Minion said, he had, up until that point, been browsing the different titles on the books

“Total Power = Magic times by Casters” she said, rolling her eyes “So Vuur Koning, you never told us about your adventure so far”

“Oh, right” I said, I then began to retell our tale to the Elements, with the others adding their own parts when necessary, I omitted certain parts, like instead of telling them of our battle with the creatures in the forest, and anything connected to that, I skipped it completely, I was also incredibly vague about the details for the ship, and when they asked me to elaborate, I simply told them to wait till tomorrow, they were greatly saddened to hear of how Minion ended up adopting Aurora.

Oh, the poor dear” Rarity said, she then looked at Minion “you truly are doing a wonderful thing, looking after her, I still don’t understand why you kept the dreaded pirates on your ship, if they did such a horrid thing”

“Trust me Rarity, when you see the ship, you’ll understand why” I said, Twilight went to speak up but I cut her off “tomorrow” she pouted and did the whole puppy-dog act to try and change my mind, I simply chuckled darkly.

“Ihre Kräfte auf mich keine Wirkung, Hexe” I said, Autumn looked at me, a shocked expression on her face.

“Vuur Koning, how could you say that?” she said, jabbing me in the side.

“Because it’s true” I said, jabbing her back

“You speak Germane?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“hat damit Ihre Frage beantwortet, Kegeln?” I asked, Autumn’s eye twitched

“I’m guessing that’s a yes” She said.

“Jawohl” I said

“Warum muss ich selbst die Mühe machen?” Autumn muttered, massaging her eyebrow in frustration.

“You love me really” I said, kissing her on the forehead, Rarity saw this.

“Are you two…?” she trailed off.

“Together?” I asked “Yes, since before we went to the crystal kingdom” when I said this she made a strange, squeeing noise.

“What the fuck was that noise?” Minion asked, looking around confused.

“A marshmallow” I said, picking up one from the selection of snacks that Twilight had provided and eating it, the glare Rarity gave me could melt diamonds, thankfully my armour wasn’t made from diamonds so I was fine, I shot back a look that essentially said ‘Fuck you, bitch’

“They make a noise on this world?” Minion asked, completely oblivious of most of the ponies trying to contain their laughter.

“Yep” I said, Rarity looked away from me and stuck her nose up in the air, Rainbow Dash burst out laughing.

“Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha” she guffawed.

“I’m guessing it’s an inside joke?” Minion said.

“during the year that I was training to be a royal guard I visited Ponyville a lot, as a result I started giving them nicknames, one of which was my nickname for Rarity; Marshmallow” I said.

“ha-ha-ha-ha, Marshmallow, that’s a good one” Rainbow said.

“Oh shut it” Rarity said, she suddenly got a devious glint in her eyes “or do you want me to call you by your nickname, Skittles?” Rainbows eyes widened

“You wouldn’t dare” She said, narrowing her eyes at Rarity.

“Try me” Rarity said “Skittles” the two of them then started to backer amongst themselves, I just sat there and laughed, Autumn sighed.

“Now look what you’ve done, V.K.” she said.

“Oh, come on, it’s funny” I said, she just groaned in exasperation.

“Explain to me why I’m in love with you again” she said.

“Is it my dashing good looks, my courage, or my charming personality?” I asked, I heard Minion sniff.

“I smell bullshit” he said, I simply flashed my hunting knife at him, Fluttershy went pale when she saw the knife.

“W-why do you have a knife that big?” she asked, I took it out of its sheaf and all of the ponies eyes went wide when they saw the 7 inch blade.

“Hunting” I said, Minion scoffed.

“I think you are forgetting something” he sang, I glared at him.

“Not now, brother” I said “and you can’t say anything when you have a knife that is exactly the same” he quietened down after that.

“What is your brother talking about?” Twilight asked, I sighed.

“I want you to realise something before I tell you what happened” I said “we have been in situations when if we didn’t act, it would have been us that were killed, now, we were headed towards Equestria and a band of pirates tried to take over our ship, some of their crew tried to kill me, I retaliated in kind, they came off worse, as I said this I ran my finger down the blade.

“Y-you mean…?” Fluttershy said.

“Unfortunately yes, but I was quick about it, I used my spell pistol, one shot in the head, quick and painless, if it was the other way around then they would have done much worse, not just to me, but also to the crew, quite a few of our crew are female, a group of randy, male pirates attack the ship, what do you think they would try to do to the females?” I asked, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Applejack paled.

“Throughout our journeys I have maintained several moral boundaries, one of these is, if I have to kill someone, I have to be quick about it, I don’t want them to suffer, unfortunately I crossed that boundary when the captain tried to use Autumn as a hostage, long and gruesome story short, I killed the entire crew of pirates in a rage and made the captain suffer for ever daring to use Autumn as a hostage, looking back I wish I hadn’t done what I did” when I finished all of the ponies had paled considerably, Mata Nui, who up until now had been meditating, opened his eyes.

“When I train you to be a Toa, you will have to learn to control your anger, the fact that you regret doing it is a sign that you can be swayed from the path that you now walk” he said, he then narrowed his eyes at me “but be warned, carry on as you have, and you may reach a point where you can never return to light” at that moment a guard burst through the door.

“Your majesty, there are dragons in Ponyville” he said.

“What sort of size?” Twilight asked.

“About the height of your guests, and their intentions are hostile” the guard said, she nodded to the guard and stood up.

“Thank you, guard” she said, “me and my friends will handle this”

We stepped outside the castle to see three dragons harassing the CMC, Spike and Aurora, I had to resist the urge to run over there and run one of them through, it seem that Minion was suffering the same dilemma

“These guys?” Rainbow asked incredulously.

“You know them?” I asked.

“Sort of” she said “Spike wanted to find out what it means to be a dragon and…”

“Got in the wrong sort of crowd?” I asked, she nodded, Twilight called over to them.

“Dragons” she called, gaining their attention “why do you harass these young ones?” they flew over to us, landing about 500 yards away

“What’s it to you?” the tallest, a red one, said, Twilight went to say something but Minion stepped forwards.

“Maybe the fact that that dragoness is my daughter” he said, the dragons looked at each other before bursting out laughing.

“That explains why she is such a freak” the red one said, Minion growled before drawing his huge scimitar, letting the blade touch the ground and silencing their laughter “seem this one wonts to pick a fight”

“He’s not the only one” I said, walking up and standing next to my brother, I turned to Twilight “get the kids, I don’t want them to see what happens next” Twilight nodded and teleported over to the kids, teleporting away with them seconds later, she quickly returned, minus the children

“It’s still three against one” the dragon said, the rest of the team stepped forwards “that’s better”

“As much as I would very much like to run you through” I said, drawing my sword “I’m giving you the chance to back away now, with you honour intact”

“You’re just afraid to fight” the red dragon said.

“You see that’s where you are wrong, you should be afraid to fight us, but if you feel so sure of your selves, I’ll give you a free hit” I then patted my chest “your hottest flames” the rest of the team backed away several tens of feet, the dragons shrugged before inhaling and breathing intense flames in my direction, thinking quickly I raised my sword and the flames split down the middle, passing me on both sides, I then swung the blade to the side, the flames began following, I started circling my sword above my head and the flames formed a rotating column in the air above me, the dragons looked surprised, I began to turn the column faster and faster, until it became a tornado, I smirked

“Dragons” I said, rolling my eyes “you think you are so powerful, just because you breathe fire, BITCH, I…AM…FIRE” I then swung me sword forward and the column then shot towards the dragons, their eyes widened in fear and they took flight, I dissipated the fire before it could do any damage and the dragons landed back on the ground.

“You missed” the red one said, I walked over to Scar.

“Fire for effect” I said, I then whispered in his ear “set to stun” he nodded and walked forwards on all fours, the dragons laughed.

“What are you gonna do?” their leader said “bark at us?” the other two dragons laughed, Scar rolled his eyes and I heard a click, the guns started to swivel on their mountings and the barrels started to rotated, soon becoming a blur, red energy started to spew out of the barrels, the dragons quickly took to the air, issuing cries of surprise, the guns started to follow the larger of the 3, as he was slower, several shots hit the dragon and he plummeted out of the sky, he hit the ground with a thud and groaned, the other two looked on in shock.

“I’m gonna get you for that” the red one yelled, before flying towards Scar, who just rolled his eyes and fired his guns at the dragon, the red dragon quickly fell out of the sky, landing in a heap in front of Scar.

“You were saying” he said before walking away, the dragon struggled to get up.

“Get back here you coward” the dragon said, Scar froze, very slowly turned around, and then, with a speed that surprised even me, ran over and pulled him up by the frill on his head.

“Say that again” Scar growled, baring his teeth, the red dragon gulped, Scar tossed the dragon away “get out of here, you yellow bellied bastard” the dragon shakily stood up.

“Come on guys, they aren’t worth our time” he said, taking flight, the other two dragons quickly followed, soon they were out of sight.

“Good riddance” Scar said.

“Ah’ll say” Applejack said, I turned to see the elements walking towards us.

“How did you do that, Vuur Koning?” Twilight said “you were able to control the flames yet you weren’t using magic”

“I’m a Ta-Toa” I said, noticing her confuse look I elaborated “I'm a spirit of fire, I can control fire as naturally as Rainbow controls her wings, just like Scar could call forth a pack of timberwolves on a whim, and Boris could cause a tornado if he felt in the mood to do so, but a toa should never abuse his or her power, only use them for good” Mata Nui walked up to me and placed his hand on my shoulder

“You have the makings of a great toa” he said, looking me in the eyes and smiling.

Chapter 23 23 Rise of Evil (Ark 2 Chapter 13)

We were sat in the study of Twilights castle, and I was practicing with my power over fire by manipulating the flames in the Fireplace into shapes and having the others guess what I was trying to create, imagine charades with a Fireplace and you get the idea, it was a fun way to pass the time, but it was still hard to get the shape right, I was in the middle of trying to create a dragon using fire when we heard screams from outside, a guard burst through the door.

“Your majesty, there is another dragon, and this time it’s pulling a ship” he said, my group tried not to react.

“We’ll handle this” she said, I quickly teleported ahead, I could see the Jörmungandr above the skies of Ponyville, with Frostfang, I’ll admit, from this view you really got an idea of just how massive the ship was, and ponies were running screaming.

“Holy Celestia, that is huge!” Rainbow dash said, I turned to see the elements walking towards me, I held my arms out.

“Allow me to present my ship, Jörmungandr: The Midgard Serpent” I said, they looked on in wonder.

“How in tarnation did you get a dragon-drawn battleship?” Applejack said, holding her Stetson to stop it falling off as she looked up

“I already told you, that dragon is Frostfang, and before you go joining the stampede of ponies in panic, Fluttershy, he won’t hurt you” I then turned to the ship and called up.

“Frostfang” I called, he turned to look at me “you might want to get to a more manageable size, you’re scaring the locals” he nodded and started to shrink, he then flew over to us.

“Vuur Koning” he said “any ideas on how to calm the locals”

“I have an idea” I said, I then turned to Twilight “You might want to cover your ears for this next bit” I then teleported onto the bridge.

“Good morning captain” Blazewing said, I nodded to him.

“Aim all of the gun turrets into clear skies, and in 30 seconds fire all of them at once” I said, he nodded and I teleported back to Twilight.

“This, is going to be loud” I said….

BOOOOOM…

The silence that followed was gloriously deafening, the ponies uncovered their ears, and all of the ponies that were running around in a panic were now rooted to the spot in shock.

“Well” Applejack said, looking at the now frozen ponies “yawl may not be subtle, but it sure as hay works” she then chuckled.

“Who said anything about subtlety” I said “ well Twilight, this is the part where you go over there and tell everyone not to panic” she shook her heads to clear her thoughts before flying over to the now frozen crowd, after saying some words to them she flew back over.

“They’re calm, a little shaken, and unhappy, but calm” she said, she the shook her head “promise me you’ll never do that again” I chuckled.

“I can’t make any promises for that sort of thing, it’s way too much fun” I said, I then clapped my hands together “now, who wants a tour of the ship”

With a little help from Frostfang I managed to get the elements on to the ship, the rest of the band and the toa went off to run things whilst I showed the Elements around the ship.

“This is huge” Rainbow Dash said.

“Try having your quarters at the very rear of the ship” I said “you get used to walking long distances, so, can you see why I kept the pirates, it isn’t so much of a problem now, seeing as Celestia gave me about 49’000 crew members”

“That’s a lot of ponies” Applejack said, I nodded before leading them to the bridge, Pinkie Pie saw the bass plaque displaying the name of the ship.

“Gormongandirr?” she said, trying to pronounce it “that’s a funny name, what’s it mean?” I went to answer her, but the sentient magical construct (S.M.C.), called Jörmungandr, chose this moment to appear, scaring the life out of the ponies, he looked like an anthropomorphic version of the Figure-head, dressed in scholar’s robes and he stood about 6 feet tall, I’ll admit I chose the design for him

“Jörmungandr” he said in a “also known as the Midgard Serpent or World serpent, Jörmungandr is a form of Ouroboros, according to Human Norse mythology, Jörmungandr was the child of the god of mischief; Loki, and was large enough the wrap around the world and swallow its own tail”

“Thank you” I said “girls, this is the ships Sentient Magical Construct, called Jörmungandr, he’s in charge of monitoring the ships systems and providing us with any information that we might need”

“Pleasure to meet you” Jörmungandr said, bowing,

“When you say Sentient, do you mean he’s actually alive?” Twilight asked.

“Yes and no” I said “yes in the sense that he has emotions and can form opinions, but no in the sense that he isn’t a physical being, and can’t die or even feel pain”

“Oh” Twilight said.

“Well” I said “this is the bridge, this is where I give out orders to Autumn, my brother and Vinyl, and they relay the orders to their division of the crew and ship” as I said this Blazewing walked over.

“Ahoy there, landlubbers” he said, Fluttershy disappeared behind Rainbow Dash.

“Why do you have so many dragons on this ship?” Rarity asked

“Pure coincidence” I said “anyway, this is Blazewing; Deputy Captain, he gives orders when I’m unavailable to do so, and he is most likely to become captain should I get badly injured or killed”

“Pleasure to be makin’ your acquaintances” he said, giving a little bow.

“Why do you talk like a pirate?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Because I used to be one, me ‘arty” he said.

“Ooh” Pinkie Pie said excitedly before getting in Blazewing’s face and pressing her snout to his “did you go plundering for gold, did you sail the seven skies in an airship, did you sing sea shanties?” Blazewing was rendered speechless from Pinkie Pies apparent disregard for personal space.

“Err” he said “Yes?” he suggested, Pinkie Pie went to say something else but was dragged away by Applejack, who now had Pinkie Pies tail between her teeth.

“Lan’ sakes, Pinkie” she said, spitting out Pinkie pies tail “calm it down a notch” Blazewing walked over to me.

“Is she always like that?” he asked.

“You mean overexcited and with a disregard for personal space?” I said “just go with it, it will be a lot easier for everyone if you do”

“…and finally, we have weapons testing” I said, opening the door to the hall used for sparring and ushering the Elements inside, Boris was currently being trained by Mata Nui, who was wielding his Scarabax shield, as well as a staff, with a long blade that was the same crescent style as his shoulder pieces “this is where we teach our crew to fight using all types of weapons, so that they are versatile in a battle, most of our weapons are unique and made by hand on this ship, for instance we have a sword, now used as the standard, that is a cross between a broadsword and a Katana”

“How did you come up with that idea?” Rainbow Dash asked, whilst watching the two warriors fight.

“I had a team put together, with one individual from every species, they then combined different weapons until they got the perfect combination” I said, I then picked up a dagger and showing it to then “most of the blades on our daggers and swords use the techniques employed in making a Katana’s blade” Pinkie Pie leaned in really close, looking at her own reflection.

“Ooh” she said, lifting a hoof to touch the blade “shiny” I moved the dagger out of her reach.

“These are weapons, not toys” I said, placing the dagger back on the table “trust me when I say that it really hurts to cut yourself on of those”

“Talking from experience, are we?” Rarity asked.

“You have to take care even if you are just moving them from one place to another” I said “I forgot that and ended up slicing my hand open” they winced when I said this.

“Then why make weapons so sharp?” Fluttershy asked.

“Because sometimes it’s a case of kill or be killed” I said, noticing her shocked expression I added “I’m sorry Fluttershy, but the world isn’t as kind and forgiving as you like to think it to be, there are people out there that would kill you as soon as look at you, simply because they felt like it”

“But, how can anyone be so cruel?” she asked, I sighed.

“Multiple personal reasons as well as the upbringing” I said, shrugging “that tends to have an influence, now let’s just leave it at that and move on” Mata Nui and Boris walked over.

“Hail, Brother-Firespitter” Boris said, stowing his swords “anyway I can be a spirit-lift?”

“Eer, what did he just say?” Rainbow Dash asked, saying what the others were thinking.

“He was asking if he can help in anyway” I said, I then looked at Boris “to which the answer is no”

“How did he learn to talk like that?” Twilight asked.

“It’s called ‘tree-speak’” I said “it’s a dialect that toa like him speak, and it gets very annoying at times”

“Past-late to change now” Boris said, shrugging.

“Mata Nui” I said, looking at the golden warrior “why you decided to have Le-people speak like that, I’ll never understand”

“If everyone spoke the same, it would become boring” Mata Nui said, and his shield disappeared in a flash, leaving Click to crawl up onto Mata Nui’s shoulder, I noticed Rarity shudder slightly.

“Don’t like bugs?” I asked, at that moment a female changeling walked in, and Rarity shrieked, causing the changeling to do the same in surprise “I’ll take that as I no”

“Why do you have those things on this ship?” Rainbow Dash said, getting into an aggressive stance which caused the changeling to start backing up, the fear apparent on her face

“They won’t hurt you, they are actually quite useful” I said “and don’t be so aggressive, your scarring her” this surprised the ponies.

“HER!?” they all exclaimed in surprise, I rolled my eyes.

“Yes, Changelings have genders as well” I said, Rainbow Dash relaxed slightly, but still kept a wary eye on her, I turned to the changeling.

“Don’t worry” I said “I won’t let them hurt you, carry on as you were” the changeling nodded her thanks in her language before continuing on her way.

“Oh, I love the Changeling’s vocabulary” I said, Twilight perked up.

“They actually have a language?” she asked “I thought they communicated like insects”

“Technically they do, it incorporates a complex range of clicks, buzzes and pheromones mixed with a spoken dialect” I said, I then demonstrated by saying their greeting.

“How long did it take you to learn that?” Twilight asked.

“Five days” I said “you have to substitute the buzzes for rolled Rs, and even then it’s still a broken version, as the pheromones add context to the sentence, and well, I can’t produce pheromones”

“Whey even bother to try and learn a language like that if you can’t even speak it properly?” Rarity asked.

“Have you ever heard changelings sing?” I asked “it’s probably one of the most beautiful sounds imaginable”

We finally ended up back on the gun deck, and the tour concluded, I lead them on to Frostfang’s back, who was currently hovering at the side of the ship

“Well, I hope you’ve all enjoyed this tour of my ship” I said “but now you must go back to the castle, you have a town to protect, and I have my armour to polish for tonight’s concert, speaking of which, will any of you be there tonight?”

“You can count on me to show up” Rainbow Dash said “no way I would miss out on hearing your worlds music being played live”

“Awesome” I said, giving her a thumbs up.

“I’ll go as well” Fluttershy said, she then hid behind her mane “I mean, if that’s alright with you”

“Hay, Ah might as well show up” Applejack said “some of your music is kinda catchy”

“It sounds like it will be super funarific” Pinkie Pie said, hopping on the Frostfang’s back with excitement.

“I’ll go” Twilight said “for research purposes” I rolled my eyes at her excuse, but didn’t say anything, we all looked at Rarity expectantly, but she didn’t speak for several seconds, as if weighing out the pros and cons of showing up, before she finally buckled under our gazes.

“Urg” she groaned “fine, I’ll go, but not because I like the music” I chuckled.

“I never said anything” I said “but remember, you chose to come to the concert, and we didn’t force you” we then bid our good byes to each other and Frostfang departed for the streets of Ponyville.

I sat in our (mine and Autumn’s) Quarters, polishing my armour with music playing in the background, whilst I was polishing the left upper leg armour I studied the mechanical components on my free arm, I wasn’t, as I had first thought, totally mechanical, there were still patches of ‘untainted’ skin, I was also still able to remove my armour, although it left me severely weakened and vulnerable, it was like the armour was now a part of me, in a manner of speaking. Becoming…whatever form of life I am now, carried other benefits apart from controlling fire, I could run faster and for miles at a time, I even managed to reach about 50 MPH once, I was also stronger and had sharper senses, although I now had terrible endurance for colder temperatures, so winter was going to really suck, on the plus side I had excellent heat endurance, so when we crossed the Appleloosan Desert I would be fine, I looked up to study the world map that stretched across the entire wall, absentmindedly polishing the red-metal armour whilst I mentally traced out the route we would be taking after we played all of our concerts in Equestria, we had decided to not play any concerts in Minotauria, we would use that time to relax and train for combat, we had, however, decided to record an album of our songs, which were in essence, covers of our favourite songs with the vocabulary changed slightly, if it was a Sabaton song, then we would change any locations, or historical events mentioned to ones found on Terra, as long as it reflected actual events and the lyrics still flowed; an example of this was we modified the lyrics of the song ‘Carolus Rex’ to reflect King Sombra’s rise to power in the Crystal Empire, so instead of the chorus saying ‘To the skies see Carolus rise’ it was ‘To the skies see King Sombra rise’. And if it was a song by another band then it was a simple task of changing the grammar to Equestrian-English.

I was shaken out of my musings by the door to our Quarters opening and Autumn walking it, she now had no trouble walking entirely on her hind legs and walked as if she had done so since she were a filly, I’ll admit, she was rather attractive in her new form, and I couldn’t help checking her out as she walked in the room, Autumn noticed this and smirked.

“Like what you see?” she asked, placing a hand on her hip.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t” I said “I mean, it’s not that you were unattractive before, it’s just that, well now you look slightly human and…” I was now stumbling over my words, she rolled her eyes before walking over, sitting on my lap and pulling me into a kiss, silencing me, after a few seconds she pulled away and smiled.

“Stop before you make yourself feel like a fool” she said, nuzzling my cheek “you don’t need to explain yourself”

“But I’m worried I might say something to offend you” I said, she looked me in the eyes and I found myself mesmerised by those maroon pools

“That’s what I love about you” she said, before kissing me “you’re always so worried about saying something wrong, which means you care”

“And I love the fact that you are so understanding” I said, pulling her into a hug.

In the crystal caves underneath Canterlot a shadowy mass was gazing through one of the many crystals that provided a view of the world outside, it had just witnessed the new Toa fend off the dragons, this was an unexpected development, and it infuriated the shadow.

“This will delay my plans considerably” it whispered, the mass glowing red briefly, if it had a physical form it would have crushed the crystal in anger, it calmed down, already making alterations to its plans “but no matter, I will adapt my plans, as I always have, I will wait for these pathetic, half-breed abominations that don’t even deserve to exist, to go gallivanting off on their adventure, and whilst they are fooling around with meaningless matters I will be gaining strength…” some of the crystals separated from the walls of the caverns and floated over to the shadow, changing colour and shape, eventually forming pieces of pitch-black armour, the shadow started to take on a tall, humanoid, appearance, the armour helping to support and contain its form. Red eyes glowed behind the eye-slits of the makeshift mask.

“I will bide my time, I have waited for hundreds of millions of years, what difference will a few extra years be in my plan?” it said, its voice now booming, it’s ‘face’ then contorted into an evil grin “…but soon brother….soon your ‘Toa’ will be unable to stop me, and then, even the rulers of this world will bow to my shadow”

Chapter 24 24 Ten Thousand Fists in the Air (Ark 2 Chapter 14)

We all stood on the stage, waiting for the wall to part, revealing the crowd that was eager to watch the concert, the rest of the band were all eager to start, there was a clang and the wall slid to one side, immediately a sound, not too dissimilar to a lone wind in a desert, started to emanate from the stage, confusing the crowd, shortly the bass guitarist started to pick out a tune, soon followed by the lead and the drums, eventually forming a heavy riff…

… We finished the first song and I stepped forward, Autumn close behind, a raised the microphone to my mouth.

“GOOOOOOOOOD EVENING PONYVILLE!” I shouted, the crowd went wild “awesome, now, did you enjoy the song?” the crowd cheered in response.

“Do you want to hear some more?” I asked, the crowd cheered, I looked at Autumn and we both shared a knowing smirk.

“You know” Autumn said “I don’t think the rest of the band heard them”

“I said, DO YOU WANT TO HEAR MORE?” the crowd cheered even louder this time and we both chuckled “that’s more like it, now, this next song is about a group of 40 brave soldiers from my world, they were told to hold the border against the invading German Wehrmacht army, despite being outnumbered they held their ground, showed no fear, and even in the face of failure and death, maintained courage, this is, RESIST AND BITE!” Minion immediately sprung into a finger-tapping solo, with Cloddiwr providing a steady beat…

…the song finished and the crowd cheered.

“Well, Autumn” I said into the microphone “I think they’re starting to like my worlds music, don’t you think?”

“Absolutely” she said “let’s give ‘em something they’ll really enjoy” I chuckled.

“Ladies and gentlemen, for this next bit I want you to keep quiet, close your eyes, and let the music flow though you…on the guitar” I said, pointing to Minion “Minion, my brother, show them what you’ve got” he then started to pick out a quiet, calm solo...

...He finished the solo on his knees and the crowd went absolutely wild, a stage hand suddenly walked on, carrying an instrument that looked like a guitar, except it didn’t have strings, instead it had 6 buttons on every fret in the place of the strings, and a touch panel located where a guitarist would usually strum the strings, the stage hand walked up to Vinyl, she put the Keytar on a stand before taking the new instrument and walking towards the edge of the stage, I turned to the crowd.

“Ladies and gentlemen” I said “the instrument the Vinyl is now holding is called a Kitara, it’s essentially a Dubstep guitar, instead of strings it has buttons that produce a sound like so” she then proceeded to tap out a few buttons, producing a heavy, electronic sound.

“Now that you know what it sounds like, I thought we’d play you a couple of songs that incorporates this instrument” the sound of a beach then started to emanate for the speakers, followed by the sound of a fiddle...

...The crowd cheered briefly before quietening down again, some more music started to play, this time an orchestra.

...The song finished and she walked back towards the stand holding the Keytar, she then swapped the instruments around.

“Alright folks, we only have a few more songs to play tonight” I said, I heard some of the crowd murmur in disappointment “but remember, if you pay to watch tomorrow or the day after, we have a much longer set-list , so you can rock out all weekend long, we will also be giving away complimentary audio disks, so you can hear the original songs, played by the bands the originally sung them, whenever you want, now, who wants to finish this off with a bang?” the crowd cheered uproariously, I noticed a group of pegasi were hovering high above the crowd.

“Hey, you guys” I said, pointing to the pegasi, they looked at me and then pointed to their chests, asking if I was talking about them “yeah, you guys, for this next song, a few of the guns will be firing to add ‘impact’ to the song, so could you please get down on the ground, I don’t want the town demanding our heads to be mounted on pikes because we accidentally shot down a few pegasi” some of the crowd chuckled, and the pegasi slowly descended.

“Thank you, now, that warning also applies to everyone else, the guns are really loud, so if any parents, elder siblings, etcetera, brought younger family, please find the nearest unicorn to put an ear protection spell on the little ones, and if you have a problem with unexpected, loud bangs, then have the spell applied to yourself as well” as I said this the crowd began to light up with the glow of spells in several places “thank you, nice to know that common sense still exists today, now, we give you, FEUER FREI!!!” Vinyl started tapping out a tune on the Keytar, before Minion suddenly strummed out a long, heavy note, punctuated by two of the anti-ship guns firing at once, I then began to sing in German, the foreign words coming to me with the ease that only comes with listening to it countless times, we reached the first chorus and one of the automatic AA-gun turrets took over the role of the kicker-drums; providing a steady, fast paced beat...

...“FEUER FRIE. BANG BANG!” I said, the last part punctuated by two of the anti-ship guns firing off, the crowd cheered, suddenly 6 of the anti-ship guns fired off in a row, one after another, and we immediately started playing another song...

...The song finished and the crowd remained silent, as if waiting for the guns to fire again, I chuckled before saying.

“you can cheer now” the effect was instantaneous, the crowd erupted into cheers and applause, I waited for the cheers to die down “now, this next song, is about a Russian air force night-bomber regiment, composed entirely of females, nicknamed… THE NIGHT WITCHES!!!!”...

...The song died down and he crowd cheered.

“Right” I said, after the cheering had died down “this next song is our last one for tonight, but we will be back tomorrow and the day after, so it’s not over yet!” a siren then started to sound off, followed by several of the ships guns firing randomly, Boris stood on the deck of the ship, generating a wind that howled through the night, after about a minute we started the song.

The last note strummed out, adding a finality to the concert, the crowd went wild, their cheers echoing through the night.

“Thank you!” I shouted, the rest of the band bowed, eliciting even more cheers from the crowd, after about a minute we walked off stage, the continued cheers still echoing across the night.

Chapter 25 25 Quite Bitter Beings (Ark 2 Chapter 15)

I walked onto the bridge, I could see Minion and Jörmungandr talking with Twilight, Minion looked really excited.

“Brother, give me your phone” he said.

“Wai-what?” I asked

“Twilight and Jörmungandr have found a way to communicate with our world using our phones” he said.

“Your shitting me” I said, he shook his head, I passed the sleek-white phone to Twilight “how?” Twilight then proceeded to rattle off a complex sum of equations and something about portals and a universal arcane grid whist casting a spell on the phone, she levitated the phone back to me, the light-bar at the bottom was now glowing purple.

“It would even work with your computer” she said “so you could access your worlds ‘internet’ without actually connecting to any one network, think of it as piggybacking”

“Have you talked to our parents?” I asked Minion.

“What do you bloody think?” he said, incredulously “of course I bloody did”

“What were their reactions?” I asked.

“what you would expect” he said “the shouting, asking where you’ve been for the past year or so, asking where I’ve been, the denial, until I sent them a picture of me standing next to Twilight, then the tears of joy from knowing that we are ok, oh, and Mum wants to speak with you and Autumn”

“Aww, you told her?” I complained.

“It’s my job as your older brother” he said, smirking.

“You bastard” I said “anyway, I need to go find Autumn” I then ran off towards our quarters.

I found Autumn sitting at the writing desk, writing a letter.

“Hey, Autumn?” I said, she looked up from the writing desk.

“Hmm?” she asked.

“How would you like to talk with my parents?” I asked, she looked confused.

“first of all” she said “how?, secondly, I though your dad died, so you should only have one parent”

“Twilight made a spell that lets my phone access the mobile networks back home” I said “and my mum remarried” she nodded in understanding, I then took my phone out and went to call home.

“Well” I said, taking my mask off “here goes nothing” and I pressed the call button, before putting the phone on loud speaker, I could hear the dial tone, I heard a click.

“Hello?” I heard a familiar female voice ask.

“Mum, it’s me” I said.

“Oh my god” she said “Luke!?”

“Who else would it be?” I asked, I then nudged Autumn and whispered in her ear “say something”

“H-hello” Autumn said.

“Who’s that?” my mum asked.

“My girlfriend” I said “Autumn Skies” my mum gasped.

“Picture” she said “NOW!” I chuckled before taking a picture of the two of us and sending it to her, I heard my mum gasp again.

“You two look so lovely together” she said, I did a double take.

“You mean you aren’t at all unhappy that I’m in a relationship with an alien?” I asked.

“No” she said “why would I be?”

“Don’t worry” I said.

“Just remember” she said “if you have kids, I want to be the first to know” I smacked my head on the desk, my cheeks red with embarrassment, Autumn wasn’t faring any better, her wings were at full span.

“Mum” I complained “could you not say that in front of my girlfriend”

“But I’m not in front of your girlfriend, am I?” she asked, you could practically hear the smugness in her voice.

“For god sake” I muttered, I could hear my mum and step-dad laughing, I knew just the thing to quiet them “Hey, Mum”

“Yes?” she asked.

“Did Minion tell you that I’m now the captain of a two and a quarter million ton airship?” I heard a load of glasses shattering, a whole host of curse words, all from voices I recognised, I dead panned before saying in a rather dry tone “you had people ‘round to celebrate, didn’t you?”

“Umm, yes” she said, actually sounding a couple shades paler, if that was possible “and no, your brother didn’t tell me” I chuckled, for the next few hours I retold my story of my adventures in Equestria and the surrounding countries.

I was standing on the deck of the ship, looking at the town and the people going about their business, I heard footsteps, I turned around to see Scar walking up to me, minus his Gatling guns.

“Come to enjoy the view?” I asked, he just grunted, that’s the thing with Scar, even though he can talk, he hardly ever does, and when he does he’s always, moody “I never understood why you’re so grumpy all the time” he looked at me, scowling.

“Personal reasons” he said.

“Before or after we encountered each other?” I asked.

“Before” he said.

“Want to talk about it?” I asked, he just glared at me “what? It often helps if you talk about your problems” he quirked an eyebrow, before sighing and resting his head on the railing.

“It was when I was still a timberwolf…a proper timberwolf” he said “I was leading my pack on a hunt, and it went bad…really bad, we encountered a family of Manticores, and I stupidly ordered my pack to attack them, long story short, a lot of my pack got… there isn’t a word in your language to describe it, it’s like the magic that holds us timberwolves together, it got separated from their bodies, permanently, most times a timber wolf can search for a enough wood to create a new body, but this time they couldn’t, and I caused it”

“Shit” I muttered, I went to say something else but I was interrupted by a deafening roar, I looked up to see a absolutely huge red dragon attacking the town, me and scar both looked at each other and nodded before running below deck to our quarters, I ran into my quarters and got my armour and weapons, picking up an arcane auto-rifle as well, Autumn was just finishing putting on her armour as well, I ran up to the bridge.

“Orders sir?” Blazewing asked as I walked into the room

“Aim the anti-ship guns at the dragon, but try to cause as little damage to it, I’m off outside to go and fight” Blazewing nodded before relaying orders, just as I walked outside two of the turrets fired, sending shockwaves across the deck, suddenly a massive white blur slammed into the dragon, sending it flying into an empty field and kicking up a cloud of dust, obscuring the field, when the dust settled I could see Frostfang duking it out with the red dragon, they began talking in draconic briefly before they resumed fighting, the red dragon charged at Frostfang, who sidestepped and grabbed the other dragons tail, causing it to face plant, the red dragon then turned around and swiped Frostfang with its tail, sending him flying into some trees, I turned to the bridge.

“OPEN FIRE” I shouted, the sky then split from the cacophony that followed, but the shot’s just seemed to bounce off “fuck, it’s not working!” the dragon now just looked pissed, it charged at us but just as it got about 500 feet away Frostfang appeared out of nowhere, grabbed the fire-drake by the head, forced its mouth open and unleashed a torrent of ice breath down the fire-drakes throat, his spines glowing blue as he did, I saw ice began to cover the fire-drakes skin and the neck shattered, leaving the now decapitated and half frozen carcass to fall to the ground with a thud, Frostfang dropped the now disembodied head and let out a great roar of victory, silencing any other animals for miles around, the crew of the ship cheered, soon followed by the town.

“Well” Minion said, walking forward “I guess we’re on clean up duty”

*Perspective: 3rd person*

In the caves below Canterlot, Teridax growled, and crushed the viewing crystal that was in his hand.

“Curse that ice dragon” he said, he hadn’t counted on the ice-drake showing up, but he would not make the same mistake again “no matter, that dragon was weak anyway, I will wait until this land is unprotected and then, I will unleash my Rahkshi army on the capital” he then looked through two viewing crystals, this time showing Luna and Sombra, he let out a chuckle.

“Yes” he said, absentmindedly running a finger other the crystal that was displaying Luna “they will do nicely as my advisors, especially Luna, so beloved and cherished by her sister, yet she fails to utilise her sisters true potential, no one appreciates her power, and I will use that to my advantage, to turn her like I did 1000 years before” he then focused his attention on the crystal displaying Sombra in his cell, he focused his powers on the crystal and his sight became one with the crystals.

Sombra was sat in his cell, thinking as he had done for the past few months, he was snapped out of his musings by the cell going dark.

“Who’s there?” Sombra demanded.

“Keep quiet!” a guard barked, after a few seconds Sombra saw two red eyes appear in the shadows.

“Consider me an ally” Teridax said, in a hushed voice “I have a proposal for you” Sombra eyed the eyes suspiciously before saying quietly.

“I’m listening”

“I don’t have long” Teridax said “but you have a choice ahead of you, you can either rot in you prison like a weakling, or, you can join me, gain powers beyond your imagination, and exact vengeance on the one that put you in here”

“I wish I could” Sombra said “but he’ll kill me if I do”

“He’s now part of a group that forbids killing” Teridax said “so you don’t have to worry about his hollow threats” Sombra smirked at this.

“Then consider me in” he said, Teridax chuckled.

“Excellent” Teridax said “but you will have to bide your time in this cell for now, we mustn’t raise suspicion, but I will come back for you, soon” Sombra nodded and Teridax’s red eyes disappeared along with the shadow enveloping the room, and Sombra returned to his thoughts, which mostly included all the ways he would torture and kill Vuur Koning.

*Perspective: 1st person (Vuur Koning)*

Cleaning up the mess took a long time, made worse by the fact that the carcass had started to melt, as you would expect, Fluttershy was not happy with what had happened, I was leaning against the trunk of a tree when Fluttershy confronted him about it.

“How could you do such a thing!?” she demanded to a now shrunken down Frostfang, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“I tried to reason with him” Frostfang said, doing his best to keep calm “but he would not listen, I had no choice, if I hadn’t’ done something, then what do you think would have happened to your town”

“You didn’t have to kill him” Fluttershy said “all creatures have feelings and deserve to live” I chuckled darkly, surprising them.

“You’ve obviously never heard of Xenomorph’s, The Flood, Nazi’s, Rahkshi or Visorahk” I said, counting them off “ask Mata Nui about the last two, as for the first one, well, it’s larval stage gestates inside a live host and escapes by bursting out of its host’s chest, whist the host is still conscious, did I mention it has acid for blood, I’ll leave you to try and convince Frostfang that every creature disserves to live now, Auf Weidersehn” I then walked off, leaving the two of them stunned into silence, and Fluttershy several shades paler.

“What the hell was that about?” Minion asked, walking up to me.

“Fluttershy was upset that we had to kill the dragon, using the excuse that all creatures deserve to live” I said “so I told her about Xenomorph’s as an example of a creature that does not deserve to live” my brother face palmed.

“You don’t tell innocent little ponies about those kinds of things” he said, shaking his head behind his hand, I just shrugged.

“Would you have done any different?” I asked, already knowing the answer, he went to say something before muttering a few choice curses towards me “didn’t think so”

“Oh fuck you” he said.

“One” I said, smirking “I’m not gay, and two, I’m not into incest”

“God dammit” he muttered.

“Don’t you mean ‘Odin’ dammit?” I asked rhetorically.

“Who?” Autumn asked, landing beside me

“I’m Norse-Pagan” Minion explained “Odin is the all-father, the father of all people and Norse gods, but I personally worship Thor and Loki, gods of thunder and mischief respectively” he then rolled up a sleeve to show tattoos of the Norse symbols for Thor and Loki.

“I thought humans couldn’t get cutie marks” Autumn said, booth me and Minion burst out laughing.

“They’re tattoos” Minion said “I chose to get them done, speaking of which, I need to find a tattoo parlour somewhere”

“There should be some in our next stop” Autumn said.

“What symbol this time?” I asked.

“The Three Virtues” he replied, shrugging.

“Count me in” I said.

I was sat at the writing desk, sketching out designs, I was planning a bike that used to same levitation systems that the airships used, but on a smaller scale, just to keep it levitating about a foot of so off the ground, the only problem was propulsion, I would need to talk to Twilight about that, I was interrupted from my musings by Autumn walking in and wrapping her arms around my shoulders from behind, and kissing me on the cheek.

“Hey beautiful” I said.

“What are you drawing?” she asked.

“It’s designs for a bike, similar to one I actually had back on earth” I said, logging onto the laptop and showing her a picture of a bike similar to mine, a Royal-Enfield 500-Bullet, “but more like a ‘chopper’, so it’s more comfortable, I love the classic bike look, but they don’t half give you a sore arse, a chopper is more laid back and comfortable, so it’ll be a compromise between the two types, hopefully I’ll get it built by the time we’re in Minotauria, I’ve looked at a tourist book and the roads look beautiful, I’m thinking when we stop in one of the towns you and me go for a ride along one of the valley roads” I saw Autumn smile out of the corner of my eye.

“I’d like that” she said.

“Oh” I said, remembering something “I’ll need our group of friends to gather for a picture at some point, I want to send the parental’s a picture of us all together, also I want us to do a video call with them, I’m not sure Aurora has met her grandmother yet” Autumn giggled at that.

“I can’t wait to see her face when she finds out” she said, I then got my camera out.

“Smile” I said, we both smiled and the camera flashed “Mum’s gonna love this”

“You’ve been sending a lot of pictures to her since this morning” Autumn said.

“I haven’t talked to her for a year and bit” I said “what would you do in my situation?” she went to say something but stopped, I could see her pouting out of the corner of my eye.

“Damn you and your logic, Human” she said, nuzzling my cheek, I chuckled.

“To which I say; damn you and you pony magic” I said, she snorted.

“Touché” Autumn replied.

“Sometimes I don’t know whether ‘its magic’ is an excuse or a scientific explanation” I said, Autumn lifted her head from my shoulder and put a hand to her chin in thought.

“It’s actually a little bit of both” she said, after a few seconds “it depends on the tone it’s spoken in and the context of the sentence”

I was walking along the corridor towards my brothers quarters, I needed to speak to him about something, I knocked on the door… no response, I opened the door and immediately regretted it, there, on my brother’s bed, was Vinyl straddling Minion, the two of them kissing passionately, whilst Rammstein’s ‘Ich Tu Dir Weh’ played in the background, this went on for several seconds before they noticed me, they just looked at me as if I had walked into them playing a board game, Vinyl waved nonchalantly.

“Sup?” my response was to very slowly close the door and walk off, a few seconds later Minion burst into the corridor and ran after me.

“Bro” he said, grabbing my shoulder “are you O.K.?”

“I did not need to see that” I said shuddering “but seriously, yes, I’m fine” Minion sighed with relief.

“Thank god” he said “for a moment I thought we’d scarred you for life”

“So…” I said “you and Vinyl?” he scratched the back of his neck.

“Heh, yeah” he said.

“Well, who am I to object” I said, walking off “it would just make me a hypocrite”

“You and Autumn are free to join us anytime” he called.

“No, thank you” I said before walking out of sight, I reached my quarters and Autumn noticed the blank look on my face.

“Are you O.K.?” she asked.

“Where is the brain bleach?” I said, sitting down on the sofa, noticing Autumn’s look I added “I walked in on Vinyl and Minion about to get freaky and then they offered for us two to join them” Autumn fell on the floor laughing

You’re not helping” I said.

“Oh wow” Autumn said “I wish I could’ve been there to see your face”

“Oh fuck off!” I said, although my expression showed I wasn’t serious.

“You have to admit” Autumn said “it is a little funny”

“O.K. you got me” I said “the worst part was the song that was playing in the background”

“Which was?” Autumn said, gesturing for me to continue.

“Ich Tu Dir Weh by Rammstein” I said, Autumns response was to once again fall on the floor with laughter

“Ha, they like it kinky” she said, getting up and wiping away a tear, she suddenly got a devious look on her face “I can think of the perfect thing to get them for Hearths Warming now”

“Whatever it is” I said “no!”

“Oh come on” she said “I’m sure they would love a whip”

“Oh my god!” I said, face palming “I did not need to know that” Minion and Vinyl then teleported into the room, and started dancing whilst ‘I just had sex’ played on Minions phone, we both just stared at them, after a few seconds they started to head towards the corridor, still dancing as they did so, when they were out of the room I said.

“You wouldn’t think my brother’s actually three years older than me would you?” Autumn suddenly went pale.

“Oh shit!” she said.

“What, you finally realised how childish he can be?” I asked.

“That too” she said “but also when we go to Trottingham, both of our older brothers are going to meet”

“Oh shit indeed” I said “I hope your brother isn’t as bad as Minion”

“Don’t get your hopes up” Autumn said.

“Great” I said, standing up “I need a drink”

“It’s 11 in the morning” she said incredulously.

“Exactly” I said “it’s only 11 in the morning, what else is going to happen today?”

I was walking along the streets of Ponyville, ponies greeted me as I walked past, I was stopped by Lyra, in case you were wondering how I knew who it was, I got to know her when I was training to be a guard, she was also a big help when it came to learning about other humans who had been sent to Equestria in the past.

"Hey, Vuur Koning" she said, tapping my leg.

"Oh, hey Lyra" I said, I noticed she looked a little nervous "What's up?"

"I kind of have to ask you something" she said, not looking me in the eye.

"Go on" I said, she mumbled something "I'm sorry, I didn't quite hear that"

"Iwaswonderingifyou'dletmejoinyouonyourship?" she said, far too quickly for me to understand.

"Whoa, whoa" I said "take a deep breath, calm down, and repeat what you just said, slowly" she took a breath before saying.

"Would you let me join your crew?"

"why?" I asked.

"Well" she said "I guess I just want to see the world, like you do" I sighed before saying.

"Alright"

"Wait, really?" she asked "Just like that?"

"I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't, just one thing, does Bonbon know?"

"Yeah" she said, nodding, she looked sad "things have been a little shaky between us lately, we both agreed that we kind of need a bit of space for a while, you know what they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder" I chuckled.

"I know it better than most" I said "alright then, go pack your things, we leave tomorrow at lunch time"

Chapter 26 26 Warrior (Ark 2 Chapter 16)

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.

Chapter 27 27 Two Worlds (Ark 2 Chapter 17)

*P.O.V. 3rd person*

Red Dawn woke with a start and found himself hanging from chains

“Ah” Teridax said “I thought you hadn’t survived the transformation” Red Dawn glared at the Makuta.

“What the buck did you do to me, you freak?” he demanded, looking at his now mechanical arms, which ended in hands which sprouted into five talon-like fingers, Teridax growled and stepped forward, grabbing the former pegasus by the throat and pinning him against the crystalline wall with enough force to crack the crystals, he leaned in closely, so that his eyes reflected off of Red Dawn’s dark crimson and black armour

“You will show respect to your new ruler” he snarled, before yanking the former pegasus out of his bonds and dropping him unceremoniously on the floor “from now on, you do exactly as I say, without question, do that, and I won’t kill you” Teridax began to walk away

“I don’t even know who you are?” Red Dawn said, Teridax stopped and looked at Red Dawn out the corner of his eye

“I am Makuta Teridax” he said “and soon, I’ll teach the ponies what it truly means to live in fear, now, come, you need a mask and weapons” Red Dawn stood up unsteadily, he leant against the crystal wall and looked at his reflection, he was now about 10 foot tall, with angular, dark crimson and black armour, he now had wings like those of a dragon, which were currently wrapped around him like a cloak of some sort, his feet were also like those of a dragon, except they were made up of mechanical parts and metallic plates, he raised a shaky hand to touch his transformed face, which now looked like some twisted blend between a pony and a dragon, the reflection mirrored his movements.

“What the buck am I?” Red Dawn roared rather than asked, turning to look at Teridax.

“You are a Makuta” Teridax said, simply “a being of darkness and shadow, you should feel honoured to earn such a privilege”

“I-I’m a f-freak” Red Dawn said “you turned me into a monster”

“I gave you power” Teridax said “if it shuts you up then you have the power to shape-shift, now, I will not tell you again, you need weapons, and a mask” Red Dawn hesitantly walked after Teridax, he was beginning to wonder if he made the right decision, Teridax led him into a smaller cave filled with an assortment of weapons and several strange masks, Red Dawn picked up a boxy silver mask.

“The Kenohi Komau” Teridax said “it lets you control the minds of others” Red Dawn nodded and put the mask on, it suddenly glowed and changed its shape to better fit Red Dawns head, the mask changed from silver to black and red, when the mask finished changing Red Dawn picked up two scythe-like blades and grinned, Teridax put a hand on his chin in thought.

“I think it’s time you had a new name” Teridax said “how does…Sauradox sound?” the former pegasus looked at Teridax and smirked.

“Sauradox” he said “I like that”

“Good” Teridax said “I have I mission for you, complete it, and you’ll prove yourself to be a true Makuta”

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning*

We were walking through the streets of Cloudsdale, Minion had Aurora on his shoulders, and we were going to surprise her by taking her to see the Wonderbolts.

“Where are we going?” Aurora asked.

“You find out when we get there” Minion said.

“But I want to find out now” the young dragoness complained.

“We’re almost there” I said, we walked into an open area, with a large stadium in the middle, with large banners advertising the upcoming show “oh look, what’s this?” Aurora gasped.

“Are we going to see the Wonderbolts?” she asked.

“Yep” Minion said “surprise” Aurora squealed with delight.

*POV 3rd person*

Sauradox, now disguised as his pegasus form, flew into the stadium, he needed to be careful, he didn’t need to go revealing the presence of Makuta’s yet, the purpose of this mission was to cause mayhem without revealing his presence, he landed at the rear of the stadium, a stallion next to him tapped him on the shoulder.

“Pst, you wanna buy some saltlicks?” the stallion asked, showing the disguised Makuta a tied up bag, Sauradox rolled his eyes and activated his mask power, his eyes glowed gold

“You don’t want to sell me saltlicks” the disguised Makuta said.

“I…don’t want to sell you saltlicks” the stallion said, hiding the bag.

“You want to go home and rethink your life” Sauradox said, the stallion nodded and stood up.

“I…want to go home and…rethink my life” the stallion walked off, Sauradox may now work for an evil being, but he still had personal morals, he smiled, if he was here, he may as well enjoy the show, whilst it lasted at least, he smirked, and his eyes flashed red, a small amount of red mist trailed off of them briefly

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning*

We all sat down in our seats, a pegasus stallion with a spaced-out look on his face walked past muttering something, but I paid him no mind.

“The hell is up with him?” Minion asked, to no one in particular, I shrugged, we then turned our attention to the centre of the stadium, the show was about to start.

*POV 3rd person*

Sauradox watched the show, waiting for the right moment, about halfway through he saw an opportunity and he focused his power of electricity and weather control, making it look like a cloud had electrocuted the Wonderbolts and knocking them unconscious, her smirked as he watched them fall to the ground.

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning

About halfway through the show, all hell broke loose, a thundercloud discharged just as the Wonderbolts flew over it, rendering them unconscious, I watched in horror as I saw them begin to fall to the ground, next thing I knew I saw a gold flash and a green blur shot past me, too fast for me to make out the details, I turned around to see Boris missing, that explained that then, I refocused my attention on the stadium, Boris was zipping around, way faster than should have been possible, he suddenly dived after the Wonderbolts, causing a green and gold sonic rainboom, he flew to each member, grabbing him or her as he went past, when he had all of them he did a U-turn and flew back up, he slowed down and carefully placed the Wonderbolts on a cloud platform, his mask was glowing gold, the entire crowd cheered and he bowed, what surprised me even more was Princess Celestia teleporting onto the platform, Boris looked just as surprised as me, the crowd went silent in respect for the Princess.

“My little ponies” she said “were it not for the heroics of this brave hero, this show would have turned into a tragedy, this griffin is one of six guardians, a group collectively called the Toa Jörmun, made up of members of several different species, they defend Equestria from dangers that are serious, but ether do not require the elements of harmony, or the Elements of Harmony are ineffective or unavailable” I saw her horn glow and next thing I knew I was standing on the platform, the crowd gasped, I leaned towards Celestia.

“Do you always come to these shows?” I whispered.

“Yes” she whispered, she then turned to the crowd “these Toa represent unity, they each have control over a different natural element, leader of the team: Ta-Toa Vuur Koning; Element of Fire, Le-Toa Boris; Element of Air, Bo-Toa Scar; Element of Plant life, Fa-Toa Minion; Element of Magnetism, Fe-Toa Autumn Skies; Element of Iron, and De-Toa Vinyl Scratch; Element of Sound” we stepped forward when she mentioned us, the crowd gasped when she called Vinyl Scratch forward.

“What’s up Everypony?” Vinyl said, using her power over sound to amplify her voice and waiving to the crowd, the crowd began to chant ‘Toa, Toa, Toa’, we just stood there, a little overwhelmed by the situation, Celestia giggled and walked next to me.

“Considering our history with beings trying to endanger this country” she said “I’d get used to this sort of thing”

*POV 3rd person*

To say Sauradox was pissed off would be an understatement, but he didn’t show it, he calmly stood up and left the arena, he found a dark alleyway, with only a single homeless pony, he nodded to the homeless pony before activating his silence powers and changing into his true form, he then dragged the pony into a portal leading to Teridax’s lair.

“Well, that went well” Sauradox said sarcastically “hopefully this will make up for that disaster of a mission” he then tossed the pony to Teridax, who beckoned for two Rahkshi to take the pony away.

“What happened?” Teridax asked, raising an eyebrow “were you discovered?” Sauradox shook his head.

“No” he said “but those Toa saved the ponies” Teridax shrugged it off.

“I only asked for you to make sure you weren’t discovered” Teridax said “the fact that they were saved doesn’t matter to me, besides, I have another mission for you”

“Go on” Sauradox said.

“You are to stow away on their ship, assume a false identity, replace an existing crew member, stay hidden in the shadows, I don’t care, just try to remain undiscovered and relay any notable information to me, if it helps, try to get close to the Toa” Teridax said, he then looked thoughtful “the Humans have an old saying; Keep you friends close…and your enemies closer”

*1 week later*

Under the cover of night Sauradox flew onto the Jörmungandr, using his chameleon powers to blend in, rendering him almost invisible, save for his eyes, and his silence powers to stop any noises escaping, it was mostly empty, save for a few Thestrals and changelings, he looked at the changelings with disgust, he wanted very much to kill them, but he had to remain hidden, he walked to the lower deck, as he was a Makuta he didn’t have to sleep, so he could be constantly surveying the ship, first things first, he needed to familiarise himself with the ship’s layout, after walking the corridors for several hours he found an room marked ‘Minion’, his curiosity piqued and he changed his density to become intangible, he walked through and saw one of the Toa, putting a young dragoness to bed in a room located to one side of the living room.

“But dad, it’s too early” the dragoness complained, Sauradox raised an eyebrow, the Toa had an adoptive daughter (!?).

“Come on Aurora, you know the rules, 10:00 is bed time”

“Tell me a story” the dragoness, apparently called Aurora, said, the Toa sighed before getting a book off of the bookshelf.

“Very well, but only if you promise to go to sleep afterwards” the Toa said, sitting down “Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together, and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her Alicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies. But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful day, the younger Alicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon.” Sauradox recognised the story, the tale of Celestia and Luna, Aurora gasped and the Toa continued.

“She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night” the Toa said “reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to the world: the Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister, and banished her in the moon for 1000 years, the elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon, and harmony was maintained in Equestria for 1000 years, until the day Nightmare Moon returned.” The Toa closed the book and Aurora whined.

“Aww” she said, pouting and folding her wings “but I want to hear the rest of the story”

“But that would mean that I wouldn’t be able to tell you the rest of it tomorrow, wouldn’t it?” the Toa asked, the dragoness huffed.

“Yes Dad” she said, the Toa kissed the dragoness on the forehead.

“That’s my girl” he said, before standing up “now go to sleep” the dragoness sighed before shuffling further down the bed and pulling the covers up, the Toa smiled kindly before turning the ceiling light off, leaving a bedside table on, the Toa the walked out of the room, just before he shut the door he turned to look at the dragoness.

“Goodnight, Aurora” he said.

“Goodnight, Dad” Aurora said, the Toa then shut the door.

Sauradox left the quarters and entered the hallway, he was conflicted, on the one hand he wanted to give Vuur Koning what he deserved, but on the other hand, what would happen to the child if Teridax succeeded?, he would have to make sure Teridax did not find out about the child, he would have to watch over her from the shadows, even if her adoptive father is a being with control other the elements, you could never be too careful.

That night, he stood outside, stargazing and thinking things over, he would still relay information, but he would make sure that Teridax did not find out about the child. His moral compass may have skewed since he became a Makuta, but there was a line that he refused to cross, even now; never put a child in danger, he would watch over her, and any other children on this ship. If it meant going behind Teridax’s back about it, so be it, he would protect them, even from Teridax, he’d seen the things Teridax was capable off, and that scared him slightly.

“I promise” he whispered “as long as I live, no harm will come to the children on this ship”

Chapter 28 28 Crystallize (Ark 2 Chapter 18)

After a week of travelling we reached Manehatten, it was incredibly similar to Yew York, going by what I had seen on the internet, Autumn agreed with me on that point, I had also started working on building the bike, I had developed a propulsion system with Twilight, it worked like a levitation generator, except instead of directing the energy down it sent it out the back, today, we would not be carrying out weapons, I doubted we would need them.

“That’s quite the view” Minion said, with Aurora sitting on his shoulders, we were all stood on the gun deck, looking at the city skyline.

“Definitely similar to Cities on our world” I said in agreement, Aurora perked up at that.

“Is this what you world looks like then?” she asked, I did a ‘so-so’ motion with my hand.

“This looks like a copy of one City on our world, London however, looks very different to this, and for one thing, this city doesn’t have a massive clock tower” I said, Blazewing walked towards us.

“I’s gonna be really weird walking through the streets withou’ ‘avin’ the guards after me” he said, the rest of us looked at him and raised our eyebrows “Wha’? I used to be wanted ‘ere” I pinched the bridge of my nose.

“Of course you would be wanted in this bloody city” I said “I’m not even gonna ask what you did the make yourself wanted, just stick with us and try not to cause too much trouble”

“Err” he said uncertainly “yes, sir?” I sighed, this was going to be interesting.

We were walking through customs and check in of the Airport we were just about to leave the building and enter the city when Blazewing was tackled by a guard, the two of them fell to the ground.

“I finally have you, you pirate scum” the guard said in a New York accent, standing on Blazewing whilst pinning his arm behind his back, I sighed before walking up to them.

“Excuse me sir” I said “would you kindly cease trying to apprehend my Chart master” the guard looked taken aback.

“W-what?” he stammered, he then turned to the dragon “Chart master!?” the dragon did the closest thing to a shrug he could manage in his current situation

“Yes” I said “Did you see the 20 gunner navy ship out there? Big thing, called the Jörmungandr, has the figure head of a serpent, I’m the captain of that ship, and you are technically assaulting a member of the Royal Equestrian Navy and my crew” the guards eyes reduced to pinpricks before he hastily pulled Blazewing back up and cleared his throat.

“Sorry about that” the guard said.

“It’s understandable” I said “it’s true he used to be a pirate, but that changed after I blew his ship out of the sky” the guard went pale.

“W-well” the guard said “as you were” I nodded.

“Thank you” I said, walking past “keep up the good work”

“I’m watching you” the guard whispered to Blazewing as he walked past, I rolled my eyes, but pretended I didn’t hear.

“Thanks for the save back there” Blazewing said.

“Get used to it” I said, sighing “I suspect it will happen quite a lot today”

As we walked down the streets of Manehatten we ended up in an alleyway.

“Right” Minion said “I think we should head back to the main streets” I nodded and we turned to find a group of about 10 teenage colts blocking our path.

“Can I help you?” I asked, they chuckled.

“Yeah, ma’e” one of them said in a Trottingham accent, which surprised me, he also talked like a chav, I was not liking where this was going “we wan’ your money ma’e”

“Or what?” I asked, a Pegasus colt unfolded a butterfly knife using a wing, me and Minion looked at each other, Minion put Aurora on Autumns shoulders before walking forward.

“Alright, you chavs” Minion said, dropping into his northern accent “ge’ lost, before I fookin’ deck yah” he punched his palm as he said this, they just laughed.

“looks like this one’s star’in’ on us, ma’es” one of them said, Autumn and Vinyl stepped back, leaving me, Minion, Boris, Scar and Blazewing standing side by side.

“You fight one of us? You fight us all” I said, I suddenly heard a commotion behind us.

“Oi, look ‘ere, ma’es” I turned around and my heart dropped, a Pegasus had grabbed Aurora and had a knife to her throat “none of you move and I won’t hurt the girl”

Sauradox perched on rooftop watching the scene unfold, he felt conflicted, Teridax had told him not to reveal himself, but he was close to killing the pegasus out of rage, he could just use his mask power, but it wouldn’t be anywhere near as satisfying, he sighed silently before teleporting down behind the pegasus and revealing himself, startling the Toa and the group of ponies.

I looked on in stunned disbelief as a mechanical Dragon-like being appeared behind the Pegasus

“Ma’e?” one of the ponies said “don’ turn around” the Pegasus gave him a funny look before turning around and freezing.

“Give…me…the…child” the being said, sounding extremely pissed off, the Pegasus shakily gave Aurora to the being, who carefully took her “now get out of here before I kill you and mount your head on a pike” the pegasus nodded dumbly before shooting off, the rest of the ponies didn’t hang around, the being flew over to us and gave Aurora to Minion

“Thank you” I said “we would have been screwed if you hadn’t of shown…”

“I didn’t do this for you” the being snapped, his voice sounded familiar.

“You sound familiar” Autumn said, the being looked at Autumn, almost sadly, before he changed into Red Dawn, Autumn ran up to him and punched him in the jaw.

“So all this time” Autumn said “you’ve been that…thing!?” he changed into his true form.

“Not always” he said “when we last met, I was still a pony, now go, if my master finds out about what has happened, he’ll kill all of us” we looked at each other, Autumn turned around and walked out of the alleyway, the rest followed after her, just before I left the alleyway I turned around.

“Seriously, Red Dawn” I said “thank you” he nodded and I left the alleyway.

Sauradox looked at the exit to the alleyway.

“That went well” Said a voice that made his blood freeze, he turned around to see Teridax, looming over him with one eyebrow raised, Sauradox turned into his Pony self, and he then walked out of the alleyway and into the street.

“I didn’t do it for the Toa” he said, Teridax chuckled.

“Ah” Teridax said, shape shifting into a black Unicorn with red eyes and mane and following him “the young Dragoness, I presume?”

“You leave her out of this” Sauradox said, walking down the street, Teridax followed, blending in with the crowd “I’ll do whatever you want, but if involves hurting her on any other children on that ship in any way, then you can go buck yourself”

“I’ll let that comment slide” Teridax said, scowling “your mission is surveillance, I need a pair of eyes and ears in the ship, I never said you had to make your presence known”

“As long as I don’t have to do any damage to the ship” Sauradox said.

“Fine” Teridax said, he then blocked Sauradox path and looked the Makuta in the eyes “but pull anymore stunts like you did back there, and I will kill you” Sauradox narrowed his eyes.

“Whatever” Sauradox said, he then walked around the elder Makuta “come on, I’ll show you somewhere that sells good food”

“What?” Teridax said, raising an eyebrow.

“If you’re going to disguise yourself as a pony, then you need to do the things ponies do, including eating, it helps you to blend in” Sauradox said “also, I’m hungry”

We were sat at a restaurant, but one that wasn’t too expensive, we were sat outside eating and making small talk, I felt a hoof tap me on the leg, I looked down to see a small brown filly with a purple/maroon mane and tale.

“Err” I said “can I help you?” I asked.

“Vuur Koning?” the filly said “it’s me, Babs Seed, I visited my family in Ponyville whilst you were staying there” I suddenly remembered, I smacked my forehead.

“Oh, of course” I said “sorry about that, I totally forgot” the filly giggled, she then noticed the rest of our group.

“Who are they?” she asked, backing up slightly and looking a little intimidated

“My friends and crew” I said, noticing her expression I added “I have a ship, if your parents are O.K. with it, I can show you when we’ve finished eating” she nodded.

“Just a sec’” she said she then ran across the street to two ponies, she said some things to them before pointing to our table, I waived, the ponies looked at each other before looking at Babs Seed and nodding, she then ran back across “they said yes!”

“Great” I said “now, I don’t think I’ve properly introduced you to my friends, you already know Autumn Skies, yes?” Babs Seed looked at Autumn in awe.

“Gosh” she said “What happened to you?”

“Magic” Autumn said, winking.

“Anyway” I said “this is Scar and Boris”

“You mean your Timberwolf and Falcon!?” Babs Seed asked, the two Toa nodded their greetings to the filly

“Blazewing, my brother Minion and his daughter Aurora” I said, Aurora hopped off of her chair and walked over to Babs Seed.

“Hey” Aurora said “I met your family in Ponyville, and I’m an honorary cutie mark crusader” Babs Seed perked up at that.

“Really!?” Babs Seed asked “I’m a cutie mark crusader too”

“Babs?” I said, gaining there attention “are you familiar with Vinyl Scratch?” Vinyl leaned across.

“Sup, Kiddo” Vinyl said, Babs Seed gasped.

“But the last I heard of her she’s been…” she trailed off, realising the implications “are you kiddin’ me!?” we all chuckled.

“Nope” I said “we are The Wolfpack, give or take a few members, and we are staying in Manehatten to play a few shows, if you want to watch tonight’s show, I might be able to pull a few strings and have you watch it with Aurora” I then winked at her, Babs Seed’s eyes lit up.

“Really!?” she asked, he eyes shimmering slightly

“Yep” I said, she ran over and tackled me in a hug.

“Thanks” she said, I chuckled.

“No problem” I said.

“Aww” Boris said “the Life-dawn of today” Babs Seed looked at him, confused.

“Where did he learn to talk like that?” she asked, I shrugged.

“From whoever taught him Equestrian” I said.

“So, young life-dawn” Boris said “Tell us more about yourself, apart from Fire-spitter Vuur Koning and Autumn, we know-nothingness about you” Babs Seed went blank faced, trying to comprehend what he had just said.

“Well done, Boris” I said, face palming “you just broke the girl, good job”

“I aim to make you happy-cheer” he said, sarcastically.

A disguised Sauradox and Teridax walked down the streets of Manehatten.

“I am never doing that again” Teridax said, looking sluggish

“Oh come on” Sauradox said, walking with a slight spring in his step “the food was good”

“Maybe for your semi-organic body” Teridax said “but not for me, it doesn’t mix well with my Anti-dermis, and stop walking like that, you look like an idiot”

“Come on, old timer” Sauradox said, lightly punching Teridax in the shoulder, Teridax gave him a glare that would put Fluttershy’s stare to shame “you need to relax and unwind, and to Tartarus with the consequences, not everything is about doom, gloom and mysteriousness, BEHOLD, I AM THE NIGHT! HISS” as he said this he put a hoof in front of his snout, doing an impression of a vampony, Teridax rolled his eyes.

“If we weren’t surrounded by a bunch of weak flesh-bags…” Teridax muttered darkly, trailing off.

“Hey!” Sauradox said “I resemble that remark” Teridax actually face-hoofed.

“Brother, help me” he muttered behind his ‘hoof’ “look, you can prat about with careless abandon all you want, but I have an uprising to prepare for” he then walked through a portal leading to his lair, making sure to emit a subtle perception-filter as he disappeared, when Teridax disappeared Sauradox stopped and put a hoof to his chin in thought and smirked.

“Hmm” he thought aloud “he did say I could prat about with careless abandon all I wanted, oh well, a stall...Makuta has his needs” he then walked off in search of the nearest bar, preferably one that sold alcohol.

“…and that’s pretty much everything” Babs Seed said, nodding, we were walking along the streets of Manehatten towards the docks, Babs Seed was currently on my shoulders, “golly, it’s really high up here”

“That’s the tenth time you’ve said that!” Autumn said.

“Doesn’t make it any less true” Babs said, sticking out her tongue, we soon reached passed through customs and Babs Seed freaked out when she saw the ship “That’s your ship!?” she asked, craning her neck.

“Yep” I said “she may be getting close to 100 years old, but she’s still one of the largest ships in the skies” Babs started trying to pronounce the name.

“Gur…george…jurma, what?” she asked, giving up.

“Jörmungandr, you see the figure head, how it looks like a giant snake?” I asked, she nodded “That is a depiction of the snake that this ship is named after, Jörmungandr is also called the World serpent”

“What?” she asked “he was actually as big as the world?”

“At least long enough to wrap around the world and swallow his own tail” I said “a rather fitting name for such a large ship, don’t you think?” Babs nodded dumbly.

“Eeyup” she said, we then made our way onto the ship and everyone split up to do whatever, whilst I showed Babs Seed around, after a few hours I had to take her back home, to ask her parents if it was O.K. for her to go to the concert, I reached the house and knocked on the door, a maroon coloured earth-pony stallion opened the door, his eyes began to slowly trail upwards and he saw Babs Seed on my shoulders, she smiled and waved at the stallion.

“Oh” the stallion said, slowly “you must be the…person my daughter knows” I nodded.

“Yes, I came to ask something” I said, the stallion motioned for me to go on “I am the frontman of a band, and I am asking for your permission to let your daughter watch tonight’s concert”

“Will she be safe?” the stallion asked.

“Don’t worry” I said “several of my friends will look after her, I’d trust them to look after the Princesses, so she’ll be safe”

“Well” the stallion said “as long as she’ll be safe, I don’t have a problem with it, but if she comes back cussing, I’ll have your head”

“Yes sir” I said, me and Babs saluted him before walking back towards the ship.

Sauradox left the bar with a blue unicorn with a silver mane and tail tucked under his wing.

“The great and powerful Trickshie thinksh you are my besht friend” she said, obviously very intoxicated, Sauradox rolled his eyes “ever since that Twilight Shparkle pony showed me up, no one has taken me sherioushly” Sauradox perked up at that, perhaps this drunkard mess of a pony could be of some use to Teridax, he began to lead her to a dark alleyway, he quickly made sure no pony was following him before he sent the drunk former show mare to sleep and opened a portal to Teridax’s lair, he the shifted into his true form and carried the Mare into the crystal caverns.

“What have you brought this time?” Teridax asked, Sauradox lowered the pony to the floor.

“She could be of some use to use” he said “she seems to have a past history with Twilight Sparkle” Teridax walked closer.

“Ah” he said “I thought she looked familiar, she could prove a valuable ally, good work, Sauradox” the other Makuta nodded

“If I were you” Sauradox said, turning to leave “I’d let her sober for the night up before you turn her, she could barely think straight when I found her, let alone walk more than two paces” with that Sauradox walked out of the caverns.

Chapter 29 29 Badaboom (Ark 2 Chapter 19)

I walked through the streets of Manehatten with Babs Seed in my arms, as soon as we’d left the stadium she was out like a light, I walked towards her house and very gently kicked the door with an armoured boot, a dull ‘thud thud’ resounded from the door, after a few seconds the stallion from earlier opened the door, I carefully knelt down, I chuckled slightly.

“Heh, the lass was out like a light once we left the stadium” I said, placing her on the stallions back.

“Do you want to come in for a drink perhaps?” the stallion asked

“Thank you for the offer” I said “but no thanks, it’s late, even by my standards” the stallion nodded.

“Well I won’t keep you” the stallion said “well, good night”

“Good night” I said “and tell Babs Seed I said goodbye” he nodded and slowly shut the door, I began to walk back down the street towards the docks, it was rather quiet, so I was mostly left to my thoughts, I heard a female scream up ahead and bolted towards the source, I got my pistol out and set it to stun, I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice, I looked down an alleyway and saw a group of about 15 stallions trying to attack a mare.

“Oiy!” I shouted “what the bloody hell do you think you are doing!?” one of them turned towards me, whatever he was about to say was silenced as a pony in a dark costume landed next to me.

“Get outa here” she (!) said to me.

“Fuck that” I said “I can hold my own in a fight”

“Really?” she said, sarcastically, I conjured some flames, which began to swirl around my armour, the mare took several steps back to avoid getting burnt.

“You were saying?” I said, raising an eyebrow, one of the stallions started to run towards us, not looking in his direction I levelled my pistol and fire a round, send him sprawling to the ground at our foot.

“Whatever” she said “just don’t get in my way” she said, the stallions started to advance on us.

“So” I said “you take the seven on the left, I take the seven on the right?” she nodded and we charged towards them, I levelled my pistol on one stallion that tried to take me from the side and I shot him point blank in the stomach, the force of the shot sent him flying into a wall, one punched me in the back, I turned around and punched him in the chest, sending him sprawling to the floor, clutching his sides, winded, I kicked another stallion in the side, sending him flying into the wall and landing on top of the other pony, one charged towards me and I sidestepped, elbowing him in the back as he ran past and sending him sliding into the winded pony, all of that was in about five seconds, I looked over to see the masked pony was doing just as well, in my distraction I was tackled to the ground by a huge earth pony who hit me with the force of a freight train, he placed his fore hooves on my chest and began to press down, hard, I cried out in pain, thinking quickly I activated my mask power, the expanding shield sent him flying into a wall, I stood up, ignoring the pain in my chest, I’d probably need to get that checked out tomorrow, I looked around at the ponies still standing, they didn’t seem as confident, the masked mare started backing towards me.

“Get the fuck out of here” I said to the group, getting my sword out, their eyes went wide and they turned tail, leaving the mare that they had tried to attack, once they were gone I slumped to the floor, clutching my sides, the masked mare gasped.

“You’re hurt!” she exclaimed.

“No shit *nng*, Sherlock” I said, I then jerked my head towards the mare “just go and check if that mare is uninjured” the masked mare seemed to hesitate before walking over to the mare, after talking briefly the mare walked of, saying a quiet ‘thank you’ to me as she walked past.

“Right” the masked mare said “let’s get you back to your ship” I nodded and stood up, the masked mare reared up and I put an arm over her shoulder, we then began walking back to the docks

“How exactly do you know I have a ship, and for that matter *nng* who are you?” I asked.

“Call me Mare Do-Well” the mare said “as for how I know you have a ship, anything weird catches my attention very quickly…no offence”

“*nng* none taken” I said.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“Here I go by the name of Vuur Koning” I said, I groaned “Autumn’s going to throw a fit when she finds out”

“Because you’ve got cracked ribs, or because you’ve got a mare in your arms?” she asked, I had to suppress my laughter.

“Don’t make me laugh” I said, I paused “Probably a bit of both” she chuckled.

“Mares” she said “Can’t live with ‘em…”

“Can’t live without them” I finished, I saw the rest of the Toa in the distance.

“Vuur Koning?” I heard Autumn call

“Yeah” I called back.

“What happened?” Minion asked when they got closer.

“Ran into a gang in the process of mugging a mare” I said, transferring from Mare Do-Well to Autumn “she showed up, we fought them, and I think I’ve got cracked ribs to show for my trouble”

“How the fuck did you get cracked ribs under all that armour?” Minion asked, I deadpanned.

“I got tackled and pinned by an earth pony that puts Arnold Schwarzenegger to shame” I said “I’d *nng* like to see you come out of a fight with him unscathed, fuck! This really hurts”

“Thank you” Autumn said to Mare Do-well “we can take it from here” Mare Do-Well nodded before turning to me

“Why don’t you lot stay in the city?” she asked “I could use a team”

“Tempting” I said “but we have concerts to perform and a world to explore, plus hiding in the shadows isn’t the Toa way, but if ever we are in Manehatten again sometime in the future and you need help, you’re welcome to come to us”

“I’ll keep that in mind” Mare Do-Well said “well, I bid you farewell, I best be off, somepony has to keep an eye one this city” she tilted her hat towards us before free-running up an alleyway and across the roofs of an apartment block until she was out of sight.

“Right” Autumn said “let’s get you to the ship”

*the next day*

“Tut, tut” the doctor, a white unicorn with brown hair, said in a thick Germane accent “cracked ribs? zis von’t do at all” I was sat on the table at the ship’s infirmary, whilst the doctor was applying a healing spell to my ribs

“Sorry doc…ARG!” I screamed as the ribs cracked back into place “fucking hell that hurts”

“Language, Captain!” the doctor chastised “you may be allowed to say vhatever you want vhilst running this ship, but in here, my vord is law and I say don’t swear”

“Sorry, Doctor Blutaderstauer” I said

“How did du end up vith such an injury?” the doctor asked “I may spend most ov my time down here, but even I know du valk around in that armour all zee time” I chuckled nervously.

“Heh, I was protecting a mare from a gang” I said “I ended up getting tackled and pinned by a huge earth pony” he shook his head.

“Really, Vuur Koning?” the doctor said, rolling his eyes “must du alvays go charging in to save zee demzel in distress?”

*POV 3rd person*

The two Makuta waited for Trixie, who was chained to the ceiling, to wake up, the azure mare stirred.

“Ung, what?” she asked still half asleep.

“Rise and shine, Trixie” a disguised Sauradox said, smirking.

“Hmm, five more minutes” Trixie said, a few second later her eyes shot open “What!? What is this place, the great and powerful Trixie demands that you tell her…”

“Oh, be quiet” Teridax said, walking forward, Trixie’s eyes widened and she screamed, loud enough to crack some of the crystals, the two Makuta raised an eyebrow at that “Are you quite done?”

“Wha-what are you?” Trixie stammered, trembling.

“Someone of great power” Teridax said “you go around saying you are great and powerful, but what if I told you I could make you truly great and powerful, powerful enough to rival even the princesses”

“Trixie already made that mistake once before” Trixie said, trying to escape from the chains “she will not do so again” she tried to teleport, only for her horn to spark, Teridax chuckled.

“oh” Teridax said “I’m not offering you a mere trinket, I’m offering you immortality, control over shadows, and abilities which will make your most advanced spell look like a parlour trick, and you will be able to finally get revenge on Twilight Sparkle” as he said this Sauradox changed into his true form, Trixie’s ears perked up.

“No mind alterations?” Trixie asked “no becoming mad with power?”

“No” Teridax said, he then gestured to his fellow Makuta “ask Sauradox, he used to be a pony, just like you” Trixie looked at the former pegasus.

“Is he telling Trixie the truth” the mare asked, Sauradox nodded before walking away, Trixie hung her head “*sigh* Trixie will do it” when she said this the section of the floor that was directly below her slid away, revealing a pool of energised protodermis, she barley had time to question what it was before the chains disappeared and she dropped into the pool, which began to bubble and glow, after a few seconds Trixie surfaced and let out a bloodcurdling scream as she began to change, her horn elongated and sharpened, her fore-hooves split and began to turn into batwings, her eyes became predatory, her snout elongated and her teeth sharpened into fangs, blood seeped out of her nostrils and eyes and dripped off of her face into the energised protodermis, sizzling once it came into contact with the silvery liquid, her skin and fur turned into blue and silver armour and Teridax walked over and pulled her out, the last thing Trixie heard before she blacked out was Teridax leaning in and saying.

“Welcome to the Brotherhood of the Makuta…Sister Chiratrix”

*POV 1st Person Autumn skies

I stood on the gun deck of the Jörmungandr, looking at the Manehatten skyline, I could swear there was someone standing next to me, but whenever I looked I didn’t see anyone, after about 5 minutes of me rubbernecking I’d had enough.

“For Bucks sake” I said “if you don’t show yourself right now…”

“Don’t talk so loudly” I heard Red Dawn whisper, I could now see a faint outline of…whatever he was, he was about ten feet tall.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“I’m here to warn you” he said.

“About what?” I asked.

“I can’t tell you specifics” he said “but sooner or later, Equestria will fall, whilst I am on the winning side, I still care about you enough to warn you, our side is going from strength to strength, so be ready for it, I don’t like my opponents to be unprepared”

“Join us” I said “help us to stop the threat”

“I’m sorry” he said “but I can’t, I’ve told you too much already” he then disappeared.

“Red Dawn” I said “you show yourself right now you coward…” Red Dawn appeared in full form and pinned me to the railing, a snarl on his face, after a few seconds his expression softened to shock and he withdrew his arm from my neck

“I-I’m sorry, I lost control” he then took a step back and sighed “I don’t like this any more than you do, but I have no choice, if I join your side, he’ll just come after me and kill us all, including your niece, and then nopony will be left to stand in his way, I will be on this ship, but don’t go out of your way to find me and don’t tell Vuur Koning about this, and my name isn’t Red Dawn anymore, I’m Sauradox now” and with that, he disappeared.

“*Sigh* oh, Red Dawn” I said “what have you gotten yourself into”

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning*

I stood in the sparring hall, leaning against the wall, Mata Nui was teaching Scar to fight with a blade, he still needed training, but he had potential, and he was a vicious fighter.

“Anticipate you enemies next move” Mata Nui said, parrying Scars lunge “before he does it, study your opponent, find his weakness” I walked forward and the stopped

“If you know the enemy, and know yourself, you need not fear the result of 100 battles” I said “if you know yourself, but not the enemy, for every victory gained you shall also suffer defeat, if…”

“If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle” Minion said, walking into the sparring room, I walked towards him and gave him a bro-fist “Sun Tzu; the Art of War, am I right?” I nodded.

“Good to see you, Brother” I said “care to spar, like old times?” he grinned, before walking over to a rack with body length bamboo sticks and picking one up, I did the same.

“I thought you’d never ask, Brother” he said, we walked on to a sparring square “same rules as usual, first to get the other on the floor five times, no head shots?”

“Do we ever do different?” I asked rhetorically, he rolled his eyes before going to strike me from the side, I blocked him and used the opening to jab him in the stomach, he looked suprised “I’ve improved since all those years ago, but I won’t hold back”

“Good” he said, getting back into stance “then neither will I” I grinned before going to strike.

*POV 1st person Autumn Skies*

I walked through the corridors towards the sparring hall I opened the doors and froze, Vuur Koning and his brother were going at each other with bamboo sticks.

“You’ve gone slack after all these years, Brother” Vuur Koning said, smirking and striking Minions right hand, causing him to drop the staff, he then struck him in the chest, sending him sprawling.

“Bloody hell” Minion said “where did you learn that move?”

“I taught him” I said, walking forward and surprising them

“And she can still beat me” Vuur Koning said, looking slightly annoyed, I giggled “laugh it up fuzz ball”

“Oh, don’t be so sore about it” I said

“I’m not sore about it” he said “I just like to be the best I possibly can be, and the fact that I can still be beat annoys me” I leaned towards Minion and mouthed ‘He’s still sore about it’, Minion chuckled.

*POV 3rd person

Trixie, or Chiratrix, woke with a groan.

“Ung, my head” she said, sitting up.

“Ah” Teridax said, sitting on a crystal throne “You survived the transformation” Chiratrix’s eyes snapped open.

“What!?” she said, looking at her body and screaming, eventually she broke down crying “what did you do to me?” tears streamed down her cheeks, Teridax rolled his eyes.

“I gave you power” he said “the power you need to defeat Twilight Sparkle”

“You turned me into a freak” she said “I’m a monster” Teridax growled before sending forth two crystal spikes and embedding them in the ground at Chiratrix, she backed away and Teridax stood up, closing the distance between them.

“I grow tired of your incessant complaining” he said, walking towards her, she backed away until she was against the wall “I gave you gifts, power beyond imagination, and all you do is sob at my feet like a pathetic weakling” he knelt down and lifted up her chin.

“P-please, don’t hurt me” Chiratrix said.

“I would never hurt my own kind” he lied “you should be proud of your new form, now, come child, you have to pick out a mask” he then led her into the chamber filled with masks.

“Why so many masks” Chiratrix asked.

“Each one has a different power” he said “such as shielding, stealing energy from others, invisibility or silence” Chiratrix walked over to a table and levitated a tall, rectangular mask.

“What does this one do?” she asked

“That is the Kenohi Mahiki” Teridax said “it will let you change into anything you can imagine” she hesitantly put it on and it changed to fit her face, the mask glowed and she then began to change to different creatures, a Manticore, a Timberwolf, a Dragon, a Chimera, and finally an Ursa Major; which filled up most of the cave, she changed back and used her Makuta powers to shape shift into her unicorn form, she let out a chuckle and her eyes began to glow red.

“Heh, heh, heh, let’s see Twilight Sparkle beat me now”

*POV 1st Person Vuur Koning*

I was in the part of the ship that was used to carry heavy weapons and vehicles, working on my hover-bike, I was working with a brown female Minotaur, called Gwyneth, who was the daughter of one of the workers in the boiler room, we had just got the propulsion system wired up and we were about to test it.

“Right” Gwyneth said in a north-welsh accent from underneath one of the two propulsion turbines “try it now” I pushed a button and they began to spin, getting faster and fast, they soon reached their idle speed of about 30’000 rpm (turbines are really fast), Gwyneth crawled out from underneath the turbine and gave me a high five.

“Proper job” I said in a Cornish accent, I went to say something else but I heard a bang from one of the turbines and it began to spin faster “Shit, turn it off!” Gwyneth ran the master switch, one of them stopped but the other kept going

“I just did” she said, going pale, the turbine began to spark, she turned to me and meekly said “how do you stop a runaway arcane turbine?”

“Hell if I know” I said, the turbine casing suddenly exploded, sending a row of fan-blades flying towards the door, it was at that precise moment that Minion opened the door, he just managed to move out of the way as it shot past him and embedded in the wall behind him.

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?” he exclaimed.

“That was what’s left of one of the turbines” Gwyneth said “you’re lucky it didn’t hit you” we walked over, Minion examined the blade and gave a low whistle.

“How fast was that going?” he asked, looking at us.

“They fail at about 200’000 rpm” I said, Minion went pale

“Are you sure that bike’s safe” he said, looking at the shredded turbine, which was only just beginning to slow down.

“Probably not” I said, shrugging, I pulled the turbine fan out of the wall and examined the blades “well, that’s scrap now” I chucked it at the shredded casing, I then walked back into the workshop and over to one of the spare turbines, I looked at Minion.

“Can you give me a hand?” I asked “these things weigh a ton” he rolled his eyes before walking over and hefting it up… on his own.

“What do you mean?” He said, walking over to the shredded turbine “I could carry two of these no problem” I rolled my eyes.

“Show off” I said, he flipped me the finger before placing the turbine on the ground “well, we should be able to take it from here” he nodded before going off to do whatever it was he was doing, me and Gwyneth disconnected the shredded turbine, Gwyneth burnt her hand on it.

“Tartarus ffycin sy'n creu dolur!” she said, the pain clear in her voice

“You alright?” I asked, she nodded, shaking her hand to dull the pain, I pulled the Shredded turbine away and pushed the new one into place before connecting it up and walking over to the control panel “Right, fingers crossed it won’t blow up this time” Gwyneth laughed and I started up the Turbines and they spun into life, this time without any problems, I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Right” Gwyneth said “on to the next…” she was interrupted by a massive bang, followed by the lights flickering and dyeing for a few second before turning back on.

“The hell…?” I muttered, walking out of our section of the workshop, I heard Minion cheering, I ran towards the source of the sound, he was stood next to a massive cannon, which had leads attached to it, and there was a section of the wall missing, revealing the sky “what the hell is that?”

“I’ve just completed the prototype for a working rail-gun” he said, grinning, before pulling the trigger, electricity arced along the barrel before flames shot forth, the next thing I heard was ringing in my ears.

“AH FUCK THAT THING IS LOUD!” I yelled, holding my ears, the ringing died down eventually “next time, fire it outside, and warn us beforehand” I then went to find the infirmary to get my ears checked

Chapter 31 31 Heroes (Ark 2 Chapter 21)

We walked onto the deck of the Jörmungandr, with Jack Harkness in tow.

“Well” he said “you certainly have quite the boat, named after the Norse World serpent if I’m not mistaken”

“Correct” I said “now, I’ll warn you, there are many individuals of just about every species found on the northern continents, just treat them as you would anypony you meet, and I don’t mean start chatting them up!”

“I wasn’t gonna” he said, feigning innocence, we lead him to our communal room, where Mata Nui, Lyra, Saphyrus, Cloddiwr and Blazewing were chilling “Ladies and gentlemen, our last addition to the group, Captain Jack Harkness, and he has a cool party trick” I then pulled out my pistol and shot him in the skull, he slumped to the floor, everyone gathered stared at me in shock.

“What in the name of Celestia was that for!?” Lyra shrieked, a few seconds later Jack inhaled loudly.

“Ta da” I said “behold, the immortal pony!”

“That still hurt” he said, getting up “don’t do that again” everyone was staring at him.

“He…but…you…gun” Lyra stuttered

“He can’t die” I said, Jack walked up the Lyra, took her hoof in his and kissed it.

“Hey” he said “Name’s captain jack hark…” I then pulled him back by the tail, causing him to face plant.

“Down boy!” I said “calm your hormones, she doesn’t swing that way” Jack stood up and quirked any eyebrow

“Is he always like that?” Lyra asked, blushing slightly and looking a little overwhelmed.

“His preference is anything that can talk” I said “I wouldn’t be surprised if he tries to make a move on Mata Nui” Mata Nui raised an eyebrow at this.

“Am I missing something?” the biomechanical god asked.

“Better you don’t ask, Mata Nui” I said.

“Meh, not my type” Jack said, actually considering what I said “too much metal” me and Autumn face palmed.

“Never stopped you before” I muttered.

I was stood on the gun deck of the Jörmungandr, watching the sun set over the city, I heard the flapping of wings and Aurora landed on the railing beside me.

“Hey uncle” she said.

“Hey” I replied.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“Hmm?” I said, not fully hearing what she asked “oh, nothing, just lost in thought I guess” suddenly the sky lit up a bright orange colour.

“Whoa!” Aurora exclaimed “what is that!?”

“That’s the metal works dumping the unusable slag-metal” I said “remember what I told you about my home-town, how he sky lights up?”

“Uhuh” she said, nodding.

“Same thing” I said “there’s a reason my home-town’s motto is caelum referat laboris”

“What’s that mean?” she asked.

“It roughly translates to the sky reflects thy labour”

*3 days later*

The weekend in Stalliongrad was fairly successful, although we didn’t explore the city much as it wasn’t exactly the tourist capital of Equestria, but now we were flying towards Trottingham, I was in the workshops, adding the finishing touches to the bike, I had managed to get it done quicker than I’d anticipated, and I was now sat on the bike setting up the steering with Gwyneth’s help.

“Right, try turning left” she said from underneath the bike, I turned the handlebars as requested and I heard several flaps open, and one struggling, I heard Gwyneth grunt, followed by a dull thud and the bike shaking “There we go, that should do it” she got out from under the bike as she said this.

“Right” I said, giving her a fist-bump “we just need to wait until we stop in Trottingham to give it a test”

I was stood on the gun deck with the rest of the Toa and Mata Nui we were getting close to Trottingham, Several pegasi had noised our ship and had flown over to ask about it, things like ‘how do you say the name?’ ‘Why are we here?’ that sort of thing, I was stood next to Autumn with my arm around her shoulders.

“Don’t worry” I said “everything will be fine”

“I’m not worried” she said quickly, her eyes darting around “who said I was worried?” I deadpanned.

“Look, if you are that worried, I’ll go ahead of you and warn them” I said, she took a deep breath and looked at me.

“You’d do that?” she asked.

“Anything for you, my love” I said, the others, minus Mata Nui, face palmed.

“Good god” Minion said, with Aurora on his shoulders “could you get any more clique?” Autumn giggled.

“I think it’s very sweet” she said, the ship soon docked and I ran ahead, I could see Winter Chill and Midsummer Night.

“Where’s Autumn?” Winter asked.

“Before you meet her, I need to explain some things” I said, they motioned with a hoof to go on “O.K., first off, me and Autumn are now together”

“As in, ‘together’, together?” Winter asked.

“Yes” I said “secondly, a while ago, when we visited Canterlot, we met this being, long explanation short, the being has a mask that activated around us and turned us into bipedal, biomechanical warriors” I took my mask off, revealing the exposed metal jaw-struts, they both stared at me slack jawed, at that moment Autumn walked up to us, they stared at her, wide eyed.

“Autumn?” Midsummer asked, Autumn took off her mask “Oh my Celestia…” Midsummer and Winter then promptly feinted.

“Great” I said, picking up Midsummer and placing her over my shoulder, Autumn did the same with Winter “I think we broke your siblings” the rest of the Toa walked over to us.

“Who are they?” Minion asked.

“Allow me to introduce Autumns brother and sister” I said, me and Autumn then span around to reveal their unconscious faces “Winter Chill and Midsummer Night”

We eventually carried them to the House of Autumns parents, I had the others hang back, as I was the only one out of the group that they would recognise, I passed Midsummer to Minion and knocked on the door, Winter Storm, an older Pegasus stallion who resembled Winter Chill but with darker colours, opened the door.

“Oh, Vuur Koning!?” He said “What brings you here, without Autumn?”

“Funny you should say that” I said, stepping to one side to reveal the group “you might want to get some smelling salts for your son and youngest daughter” Autumn waived awkwardly

“Heh, hey dad” she said, Storm just stood there, slack jawed, before turning to me and glaring.

“Explain why my daughter looks half human before I buck you to low Tartarus” he growled, he was one of the few ponies that truly intimidated me, considering he was a similar stature to Big Mackintosh, I quickly explained the situation, he then went inside and brought out a few bottles of smelling salts, we then revived thee two unconscious Pegasi.

“Huh… what?” Winter said from Minions shoulder, after a few second he realised to position he was in “WHY AM I UPSIDE DOWN!?” Minion chuckled before placing him on the ground, Midsummer looked up at Minion.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“Minion, I’m Vuur Koning’s brother” he said.

“Brother!?” Midsummer, Winter and Storm said at once

“Did I not tell you?” I asked, they all shook their heads “well, now you know”

“Know what?” Skyfall, Autumn’s mother, asked, walking out the door, she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw all of us, then she saw Autumn “oh…” she then feinted, and everyone/pony gathered facepalmed/hooved.

“I’ll go get the smelling salts” Storm grumbled before walking back inside, he then called from the hallway “You lot might as well come in too” we all shrugged before walking inside, Autumn picked up Skyfall and followed us in to the large communal room that they had for social gatherings, once we had revived Autumns mother I began to recall what had happened over the past few months, at the end of it Skyfall asked

So, you’re together?” I nodded.

“And technically, as Minion is my Brother, and Aurora is his adoptive daughter, everyone in our group considers Aurora as Autumns niece” I said, everyone nodded to prove this “so that makes Aurora your unofficial grandniece, congratulations” the look on their faces when they came to the same conclusion was priceless.

“Oh” the both said, becoming spaced out, Autumn giggled.

“Well done” she said “you’ve just broke my parents”

“I try” I said, shrugging.

“You should have heard my mother’s reaction when she found out about Aurora” Minion said, chuckling “I think she damaged to speaker on my phone from the shouts of joy” I laughed before turning to Winter and Midsummer

“That means she’s your niece as well” I said, Midsummer squealed with joy whilst Winter just looked overwhelmed

“I’m an… uncle?” he said, I chuckled and patted him on the shoulder.

“I’m 19, how do you think I felt when I realised I was an uncle”

“But that means that technically, if Aurora is our niece, then technically, you and Minion are now our brothers” Winter Chill said, the realisation hit me like a ton of bricks.

“Oh sh…” I was slapped round the back of the head by Minion “ow” I said as I rubbed the back of my head

“Don’t swear in front of Aurora, please” he said “And yes it does, you now have guardians of Equestria for brothers”

We were all, minus Skyfall and Winter Storm, who were off spoiling their new Grandniece, at a pub having a few drinks, and surprise, surprise, Minion and Winter had started a drinking contest, that wasn’t to say it wasn’t funny to watch, it was actually hilarious to watch my brother trying to out drink…well, my other brother I guess,

“Holy Celestia, this is gonna take getting used to” Midsummer said “I now have two extra brothers, not including the rest of your group, because I know you class all members of your team as brothers or sisters, so there is them as well”

“if the portal to my world reopens, you’re going to have a lot more family” I said “mostly from my late father’s side”

“You never said much about your dad the last time you were here” Midsummer said “what was he like?” I chuckled.

“Bonkers half the time” I said “but the good kind, he was a decent bloke, he made sure me and my brother were happy, he cared about us two more than anyone else in his family, I wish you could have met him” I then burst out laughing as I remembered something.

“What?” Midsummer asked.

“I just remembered something he told me” I said “when he and my mum were still together, he used to ride down the streets of our capital city on a motorbike, with mum on the back, and he would shout at the top of his voice ‘NOOOOOOOORMAAAAAAAAAAAAL’”

“He sounds like he was bat-shit insane” Vinyl said, smirking “But at the same time awesome”

“He listened to old school music like rock and roll and blues” I said “but when Minion played him Dubstep he got up and started dancing to it, he was always open to new types of music”

“He listened to blues?” Midsummer asked.

“He had a record collection of about…” I trailed of, trying to remember to number “1’600 vinyl L.P.s, which Minion and I have jointly inherited, it’s just a shame it’s still stuck on earth”

“Alright” Vinyl said “He definitely sounded like an awesome person”

“We’ve also inherited Lynn Isobaric speakers from him” I said, Vinyl gave a low whistle.

“What’s Isobaric?” Midsummer asked.

“Two speakers arraigned one behind the other in the same enclosure” I said “it gives it a greater tonal range and deeper bass, but at the cost of size and weight, they don’t call them bricks for nothing, they are about 5 foot tall”

“Dude, stop, you’re torturing me” Vinyl said, her eyes shimmering “I have been wanting some Iso’s for ages, and now they’re so close, but so far” I smirked.

“We also have an L.P. player with a spring balanced turntable” I said.

“Aww, you’re evil” Vinyl said, I gave a sinister chuckle, I was interrupted by a letter with the royal seal appearing in front of me, I opened it and began to read

Dear Captain Vuur Koning

Twilight Sparkle has managed to develop a spell that can summon inanimate objects from your world, if you have belongings from your world, then you now have the possibility of summoning them here.

I await your reply

Sincerely

Princess Celestia

“Well hot damn” I said “Royal Enfield, here I come”

“What?” Vinyl said

“You might get to hear my dad’s collection after all” I said, passing her the letter, her face exploded into a grin

“OH BUCK YES!” she said, Minion looked over

“Wazzup?” he asked.

“Twilight developed a spell that can summon our belongings from Earth” I said.

We were all stood in the hold, I had my laptop with me and was going over the spell with my Mum via skype, and Luna was there as we needed someone with immense magical power to summon all of the items.

“You know royalty!” My mum said for the tenth time

“Yes” I said “have you gotten everything I asked for” she tilted her tablet to show the piles of records, all of the stereo system, the Royal Enfield that I had inherited from dad, plus various other items that belonged to me and my brother, such as Games consoles, T.V., D.V.D.s, games and other items.

“I am ready to perform the spell” Luna said to me, Minion, Vinyl , Jack Harkness, Lyra and Frostfang “but I will need to use all of your magic reserves as well to avoid exhaustion on our parts, this is a complex spell even for me” we all nodded before focusing our magic on her, she began to study the image on the screen and lit up her horn, her eyes promptly began to glow white, I looked at the others to see the same was happening to them, I could feel all the different energies of each individual, I saw a flash on the screen and all the items disappeared, a few seconds later they appeared in the hold of the ship, Luna dispersed her magic and stumbled slightly, she looked exhausted, I felt exhausted, but I walked towards her to support her.

“Thank you” Luna said “I will have to rest here for a few days, my magical reserves are completely exhausted, I’m physically exhausted as well, and I shan’t be doing that for some time

“Bloody hell” Minion said, sitting against a wall and catching his breath “I fell like I’ve run a marathon uphill”

“We can rest now, we’ll move all of this later” I said, Jack Harkness walked over to the Royal Enfield, Luna sat down and I walked over to the Enfield as well.

“Nice Bike” he said, sitting down, I nodded and sat on the bike seat

“Can’t beat the classics, just a shame the Indians can’t build a decently working bike for shit” I said, Jack chuckled “It will need a complete engine refit as there isn’t any petrol reserves in Equestria, my dad was constantly tinkering with it, trying to get it to work for more than a few miles, I plan to continue where he left off” I looked at the various parts scattered around it

“Aren’t you more concerned about keeping it original?” he asked, I deadpanned.

“It was made in the 90s” I said “the only original things left is the engine case, the fuel tank, frames and wheels, everything else was replaced with better parts, so why bother keeping it original, when I’m done, it’ll be one of a kind” I then picked up the fuel tank off of the frame, and opened the fuel cap, the inside was completely rusty, I showed it to Jack.

“As I said, the Indians can’t build a bike for shit” he looked inside and gave a low whistle.

“I see what you mean, I think I’ll stay away from Indian built Enfield’s” he said, he then looked at the bike “except for this one” I gave a chuckle and placed the tank back on the frame

“I’ll be the only one that rides this, I might teach Autumn to ride it, but that’s about it” once we were all rested we began to move all of the stuff to where they were going to go, I ended up having to wheel the bike through the ship to get to the workshops, Gwyneth saw it and raised an eyebrow.

“What is that?” she asked.

“This” I said, wheeling it beside the hover bike “is a 1996 Royal Enfield 500cc bullet, inherited from my father, a word of advice, never wheel one of these through the ship, super strength or not, it’s not fun having to push it up stairs, strip the engine and gearbox and start giving them the once over, I’m off to get the rest of the parts”

*POV 3rd person*

Minion and Vinyl were moving one the speakers into the communal room for their group, some of the records were already there, but most were still in the hold.

“Wow” Vinyl said “I can see why they are called ‘bricks” they set the speaker down at the other end of the room to the first speaker, with the stereo system right in between them.

“Right” minion said, picking up a wiring diagram “now to wire these up”

Luna looked through the different L.P. sleeves with Aurora, there was just about every audio subject imaginable recorded on these, Birdsong, audio books of literature; she recognised the name Shakespeare from what Vuur Koning had told her (amongst others), audio recordings of transport, and most of all music, there was all kinds; classical, blues, rock & roll, rock, pop, country and western, the occasional metal group, she was shaken from her musings by Vuur Koning walking back in.

“How did your father collect so much?” Luna asked, Vuur Koning chuckled.

“Various sources” he said “oh, if you see a white L.P. sleeve with just the words ‘the Beatles’ written on it, and unopened in its original packaging, let us know, and if you see another with a bunch of flags around a podium with the words ‘Sabaton’ and ‘Heroes’ on it, come find me, that’s the first L.P. I ever bought, I had mum order it as soon as I found out about it” Luna and Aurora both gave a mock salute before continuing their exploration of human music, Aurora spoke up.

“Could this be the one Uncle Vuur Koning was looking for?” she asked, hefting up an L.P. that depicted an altar of some type at the top of some steps, with the statue of and Eagle with its wings spread around a globe of some type mounted on a podium, there were 8 unique flags, 4 each side, and printed in big silver stylised letters at the top was the word ‘Sabaton’, and at the bottom in smaller and relatively plain letters was the word ‘Heroes’

Luna took it in her faltering magic before holding it in a wing.

“Yes, I think that that’s the one” she said, standing up and looking for Vuur Koning, she soon found him in the Toa’s communal room with Minion and Vinyl Scratch “Vuur Koning, is this the album you described?” Minion took it and nodded.

“Sabaton!?” Minion exclaimed “you never told me you bought a Sabaton L.P.”

“When did you get that?” Vinyl asked.

“Around the time we managed to open communications to earth” Vuur Koning said “All this time it’s been waiting for me” he then turned on the stereo system and removed the packaging from the L.P. sleeve and placed the record on the turntable, he looked at Luna.

“Behold, there latest album” he said, before placing the needle on the outside of the Record

Chapter 32 32 Lightbringer (Ark 2 Chapter 22)

We were getting ready to leave for Minotauria, I was just about to order them to retract the gangplank when I saw Winter Chill and Midsummer night running towards the ship.

“WAIT!” they called, they ran onto the ship.

“We want to join your crew” Winter said, I raised an eyebrow.

“Do you parents know?” I asked, they both nodded, I sighed “alright, follow me, raise the gang plank!” a crewmember nodded and pulled a lever the door closed as we walked away.

“What skillsets do you have?” I asked.

“Winter has really good endurance in cold weather, I’ve seen him shrug off blizzards like they are nothing” Midsummer said “And I can withstand working in the sun better than most, plus we both have experience in weather patrol work, we know clouds like the bottom of our hooves”

“So endurance to specific conditions and an above average knowledge of weather patterns?” I clarified, the both nodded “looks like you’re both on navigation”

“Wait, just like that?” Winter asked.

“You’re family now, I trust you won’t fuck it up” I said, they both blinked at that, I eventually led them to the bridge I turned to Blazewing “Blazewing, this is Winter Chill and Midsummer Night, they are brother and sister to Lieutenant Autumn Skies, they also have increased endurance in their namesake seasons and an above average knowledge of weather patterns, so I’m assigning them to the navigation team” he nodded.

“Aye, aye, Captain” he said, I turned to the ships construct.

“Jörmungandr, add their names and roles to the roster and assign work shifts” the construct nodded before conjuring a notepad out of magic and scribbling a few notes down.

“It is done” he said “they will work standard 8 hour shifts from 9am till 5pm, with slightly longer shifts in the appropriate season” he then walked off to carry out some task or another, I turned to the two ponies and chuckled.

“I told you I was the captain of this ship” I said “and I’ll have Princess Celestia transfer your employment status from weather patrol to Royal Navy Navies, with the appropriate pay of course” Summer raised a hoof.

“What’s a ‘Navie’?” she asked.

“Short for Navigational Engineer” I said “term from my world” Winter said the word a few times, trying it out.

“Navie, I like it” he said.

“Right” I said “let’s go tell your sister and find you a couple of rooms”

I lead them to our common room.

This is where our not so little group of friends hangs out” I said, opening the door “I’ll warn you, it sometime gets a little crazy, thankfully most of us are working at the moment so it should be quiet” sure enough there was just Minion sat on a sofa with a pint of cider, listening to Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ via the record player, I noticed that several cabinets had been set up, which were filled from floor to ceiling with Vinyl records, Minion noticed us walk in.

“What are you two doing on the ship?” he asked, more surprised than anything.

“They decided to join the crew” I said “they’re now a part of Navigation, if you see Autumn, tell her” he nodded, I then turned to them.

“for a few day, you won’t do any work, as it will take some time to get your documents arraigned, so you can either chill here, or go explore the ship, but stay out of the engine room and anywhere obviously dangerous, and take care if you go to the workshops, however, there is usually someone with a stall of some kind that produces tech for individuals by commission, so if you need something making, go there” they nodded “I’ll come find you when your rooms are ready” they nodded before walking to the sparring room, I felt a little rusty in my combat training, time to remedy that, I quickly stopped at my quarters to pick up my Sword, my phone and headphones before heading for the sparring hall proper.

I practised my moves whilst music played through the headphone, as I was practically in a trance, I only just noticed Discord, he calmly held up a hand to stop my sword, I took of my headphones.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, walking over to a table and downing a bottle of water.

“Merely passing through” he said “I noticed you’ve changed”

“No shit, Sherlock” I deadpanned.

“Why the hostilities?” he asked, sounding genuinely curious.

“nothing personal” I said, half sitting on the table “well not all of it is, I’ll admit some of it is to do with what happened during the Tirek incident, and yes, I know you won’t try and pull that move again, but it’s also the fact that you just seem to set me on edge, you’re unpredictable, and I hate unpredictability, it’s also the fact that your appearance is totally kicking my O.C.D. into overdrive” he nodded.

“Fair enough” he said, shrugging.

“You seem very subdued with your chaos magic” I pointed out.

“If I was always using chaotic magic then that would just make me predictable” he said, I snorted.

“Touché” I said “anyway, because of what happened with Tirek, if you dare pull that backstabbing move again, Toa or not, I will kill you and mount your head on a pike”

“Get in line” Discord said, at that moment Luna walked in “What are you doing here, dear Lulu?” Luna snorted before answering

“I performed a complicated and energy consuming spell” Luna said “so I’ve been grounded for the past few days, but, my magic reserves are now replenished and I’m ready to return to Canterlot, I was just saying my farewells” I nodded.

“See you whenever” I said, she nodded before disappearing with a flash, discord looked at a watch that had randomly appeared on his wrist.

“Well, I should get going as well, chaos to cause and all that, tata!” he said, before clapping his hands together and disappearing in a pink mushroom cloud the promptly started raining chocolate milkshake, I shook my head slightly and rolled my eyes, he may be reformed, but there are something’s that will never change, one of which was his apparent lack of morals.

we were several days into our flight, and we were well past the border, the terrain had changed from relatively flat and forested to mountainous and forested, it actually reminded me of north Wales, I was sat in the common room with the others going over the map of Minotauria, and Vinyl insisted on pronouncing the names with Equestrian Pronunciations.

“For the last time” I said, beginning to lose my patience “double L is pronounced ‘H’L, and the W is pronounced like two Us”

“But there is literally doubles of every letter” she said “it just looks like someone had a seizure on a type writer”

“Well to a Minotaur, Equestrian seems guttural and unintelligent” Gwyneth said indignantly

“Sie haben offensichtlich noch nie gehört, Deutsch” I said, making every one present look at me with a confused look on their faces.

“What is that language?” Mata Nui asked.

“German” I said, I went to explain more but I was interrupted by the coms in our mask crackling into life.

“Guys?” I heard Minion say “you might want to come up to the gun deck and take a look at this” we all looked at each other before I teleported up. I saw Minion standing on the gun deck, leaning against the railing and looking down.

“What is it?” I asked, making him jump.

“Oh, it’s just you” he said, he then pointed to a clearing some distance away “change to my mask and tell me what you see on the thermal lens” I did as requested and I saw a thermal spike, I then changed to the telescopic lens and zoomed in as far as it would go, what I saw surprised me, a camp site of some sort, with an American pickup truck and a caravan, of all things.

“Are you seeing the same thing as me?” I asked, looking at Minion and raising an eyebrow.

“You mean a pickup and caravan?” he asked rhetorically, the others joined us on the gun deck.

“What’s up?” Autumn asked.

“All of you change to Minions mask and switch to thermal vision” I said “when you see a thermal spike switch to the telescopic vision” they all switched to the correct mask.

“What in…” Autumn said, trailing off.

“Well Brother” Minion said “What we do next is your call, I personally want to find out what the hell is going on down there”

“Suit up” I said.

We stood in the part of the hold used for airdrops, we were all fully armoured up and armed, Mata Nui pulled a lever and part of the floor slid away, revealing a clearing, I turned to Blazewing.

“Keep the ship here unless I call for you” I said over the din “I’ll keep up communications with Jörmungandr” I then nodded to the others and we jumped off, Minion and Scar landed first with dull thuds, I landed next and rolled to lessen the impact, followed by Vinyl. Autumn and Boris landed last, slowing their decent using their wings, I got out my sword and the others armed themselves as well.

“Minion, I want you taking point, with thermal vision active” I said, he nodded “everyone else, single file behind me, keep communications open, I don’t want us getting ambushed by bandits or predators”

“Sir, yes Sir!” they said, Minion then led us to one side of the clearing.

“Vinyl, I want you to alert us of any incoming unknowns” I said.

“Yes sir” she responded, but with none of her usual attitude, we began to walk through the trees.

“Stay on guard” I whispered, Minion began cutting a path through the trees, it was slow going, but eventually we came close to the clearing, I signalled for the others behind me to stop and crouch, I walked forward and tapped Minion on the shoulder “Just you and me will go through, we don’t know how long he or she’s been here” he nodded and we stowed our weapons before entering the clearing.

“Is there anyone here?” I called, after a few seconds there was still no response “If there is anyone here, we mean you no harm” still no response, I turned to Minion.

“Begin searching, but be careful” I said, he nodded, we then split up, I could see that the pickup truck was severely damaged, the font end was caved in around a tree stump and the front wheels were at an angle they shouldn’t be, the number plate confirmed that it was American registered, State of Indiana to be exact, I heard Minion exclaim in Surprise.

“Brother” I heard him say over the coms in a panicky voice “you might want to get over here” I ran around the camp until I saw Minion with his back up against the Caravan, and a human with a small axe pressed against Minions neck, I went to tackle the person but a noticed a grenade in his other hand, the human noticed me.

“Put down your weapons” he said in an American accent, I slowly took out my sword and lowered it to the ground “All of them”

“Bugger” I muttered before getting my pistol, auto-rifle and knife out and placing them on the ground.

“Alright” he said “we’re gonna play a game of 20 questions, and if I think you’re lying, boom” I held my hands towards him.

“Okay” I said “Just take it easy” I could see in Minions eyes, he was actually scared

“Alright” he said “question 1, where the hell are we?”

“Look, I know this is gonna sound crazy” I said “but you’re not on earth anymore, to be exact, we are on the planet Terra, in the country of Minotauria”

“Prove it” he said.

“Autumn” I whispered into the com “Get your flank over here, and make sure you are unarmed, we have a situation”

“What!?” she exclaimed “I’m on it”

“Walk over, slowly and calmly, and take off your helmet” I said, a short while later Autumn walked around and froze when she saw the situation we were in.

“What the hell are you?” the human said, looking Autumn up and down.

“She is a pegasus” I said “don’t worry, she won’t hurt you”

“Who are you?” he asked, looking at us “and how many of you are there?” I sighed.

“Alright guys, come on out, and stow your weapons” I called, the others soon appeared “We are the Toa Jörmungandr, also known as the Wolfpack, we aren’t here to hurt you, we just came here out of curiosity, you are the only human that we know of on this world, besides me and my brother, please, just put down the axe and let my Brother go”

“Are you sure more of you aren’t gonna jump out of the trees at me?” he asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Trust me” I said “I’m British, we don’t use dirty tactics” he snorted in amusement.

“Thought your accent was odd” he muttered, before lowering the axe “Alright, how did you find me?”

“Err” Minion said “that would be me doing” he then tapped the cluster of lenses on one side of his mask.

“We have I ship” I said “we were at an altitude so he was able to see for miles”

“Wait, that was yours that I saw?” he asked “the one with the dragon?” I nodded.

“I’m Captain Vuur Koning of the Equestrian Royal Navy” I said.

“What kind of a name is that?” he asked.

“Human names don’t work here” I said “try for yourself if you don’t believe me” he then tried to say something, it ended up sounding like what I imagined a choking penguin sounded like.

“The hell?” he said “What am I gonna call myself?”

“Do what I did” I said, “use a term in another language, as long as it has a ring to it and sounds like a name” he went to respond but we all heard rustling from beyond the tree line.

“Err, you wouldn’t happen to have any pets would you?” Minion asked, the American looked at him.

“No” he said

“Alright everyone” I said, picking up my weapons “weapons ready and form a defensive formation” me and the other Toa stood in a semicircle around the American with our backs to him and the caravan, I noticed the American getting into a fighting stance with his axe ready, I was looking for anything beyond the tree line when I heard Minion and Vinyl call.

“Several thermal signatures, medium sized beasts” Minion said

“Several audio signatures” Vinyl said, I heard a shout behind us and turned around to see a traditional chimera standing on top of the caravan, just as I was about to aim my pistol at it the American threw the axe at the chimera, causing it to embed in the cat head, the creature stumbled and fell off the other side of the caravan.

“Nice shot!” I said.

“Yeah” the American said “but I’ve just lost a perfectly good tomahawk”

“More signatures!” Minion called, more chimeras started to appear from the trees, soon there was a massive pride of them, I looked at Scar and noticed he was in a trance, his claws were also glowing green, I began to hear the howls of Timberwolves.

“Oh, Scar” I said “you genius!”

“What?” the American said.

“He controls plant life” I explained “that includes Timberwolves” a pack of about ten timberwolves jumped over the caravan and stood between us and the Chimeras, Scar came out of his trance and began barking and yipping at the timberwolves, they nodded before forming a circle around us.

“Those things can talk!?” Vinyl exclaimed

“I used to be one, didn’t I?” Scar said, his Gatling guns then clicked into position, for a few seconds neither side moved, somewhere in the forest an eagle cawed and both sides charged “now might be a good time to call for the ship”

“Oh shit, of course” I said, I them opened communications with the ship “Jörmungandr, we have a pride of chimera’s trying to make a meal out of us here, I could really use some help right about now”

“On our way” Jörmungandr said, as he said this a chimera managed to get past the timberwolves and charged towards us, I brought up a wall of flames, but it jumped through, acting on reflex I pulled out my hunting knife as it ploughed into me, the knife pierced the creature’s chest, the Chimera leapt off and hesitated, but other than that it didn’t seem affected by the wound.

“Come on” I said “don’t be stupid, I don’t want to kill you, but if you persist, then you will leave me no choice” I them flipped the knife so I was holding it blade down, the chimera growled before charging, I waited till it was close enough before jumping, doing a back flip, I landed on the chimera and pierced the knife into the area where the two spines joined, the creature collapsed to the ground and I was thrown off, I rolled before stopping in a crouched position, I stood up, at that point I heard Auto-AA guns beginning to fire at the Chimera’s, I looked up to see the ship looming over us, the Chimeras soon began to retreat into the trees, several Equestrian Guards flew down and formed a perimeter.

“That’s a big ship!” the American said “Quick question, how are we gonna get all of this on there?” he pointed at the pickup and caravan, followed by the ship, I chuckled.

“Oh ye of little faith” I said

Chapter 33 33 Stranger in a Strange land (Ark 2 Chapter 23)

The bottom of the Jörmungandr opened up and several gantry cranes lowered their wires, we helped the American to un hitch the Caravan, or Camper as he called it, so that they could be lifted up separately, whilst they lifted the Caravan I had a look under the bonnet of the pickup truck.

“Well there’s your problem” I said, looking at the ruined engine, I turned to the American “it was a V8 as well. for a start, You’ll need new ball joints for the front axle, followed by a new steering rack, fuel sump is probably buggered, you’ll need new bumper and the chassis will need repairing, could do with new transmission as well, and don’t get me started on the engine” the American stared at me.

“My stepdad’s a mechanic” I said “you pick up a few things after a while, I’ll contact him at some point to get a proper diagnosis”

“I thought you said there wasn’t any other humans on this planet” the American said.

“Magic” I said with a shrug.

“Seriously” he said, deadpanning

“Seriously, magic, it actually exists here, a friend of mine developed a spell that allows electronic devices to connect with networks on earth, including internet and phone networks” I said, noticing the look on his face I added “don’t even bother asking me to explain it, because I understand fuck all about magic, I only use it” I then ignited the magic in my hand.

“Well” he said with a chuckle “how about that?”

“don’t worry about finding new parts” I said “we have a huge workshop on board, with forges, and there is bound to be someone willing to help you, I had help when I built a hover bike, and even now, I’m refitting my classic motorcycle from home to work with tech from this world”

“Why run the risk of ruining a classic vehicle?” he asked.

“It was built in India in the 90s, when they had no quality control, thus, it never ran more than a few tens of miles, the engine was a single cylinder piece of shit, and you could never get the timing valves to stay in sync, the gear box needs refitting, also there isn’t any petrol on this planet”

“Petrol?” he asked, I sighed.

“Gasoline is called petroleum in the U.K., there aren’t any fuel pumps on this world, so I have to re-fit the bike anyway, no way am I leaving that bike to gather dust, my dad was trying to get it to work before he died, I’m carrying on where he left off”

“What part of the U.k. are you from?” he asked.

“Until I came here I was living in the north-east of England, in a shitty little town called Scunthorpe” I said “take my advice, and never go there, in fact, just stay out of the U.K. entirely, it’s just a shitty little 500 mile by 200 mile island which has rain 300 days of the year, and everyone is always complaining, when it rains, they complain it’s too cold, when it’s sunny, they complain it’s too hot, there is literally nothing worth seeing”

“I’ll keep that in mind” he said, smirking, the crew began to tie cables around the pickup truck “How long have you been here?”

“About a year and four or five months” I said “I had trouble adapting at first, but eventually, I got the hang of it, it helps if you make friends with locals”

“Got it” he said, he then jumped into the back of the pickup truck and held out a hand “hop in” I grabbed a hold of his hand and climbed on, the pickup started to lift up into the hold, Autumn and Boris flew up, I watched Autumn.

“How did I get so lucky?” I asked, to no one in particular, the American looked at me.

“What?”

“Her” I said, gesturing to the orange pegasus “what did do to deserve someone as special as her”

“Are you and her…?” he asked, trailing off.

“Together? Yes, for about a 4 months, and I haven’t looked back since” he gave me a look “hey! Don’t knock it ‘till you try it, besides, I don’t see many human females walking around, may as well make the best of what’s available, you certainly have more variety on this planet, some more easy on the eyes than others, most are a damn slight more caring than any girl I’ve met on earth, also, things such as same sex couples are a lot are accepted and even welcomed in countries like Equestria, if you are to that particular preference”

“Yeah, no thanks, I don’t swing that way” he said.

“Fair enough, just though I’d mention it” I said, I then turned to him and poked him in the chest “just don’t go giving others a hard time if they do, as you put it, ‘swing that way’, I also don’t tolerate any discrimination on this ship, if I catch you giving others a hard time, and you don’t have a very good reason, I’ll keelhaul your arse and leave you there”

“Err, what’s keelhauling?” he asked, taking a step back all the same.

“It’s where I tie you to the keel of the ship an leave you there” I said, he took and even bigger step back “originally used by pirates on earth, they would also sail towards the nearest reef, be thankful all you would have to deal with is the heights and the seagulls for a few hours, and before you ask, keelhauling is an official form of punishment in the Equestrian Royal Navy”

“I’ll keep that in mind” he said, looking few shades paler, the pickup truck finally reached the hold and we jumped onto the floor.

“All things considered” I said “Welcome to the Equestrian Royal Navy”

“Just like that?” he asked.

“On my ship, you have to work to earn a place to stay” I said, I then began walking out of the hold, the American followed “Don’t worry about your stuff, the crew will sort it out, now, what sort of skills do you have?”

“Well, I know martial arts” he said “and I’m quite the shot with a paintball gun, I can also make explosives”

“You also seem quite the shot with a tomahawk” I pointed out “that puts you on the defence sector, which means you’ll become a royal guard, so you’ll need a set of armour making”

“Oh, I already have armour, set of swords as well, appeared when I arrived here” he said, I looked at him and raised an eyebrow “the reason I’m wearing normal clothes is because it’s gold and white, not the best for hunting in a forest”

“Oh” I said “fair enough, you’ll still need a set of official armour making though, it’s mostly ceremonial armour, for social events and such, I have a set, even though I have this” I gestured to my armour

“Anything else I need to know?” he asked.

“If you want any tech you have to be connected to wireless networks from earth, then call for the ships magical construct, he’s kind of like the ship A.I.s from Halo if you’ve played that game, he’s called Jörmungandr, you can call for him from any part of the ship and he’ll appear, he’ll apply the spell for you, then you can contact whoever you need to explain the situation to them, also, if you go to the armoury, we have unique weapons there, give some of them a try-out”

*POV 3rd person*

The American walked into the hold of the ship, he walked into the caravan and called for the ships magical construct.

“How may I help you?” Jörmungandr asked, appearing next to the human

“Vuur Koning said you had a spell to connect human tech to networks on earth” he said

“That is correct, would you like me to perform that spell?” the construct asked, the human nodded, all of the Humans technological items glowed briefly “Anything else?”

“You wouldn’t happen to have anyway of sending items from earth to here, would you?” The construct paused.

“Yes…but it is very consuming on magic, please wait whilst I get clearance from Captain Vuur Koning” the construct disappeared, a few minutes later he reappeared “the Captain has permitted the use of the spell, however, I am going to have to access your memories to be able to perform it correctly”

“You better not go messing with any of my memories” He said defensively

“You need only focus on the correct memory” the construct said “and it is against my perimeters to alter memories in any way or reveal them to others without your permission”

“Well…okay” he said hesitantly, the construct nodded before disappearing, the lights dimmed slightly before a glow enveloped the human, who focused on his possessions, soon a mass of light appeared in an empty area of the hold, when the light faded there was a huge pile of items.

“T…sp…s…omplete” Jörmungandr stuttered, his form flickering and braking up, the American quirked an eyebrow before checking through the items, he was interrupted from his rummaging by Vuur Koning exclaiming

*POV 1st person Vuur Koning*

I walked through the ship towards the hold, Jörmungandr had come to me requesting the use of the mass summoning spell for items that belonged to the American, I’d accepted, what I didn’t expect was for the lights to cut out, I walked into the hold and stopped, where there was just the damaged pickup truck and the caravan, there was now a heap of god knows what placed next to them.

“Bloody hell!” I said “I didn’t know you had this much stuff, now we’re gonna be stuck here until tomorrow”

“What!?” the American said.

“The summoning spell” I said “the more items there are, the more energy it uses, same with the mass for each item” I noticed a Kawasaki Ninja sports-bike, as well as a quad-bike and a dirt-bike

“Seems you are also a fan of bikes” I noted, he nodded, I walked up to the sports-bike and placed a hand on the fuel tank “nice bike, although I personally would have gone for a Suzuki Bandit or a Honda Deauville”

“Deauville?” he asked.

“Sort of like a sports-cruiser with panniers, only available in Europe and the U.K., it’s best suited for long haul runs, but the engine packs enough of a punch to get you off the line faster than, let’s say, a Harley” I explained “come on, I’ll give you a hand with the bikes, they’ll go in a designated area of the workshops that, from now on, belongs to you” he grabbed the handlebars on the Sports-bike and kicked the stand out from under it, I did the same with the dirt-bike.

“Lead the way” he said, I then lead him to a lift that we had.

“It’s a shame I found out about this after I got the Enfield sent here” I said, wheeling the bike in and pressing the button for the workshop level (yes, the workshops took up an entire floor) “wheeling a classic motorbike up several flights of stairs is not fun” he chuckled

“What sort of condition is it in?” he asked.

“Could be worse” I said, after a few moments we reached the workshops and we wheeled the bikes to a section of the workshops that was directly next to mine, I walked over to what was left of the Enfield, which was literally the frame, handlebars, suspension and wheels, and the fuel tank, although that wasn’t fixed down, the rest of it was scattered around various tables, in pieces, the hover-bike was over in one corner, still waiting for a paint-job, a placed a hand on the fuel tank of the Enfield and patted it before saying sadly “this is my way of remembering my dad, by continuing where he left off, he would want me to get it working, not just leave it in the corner, of a workshop gathering dust” the American walked over and patted my shoulder, before walking back to the lift, I followed.

“How are we gonna get the camper into the workshop?” he asked, I froze.

“Err, you don’t have a ball joint for towing it with the quad, do you?” I asked, he shook his head.

“It fits over the back of the pickup” he said “why would it have a ball-joint?”

“In the U.K. we tow them via a tow-bar on the rear bumper, they don’t have an overhang like American ones, they’re more like American caravans from the 50s and 60s, you know, those silver ones that look like spaceships”

“Really!?” he asked in surprise.

“Yeah, except they’re all white and made of fiberglass, they’re also built like boxes now, rather than bullets, I wish they did look like American ones, they look a hell of a lot cooler, anyway, I can’t think of a way to tow it into the lift, unless you have another pickup truck somewhere”

“No” he said.

“Oh, bullocks”

Minion walked into the hold and stopped, he raised an eyebrow at what he saw, Vuur Koning and the American were trying to push the caravan into the lift…and failing miserably at it, Minion just stood there for a few moments with a smirk on his face from watching them struggle, after some time Vuur Koning noticed his brother.

“How long have you been standing there?” he asked.

“Long enough” Minion said, walking to the front of the caravan and lifting it up, before pulling it into the lift by himself, Vuur Koning and the American fell to the floor from the sudden lack of caravan that they had been leaning against.

“You bloody show off, you bastard!” Vuur Koning said, getting up.

“You’re just jealous because I’ve got the most muscles out of the two of us” Minion said, lifting up an arm and kissing his biceps

I turned to the American.

“Sometimes I think he’s become even more of a show off since he became a Toa” I said, getting the Quad-bike and following Minion onto the lift

“What powers do you have?” the American asked.

“He controls magnetism” I said “I control fire, we also have a Toa of iron, air, sound and plant-life, I’m guessing you know of Bionicle then” the American nodded.

“Yes, although I didn’t think Toa came in teams of anything other than the standard six elements” he said “I thought Toa of other elements just sort of…wandered”

“The Toa Mahri were technically a team of five in the end” I pointed out “there was also the Toa Mangai, which had Toa Lhikan, 4 Toa of ice, two Toa of water, a Toa of air and 3 Toa that no one knows the exact details of, that’s 11 Toa”

“Ah, I forgot about those” he said, the elevator reached the workshops, Minion leaned out from behind the caravan.

“Where do you want this?” he asked.

“Berth next to mine” I said “the one with the Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle and the dirt-bike” Minion nodded before disappearing behind the caravan, the front of it lifted up and the American and I had to jump out of the way to avoid being run-over by the caravan, once out of the lift he stopped and spun the caravan around a full 180’ before carrying on, the American gave a low whistle.

“I wish I was that strong” he said.

“He was strong before he become a Toa” I said “and now, I’ve seen him lift a ¼ ton turbine with no effort, he could probably lift 4 times as much without breaking a sweat” Minion put the caravan into place and the walked back to the lift, we followed

“Let’s get the pick-up truck” he said, he then turned to the American “if ever you need help getting the engine out, just fine me or Scar”

“Which one was Scar, again?” he asked.

“The wolf” both me and Minion said at the same time.

“He has a scar on his face” I said “so the name is kind of self-explanatory, anyway, once we’ve gotten everything into the workshop, we’ll show you our common room where all of our group of friends hang out, I’ll warn you just as I’ve warned everyone else who has joined our group, one, it gets pretty crazy at times, and two, no one but me and Minion can touch the stereo system or the record collection, if you have a request, ask if we have it in the collection”

“And what do you have in the collection?” he asked

“List what groups you like and I’ll tell you if we have that” I said.

“Michael Jackson?”

“We should have something on C.D.”” I said

“AC/DC?” both me and Minion looked at each other and grinned.

“Just about every album on vinyl L.P.” I said, his jaw dropped

“What exactly do you have in your collection?” the American asked

“About 1600 records” I said, he gawped “our dad was awesome, simple as that, we’ve got just about every single Beatles album, including the U.S.A. versions and an original pressings of the White album and Abby road unopened, Iron maiden? Yep, Black Sabbath? Yep, Led Zeppelin? Yep, I could go on and on, but we would be here all day, I also have an L.P. of Sabaton’s latest album”

“Who?” he asked, both me and Minion deadpanned.

“You don’t know who Sabaton is!?” I asked

“No”

“oh Fantasia” I muttered “they’re a Swedish Power-Metal band that sings mostly about war, their last two Albums have been available on vinyl as well as C.D., speaking of which, I should probably get Carolus Rex on Vinyl at some point” the lift reached the hold and Minion walked towards the pick-up.

“Whack some of the stuff in the back” he said “we can reduce the time spent going back and forth if we use the pick-up as a makeshift wheel barrow” we nodded before putting some of the stuff in there, I picked up a frame of some sort with a navy medal of honour

“Bloody hell” I said, showing the American the medal, he promptly took it off of me “what did you do to be awarded that!”

“I wasn’t” he said, looking at it with a nostalgic smile on his face “it belonged to an old friend of mine who was a Navy Seal” he then carefully placed it in the back of the pick-up, he then looked at me.

“Out of curiosity” he said “what is the British equivalent of the Medal of honour?” I thought for a moment.

“That’s the highest possible award in the U.S. military, correct?” I asked, nodding to the Medal of Honour, the American nodded “soldiers of the U.K. are awarded the Victoria Cross instead, although the grave of the British Unknown Warrior was given a Medal of Honour by the U.S.A. and the U.K. awarded the American Unknown Soldier in kind” he nodded, for several hours we went back and forth, dropping off items at the workshop to be sorted out later, at the end of it I laid down on the ground.

“We can sort out that stuff tomorrow” I said “I’ve had enough of moving things back and forth for one day, and you need to find yourself a name, you can stay in the caravan until we find you a set of living quarters”

“Sure” he said.

Chapter 34 34 Out of Line (Ark 2 Chapter 24)

*1 week later*

We were currently staying in a town called Llanfair, that’s pronounced Hlanvairay by the way, anyway, The American, or as he was now called, Vapaa Juoksija (often shortened to just Vapaa), was now an accepted part of the crew, I was walking through the town with Autumn, the general style of Minotaurian settlements was of a typical medieval style, but a lot cleaner, we were looking for somewhere to eat.

“God, this town is incredible” I said “it’s like something from the middle-ages on earth” we stopped to let a group of Minotaur calves run past, the stopped and looked up at us in awe, they began chattering in Minotaurian, one of them walked forward, I knelt down and tousled the hair on his head.

“I won’t hurt you” I said, Autumn began translating for me “I’m Toa Vuur Koning and this it Toa Autumn Skies, what’s your name?” He responded in welsh and Autumn translated.

“He says his name is Dafydd” Autumn said.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Dafydd” I said, I then pointed to the Jörmungandr “you see that big ship?” he nodded after Autumn translated.

“I’m the captain of that ship” I said, they all gasped “never give up on your dreams, and one day, who knows, you might become a captain like me, maybe we’ll meet each other again someday, well, I best be going” I stood up and they all looked at me, wide eyed, I then continued walking down the street, with Autumn by my side.

Vapaa clambered across the rooftops, earlier he had let Minion shoot him with a paintball gun…without a shirt on, as a way of making them even for what he did when they found him, and now he was distracting himself from the pain by doing one of his favourite past times; free running, he leapt across an alleyway before stopping to catch his breath, he leant against a chimney, he noticed two dragons walking through the streets, ones that weren’t from the ship, he raised an eyebrow at that, even he knew that dragons weren’t common in the smaller towns, and most took up the profession of piracy or something similar, he knelt down and started to shadow them, making sure the sun was in a direction that wouldn’t cast his shadow onto the streets, the two dragons started to walk into a more run down part of the town, Vapaa quickly clambered across a washing line to the other side of the street before continuing to follow them, the eventually walked down a dark alleyway and knocked on the door at the end of the Alley, Vapaa watched from a distance, when he was sure the coast was clear he walked over the roofs of the Alley until he found a window to the loft of the building, he hid to one side and slowly looked through the window, through the grime he could see cages, with several different species of varying ages inside of them, he cursed under his breath, before carefully opening the window and climbing inside, a young griffin in a cage next to the window, no older than ten, went to speak up, but Vapaa held a finger to his mouth.

“Do you speak Equestrian?” Vapaa asked quietly, the griffin did a so-so motion with a claw “what is going on here?” the griffin thought for a moment.

“Bad drakens” he said “sell us to work, beat us, give little food, keep us in cage” Vapaa scowled, he grabbed the dog-tags around his neck and ripped them off before passing them to the young griffin.

“I promise, I’ll be back” Vapaa said, before climbing out of the window, what he didn’t see was a dragon watching them from the shadows.

Me and Autumn we sat in a restaurant eating, we suddenly heard the com’s from our masks crackle to life, I picked mine off of the table and put it on.

“Hello?” I asked.

“Vuur Koning?” Minion said “you might want to get your arse back on the ship as soon as possible”

“Why?” I asked.

“Not something that can be easily explained over the com’s” he said, I looked at Autumn, she had already put her helmet on and was getting ready to leave.

“We’ll be there as soon as possible” I said, putting the required amount of money on the table and walking out with Autumn, we both changed to the mask of speed and got to the ship within a few seconds, I walked into the common-room, where Mata Nui, Vapaa and the other toa were stood, Vapaa in particular looked like he was about to go on a rampage “What’s the problem?”

“I was doing some free running along the rooftops, to take my mind off of the pain from him shooting me” he said, pointing to Minion “a was taking a break when I saw two dragons I didn’t recognise walking through the town, I followed them on a hunch and found a slavers hideout, with a ton of slaves” I frowned.

“How soon can your Toa be ready” Mata Nui asked.

“Immediately” I said, they took the hint and rushed off to get suited up “You too, Vapaa”

“Yes, Vuur Koning” he said, before walking off to get his armour, I walked out towards the exit of the ship, along the way I found Jack Harkness.

“Someone sure looks like a man on a mission” he remarked, I shot him a look.

“You, arm up, now!” I said “we’re going to raid a slavers camp” his expression immediately darkened.

“I’m on it” he said, before galloping off, I then continued on my way to the exit, I waited for the others impatiently, soon all of them except for Vapaa were stood at the exit, Jack Harkness was in a dark-blue pony trench coat and had a spell pistol that looked like a modern human pistol, I looked outside and noticed a human in gold and white armour and a white hooded-cloak that looked like something from Assassin’s creed, running along the roof tops with a tomahawk and a double-ended sword.

“For god sake, Vapaa” I muttered, I turned to the others “Alright, as Vapaa has jumped the gun, we’re moving out, we’re going in through the front door, Vapaa can be a distraction”

Vapaa ran along the roof-tops, he leapt from one side of the street to the other in a single bound, causing several people to exclaim in surprise, he rounded the corner and slowed down, he got into a crouch and shuffled along the rooftops towards the window, he slowly opened the window and looked inside, there weren’t any slavers but the griffin was also missing, he cursed under his breath, that couldn’t be a good sign, he slowly walled through the loft towards a door, telling the slaves to keep quiet as he went along, he reached the door and went to open it but he saw the door handle turning, he hid on the hinge side of the door and placed his weapons on the ground, he waited for the door to open and a dragon to walk through, dragging the young griffin, beaten and bruised, into his cage, Vapaa walked out from behind the door and all of the slaves went quiet, Vapaa ran forward and stomped the shins of the dragon, causing it to fall to the floor, the dragon bellowed in pain, before Vapaa kicked it in the head, knocking it out cold, Vapaa nudged it with his foot to make sure it was unconscious before taking the keys and unlocking all of the cages.

“Go on!” he said “get out of here!” the effect was instantaneous, people of all different species and ages rushed out of their cages and past Vapaa, the Griffin walked up to him.

“Me sorry” he said “draken…saw you, took what you gave me”

“Don’t worry, I’ll get it back” Vapaa said, he then went and picked up his weapons, he then looked at the griffin “come on”

We walked to the entrance of the hideout after following Vapaa, I turned to Vinyl, she smirked before standing in front of the door and levelling her Bass cannon at it, she pulled the trigger and the blast obliterated the door, along with part of the wall.

“KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!?” she called, before walking in, we followed her inside to find several dragons on the floor, groaning in pain, I picked on up by the shoulders, he, no, it looked at me.

“Where are the slaves?” I barked, he chuckled before speaking in draconic and biting down on something, he convulsed and started foaming at the mouth before dying, I dropped the now dead dragon on the floor “cyanide capsule, make sure the others don’t do the same!” Minion went to each dragon and ripped the metal capsule out of their mouths using his magnetism powers.

“Spineless bastards” he muttered, kicking one in the stomach, who groaned, I got my pistol out and set it to stun, I noticed a wooden door with a lock, I nodded to Autumn who kicked it, causing the rusty hinges to fail, what we saw when we walked in caused us to stop in our tracks, row upon row of cages, each one filled with someone of a different species.

“Those spineless snakes are going to pay for what they did” I said, Autumn and Boris flew along, cutting open the locks down each row, the slaves soon started to walk out of their cages, we walked along checking each one, Autumn and I stopped at an extra-large cage, three individuals were in there, a Dragoness, and two young Kirin (Pony-dragon hybrids) in there very early teens, the Dagon looked like she was close to dying and the Kirin’s stood in front of her protectively.

“Stay away from her” one, a red and orange male said, swinging his tail in front of us, the blades at the end split into four smaller blades.

“We aren’t here to hurt you” I said.

“You liar!” the other, a female of the same colours but reversed, said, before sending a stream of fire towards us, I dispelled the fire with a flick of my blade, Autumn walked forward cautiously.

“We promise we aren’t here to hurt you” she said “we’re here to get you out of” the dragoness stirred.

“Wh…who are you?” she asked

“We are here to rescue you” I said, the dragoness chuckled.

“I’m past saving” she said, she then looked at the two Kirins “children, come here” the two children walked over and she nuzzled them

“Yes, Mother?” the male said.

“I want you to go with them” she said, tears starting to fall from her eyes, the children started crying and she comforted them as best she could “Shh, it’s going to be fine, promise me you’ll be good”

“We promise” the female said, the dragoness looked at us.

“Swear to me that you will protect them” she said.

“We swear” we both said, she smiled sadly before nuzzling her children, who were now crying freely

“Don’t worry” she said “no matter where you are, I’ll be watching over you” she then started to sing softly in draconic to them calming them down, eventually she laid he head down and stopped breathing.

“Mother?” the female asked, tears streaming down her cheeks, when their mother didn’t respond they both broke down crying once more, we walked towards them and knelt down to comfort them, I placed my arms around the male, who turned around and tried to bury his head in my chest armour, I looked to Autumn to see a similar thing happening with her, I could also see her eyes starting to tear up, I hear Minion walk over, I turned around and saw him go to say something but stopped, he sighed before walking off, Autumn and I sat down in the cage and stayed there for some time, I could now begin to pick out the features of them both, the male had the body and head of a pony, his head had two small horns that were swept back, and a ridge that went from the top of his snout, along his back and to the end of his tail, his rear legs were like those of a normal pony, his front legs were similar, except they ended in claws, he had large, draconic wings, the females features except for the end of the front legs were a reverse of the male, eventually the two Kirin’s stopped crying, I looked at the male Kirin.

“Are you ready to go?” I asked softly, he didn’t make a response other than nodding his head, both Kirin’s backed away from us and we stood up “we’ve send someone to get your mother” they both nodded before following us out of the cage, when we got out side we found several dragons being led away by Minotaurian guards, assisted by equestrian guards from my ship, I pulled Minion to one side.

“Get some people to help you carry out their mother and put her somewhere for a burial in a few days” I said “she died when we got there, if anyone kicks up a fuss about me and Autumn taking them, tell them the dragoness’s last wish was for us to take care of them, me and Autumn are going to go back to the ship to comfort them so you’re in charge of things here whilst we are on the ship” he nodded and me, Autumn and the two children began walking back to the ship, understandably the general mood was very sombre as we walked on to the ship, the two Kirins barely noticed the immense size of the ship, nor did they notice the stares they were getting off of the crew members, they just walked together, the brother had his wing around his sister and placed his head over hers protectively, Aurora flew over, grinning at there being two more kids around her age, but stopped when I shook my head and mouthing ‘I’ll explain later’, she huffed and nodded before flying off, we eventually reached our quarters and lead the two children inside, only when they heard the door shut did they fully react to their surroundings, subdued amazement would be the best way to explain it, we lead the two kirins over to a sofa and patted it as an invitation for them to sit on it, they hesitantly did so.

“Do you want anything to drink or eat?” Autumn asked, hey looked at her in amazement.

“W…we can eat!?” the male asked, a chuckled sadly.

“Do you really think we would bring you up here and not let you eat anything, after everything you’ve been through?” their ears drooped at being reminded of what had happened “oh, jeeze, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…” I sighed and trailed off, Autumn looked at me and smiled sadly.

“Go make them something” she said “I’ll comfort them” I nodded in thanks before walking into the small kitchen we had, I put a pan on the stove and put butter in the pan before I turned the stove on on, I then realised something.

“Autumn?” I called “What sort of diet do they eat, are they herbivores or what?”

“They say the can eat meat and vegetables” I heard Autumn say, I grinned.

“They are gonna love this” I said to myself, before going into the fridge and getting out Bacon, eggs and sausages, I put the food in the pan and began cooking, when it was all cooked I put the food onto two plates and brought them through, the two Kirins eyed the plates with mouths watering, I walked to the table and they followed, I placed the plates on the dining table and pulled back two chairs so they could reach the table, they hopped onto the chairs and waited.

“What are you waiting for?” I asked “you don’t need our permission” the effect was instantaneous, they dug in like two hungry wolves, I chuckled before turning to Autumn and whispering in her ear.

“I’m gonna go find Aurora to explain the situation and so she can meet them” she nodded and I walked out the room towards the corridor.

*meanwhile*

Minion was overseeing the situation at the slavers camp, quite a few of the slaves were Minotaur’s from surrounding towns and villages, the one part he didn’t like was having to carry out the dead dragoness, it’s kind’ve hard to treat the dead with respect when they weigh several tons, he had to get the help of Blazewing and Frost Fang, partly because they were familiar with draconic burial traditions, they would bury her tomorrow, and the two children would be present for the ceremony, the two dragons were really pissed off about the whole situation with the slavers, and they kept muttering darkly in draconic and giving any arrested slavers they saw death glares whilst flames or ice vapour seeped out of their mouths, what surprised him the most was Blazewing’s attitude.

“You know” Minion said, watching the slaves pile out of the building “no offence but considering your past history, your current mood is kind’ve surprising” the crimson drake gave him a glare before answering.

“I may’ve been a dis’onourable, blood thirs’y, savage pira’e, bu’ even I ‘ad morals, if we found a save ship we would ‘ave killed the crew ‘nd either recrui’ed the slaves, or dropped ‘em off as close to their ‘ome towns as possible” he said with a snort of flames “even pira’es consider slavers as scum, slavers are cruel, they leave their cap’ives in cages and give ‘em barely enough food to survive, at least pirates give their captives the option to work and become par’ o’ the crew”

“Really!?” Minion asked, his voice full of surprise, Blazewing shot him another glare “right, shutting up now” Minion grinned nervously, Blazewing snorted.

I found Aurora after some searching, she was perched on one of the railings.

“Aurora” I said “I need to talk to you” the young emerald dragoness looked at me.

“Yes uncle?” she asked.

“Do you remember those two dragon-pony hybrids that me and Autumn brought onto the ship?” I asked, she nodded “Well, earlier, we found a place where some mean dragons were keeping lots of people against their choice, to be sold into work, one of these was a dragoness, and those two hybrids were her children, when we found the place, the dragoness was dying, and when we found her, her last request was for me and your Auntie Autumn to adopt them, so those two are now your cousins” her expression lit up when I finished.

“Really!?” she asked, I nodded.

“Yes” I said “I’m going to take you to see them, but you have to promise me you won’t get too excited or ask too many questions, okay?” she nodded before flying onto my shoulder, I walked back down to my quarters, a opened the door to find Autumn talking with the two Kirin.

“So, what are your names?” she asked.

“I’m Garnet” the male said.

“And I’m Ruby” the female said, I took the opportunity to interject by clearing my throat.

“Garnet, Ruby” I said, trying out the names as much as saying them to gain their attention, I gestured to Aurora, who was on my shoulder “this is my niece; Aurora, and as you are now mine and Autumns adoptive son and daughter, that technically makes her your cousin” they eyes widened.

“We have a cousin now?” Garnet asked, Aurora flew over to them.

“Aurora” I said “why don’t you show them around the ship” Aurora nodded.

“Come on” she said, after some coaxing they followed her out the door, once they were gone I walked over to the sofa and sank into it with a sigh, I took my mask off and brushed my hair back.

“What’s up?” Autumn asked, I looked at her.

“I look at them and I see myself from two years ago, just after I found out my dad died” I said, Autumns ears folded back and she nuzzled me.

“Then you will know exactly what to do” she said.

“Except they don’t have Autism, at least…I don’t think they do,” I said, I then started to get panicky “oh Autumn, I’m not ready to be a father, what if I mess up, what if they don’t like me, what if they don’t like either of us, what if they fly off in the night and never return, what if…” Autumn cut me off.

“Luke!” she said sternly, using my Earth name, which she only used when she was being really serious with me, her expression then softened and she nuzzled me “don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll do fine, these sort of things just take time, besides, you were worried about us being together, and look how things are now, you’ve said it yourself, you haven’t looked back since” I looked her in the eyes and smiled softly.

“Autumn Skies, where the fuck would I be without you?” I asked rhetorically, she scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“Stuck in a cell in Canterlot for punching an arrogant prince?” she suggested.

“Oh, get lost!” I said indignantly, I then paused, before conceding “actually, you’re probably right”

Chapter 35 35 My Immortal (Ark 2 Chapter 25)

Me and Autumn tucked the two Kirins into bed, we had set up two beds in the spare room.

“But what if one of the slavers gets in?” Ruby asked, I smiled sadly.

“Don’t worry” I said, “they’ve all been locked up, and they won’t be getting near anyone for a long time, and if one of them does somehow get here, they’ll have to go through me” she giggled.

“Okay” Ruby said.

“There’s a good girl” I said “now go to sleep” she shuffled further down under the covers and I stood up, autumn was having a similar conversation with Garnet, she stood up as well and we walked towards the door.

“If either of you have a problem” Autumn said “just come to us, we’ll be up to a few more hours, okay?” they both nodded before settling down.

“Goodnight” I said, they responded in kind and I switched off the light in the room but left the door open, we walked outside and I whispered “I hope they don’t have any problems in the night, their whole life spent in a slavers camp, I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy, actually no, I tell a lie, I would wish that on three people that I can think of”

“Are you gonna tell me?” Autumn asked.

“Nope” I said “there from mine and Minions old life, the less you know about ’them’, the better” she gave me a look but didn’t press the matter.

Me and Autumn woke up the next morning, thankfully we didn’t have any problems in the night, I went to the Kirins room and woke them up.

“Rise and shine” I sang.

“Urg…five more minutes” Garnet mumbled before turning back over, I rolled my eyes, typical early teen.

“Come on” I said “we have a big day ahead of us, or do you want to miss your mother’s funeral” their eyes both shot open.

“That’s today!?” they both asked.

“Yes. Garnet, you’re with me, I’m gonna get you ready” I said, I then turned to Ruby “Autumn is going to get you ready” Ruby nodded, Garnet begrudgingly pulled himself out of bed, giving a yawn that exposed all of his carnivorous teeth, he then walked into the bathroom, grumbling as he did so, I walked in after him and turned the shower on, his reaction to running water was priceless, his reaction to heated running water was hilarious. He jumped under the stream of water, and looked for all the world like an excited Labrador, I eventually managed to grab hold of him and began to wash his mane and coat, a stream of years’ worth of muck and dirt began to drain out of the tub, eventually he was actually sparkling and shining like his namesake gem, I turned off the water and dried him off, I then showed him how to brush his teeth, when that was done I led him into the front room and laid a towel on the floor, I then began to cut his hair, shortening it and neatening it up, before going over it with a comb to straighten it, now I could get a true idea of what he looked like.

“Do a twirl” I said, he spun around and o nodded approvingly “not bad, if I do say so myself, right, let’s go get some breakfast” he looked confused.

“You mean you aren’t cooking?” he asked.

“Whilst I’m flattered you like my cooking, you should still try the food from the canteen, plus I want you to meet the rest of my family, friends as well” he nodded before following me out the door, his attitude had changed since yesterday, he carried his head high and almost had a regal appearance to him, we eventually reached the canteen and he stopped, seems he’d never seen so many people in one place, I chuckled, eventually he got over his shock and continued following me, several individuals stared at him, but thankfully it didn’t spread, I led him to where all of the food was and picked up two trays before walking along and selecting various different items of food, I then led Garnet to the tables, after searching I found the table that our group usually sat at, Winter Chill and Midsummer Night were already sat there, as was Blazewing, Frost Fang, Saphyrus, Cloddiwr, Minion, Aurora, Vinyl, Boris, Scar, and Vapaa, who was also with a young Albino (?) griffin, I sat down at the table, Garnet immediately dug into his food

“Who’s the griffin?” I asked Vapaa.

“This is John Henry” he said “he was the first slave that I met when I entered that place, he doesn’t have any family, so I’m taking care of him, who’s the…” he trailed off, not sure what to call Garnet.

“This is Garnet” I said “he’s a Kirin, that’s a hybrid between a dragon and a pony, the mother of him and his sister died when we found her, her last wish was for me and Autumn to take care of them”

“That dragon was their mother!?” Vapaa asked.

“Yes” I said, I then began to introduce Garnet to everyone, soon Autumn and Ruby arrived, and I quickly recapped who everyone was for Ruby’s sake.

“You have a big family” Ruby said.

“So do you, now” I said “my family is your family, speaking of which, I need to contact my Mom about you two” their ears perked up at that.

“Later” Autumn said, their ears drooped, remembering what was happening today.

“Oh, yeah” Garnet said, sighing and slumping slightly, I put a hand on his shoulder in a comforting manner.

“You’ll get through it” I said.

“How do you know I’ll get through it?” Garnet shot back.

“Because I’ve, to use a term from my world; been there, done that and got the tee-shirt” I said “I understand what you are going through, Minion does as well, if you need someone to be there for you at any point, go to me or him, same applies to you, Ruby” the female Kirin nodded, but looked very down cast, I sighed, today was going to be a long day, scratch that, it was going to be a long week.

Autumn and I led the two Kirin into a park just outside the town, in a traditional draconic burial ceremony, the next of kin and their parents/guardians would go to pay their respects before the ceremony, Minotaur’s have long had a close friendship with dragons, and once even worship them as gods, so whenever a dragon dies, the funeral procession would travel through the town towards the cemetery, allowing the whole town to pay their respects, that was another reason why we were going now, we eventually came to a large temple-like building and we led the two Kirins inside, a Minotaurian priest of some sort greeted us.

“Are any of you the next of kin?” he asked.

“These two Kirin are her children” I said “we are acting as their guardians, as-per their mothers final wish” the priest nodded.

“Very well” he said “if you would follow me, please” he then lead us into a large hall, at the end of it the dragoness was laid out, curled up slightly as if sleeping. The priest left out of respect and we walked up to the dragoness but none of us said anything, what could we say? I heard Ruby sniff and saw her eyes watering, I knelt down and brought her close to me and she began crying silently, Garnet soon did likewise and Autumn began to comfort him, I could start to feel tears welling up in my eyes, partly because this reminded me of when I saw my dad after he died (it wasn’t pretty) and partly because it broke my heart to see them in such pain, no child should have to go through something like this even if they are in their early teens, after about ten minutes we left, we ended up carrying the two children out, what we saw when we walked outside surprised us, two large dragons were stood outside.

“Who might you be?” I asked.

“We are the siblings of Emerald, the dragon that has died” one, a dark blue male said “What business would you have paying your respects to her?” I placed Ruby on the ground and Autumn did the same with Garnet.

“Guardians of her two children, as-per her very final request” I said they raised their eyebrows at that

“How did the situation arise to make her choose you two as their guardians?” the other a bright green male, asked.

“We busted a slavers camp” I explained “her and her two children were locked in a cage, she was already dying when we got there, she had just enough time to name us as their new guardians before she died” the bright green one made to charge at me and I instinctively activated my Kenohi Hau, protecting the four of us.

“Forgive me” the green dragon said, backing up “I did not intend to cause any harm, it was merely to test your worthiness as their guardians”

“You could have perhaps used slightly different methods” I suggested “preferably ones that don’t put them in danger”

“your heart is in the right place” the dark blue one said “we deem you worthy to act as their guardians, under Draconic law, they are legally your children, and as such, any relations on all sides shall be treated appropriately, until such a time when you invoke the nullification of the legal document” he then conjured up a piece of parchment and passed it to me, I quickly read through it.

“So, put simply, they are now classed as our children and any family on mine or Autumns side is classed as your family as well?” the dragon nodded.

“This also extends to your siblings and their descendants, all of them are now a part of their family” he said, gesturing to the two Kirins.

“So that means I’m now a part of…” I quickly counted off “seven separate families” everyone gathered looked at me in surprise.

“How do you figure that?” Autumn asked.

“There’s my dad’s side, my mum’s side, my step-dad’s side, your family, Auroras family, Vinyl’s family and now their family” I said, gesturing to the Kirins and dragons “and that isn’t even going into cousins and such, the next family reunion is going to be chaos”

“We must go and pay our respects now” the blue one said, I nodded and they both walked inside, we then lead Ruby and Garnet away, they walked the same as when we led them onto the ship the first time, we returned to the ship so me and Autumn could get ready for the service, I but on a tuxedo that I’d had summoned from earth, I sighed as I adjusted the tie in front of a mirror.

The last time I wore this” I said “was at my dad’s funeral” Autumn got up from brushing her mane and tail, she was wearing a dress that Rarity had made for her, it was made from darker colours, perfect for an occasion like this, she walked over and put her arms around me comfortingly.

“I’m here for you” Autumn said “if you need a shoulder to cry on? I’m here” I turned around and kissed her.

“I know” I said, I then pulled away from her “come on, let’s go and get the kids”

We walked down the main street behind a huge cart that they were using to carry the dragoness, the entire town was lined up on either side of the street, and most were putting down flowers as we went past, we soon reached a chapel and walked inside several individuals were already there, most notably the dragonesses siblings, I nodded to them and they nodded back, a Minotaurian priest began the ceremony, which mostly consisted of retelling the story of her life, and blessing her body, although I didn’t really pay much attention, I was merely here to comfort Garnet and Ruby.

Eventually the service ended and everyone walked outside to watch her be buried and to talk amongst themselves, I ended up talking with the two dragons.

“So you’ll be checking in on us every now and then?” I asked.

“Of course, you’re family now” the green one said “how might we contact you?”

“My niece, Aurora” I said “she can send messages via dragon flames, or you just look for the massive ship with the name Jörmungandr hauled by an ice drake”

“You’re on a hoard ship?” the blue one asked.

“it used to be, now it’s a part of the equestrian navy” they raised an eyebrow at that “we plan to head into the unexplored southern lands, quite hard to do when you only have a crew of 500 in a ship that should have 70’000, so I made a deal with Princess Celestia of Equestria, the Jörmungandr becomes a part of her navy, and in exchange I get crew and funding” the two dragons nodded in understanding.

“That is quite a deal” the green one said.

“It helps when you are friends with royalty” Princess Celestia said, making everyone present gasp.

“Where the hell did you come from!?” I exclaimed, before hastily bowing.

“Canterlot?” she suggested, I falmpalmed.

“Of fucking coarse” I muttered “may I ask my you are here?”

“I heard about a slavers camp being discovered” she said “and by chance you were in the exact same town, coincidence?”

“Far from it, we recently had another human join our crew, he was the one who found it” I then quickly looked for Vapaa, who was talking with the priest, I called to him “Vapaa, get over here” he walked over.

“Who is this?” he asked.

“Princess Celestia, the one who moves the sun” Vapaa just stood there, I deadpanned “you know, it is customary to bow to royalty”

“Not for Americans” he said “plus there is only one god I bow to, and he doesn’t look like that, no offence ma’am”

“None taken” Celestia said “you are not my citizen, nor are you in my country”

“I’d still bow anyway” I said “considering you have the power to wield the sun”

“We can talk about this later” Vapaa said, he then smirked “or do you want to anger your ‘god’” I went to retort but Garnet and Ruby walked over, looking at Celestia, who knelt down to get closer to their level.

“And who might you two be?” Celestia asked softly.

“Garnet”

“Ruby”

“They are the children of a dragoness that was a slave” I said “she was dying when we found them and her last wish was for me and Autumn to take care of them, they are now officially our children, according to Draconic law” I showed her the document, she stood up and levitated it towards her.

“If we were meeting under better circumstance I would congratulate you” Celestia said “not just for them becoming your children but also because they are the first Kirin that I have encountered in over 500 years”

“Are you telling me they are part of an endangered species!?” I asked, not trying to hide my surprise, Celestia nodded.

“Sub-species but close enough” Celestia said, I sighed.

“well that just made things interesting” I said.

Chapter 36 36 Sods Law Strikes Again! (Ark 2 Chapter 26)

We were currently flying towards the coast, seeing as the kids hadn’t seen the sea before, I thought we’d give them a little bit of a surprise, I was watching Autumn and Saphyrus teach Garnet and Ruby how to fly, Autumn was teaching Ruby, who had pegasi wings and Saphyrus was teaching Garnet, who had dragon wings, I had ordered Frost Fang to fly up really high so they would have plenty of time if something went wrong, we were now currently sailing through the clouds like a ship through water.

“Your tail is just as important to flying as your wings are” Saphyrus told the both of them, as they both had long reptilian tails with those odd splitting blades at the end, Saphyrus the walked over to them and gently pressed down between their shoulder blades, causing two rows of spines to sprout up along their backs, the two twins looked back at their spines and they snapped into one row several times, they looked in amazement at the older dragoness who chuckled “every dragon has their secrets, even half-breeds, those will help you with stability and cornering, control them in tandem with your tail, and you will become impressive flyers, Autumn, if you could take Ruby and show her how to use her wings” Autumn nodded and lead Ruby to the edge of the ship, Ruby poked her reptilian head through the railings and quickly withdrew.

“It’s so high up, what if I fall” Ruby asked, Autumn chuckled.

“Then I’ll catch you” Autumn said “climb on my back and do exactly as I say, okay?” Ruby hesitated before climbing on Autumns back, Autumn then flew off the ship and out of the reach of the energy shield.

“Ruby” Autumn shouted over the wind “I want you to slowly stand up and spread out your wings” she felt Ruby slowly stand up on her back, and started to feel the Kirin lifting off of her back, she looked back to see Ruby’s huge feathered wings lifting her.

“You’re doing great” Autumn encouraged “I’m going to need you to trust me for this next bit, okay?”

“O-okay” Ruby said, Autumn slowly began to lower herself, she then began to bank to one side and ascending until she was flying, or rather gliding right next to Ruby.

“You’re doing great” Autumn said “can you feel all the little air currents flowing around your wings?” Ruby nodded

“Yeah” she said in amazement.

“I want you to close your eyes and just let your instincts kick in” Autumn said, Ruby hesitated “I’m right here, I won’t let anything happen”

“Okay” Ruby said, before hesitantly closing her eyes, after a few moments her wings loosened up and her tail began to steer her, her wings started to flap, that was when Ruby opened her eyes and stiffened up, causing her whole body to tense and sending her spiralling towards the ground faster than Autumn could react “MUM!!!”

Something click in Autumns mind and she dove after Ruby, she put every ounce of strength she had into pushing herself faster, she cursed herself for not putting on her mask or any of her armour, she drew her wings together and burst through the cloud cover before continuing her powered dive, she slowly began to draw closer to Ruby but she was beginning to tire and she could see the ground getting closer

“Ruby!” she shouted “I need you to spread your wings to slow yourself down”

“I can’t” Ruby said, tears starting to stream from her eyes “I’m scared, Mum” Autumn felt an extra burst of strength and began to draw closer, arms outstretched, after a few tense seconds Autumn managed to grab her and spread her wings out, slowing them down, they landed in a field and Ruby clung onto Autumn, trembling and sobbing with tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Shh, shh” Autumn said, hugging her comfortingly “it’s alright, I’m here, I’ve got you”

“I was so scared” Ruby said “I thought I was going to…” she trailed off and began crying anew.

“I told you I wouldn’t let anything happen to you” Autumn said “I’m sorry I didn’t get to you sooner, can you forgive me?” Ruby nodded into Autumns chest, before bringing her head away to look her in the eyes.

“Autumn?” Ruby asked.

“Yes, Ruby?”

“Can I call you Mum?” Ruby asked, Autumn’s eyes watered before she brought her into a hug.

“Of course you can” Autumn said “why would I say no?”

“Because you might think I would forget my real mother” Ruby said.

“Oh, don’t be silly” Autumn said “I’ll tell you something, you know how Vuur Koning said he understands what you are going through with your mother dying?”

“Yeah” Ruby said “why, did his mother die?” Autumn shook her head

“Two years ago he was getting ready to visit his father, when he heard the news that his father had been killed in an accident” Autumn said, Ruby’s eyes widened in shock “he still hasn’t forgotten about him, so don’t worry, I don’t think you will, when we have stopped exploring the southern lands, we’ll visit your mother’s grave on her birthday, okay?”

“I’d like that, Mum” Ruby said, and they both laughed.

“Come on” Autumn said “let’s get back to the ship, I’m sure Vuur Koning and Garnet are worried, and we can try again, but only if you want to, okay?”

“Okay”

Of all the things that could go wrong, this was the…worst…possible…thing!

Now I knew what it felt like to be useless, I couldn’t send anyone else down after them, no one would be able to reach them, Saphyrus had gone down after them, but I knew her wings weren’t built for diving like pegasi’s wings were, all I could do was wait there with Garnet, both of us stood there, watching the clouds for any sign of movement, I was starting to lose hope when I saw three shapes burst through the clouds, one of which was Ruby, she was flying all by herself (!), Autumn and Saphyrus were flying either side of her, making sure she didn’t fall like earlier, they reached the calmer air within the shields of the ship and landed on the decking, Autumn leaned down and nuzzled Ruby.

“I am so, so proud of you” Autumn said, hugging the Kirin, Garnet and I walked over.

“Is Ruby okay?” I asked.

“A little shaken over what happened, but I caught her in the end and she’s fine now” Autumn said, nuzzling Ruby, who giggled, I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank Fantasia” I said, Garnet then rushed forward and began nuzzling his sister.

“I was so worried” Garnet said, his eyes watering, Ruby hugged her brother with her wings.

“I’m fine, Mum was there to save me” Garnet gave Ruby a look that someone usually used when they doubted someone else’s sanity “not ‘Mum’ Mum, ‘Autumn’ Mum” I looked at Autumn and raised an eyebrow, she just shrugged and smirked, after some coaxing we managed to get Garnet to start flying, with his dragon wings he was better suited for longs bursts of gliding with the occasional couple of flaps, whilst Ruby was better at sustained powered flight and higher speeds, soon they were playing with each other in the air, at one point Aurora flew over and looked at the two older relatives in awe, I chuckled.

“Go ahead” I said “it’s time you three started to bond properly” Aurora then jumped off of the railing and flew after them, me and Autumn just watched them play, but kept a close eye on them in case anything went wrong, I then heard Footsteps walking towards us, turned around to see Vapaa decked out in his armour with John Henry walking beside him.

“You want to join in as well?” Autumn asked, Vapaa nodded “how good is his flying?”

“Good enough” Vapaa said “at least, according to Baldric”

“Alright” I said, looking at the young, albino griffin “up you go John” he nodded before jumping off the deck and flying, if a little unsteadily, towards them, suddenly we all felt a massive gust of wind and next thing we knew, we were watching in horror as John plummeted out of the sky, Vapaa swore before jumping off of the ship after him we could only look on and hope against hope, suddenly a golden glow enveloped Vapaa and he grew bigger before changing completely into an giant red-yellow-orange winged creature with black stripes and blue crests on its top and bottom jaw, the creature flew underneath John Henry and caught him on its back before banking around towards the ship, everyone on the deck just stared, slack jawed as the creature flew towards us, people scattered as it landed on the deck, John Henry jumped off and backed away from the creature in fear, the creature changed back into Vapaa, whose mask glowed for a few seconds.

“What the hell, how comes you get to become a Toa so easily!?” I asked “and better yet, why can you change into a Great Leonopteryx, as far as I know, there isn’t a Kenohi ‘Can-change-into-Toruk-from-Avatar’”

“No” he admitted, walking over to John and comforting him “but there is a mask of shape shifting”

“You shouldn’t even be able to transform into one of these” I said “they breathe hydrogen and them come from a planet with a lower gravity” he just smirked.

“I’m now a Toa and I’ve got a Kenohi Mahiki, to hell with logic and physics” he said, standing up, I just crossed my arms and muttered under my breath “you’re just annoyed because I’ve got a truly useful mask power, all you can do is create a bubbles”

“I will burn you in a minute if you carry on, mate, and it’s a Kenohi Hau, not a Kenohi ‘Derpy’” he just gave me an odd look “don’t worry, long story, but seriously, it’s great that we have another Toa now, all we have to do now is work out your element”

“Hello” he said “white and gold ring any bells? It’s obvious what element I am”

“Well if you are so sure” I said “then what element is it?”

“Light” it wasn’t Vapaa who spoke, but Mata Nui, who had only just walked onto the deck, I bowed to him, Vapaa had a thoughtful look on his face, before he began changing colour.

“Now that is cool” Vapaa said “yay for chameleon powers”

After a few days we reached the coast, I had made sure the kids didn’t find out about it until the day we arrived, Autumn and I led them onto the gun deck of the ship, covering their eyes, Vapaa was in on it as well, and he was doing the same with John we walked them over to the railings on the side facing the coast, I counted to three and me Autumn and Vapaa removed our hands from in front of their faces, the three kids gasped in amazement.

“Surprise!” I said to the Kirin twins and the albino-griffin “we’ll be spending a few days just outside of a coastal town, with the ship stopping on the beach, think of it as a holiday within a holiday”

“I’m sure there is an inception joke in there somewhere” Vapaa said, smirking.

“oh hardy har har” I said sarcastically, we soon reached the beach and sections off the hull lifted away, revealing insectoid legs that dug into the sand and supported the massive bulk of the ship, I had announced to the crew that this weekend was for everyone to relax and enjoy themselves, and soon they started to pour out of the ship and onto the beach, Frost Fang began to sun himself in the sand, whilst the crownd began to split off into groups to do whatever, whether it was something like volleyball, cricket, or football, the kids charged for the sea, giggling as they ran, I was sat on the beach in shorts enjoying myself, but an arm’s reach away my sword was embedded in the sand, better to be safe.

“You should really stop worrying” Autumn said, laying on a towel, chest down facing the shore.

“With the type of luck that this world is prone to?” I asked “no thanks”

“Oh please” Minion said “it’s not as if…”

“Finnish that sentence and I swear to Fantasia I will bury you in the sand and leave you to face whatever foul creature you would have summoned forth!” I said, he promptly shut his still open mouth “thank you”

“I’ve heard you say Fantasia several times” Vapaa said, not taking his gave off of the children “is that the deity of a religion that you follow?”

“In a manner of speaking” I replied “the Equestrian religion is more like an old world religion, with several gods to ‘chose’ from, I’m not one for religious zealousness, but I love the ‘symbolism’ of the multi-god religions, I follow it loosely, partly because I’ve actually met Fantasia, the ‘god’ of imagination and creation on this world, they have three ‘high-gods’, Fantasia, who I’ve already mentioned, Tempus; god of time and destiny, and Anima; Goddess of nature and new life, what religion do you follow?”

“Christianity” he said “but I’m accepting of others beliefs” he went to say something else when we heard the kids screaming, I looked in their direction to see Ruby, Aurora and John running out of the water.

“Where’s Garnet!?” I asked.

“S-something grabbed him and dragged him under” Ruby said, her eyes watering.

“Stay here” I said, before conjuring my armour, the other Toa did the same, I then grabbed my sword “I hope you all can hold your breath” I then dived into the water, my armour glowed and began to change, it became slimmer, smoother and airtight, the ends of my feet turned into flippers and my mask changed, a re-breather of some kind appeared and I could now breath underwater, the eyeholes and tribal slits on each side merged into two large visors, my hearing improved, sounding less like I was underwater and more like was on land, I heard the other 6 Toa enter the water and saw that they were going through similar changes, Boris and Autumns wings had actually changed into large wing-like fins, and Scars paws had become webbed and his Gatling guns had become two spear guns, Minions armour was less bulky looking and his plasma cannon had changed into a spear gun, Vapaa’s cloak had turned into a thicker material that resembled the wings of a manta ray.

“Every one alright?” I asked, I was surprised when they all responded perfectly clearly “okay, it seems we have adaptive armour” Vinyl lifted up a hand.

“Yeah, what’s adaptive armour?” she asked.

“Kind of speaks for itself” I said “it adapts to suit any major changes to the surrounding enviroment, it seems our bodies also change with it, so long as we wear the armour”

“I wonder if they would adapt to outer space” Vapaa said.

“We can wonder about that later” I said “we need to look for Garnet. Minion, can you see anything?” I heard his lenses ‘hunting’ but he shook his head”

“the temperature of the water is fucking with my thermal vision” he said, slapping the lenses, Vinyl’s mask glowed and I heard a loud ‘ping’, followed by a ripple originating from Vinyl’s mask.

“Your mask power!” Minion said “it’s activated”

“I can sense several individuals heading that way” Vinyl said, nodding to a cave, we all began to swim towards it, Autumn and Boris shot ahead of us, aided by their ‘water-wings’, we soon reached a cliff, which over looked a large underwater canyon, Minion gave a low whistle.

“Bloody hell!” he said “that’s deep, good thing we can swim” I turned to Vinyl.

“Send out another ‘ping’” I said, I heard another audio ‘ping’ sound off and a ripple went over the terrain, I could momentarily see the terrain as the ripple passed over, in the distance I could see three figures swimming towards the cliff, one of which was slightly smaller and being dragged by the other two “Minion, zoom in on that group” I heard his lens zoom in.

“That’s him” Minion said, before he could say anything else me and Autumn rushed forwards.

“I don’t care what reason they have for taking our son” I said, looking at Autumn “if they have harmed him in any way, they…will…BURN!” I then drew my sword, apparently they heard my because they stopped and I could just see them turn around, we swam closer, I could see that they were mere-ponies, and they had tridents in one hand and one of them was holding an unconscious Garnet in the other, I noticed he had a bubble of air around his snout, we stopped in front of them.

“What have you taken our son!?” I demanded, they tilted their heads in confusion and spoke in a language that sounded like a cross between a whale and a dolphin, I pointed at Garnet “Him, our son” I then pointed to me and Autumn, they just looked even more confused, one of them let out a really loud whale song, me and Autumn had to cover our ears, the other Toa swam up to us, that was when a whole pod of them appeared out of nowhere and began to circle us, the one holding Garnet said something in their language before swimming towards to cave and the pod held their tridents in an aggressive manner, blocking out path, the rest of the Toa got out their weapons.

“You can still back down” I said to the other Toa “this is mine and Autumns problem”

“No way am I leaving my family to get killed by a bunch a fish-ponies” Minion said, the others all agreed.

“Well then” I said “WE’RE HAVING FISH TONIGHT!”

And thus, the shit hit the fan.

Chapter 37