Mordecai raised his head groggily from the table in front of him. Looking out of a window on his right, falling snow greeted his vision as the train continued on its path. Next to him was Dawn, who had fallen asleep too, but was wearing her guard armor which looked very uncomfortable to sleep in.

Stretching his arms and yawning, Mordecai looked back out the window and saw a huge crystalline castle and a magical shield around it. A small smile had graced his face as he realized he would be arriving in the Crystal Empire.

Now adorned in his armor minus his helmet, Mordecai stepped off the train, Dawn right behind him. Celestia and Luna were already there, having arrived a day earlier to help get ready for the summit.

"Brrrrr it's freezing here." Dawn said as she got beside him.

"No shit Sherlock. I'm pretty sure they don't call it the Frozen North for nothing."

Dawn scoffed at him when a look of confusion crossed her face. "Wait, who's Sherlock?"

Mordecai shook his head and started walking towards the dome that protected the Crystal Empire. The walk from where the train dropped them off to the shield wasn't that far, but they were only halfway there when a large shadow fell on. Mordecai's heart started beating faster as adrenaline was pumped through his system, the shadow nearly triggering a flashback. Dawn looked up whistled at what she saw. Doing his best to ignore his fight-or-flight response, Mordecai looked up and his mouth dropped at what he saw.

The biggest dragon he had ever seen since coming to Equis flew above them, causing gusts of freezing wind to whip across them. Mordecai felt his nerves mostly calm themselves and he squinted to get a better look. A flock of armored dragons followed behind him, who Mordecai assumed to be Dragonlord Torch. The massive dragon and his entourage flew through the barrier and towards the castle.

"He's huge, isn't he?"

"That's what she said." Dawn's wing slapped him and Mordecai chuckled to himself. Continuing on their path, the Guardian and Thestral dredged through the snow towards their destination.

Approaching the dome, Mordecai got goosebumps as he passed through it. The icy chill Mordecai felt disappeared and was replaced by warmth. It was surprisingly sunny, with some clouds here and there. Mordecai looked at Dawn, who had a dopey smile and was slightly twitching. He raised an eyebrow at this, but ultimately decided not to question it.

A small group of guards in sparkling crystal armor approached them, led by a familiar pink alicorn. Cadence smiled at the pair warmly.

"Welcome to the Crystal Empire."

"Who hasn't shown up yet?" Mordecai asked as they walked to where the summit was being held.

"You're actually the last to arrive. You and Dragonlord Torch were scheduled to show up today, mostly due to accommodations for Torch and a surprise factor for you."

"Hehehe, I feel so special now." Mordecai replied sarcastically, making Cadence snort in amusement. The Crystal Empire was really a sight to behold to Mordecai. It definitely was in his top five list of the most beautiful places he has been to. The summit was taking place in a massive stadium, the only area that could house a ginormous dragon and his accompanying entourage.

Coming up on the stadium, they could see the two airships the Griffins arrived in and Torch's back peeking out from inside the stadium. Mordecai brought out Rain, who silently floated beside his Guardian. They walked through the entrance of the stadium, and a wave of anxiety passed through Mordecai as the beings attending the summit came into view.

Inside of the stadium, a huge crystalline round table had been set up in the center. Seated at the table, was everyone Celestia had said was going to be there. The only downside Mordecai saw about being the last to arrive, was that all eyes were on him.

Doing his best to show no outward signs of nervousness, Mordecai walked towards where he was told his seat was going to be, which was between Celestia and Luna. Dawn joined the Crystal Guards who stood near the entrance and Cadence took a seat to the right of Celestia. Silence reigned supreme around the table.

"So this is the creature?" Asked the black-feathered griffin from across the table. He had a small gold crown on his head, which had green gems embedded it. He also wore metal armor around his torso, which was silver in color.

"My name is Mordecai Cierson, and it's a pleasure to meet you, King Talas." The griffin snorted at him and and didn't say another word.

"What is your purpose for coming here?" The female feline at the table asked. Queen Nefertiti had amber fur and wore a bright blue headpiece similar to the one the Egyptians used. Now that he thought about it, there were a lot of similarities between Earth and Equis, adding more evidence to the alternate dimension theory.

"I came here not on my own circumstance, but because of a freak event." That had gotten the complete attention of everyone at the table minus the Princesses. "My ship was sucked into a portal made by two other hostile ships. I was knocked out and when I woke up, my ship was damaged badly enough that I couldn't avoid crashing here."

"What is that floating thing? Some kind of weapon?" King Talas spoke up, making some of the other races tense up.

"No, it's way worse." Smirking at the startled face the Griffin king made, Mordecai continued. "He's my partner, a living mechanical being named Rain. If it weren't for him, I would have stayed dead how many revives ago?"

Rain did his best impression of a sigh before answering. "I have revived Mordecai 6,742 times, and I'm sure it is going to go up 1 in the next few minutes."

"Impressive creation, but how have you died so many times yet appear here?" The massive Minotaur named Emperor Taurus questioned. He had brown fur, and his body was riddled with scars. He wore silver casings over both his horns.

"He speaks the truth, for my sister and I have witnessed one of his deaths." Luna replied. "He has the ability to come back from the dead and he wields powerful Magic, or as he calls it, Light."

"How about a demonstration?" The table shook from Dragon Lord Torch's voice. Getting up from the table, Mordecai walked near the Dragon and held his arms apart in a open invitation. Torch wasted no time in opening his mouth and breathing fire onto the Human. This lasted for 10 seconds before he stopped, leaving a black mark on the crystalline floor.

Rain floated near the burned mark, and remembered the last time his Guardian got incinerated. It was during a Crucible match of Clash when Mordecai rushed the enemy team only to receive a flying Solar Hammer to the face instead. The hammer had come from Jak, one of the members of Mordecai's fire-team. They were matched up by Lord Shaxx to see the old rivals turned buds from their love of the Crucible.

Coming back to the present, Rain focused his Light and combined it with Mordecai's. Reviving a Guardian from scratch was always a combined effort, after all. Rain's expanded shell exploded with Light as Mordecai's body and armor re-materialized from thin air, shocking Taurus and Nefertiti. Both Talas and Torch wore indifferent expressions on their faces.

"Simply... amazing. How did you come back?" Taurus asked in awe.

Mordecai explained what the Traveller was and how its enemy, the Darkness, nearly destroyed Humanity. He went over the Collapse, but neglected to tell them of his personal experience of it due to anxiety. Their facial expressions differed.
Nefertiti looked depressed, Talas had a grim face, Taurus wore a solemn expression, and Torch remained indifferent.

"Your people must be extremely strong to be able to come back from something like that, you have my respect Mordecai." The Minotaur Emperor said, and he put his fist over his chest. Mordecai did the same back to him, hoping he wasn't doing anything insulting. To his relief, the Minotaur smiled and nodded his head.

"You have mine as well, but there are other matters we need to get to." Started King Talas. "What weapons did you bring with you and what are the chances your enemies survived your trip as well?"

"I brought my personal armory, which is on me and my ship as well. As for the Hive and Vex, Rain didn't pick up anything on my ship's radar after we exited the wormhole. There's still a chance however, that they're somewhere out there."

"Would you be willing to share your knowledge of your weapons, to increase our chances of survival?" King Talas asked with a straight face.

"Absolutely not, that wou-" Luna started to say when Talas cut her off.

"You Ponies have your precious magic to protect you! We Griffins only have our claws and wings. Having these weapons will even the power between Griffonia and Equestria and should those monsters come, we'll have a fighting chance." Luna glared darkly at the King when Mordecai spoke.

"I'm not giving my weapons to anyone, not even the Equestrians." That caused a couple of shocked stares, minus the silent Dragon Lord who looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but here.

"I had no plans on upsetting the balance here by giving everyone the knowledge of my weapons. I can offer other things, like how my ship is able to fly and my Ghost can give pointers on advancing your technology, but that's it." Mordecai said, and the tone he used left no room for argument.

"However, I am willing to make a compromise." Mordecai continued. "I will give each race a basic blueprint on a firearm, in exchange for direct access to your countries and one rule; You will not use these weapons on each other for as long as I am here on this planet, and should I catch you doing so, then I'm taking them back myself personally. I will also be able to personally see your progress with nothing hidden from me. Deal?"

King Talas smiled and nodded his head. "Thank you."

"Is there anything else to discuss, or should I take my leave?" Dragon Lord Torch asked. Everyone looked around the room at each other before Torch opened his wings. With a single flap of his powerful wings, he was off the ground and out of the stadium. The wind generated from his wings almost blew everyone off their chair, and they all took a moment to gather themselves.

"Rain?" Mordecai said to his Ghost.

"On it." Rain said, using his Light to create four blue prints of the Khvostov 7G-02. Mordecai handed the blueprints to each race, who took them to look over.

"Like Dragon Lord Torch said, is there anything else?" Everyone shook their heads. "Alright then, I guess we're done."

"Thank you Mordecai, and you will receive a very warm welcome into Griffonia whenever you decide to arrive there." King Talas said, and he went over to Mordecai. Holding out his claw, the Guardian took the invitation and shook his claw. Nodding at him, King Talas turned around and was joined by his guards as he exited the stadium.

Emperor Taurus again put his fist over chest with Mordecai doing the same before he took his leave as well. Queen Nefertiti went up to Mordecai and hugged him, then she gave him a wink and took her leave as well. This left Mordecai with the Princesses and the Crystal Guard.

"Well, you handled that well Mordecai." Celestia said. "However, are you sure giving away weapon blueprints was wise?"

"Not really, but King Talas had a point about a possible attack by the Hive or Vex. Equis is still using primitive weapons and won't stand a chance against a invasion. Equestrians and the Dragons have the best chance against them due to dragons being, well, dragons. Ponies have some powerful Magic, and that'll prove useful. I want the other races to have a fighting chance if that happens."

"You're a good po-person Mordecai." Cadence said, and the other Princesses nodded their head in agreement.

"I mean it helps that Rain placed super small undetectable mics on the blueprints as well so that he could monitor them if they decide to openly go against my rule."

Both Celestia and Luna raised their eyebrows, while Cadence picked up the blueprint with her magic. "Where?"

"That black tab on the corner. I trust you guys enough to tell you that."

"That is very... sneaky, but I can see why you would do that." Luna stated, and her transformed into a smirk. "Very sneaky indeed."

"So what now?" Mordecai asked them.

"We will spend the rest of today and tomorrow here, then leave in the following morning back to Canterlot." Celestia replied.

"Alright, cool."

Author's Note

Jak belongs to The15ThDoctor. This took me a while to write, and may have some mistake here and there that'll I try to fix if I see them. I changed who was going to the summit to make it easier on myself due to the large amount of characters that were going to be introduced in this chapter. I will put up a blog post when I release the next chapter which will ask you guys for ideas for the rest of Mordecai's fireteam. More details will be in the post.