When Legends Rise

Chapters

The higher you are the harder you fall
Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.
Drinking to remember
Kings & Queens
A night on the town
Something something something Itailian job
Breakfast with royalty
Ambitious but rubbish
Early morning musings
Pegasus parrying f@3kery
Retaliating first
Breaking up the monotony
More cheer in a graveyard
Ripper, tearer, slasher, gouger
Strong in muscle, strong in heart
New legends await, but old lessons must be remembered
Pilot error
Sins of our forefathers
Aggressive negotiations
I am the man who grabs the sun!
Clear the way!
The beast within
Spiders, Steam, and Obscenities
Mental breaks and mental links
The future of warfare
Consequences
Remnants
a roll in the hay
do these chapter titles even matter at this point?
Stranger in a stange land
Cold dark sells & bumpy train rides
Ponies of strength, ponies of Teeside
Interlude: Never Meddle in the affairs of dragons... For you are crunchy and good with ketchup.

The higher you are the harder you fall

“Uh...are we interrupting something?” I called, taking off my mask (probably best to not seem like a threat to them). This startled the four alicorns, and as one their head whipped up and around to look at me. Almost immediately the dark blue alicorn narrowed her eyes and frowned.

“What is your business here, creature?” she demanded. At this Autumn stepped up to them and saluted.

“You’re highnesses” she said, proceeding to rattle off an impromptu report “I am Lieutenant Autumn Skies of the Ponyville garrison. I found this creature, who claims to be a “human”, on the outskirts of Ponyville and initially apprehended him believing him to be a potential threat, however upon interrogation he claims to have woken up in the Everfree Forest with no recollection of having arrived there in the first place, and that he has no personal memories from his time before arriving in the Forest, not even his own name. But he definitely does not recall the armour you see him wearing from before he woke up. From his distress when explaining this to me, I have no reason to suspect that he has any sinister intentions, and that he may be the victim of some sort of magical mishap” at this the dark blue Alicorn walked up to me and began to walk around me, looking me up and down.

“A most interesting, if unfortunate, story indeed” she said “but I’m afraid we have more pressing matters at hoof, as you both have probably just heard”

“Yes, Princess Luna” Autumn Skies said “I will be willing to serve you in any way that will help further your plan” the dark blue Alicorn, Princess Luna, now stopped in front of me and studied my face. I couldn’t help but feel somewhat intimidated by her gaze, her eyes bore a fierce intelligence and seemed impossibly old, I also got the feeling that she was fully prepared to splatter me across the marble floor should she feel the need.

“And what of you, “Human”?” she asked.

“I’m...undecided” I said “forgive me for being frank, your majesty, but a lot of what you and the white Alicorn up there have said seems...outlandish” at this the white Alicorn stepped up.

“Outlandish how?” she asked, just like Luna her eyes were impossibly old and held an incredible amount of intelligence behind them, however unlike Luna she didn’t feel intimidating, rather she had an almost motherly kindness to her eyes. She wasn’t offended by my statement, more curious.

“Well…” I began, choosing my words carefully “although my memories are lacking, I know that where I come from, magic isn’t...well, it isn’t a thing. At least, it’s not real outside of the realms of fantasy, and what is real that we call magic is more sleight of hand & illusion, tricks of the eye, that sort of thing. Personally, I’m a man of science, I prefer to believe in that which my kind has proven”

“Then allow me to prove it to you” the white alicorn said with a soft, amused smile on her face, approaching me and carefully tipping her horn to my forehead. The moment it contacted my skin my vision when blank and I felt a powerful presence enter my mind.

I suddenly found myself in a black void, I was stood, yet I felt no ground below my feet, I felt no up, no down, I simply...was.

Suddenly the white alicorn appeared in front of me, with a presence akin to a mountain accompanying her, with the arrival of that presence I felt a name seep into my mind…

Celestia

“Wha...where are we?” I asked. Looking around.

“My apologies” she said, giving me a kind smile “We’re in a mental melding, with the time we have available it’s the fasted method to ascertain as to your nature. What would take minutes face to face will take mere seconds to those in the room, it will appear as if I’ve touched my horn to your forehead for a moment before lifting it away again”

“You’re in my head?” I asked, feeling confusion, uncertainty, and no small amount of mistrust, creep into my mind. I felt different emotions float into my mind, reasurace, kindness, and...patience. They were hers

“I promise you, I will not go digging where I’m not wanted” she said. “I’m simply here to find out whether your intentions are honest, and maybe even do something about your memories” I then felt something force its way into the deeper parts of my mind and at this moment images began to flash up all around us. Images of my home world, its civilisation, information about its history.

“Fascinating…you’re of a species called...Homo Sapiens, descended from primates. You’re also the only known kind to attain higher intelligence in your own realm” Celestia said, looking around “You kind has a level of technological advancement far beyond anything I’ve seen. You have a worldwide information network, allowing instant communication throughout the world, such vision, such industriousness rivals that of even the minotaurs...but your kind is also so...violent…more so than the griffons or the dragons...”

As she said this, scenes of war began flashing through my mind, old footage reels, news reports. Celestia’s ears pinned back and she had a shocked look on her face.

“It’s not an aspect of my species that I would willingly share” I said, looking shamefaced “But, yes, it’s true, my kind isn’t the most peaceful” the images began shifting away from darker topics, showing the word at large, images of its continents, its environment.

“Well at least that answers the question of where you come from” she said, before adding “...in a manner of speaking”

“I’m assuming not this world?” I asked.

“Terra isn’t nearly as mapped out as your own realm” she said “but had we existed on the same planet, your kind and that of the surrounding lands of my realm would have encountered each other long ago”

“What about my own memories?” I asked “Do you think you can try to find them” Celestia’s face grew serious and she appeared to focus. Non-specific images disappeared altogether, what resurfaced was blurred...distorted, to the point where I couldn’t even make anything out. Celestia looked around in amazement

“That’s just…” she began “But that’s just impossible, no known memory spell would do that”

“What do you mean?” I asked

“The sapient mind is a very complex thing, but oh so easy to break if tamped with without thought” she explained “even through thousands of years of mind related magical study we’ve only just scratched the surface of what is possible. Normally a memory spell locks the memories down completely, as if locked away in a closet. but someone has gone through every one of your memories, isolated those specific to your own identity, and left all the rest. It’s flawless in its application.”

“But can you do anything about it?” I asked. Celestia gave a sigh and flashed an apologetic smile.

“I’m afraid not” she said “The mind is a very fickle thing. I fear that even with my magical skill, I could do more harm than good in attempting to unlock your memories”

I let out a sigh and rubbed the back of my head, trying not to let my disappointment show.

“It was a long shot anyway” I said, before gesturing to the mindscape around ut “Alright, finish this...whatever it is, I’d much rather have my mind to itself”

“As you wish” she said with a nod “though this time I warn you, the kickback from a mind meld an be quite..jarring for those that haven’t experienced it before” I mentally steadied myself and nodded, but no amount of preparation could prepare me for what I experienced once she exited my mind. I felt like someone had taken a whip to my brain and I physically recoiled with a cry, dropping my mask with a clang in the process as I clutched my head.

“Oh my goodness, I am so sorry!” I heard someone exclaim as I fell to my knees and I felt a warm and comforting force support me as I tried to fight through the splitting headache I was now feeling. For a moment I couldn’t even speak as I clutched my head, but eventually it faded and I found myself relaxing and began panting, my heart racing. After a moment I heard a soft shimmering sound and looked up to see a glass of water floating in front of my eyes, suspended in a golden aura, the same aura which now surrounded Celestia’s horn

“What...in the hell was that?” I asked, tacking the glass of water and proceeding to down it.

“I did warn you that the first time can be a bit rough” she said.

“Rough?” I asked “forgive my lack of decorum, your highness, but it felt like someone took a fucking sledgehammer to my head” Celestia jerked her head back and wrinkled her nose at that.

“Must you use such vulgar language?” Luna asked.

“We can get to bollocking me for swearing later” I said, placing the glass down and standing up, while still massaging my aching head “Last I checked there was some supposedly evil soul stealing tyrant headed this way. And weren’t you in the middle of some kind of plan to pull a switcheroo on him?”

“Magic-stealing” Luna corrected, rolling her eyes “but we take your point” and with that, they both turned and made their way back over to the two other Alicorns. Whilst they talked Autumn walked over to me.

“So...what even was that?” Autumn asked “from what I saw Celestia touched her horn to your head for a second then you suddenly cried out in pain and fell to the floor”

“She did something she called a mind meld?” I said “I don’t know, she read my mind or something”

“That sounds like a Mind Meld to me” she said “Really advanced stuff, but still relatively well known by those that possess magic”

“And what about you?” I asked.”can you...do magic?”

“Magic is what allows me to fly and manipulate the weather” she explained “But I can’t use magic directly like a Unicorn or Alicorn can”

“Manipulate the weather?” I asked “Alright, flying I can get, given your wing to body mass ratio is way off, but I’m totally calling bullshit on weather manipulation”

“Well, once we make it out of this, I’ll be more than happy to show you” her face changed to a troubled expression as she glanced at the princesses, who seemed to have moved into a triad around the Purple Alicorn “Assuming we do make it out of this”

“Oh god, don’t go giving me doubts now!” I exclaimed “I’m already bricking it at the thought of having to guard royalty from a mad titan knowing that we may very well loose. That we will probably lose!” at that moment my attention was diverted by a giant ball of light above the four alicorns growing large enough to fill nearly the entire throne room before channeling itself into the purple alicorn in the center, making her levitate and emite her own halo of light as the three alicorns surrounding her collapsed from apparent exhaustion.

For a moment the purple alicorn was suspended in thin air, about 6 foot off the ground, twitching with sparks of electricity shooting across her body. Slowly she began to descend to the floor and stumbled upon making contact as the glow which surrounded her receded. Almost immediately she ran over to Celestia and they embraced. I decided now was the time to intervene.

“Not that this isn’t touching” I said, walking over “but if you want to avoid Tirek, then you might want to get the hell out of here now”

“The stranger is right” Luna said, sounding exhausted “you must leave with all haste. We will provide a distraction, and with these newcomers here it will help to keep up appearances that we are the ones he wants” the Purple Alicorn nodded, before disappearing with a flash and a crack. Once she was gone Celestia turned to me.

“Still skeptical of our magic?” she asked, a faint smirk gracing her features.

“Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” I quoted. “Now, let’s try and come up with some sort of plan to make this titan-thing think you still have your magic”

The next day, after some weird light show with the sun and moon, myself and Autumn were stood at the ready, we began to feel the ground pounding with heavy footsteps.

“Well, can’t say this was how I pictured biting the dust” I said, holding my sword at the ready, whilst Autumn was reared up on her hind legs wielding a pike “but there’s certainly less honorable ways to bow out”

“You’re not inspiring much confidence as to your bravery in all of this” Autumn said, rolling her eyes.

“Who said I was being brave?” I asked “I’ve never fought for something in my entire life, I’m shitting myself right now. But, I figure I wasn’t given this armour and sword to stand around and look pretty. So if this is how I go, then so be it”

At that moment the doors suddenly burst inwards the reveal a great red centaur, standing some 15 feet tall. I found myself taken aback by his sheer size

“Oh heeell no!” I exclaimed, adopting a defensive stance, the Centaur appeared amused at this. Whilst Autumn let out a warcry and proceeded to charge at Tirek, who simply grabbed her pike and began to seemingly suck out her magic before flinging her to one side. He then stomped his way over to me and I found myself gulping, he raised an arm and before I could even bring my sword to bare he grabbed a hold of my throat, lifting me high into the air.

“Another being held back by friendship with ponies” he said, almost sounding disappointed. Despite my situation I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“You think I’m friends with the ponies?” I asked “I literally only just got here yesterday. Truth be told I’m just winging it”

“You don’t even know these ponies and yet you stand by their side against impossible odds?” he asked, sounding surprised.

“To live in fear is no life at all” I said “I would rather die than serve under the rule of a tyrant, especially from one such as you who takes power rather than earns it”

“I’ll make certain your death will be arranged” he said, before opening his mouth wide and attempting to draw magic out of me, I saw a red glow surround me, but other than that nothing happened.

“I don’t have magic, you moron!” I said, only for him to snort and fling me across the room and into a wall, for a moment I went blind as my head smacked into the wall. With a groan I slumped against the wall, too stunned and in pain to even move. As I watched Tirek stomp his way over to the princesses, and Autumn in a similar situation to me, pale and drained of all her magic, I felt a voice creep into my mind, a voice which was impossibly ancient, but oh-so-young at the same time. As she spoke I could feel a newfound sense of strength returning to me as the pain receded at an equal pace.

“Human, son of Adam...hear my voice, you are right to think that you were brought to this world for a reason. You were brought here to protect those who cannot protect themselves, to be the remaining source of light when all other lights go out. I name you Onælan and I command you! Pick up your sword and face him side by side with Autumn Skies once more. Pick up your sword and unleash the powers I now bestow upon you. Pick up your sword and unleash the power of the flame of Dómgeorn. Pick up your sword and become...Wrakjōn!

Immediately I felt the overwhelming urge to take hold of my sword once more, I reached out for my sword and in an instant sparks flew from my hand towards the handle of the blade. it leapt towards my hand, flying into my grasp with a metallic thunk, and as I closed my fingers around the handle I felt strength fill my very being like never before, like someone had injected pure adrenaline into my veins.

I looked to Autumn, and saw her armour begin to shift from mirror-polished ornamental brass to functional burnt orange armour. As we both rose to our full hights we shared a look and in that instant I knew what I needed to do. We both looked to see Tirek attempted to take the princesses non-existent magic.

“What have you done?” he demanded “WHERE IS YOUR MAGIC!?”

“Oh, we’ve got some magic for you right here, you cunt!” I called, stepping forth. Tirek turned to face us and at that moment Autumn raised a foreleg and hinged switch blades on either side of her hoof flicked over and began to glow with a burnt orange magical aura. Which also surrounded the manacles around tireks wrists. I then thrust my sword forth and a beam of condensed flame shot forth from the blade and impacted the centaur titan squarely in the chest.

He seemed to have nearly been knocked off his hooves by the force of the blast, were it not for Autumn’s magic holding him in place. He let out a bellow of rage and fired a beam of raw untamed thermal magic at me from between his twin horns. As the magic hurtled towards me I stopped the beam of fire and pulled up an arm up to cover my face. I closed my eyes and waited for the flames to hit me.
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.
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When I didn’t feel myself burning to a crisp as expected, I opened my eyes and lowered my arm to see that the flames were swirling around me, yet I felt no different to if I was submerged in water. If anything, I felt more revitalised

“So, I can not only control fire, but absorb it as well” I thought, letting a small smirk slip loose as an idea crept into my mind. I straightened up my posture as I waited for Tirek to stop his magic and when he finally did a cloud of dust obscured me from everyone else, I simply stepped forwards through the dust cloud to see Tirek’s smug face turn to one of confusion. I casually glanced at my paldron, before brushing away a small piece of rubble.

“Is that it?” I asked, walking over to him.

“With the magic I put into that...you should be nothing but ash!” Tirek exclaimed in astonishment. I held the handle of my sword with both hands as flames started to envelope the blade.

“That’s the funny thing” I said “Hard to burn something if it’s already a raging inferno” and with that I burst into a full sprint and before Tirek had a chance to react I pulled my sword back and thrust it forwards, plunging it into Tirek’s chest. This seemed to catch not only Tirek by surprise, but elicited a gasp from the princesses and Autumn.

“What have you done?” I heard Luna say incredulously, as Tirek began to slump down, blood seeping from the wound. “The people of Equestria...do not take the life of another”

“I’m not from Equestria” I said, punctuating my point by pushing the blade deeper into his chest, right up to the hilt, this caused Tirek to let out a gasp of pain before falling to his knees and bowing his head. I assumed him to be succumbing to his wounds, but I heard him trying to say something. I pulled his head closer “What was that?”

“Y-you should have gone for the head” he said. His face contorted into a smirk and before I even had the chance to react a beam of magic shot forth from his horns, blowing me through a stained glass window for a moment I saw nothing but clear blue sky, before it tilted away to reveal miles upon miles of the sprawling landscape of the country I’d ended up in, followed by the city below rushing up to reach me, I felt my stomach drop as I began to appreciate the gravity of the situated...quite literally

“Oh fuck!” I shouted out in fear, flailing my arms in a useless attempt at trying slow my descent, as I fell I saw a rather tall and sharp spire rushing up to meet me in the perfect position to skewer me and I got the sinking feeling that this was going to hurt, a lot.

Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.

Just as I was ready to accept my fate I felt two armoured hoofs grab me by the armpits and bring me to a grinding halt with the spire dangerously close to impaling me in the groin.

“Don’t worry! I’ve got you” I heard Autumn say in a strained voice as we bobbed up and down. “Although...you could stand to loose some weight”

“Fuck’s sake, just get me on the ground before I end up with an involuntary gender reassignment!”

“Alright, alright, I hear you” she said, I could practically hear her eyes rolling. As we began to move towards the ground “No need to swear so much”

“Fuck you!” came my defiant reply and she unceremoniously dropped me the rest of the way, when my feet touched the ground I had to drop to one knee to dissipate the force of the impact. As I rose to my feet I came to the realisation that I’d never had reflexes that fast before.

“Well, at least you know how to land on your feet” she said, before jerking her head in the direction of the palace. “Come on, let’s haul flank back up there” And without a second word she flew off down the street. I began to run after her, fully expecting to get left in the dust of the clearly faster winged creature, but I quickly discovered that my speed was greatly enhanced far beyond what one would consider natural, my reflexes too, as I began almost instinctively dodging, weaving, and leaping over haphazardly strewn items left in the street to keep up with Autumn, eventually drawing up alongside her and keeping pace, though I had to dodge around far more whilst she flew a much smoother path.

“Well somepony's feeling spry” she quipped.

“This is news to me as well” I said “before I had this armour I would have been left in the dust and out of breath at the first crossroads” We didn’t say anything for some time, as we concentrated on getting back to the castle. But eventually I spoke up.

“Autumn...before you got that armour, did you…?” I left the question open, unsure how to proceed.

“Yes” Autumn said, not turning to look at me “I heard her too”

“Any ideas on who it was?” I asked.

“No” she said, as we drew close to the castle. “But I know what Wrakjon are” we slowed down to a creep as we snuck into the castle.

“Well, care to explain that one to me?” I asked.

“Eh...ancient protectors who had control over different elements, both physical and abstract, last I knew they were just myths, legends, the sort of thing told to little colts and fillies to make them behave” she said, before changing her voice in an attempt at imitation “Go to sleep and be good now, Wrakjon don’t protect those who misbehave, at least, that’s what my parents always told me”

“Why did they disappear in the first place?” I asked

“According to the legends, when Discord ruled over Equestra thousands of years ago, he either banished the weak and inexperienced ones to faraway lands, making them not his problem, or corrupted those which posed a threat and bent them to his will, they were turned to stone by the Elements of Harmony and now reside in the statue gardens.

“Then why didn’t whoever did this” I gestured to myself “simply just switch them back and un-stone them?” Autumn went to answer, but as we approached the throne room I noticed that Tirek was still very much alive and kicking, and there was something else there, some kind of chimera which seemed to float in thin air. Thinking quickly I grabbed Autumn around her midsection, pulling her close to me, clamped a hand over her muzzle and quickly hid off to one side of the demolished doorway.

No sooner had I done so than Tirek stomped past, followed by the chimera. Only when they rounded a corner in the corridor and stopped out of sight did I slowly release Autumn from my grip.

“Wanna warn me next time you feel like groping me?” Autumn asked.

“Later” I said, looking into the throne room and seeing it completely empty I made my way in and began to look for the sword, though upon looking around I couldn’t immediately spot it amongst the the rubble, I turned to autumn with a sheepish smile “Um, you wouldn’t happen to know where my sword went, would you?” Autumn shook her head.

“The moment you went flying through that window it faded out of existence”

“Shit” I muttered “Just what I need, because we need to try and come up with some plan to stop Tirek and his chimera buddy" Suddenly a breeze swept through the throne room.

“Nooooooo” came a voice, whisper quiet, sounding almost like the wind blowing through a forest, the both of us looked around trying to pinpoint the source of the voice “it is not your purpose to defeat Tirek….your destiny leads to a different paaaath”

“Show yourself...whatever you are” I called “we don’t have time for games or riddles” for a moment I could have almost sworn I heard the voice...giggle

“Oh, my dear Onælan...you try so very hard to make it look like you are in control, but you and I both know that deep down...you are scared, so scared by the thought that you might not see your home again that you have yet to fully question your situation, you are so quick to just...accept your current situation”

“I don’t exactly have a choice” I said “I take it you are the one who brought me here in the first place, the one who has blocked my memories, given me this armour, you’ve even taken away by fucking name! Who ever the fuck you are, I’ve almost died twice in the space of a minute and my temper is at all time high. So if you’re here for a reason, then get to the point!”

“And what exactly would you do if I were to keep testing your patience?” the voice said, coming from behind me, sounding much more...physical. I turned to see a white Alicorn with a maroon mane, some 8 foot tall, standing before me. Autumn gasped and took several quick steps back.

“That all very much depends on whose side you’re on” I said, the Alicorn regarded me with amusement as she began to slowly and gracefully walk around me in a circle.

“Side?” she asked “I am on nobody's side, because no one is really on my side. I travel here and there as I please, nudging things as I see fit to maintain the balance, but ultimately letting things progress unimpeded...many would think me a god, but if you truly wish to refer to me by a name them you may call me Fantasia”

“You call interplanetary kidnaping a nudge!?” I asked, in an instant she was upon me, her demeanor changing from calm and benevolent to outright malicious in an instant, and I felt as if I were staring down a mighty tidal wave in that moment, as if I could simply be swept aside at a moment’s notice. I felt a level of power and will far greater than that which I had sensed from Celestia or Luna

“I call it whatever is necessary to maintain the balance” her voice now sounded like thunder, before it once again became serine, albeit stern “I have bestowed upon you a great purpose, far greater than anything anyone from your world could ever hope to achieve, and yet you stand there whining and making demands like a child”

“That tends to happen when you rip someone from their home and wipe their memories!” I said “Maybe as something who can simply do as they please and alter the very fabric of reality to suit you; you can’t comprehend that. But for us insignificant mortal humans we have to work so fucking hard simply to enjoy what little spare time we’ll have left as a result. You rip me away from everything I love and wipe my memory so that I don’t even have the courtesy of getting to fully grieve over what I have lost, and yet you dare to call it a gift? How little do you think of creatures like me?” by now my anger had reached boiling point as I stared down the closest thing that matched my perception of a god, and I barely perceived flames beginning to manifest around me.

“Do you have any idea how beings like you come across to those like myself who even dare to question the matter of the possibility of their being a greater intelligence?” I asked, at which she raised an eyebrow “beings like you like to present yourself as being perfect and benevolent, and all seeing, all knowing, and most of all fair! Answer me this, what’s fair about cancer, or flesh eating parasites, or genetic disorders which cripple from birth? And why do we have to spend our entire life on our knees in thanks for being born into such an existence in the first place?” by now I was starting to hyperventilate with rage, and had to stop myself before I ended up getting physical in my anger. For a moment Fantasia said nothing and simply bowed her head, whilst Autumn was staring at me with her mouth agape. Then, suddenly, Fantasia let out a humm of amusement, which developed into a chuckle, and then into full blown laughter, not sinister laughter, but genuine laughter of amusement. Eventually her laughter died down.

“Forgive me, young one” she said “I do not mean to mock, nor diminish the seriousness of your concerns, but it would appear that you’re world’s perception of a god is very different to this world’s, I simply find your world’s concept of a god compared to reality as rather amusing. Do not think that we, nor the mortals, perceive ourselves as perfect, far from it, we have shortcomings all of our own. We are no different in mindset to a typical mortal, we just have a lot more power to play with. And one more thing” this time she walked closer to me and placed a hoof on my shoulder, and immediately I felt a calming sensation overcome me. Looking back up to her face I could see she now had a more serious, if not concerned expression.

“Do not ever think that we view mortals as little” she said “the smallest creature has the ability to change the course of history, it is for that very reason that you were chosen”

“Chosen for what...exactly” Autumn asked “You gave me this armour too, so clearly I’m a part of this as well”

“Patience, little one” Fantasia said “there is but two more individual who has yet to play a part at this stage, I’ve had to take a more direct approach to bring them here, they should be arriving right about now” we suddenly heard footsteps approaching and turned to see a white unicorn with an electric blue mane, accompanied by a grey pony with a dark grey mane and tail, walking over and looking around in awe at the destruction. Autumn took one look at them before turning back to Fantasia with an unamused expression on her face

“You have got to be joking” she said.

“Am I missing out on something?” I asked.

“You have no idea how much trouble those two can cause. I’ve had to bring them in on more than one occasion” Autumn said, before leaning towards me to whisper. “That earth pony might come across as high class, but just you wait, she’s just as much a trouble maker as that white one”

“Come and sit” Fantasia called over to them “we have much to discuss” the two newcomers regarded the three of us, particularly me, with curiosity.

“I take it you were the one who summoned us?” the grey pony asked, sitting on her haunches in front of Fantasia, the white unicorn wordlessly followed suit. Not long after myself and Autumn also sat down, the four of us in a semicircle in front of Fantasia

“Indeed, I am Fantasia” the regal alicorn said, tilting her head towards the slate-maned pony “It would seem that there is a touch of destiny about the four of you, and I can assure you it’s not purely my doing, though I have worked to set it in motion. There is an ancient prophecy, almost as old as us gods. It reads as follows” she then began to recite a prophecy in a melodic voice:

Proclaim the ones of new-forged skin:
Of bone, and iron, and pow'r within.
This scattered band together comes,
Its strength, as One, more than its sum.

Each wields a spark like those of old,
Of flame or Earth, of Air or Cold.
For Shadows that once had it all
Unveils the lie of its final fall.

This ancient dark, by all rebuffed,
Once more shalt seek for peace to snuff.
Yet, once 'gain falls that shrivel'd heart
As, likewise, fall its plans apart.

Thus erstwhile heroes seek their quest
In bedrock set, at time's behest:
To one day free their ensnared Priors,
Caught by beasts with blood of fire.

Though evil persists like phage,
It looks to slake its vengeful rage.
The dark will Peace's key entheft
And leave their greatest chance bereft.

To Shadow's shame, while in its haste,
It shall, the world's walls, lay to waste.
So, 'cross the realms of Time and Space;
New allies sought, the war a race.

As friends appeal to Hearts and Minds,
They also shall new troubles find.
In lieu of Hope, a fit of Rage;
Flame's strength unleashed resets the stage.

For those who Blood and Breath do give
In memory forever live.
When foes of Doom new threaten Life,
Our heroes shall again make strife.

And when sun's Light sends iron to Void,
All shall find their peace destroyed.
Ere Steel and Flesh are merg'd compleat,
An alliance kept is no easy feat.

By the time she finished a great power appeared to flow through her words, and some kind of aura surrounded her. Upon finishing she let out a sigh.

“I cannot say with certainty what this shadow is” Fantasia said “but I am certain Proclaim the ones of new-forged skin refers to the Wrakjon of old. So I have summoned you here to start you on a quest, a quest to discover more like you throughout the world, and hopefully to face this shadow that is prophesied” when none of us spoke up with questions, she continued

“Many centuries ago, the Wrakjon were the defenders of peace and justice in this world, not just in Equestria but in many far off lands also, their name being the ancient equine word for warrior but also protector or guardian. Each of them was gifted with the powers of a chosen element, of which they were the masters of, in return they had a duty to not only protect the innocent, but to uphold a principle, one intrinsically linked with their element, but which also granted additional powers” she turned to me.

“Onælan” she said “I gave you that name for a reason, it is the old equine word for ignite, but also to inspire or to lead, You will become the element of fire, throughout history always the bravest and most courageous of elements, and in return you must learn to uphold the principle of courage, in the hopes that it may give strength to yourself and to others in times of need” she then turned to Autumn.

“Autumn Skies, one who has already given so much in the name of your duty, I give to you the element of Iron, one of the toughest elements, which commands the very metal that forms beneath our hooves and keeps the world turning , not just a sign of brute strength, but of strong will. In return you must learn to uphold the principle of valour, do so and you will become a truly unstoppable force.” Autumn sighed and looked down, as if deep in thought, Fantasia then turned to the grey pony.

“Octavia Melody, I give to you the element of gravity, a force which affects everything from the smallest particle to the largest celestial object, with this power you could either crush your foes down to nothing, or send them hurtling off into the great void. In return you must learn to uphold the principle of trust, that you should not only learn to trust others, but to give others a reason to trust you. Learn to trust, and you shall never be caught off guard” Octavia, to her credit, went wide eyed as Fantasia spoke. Finally, the Alicorn turned to the white unicorn, who up until now was surprisingly reserved, all things considered.

“Vinyl Scratch” Fantasia said “a pony of the night, one who must consume the blood of others to survive, by all rights these mortals are your prey...and yet, you willingly hold yourself back, go to great efforts to make yourself appear as normal as possible and blend in with society, that shows a strong will and an extraordinary amount of morality for one such as yourself. I give to you the element of sound, you already have heightened hearing, but now you shall have complete mastery over sound in its every aspect, you can either render a foe deaf and silent, or you could utilize it as a concussive force, it’s all up to how creative you are. In return you must learn to uphold the principle of compassion, do so and you will be blessed with abilities of stealth the likes of which even your kind would dream of” At Fantasia’s implication that Vinyl was a vampire, myself and Autumn both whipped our heads around to look at her, although Octavia seemed to already be aware of this, and I heard the Vinyl rapidly draw in a breath and tense up only to slowly relax as Fantasia continued her speech.

“Lastly” Fantasia said, addressing us all this time “there is but one more thing I need you all to do, you must swear to uphold the ancient Wrakjon code. Ponies must kneel, and Onælan you must take a knee. However, should any of you feel that you are not worthy, walk out now and I will not stop you” after a few moments nobody made to leave, and I saw my sword materialise in front of me surrounded in a maroon halo, taking it I assumed a kneeling stance with my hands on the hilt of the sword and its tip touching the ground. As the ponies bowed I let my head tilt forwards and rested it against the handle of my sword. As I closed my eyes I found myself thinking that, memories or no memories, from this moment on my old life was over anyway. Who I was, the old me? He died the moment I woke up in this land. I then heard Fantasia speak once more.

“Do the four of you swear to never be cruel or cowardly? To never give up or give in? And most importantly, to never harm the innocent or kill the unarmed?”

Autumn was the first to swear her allegiance to the oath, I figure that was due to the fact she’d already been through something similar as a royal guard. Octavia was next. Followed by myself. After a few moments of silence I looked over expectantly at Vinyl, who seemed to be trying to speak, but failing to do so and hurting herself endlessly. Upon seeing this Fantasia slowly walked over and lifted Vinyls chin up with a hoof, a kind smile on her face.

“Do not strain yourself trying to talk if you cannot” she said “your magic will suffice” and in that moment, I saw Vinyl’s horn light up, and two words comprised of pure magic appeared and floated above her head

I SWEAR

Fantasia smiled warmly and took a step back.

“Rise now, and you leave your old lives behind entirely” The claret maned alicorn said “rise now and you are no longer ponies or human. Rise, and you shall become wrakjon” as one we rose to our full heights and magenta magic swirled around Octavia and Vinyl. Dark armour, black & purple for Octavia and Grey for Vinyl, materialised around them and they seemed to stand taller. After a moment to let them look themselves over Fantasia’s horn began to glow, a similar aura surrounded us and we found ourselves draped a light brown hooded cloaks, additionally a shoulder bag materialised on myself, whilst saddlebags materialised on the ponies.

“I give to the four of you cloaks of concealment” the alicorn explained “they will not render you invisible, but they will make you less noticeable to passersby, they will also shield you from the far seeing eyes of more malevolent forces which lurk in the lands beyond Equestria’s borders. They also offer the wearer additional protection from the elements; no storm will be too fierce, no tundra too cold, and no desert too hot. They will also be unaffected by your own elements, so you need not worry about burning them” Fantasia then nodded to the bags we carried.

“I have also provided you with bags of holding” she said “they will allow you to garry a great many things with no effort, and in your case Onælan they will maintain the charge of your personal possessions, which you should find located inside. I have also made the precaution of providing a few necessary supplies for the road ahead” She then turned to me.

“Lastly, there is something I wish to give you, Onælan, in light of what you have had to sacrifice to be here” her horn then glowed magenta, and its aura reached out to surround a particularly large piece of wood from the now demolished door, as it floated close it began to shift into a great staff.

“You species does not possess magic” she said, floating the staff in front of me “with this you shall be able to tap into my own magic and use it as you see fit. And I shall be able to communicate through it to guide you in times of need” I gingerly took hold of it in both hands and a pulse of magenta energy raced up the staff. Autumn now stepped forwards.

“What will you have us do?” she asked “where are we to go from here?”

“You are to travel north from here, make a course for the eastern continent” she said “then when you have crossed over begin to make your way south to the southern continent. You should meet individuals who will join you on your quest along the way. I will be there the guide you through Onælan’s staff should you require help, but the rest is up to you. Get rested, my friends, for you shall depart at dawn's first light upon the morrow” and with that she dissipated with a gust a wind. Once she was gone I let out a sight and allowed my posture to sag as I began to understand the full weight of the situation.

“Well fuck”

Author's Note

I'll be honest, I wasn't attempting to churn out this chapter as quick as I did, but I found myself falling into a comfortable stride as I let the words flow.

the way I figure it, Fantasia isn't good or evil, at least, not in terms of the allegiances of mortals. she exists to maintain the balance of nature.

"Perfectly balanced, as all things should be..."

one moment she might seem completely benevolent, the next, utterly malicious, depending on where you stand in hey eyes.

thinking about it, she would probably be outright malicious, if not hateful, towards the human race as a whole, what with our track record with the environment and industrialisation.

Drinking to remember

The first tentative traces of birdsong filled the air as I walked through the statue gardens of Canterlot Castle, the situation with Tirek had since been resolved and now ponies were attempting to return to some semblance of normality. As I walked through the gardens everywhere I looked there were stone statues of all manner of creature, from ponies, to dragons, to griffons, to minotaurs, to centaurs, I’m certain I even saw a qilin of chinese mythology at one point. All were wearing some kind of armour and at the base of each statue was an inscription telling who they were and what they did.

These were the original Wrakjon.

As I was studying one statue in particular of two dragons I heard hoof steps approach.

“Blazewing and Frostfang” I heard the stern voice of Princess Luna say “two brothers, each with power over fire and ice respectively, I recall the pair of them were quite the loose canon at the best of times, as most dragons are, but they did save the lives of our ponies a number of times”

“Is there any chance they could be brought back?” I asked after a moment. “I mean you brought back ol’ calm and normality over there” I jerked a thumb at the chimera-like creature I had encountered earlier, who was currently dressed in a maid outfit, dusting off the statues and looking none too happy, suddenly his ears began to combust and he looked over.

“I heard that, human!” I heard him call, but I chose to ignore him. At my question Luna let out a sigh.

“I...do not know” she said, sounding unsure “In theory, certainly, as you say we we able to release Discord. But reforming these old guardians after discords manipulation of them would prove...difficult. Maybe once you return from your quest we can look into it”

“Perhaps” I said, holding my staff in both hands and studying the runes and patterns inscribed into the wood, before glancing up and making note of just how small I felt in the face of these immortalized legends which surrounded us. I turned to Luna, beginning to say something “I just....” I trailed off and let out a sigh, not sure how to voice my worries. Luna reached up and placed a hoof on my shoulder, a kind, knowing smile on her face

“Do not focus so much on trying to live up to expectation of that which came before you, instead focus on making your own mark on history” she said and at my surprised look she elaborated “I know the feeling of standing under somepony else's shadow all too well. I let it get the better of me and paid the price for it” I nodded and placed a hand on the base of the statue. The events of the past three days beginning to hit me; friends and family, an entire life once lived an entire world away, now forgotten but still lost, the full realisation of just what had happened, what I’d been through hit me at full force, I found myself having to hold onto the staff and lean against it for support as I began to be overcome with emotions. I turned my head away from the princess, shame mixing with grief and pain at the loss of composure in front of this nation’s co-leader.

“Forgive me” I choked out, quiet sobs wracking my body, my hands trembling as I tightened my grip on the staff. In response I felt Luna squeeze my shoulder with her hoof.

“There is nothing to forgive” she said “to show emotion in the face of great personal loss is nothing to feel shame about” I fell to a sitting position as I was overcome with loss and tears trickled down my cheeks. Luna lay down next to me, draped a wing across my back and lifted my chin up with a hoof so that she could look me in the eyes.

“You fought with courage today.” Luna said “Though you might not remember them, your ancestors watch you even now from the halls of paradise. If you continue as you have today then in time you will bring honour and pride to your bloodline, and should you one day fall you will be welcomed to those halls with open arms”

I don’t know how long we remained like that, but by the time I’d cried my last tears it had gotten dark, at which point Luna, who had stayed by my side the whole time to provide comfort, gently bid for me to stand and suggested I make my way to wherever it was I was staying. I thanked her, and apologised profusely, before making my way through the city.

After meandering through the city for some time, too emotionally drained to care much where I was, I wound up walking through the front door of the tavern that the four of us would be staying at before leaving at first light tomorrow. Upon entering I made my way over to the quiet bar and perched myself on the barstool, catching the attention of the bartender, a Minotaur cow.

“Now then!” she called cheerfully as she made her way over, her melodic accent very similar to welsh and her light voice completely at odds with her huge stature. “What can I get you then, my lovely?”

“Something strong that doesn’t taste like drain cleaner or set my throat on fire” I said, before adding “there’s an earth pony lass, Octavia Melody, booked a room for 4...stick it on her tab” the minotaur looked along the back shelf for a moment, before taking out a whisky glass and pouring a bright green liquid into it.

“Give this a try” she said. I gave it a curious sniff, and upon detecting a fruity aroma I proceeded to give it a sip before downing the glass, it’s taste was similar to its smell, though from the amount of alcohol I could taste I was hesitant to enquire as to its volume.

“Another” I said, holding the glass out. She wordlessly refilled the glass.

“Where are you from then?” she asked “you certainly don’t look local, you sound like you’re from Trottinghamshire”

“I’m from England...I think” I answered, she must have took note of my downcast demeanor.

“Drinking to forget?” she asked. I studied the liquid in the whiskey glass for a moment.

“No” I said, taking another sip “drinking to remember.”

“Tough day?” she asked. I let out a chuckle.

“Tough week” I said, before recounting the past few days in brief, all the while she dutifully nodded and listened, only occasionally getting diverted to serve other patrons. When I’d finished the bartender hummed in sympathy.

“We all go through hard times” she said, she’d since placed the bottle of liquor on the table for me to refill my glass at my own leisure whilst she had moved on to polishing the pint glasses between serving the odd patron every now and then “The way I see it, you gotta learn to take these things in ballance”

“Such as?” I asked.

“There’s no denying you lost everything, and that’s a terrible thing no doubt about that.” she said, nodding her head with a solemn look on her face, before shrugging “But the way you’ve described it; it sounds to me like you’ve gotten a pretty good head start in a new life, you’ve already got yourself a purpose and some folks to help see you through, you may one day even come to call them friends, and maybe with one or two of them something more. And who knows, you might have been a king or a murderer for all anybody know, this is an opportunity to start fresh, wipe the slate clean.”

“Thanks” I said, my spirits feeling genuinely lifted after her little pep talk “you sure you aren’t in the wrong line of work? You’d make a mint as a therapist”

“Being a bartender’s practically the same thing” she said, with a shrug “you ain’t the first person I’ve had vent to me. Killers, thieves, people who’re close to jumping off the edge of the mountain? You name it, at some point or another I’ve probably talked someone out of doing something they’d grow to regret. You soon learn to spot those who look like they just need to let it all out. Plus it keeps my business good.”

“Well you might have just found yourself another loyal customer” I said “providing I’m able to make it back here after travelling the world”

“I’ll hold you to that” The bartender said, winking. I hummed in amusement and settled down for another hour or so of nursing the liquor in my glass before retiring for the night.

Upon arriving in my room I set about getting ready to settle down for the night, just as I was about to get undressed I heard a voice.

*Psst*

I looked around in confusion, but didn’t see anyone in the room.

*Psst*

This time I heard the sound of a music box, and looked on the bedside table to see a music box, with a figure representing Princess Twilight Sparkle, dressed in a ballerina costume and posed appropriately, on the top spinning around. What made me do a doubletake was when the figure seemed to blink.

“What the everloving fuck?” I asked rhetorically, this made the figure come to a grinding halt and wrinkle her nose.

“Do you have to swear so much?” she asked.

“Princess Twilight?” I asked, picking up the music box and examining it “how the hell are you a music box?”

“Yes, it’s me, though I’m not actually here” She explained, twisting her body to counteract my examinations “it’s a simple spell, useful for letting ponies keep in touch over long distance”

“so...Pony skype?” I asked, prompting the princess to look at me with a puzzled expression.

“No idea what a skype is” she said, shrugging “but sure, let’s go with that”

“And the reason for all this is?” I asked.

“Look, you’re an alien, to put it bluntly, and I’m not just talking about someone from across the seas. One who’s now been tasked by the gods to travel around the world for reasons only they can thathom” she said, looking less than amused at the idea “I figured the least I could do after you helped us fight Tirek was to be there in spirit to provide a little guidance”

“Um..what about Fantasia?” I asked, looking at the staff currently propped up against the wall. At this Twilight pulled a very strained smile

“Yeah….” she said “the thing is, our gods tend to take a more laid back approach, sure, she’ll know about each country and the species which reside in them, but she won’t know much about their culture, their politics. Plus I would be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in hearing your perspective on things as you travelled”

“More interested in the second half of that statement?” I asked, raising an eyebrow, she gave a sheepish smile.

“More interested in the second half” she admitted, her face suddenly became more serious “But still, I’ll be here to help. Even if it’s just someone to vent to, or dare I say it, a shoulder to cry on” I regarded her with a sideways glance

“You’re a princess” I said “you’re literally royalty, isn’t there’s like a bajillion protocols about how people are supposed to address you?”

“Yes, I'm a princess” Twilight said, rolling her eyes “But I'm also the princess of friendship, I wouldn't be very good at my job if I didn't check up on you every now and then to make sure you're doing okay in your new life”

“Fair point” I muttered, conceding her point.

“So” the purple alicorn said “what’s your journey plan?”

“Well, naturally our first stop would be Trottinghamshire” I said “come to think of it, from the way Autumn Skies described it to me, it’s almost like it has aspects of my own homeland”

“Oh? Like where?” she asked, a curious look on her face.

“Well, the region where Autumn comes from her accent is a dead match for a west country dialect back home” I said, before humming in thought “though her and Octavia keep telling me I sound like a...Yarvik tyke? Not sure what a tyke even is” at this Twilight went wide eyed

“I’ve read of them, though I’d be careful when you do encounter them” she said, a look of worry on her face, and after my questioning look she elaborated “They’re earth ponies, though they act more like griffons than ponies, and they’re divided into warbands. Also they have a habit of being a bit...rude” I deadpanned at that

“You’re talking to a working class gutter-mouth and you’re telling me to be careful because they’re rude?” I asked.

“Point taken” she conceded sheepishly “so...here are you headed afterwards?”

“Autumn’s suggestion was to go through Caracoler, Heimut & Thestralia then onwards to Zemlystali to catch an airship across to the eastern continent, since they seem to have an integrated canal system, meaning we’ll be able cover the distance fairly quickly as opposed to on foot” I explained, though when I mentioned Heimut the princess’s face fell.

“I would strongly advise against travelling through Heimut” she said “they aren’t the most friendly of ponies to outsiders at the best of times, and that’s without mentioning non-ponies”

“Aren’t you supposed to be the princess of friendship?” I asked “have you not thought to go and spread some...well, friendship?” at this she chuckled awkwardly at this.

“Yeah...go and spread friendship to the supremacist ponies, simple...” Twilight said, trailing off “they’re an extremely prideful nation, but it’s one thing to be proud of your history, another when it’s outright at the expense of others, the entire time I was there it felt like any hospitality was a chore for them, and it doesn’t help that their leader has been making political moves to take territory in the surrounding countries. She’s put the entire region on a knife edge”

“She?” I asked.

“Kaiserin Reinesfell Willensstark” she said, no small amount of disdain creeping into her voice, before a worried expression adorned her face “look, if you do end up going through Heimut anyway, then at the very least be careful”

“I’ll bring it up with Autumn” I said “But I have a feeling she won’t budge. It’s weird, since Fantasia spoke with us Autumn has become distant, cold even, especially with me. When I pulled them to one side about it Octavia and Vinyl shrugged it off as simply being a matter of her being the only one with any formal training out of the rest of us would-be warriors, thus putting her in the role of command, but I think there’s more to it”

“Hopefully you can work things out, but keep me informed just in case” she said, a comforting smile on her face “as I said earlier, I’ll be able to talk if ever you need me, providing I’m available of course. Just press the crystal on the base and it’ll let me know you need to talk”

“I’ll keep that in mind” I said, glancing at the clock “look, it’s getting late, and I’ve gotta be up early tomorrow, so it’s probably best if you...finish the...spell?”

“Right, I guess I’ll next speak to you when you’re on your way” and with that, the figure returned to its ballerina pose and turned from Twilight into a nondescript porcelain figure, with a sigh I placed the music box in my shoulder bag and continued getting ready to go to sleep, anxious of the initial days ahead in this strange new world.

Author's Note

yeah, I can't get over how adorable the concept of music box Twilight is

plus there will be times when it actually comes in useful.

also, to provide some context, here's the world map, as of the season 4 finale

as you can see, heavily based on the official world map along with what's been seen in the show canon, but with a number of differences to add more world building potential.

Nations in blue symbolise majority equine populations, various greens represent Artiodactyls (deer, bovines, yaks, etc.) and brown represents griffons. the others are admittedly a mixed bag which I need to get around to organising. but in time I'll post an updated map in here

Kings & Queens

“Oh come on!!!”

Autumn’s frustrated cry echoed through the entire station, causing passers by to swivel their heads.

We’d spent the last week or so living rough hopping from train to train, and quite frankly I was burnt out even with my newfound strength, but we’d finally reached the end of the first major leg. Myself, Octavia and Vinyl were currently sat in the concourse of Trottingham city’s main railway station, feeling quite dead whilst Autumn had gone to buy tickets for the next leg of the journey, an overnight sleeper to the northern reaches of Trottinghamshire, from where we’d hire a river boat into Caracoler & Heimut. But judging by her livid expression when she returned it hadn’t gone according to plan. She sat on the bench next to us and massaged her temples

“The entire Northern line is shut for the season for maintenance” she sighed “that’s 350 miles we’ll have to travel across country on hoof” I blanched at that.

“Are you fucking with me?” I asked “we have to walk the entire way? we can’t take an airship or something?”

“If you want to blow our bits in one go and have us slumming it around the rest of the planet then you go right ahead!” the oxide-red pegasus hissed.

“And there are no alternatives?” I asked “no canals? Not even a network of rivers from which we can at least cobble together a makeshift raft? It would sure as hell beat walking the entire way” Autumn made as if to reply with a scathing remark, but paused, scratching at her neck with a hoof.

“No canals” she said “but...the rivers might be an option, that’s actually not a bad idea...coming from an ape”

“Thanks” I muttered, rolling my eyes. Ever since we’d set off from Canterlot she’d taken to referring to me as ape, or monkey-boy if she was feeling particularly generous, already the novelty was starting to wear particularly thin.

“Give me a few hours to check over my old geographical maps” she said “I might just be able to plot a route”

“In which case we better head to my home” Octavia said, standing up off the bench and beginning to make her way towards the exit, the rest of us following suit “At least then we can spend time in comfort whilst you plan the journey ahead” Octavia had mentioned on the way over that her parents were rather high standing members of the trottingham social circles, though she had refused to elaborate further when pressed on the matter, even by Vinyl.

Upon exiting the station I found myself having to quickly move to one side and lean against a wall, the others quickly following suit as I took in my surroundings, I was blown back by the sheer diversity, and I’m not just talking about different nationalities of the same species, I found myself very quickly losing count of the sheer variety of different species and came to the realisation that trying to blend in wasn’t going to be a problem, there was so much variety of races it was giving me a sensory overload.

There were examples of every race I'd seen represented by the Wrakjon statues in Canterlot Gardens, and more! Unicorns, earth ponies, pegasi, pegasi with bat wings, bug-like ponies, aquatic ponies with shark-like or dolphin-like tails, unicorns with scales and big bushy manes, griffons, hippogriffs, minotaurs, centaurs, actual freaking dragons! Talking dogs even, not to mention hybrids of every form and ratio, apparently most folks didn’t have qualms about mingling.

Once I’d recovered from the culture shock enough I felt slightly more at ease about trying not to stick out to much, and so I pulled my hood down, placed my mask in my shoulder bag, and began making my way through the crowd, though I quickly had to step out of the way as a massive deer some 7ft high, with great big antlers each as wide as I was tall, nearly walked right into me.

“Watch where you’re going, stranger!” the deer called in a distinctly irish accent, and I found myself doing a double take.

“Was that an actual honest to god Irish elk!?” I found myself thinking.

“Typical tourist” I heard Autumn say as she meandered through the crowd, though her tone and expression conveyed that it was more in jest.

“Holy shit!” I exclaimed “I get that there’s more than one sapient species on this planet, but I wasn’t expecting this much diversity in one place.

“Trottingham is like a travel hub for the known nations” Octavia explained “most folks are heading to or from somewhere” at this Vinyl nodded, and words made of blue magic flashed up in front of my face.

“Even for the centuries I’ve been kicking it, this place has always been used a stop-over on journeys”

“Well, at least I won’t have to worry about standing out” I said, chuckling “I thought I was the tallest thing around until I saw the Megaloceros back there” at this the three of them turned to look at me as one, the snouts wrinkled in confusion.

“Megalo-what!?” Octavia asked, her head tilted in confusion

“It’s...what my kind call them” I said “they were a giant deer that went extinct some 8 thousand years ago back home, during the last Ice Age”

“That was an Imperial Elk” The slate-grey earth pony said “they’re the dominant race in lands to the north of here such as Meira and Cervbuckenland”

“Well so long as it means less to draw attention to myself, even for a short while, then I’m not fussed what they’re called” I said, I barely heard Octavia muttering “it won’t be you which has to deal with unwarranted attention” but chose to put it to one side for the moment, though as we walked further away from the station and through the more high class residential districts, I couldn’t help but notice the attention of the nobles being drawn not to me, but to Octavia who began to look more and more uncomfortable with the attention as whispers started to be heard. In a few instances a made sure to lock eyes with a few of them, sending disapproving glares their way, in almost all instances they backed down and hurried on their way. For the next half hour or so we meandered along the road, the land each property occupied seemed to become larger and larger. But still Octavia kept suspiciously schtum about the situation, even Vinyl was beginning to lose patience. Eventually the houses stopped altogether and we were now walking through a great park. I had my head on a swivel trying to imagine just where we might be going, the questions in all our minds were answered when a pair of large gates came into view, and just beyond them what was clearly some sort of hall, or even a palace. Autumn and Vinyl stopped dead in their tracks, their mouths agape as they glanced between Octavia and the set of gates.

“No. Bucking. Way.” Autumn said “no way in Tartarus are your family staff at the Celestia-damned Trottingham palace!”

“A bit more than mere staff, darling” she said, a hint of a smirk on her face. Vinyl’s expression went blank at this as words appeared above her head.

“But...that means you’re the…” she trailed off at this and the words faded, her mind apparently shutting down completely.

“The what?” I asked, looking between them.

“Not many ponies know who I really am” she said “and that’s innentional, my name truly is Octavia Melody, but most would know me as simply The orphan princess.”

“You’re a princess?” I asked “Are you serious, all this time I’ve been swearing around you and acting as if you’re some common pony, but you’re actual fucking royalty”

“And I wouldn’t have it any other way” she said “I don’t want to be seen as some unreachable entity, I’m a pony just like Vinyl or Autumn. I went into seclusion in the first place so that I could get to better understand what it was like for everyday ponies” Vinyl just blinked owlishly as more words appeared above her head.

“I...I...I bucked a princess…” if we’d had drinks at that moment I’m sure myself and Autumn would have spat them out. Octavia merely rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Oh please, not in front of the nobility. You know how much of a pain rumors can be” once I’d gotten over my stupor I shook my head.

“Hang on” I said “you said you were the orphan princess, then who runs the country?”

“You misunderstand the context” she said “I’ll explain fully later, but I’m sure you’ll catch on soon enough” and with that she turned and continued walking towards the gate, the rest of us soon followed after, where we found two guards blocked our path.

Octavia cleared her throat, and began to speak, her voice taking on a much colder, more commanding quality.

“I am Princess Octavia Melody, Duchess of the Yarvik Ridings & the Westwards, and air apparent to the throne of Trottinghamshire, announcing her arrival” the guards stirred at this, going wide eyed, before hastily saluting.

“Your majesty!” they exclaimed, scrambling to open the gates. Before one of them took off at a gallop in the direction of the palace.

“Thank you” she said, softly, nodding her head to the remaining guard, before making her way through the gates. As we approached the steps of the palace I could see two ponies descending, one was a stockily built Unicorn stallion with a dark blue, almost black, coat and a grey mane & tail, and the other a pegasus mare with a light grey coat and yellow mane & tail. As Octavia approached the foot of a stairs the two ponies stopped, looking shocked. The mare spoke first.

“Octavia, my dear?” she asked “Is...is that really you?” at this Octavia bowed.

“I have come home, mother” she said. At this the two ponies rushed down the stairs and pulled her into a loving embrace, tears flowing down the cheeks of all three as they laughed with joy. The stallion who was clearly her father pulled away and examined her

“Look at you, you’ve grown so much” he said, his voice a deep baritone, the joy becoming too much as he laughed before inquisitively pulling at her cloak and examining her armour beneath “but, what on earth are you wearing, my dear?” Octavia let out a giggle as she wiped at her cheek.

“That will take some time to explain, father. It would be best if it were better explained inside” Octavia said, before stepping to one side and gesturing to the three of us “but first, I would like to introduce my friends, Vinyl Scratch, a musician from Ponyville. Autumn Skies, a member of the Equestrian Royal Guard. And Onælan, a being from a far off land whos kind refer to themselves as human, his story is even more complicated than the reason for my own attire” she then turned to us “my friends, this is my father, King Regal Knight, and my mother, Queen Mystic Diamond” at this we all bowed.

“It seems you have quite the story to tell” Mystic Diamond said, drawing the attention of her daughter “perhaps it would be best told over afternoon tea?”

The king let out a wry chuckle as he placed his empty teacup on the table as we finished retalling what had happened up to now. The rest of our group were out of their armour and cloaks, though having no other proper clothing I retained mine, albiet with the mask tucked away, with the staff leant against my chair. Thankfully the king and queen were understanding.

“So...to summarize” he began, failing to hide the amusement in his voice “You, Onælan, are a being sent her from another world by our gods, destined to become a warrior of the elements much like my own daughter. And the four of you now have to travel around this world for reasons which the gods have neglected to fully elaborate on?” he had a smirk on his face by the end of it.

“That...just about sums it up, your highness” I said, awkwardly looking into my teacup, I was still having trouble adjusting to the fact that royalty on this world seemed so...casual, I didn’t get the slightest feeling that the king and queen were at all aloof, but all the same I couldn’t help but feel out of place and completely out of my depth.

“I should laugh at the preposterousness of the situation” he said “but stranger things have happened, we not long received the news about a rogue centaur taking all the magic in Equestria, only to be stopped at the last moment”

“Yeah, about that” Octavia said, hesitantly “Onælan & Autumn may have had a hoof in stopping him”

“Or hand, in my case” I muttered. At this the king’s eyes widened and he raised his eyebrows

“Well, colour me impressed” he said, a small smirk on his face, before turning serious and looking me levely in the eyes “I must admit, I had my doubts when Octavia told us that she had been destined to travel the world with little more than a musician, a guard and an...ape-”

“Reg!” Mystic Diamond hissed. Regal Knight held a hoof placatingly.

“Having said that” he continued “from what you four have told me, I’m finding my worries being put at ease. Understand this, Mystic cannot bear foals, Octavia is all we have, she is the only when who can inherit the crown when the time comes for us to step down” he then slammed his hoof on the marble floor “I would defy the very gods to keep her here if I felt her life was to be put at risk!” throughout all of this Octavia had her head bowed, as if she was being chastised directly. The kings voice then softened “But it would seem that, at face value, she is in good company. Do not prove me wrong” though his voice had softened, he was no less serious as he spoke these words. I was trying to think of something to say when Autumn beat me to it, her posture stiffened as she spoke in the same tone she’d used when speaking to the Equestrian royalty.

“I’m of the Westwards Pegasi, so Octavia is my princess as well” Autumn said “I swear not only on my oath as a Royal Equestrian Guard, but also on my own blood and kin that I will not willingly allow her to come to harm”

“Very good” Regal said, before a smirk flashed across his features for the briefest of moments “And whilst you’re at it, see if you can’t also whip her and your fellow companions into shape, make good warriors out of them” at this Autumn let slip a brief smirk of her own

“It would be my pleasure, your highness” she said, and myself, Octavia and Vinyl exchanged worried glances

“Well fuck...and here I thought it’d be a laid back voyage” I thought dryly, getting the sneaking suspicion that the three of us had just been entered into a makeshift boot camp.

A night on the town

A cool summer breeze whistled through the trees as I stood on the balcony to my room. Each of us had retired to our own individual rooms, with Octavia going to spend time catching up with her parents. I was leant against the edge of the balcony, nursing the liquor from that tavern back in canterlot. Humming in thought I took out the music box that Twilight had given me, placed it on the balcony and pressed the crystal on the base, after a moment the porcelain figure turned into an image of Twilight. She blinked and looked around in confusion, before her eyes focussed on me then widened in surprise

“Oh, Onælan. What can I do for you?” She asked. I went to speak, only for a rift of light to tear open the air in front of us, suspended in mid air some 10 feet beyond the edge of the balcony. This evoked a gasp from Twilight, I quickly glance left and right, but anyone else on any of the other balconies appeared oblivious. Suddenly a familiar figure appeared through the riff.

“Fantasia” I stated. The divine alicorn regarded me with indifference, before her eyes narrowed as they locked on Twilight’s music box.

“I would have preferred if you weren’t present for what I’m about to do...but it matters not, it’s not like you can actually do anything” she said.

“Do what?” I asked.

“There are certain things that I require of you.” she said “things that require me to take a more direct approach, particularly with you”

“But...you already gave me that staff” I said, assuming she was referring to the magic, at this Fantasia snorted.

“That twig was a mere distraction to avoid rousing the suspicions of the Equestrian princesses as to my true intentions” she said, causing Twilight to look incredulous.

“Excuse me!?” she asked.

“Did you honestly think that I could imbue my own powers in mere wood taken from a shattered door?” Fantasia asked, looking rather amused. “Nay, a much more direct approach is required” Twilight went wide eyed at this.

“But what you are suggesting is to bind his soul to you!” she exclaimed, looking livid “that’s dark, cursed magic. You cannot do that!” Fantasia chuckled at this

“Oh, dear Twilight” she said “your kind so easily puts faith in Harmony above all else. But what is really required to bring true peace is balance. For there cannot be Harmony without chaos. Good without evil...Light without dark!” at this purple smoke began to seep from fantasias eyes, and a bubbling purple aura appeared around her horn. I barely even had time to register Twilight’s desperate cry of protest as a black and purple beam of magic shot out towards my forehead...

...darkness surrounded me...

When I came to I got a very sudden sense of vertigo as I reached the realisation that I was perched on the roof of a building in the dead of night, in my full set of armour without the cloak, overlooking the narrow streets, I very quickly lent back so as not to fall off.

“What the hell!?” I exclaimed.

“I was wondering when you would awake” I heard Fantasia say and I turned to see an image of her, a spirit composed of ethereal light the size of a regular pony, perched upside down on a chimney pot, stood on a single foreleg.

“What did you do?” I asked “Twilight said something about soul binding, what did she mean?” at this Fantasia pushed herself off of the chimney and pirouetted through the air before gracefully landing in front of me.

“Your soul belongs to me now, Onælan” she said “do as I command, and you shall be rewarded with great power. However, disobey me..” at this she raised a hoof and clenched it, and I felt a level of pain unlike anything I’d felt before rip through me. It was only for a split second, but it was enough to cause me to double over and nearly drive me to the edge of sanity.

“Damn you!” I hissed, standing back up “you’ve taken my very soul, what makes me human!” she held up a hoof to silence me.

“Not taken it” she said “bound it, your soul is still within your body. I merely own it and protect it”

“What’s in it for me, then?” I asked “so far it’s sounding pretty one sided”

“That’s why I brought you here. To show you just what you are now capable of” Fantasia said, turning to look at the city which stretched out before us. “People so often assume that light signifies good, and darkness evil. But this is certainly not the case. Is it morally wrong if you use dark magic to revive someone who’s only just passed? Or morally right to use the light of a thousand suns to blind someone?”

“Intention is everything” I said, realising what she was getting at.

“Exactly” she said “the entire point of the Wrakjon's existence is to keep the world in balance as it progresses, to make sure that the planet does not stray too far towards total industrialisation whilst preventing civilisation as we know it from collapsing. As such that requires being able to understand and acknowledge both sides of a coin, the light and the dark. Good and evil. Do you understand?”

“So far” I said levely. I was still livid that I now had my soul bound to her, but I didn’t have much choice but to play along, Fantasia wrinkled her nose.

“You do realise I can read your thoughts now, yes?” she asked.

“Shit” I muttered before sighing “Well, I do now”

“Look, I know you value your independence and free will” she said, giving me a soft smile “and I know this seems harsh at first-”

“You think?” I asked sarcastically, she ignored my remark.

“But in time you’ll come to appreciate that being soul bound to me has more benefits than drawbacks” she said “I won’t lie about having the ability to control you should I feel the need, but I’d much rather let you do things your own way, makes things more entertaining that way”

“You're not reassuring me about your lack of morality” I muttered “anyway, you said you had a reason from bringing me here. Well what is it?”

“I thought we could have a little fun whilst helping you to get used to some of your more basic abilities” she said, before humming in amusement as an odd glimmer appeared in her eyes “Hmm, thieves, murderers, drug dealers, rapists...so many naughty individuals who use the night to their advantage that need their heads bashing in”

“E-excuse me?” I asked, taking a cautious step back from her. Her propensity to seemingly switch tones on a whim, not to mention soul binding me, was seriously making start to question her sanity or lack thereof. She must have sensed my thoughts as she let out a giggle as she sidled up to me

“Your concepts of sanity and morality are amusing, my dear mortal” she said as she drew close...uncomfortably so “But I care not for such limiting concepts. I care of only two things; the balance of life & power, and protecting innocent life. It matters not to me the approach taken to reach those goals” suddenly her ears twitched and in an instant her juvenile playfulness evaporated, giving way to mature seriousness as her head snapped to the left faster than I could blink, looking towards a chimney a couple houses down, before a small, knowing smile graced her muzzle.

“There are not many who can sneak up on me. you have my congratulations at getting as close as you have without raising my suspicions” she called “come on out, I will not hurt you” after a moment an equine figure slunk out from behind the chimney, obscured by clouds I wasn’t quite able to make them out, it was only when they drew closer and the clouds parted that moonlight revealed their identity.

At first glance this pony appeared to by Vinyl Scratch, though upon looking closer a few detailed appeared off, for one thing she looked much slimmer, her ears and horn ended in much sharper points, not to mention the set of bat-like wings now adorned on her back, but most striking of all were her blood red eyes. I felt decidedly unnerved as she stared at me unblinkingly with a blank expression, as if sizing me up.

“V-Vinyl?” I asked uncertainty. In an instant her face shifted to her more usual laid back demeanor and writing appeared above her head composed of blue magic

“Yo, ‘sup?” I let out a sigh of relief

“Christ above, you had me worried for a minute” I muttered. “I thought you were about to jump me!” She let out a voiceless, wheezing chuckle as more writing appeared.

“My bad, I tend to zone out when I’m like this”

“So…vampire, huh?” I asked, awkwardly, she nodded cooly “ What’re you doing out here?” Vinyl merely shrugged

“Mare’s gotta feed, plus I’m revisiting some old memories of this city...you?”

“Ask Fantasia” I said, jerking a thumb at the aforementioned alicorn, Vinyl turned to her and raised an eyebrow, to which the Alicorn simply replied.

“I’ve soul-bound him, he belongs to me now” this prompted a reaction out of the unicorn turned vampire, who jerked her head back as if struck.

“Gods above, that’s some serious dark magic!” she then rounded on me, an incredulous look on her face “what the buck are you playing at!?”

“I had no choice or say in the matter, she just showed up and soul-bound me before I even had it explained to me” I said “More and more I’m getting the feeling like I have a tenuous control at best of my own situation” Fantasia chuckled at this.

“Who said you had any control?” she asked, at this Vinyl put herself between me and Fantasia and fresh words appeared above her head.

“I was more than happy to go along with the pre-destined hero horseshit, but you're starting to pull some super shady shit for the sake of “keeping the balance”. Something I’m not too keen on going with” Fantasia snarled at this.

“You would stand against me?” she hissed and she drew herself up to her full height “I could erase you with a mere thought”

“It would mean one less to do your twisted dirty work” Vinyl said bluntly, for a tense moment they continued their standoff. Before eventually Fantasia relaxed her posture.

“Have it your way, blood-pony” she said, chuckled darkly as her form began to fade “oh, and do me a favour, kindly get him used to using light magic and dark” and with that her form disappeared completely. Only once she was gone completely did Vinyl spit on the roof tiles.

“Damned gods...not one shred of decency or morality in them” she then sighed as her posture sagged and fresh words replaced the old ones “Alright, let’s get on with it”

“Fantasia said something about thieves, rapists and murderers” I said as Vinyl turned and loped along the length of the rooftop.

“Yep, that certainly makes things easier for me. I train you to get the drop on someone and in return I get a meal” she said as I drew up alongside her “Makes things easier on my conscience if I only prey upon the not-so-nice ponies”

“That’s one thing I’ve been meaning to ask” I began as I proceeded to burst into a sprint, before leaping the gap above a side street. When I landed I stopped and turned “How do you walk about in day time? I always thought vampires were supposed to burst into flames in sunlight” words appeared in front of my face.

“We do. But they created spells long ago to counteract that. One to block out the sun, another to disguise my appearance” she then leapt across to me “But you typically won’t see any non thaumic-wielding vampires during the day unless they have a unicorn familiar”

“Familiar?” I asked as we continued along the rooftops.

“A mortal who helps a vampire out, runs errands during daylight and such, occasionally gives blood when pickings are thin, but primarily a source of companionship from someone who comprehends our true nature, whether it’s romantic or not is down to the vampire and their familiar. Octy is my familiar” the paragraph faded away as Vinyl stopped on a dime, reared up and jabbed a hoof into my chest, fresh words flickering into existence above her head. “No matter what, a familiar is never forced into what they do. Consent is everything, it’s the only reason the princesses allow our existence to continue-” suddenly her ears pricked up and she froze as her ears swivelled around, as if zeroing in on some unheard sound.

“Bingo!” and with that she turned and dropped into a sprint, and had no choice but to dash after her. After a few minutes of chasing her across rooftops through the city she came to a sudden stop and signalled for me to get down and approach slowly, drawing close words began to appear on the roof tiles in front of me. “It’s better than I thought, some sort of crime den, that means plenty of practice for you and plenty of blood for me. It’s a wonder they haven’t raised the suspicion of the locals, I could hear them 2 blocks down.” peering over the edge I could see a dimly lit claustrophobic ally leading to some sort of warehouse, standing guard at the front door were two earth ponies, each about 5ft tall and built like brick shithouses. Vinyl clicked her tongue and I turned to see more writing above her head.

“Those are Yarvik Tykes, I’d recognise their sort any day. You’ll need to watch out for them, a single buck to the chest will cave in your rib cage even with that armour”

“I can already think of a way to put them down” I whispered “but it involves magic and something a bit less conspicuous than a sword on my part, and I don’t have either”

“I can be of assistance” I heard fantasia say as her form materialised between us, though almost immediately she appeared to become distracted as she looked at the warehouse below “...oh yes, they will do very nicely for our purposes…”

“Um...Fantasia?” I asked, she shook her head, before turning to look at me.

“Where was I?...Oh yes” she said, as a dagger with a blade some 6 inches long materialised in front of me, as I took it and examined the blade she continued speaking “Wrakjon such as yourself have some degree of control over your weapon of choice, consider that a nudge for now, as for your magic, tonight I’ll do most of the work, think of what it is you need to do and I shall bring forth the spell in your mind. But after that it’s up to those around you to teach you the basics...I trust you know dark magic, vinyl?” at this she turned to look at vinyl, who merely shrugged.

“Only the basics”

“It will have to do for now” Fantasia said “Well, you’d best get on with it, we only have so many hours of night time left” and with that she dissipated on a gust of wind. With a quiet sigh I slowly began making my way along the rooftop, trying to get closer so that I could get the drop on them. But only once I came close to the warehouse did I start getting second thoughts. I raised a hand ever so slightly to catch Vinyl’s attention, before speaking at a low whisper.

“Let’s take things a bit more cautiously than just dropping down on them” I said, turning back to look at her “I’m gonna see if there’s a window or something which I can use to get us in, see what they’re really up to” she nodded ever so slightly, and I took that as my cue to move closer. Separating the building we were stood on from the warehouse itself was a sizable cobblestone square, obviously intended to accommodate multiple carts loading and unloading. Gazing at the roof of the warehouse, I could see numerous dormas built onto the roof, some were dimly lit up, others were pitch black. Perfect. I imagined myself appearing next to one of the empty dormas as in the blink of an eye I reappeared with a dull “pop”, though I couldn’t help but wince at the noise and quickly pinned myself against the side of a dorma just in case someone had heard it, after a few tense moments it appeared I had gone undetected, and waved over to vinyl for her to come over. She appeared to shrink into the shadows before reappearing out of the shadows next to me, I looked her up and down and raised an eyebrow, she merely rolled her eyes

“I’ll teach you that trick later, let’s try and focus on breaking in for now” I slowly made my way to the front of the dorma and peered through the window, upon seeing that it was dark and empty I began to feel around the window frame, trying to see if there was some sort of latch. When that proved fruitless I decided to take a slightly more clever approach and with a simple prompt to Fantasia I reached out with magic and began to feel around inside, I soon found what I was looking for and with a mere thought I turned all the screws and pulled them out of their threads, then carefully lowered the entire window down and climbed it, almost immediately I was greeted to a smell that seemed...off. Only when I turned around did I see Vinyl staring at me with a gormless expression on her face.

“What? It pays to know basic DIY” I said, Vinyl shook her head then climbed in, once she was inside I then replaced the window and began to look around the room. As my eyes adjusted to the gloom I began to notice empty cages of various sizes, I couldn't help but glance around warily. “Wha...what exactly are we dealing with here, Vinyl?” I heard her let out a long sigh and turned to see her looking around at the cages with her teeth bared.

“At a guess...slave trafficking, distributing creatures to the north where law enforcement isn’t as effective...shit...this brings back memories I’d have rather left forgotten…”

“Vinyl?” I asked, prompting her to continue, she sighed and brushed her mane back with a pained expression on her face.

“When you’re a vampire it’s very easy to get caught up in a bad crowd...some time back I got involved in a trafficking operation, I guess I figured it would provide me with an easy supply of blood, the boss didn’t seem to care either way…” I was taken aback.

“Jesus, Vinyl…” I said, not sure of what else to say, she held up a hoof to stop me before I said anything else

“Save it. I don't need you lecturing me about morality, I’ve got my own conscience doing that already. Let’s just focus on gutting some slavers and freeing as many slaves as we can.”

“Lead the way” I said simply, not sure what to think of the situation, what to think of Vinyl. She walked up to the door and gently pressed an ear to it, listening out in case anyone was in the hallway beyond. Apparently the coast was clear as she slowly opened the door and poked her head out before opening the door fully and gesturing for me to follow. After a brief pause I followed her out of the room and into an unlit hallway, I followed after Vinyl and after a few minutes of meandering through various corredores we came to a metal door.

“I have a feeling I know what’s beyond this door, if the noises beyond are anything to go by. Best use a concealment spell” with that her horn lit up and she appeared to become transparent, I could still make her out but I had to concentrate. With a thought to Fantasia I felt a tingling wash over me and looked at my hands just in time to see them begin to fade until I could see the floor beneath them. I was shaken from my musings by a dull click as Vinyl opened the door, revealing some kind of dimly lit catwalk overlooking a large open warehouse, as she cautiously walked out onto it I noticed that her hoofsteps were noticeably muffled, and sure enough my own footsteps were also muffled. Walking out onto the catwalk after Vinyl I was taken about by the sight which greeted me.

Down below us were metal cages of all shapes and sizes filled with some manner of sapient creature, mostly ponies but the occasional member of another race. All were extremely skinny, most likely only being fed just enough to keep them alive, the sight made me shake with rage. A faint flash of vinyls blue magic in front of my eyes made me turn to look at her and I was greeted to faded blue letters floating above her head.

“Cool it, big guy. Save the anger for when we find the slavers” I let out a low sigh, trying to force my anger down, for a few moments Vinyl studied me before turning and resuming her path along the catwalk, presumably satisfied that I wasn’t about the suddenly fly off the handle. I held back a few moments to compose myself before following after her, my dagger now gripped firmly in my right hand.

Something something something Itailian job

We soon came upon a small clearing in the seemingly endless stacked cages, with what looked like guards? Wardens? I wasn’t sure of the term but they were definitely the ones running the place. In the center of the clearing was what appeared to be an oil barrel filled with burning wood, off to one side was a cable drum being used as a makeshift poker table. But what really caught my attention was a dark blue almost lizard-like creature, well, I say lizard-like but it very clearly had certain mammalian features, such as mammary glands located on the chest in about the same location as on a human female, as well as a thick tail and doglike ears. The creature looked to be about 3 and half feet tall, though I wasn’t sure due to the fact she was sat with her back to a cage with her legs pulled up to her chest with a decidedly dark expression on her face, she was also devoid of any and all garments and chained to said cage, though I couldn't help but notice a couple of instruments close by to her, which warranted a raised eyebrow on my behalf. I elbowed Vinyl and pointed to the creature.

“What is that thing, some kind of lizzard?” I asked in a whisper, Vinyl looked where I was pointing and her eyes widened ever so slightly.

“That would be a kobald. And no, they aren’t lizards” Vinyl paused as she rubbed her forehead in thought “From what I’ve read they’re group is some sort of evolutionary offshoot between mammals and reptiles, I forget the name though, thera-something”

“Therapsid?” I asked, and Vinyl’s eyes lit up in recognition.

“That sounds about right, how do you know of them?”

“Therapsids died out hundreds of millions of years ago back on my homeworld”

“I have a sneaking suspicion about what what they’re using her for, other than perhaps playing music” Vinyl ‘said’ “It’s given me an idea, but you really aren’t gonna like it”

“I really don’t want to ask but I feel I need to for the sake of keeping up with your vampiric arse” I said, prompting an eye roll from her.

“I’m not gonna mince words, they most likely use her to get off. Sex slavery, rape, call it what you want, but sooner or later one of those cunts is gonna take her to a secluded spot and have their way with her. We use that opportunity to get the drop on them, hopefully before they start on her, then make our way from there”

“Now it’s beginning to make sense why you were the one who needs to learn compassion” I muttered, causing a low hiss of annoyance to escape Vinyl’s throat as fresh words appeared above her head.

“Now isn't the time” as if on cue one of the slavers, a griffin by the looks of it, stood up and made his way over to the Kobold whilst uttering obscenities towards her which even I dare not repeat. This entire situation, the slaves, the kobald, was making my stomach do flips and leaving a foul taste in my mouth.

The two of us slowly and quietly followed after the Griffin, having to leave the catwalk and camber across cages to keep him in our sight, who was all but dragging the kobald along by the scruff of the neck. Said kobald had a look which I could only describe as annoyance more than anything else, she had clearly been through this situation enough times for any trauma to fade over time, and that made my simmering rage burn all the brighter. Before I was uncertain about the possibility of taking the life of another sapient being, but after everything I'd seen so far I would have no qualms about ending the lives of a few worthless scum, I just needed to push myself to make that first leap.

Eventually the Griffin came upon a secluded spot, where the cages were empty and stacked particularly high. Vinyl tapped my shoulder with her magic to get my attention as fresh words appeared.

“I'm assuming that you've never killed before”

“I was hesitant before, but after what I've seen, you might just have to hold me back” I said, and Vinyl shot back with a look that could only be described as unamused.

“You say that now but I'm telling you, as a friend, the first kill is never easy” the sentence faded, replaced by fresh words “best advice I can offer, go for the side of the neck, it's more effective than blindly stabbing at the chest and quicker” I nodded as I turned back to the griffin, who was already starting to have his way with the kobald. I couldn't afford to hesitate any more, it was now or never, and reaffirming my grip on the dagger I gave a quick sigh, dispelling my cloak to of concealment before leaping down with the intention of landing squarely on the griffin's back.

My judgment of the distance held true and a split second before I landed I began to move the knife, with the intention of getting it into his neck the moment I came into contact.

With a thud and sickening ‘shink’ I collided with the griffin and sent the blade plunging into his neck, he barely even had time to let out a startled cry as we went tumbling to the ground. We landed with myself on top and I immediately held him down, waiting as the gasps turned into sickening gurgling and his struggling subsided. Eventually he relaxed and eyes faded, only letting out the occasional shuddering gasp and at this point I knew he was dead, just the brain dead body trying to survive on nerve impulses.

I withdrew my dagger and heaved myself up, sparing one last glance at the dead griffin, for a split second contemplating my own actions, before quickly pushing them to one side and turning towards the kobald, whose gaze was switching between myself and the griffin, blinking owlishly.

“Are you hurt?” I asked, she just shook her head dumbly. Vinyl chose this moment to glide down and landed with barely a sound before dispelling her own concealment “Well? How did I do?”

“Sloppy, not to mention messy… But not all that bad for a first kill, we'll make a warrior out of you yet” the kobald looked between the two us, an expression of clear confusion on her lizzard-like face, before speaking for the first time, her voice coming out as a croak.

“Wh…who are you?”

“Not important” I said quickly “all that matters is that we're breaking these slaves out, hopefully crack some slaver skulls whilst we're at it” her ears pricked up at this.

“I can help” she said, standing up to her full height of 3ft 6in. I’ll admit that I was glad for the mask on my face as my cheeks flushed at the sight of her naked form, the ponies and griffin's I could manage with their fur and tails hiding anything evocative, but she was just that little bit too similar to a human for my own sensibilities.

“You?” I asked, trying to hold back a laugh “Sorry, but you're in no condition to fight, you're buck-arse naked, and you don't have any weapons, you'd slow us down in your current state” she crossed her arms and huffed, but didn't protest. Instead it was Vinyl who piped up.

“Actually, Onælan, she could be of use to use, not just here either”

“How so?” I asked.

“Because kobald’s make excellent lock picks and pickpockets, not to mention they're good with tech” she then turned to the kobald “I take it they used you to repair stuff when they broke” she nodded at this.

“About the only reason they fed me as well as they did…not to mention not beating me within an inch of my life…” she said, her voice having a noticeable welsh-like lilt to it, going decidedly meek and rubbing her arm with a clawed hand as she trailed off.

“Every groups gotta have a scout” I muttered, thinking the situation over, before sighing. “Alright, you can come with, but make sure you stick behind us, you won't be much help to us in a fight in your current state” The kobald nodded, and with that myself and Vinyl made our way out of the clearing, leaving the dead griffin behind. When I didn’t hear the kobald immediately follow after us I turned to see her quickly made her way over to the dead griffin and retrieve a dagger of some sort, before spitting on the corpse and following after us.

“So...what’s your name, then?” I asked in a hushed voice, glancing down at the kobald. “I’d rather not have to call you “kobald” all the time”

“Tarn” she said after a moment “My name’s Tarn”

“Well then, Tarn, I'm Onælan and the vampire unicorn beside me is Vinyl Scratch” I said as we continued to meander through the stacks of cages, we occasionally had to quiet down a few of the slaves who were particularly vocal in begging to be freed.

“We’ll set you free, I promise” Tarn said, before looking pointedly at myself and Vinyl.

“Why else would we be going to the trouble of bringing down this slaving operation?” I asked rhetorically.

Eventually we drew close to the clearing where most of the slavers were gathered and vinyl singalled for us to get down and keep quiet as she drew close, I took note that Tarn was sticking unnervingly close to me for my own liking, but I wasn’t about to risk blowing our cover simply because I felt “uncomfortable”. My attention was diverted by Vinyl, who was just about ready to step out.

“I’ll spring an ambush, Onælan, then you pick off any stragglers” the words flashed up and I nodded to her, she then glanced at the kobald now present in our company “You hold back for the time being, you’ll be much more use to us putting your light claws to use springing some of these slaves out than you would be in a fight. Got it?” Tarn simply nodded, and began doubling back, fiddling with the lock to one of the cages.

“Well shit” I muttered “we’re gonna get it in the neck once we get back” Vinyl hissed at that.

“We’re wrakjon, now, we can’t afford to dwell on later repercussions, only focus on doing the right thing in the moment” and before I even had a chance to respond she practically leapt out, taking a unicorn mare by surprise as she tackled her to the floor and began tearing into her throat. Acting purely on gut instinct I charged out from between the cages with a wordless cry, running for some sort of dog-like creature as my dagger shifted into my original sword in a burst of flame. I barely even had time to process the situation as my arm moved seemingly on autopilot it a sideways arc, cutting cleanly through the neck and sending the head flying with a flick of the wrist. I barely even had time to process the blood showering me as something tall and densely built ploughed into my side and sent me hurtling into a set of cages. Before I had time to come to my senses a large, 4 digit, hand grasped around my neck and raised me up by the throat, revealing the assailant to in fact be a minotaur, one of the few creatures I’d encountered so far which made me feel small

Acting on instinct I grabbed hold of his wrist firmly and began to channel my elemental powers through my hand. An orange aura surrounded my hand and a sizzling reached my ears as the minotaur began to yell out in pain, a acrid smell of singed flesh filling my nose. His hold around my throat lessened ever so slightly and I pressed the advantage by plunging y sword deep into his chest and channeling my element through it. The minotaurs eyes shrank the pinpricks a split second before fire burst out of his back and his hold on my neck relinquished.

I dropped to the ground and stood to my full height just in time to see the minotaur stumble backwards before falling over, a large smoking hole going right through his chest. I quickly glanced around to take stock of the situation and saw that Vinyl had already quite literally savaged two other individuals and was already biting into the throat of a third. It seemed that that was the last of them, and at that point the smell of blood became quite acute...maybe it was something to do with the dog blood dripping off the brow of my helmet. A small part of me noted that I was feeling distinctly detached about the whole thing, maybe it was the adrenaline rush from only a few brief seconds of fighting, maybe I was actually acting under Fantasia’s control, I couldn’t be quite sure.

Vinyl rose to her hooves and licked away the blood surrounding her mouth, a expression of what could only be described as bliss on her face. A few moments later the expression faded to detached stoicism and her horn lit up for a moment, before the sound of locks clicking began to echo throughout the warehouse. She then turned to me as blue lettering appeared above her head.

“We need to get out of here before anymore slaves see us”

“What about Tarn?” I asked.

“We’ll grab her when she comes out” she explained, before turning and making her way towards what I could only assume were the main doors to this warehouse. Following after her my hunch proved to be correct and we came to a set of large metal doors, where Vinyl turned to me “Your turn to open up the doors.” She nodded her head towards the doors to emphasise the point, and feeling little other choice I cautiously made my way up to the door. For a moment I stood there, wondering how to approach this particular problem, before an idea crept into my head and I placed the palm of my hand on the door. I called forth my element, but didn’t let it rush forth immediately, instead I let it build until my hand began to glow. Then, after a moment to mentally brace myself, I let the power rush forth.

At the point where my hand was contacting the metal of the door a large hole appeared, and the surrounding metal instantly caved in under the force of what could only be described as a shockwave, the large sliding doors were ripped from their runners, which in turn took part of the surrounding brickwork with them. My entire arm right up to the shoulder recoiled as if I were firing a shotgun, and I was forced to take a could steps back. As the loud boom echoed through the streets, setting dogs howling, and the dust and rubble began to settle I turned to see Vinyl looking at me with a raised eyebrow and an unamused expression on her face as words faded into view above her head.

“...You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!” and with that she took flight towards the rooftop, and as I heard the approaching commotion of ponies coming to investigate the explosion I teleported after her. From our vantage point on the rooftop I saw Tarn emerge a few moments later carry what I could only assume to be a couple of instruments hastily strung to her back with a belt presumably pilfered from one of the slavers. I saw her look around in confusion for a few moments, before a blue glow surrounded her and she disappeared with a pop, appearing next to us just as a group of ponies on the street below rounded the corner to investigate.

“W-what?” Tarn muttered, blinking owlishly, before her eyes focussed on the two of us.

“We need to get out of here, let the townsfolk and authorities deal with the former slaves” Vinyl said, before turning and casually trotting off in what I could only assume was the direction of the castle, with a simple shrug on my behalf I jerked a thumb towards my back, hinting for Tarn to climb on, and once she was firmly clutching my shoulders I followed after Vinyl.

Breakfast with royalty

I awoke with a start, coming to my senses I soon realised that I was sat in an armchair and immediately the events of the night before began to trickle back into my mind. Looking around the early morning gloom of the room my eyes fell on the sight of Tarn, the kobald myself & Vinyl had picked up over the course of our little escapade, fast asleep under the covers of my bed. For whatever reason she’d decided she’d rather stop in my room as opposed to Vinyl’s, probably something to do with the latter being an actual vampire, as a result I’d forfeited my bed to her, choosing to instead crash in a nearby armchair, using my cloak..thing for warmth. Continuing my visual search around the room I saw my armour utterly spotless and placed in a neat pile in the corner of the room, the moment we’ve arrived back I’d set about hastily cleaning my armour, I did not need Autumn and Octavia, let alone our royal hosts, potentially walking in to find my armour caked in dried blood.

Speaking of which…

My mind was reeling over my actions last night, every so often my eyes would catch a glimpse of something wholly irrelevant which would bring forth vivid flashbacks of those few brief moments in the warehouse, every time I was faced with the mental image of the life fading from the eyes of those I’d killed, and no matter how often I tried to justify it as bringing justice upon abhorrent individuals my mind would always return to that fact I’d taken the lives of others, I got the very strong suspicion that I’d be carrying this burden in my mind for some time.

I was stirred from my half asleep musings rather suddenly when my eyes focussed on a set of piercing red eyes peering at me through the gloom, kicking my subconscious into fight or flight for a split second before the rest of my mind caught up, revealing it to be Vinyl lurking in a corner, I couldn’t help but jump at the sight.

“You’re going to give me a heart attack one day” I muttered with a sigh, knowing she could hear me despite the distance between us, this warranted a faint smirk from her as she stood up and made her way over.

“There’s always more than one way to get your heart racing” can the reply in blue magic, shimmering on the arm of the chair I was sat on, this warranted a snort of amusement on my behalf.

“How long’ve you been in here?” I asked as she laid down in front of me with her side up against the foot of the bed.

“About an hour, figured I’d stop by just to keep an eye on our new arrival. Besides, I don’t particularly sleep, you know, on account of being a vampire and all”

“That’ll be useful once we’re on the road...or river” I thought aloud, warranting a wistful smile from Vinyl.

“That’s about the only reason Autumn has been tolerating me”

“What’s all that about anyway?” I asked “when you first showed up Autumn wasn’t exactly happy about you and Octavia joining us” Vinyl winced at this.

“Yeah, my bad...incident a couple years back involving a cart filled with apples. May or may not have been intentional” I chuckled at that, before glancing at Tarn and sighing.

“...When she wakes, see if you can’t get Octavia to take her to one side to talk to her, get her to vent on what she’s been through” Vinyl shook her head uncertainty at that, a pensive look on her face

“I don’t know...I mean I get where you’re coming from. It’s not good to bottle up shit like that, but all the same, you can’t force her. From the few hours that we’ve interacted it seems she’s been chumming up to you, on the surface at least that tells me that she’s trying not to let her past experiences show through” I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at her, surprised at her level of insight on the matter.

“I thought you didn’t have compassion” I said.

“I don’t” she replied with a shrug “But just because I can’t empathise doesn’t mean I can’t read a pony. It’s actually a vampire trait. For example, from you I’m getting…” she paused at this, putting a hoof to her chin as she studied me, her eyes seeming to pierce right into my soul, before her eyes widened suddenly and more writing hastily appeared “Alright, I'm gonna skip the breakdown of what I'm reading off you and skip straight to the point. I'm struggling to see what Fantasia sees in you”

“Gee, you know just what to say to inspire endless amounts of confidence in me”

“I’m not here to be a friend who lies to protect your feelings, but what I am going to do is help you to improve, because I don't want to be the one to save your sorry flanks every time. If those moving pictures that you showed us have thought me anything, it's that you do have some potential, it's just buried really deep under a potent cocktail of fear and insecurity”

She was referring to the movies I'd shown them on my laptop on the train ride up here, for the purposes of not having to pause every five minutes just to explain a concept which, whilst mundane to a human such as myself, would have been alien to ponies, I'd stuck to one's that would at least feel somewhat familiar in tone.

In the end I settled for things which leaned more towards pre-1900 historicals or outright classical fantasy. This had actually worked in my favour as it at times a certain aspect of a movie would ring familiar enough with these ponies for them to verbally make note of this. So far I’d found out that Deer were practically elves, griffins were not all that unlike vikings, dwarves were like Minotaurs, and both orcs and men were not unlike a group of dog-like races known as cynocephaly, the former being similar to a troll-like sub-species known as diamond dogs, or yrrchs, and my own kind was not unlike another, more wolf-like race known as sythians. I couldn't help but find my spirits soaring at the prospect that maybe some race on this planet was not all that unlike my own, someplace to perhaps settle down.

About an hour later Tarn stirred, and I set about getting dressing into my armour and cloak. With that complete, I set off for the breakfast table with Vinyl accompanying me. Upon arriving at the table, the reception could be described as cool at best, the king and queen silently watched me and Vinyl without comment, we didn’t get such curtesy from our fellow travelers.

“Have fun last night?” Octavia asked with a deadpan expression on her face, more so to me that Vinyl, Autumn meanwhile looked about one poorly worded sentence away from flying off the handle. I quickly figured that they already had some idea of what happened, hard not to with god knows how many slaves pouring out onto the streets last night, and were able to connect the dots. Vinyl made no move to answer, and I held up a and hand to stop any further questions as I set about obtaining my own breakfast, taking the time to mull over the answer as I never was good with answering questions of this manner on the fly. Not much that was available appealed to me, so I settled for eggs on toast, along with a cup of tea. Only once I had those in hand and had sat down did I answer her question.

“I’m going to be quite honest with you” I said “No, not in the slightest, and I’m not just including the incident with the warehouse” this must have derailed any pre-planned rant she had thought up, as her deadpan expression broke.

“...I’m sorry?” was apparently all she could think to say.

“Try ‘getting forcefully soul bound to a god against my will’” I said, taking a gulp of tea “It was also Fantasia’s idea to go after someone up to less than innocent deeds, Fantasia herself said, and I’m quoting directly here, ‘thieves, murderers, drug dealers, rapists...so many naughty individuals who use the night to their advantage that need their heads bashing in’, so you can take any pre prepared speeches about morality or some such bollocks and stuff them, apologies your highnesses, because I’m already berating myself over last night” this seemed to throw the both of them completely on the back-hoof. At this point Vinyl chipped in, tapping a spoon against a teacup to get their attention, before ethereal blue writing materialised in front of Octavia & Autumn.

“For once I’m going to wholeheartedly say that he pretty much nailed the reasoning behind last night’s little incident. Fantasia practically forced our hooves into this mess, and it’s not like those we killed were innocent-” at this point I cut in.

“There's a female kobald, nice lass, her name’s Tarn, she’s about yeigh-high” I said, holding my hand at roughly the height her head came up to “Who is as-of right now buck-arse naked in my bedchambers, who I, apologies your highnesses, quite literally dropped in on getting raped back at that warehouse” It was at this point that Autumn had made the unfortunate mistake of taking a sip of her own drink, and was promptly sent into a coughing fit, whilst Octavia went decidedly pale. This definitely caught the attention of the two rulers of this nation.

“I-I’ll make sure that she’s seen to right away” Queen Mystic Diamond said, signalling for a servant to come over.

“Make sure she has some clothes provided as well, please” I said as a unicorn mare approached the queen, who began to relay orders to the servant. The servant wordlessly departed, and only once my eyes returned to the table did I see that most of those present were regarding me with curiosity.

“... Why are you insistent on her receiving clothes of all things, Onælan?” Autumn asked. I coughed, awkwardly.

“Well...I’m not sure it’s proper to say in front of the king and queen” I said, glancing at the aforementioned royalty. The King Regal Knight snorted at this.

“My dear boy” he chuckled “you need not concern yourself with proprietary here, we aren’t like some canterlot nobility. Speak freely, just keep basic courtesy in mind, after all, we are the ones who shall be providing for this kobald girl”

“I suppose it’s more uncomfortableness on my part” I admitted “my kind are more modest than most in these lands, you and other races here are lucky to have your skin concealed by fur, feathers and scale...my own race, and kobalds it would seem, are not so lucky, so all of my kind adorn ourselves with clothes. To do otherwise in public is seen as indecent, punishable under law even, and whilst I wouldn’t be so drastic, such a cultural mentality does tend to leave a lasting impression. This is made all the more worse by the fact that her body type is not all that much unlike the women of my own kind, if she is to be joining our group, then for her to be travelling around unclothed would make things...awkward for me” the king mulled this over, before eventually nodding.

“Your honesty on the matter is appreciated” he said “very well, I shall set my tailors to work making her clothes for your journey ahead”

“Speaking of which” I said, before turning to Autumn “How has your task of plotting a route come along?” at this the burnt orange pegasus produced a scroll, which Vinyl took in her magic and passed to me. Unraveling it I found it was a map of the united realms which fell under the rule of this city; Lindsey to the south, Westwards to the northwest, and Yarvik to the northeast.

“Our journey will start off going west, into my own homelands, I know you’re eager to see Yarvik, Onælan, but I’m not going north without taking the chance to see my home once more, it’s been 20 years since I was last in Achern” I held up a hand placatingly.

“I’m not going to take issue with you wanting to see family again” I said, and she nodded in thanks.

“All told” she said “with the detour into Westwards included, it’s a journey of some 770 leagues from here to Tees-Side. That’s 64 days to walk, or 50 days by river on a small sailing craft” I baulked at that, before hastily taking my phone out, along with a pen and notepad, and began jotting down notes whilst doing calculations, swapping back and forth between a measurement converter and a calculator.

“Um...what are you doing?” Autumn said.

“We’re taking rivers, yes? Not canals?” I asked, not looking up.

“Um...yes, they’re the fastest way to travel besides rail.” Autumn said.

“And there’s no restrictions on speed, correct?” I asked.

“No? What are you getting at?” at this I finished writing down the notes, picked up the notepad and tossed it to her. She read through them, her brow creasing in confusion. “25 days? What exactly are you proposing? That we sprint non-stop the entire way to Tees-Side, I’d struggle to fly that distance in that time”

“No” I said “the answer is simple, we make a launch”

“A what?” Octavia asked.

“You guys have boilers small enough and powerful enough to power boats, yes?” I asked, glancing to the rulers of this nation, Regal Knight scratched his chin with a hoof.

“I believe I’ve seen the occasional barge running under its own power, yes” he said.

“So we take a boat which can house the 4, sorry, 5 of us, we find a vertical boiler and fit that in, build sleeping quarters, then theoretically we could travel near enough non-stop food, fuel and breaks notwithstanding. We aren’t on any real time constraints, so we’ve no need to go quite so fast, but still, it beats 2 months”

“And you plan to make this work...how?” Autumn asked, massaging her forehead with a hoof in frustration.

“You’re talking to a member of a species which got to the moon and back on less processing power than this thing” I said, picking up my phone and shaking it slightly “if there’s one thing my kind knows how to do, it’s bodge random junk and make it work. And it just so happens that I know my way around steam engines” Vinyl piped up at this moment, tapping a hoof on the table.

“Now I’m starting to see why Fantasia chose you” the words floated above her head “You’re meant to be the one who throws random shit together and somehow makes it work”

“Language, Vinyl” Octavia hissed, Autumn meanwhile looked confused.

“Wait, what do you mean by “why fantasia chose you”, Vinyl?” she asked.

“Something we talked about earlier” I said, before pointing at Vinyl “safe to say she’s got more than her fair share of criticisms about me, let me tell you” Vinyl smirked at this.

“Oh, come on, everyone has their role to play in a team, I simply hadn’t quite figured your role out yet is all”

“Whatever do you mean?” Octavia asked, raising an eyebrow, Vinyl leaned back in her chair and examined a hoof as she wrote out a fresh response.

“You, dear Octy, are the diplomat of the group, you can get us out of tricky situations with words alone. Autumn is the grumpy war vet’ who is able to fight her way out of trouble. Onælan is that one weird foreigner who makes the weird stuff for ridiculously specific situations. Tarn, our latest addition to the group, is our scout and lock-pick, also the bard.”

“And what of you?” Autumn asked.

“Vinyl is the one who gets us into trouble in the first place” Octavia said, a whisper of a smirk appearing on her face for the first time today. It was at this point that the king cut in.

“I would hold out on being quite so eager to travel north if I were you” he said, a troubled expression on his face as a letter floated in front of him.

“What’s happened, father?” Octavia asked.

“The one thing I had hoped wouldn’t happen…” he said with a deep sigh before floating the letter over to her “Heimut has begun invading Cerbuckenland” The room seemed to go very quiet as thoughts began to race through my mind, my knowledge on the politics of this world were extremely limited, but some things were striking terrifying parallels with the history of my own world from the past century. I was shaken from my musings by Octavia calling out my name, and my eyes focussed to see my three companions, and the king and queen, staring at me with varying levels of worry.

“A...are you alright?” she asked “you look ill”

“Heimut speaks german, yes?” I asked, only to receive blank looks “‘Sein oder nicht sein, das ist die Frage’, they speak that language, yes?”

“That would be correct” Regal said “Why do you ask?”

“This world has some parallels with my own, these lands are not all that unlike my own homelands, with the exception that I hail from an island decidedly smaller than these lands.” I said “I will spare you the specifics of politics, but I feel very strongly that what happened 70 years ago in my homelands is starting to happen here”

“Are you certain of this?” Regal asked.

“Absolutely” I said “I would strongly suggest that you at least begin preparations for conflict, if you already have intentions to make plans, I would suggest redoubling those plans, and encourage your immediate allies to do the same. Make sure that any attempt to invade will at the very least be extremely costly for them”

“And…what of you and the rest of your group, Octavia included?” Mystic asked.

“I won't speak for the others, they can stay here in safety if they wish, or they can come with, it makes no difference to me” I said, I found myself rubbing my wrist, nervously “But as for myself, after what I've read and been told about their Kaiserin?... I would very much like to march right up to the capital and splatter her brains on the Palace walls” the latter half of my sentence came out as little more than a whisper, but from the looks on their faces I could see that they heard me perfectly. With my thoughts made perfectly clear, I stood up and took my leave, I needed alone with my thoughts to think things over.

Ambitious but rubbish

Some hours later I was sat on the roof of the Palace, listening to music from my phone. For once they others had actually taken the hint and left me to my own devices

Above the music playing through my headphones I heard the sound of hoofs clicking on roof tiles and upon turning towards the source of the sound I was surprised to see Octavia of all ponies walking along the apex of the roof. Upon seeing my quizzical look she smiled wistfully.

“I spent my childhood exploring this palace, I know of hidden corridors and secret doors that even my parents are unaware of” she explained, sitting next to me, I paused the music I was listening to. “Myself, Vinyl and Autumn have been talking…”

“you aren't obligated to come with me” I said “And if I do this by myself then at least you lot won't be dragged into any fuck ups caused by me” Octavia nodded at this.

“True” she said “admittedly even Vinyl was taken aback by certain comments you made”

“I still plan on splattering the Keiserin’s brains” I said, causing Octavia to scoff and roll her eyes.

“Don't be so dramatic” she said “but anyway, we talked, and we've decided that we will probably be coming with you. For what it's worth Tarn probably would have gone with you either way”

“There's something about her” I said “She seemed a little clingy, it's a touch unnerving”

“Well…” Octavia said hesitantly “The way Vinyl explained it to me, you were the one who got the drop on that griffin…brute. Tarn most likely won't admit it, but I personally think that she's taken something of a liking to you”

“Great…” I muttered “I value my personal space…not sure how I feel about having someone clinging to me”

“But you won't drive her a way, will you?” she asked, I shook my head.

“No, god knows she's been through enough” I said “if she's simply trying to be friendly then I'm not going to push her away, besides, it's not like I've ever had much in the way of personal freedom here anyway” I could practically feel Fantasia laughing in the back of my mind, but decided against a mental retort “so...have we got a decent amount of bits for the journey, or are we going to end up slumming it most of the way? Boat notwithstanding” Octavia absentmindedly pawed at the roof tiles with a hoof.

“I wouldn’t say we’ll be swimming in bits” she said “but we’ll have enough to get by, my parents have made sure of that” we descended into a comfortable silence as we both looked out onto the sprawling scenery, a typical city not unlike something from 1700s England, with fields and hills just beginning to poke out on the horizon.

“So…” I began, somewhat awkwardly “a princess, huh? How’s that gonna work out now that you’re…?” I trailed off, waving a hand between myself and her.

“A wrakjon?” she asked. “Well, the assumption is that I shall take the throne as intended once they step down or die, I’ll just be taking a more active role in the defense of this nation against those more...unusual threats, Tirek being one example. But, should I still be occupied with our little quest when they die then a steward shall keep the kingdom running until word can reach me...” she trailed of, before humming in thought and smiling “No matter what Fantasia might say, my service to my country will always come first….” I was somewhat startled as I began to hear disembodied music, the sound of a lone guitar being plucked, with Octavia herself joining in by singing words which rung no small amount of familiarity in my shattered memories:

I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love;
The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.

I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love...

And there's another country, I've heard of long ago,
Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know;
We may not count her armies, we may not see her kin;
Her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering;
And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,
And her ways are ways of gentleness, and all her paths are peace.

I heard my country calling, away across the sea,
Across the waste of waters, she calls and calls to me.
Her love that asks no question, her love that stands the test,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best…

I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,
Entire and whole and perfect, the service...the service of my love....

...And just like that, the music faded away into nothingness and I was left astonished on two levels, on the one hand I hadn’t realised that Octavia could sing as well as play the cello, though I had yet to see her do the latter either. On the other apparently musical numbers were a thing on this planet.

“Uh...what was that?” I asked, she regarded me with confusion

“Uh...Trottinghamshire’s national anthem-” I cut in.

“No-no, I’m talking about the music” I said quickly “don’t take this the wrong way, it was beautiful...it’s just that people don’t just randomly break into song with full musical accompaniment where I come from…” her eyes lit up in understanding.

“Oh! That is something known as arcane melodic harmony” she explained “You’d be better off asking Twilight for specifics, it’s really as simple as sometimes if the mood is right, a pony or a group of ponies will begin to sing and music will magically accompany them. It’s just one of those things that happens” almost immediately I felt a mischievous smirk come to my face as I thought of all the ways I could use that to my advantage for less than innocent means. Octavia noticed my change in expression and deadpanned. “No...just no!” I let out a chuckle.

“Oh come on, it’d be funny!” I said “besides, I’ve got some real crackers in my music collection, people keep telling my tykes are rude but I bet they don’t come close to some of the downright auditory smut I’ve got” Octavia rolled here eyes as she stood up.

“I’m sure you have, you uncouth lump” she said, before holding out a hoof, which I accepted after picking up my phone, and found myself slightly surprised at her strength as she heaved me up “now come on, I think you’ve sulked up here for long enough, and there’s a kobald girl who’s pining after you” she then quickly stepped behind me and gave me a shove to start walking.

“Playing matchmaker, are we?” I asked sarcastically.

“No” she retorted as she walked alongside me “But you aren’t just going to dump her on us then bugger off in a sulk because of politics, you’re going to be a good gentle-stallion and look after her” I rolled my eyes.

“Alright, Mom” I muttered sarcastically.

“You’re beginning to make me feel like one after what you and Vinyl pulled last night” she replied, no small amount of annoyance creeping into her words “and I get the feeling this won’t be the last time, either…”I thought it wiser to not respond to that, lest I aggravate her further. As we made our way back through the rather expansive palace it became clear that Octavia had a set destination in mind, eventually we reached a door located in the depths of the palace. Octavia opened the door slightly and poked her head inside, before retracting it and gesturing for me to follow her as she opened the door and stepped inside. closing the door behind me I was confronted with the sight of Tarn, still naked, stood on a podium and facing me with her arms outstretched as a unicorn mare attended to her with a tape-measure. She must have seen me quickly avert my gaze as I heard her snort in amusement.

“Oh please” she said, I could practically hear her eyes rolling “I’m not so modest about my appearance as you seem to be, and truth be told I’m quite used to being eyed up by those less well meaning than yourself” a good nights sleep and a decent wash had done her wonders to her demeanor, her voice was much lighter and cheerful, her quasi-welsh accent lending an airy, almost singsong quality to her words

“Old habits can be quite hard to break” I said, spying a bench along one wall and taking a seat next to Octavia.

“Be that as it may, as I’m coming with you on what I’ve been told is quite the journey then I would suggest you get used to me being unclothed, as whilst clothing does have its uses in cold and rain, there are times when it’s quite frankly irritating” Tarn said, before adding with a small amount of irritation creeping into her light voice “I would also prefer it if you at least look at me when I’m talking to you” hesitantly I cast my gaze towards her, and saw her looking straight at me with a raised an eyebrow.

“Sorry” I muttered.

“I shan't blame you for the way you were brought up, if what I have been told about you is true” she said, before her concern flashed across her face “Is it? You can’t really be the only one of your kind in these lands”

“As far as I know” I said “The Human race; population: me” she made a sort of mewling growl in what I could only assume was a tone of sympathy.

“Iesu Mawr!” she cursed in what I could only assume passed for Welsh around here “damned gods, not a scrap of sympathy in them” this elicited as sharp inhale of breath from Octavia, whilst the seamstress hesitated for a moment, this caused her to roll her eyes “Bah! If the gods were at all sympathetic I wouldn’t have gone through 7 years of being raped nearly every day, I freely curse them” her eyes shone with defiance.

“Uhh...Not that I don’t disagree with the sentiment” I said “But I’d mind what you say, especially when one in particular is keeping a very close watch. Hell, I never did anything to directly anger her, and I still ended up being soul bound for my trouble” a low growl rose in her throat.

“And you’re stuck doing her will, aye?” she asked.

“Him and the rest of us” Octavia spoke up “Tell me, are you familiar with the wrakjon legends of old?”

“Rhyfelwyr-elfen?” she asked, the worlds rolling off her tongue like silk. Octavia thought for a moment, before she replied in the same language.

“Rwy'n ... ie, by-ddai hynny'n gywir” her own words were much more hesitent.

“I’m sorry...but what are you two saying?” I asked.

“Oh, nothing in particular” Tarn said noncholantly “you speak this tongue naturally enough, tell me, does your kind know of llleferydd-mynydd?”

“If it’s the language I’m thinking of, then yes” I said “but we call it welsh, and it’s something of a minority language” Tarns eyes lit up in delight.

“Ah! Do you by any chance know some, then?” she asked.

“Me? Nah, not a lick of it, I wish I did, though. But I do know of some music in welsh” I said, this made Tarn’s brows crease in confusion.

“Wha...how can you not know the language, but know of some songs?” she asked.

“Later” Octavia cut in “Trust me, it’s easier to show than to explain” I then let a small chuckle escape my lips as a distant memory came into my mind.

“What?” Tarn asked.

“I tell a lie!” I said “there is one thing I know in your language” this made her ears prick up.

“Well go on then!” she said eagerly.

“It’s not so simple, you’ll have to give me a moment” I said, before mouthing it out a few times, once I was happy I nodded in satisfaction “OK, I think I’ve got it. Now, I want you to keep in mind that this is all one word, and it’s some sleepy little town on a island”

“Ok?” Tarn said, I mentally prepared myself.

“Hoo, boy, here goes” I said “llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch” Octavia’s eyes glossed over, whilst Tarn immediately looked confused.

“....what?” she asked, blinking owlishly.

“I swear, genuine town name” I said.

“Llanfair...pool of the white hazel...over against the rapid whirlpool...Llantysilio...of the red cave?” she asked, seeming slightly distressed, before her expresion shifted into annoyance “Is you species mad!? Are all of your town names made of geiriau cyfansawdd or something?” Octavia cut in before I could retort.

“Oh yes, his species is totally mad, did you not get that impression last night?” she asked.

“You’re lucky you’re royalty” I muttered, for about 10 minutes more we talked about this and that, and I gradually began to learn more about our new companion. She’d originally come from the minotaur homelands and had grown up in a community of her own kind before setting out to sea, going from tavern to tavern singing and playing as she travelled from country to country, she’d even picked up more than a few languages as she went, alas one night whilst traveling on the road she’d been ambushed by some bandits, cut to 7 years later and here we were. Eventually the seamstress finished taking measurements and we retired to a lounge room where Vinyl and Autumn were already present, not even 5 minutes later we were all gathered by the fireplace talking about this and that, though the conversation often drifted back to Tarn’s own exploits.

“So wait” Autumn said “How many languages do you know, again?” Tarn thought for a moment, before simply shrugging.

“Try me”

“Uh...Caracolean?” the burnt-orange pegasus asked. Tarn rolled her eyes.

“Oh s'il te plaît, c'était l'une des premières langues que j'ai apprises!” the kobald said, smirking, not a hint of her accent in her words.

“Kvennish” Autumn fired back.

“Åtminstone ge mig en utmaning”

“Okotan”

“Nanbu no arechi o tabi shinagara, watashi no himana jikan ni sore o manandaI” at this Autumn let out a low whistle.

“You’re good” the pegasus said, suddenly Vinyl piped up with a whistle, before blue lettering lit up above her head.

“How ‘bout my mother tongue, Zemlyastali?”

“kak budto ty dolzhen byl sprosit', tovarishch”

“I like her” came Vinyl’s response, before it was suddenly wiped clean and replaced by giant letters which proudly proclaimed “I CALL DIBS ON FIRST BANG!”

“Vinyl!” Octavia practically shrieked, whilst the mute unicorn dissolved into silent, hunched over cackling. Octavia sighed in frustration and rubbed the bridge of her snout with a hoof, before her hoof stopped, hovering inches from the bridge of her snout, then slowly she turned to Tarn and uttered a single word “Changeling”, without missing a beat Tarn replied as requested, though what followed was a string of sounds which at face value was not all that unlike Xhosa, but from a totally unrecognisable language group and with much more clicking, in truth I was left mesmerised, and I may have spaced out for a moment before Octavia’s hoof being waved in front of my face caused my eyes to focus on a sheepish looking Tarn.

“I think you broke him” I heard Octavia say.

“I’ve never heard a language like that” I said, shaking my head to clear my thoughts, before adding sheepishly “It’s actually kinda beautiful”

“Looks like we’ve found his heel command” Autumn snarked “just bark random words at him in changeling”

“Shush you” I said, before turning back to Tarn “Um...can you say something else in changeling?” this caused the others to burst out laughing. For the rest of the day we continued to talk about this and that, even eating lunch and dinner in the room, at some point I got my laptop, feeling it high time to show them something from modern times back on my world, and what better way to start than with that timeless and perfect casepoint of the truest of human nature…

Top Gear.

I’ll state right now that by this point we’d already consumed some alcohol, and possibly partaken in certain smokable plants which may or may not have been of dubious legality back home (but hey, when in Rome…), which made for hilarity as the five of us contributed to the program with a running commentary often at the expense of each other, we also very quickly came to the conclusion that, like the famous trio, now known across dimensions, we could safely say that we to were equally ambitious but rubbish, magical elemental powers or, in Tarn’s case, not. And as the evening drew on I felt, for what seemed like the first time, like I was actually connecting with a group of individuals, and it felt refreshing.

But, as all good things do, the night eventually began to draw to a close, and I took my leave for the night. What I hadn’t been expecting as I got ready to bed down for the night and blow the bedside candle out was to hear a single knock, followed by the door opening and for Tarn to slip in side before closing the door and walking over to the bed.

“Tarn? What’s wrong?” I asked, she seemed to hesitate for a moment,clicking the claws on her index fingers together awkwardly, before answering.

“I was wondering...can I stop with you?” she asked, I’ll admit that the question threw me for a moment.

“Uh...are you sure?” I asked “Wouldn’t you rather stop with Octavia, Vinyl, or Autumn? I mean I doubt you’d want to be spending the night with someone of my gender after what you’ve been through for seven years” she rolled her eyes at this

“You were the one who jumped that griffin” she said, resolutely “you were the one who got me out of that situation, and if there’s one thing I don’t need after all this time, it’s isolation” I mulled it over, feeling a touch uncomfortable about the situation, before sighing in resignation.

“Alright” I said, gesturing for her to climb in then turning over, before adding “but I warn you, I don’t do cuddling”

“Well that’s too bad” I heard her say as she shuffled close, eventually snuggling into my back and settling down, before adding in a much more sleepy tone “‘cause I do” I mentally sighed, rubbing my eyes half in resigned frustration and half in tiredness, before blowing out the candle and settling down to sleep. One thing was for sure, my time on this world just got a whole lot more interesting.

Early morning musings

Mist and frost hung in the early morning air as I made my way through the docks, it had been a week, and other than trekking down to the docks to test the engine nothing of particular note had happened whilst we waited for the boat to be finished off; Autumn had threatened to clap me round the ears if I referred to it as a “Launch” any more. Regardless, it was powered by steam, which meant an early morning start to light a fire from cold to raise enough steam to depart on our journey at a reasonable time, though over the course of the journey I’d be making sure that a small fire was left burning overnight, just to keep the boiler warm. I’d let Tarn sleep in, having assured her that I could more than handle this myself, though her experience working an inland cargo ship would come in useful once we were underway.

Drawing close to the boat I couldn’t help but stop and admire it; some 40 ft long with a cabin taking up a third of the total length of the boat located about halfway along, at the rear there was a simple driving position sheltered by a simple canopy, with controls in the forms of levers within close reach of the tiller, this thing had to be steered like a canal boat, and not far in front of that was the boiler; a vertical barrel clad in beautifully varnished wood, out of which sprung mirror-polished copper leading to various gauges and levers, Tarn would most likely be keeping half an eye on the boiler whilst I controlled the damn thing, so at least I’d have some company as we ventured north. Turning back to the hull and cabin, they were painted in a rather attractive shade of green offset by cream highlights, towards the front of the ship was an open portion filled with enough seats for all of us to be able to lounge about in the lazy evenings, plus spare, for all we know we’d be picking up more as we went, if the addition of Tarn was any indication. Lastly the bow of the ship was adorned with the name “Defiance” done in immaculate signwriting.

The final visual inspection complete I nodded in satisfaction before climbing down into the boat and starting up the boiler, when I’d first tested it I was surprised to find that natural gas was used in abundance as opposed to coal or wood, but it certainly made things easier, all I needed to do was turn a tap and click a lighter switch, producing a muffled “whumph” as built up gas combusted through the fire tubes and up the chimney creating a spit of blue flame out of the top for a split second before it settled down into a quiet roar. With this done there wasn’t much else that I could do except sit back and keep half an eye on the boiler to make sure it didn’t spontaneously explode, so I made my way into the cabin, feeling my way through the gloom of the early morning dusk in search of the stove and a kettle.

As I let the kettle boiled I pondered on a few things, from what I’d seen so far Equestria, and Trottinghamshire’s, level of technology was...complicated. In terms of transport they seemed to be somewhere around 1860s at the latest, but with a few nudges into fantasy; rail transport was few and far between, with most lines being freight only, bringing coal and ores from the mines into the cities and other industrial hubs, but canals and rivers were by far the most commonly used method of transportation, seen as the “regular means” of getting around beyond walking distance akin to taking a bus, where as trains were like taking a jetliner by comparison, used for travelling from country to country in relatively short times, emphasis on relatively.

I’d seen the occasional airship, and whilst that would have been even faster, Octavia had explained that they were reserved for either military or the elites in society, extremely expensive if you were common folk, and whilst Octavia was a princess, she wasn’t comfortable with flaunting the fact. I had been left even more confused by the fact that the propulsion for these airships were like something out of science fiction, Twilight, via her little music box, had attempted to explain it, but the theory of it had gone over my head beyond being something to do with “Ley-line engines and thaumic repulsors”, and I thought I had a fairly good grasp on how stuff tends to work. Though on the flipside Twilight had looked similarly confused when I’d first tried to explain the laws of thermodynamics and how they relate to the fundamental workings of the universe.

Seems these lands had focussed on studying magic, whilst more traditional sciences beyond “heat water, you get steam, steam = harnessable power” very much fell to the wayside, on the flipside Twilight had said that I perhaps might have more luck among the minotaurs, they were very big on their “physical sciences” as opposed to magic, or “thaumic science” but then again some things seemed to stick out like a sore thumb. Entertainment was one such area, they had portable radios I could effortlessly carry in one hand, electronic music (Vinyl pointed that one out to me), even hand held games consoles akin to a game boy, though that was cutting edge by their reckoning.

I’d yet to actually show them any games from my world which I had saved on my laptop, and come to think of it I’m not sure I wanted to, I don’t think Autumn, an ex-soldier, would be all too pleased by games like Halo, let alone Doom. I was contemplating letting her loose on a racing game, though, just to see how fast her reflexes were.

I couldn’t help but find my thoughts circling back around to thinking about Tarn, but not in a dopey crushing sort of way, more trying to make sense of her. She clearly felt something, even I wasn’t so blind to this, but I wasn’t sure if I could say I felt anything for her at this time, I’d only known her a week for christ’s sake, if there’s one thing I don’t do it’s “love at first sight”, the fact she was another species probably did something as well, heck, I’m not good with emotions full stop at the best times. Credit where it’s due, though, she appeared to understand that I didn’t feel the same way for her as she did me, she’s been clingy, no doubt about that, but she had yet to try any outright advances, and for the time at least I was willing to let this situation continue at this level

I was shaken from my musings by the kettle whistling as it began to boil and quickly set about making my morning refreshment, a nice cup of tea. With that done I made my way outside and after checking on the boiler to make sure it wasn’t doing anything unexpected I sat down at the tiller seat and turned my gaze out to the surrounding docks, occasionally. It wasn’t even sunrise yet, but even then I could see my breath condensing in the light of the few oil lamps that flickered along the walkways, I must have arrived in late summer or early autumn, with the weather beginning to turn colder for the winter. I noticed another figure walking their way up the docks, a stockily built Unicorn stallion I didn’t recognise, probably just a river merchant who had chose to stop the night in a hotel before continuing on his journey ferrying whatever goods he happened to be conveying. By chance his own narrow boat, a 70 footer with its load tarped over, was one docked next to my own boat. I half watched him go about readying the boiler of his own boat for the day, namely turn the heat up on the fire. I had been told it was good practice to leave a reduced fire burning at night, whatever additional costs were invoked by burning fuel were outweighed by the savings brought about from reduced metal fatigue on the boiler from a periodic cold-hot cycle. I noticed him stop and regard my and the craft with curiosity, before remarking dryly.

“Well theur certainly dooant fi’ i'” his accent was not unlike the local Yorkshire accent back home, but exceedingly thick, so much that I almost didn’t catch what he’d said. But when it clicked I couldn’t help but chuckle at his remark.

“Aye, my kind isn’t exactly well traveled” I said, being deliberately vague, better to leave my originins up to the imaginations of most passers by, saves needless prying. I then gestured to my own enamel mug before jerking a thumb inside “Hot water? I’ve got some freshly boiled” I warm smile came over him.

“'a' 'ood be reeight kin' o' theur.” I had no idea what any of what he said meant, but from his tone I took it as a “yes” and headed back inside and grabbed the kettle, pumping some some of my thermal powers into it just to make extra sure it was warm enough. Making my way back out I saw him waiting on the docks with a mug containing a teabag held aloft in his magic. I held out the kettle for him and he proceeded to take it in his magic, adding the water to his mug and passing it back. “Tah” I quickly puit the kettle back inside before returning.

“So, what you’re hauling?” I asked, gesturing to his own canal boat. He shook his head

“Nowt at momen’” he said “browt eur load o' anthraci' i' fra yarvik yestudi, ahl be 'eadin back today, 'n yursen?” he nudged his own mug towards my own boat.

“It’s complicated” I said “But short of it is I’m heading out to Westards with some friends, then back around into Yarvik, then up north”

“It wouldn't av owt ta doa wi' t' stirrings occurrin up north, 'ood it? wha' wi' thy get-up 'n orl” he gestured to my armour, which was clearly visible even beneath my cloak. I clicked my tongue.

“Aye, afraid so” I said “Already spoken to the king on the matter, he won’t send his troops to face Heimut, not yet at least, so myself and a few compatriots are making our own way there” I paused, staring off across the docks, before adding “I’m gonna rain the nine plains of hell on that Heimut bitch” the unicorn wrinkled his nose at this, taking a gulp of his tea. When he next spoke his face was a frown.

“Truth be towd, ah doubt tha'il gerr orl 'a' far, if ther's 'un thin those germanes av getten daahn ta eur t, it's thea defenses, tha'il be lucky ta step foot eur mile intoa thea borders wiyaa' gerrin shot, beleev uz, i've done frieght runs up theear” he said, before dipping his head to the side and finishing in a more cordial tone “bur, ah wish theur 'n thy'n jouce orl t' sem” again, I was stumped as to what half of what he said meant, but I nodded in silent thanks. and with that he returned to his own boat and began preparing to depart. Part of me thinks I probably scared him off, but I shoved that thought to one side as I returned to the boiler, checking up on how its was progressing. A tentative prodding of the chimney of the boiler revealed that it was nicely up to temperature, but alas the pressure gauge only read 10 PSI, and it needed to get to 150 before the boat would be ready to leave. My attention was momentarily diverted by a shrill toot of the whistle on the canal boat in the next berth and turned to see it slowly easing out, the unicorn giving a final wave before continuing on his way, the engine puffing quietly as it lazily moved away. Once more I was left alone with my thoughts.

Some hours later the sun had risen and the boiler was steaming nicely, I was stirred from my musings by the approach of a quartet of individuals and looked up to see Autumn, Octavia, Vinyl and Tarn walking up the docks. Autumn caught my eye in particular as she was carrying not only her own saddle bags, but a sizable amount of luggage strung across her back, apparently going from active military to a domestic peace keeper had not given her cause to slack off on her strength. This was without even mentioning the additional luggage that Vinyl was levitating in her own magic.

“What is all that?” I asked.

“Some of it’s food, we should be good for a week of so before we need to restock, which we can do at any town along the way” Octavia explained.

“And the rest?” I asked, only to have two sizable bags dumped in my lap.

“Tomes of magic, both light and dark, you can thank Octavia for that” Autumn huffed “plus a few things which might come in handy” I began rifling through the bag which hadn’t felt like books and scoffed in amazement.

“That looks like a small armoury in there” I said, noting that in particular there was at least one rather large shield and a number of arrows.

“For training your newbie flank” Autumn snarked, ducking into the cabin “I don’t wanna have to keep saving your backside from bandits” I huffed indignantly at that.

“We’re on a river, not the fecking highway” I shot back.

“And you don’t know my homelands like I do” she retorted from inside the cabin, a slight sing-song tone to her voice. “Now come on, get casting off you big lump! We’re burning daylight which could be spent travelling to my homelands” I turned to Tarn, now dressed in what could best be described as a loose and simple tunic which came down to her knees with a belt around the waist.

“Tarn, if you could be so kind as to get the forward mooring lines” I said, she simply nodded, hopped back onto the docks, and dashed up towards the front of the boat. Meanwhile I busied myself with the mooring up this end, before returning to the controls. I heard a shout from Tarn, announcing she had finished on her end, and responded with a toot on the whistle, first only half pressed, then pulling down on the lever fully, creating a shifting tone. I then clutched the reversing lever into full forward with a clunk and gently eased open the regulator, letting the engines slowly spin up as the boat eased out of the dock. Tarn walked through the cabin, a stringed instrument of some manner clutched in one hand, and regarded my ginger approach to piloting a boat such as this with bemusement.

“You needn’t be so cautious” She said, absentmindedly double checking the pressure gauges.

“I’d be lying if I said my instincts weren’t conditioned to handling something bigger than this” I admitted as I swung the boat around, angling it towards the westerly exit “each steam engine has its own quirks and mood swings, I'd rather take things slowly at first as I get to know her”

“Her?” Tarn asked in curiosity.

“Aye” I said, letting it cruise at a sedate pace as we moved through the docks “just a cultural thing back home, machines are referred to as female, something to do with them being in the care of men if I remember correctly” After a few minutes we left the docks and I opened up the regulator to increase the engine speed, before dropping the reverser back towards neutral a few notches to save on steam. Gradually we began to reach a fair clip, not blisteringly fast, but faster than walking pace and fast enough to be overtaking the freight hauling canal boats every few minutes. Despite the season turning towards autumn, the sun was beginning to warm the cool air into something which could almost be considered pleasant.

As we plied our way west through the outskirts of the city the chugging of the pistons leant a steady beat, roughly twice a second, which Tarn used to her advantage to play little ditties to time. After a few minutes she stopped, before turning to me, a hesitant look on her face.

“Do...do you know any songs?” she asked “anything that’d suit this sort of situation?”

“Have you heard to the rubbish he listens to!?” Autumn piped up, she was lounging about on the roof of the cabin “it’s all pounding drums and roaring vocals”

“When you assume, you make an *ass* out of *you* and *me*...but mostly you” I retorted, before turning back to Tarn “as a matter of fact I do, maybe not for canals, but I know a few folk songs and shanties”

“This ought to be good” Autumn muttered, but she turned to get a better listen all the same, likewise Vinyl and Octavia appeared out of the cabin with curiosity plain on their face.

“I’ll warn you, I’m not the best singing in front of people” I said, pausing, listening to the beat and using that as a judge for time. Then, I counted down and began singing.

“Plucked from the finest of hamlets and dales
From Sydney and Bristol and Yorkshire we hail
Riding the finest of summertime gales
We're bound for the Bay of Suvla

And it's away, Suvla Bay
Haulin' away to the Suvla Bay
Fare thee well my pretty young maids
We're bound for the Bay of Suvla

Our wake it is bursting right over the pier
The engines do carry this bold chevalier
To face the brave Abdul Abulbul Amir
We're bound for the Bay of Suvla

And it's away, Suvla Bay
Haulin' away to the Suvla Bay
Fare thee well my pretty young maids
We're bound for the Bay of Suvla

And it's haul ‘er straight over and hard to the right
The waters are clear and the sand it is white
Old Mr. Stopford will set us alight
We're bound for the Bay of Suvla

And it's away, Suvla Bay
Haulin' away to the Suvla Bay
Fare thee well my pretty young maids
We're bound for the Bay of Suvla

Well the wind it is fair and the stars have aligned
We'll sell our salt cod for sweet olives and wine
And string up the Kaiser by Thanksgiving time
We're bound for the Bay of Suvla

And it's away, Suvla Bay
Haulin' away to the Suvla Bay
Fare thee well my pretty young maids
We're bound for the Bay of Suvla
We're bound for the Bay of Suvla”

When I finished I noticed Autumn regarding me with a look which I couldn't quite place, but before I had a chance to question her about it my attention was diverted by Octavia.

“I take it your kind is quite the maritime species, then?” she asked.

“Maritime, aerial, you name it” I said “Where you folks have wings or magic, we rely on our imagination and inventions; ships which can hold more cargo than your biggest warehouses, trains of coal or ore stretching for miles, aircraft which can cross entire continents and oceans in mere hours. I suppose that’s one reason I’m somewhat excited about what lays ahead for me”

“What do you mean?” Tarn asked.

“Back home we’d already mapped every country there was to be seen, and dare I say it, people were too connected, the politics of a single nation could have ramifications the world over” I said “here things are different, life is simpler, like a step back in time two or three hundred years. The world feels larger, yet at the same time there’s less people, It feels like I have the chance to make a difference here should I choose to do so, back home I was just one nameless face in a crowd of billions”

“Sounds like getting taken from your home wasn’t all bad” Autumn said, for once her typical, almost taunting demeanor towards me was absent, replaced by what could be called compassion at a stretch.

“Maybe” I said, regarding her with a small smile, before it faded “doesn’t detract from the fact that the overall situation is still extremely shitty for me”

“Well, in that case then we best make the best of the days ahead” Tarn said, smiling at me warmly. I nodded in agreement.

“Amen to that” I said, as we slowly made our way west under the mid morning sun.

Pegasus parrying f@3kery

I hit the dirt with an irritated grunt, Autumn loomed above me with an infuriatingly smug expression.

“Oh, come on” she said in a playful tone as she leaned in and lifted my chin up using her hoof-blades, bringing me face to face with a shit-eating grin “where’s that fighting spirit that comes oh-so naturally to predators like you”

It had been 5 days since we had set off from Trottingham, and our surroundings had shifted from open fields to undulating hills, with tall mountains looming in the distance, we’d decided to stop for the day because let’s face it who wants to be boating up a river day in day out? Unfortunately it hadn’t been the relaxed river cruise which I had perhaps mistakenly assumed it to be. Almost immediately Autumn had assumed leadership, taking the role of piloting the boat from me and giving it to Tarn, and making me spend every waking hour “preparing”, what exactly that entailed varied from session to session, from learning magic with the help of vinyl, to seemingly pointless bullshit which Autumn claimed was “character building” like towing the entire goddamn boat dead along the towpath. And then there was the god-damned sparring…

Autumn it seems liked to take the approach of “push them as hard as possible and hope they improve” without actually giving me much in the way actual advice, her justification being that “the enemy wouldn’t go easy on me”. As a result, I often ended up with my face in the dirt and my sword embedded in a tree some 10 foot away as a result of some pegasi-based parrying fuckery which she so loved to employ. It didn’t help that she seemed so smug about it, often pointing out the she was besting a “predator species” whatever the fuck that even meant. Consequently in those three days I’d quickly gone from being indifferent towards her to outright hating her guts and refusing to speak to her when she wasn’t pushing my arse, was it petty? Yes. Did I care? Did I fuck!

Now in case you’re thinking the others had been sat doing jack all, you’d be wrong. Octavia, as it turns out, was a crack shot with a bow, hell, the weapon which she summoned rather than being some sort of blade or staff like I’d half expected was a rather complicated and surprisingly modern looking device akin to a compound bow, with cams pulleys and the drawstring running back and forth along these multiple times. Whenever she would summon her weapon, she would actually call forth two glove like tools, the left arm actually held the two arms of the bow which would fold together so that she could still walk and snap open drawing the string tight when she was ready to fire, the other hoof meanwhile had a series of hooks which allowed her to grab an arrow from the quiver (which materialised on her back when the rest of her weapon was summoned), notch it on the string, and then draw the string back. Octavia explained that the hooks and bow seemed to tap into her thoughts, so she could seamlessly control when it would fold away, or when she was notching an arrow into the string then drawing the bow back, I think she actually managed to let off 5 arrows in the space of a second one time when practicing.

Vinyl, meanwhile, had earned herself quite a nifty little double ended staff with blades at both ends which seemed to buzz when moved rapidly, so much so that when Autumn had sparred with her she’d been able to blast her away with a wall of sound produced by these blades. Safe to say I was not looking forward to sparring with her, my first adhoc magic duel with her was embarrassment enough, seriously, she transfigured me into a freakin ferret and proceeded to toss me up and down in mid air. On the subject of which…

Autumn’s smirk faded, and she straightened her posture as the twin blades on her hoof folded away and she held her hoof out for me to grab.

“Remember I’m doing this for your own good, aye?” she said as she pulled me up, her tone held no arrogance or anger, just simple honesty “Whilst you’re still getting knocked on your flank your reflexes are beginning to improve, you’re able to hold me off for just that little bit longer before I disarm you. I wouldn’t but much stake in you surviving were we to fight to the death, but there may be hope for you yet by the time we reach hiemut” as much as I hated her guts at this point, I still knew how to spot when she was offering genuine criticism.

“I’ll take that as a compliment” I muttered as we began walking back to the boat, to which she shrugged

“I never promised a perfect teacher” she said “but you’ll learn the way I did, and for what it’s worth, it’s got me this far. When you’re able to block on reflex, then I’ll start with the real training” I frowned at this.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t be better to teach me the basics first?” I asked. Another thing which was slightly more tolerable, she didn’t seem to react to what might be considered a stupid question, she simply answered to her own honesty.

“All the parrying techniques in the world aren’t worth jack if you haven’t got the reflexes” she said “gotta build you up that way. Now, how’s your magic?” this was how it progressed, get my ass beat multiple times, then an update on my magic.

“Slower than I would like” I said, performing a basic practice technique designed to help with focus, whereby I called forth the magic, but didn’t direct it towards anything, causing a hazy orange aura to surround my hand, it flickered somewhat “But! I am reading ahead through the basics. Learn the theory, then apply it when possible”

“Good thinking, for once” she said, before glancing around at our impromptu riverside camp, Octavia and Vinyl were currently sparring, whilst Tarn was tending to a pot of stew above a fire “Well, I suppose we’d better go collect some firewood, aye? Come on” and with that she began traipsing off into the woods.

We’d gotten some distance into the woods, picking up random small branches as we went, when she turned to me.

“So...you and Tarn?” she asked, giving me a bemused look, I scoffed.

“Oh please, there is nothing going on between us, certainly not with the fact we’ve been on a boat with you lot the entire time” I said “she’s just a mite clingy” Autumn raised a hoof to her chin, as if in thought.

“Hmm, I don’t know if I’d call if “clingy” she said, smirking “More like “on all fours begging to be rutted senseless”” this snapped something in me and before Autumn could even blink I had her pinned to the ground by the throat, my other hand balled in a fist, and raised in preparation to sock her right in the jaw.

“You best mind your next words very fucking carefully, Autumn” I hissed “I won’t stand to watch you saying shit like that, not after what she’s fucking well been through” Autumn didn’t look the least bit perturbed, and before I know what was happening, she’d kicked me off her and had me pinned to the ground, her hoof pressing into my throat.

“So you do feel something for her then, aye? You’re cute when you’re just brimming with righteous fury” she said, a smug look on her face, I elected not to say anything, but she proceeded to lean forward uncomfortably close. “oh come on, don’t give me that, all alone on a river boat with three mares and a she-kobold, don’t tell me you haven’t considered making a move on one of us even once”

“I’ve barely been on this planet a fucking month” I hissed despite the pressure on my neck “In the grand scheme of things I quite frankly have bigger things to worry about” Autumn chuckled at this.

“You can deny it all you want” she said, by this point our mouths were nearly touching she was leaning in so close, I was trying to pull my head back, wishing above anything that I wasn’t in this situation, only to be held in place by Autumn’s hoof and the ground beneath us. Autumn was speaking in a half whisper, a wild look in her eyes “but you and I both know that the five of us could get it on like a house on fire…we could be bucking well amazing...and that just terrifies you, doesn’t it?” suddenly we both heard a twig snap in the opposite direction of the camp. Autumn went ramrod still, her look shifting from wild to cool and calculating. Looking past her I could just about see a shadowy figure in the distance, I couldn’t make them out but I knew that they were watching.

“Someone’s watching us” I said, my voice barely a whisper “fifty yards from us, south of the camp” Autumn hissed almost silently.

“Can you summon your blade?” she asked, I felt around and sure enough I felt a familiar tug, my sword was floating through the either, waiting to be called forth, I nodded. “Alright, on my say, we get up and head after them, you go left, I’ll go right. Are we clear?”

“Yes” I said, Autumn steeled herself.

“Ok...three...two...one” and with that we both sprang up and half ran in the direction of the watching figure, I summoned my sword and held it in my right hand, whilst I was prepared to conjure a cast-rebound in case we encountered the figure and they turned out to be a unicorn or some other magic user. Very quickly we drifted apart and it soon became clear that I’d lost whoever was watching us, at which point the sounds of the woods started putting me on edge, I’d very nearly hit Autumn in the face with cast-rebound when she eventually showed back up.

“Damn it!” she hissed, looking around “how did we lose the cunt?” my attention very quickly shifted to focus on something which I couldn’t quite make out lying by the base of a tree, but stood out as something separate from the natural leaf-litter.

“Autumn” I said, quietly, and nodded in the direction. The burnt-orange pegasus turned, then as one we very slowly began making our way over to get a better look, when it revealed itself to be some sort of sheet covered with more than a small amount of blood I felt my stomach beginning to drop. Autumn gestured for me to uncover the sheet and, heart sinking, I edged my way forwards as Autumn kept half an eye out for anyone else in the area. I dispelled the charged spell and held my sword in both hands, before sticking the tip of the blade under the sheet and flicking it away, revealing the gruesome sight of what was most definitely the carcass of a pony, stripped of all flesh and organs, the sort of sight which burned into ones retinas and would come to mind at the most inopportune moments. Autumn proceeded to go pale as a sheet. Whilst I cried out in horror and shock and began retching as the acrid smell of death hit me, clinging to the inside of my nostrils. When faced with the sight before us, Autumn summed the situation up rather nicely.

“What the fuck have we just stumbled upon?”

Author's Note

what, did you think just be casual world building and shenanigans?

Retaliating first

“What a right mess you’ve gotten us into this time” Octavia sighed, massaging her forehead in frustration, she and I were stood off to one side of the site where Autumn and I had found the carcass, even now I could still see it out of the corner of my eye, burning itself into my memory, as Autumn and Vinyl were stood over the body discussing potential theories. Tarn was back at the camp, I’d point blank forbid her to come anywhere near this place.

“I didn’t exactly ask for this” I said, and again the image of the carcass flashed into my mind, making my shake my head “fuck me, that’s an image that won’t be going away for quite some time”

“Vinyl’s used to this” Octavia said, half glancing over but very quickly looking away “she tries to hide it, but she’s desensitised to stuff like this”

“And what of Autumn?” I asked “I was nearly voiding my breakfast, but she seems almost unshaken right now”

“She’s no stranger to death either, she served on the southern continent, remember?” Octavia said. Vinyl and Autumn walked over, the latter looking decidedly grim-faced. “Well?”

“At a guess” Autumn said “got to be a predator species, no offence to you, Onælan, but pony cannibals just don’t happen, if I had to make guess as to the species, I want to say possibly griffins, though magic wielding Kelpies are known to reside in this area”

“Kelpie?” I asked.

“Generic term for aquatic omnivorous equines” Octavia said.

“Capall-Ishk, Cabyll-Ushtey, Nixies, Shoopilties & Nuggles” Autumn rattled off “mouth full of teeth and a bad attitude, the lot of them, I’ve had more than my fare share of run ins with the blighters”

“This is unusual even for them” Octavia said “they usually feed on fish and birds, and they certainly aren’t clean with their kills on the off chance they do sink their teeth into something larger”

“Any ideas, Vinyl?” I asked, she shook her head. “Well what’s the plan then?”

“Go back to the boat, get ready to cast off” Autumn said “I’m going do some scouting” and with that she took off and wound her way through the trees before rising out of sight.

Some time later myself, Octavia and Vinyl, now back on the Defiance, were stirred from our thoughts by the sound of heavy flapping. I made my way outside to see Autumn approaching in the distance, though it quickly became apparent that all was not well. She came in low and fast and I had to all but tackle her to stop her crashing right through the cabin wall.

“What in the hell happened to you?” I asked, heaving her up. I noticed several ricochet marks on her armour, and more than one bullet wound in her torso.

“Fucking river pirates” she gasped out, shaking from the adrenalin “They were the ones that dumped the body in the woods, they spotted me hiding in a cloud and turned a punt gun on me.” her tone suddenly became distresses “A-barth an Jowl a gyj, they got my fucking wing!”

“Since when did your world have fucking guns?” I asked.

“Now is not the time!” she barked, limping into the cabin “we need to haul flank out of here, they’re going to be coming this way any minute now. Onælan, you and Tarn need to get the boat prepped to leave. Vinyl I’m going to need to borrow your magic to dig these blasted pellets out! Octavia, I need you to keep the other two safe until I can get back out there” we all nodded in turn and I quickly dashed outside and began to untie the mooring lines whilst Tarn set about getting the engines prepped. We were just about ready to leave when the shrill toot of a whistle pierced through the air, and I peeked over the canopy to see a clapped out steam boat making its way up the river, it was armed to the teeth with harpoons and crossbows, and right up at the front was a massive shotgun, some 24ft long.

“Fuck” I hissed, before an idea came to me, I began tightening the safety valves on the boiler.

“What are you doing?” Tarn asked in a hushed voice.

“we’re going to be blasting out of here soon enough, just act casual” the other boat coasted gently up and I leant my hand against the boiler in such a way as they couldn’t see it and began to pour thermal energy into the boiler, heating the water up and ramping up the pressure. I would have to time this right as I could see the pressure gauge climbing noticeably. The other boat was filled with all manor of strange looking ponies, some looked like sharks, others were hugely built with sharp teeth glinting in their jaws, others still had great tentacles sprouting out their back

“Good afternoon!” called one in a thick scottish accent, wielding a nasty looking hook “you wouldn’t happen to have seen a pegasi round these parts would you? Probably injured”

“I’m afraid not, maybe try further down the river” I said.

Well, if it’s all the same, I think I’ll take a look on your fine vessel just in case” the kelpie retorted, I glanced at the pressure gauge, 500psi. That ought to do it. Acting on a whim I suddenly dashed for the controls, whanging the reverser into full forward and slamming the regulator wide open. I’ll admit, I was expecting a decent departure speed, maybe akin to a small speed boat. I was not expecting the damn thing to practically launch itself forwards drenching the kelpies in water and causing two of the three ponies present to yelp out in surprise. I would have found myself tumbling off the back of the boat and into the river, were it not for Octavia dashing for me and biting onto the collar of my chestplate. I didn’t have time to dwell on it as I lunged for the tiller to stop us careening into the bank.

“Tarn! Get your arse on the regulator before we lose all our steam!” I barked over the roar of the exhaust, and she quickly dived for the controls and began notching back the reverser

“We can only run like this for so long, you chuck a conrod if you keep this up!” she shot back.

“I’m just nudging her!” I replied. Autumn stumbled out of the cabin, still bleeding and having to lean on the doorway for support.

“What in the bright blue blazes are you doing!?” she yelled.

“Getting the fuck out of dodge” I said, guiding the ship around a corner and throwing up a sizable wake. A few leagues later and I eased her off and began looking for a secluded spot where we could hide out. Eventually we found somewhere under the shade of a low hanging tree and I gently drifted her to a stop, at which point tarn began feeling the cylinders over.

“We can’t stop here for long” Autumn said “they will have found a turn around point and will be headed back up this way.

“And I don’t think the engines have it in them for a second burst like that” Tarn said “I’m pretty sure you bent one eccentric-rod already, she was running rough when we brought her to a stop”

“But she’ll still run?” I asked, at which the diminutive kobald smirked, tapping one cylinder with an adjustable spanner

“Shes limping, but she’s not out yet” she said.

A few minutes later we genjurly departed, true to Tarn’s word the pistons were running a touch rough, no longer firing equally, which gave the boat a distinctive off-kilter beat, no doubt that would attract the attention of these river pirates.

We trudged our way up stream for the next several hours, trying to go as fast as we dare without alarting any waiting pirates. As the sun started to set conditions began to deteriorate, a thick fog rolling in as the river changed into a swamp, multiple times we would hear shouting along with gunshots ringing out through the stillness, clearly they were trying to probe through the fog to see how close we were, adding to the stress whenever the propellers would get tangled in weeds and we ground to a halt as myself and Vinyl would jump into river in an attempt to pull them loose. Octavia would keep watch from the rear of the boat, reared up on her hind legs with bow in hoof and the drawstring pulled back in readiness to fire at any approaching ships.

Autumn on the other hand kept deteriorating from her wounds, we just hadn't had time to properly see to her, and eventually Octavia had all but pulled rank on her as a princess to get her to at least try rest after one too many times of attempting to come out and direct us. Credit where it's due, the rest of us were very quickly getting the hang of self coordination despite the pirates looming just beyond our view, we just sort of clicked into a given role.

*POV 3RD person*

Octavia peered through the gloom behind the boat, scanning the river, nay, swamp, for even the faintest hint of the pirates, all the while she was planning ahead trying to think of any nearby settlements that would not only not be under the Pirates’ hooves, but would also be able to tend to Autumn.

Her attention was diverted very suddenly by a loud splash and made her way to the side of the boat to see Onælan treading through the waste high swamp water holding a can of what looked suspiciously like compressed gas for running the boiler.

“What are you doing?” she asked, at which point Autumn limped out, obviously stirred by the commotion, Onælan turned around, keeping pace with the boat and pointing upstream.

“I need you to take the defiance half a league up that way” he said “find somewhere hidden and wait for me there for about an hour”

“And what if you don't come back?” Autumn asked, clearly sounding worse for wear as her words came out as a half wheeze. Onælan shot her a deadpan look.

“then keep going” he said, and with that he turned and began treading his way down stream.

“What do you suppose he's going to do?” Tarn asked. Vinyl frowned, peering through the fog as the strange creature disappeared into the mirk. Then blue magic lit up above her.

“retaliating first”

Octavia turned to Tarn and nodded to the controls.

“Well get to it, we need to get out of here, as he said” and with that the kobald eased open the regulator more, prompting the faintest hint of acceleration.

Some time later the boat was stopped, as Tarn and Vinyl worked to clear the propellers of weeds yet again. They had just finished untangling one proller when the entire sky to the east lit up bright orange. For a moment which seemed to stretch out for eternity all was still and quiet as the glow slowly faded, before a shockwave accompanied by an ear-shattering BOOM rocked the boat and sent Octavia & Autumn stumbling, the latter falling against the wall of the cabin with a yelp, meanwhile Vinyl and Tarn were both knocked under the water by the force of the shockwave. Then, once more, all became still, early so. Some time later, after Tarn and Vinyl had freed the second propeller, Octavia’s ears twitched and quick as a flash she drew her bow, aiming it downriver as the sounds of water splashing drifted into her ears. A looming figure appeared through the gloom, before the fog shifted slightly to reveal Onælan trudging and panting through the water, the punt gun which the river pirates had mounted on their boat slung widthways across his shoulders and carrying two large sacks, one on each end. He stomped over and Vinyl rushed to ift the punt gun off his shoulders with her magic. The four of them were reduced to gawking as Onælan heaved himself onto the boat, blood and water pouring off of him.

“Are you ok?” Tarn asked, and when he gave her a questioning look she continued “you’re bleeding” Autumn exhaled heavily.

“That’s not his blood” she said in a half whisper, her ears pinned back, likewise, Octavia and vinyl had similar looks on their faces as Onælan walked towards the two sacks.

“Those pirates won’t be a problem to us or anyone else anymore” the human said, before rifling through the one sack and heaving out what looked like the parts for a steam engine, then dumping it in front of Tarn “think you can make use of that to fix the boat?” the kobald was too stunned to respond as Onælan made his way into the cabin, pulled out a bottle of whiskey and proceeded to neck what was left, downing it in a few gulps, then made his way over the the sink and began washing his face. Octavia glanced at the rest of them.

“I...we need to get going” she said, clearly shaken, before turning to Autumn who was struggling to even stand at this point. “you’re still hurt, and we need to find a settlement soon before you get any worse”

*POV 1st person Onælan*

I was sat at the front of the boat, letting the effects of a quarter bottle of whiskey wash over me, when I heard limping hoofsteps make their way over and turned my head to see Autumn approaching, glancing at me with an uneasy expression.

“I’m not going to turn around and slaughter you lot, if that’s what you’re thinking” I said, the whiskey helping greatly to embolden me. The burnt-orange pegasus heaved herself onto a bench and laid down, half panting. Her torso was practically covered in bandages which were peppered with red blotches from the punt-shot.

“Where the buck did that even come from?” Autumn asked “I’ve known you, what, 3 weeks? And other than the incident in Trottingham you haven’t given me so much as an inkling that you’d wish harm on others. Then you go and pull that?”

“What about the keisarin?” I asked. “I’ve been voicing my disdain for her often enough” at this Autumn gave a sheepish smile

“I assumed that was...the emotions talking or something, I don’t know” she said “I never thought you’d actually do something so...bloody. I mean for Celestia’s sake, you’ve been so god damn meek when I’ve been trying to spar with you that you end up on your flank all the time. So where the fuck did that come from!?”

“I guess I’m afraid of what I can do” I said “I consider you…” I paused, mulling the words over “not a friend, because you’ve been an utter cunt these past few days, but...you’re not my enemy either, I don’t want to fight you, any of you. With me it’s a case of bottling up my anger and letting it fester, or letting it all out at once like you saw back there. I’m scared that if I really push myself with you…I’m scared to hurt you...despite what you might think from back there I don’t want to hurt people, but sometimes the situation forces my hand” Autumn snorted.

“Are all of your species this complicated or is it just you?” she asked.

“Honestly, I have no fucking clue” I said, frowning as my memories as usual proved to be infuriatingly vague “If fantasia wasn’t a god with the power to reduce me to a stain on the floor I would have punched her weeks ago” Autumn cocked an eyebrow at that.

“You know she can probably hear you, right?” she asked.

“Good!” I said “I want her to know that I’m still pissed about how she got me here in the first place, that I probably won’t ever stop being sore about it as long as I live. I had a life back home, with friends and family, and more importantly I didn’t have to kill every other week just to survive. I’m willing to bet that she had a very specific reason for dragging a human, specifically me, across dimensions as opposed to just using another inhabitant of this world, and it’s for that reason, whatever it may be, that she doesn’t just turn me into a mindless zombie or something, and until evidence to the contrary makes itself known, I’ll continue to voice my displeasure at her actions”

“And if she goes and takes complete control of you anyway?” Autumn retorted.

“Then clearly it no longer becomes my issue” I shot back.

It was getting exceptionally late by the time we reached a settlement that didn’t look suspicious, so late that we all but dumped a bag of coins to pay the overnight mooring fee in the lock-keeper’s office then proceeded to collapse in an exhausted heap in the single large bed which we had to share (I had very quickly learned that ponies are a whole lot more cosy, much to my exasperation), Though Octavia had helped Autumn to the house of a nearby doctor first.

The next morning I stirred slowly, surveying my surroundings I took stock of where everyone was. Tarn I could feel against my back as usual. Octavia meanwhile was snuggled up in my arms with Vinyl, still awake, just dozing lightly, behind her. I heard Octavia stir with sigh and looked down to see her eyes fluttering open, she glanced around in confusion before looking up at me, a soft smirk gracing her features.

“I thought you said you didn’t do cuddling” She whispered.

“I don’t” I muttered, still groggy “But my people have a saying, “when in Rome, do as the Romans do”...plus I’d be an idiot to deny that this is...nice”

“So you have a soft side after all, and here I thought you were just a cold hearted killer” she said, though her tone held no criticism or displeasure.

“Nah, you’d need to go to Autumn for that” I retorted, prompting a frown from Octavia.

“You would probably make things a lot easier for yourself if you weren’t so passive aggressive towards her” she said, I snorted at this, before relaying our little altercation yesterday, when I finished she scowled. “I shall be having words. I certainly won’t have such behaviour, we need to learn to work together, we were OK last night, but there is still some room for improvement. And if Autumn continues like that, then it certainly doesn’t help” at this Vinyl’s head popped up, blue writing materialising above her head as an impish smirk flashed across her muzzle.

“I’m going to say that I agree with Autumn, I propose we strap you down and rut you dry…” as the words appeard Vinyl’s tongue lolled out and she shook her head back and forth. I rolled my eyes and Octavia sighed, before an elbow planted itself firmly in Vinyl’s stomach, prompting a grunt from the white unicorn.

“I don’t have to see what you’re saying to know that it’s most likely crass, uncouth and more than likely at odds with what I’ve just said” Octavia said. Vinyl shuddered in a silent chuckle as more words materialised.

“I regret nothing” I looked to Octavia.

“Are you going now, or…?” I asked, leaving the question unfinished out of habit, I wasn’t sure where I picked it up, but I often tended to leave such questions unfinished, let the other party finish it themselves. Octavia shook her head.

“No, it’s still fairly early, besides...” she then yawned and nestled her head in my chest “As you said, this is nice” I noticed more blue words appearing above Vinyl, much dimmer this time. Her face held a half smile, though there was a hint of seriousness to it

“She’s taking a liking to you, so don’t buck this up. Or I’ll buck you up” that put me somewhat in edge.

“Great” I thought “First a kobald, now a goddamn princess. I do not have time for this touchy feely crap” but all the same, I quickly found myself settling back down and drifting off to sleep.

Breaking up the monotony

Autumn was stirred from slumber by the sound of a hoof rapping on the door to her room. Blinking the sleep from her eyes she glanced at a clock mounted to the wall. 10:37.

“[Must have slept later than usual]” she muttered in her slurring native language of Kirnewek. When the knocking persisted she turned to the door and called out “One moment”. She then hastily climbed out of bed, making sure to activate a number of certain concealment charms, and made her way to a simply dress table and setting about brushing at her mane in an attempt to bring order to her unruly bed-mane. As she was doing this she called out to bid enter and turned to see Octavia cautiously making her way in.

“I trust you are recovering?” the slate grey earth pony asked

“Being...whatever it is we are as Wrakjon must come with advanced rate of healing” Autumn said “The wounds are already starting to heal up, and I don’t feel quite so sore as I should...still wrecks something fierce, though” Octavia drew closer, a clear purpose in her movements.

“Autumn, listen, Onælan told me about what happened between the two of you before you found that body” she said, her expression hardening “to say that I’m less than impressed would be an understatement” Autumn closed her eyes and sighed in irritation as her posture sagged somewhat.

“Octavia, list-” she was cut off very abruptly.

“Your Princess speaks!” Octavia barked, her normally reserved voice almost hardening to the manner used by the royalty of old, taking the ex-guard pony completely by surprise and making her flinch as if struck. “Romantic relations, friends with benefits, one off flings, however you so choose to go about getting your rocks off are one thing, but all but pinning him down in the open on the forest floor, when he has clearly shown no apparent interest one way or the other? This I will not stand for. I let you lead us because your past experience makes you better suited to lead us than myself, and I am loath to pull rank but by the gods I will not hesitate to strip you of any power and assume command myself if you pull something like that again!” Octavia was absolutely livid by the time she finished, though Autumn seemed unperturbed.

“Are you finished?” she asked nonchalantly, as she turned and resumed brushing her mane, looking at Octavia, when the earth pony elected not to verbally respond she continued “Right, yes, I’ll admit I bucked up, what I did yesterday was a touch overboard, but there are things at play which both yourself and Onælan clearly do not fully understand”

“Like what, exactly?” Octavia asked incredulously.

“Cast your mind back to Canterlot, when Fantasia spoke to the four of us about our powers and what we were to do. What were the specific words she used when translating the name she had given to Onælan?” she asked.

“To ignite, but also to inspire or to lead” Octavia recalled.

“Exactly, Fantasia wouldn’t just drop that specific wording without expecting him to assume some sort of leadership role at some point” Autumn said, rolling her eyes “Now, ask yourself if he really fits the bill of “leadership material” at this moment in time” Octavia conceded Autumn’s point with a reluctant nod

“Admittedly he seems to follow others rather than strike out on his own, though last night is an exception…” she said.

“He needs to be more bold, think ahead and think for himself” Autumn said “but before all of that he needs to learn to stand up for himself. Everytime I try to get him to spar rather than fighting back he always yields, it’s aggravatingly pacifistic even by Equestrian standards, but I think I’ve found a way in”

“How so?” Octavia asked, somewhat warily.

“He very seldom reacts to any remarks directed at him. oh, they get to him all right, i can practically see him burning on the inside, his chosen element in certainly apt” Autumn said “but he never rises up to what I say about him. But the moment I mentioned Tarn, well it wasn’t specifically Tarn herself, but that’s when he floored me”

“He did mention something about certain comments setting him off” Octavia admitted.

“He never rises up to remarks about him, but when it’s directed at others, that’s when he goes ballistic” Autumn said “And now that I’ve found the right pressure point, I just need to apply some pressure”

“So what are you saying? That I’m to just stand back and watch as you verbally tear him the shreds?” Octavia asked, bristling somewhat, making Autumn sigh.

“Yes and no” she said “Yes in that you can’t interfere for so long as there is progress to make, no in that you don’t have to be detached from it all. I’m not blind to what it’s making me think of him, which is where the rest of you come in, you need to be there for him, but you can’t tell him why I’m the way I am” Octavia hummed uncertainty, a pained expression on her face.

“For the record I really don’t like this” she said, and Autumn hummed in agreement.

“I don’t either” she said “but sooner or later I’m going to break through to him...I have to if he’s to reach Heimut in one piece” Octavia sighed, massaging her forehead with a hoof.

“Just...from now on try not to be too much of an outright cunt…”

*POV First person Onælan*

My magical aura fizzled out with a pop and the arrow I had been attempting to levitate dropped to the table with a clatter. I noticed Vinyl shake her head in irritation.

“Remember to watch your focus” she said

“I do, but every time I try to increase my focus it just fizzles out” magic, especially for a non unicorn like myself, was tricky and very ad-hoc, whereas Vinyl could cast all with a simple thought, for me only the most basic of spells could be cast mentally, and for the rest it would differ greatly from spell to spell due to other non-unicorn races historically attempting to match them for magical prowess, but each only coming so far, though together they made something close to a whole.

As such I was having to learn many different techniques at once, sign language-like hand gestures of the minotaurs, fire based magics of the dragons (useful for long distance communication), three entirely separate schools of verbal magic; one rhyming and developed by zebras, the other harsh and bellowing developed by griffins, and the third comprising of utterings in old equine. And yet more still were cast mentally, the levitation spell I was attempting to perform being one of the latter.

For what it's worth I had decided against informing Twilight that I was learning magic, I couldn't explain it but for whatever reason I felt it more beneficial to not let her in on every single detail, though I couldn't explain why, as such I only asked general questions which could be passed off as an outsiders curiosity.

“Well, yeah, you need to focus, but don’t focus too hard on keeping your focus. Make sense?”

“About as much sense as turning left to go right” I muttered, prompting Vinyl’s ears to twitch and she regarded me with a sideways look, before gesturing to the arrow once more.

“again”

I sighed, once more held out my left hand and attempted focus on trapping into the magical ether, mentally cast magic like this was tricky to explain, resulting in a lot of vague descriptions and double negatives. I couldn't feel something that was there, more something that wasn't not there. Like feeling sensations from a third hand that you knew didn't exist. The ether itself was equally vague and self contradicting, like the deepest ocean contained within the shallowest puddle, the tallest mountain within the smallest room.

I tentatively “didn't” feel out for the arrow and a faltering reddish aura surrounded my hand, and after a short delay the same faltering aura surrounded the arrow, which began to quiver and twitch. Rather than trying to force myself focus, to force the arrow to move, I decided to approach things differently. Instead I closed my eyes and began trying to steady my often chaotic thoughts, letting the magic I was attempting to cast become a secondary task as my mind slowly began to calm itself. I must have completely lost track of my surroundings as next thing I knew Octavia’s frantic calling of my name shook my out of my trance, when I opened my eyes I was greeted with an intense red aura surrounding the arrow, which was hovering some 3 foot off the table and starting to smoulder, this only lasted for a moment however as the break in concentration suddenly set my mind towards trying to reel the magic in, which had completely the opposite effect as more magic shot out of my hand, looking almost like lightning as it hit the arrow which proceeded to explode into splinters, before the magic aura surrounding the ex-arrow’s former location imploded with a loud bang creating a small shockwave which sent myself and Vinyl stumbling backwards and physically rocked the boat. In addition to this I felt lancing pain shoot through my mind, making me cry out and grab my head in an attempt to do something to stop the throbbing pain.

When the pain finally subsided and I regained my senses I looked around to see various passersby all staring at me and muttering in hushed alarm. I then turned to see a concerned Octavia and decidedly shocked Autumn, whilst Tarn was poking her head out from the cabin, Vinyl meanwhile looked downright horrified, which was unusual for the usually unflappable vampire.

“What the fuck just happened?” I asked.

“You might have gotten a bit too focussed” Vinyl said “When Octavia broke your concentration it disturbed what tentative control you had on the magic, But even then, I’ve never known a magical feedback to be so...spectacular, I would struggle to get so much as a crack if something like that happened to me” I tentatively tried to call forth my magic, credit where it’s due it came much more freely this time, the aura holding steady. My attention was diverted once more by Autumn clearing her throat.

“I think it might be best if we leave….” she said, glancing at the increasingly unsettled locals.

Some time later we were drifting our way along the river, over the course of the day our path had gradually shifted from due west to north-west, and our journey was now being shadowed by spectacular mountains, clearly we would be rounding on Autumn’s childhood home either sometime today or perhaps the day after, then after that rounding back north east to head towards Yarvik. I couldn’t help but feel a mild excitement for what Yarvik might be like. And in a world I knew jack all about it was refreshing to have somewhere I was looking forwards to visiting.

Apparently Octavia’s little chat with Autumn had at least done something towards her attitude. Whilst she wasn’t exactly being nice, she was at least treating me with basic courtesy, asking me to do things rather than demanding, hell she’d even cornered me when we were alone, or at least alone as one could be on a 40 foot boat, and had proceeded to apologise for what happened in the forest, still wasn’t all that happy with her, but I figured in my situation I should learn to savour the small victories.

“Um...out of curiosity” I said to her “and you don’t have to answer, but when was the first time you..well, saw death?” at this her expression shifted to...something I couldn’t place, certainly not good, that much was sure.

“It’s been two weeks since you went berserk in that warehouse with Vinyl and you ask me about death now?” she asked almost incredulously

“I’ve been trying not to think about the warehouse” I said “I like to pretend that I wasn’t fully in control of my actions and thoughts, try and shift responsibility somehow, helps me to sleep at night”

It..it won’t get easier, you know” she said, for once she seemed vulnerable “that memory is going to likely stick with you for the rest of your life, you know”

“And what about you?” I asked, at this her expression darkened.

“Truth be told...I’d rather not discuss it” she said, before turning and walking away.

“And here I thought I was making progress” I muttered, as Autumn took off and perched herself on the canopy of the boat. I also came to the realisation that she had successfully deflected my question the first time without even raising my suspicions, which annoyed me to no end, needless to say my perception of her had gone right back to square one; I hated her, but I hated the fact that I hated her, but at the sametime I felt it wasn’t down to my own faults that I hated her...I also hated that she was right about me being confusing. I found myself starting into the water, irritated with my situation…

My reflection stared back…

For some reason I found myself focussing on my own reflection, something wasn’t right. Before I could so much as flinch something burst through my reflection and out of the water, striking me on the head and knocking my flat on my back in the bottom of the boat. Something landed beside me with a thud, dripping with water. I came to my senses and saw the snarling face of one of those kelpies from before glaring down at me. It was one of the shark ones, Cap-all something? I thought I had got them all when I’d obliterated their boat, apparently not.

“ah’ve got yew now...wutever yew are…” she snarled in what sounded like a thick irish accent to my ears, placing a cloven hoof firmly on my chest and leaning in close, her nostrils and gills flaring as she panted. “Now ah’m going tew make yew pay fur wut yew did tew mah muintir” I heard the clatter of hooves as Autumn, Octavia & Vinyl dashed over, only for the Kelpie to hiss at them “Stay back, ah have nuu quarrel with ye, just this cur right here” Autumn took a defensive pose in front of Octavia and Vinyl, but didn’t make any move to approach

“That’s all well and good” I hissed through the pressure she was applying to my chest “But you made three very big mistakes” truth be told, I was just buying time at this point, Autumn was more than likely hanging back to see how I handled myself, ready to step in should this creature make a move to actually wound me.

“Oh ah don’t think s-”

“First” I said, interrupting her “You came after me, I’d have thought you’d realise I maybe shouldn’t be fucked with after I obliterated your boat and laid waste to your clan single handedly, I left those of you who survived alive out of mercy”

“Second” I continued “You came by yourself. A single unarmed shark pony to go after me? I’m quite frankly insulted after the size of that explosion”

“It was a big explosion” Autumn muttered, I then lifted my head and stared her straight in the kelpie’s eyes.

“But do you want to know what your biggest mistake was?”

“Wut?” she muttered, half in a rage and half confused.

“Your biggest mistake?” I said in a low whisper, before proceeding to kick her off, and in one fluid motion pin her to the ground, summon my sword and press it against her neck. I was burning with anger at this point “Your biggest mistake was you decided to gloat about revenge rather than killing me when you had the fucking chance!” I then raised my sword up and proceeded to clock her in the head with the hilt, knocking her unconscious. Autumn shrugged as she relaxed and began making her way over.

“Well, colour me impressed, ape, you managed to subdue a kelpie” she then drew her own hoof blades and went for the throat. Only for me to block her with my own sword “You aren’t seriously considering sparing her life again, are you? She was on that bucking ship and she came after you when you spared her life the first time”

“I reckon she could be of use, providing she’s willing to tow the line” I said, examining the kelpie, this was my first time getting a good look at one of these creatures. Rather than having fur, she appeared to have smooth grey and white skin similar to a dolphin’s, not a single muscle or bone could be seen under what I could only assume was a layer of blubber. She did still have a dark mane on the top of her head, which coupled with the distinctly shark-like tail threw me off. The symbol of a rigging knot adorned her flanks, clearly these things had predestined talents just like every other equine on this planet. Once over complete, I turned to Autumn “Get me some rope, and make sure it’s sturdy.”

About ten minutes later we watched the kelpie, who was still unconscious, the first thing I’d done when Autumn had retrieved some rope for me was strap the kelpie to the chimney of this boat her head about level with my own. That made it clear that she was at my complete mercy right from the moment she awoke, best to establish dominance when dealing with pirate types....

Eventually I got bored of watching the sleeping Kelpie and proceeded to grab a bucket from the cabin, filled it with water from the river, then I sat back down and in one fluid motion I proceeded to drench the kelpie in water whilst summoning my sword and leaning on the hilt. The kelpie woke with a start, spluttering, before looking around frantically and trying to wriggle out of her bonds without success.

“So glad of you to join us” I said. The kelpie hissed, like, full on hissed like a snake. “Don’t bother magicking your way out, Tavi here is ready to stick an arrow through you if you so much as flicker your horn” at this I jerked my horn towards Octavia, who was stood behind me and to the left, reared up on her hind legs with the bow ready to fire.

“If yew tied may up tew brag then yew might as well cut tew the chase and just gut me here and now” I said.

“Sounds very tempting” I said “you did cannibalize a pony recently, more than likely not the first. Certainly wouldn’t be much of a loss if I gutted you right now to make char-grilled shark steak for tea”

“Mare’s gotta eat, ain’t she?” the kelpie asked in a non-cholant manner “besides, yer wan tew talk, yee aren’t exactly one of the grazing types either, I see it in yewr teeth”

“that’s besides the point” I said “I like to consider myself a man of practicality, although I utterly despise your background, you no doubt have certain skills which would be of use for what I intend to do” at this the Kelpie became wary.

“And that would be…?” she asked.

“In case you hadn’t figured I’m not exactly local” I said

“Really?” the Kelpie asked in a deadpan “why I could have sworn yee fit right in with the Yarvik Tykes, what with the drawl and the fact yer legs reach to the fooking mountains”

“by which I mean I was dragged kicking and screaming across dimensions by one of your world’s gods for some predestined prophetic bullshit and all but booted from Canterlot by said god without so much as a “fuck you very much, now head north”” I said, getting slightly irritated, this made her deadpan expression falter.

“Oh…” she said, dragging it out.

“And, during my short time on this planet I’ve very quickly come to realise that I do not like the heimut queen one bit” I said “So I’ve decided to head north a wage a little 5 person war against her xenophobic arse” at this the kelpies eyes widened.

“Nay” she said, sounding genuinely panicked, as she redoubled her efforts to try and wriggle free “I will noot step one foot within that mad betch’s realm, I’d be shot on sight” at this I stood up and casually strode over, before pressing the tip of my blade against the underside of her chin.

“I don’t see you as having much of a choice” I said “Either you choose to join us in which case you have a chance to turn your life around and be part of something greater, or I gut you here and now and be done with it, either way it's no real loss on my end, at worst I don't gain anything” the Kelpie frowned at this, before looking down at my blade, her expression becoming perplexed.

“Y…yew’ve never actually been shown how tu properly hold a sword…have yew?” she asked, catching me completely off guard.

“I don't know whether to take that as a yes or a no…” I said, confused.

“Let me guess, tha’ feather head has been trying to teach yew tew fight” the Kelpie said in a deadpan. Autumn bristled at this.

“And what's that supposed to mean!?” she asked indignantly, at which the kelpie rolled her eyes.

“the way yew hold yurself, I'm going to guess Trottingham guard, am I right?” The kelpie asked, at which Autumn hesitantly nodded, frowning “In which case yew’ve been trying to teach him to fight like a pony, which will-nay work for someone of his stature”

“And what makes you think you know better?” Autumn asked, at which the Kelpie smirked.

“Just because ahm a pirate does nuut mean ahm an idiot” the Kelpie said “ah’ve had enough run ins with yer sort tew know that yew’re tought tew stick tew the most traditional of techniques, yew’re almost religious about it. Makes it very easy to outmaneuver yew with a few less traditional methods” Autumn seethed, but didn’t rebuke the accusations either.

“I’ll tell yews another thing as well” she said, looking strangely relaxed given her current predicament “The lot of yews will be lucky to survive trekking through the wilds like yews are, Guards are trained tew travel in large groups, large enough to ward off most threats, but out here? In Stirrupe? yews got sabre-toothed cats, short faced bears, dire wolves, and that’s not even touching on the magical beasts. Fat chance of walking it should yews end up without yer boat” Truth be told I was getting whiplash from how rapidly this kelpie was changing tone, first she was after my guts, then outright terrified at the prospect of going to Heimut, and now she was wanting to come with us? I was starting to doubt her sanity. I sighed in frustration and pinched the bridge of my nose.

“Are you coming with us? Yes? Or no?” I asked.

“Clearly someone has to keep yer sorry hides out of trouble” she said, before riggling some more “The name's Alee, by the way. now cut me loose and ah’ll show yews how to really fight”

Author's Note

Every group's gotta have that one batshit indevidual to break up the monotony...

feedback would be much appreciated at this point, I like people to tell me if they think I'm mistepping or not, can't get better if I'm not given feedback, now am I?

More cheer in a graveyard

The Defiance jostled slightly as it bumped into the riverbank, almost as soon as the boat came to a stop and Tarn dropped a small anchor to stop us from drifting Autumn dropped onto the riverbank with a huff. Alee, the Kelpie (or more specifically kapall ishka) who it seemed would be joining us on our voyage, had all but directly called Autumn out on her honour as a guard to challenge her to a duel.

Whilst the burnt-orange pegasus set about scoring lines in the dirt to mark out a basic sparring ring, seething all the while and muttering under her breath, Alee started rifling through the two sacks I had pilfered from her fellow pirates. the rules to the duel were simple; don't get knocked down, don't get pushed out the ring, either of these constituted an automatic loss of the match. Suddenly Alee cried out in surprise.

“Aha! That's where yew went, yew little devils!” she exclaimed, levitating what looked to be two swords with wide double tipped blades and equally wide handles, perhaps some style native to her own kind I thought, better suited for magic’s grasp and to make a stab wound more vicious and difficult to heal, I found my focus on them shifting rapidly as one was thrust towards my face, flipped on its side so that each tip would have ran straight through my eyes, only to stop at the last second, looking down the length of the blade I could make out lines marked up and down the blade, like talleys “Yew pinched mah swords, yew little swine” I contemplated my words for a moment.

“Says the 4ft land shark” I said, slowly pushing the blade to one side with two fingers of my right hand. Alee half chuckled before pulling the swords away.

“Carefull, tall boy, yew might just find yer life cut short in yer sleep...” she said as she made her way over to the sparring ring. “Remember, garda, I’m not out to kill you. Just a simple sparring match...but that doesn’t mean I’m going to hold back” and with that, she began spinning both blades rapidly along their length. Once, twice, three times, before they stopped on a dime. Immediately the reason for the double tips became apparent as the blades split like scissors and latched open with an audible metallic click to form two double ended, double bladed, swords, one directly in front of the kelpie, the other raised slightly above her to the left. This clearly caught Autumn off guard somewhat, as she took a half-step back, her expression a snarl but her ears dropping in doubt. Before she shook her head and took a full step forwards, hoof blades switching down and punching small divots in the dirt with the singing of metal on metal.

“Good” Autumn shot back “Because neither will I” and with that she charged the kelpie.

I’ll state right now that I’d struggle to fully describe how their duel went down without going into some 5000 word wall of text that would be painstakingly detailed and laborious to read, but their fighting styles could easily be described as vastly different. Autumn’s moves were deliberate, precise, with moves that at times struck me more as martial arts than blade combat. Alee on the other hand...err, hoof, was much less rigid in her movements, and a lot of times she came very close to catching Autumn out, though every time Autumn just managed to block her. Eventually however the kelpie managed to catch Autumn completely off guard, waiting for her to lunge before grabbing the arm in her magic and pulling it straight.

“You non-magic types are all the same” Alee smirked, Autumn stuck with her arm reaching past the kelpie’s neck and one of her own swords pressed against Autumn’s throat. “Never expect a magic user to be able to manipulate multiple things at once” Autumn snorted.

“Who said anything about being non-magic?” she asked, before inhaling, then bellowing out “Throngva!” Alee’s eyes widened comically for a split second before being launched back through the air with enough momentum to send her clear of the ring’s boundary. Alas Autumn didn’t get out of it unscathed, as the blade that was pressed against her neck was drawn diagonally upwards, glancing across the left side of her face and sending her to the ground with a yelp and a spray of blood. The rest of us quickly rose to go to her, but she began climbing to her feet with a grunt, her head turned away from us so we couldn’t see the injury “Don’t you fucking dare! This bitch is mine!” then as she began to stomp her way towards Alee, who was still on her arse beyond the ring a most peculiar thing began to happen as blood dripped off her chin, parts of her body, namely her legs, began to seemingly flicker and shimmer beneath the armour.

“Um...Autumn?” I asked, but she ignored me as she drew closer to the Kelpie, panting heavily, she then pressed a hoof thirmly down on Alee’s neck

“Do not take me for some rookie guard who’s been patrolling some sleepy settlement her whole live” she seethed, her voice coming across as slightly distorted “I fought, killed and bled for my bucking country in the southern frontier, lost more than mere blood, can you say the same, Kelpie?” and with that she thumped a hoof in the center of her chest and a wave of white magic ripped across her underneath her armour, her seemingly organic legs melting away to reveal metal plate & pistons, I’m pretty sure one wing was as well, though it was on the left side, out of our field of view. In response to this Alee seemed at a loss of words for once, a stunned expression on her face.

The rest of us cautiously made our way around, bringing the rest of her face into our field of view and revealing the entire left side of her face to be made of metallic plates now marred by a gash running up that side of her face, which was adorned with a considerably pained expression

“...Jesus fuck…” I muttered, and her eyes snapped to focus on me, I scratched my chin awkwardly “Um, elephant in the room here, but how in all manner of fuck are you even alive still? Let alone walking and talking like you were born with those” apparently this wasn’t the response she was expecting, as confusion began to bleed through the pained look on her face.

“What in all manner of tartarus do you mean “you don’t have moving prostetics”!?” Autumn exclaimed, before hissing in pain as Vinyl carefully shifted another metal plate back into its proper position on the left side of Autumn’s face, we were now back on the Defiance, sat at the rear of the boat as we wound our way through a deep canyon, continuing our journey towards Autumn’s childhood home, we actually weren’t far by her reckoning.

Alee, it must be said, had been considerably subdued since we’d gotten back on the boat, sitting off to one side with a guilty look on her face. As it turned out, Autumn had seen and been through a lot of shit whilst fighting down south. What eventually did her in was getting caught by a griffon hand grenade to her left hand side. Credit where it’s due, the ponies had their healthcare down to a fucking T.

“You told us that your kind has been to the moon and back” Octavia said. “How can you not have what is pretty commonplace replacement limbs?”

“Strapping oneself to a rocket, pointing it at the moon and pressing a big red mutton is one thing” I said “Keep in mind my kind doesn’t do magic, we can’t just slap a crystal onto a metal leg and make it work” at this Alee perkled up, a rather horrified expression on her face.

“You don’t have magic!?” she exclaimed “how do you cope?” I raised a hand and waggled my fingers.

“With these” I said, before also tapping my head “and this, Humans are the only sapient species back home...or rather we think we’re the only sapient species, personally my bet’s on dolphins or cephalopods also being as intelligent as we are, we just can’t communicate….b-but that’s besides the point, what you guys achieve using magic, we use our minds to investigate the world around us, discover new things, and in turn make new things to help better our lives as a result”

“Such as?” Alee asked, I thought for a moment, before fishing behind my chest plate and pulling out my phone, which I was storing in a makeshift pocket I had made back in Trottingham.

“This, It’s called a smart phone” I explained “It’s primary purpose is to allow people to talk in real time over long distances, across entire continents and oceans even, using a network of special artificial satellites orbiting the planet which we use to bounce radio waves around the world. Lets say this planet had just such a mobile network, I could use this to talk to someone at the bottom of the continent as if they were right here talking with us”

“Wow…” Alee breathed.

“That’s not all” I said “I could also use it to send and receive letters, all would be stored inside it as digital data. And without a network I can still use it as a super accurate clock, a camera, and I can watch moving pictures and listen to more music than you could store as records in your house”

“You’re a lucky buck, you know that? if you die I’m claiming that thing” Vinyl snarked.

“Then, on top of everything else I can also use it to connect to a massive multi-media network spanning the globe, known as the internet” I said, before nodding to Octavia “It’s...kind of like the hivemind you told me about which changelings have” It was autumn who perked up this time.

“What can you use it for?” she asked “that could come in pretty handy in war…”

“That’s one of the reasons it was developed in the first place, to make it easier for military personnel to communicate and share important information” I said, before coughing “Though it must be said that the average citizen uses it for...other reasons”

“...Like what?” Octavia asked hesitantly.

“Um...well” I chuckled, nervously “Mostly to argue about meaningless shit, laugh at extremely confusing and self deprecating humour, and also to...watch porn…”

“My expectations of your kind soared, only to nosedive at the last second” Octavia said. Suddenly Autumn rose to her hooves, looking around.

“We’re getting close” She said, before suddenly an odd look came over her and she raced to the cabin, jumping on the roof and sniffing the air as her armour materialised around her “Something isn’t right” I was surprised to see that it was Alee who joined her on the roof of the cabin, her folded blades levitating at her side with the blades pointing backwards, as if stowed.

“Aye...it’s too quiet” she said, and Autumn nodded “and that smell, it’s almost like…” the two shared a worried glance, before Autumn suddenly took off, followed closely by Alee jumping into the river and following after her at an impressive rate.

“Uh, what the fuck was that?” I asked, turning to Octavia.

“Although Alee’s kind hails from Meira, they’re both Westwards folk” she said “so they’ll no doubt both recognise when something’s wrong in their own lands” at this we rounded a bend and the canyon opened out into a large bay, to reveal what could only be described as a city of Tolkien-esc grandeur carved into the very cliff-side. Though we were very quickly set on edge by the copious amounts of smoke rising from the city, along with many gouge marks going deep into the rock.

“Get us there as fast as possible, Tarn” I said, before summoning both my helmet and my blade, likewise Octavia also summoned her own armour and bow. I could actually feel the boat accelerating, though it was still an agonising amount of time before we reached one of the only jetties left on a now deserted docks. Where Alee and a decidedly distraught Autumn were waiting. “What in god’s name happened here? More river pirates” I asked, glancing at Alee, who shook her head.

“Nay, even we wouldn’t dare target ah built in settlement like this” she said, shooting me a look “these cliff towns are built like fortresses, from the days when equines were united in ah war against griffins, besides, this is way tew big fer us, that punt gun yew stole from us is the largest weapon we tend tew have, that won’t dew much against solid granet” the flapping of a single pair of wings broke through the erie stillness and we turned to see a pegasi in basic armour armed with a spear approaching. Cautiously I tightened my hold on my sword and readied it. Only for Autumn to rest a hoof on my hand.

“No” she said softly “these are my people, let me talk with this guard” before walking her way to the front of our group. I couldn’t help but notice that she her movements were a little stiff, perhaps she was self-conscious of the fact her prosthetics were on full show for the world to see. The pegasis, white with a blue mane, stopped just before the spear went through autumn’s face.

“Who are you?” he asked, his accent far thicker than Autumn’s “from your dress you are warriors?”

“We are Wrakjon” Autumn said “I am Autumn Skies, daughter of Fairweather” at this the guard gasped and took a step back, his eyes widening as he lifted the spear up

“Au...Autumn?” he asked “Ren ow thas!” and with that he dropped the spear and all but tackled Autumn in a hug, catching the rest of us off guard. Autumn seemed equally taken aback, before a look a comprehension came over her face.

“Winter Chill?” She asked when the guard pulled away “My little brother?” at which the white pegasus nodded.

“Aye! What’s it been, 20 winters?” he asked.

“Thereabouts...what’s happened here?” she asked, turning to gaze up at the imposing facade of the clifftop, still smouldering. Winter Chill sighed.

“Perhaps it would be best if you spoke with the lord, these are dark days of late, my sister” he said, before glancing at the rest of us, his gaze lingering on me with a puzzled expression “from the looks of things, the gods might well have answered our prayers.

We soon had the boat moored up and had grabbed a selection of necessities, Alee now wore what looked to be basic leather armour found amongst the bags of loot I'd taken from her clan, with her blades secured to her sides. Tarn also joined us, dressed in simple link armour which the king had made for her with a dagger stowed diagonally across her chest.

The streets of the town were a narrow winding affair, built to a switchback design, the street rose at a noticeable angle, but not so steep as to make walking it tiring, until it reached a point where it joined the next level and began the other way. On one side there were a great many households, some also doubling up as shops, but all carved into the cliff face itself, with the otherside looking out onto the lake itself. Occasionally we would also pass side streets burrowing deep into the mountain, presumably the less well off lived back there whilst the wealthy got to see the admittedly picturesque view., One thing that struck me was just how...quiet the town was. What ponies there were, pegasi mostly, watched us wearily from the windows of their homes.

“You’d find more cheer in a graveyard” I muttered, prompting Octavia to elbow me in the knee. Eventually we reached the very top of this town, where a grand hall was carved inside the very cliff itself, with a large balcony in front of it overlooking the lake. It was explained to me that here the entire town would gather for special occasions, the winter solstice celebration, or the birthday of the lord, for example. At the very end of the hall the lord was sat on...I don’t want to say throne as they weren’t royalty but you get the idea. The lord was a pegasus, big surprise there, advanced in his years with a green coat and blue mane and tail, the moment he laid eyes on us he sighed.

“What have you brought me this time, Winter?” he asked, sounding tired. “More sell-swords, I presume?”

“Nay, these warriors I feel are different, Father” Winter said as he bowed “you might find that one may be familiar to you” at this Autumn cautiously began stepping forward, a defiant look in her eyes.

“When I last stood in these halls, you told me I were to be shot on sight were I ever to return...father” she said, causing murmurs to rise up amongst the gathered court. The lord straightened his posture, regarding her with a cool look.

“Aye, that I did, daughter of mine” he said “tell me, did you find the glory you were looking for in that bullheaded war of our king? Or was that attitude of yours knocked down a notch or two?” I noticed Octavia breath in sharply at the mention of her own father, presumably trying desperately to hold back her tongue.

“See and decide for yourself” Autumn said, as her armour disappeared completely, revealing the full extent of her injuries for the very first time, causing even more murmurs to rise up from the court.

“If you came looking for sympathy, then you will be sorely disappointed” the lord said “Depending on how the next few minutes play out, I may yet hold true to my word” Autumn seethed silently as her armour reappeared, I decided to take this as my own cue to step forward and gave a bow, taking off my helmet so that they could see my face.

“More than I would have done” Autumn muttered to me as she walked past to rejoin the others.

“My lord” I began “If I could respectfully ask, what has been attacking this city? You’ll have to forgive my ignorance, for I come from lands far away, so such sights are strange to me. However I would also like to preemptively offer the help of myself and my fellow travelling companions so that we might perhaps bring an end to this trouble, whatever form it might take” the lord regarded me with an odd look.

“Stranger to these lands indeed” he said in a condescending tone “we have been plagued by a dragon these past few months, every so often he will lay waste to what he can reach. Sometimes on a whim, but also if we happen to disturb him, let's say through merrymaking, we have since learned to seek shelter deep within the cliff when night approaches”

“A dragon?” I asked “does this creature have a name?” at this I looked at the gathered court.

“He is referred to only as The Calamity” the Lord said, I nodded at this

“Then I shall kill your Calamity”

“There have been many warriors who have sworn to rid us of the dragon” said a new voice, female this time, as a pegasus mare, blue with white mane and tail, walked in from a side door and sat next to the lord. “But when the roars and screams fade there has been nothing left of them except blood and gore to be cleaned from the floors...and the ceilings...and the walls”

“Well then your nights of disappointment and terror are over” I said, projecting my voice to the court, time to lay on the dramatics a touch, these people look like they could do with some hope “My kind are strangers to these lands, but back home we have many a tale and song about great dragon slayers among our own people; Beowulf, Saint George, and Sigurd. They are but three heroes of old among many who have slain great dragons of old, and like them I promise you that, live or die, I shall rid you of this dragon”

“And what makes you so different from every other sellsword to step foot in these halls?” I heard a voice call out from the court.

“One, I ain’t no bloody merc, and I’m quite frankly insulted anyone would view myself or my friends as such” I said, before raising my sword, pointing it out of the open doors, and channeling my powers through it into a concentrated stream of fire which shot out into the lake, making the court cry out in alarm “Two, I wield fire as easily as you breath, so that takes one of a Dragons main weapons out of play against me. It’s gonna have to get up close and personal, where I’ll be much quicker and able to keep on top of whatever attacks it throws my way. I’d say that evens things out just a touch” when I finished a lone hoof tapping on the floor broke through the silence.

“Well then” The lord said, the faintest hint of a smile gracing his face “let us hope you fight is as good as your boasting makes out. Let us drink and feast, in celebration of these new heroes”

Ripper, tearer, slasher, gouger

An atmosphere of hushed merriment filled the hall as the locals talked, drank and ate, they certainly weren't unhappy, but it was clear they were being mindful of past experience with how rowdy they got. Although Autumn’s relationship with her father was still clearly somewhat strained they at least appeared to be trying to get along, albeit at the gentle insistence of Autumn’s mother and brother. Autumn had just finished retelling our story when her father turned to me, a look of mild amusement on his face.

“Autumn tells me you come from another world, one far advanced to our own?” he asked.

“Yes, putting it simply” I said, he raised an eyebrow at this.

“Tell me, does our world seem primitive compared to yours?” he asked.

“Oh, not at all” I said “whilst it’s true that the pace of travel and communications are far more rapid back on my own world. There are a great many things that the lands I’ve seen so far posses with my own world does not...magic for example. Every day I’m finding myself surprised by some new thing which everyone else views as mundane”

“If you had the choice, would you go back?” he asked, this threw me and I peered into my drink as I thought of a response.

“Truth be told, I’m not all that sure” I said “one the one hand there is nothing I want more than to see some of my own kind once again, but having said that…” I trailed off.

“Onælan?” Octavia asked, a look of concern on her face, I flashed her a small smile in an attempt to reassure her that I wasn’t going off the deep end or something.

“I have no personal memories of my homeland, what I do know is the sort of information one could easily read about their own country from a book, even if I went back, I’m not sure I’d be able to find my place” I said “During the time I’ve been here I’ve come to know people who I’m happy to call my allies, friends even, I’m not sure I’d want to give them up if I had the choice”

“Sometimes the bonds you forge on the road of life are stronger than those formed at birth” Octavia said “I certainly wouldn’t think less of you if you chose to stay”

“Here here to that” Tarn said in agreement, Vinyl nodded, whilst Autumn simply grunted noncommittally.

“Bah, look at yew lot, getting all sentimental!” Alee exclaimed, cheeks rosey and a tankard of ale levitating in her magic “Why be so certain in the “what ifs” and “what might bes”? Take each day as it comes and never let anyone else dictate yer future ah say!” before her dismissive demeanor faded upon catching my look and sheepishly adding “...ah...interdimensional displacement notwithstanding”

“Indeed” Autumn’s father said with a raised eyebrow. Quite suddenly the hushed calm of the hall was shattered by an ungodly roar which caught me completely off guard, making my drop my drink and sending ale splashing on to my chest. Only once the roar had faded and my initial shock wore off did I make my move, standing up and leaping over the table, summoning forth my mask and sword even before many of those gathered in the hall had had a chance to begin panicking.

I ran out of the hall and actually ended up sliding the last few feet as I came to a stop, so great had my pace been, as I scanned the vacant balcony and empty skies. I was soon joined by Autumn and Octavia, both fully resplendent in their own armour, and I began to hear a commotion behind me as Alee, Vinyl & Tarn set about securing the doors to the hall, if we fell here, they would provide the last line of defense against this beast. Autumn cautiously stepped forward, a snarl etched onto her face as she scanned the sky, looking for anything that signified as danger, I meanwhile couldn’t shake the feeling that we were being watched, and only once I’d looked above and behind did my heart leap into my throat at the sight of some 50 foot behemoth of a blue dragon clinging to the wall, watching the three of us intently.

“Get behind me!” I shouted as I turned and raised my sword in readiness, assuming a defensive stance, whilst Autumn and Octavia seemed to move as one, turning on a dime and backing up behind me. Autumn assumed a hovering pose, upright with her hoof claws held at the ready, whilst Octavia reared up with no less than three arrows notched and the bowstring pulled fully back.
The dragon seemed to regard us with curiosity as it slowly began to descend from the cliff face, a deep rumbling chuckle which I could feel in my chest rolled up its long and slender neck as it effortlessly lowered itself onto the floor, moving in a manner similar to a giant snake.

“Well...aren’t you the curiosity” he said, his voice so deep it seemed to consume every thought in my mind, making it hard to concentrate. he turned his head to one side and began to study me through one eye, mere feet away from me, before drawing his head back and making its way around us until our backs were to the door once again “I must admit, I would have been very happy to begin my raid on this town, feast on a few delicious pegasi, and called it a night a that, but I must admit I don’t ever recall smelling your type before...”

“My...type?” I asked.

“Yessss….” The dragon said, the “s” lingering in a cartoonish serpentine manner, and his head began weaving back and forth, looking at my left, then my right, then back to my left. Autumn and Octavia clearly had the right idea, as they began to back away whilst the dragon’s attention was so clearly diverted “You stand tall, yet you don’t smell of Cynocephalus or Minotaur. You clearly have no fur, but you are definitely neither Dragon nor Kobald. If I didn’t know better I would say that you do not belong on this plain of existence entirely, so before I rectify that, perhaps you could do me the grace of telling me what you are”

“I am...a human” I said.

“Human” the dragon repeated, the word rolling off his tongue.

“The Earthling, a son of Adam” I continued, hoping to stall the dragon who simply smirked, exposing his many long and gleaming teeth, clearly he was wise to my tricks.

“Lovely titles…” he said, his tongue poking out of his jaws and running across his teeth “Do go on…”

“The storytelling man” I continued “The wise ape”

“Fascinating...I shall remember them as I burn you to ash” He said, before his head and neck reared back, an orange glow appearing in his chest “Be sure to give my regards to those who fell before you...Wise...Ape” and with that a torrent of fire burst forth from his jaws, and enveloping me.

As expected the fire had no direct effect on me, merely swirling around me as if I were stood in water, though the stone floor was clearly starting to get severly roasted, beginning to glow. Thinking of a plan I lifted my sword and began to draw as much of the fire into myself, immediately I began to feel myself filling with an extraordinary level of power, this dragon fire was clearly potent stuff. After a few seconds the torrent of flames ceased and I waited for the smoke to clear, before stepping forwards. This caught the dragon by surprise, as he left out a roar of rage, before his head snaked towards me, stopping near inches from me.

“How dare you!” he thundered “Who are you that would stand against me!? You pyromancy skills are quaint, but what will you do now, what can you possibly hope to do to in the face of one such as myself? I have lived for an age and though those centuries many have tried to defeat me, but in the end all have fallen, just as you all will. So tell me, Human, what do you plan to do now?”

“Who am I?” I asked, raising my sword, before grabbing a hold of the dragon’s head by the horns, catching him totally unawares. “I am the Ripper... Tearer... Slasher... Gouger. I am the Teeth in the Darkness, the Talons in the Night. Mine is Strength... and Fire... and Power! I AM ONÆLON!” and with that I plunged my sword into the dragon’s skull, right between his eyes, and proceeded to pour every ounce of power into my sword. The dragon didn’t even have time to so much as twitch as a beam of fire, as bright as the sun, burst from the back of his head and shot into the sky, lighting up the land as bright as day.

After a few seconds, and no small effort, I managed to quell the fire flowing through my blade, and withdrew the blade from the dragon's skull as I stumbled back, before tripping on my own feet and falling flat on my arse, my back against the wall of the balcony and a feeling of great exhaustion overcoming me as the carcass of the dragon crumpled into a heap, a smoking hole creating a gruesome window through its skull.

“Onælan!” I heard a voice call, it might have been Octavia’s, though I couldn’t be totally sure as felt myself rapidly shifting in and out of consciousness. When I was next able to focus I felt Octavia ripping my mask off and dropping it to one side unceremoniously, before studying my face “Stay with me, okay? you drained a lot of energy in that blast, they probably saw that all the way from Canterlot. D-don’t worry, I’ve got you now” I could feel her pulling close, nuzzling at my face, though I didn’t really register it, all things considered I felt rather numb. I vaguely noted her turning to her right and calling out. “Get a stretcher, and a healer, quickly! he’s in no fit state to walk….Onælan?...Onælan!....” and with that, darkness swallowed me.

When I next awoke, it was suddenly, making me sit up rapidly and giving me a headache for my troubles. I hissed in discomfort as I massaged my temples, my memories of what had transpired came flooding back.

“Onælan, here” I heard a soft voice, and I turned to see Tarn offering me a jug of water, although it might have been a flower vase for all I knew based on its size, the dark blue kobald smiled apologetically “they...didn’t have any glasses your size” I wordlessly took the jug and proceeded to down the entirety of its contents in several gulps, before handing it back with a nod of thanks.

“How long was I out?” I asked

“A couple days” Tarn said, surprising me.

“Shit” I muttered.

“You...had us worried for a while there” Tarn said, “heck, even Autumn was getting concerned, not that she’d tell you to your face. But for the most part it’s been me and Octavia who’s been keeping an eye on you”

“Can you go get her?” I asked, and after Tarn’s wary glance I rolled my eyes “Don’t worry, I’m not going to fall unconscious again, I think I’ve had enough sleep for today...plus I could use some more water” finally she relented and left the room, whilst she was gone I took the opportunity to check myself over incase I had miraculously suffered from some injury that I didn't remember, once I was certain everything was in order I began setting about finding and putting on my armour, as I wasn’t comfortable to be talking with anyone whilst I was completely naked, plus I was determined to be on my way as soon as possible. Not long after I’d secured all my armour in place Tarn returned, with Octavia in tow. Octavia’s face held an expression of worry, which melted away to relief the moment she saw me up and about.

“Thank the gods” she said with a sigh “I had grown worried”

“Nah, I’m not going to let a little something like that keep me down” I said, adjusting my vambraces “still so much to see in this world, I haven’t even met any griffins or diamond dogs yet, can’t be doing without meeting a few fellow carnivores, right?”

“Are you sure you’ll be fine?” Tarn said, handing me the jug, freshly refilled with water.

“Pah” I exclaimed in dismissal “I’ll be reyt, I’m made of sterner stuff than you herbivores” this prompted Octavia to roll her eyes as I took a gulp of water, before her expression softened and she seemed to become uncertain.

“Onælan, listen” she said, I turned to look at her and she continued “I’ve been thinking, I’ve seen the way you’ve put yourself in harms way twice already, for the sake of trying to keep the danger from us, and whilst Autumn might try to put you down, some of us have noticed, in fact I’m touched”

“What are you trying to say, Octavia?” I asked, taking another gulp of water.

“W...would you be my consort?” she asked, and I was reduced to a coughing fit.

“You cannot be serious” I said once I’d regained control of my breathing “But your royalty”

“I know” she said “which is why I said “consort””

“But your country has both a king and queen” I retorted “I’m certainly not anyone of importance-”

“You are to me” Octavia cut in.

“By important I mean I’m not of noble blood” I said “the way I understood it, royalty cannot be marry a commoner to rule alongside them”

“That is true” she said, nodding “but you wouldn’t become a king, you’d become the Queen’s consort...once I’m crowned of course”

“Clearly I’m missing something here because that is not how it works where I’m from” I said, sitting on the bed, before gesturing for her to continue “Run me through how your system of royalty works” Octavia sat in front of me and began to explain.

“Trottingham is ruled jointly by a king and queen, as you full well know” she began “and, as you said, the one to be married to the royal-born must be from one of the families from the three realms of Trottinghamshire, it always cycles around, each time a different realm will step forth to provide a nobel to be married in to the royal family...there’s also regulations dictating how often a given family can marry into royalty, so as to prevent inbreeding. Autumn’s father is a lord of Westwards, which means that she and her brother would be eligible for a royal marriage”

“I’m with you so far” I said, taking a sip of water.

“But, more often than not those are marriages of politics, to maintain order in the three realms” Octavia continued “those presented are chosen based on their knowledge of the kingdoms and their ability to govern, it is certainly not a marriage of love, though the king and queen do often grow to love each other, as with my own mother and father”

“And the consorts?” I asked.

“Because of the above reason, the king and queen are allowed to select someone whom they trust, who they care for, as more than a friend. It can be anyone, not necessarily a noble, the chosen could well be a chimney sweep for all anyone outside the immediate family knows” she said “then the royalty and their chosen enter a partnership, not a marriage, and the consort is also assigned accompanying role based on their respective talent so that they might better serve their king or queen; personal aide, hoof maiden, scribe...royal bodyguard. A consort has no real political power, besides their input being appreciated, but it does carry a certain...social notoriety, nobles would be a less likely to cast you out”

“So…” I began “what you’re saying is I’d become a royal fuckbuddy with extra steps?” Octavia looked aghast

“Good heavens, no!” she exclaimed, before frowning at me “Don’t be so vulger!”

“Sorry” I said, chuckling at her reaction “You may continue”

“Outside of our company you have nothing, no homestead, no family, no lands to call your own” Octavia said, and I conceded her point with a sigh.

“That is true” I said.

“And come the day when some of us go our separate ways, for duty or perhaps a lack of it, where would you have gone?” she asked.

“Not entirely sure” I said “Probably stick with those I know best, or settle in some land which has struck a particular chord with me”

“And if you went by yourself, how would you obtain a place to stay, a means of employment?” she asked.

“Sellsword?” I ventured, though I didn’t sound particularly convinced by my own words, from what I’d seen so far ponies didn’t seem overly trusting of those other than their own kind, I doubted the other races would be any different, hell, my kind certainly wasn’t, we’d go to war over different ways to open an egg with a knife...The more I thought the more I agreed with her reasoning.

“As my consort you would be guaranteed a home, those who you could call a family, even” Octavia said as she walked over and sat at my feet, before taking my hands in her own hooves, a comforting smile on her face “understand that I’m not trying to force you, I know you aren’t as used to affections like I’ve been giving you, you need merely say no and I will not hold it against you, we can go from here as friends and nothing more” I nodded at that.

“Just one question” I said, at which she nodded for me to continue “what about Vinyl, I thought you and her were already a thing?”

“That is a fair question” she said “but Vinyl and I are...complicated. Being her familiar is a complicated relationship all of itself, certainly we trust each other with our lives, and we’re more than friends, we’ve even had flings, but it’s not romance” at this I nodded and let out a sigh as I contemplated her offer, I never was good with heavy decisions like this. Eventually though I relented, the way I figured it it didn’t actually stand to lose anything by accepting, it’s not like the Defiance offered me any privacy anyway.

“I...I can’t rightly say that I feel for you like you feel for me…” I said, and Octavia’s posture sagged, assuming I was refusing her “But, in a world where I do not truly belong it would be nice to be guaranteed some stability, and someone to look out for me as much as I would look out for them, and in time maybe I could grow close to you, so...yes?” at this Octavia jumped up, throwing her arms around my neck and nuzzling at my cheek, initially I was caught off guard, but I quickly figured that she wanted some affection in return, so I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close.

“Thank you” she said, lingering for a moment before pulling back and lowering herself down, at this she turned and walked over Tarn, who had been watching wordlessly and now had a smile on her face, but not a happy-happy smile, more “third wheel” smile, she them pulled the kobald into a hug, taking her by surprise “and don’t think I’m oblivious to your own feelings for him either, I shall need a hoofmaided when I’m queen, will I not?”

“Uhh…” Tarn said, not fully sure how to respond.

“And if the queen’s hoofmaided also grew close to the queen’s consort, I certainly wouldn’t judge” Octavia said, punctuating with a nuzzle, this appeared to be the straw which broke the camel’s back, as Tarn’s face proceeded to go blank, not that Octavia noticed as she rose once more and made her way out of the room, humming “I vow to thee” with a noticeable spring in her step and a smile on her face. Bemused, I stood up and made my way over and nudged Tarn out of her stupor, then proceeded to blink owlishly at the doorway.

“So…” I said “Apparently that just happened”

Strong in muscle, strong in heart

I was the first to stop dead in my tracks at the sight of this creature, nearly falling flat on my face as a result, though the others quickly stopped and looked at me in confusion s I studied the creature. It was built not unlike a large therapod and stood some 15 feet tall, its body was covered in red and blue metalic plates which were tinged with rust, whilst what little organic flesh I could see appeared to have a sickly sheen to it. It had two long arms ending in vicious talons, a great tail covered in metal plates with a tip which seemed sharp enough to pierce flesh and organ, and when it pulled its head out of second story window its jaws appeared almost comically long, were it not for the fact they were filled with teeth which were dripping with blood. Flashes of memory raced through my mind at such a rate they made my head hurt. This creature was a Zyglak...and it should not exist on this planet, or any other planet for that matter. Given the situation, I said the first thing that came to my panicked mind.

“I have to get off this planet” Autumn let out a strangled, mirthless chuckle at this.

“You what?” Autumn asked.

“That thing is a Zyglak, and it should not be here” as I spoke I adopted a defensive stance, sword back with the shield brought in front to provide the most protection. “Tarn, I need you to get out of here”

“What?” the kobald asked in confusion and worry.

“Just go!” I barked, though I quickly regretted my decision as this cought to attention of the Zyglak, its head snapped around and its eyes focussed on me, and growl working its way up its throat as it sized me up.

“Toa…” it seethed, turning to to face me, very quickly I felt a pit in my stomach as certain inexplicable familiarities about my mask became very clear to me. I blanched as I began slowly edging back, for every foot I stepped backwards it took one step forwards

“We need to go” I said quickly.

“What-” Octavia went to ask, only for me to cut her off.

“We need to go now!” I repeated, panic starting to creep into my voice, from what I knew about this creature it was well beyond my current skill and I would have much rather put a good 50 miles between myself and it, consequently I proceeded to do the only thing which seemed sensible at the time.

I bolted...and I totally did not scream in terror as I did so.

“Nope-nope-nope-nope-nope” I muttered as I ran with the others close behind me.

“What even was that thing?” Alee asked.

“Zyglak” I said “amphibious, live a few hundred millennia, carry a flesh eating virus on their skin, resistant to elemental powers so that’s us fucked, oh, and it thinks I’m something which it would very much like to see torn to shreds and devoured. So, sorry fantasia, but I am NOT dealing with that thing today!” clearly Fantasia had other ideas as the Zyglak proceeded to land on the ground in front of us, causing a crater.

“Tsvina yenyika” it seethed in some foreign language as it slowly stalked towards me “The rest of you can flee with your miserable fleeting lives, I just want the Toa”

“I don’t know what a Toa is, but he is not one of them!!” Autumn barked, attempting to stand defensively in front of me, though considering I was twice her height she didn’t do a very good job of it “And if you want him, you’re going to have to go through me!” Octavia, on the other hand, decided to take a more direct approach as she reared up on her hind legs and drew her bow before loosing an arrow which struck to cobblestones at the feet of the zyglak, making it stop and look down and the chipped cobbles, before looking back up at Octavia and growling as she notched two more arrows in the drawstring and pulled her bow taught.

“One step closer and I’ll loose these arrows” she warned “they might not pierce your armour but I’m willing to bet I can still render you blind, lizard” the zyglak chuckled

“Big talk coming from a little rahi” it spat “I have lived a million of your lifetimes, and whilst your kind withers and dies, me and my brothers & sisters endure. You are all but dust beneath me, the next meal to be devoured!” and with that he charged, leaping through the air so quickly that by the time Octavia had fired her arrows her aim had been thrown off and so they bounced harmlessly off the snout of the creature. Using its arms and tail proceeded to knock, Vinyl, Alee, and Autumn out of the way in three different directions before grabbing Octavia by the throat in its right arm and pinning me to the ground with its left arm. Leaving me helpless as its eyes ran up and down Octavia with a predatory gleam and a long tongue slithered out of its jaws and snaked its way across her face, leaving a trail of saliva which matted her fur and made her shiver in a mixture of disgust and fear.

“I’m going to enjoy this” the zyglak practically purred, but a sickening schink sounded out and the zyglak bellowed with rage. I looked past the head of the creature to see Tarn with a dagger embedded deep between two plates of armour on the zyglak’s back.

“That’s my princess you’re touching, chi cachu!” Tarn spat. And she drove the dagger in deeper, almost immediately a white glow surrounded her and gleaming white armour materialised around her as she grew about 3 inches in hight, the dagger also appeared to glow, before a shimmering sound was very quickly followed by a sickening mix of the rending of metal and ripping of flesh as ice exploded out of the creature’s back, forcing its armour apart with a spray of silvery red blood. The Zyglak reared up in agony, letting out a choked roar before a light in the center of its chest winked out, and the creature went silent before tumbling to the cobblestones, dead.

For a moment, none of us moved, too stunned by the very rapid turn of events, eventually as the others brushed themselves off I got up and made my way over to Octavia, who had a far off look on her face.

“Are you okay?” I asked, kneeling down and holding out a hand to help her up.

“Now? Quite frankly, no. I’m not okay” she huffed, before accepting my waiting hand “but don’t worry, it’s just my first time in a fight is all”

“Before we all go charging back in” Autumn said as she hovered over and pressed one of her hoof claws to the underside of my jaw “You’ve got some explaining to do, “toa”. What even is that thing? And how do you of all people know about it?” I cautiously moved her hoof out of the way with my hand, allowing me room to properly talk.

“As I said before, it’s called a zyglak, my kind had stories about creatures like them, about the universe they come from” I said “but they were total fiction, not even like a myth or a legend, more fantasy like lord of the rings. By all rights it shouldn’t exist which is why I panicked”

What even is a Toa?” Autumn asked. I frowned at this, took off my mask, and examined it intently. It was definitely a Kenohi hau...or rather a replica of one, though I doubted it was functional, not once had I been given an inkling that it could work. Fantasia would have some explaining to do when we were done here

“In the stories back home, zyglak were one of the not so pleasant races” I explained as I put this mask back on “toa were that world’s guardians, they had the power over elements similar to wrakjon. This mask is not unlike one particular mask which some toa wore, it gave its wearer the power of protection, in that regard this mask isn’t genuine, but the resemblance is enough that the zyglak thought I was a toa”

“But why have we not heard of them up till now?” Octavia asked “I’ve heard of some coastal towns and cities getting raided, but never any mention of…”zyglak”...” out of Octavia’s mouth the word sounded cumbersome, almost uncomfortable to speak.

“Because wey call them somethin’ else” We turned as one to look at Alee, who was inspecting the corpse, she then nodded at me “he calls them zyglak, but when ah was with the river pirates wey called them Iarann-Ais...Ironbacks in yer tongue. Whenever towns get raided most folks don’t get much of a good look at them, so they compare them to the only thing which is remotely similar...dragons”

“I can remember hearing about reports of strange metal skinned dragons when I was being trained by the guard” Autumn said “we were often threatened with being assigned coastal duty guarding against them as punishment, but we were never shown any pictures of them.

“Oh, they aren’t all bad, mind” Alee said “you’ll find some working as fishers, they’re amphibious, makes them very good at catching fish, which makes for an easy way to make a quick bit. I’ve met a few, they’re honest folks, but unfortunately the majority are like this one, sea raiders who plunder and pillage”

“Onælan, are you absolutely sure that it’s what you say it is?” Octavia asked as I walked over to the body of the zyglak and hauled it onto what was left of it’s back.

“It called me Toa, so that right there is a big giveaway” I said, taking a moment to examine it properly, before conjuring my dagger and using it to prise out the crystal embedded in it’s chest, before holding it up in the light of the sun to examine it, it was about 8 inches long, and about 3 inches in diameter “these things don’t have hearts like we do, they aren’t even organic in the sense we are, they’re mostly machine with some organic parts tacked on, practically immortal as well” I then held the crystal up for the others to see “the stories called this a heart-stone, if I remember correctly it’s their lifesource, their soul...I think I’ll keep it, it’ll make a cool necklace” clearly the others were taken aback by this, as they all gave me slightly wary looks as I rose to my full height and proceeded to drop the crystal into a pocket I had attached to the inside of my chest place, I’d make it into a necklace later

“So….Ice powers?” Autumn ventured, looking at Tarn, who was now stood with the rest of our group with her armour shining in the sun. “Can’t say I saw that coming...”

“Are you joking?” Tarn asked “my kind inhabit the snowbounds of the minotaur lands, we thrive in the snow! nah, this I can work with”

“I’ll admit I’m surprised” I said, glancing at the zyglak corpse “from what I remember they are are resistant to elemental powers-”

“They are” Autumn said “that thing’s made of metal, the entire time it was monologuing I was trying to make a living puppet out of it, I could barely get a register on it” Vinyl frowned

“I tried to hit it with a high pitched screech...the fucker didn’t even flinch!”

“My gravity powers didn’t work either” Octavia agreed “it should have felt 30 tons heavier…”

“That’s because none of you are thinking outside the box” Tarn said, looking rather smug “yeah, if I’d hit hit with a blast of ice it would have done a fat lot of good, but I didn’t, all I did was encourage the water particles which were already beneath its armour to turn to ice. And what always happens to the plumbing in winter? Pop! Like our very dead friend over there”

“Clever girl…” I muttered, which warranted a snap of the fingers and a wink from Tarn, I then walked over to where I’d been pinned and picking up my sword and shield “so, my friends, once more unto the breach?”

*20 minutes later*

Dirt was kicked up around me as I dove over the drystone wall of a garden whilst energy weapons-fire wheeled overhead.

Of fucking course they would have god knows what kind of ranged weapons, I’m pretty sure I saw a rhotuka spinner at one point…

The six of us were now holed up behind the aforementioned wall with a number of the local guard, some of whom were having to make visible efforts to hide behind said wall. According to them this was a semi-periodic thing, five or ten years would roll around and they would strike Teesside, apparently they cycled through a number of cities on the two northern continent and there wasn’t all that much the locals could do except hunker down and maybe do one or two of them in if they were lucky.

And on top of everything it was currently raining...just my luck as a wrakjon of fire...

“Just our fucking luck that we’d arrive when they’re in the middle of a raid” Autumn said.

“For wha' it’s worth i’m not complainin 'a' you’re 'eear.” one local, a gargantuan female Tyke with a dark brown coat and light brown mane & tale by the name of Midnight Quarry, who had happened to tag along with us, said. “We’re a', wha' wor it? 50:5 teur t' ironbacks, teur ta thee ah think that’s eur recut for wee side” her thick accent went completely over my head, but I was too busy being waist deep inside my shoulderbag to offer a response.

“What are you doing?” Alee asked.

“Got you! I knew I’d left it in here!” and with that I backed out of the bag carrying one large bag and a certain punt-gun I had looted from the river pirates, though I had since modified it to make it more manageable for a single person, like myself, to handle; I had sawn a large portion of the barrel off, shortening it from 10ft down to 4ft, and I had greatly modified the firing chamber to utilize reusable cartridges, the idea was that I would retain each cartridge after its charge had been spent to reset and refill later, as a way of making things easier in the long run. Alee took one look at it and her face went through a range of emotions, before finally settling on confused anger.

“What did you do to mah gun?” she asked.

“Made it easier to use, trust me, you’re gonna thank me in a minute” I said, before hinging the stock down with a “thunk” and poking my head up above the wall. The other side was facing out onto a town square, though it was more like an octagon. Half of the “square” was occupied by various groups of locals holed up against the xyglak raiders, some were even armed with spell-rifles or wheellock rifles which was a big help, though none could match the firepower the zyglak were packing, or what this punt gun was capable of. Opposite from us I could see the zyglak similarly holed up, since the raid had started it had progressed from packs of the sea raiders roaming through the streets picking off stragglers to prolonged firefights as they tried to draw out of pick off the dug in locals. All told our current situation reminded me of footage of city battles from WW2, and I was having a hard time keeping a level head in the face of the utter chaos we were presented with, though Autumn had very quickly taken stock of the situation and had managed to successfully navigate us to our current position unharmed.

I scanned the town square, looking for an easy target, and soon spotted a lone zyglak not too far away. Ducking back down I began to rifle through the sack, before producing a cartridge which was filled with a single large slug, with the amount of powder it was packed with it could punch through steel, at the very least the zyglak was definitely gonna feel it. I then slotted the cartridge into the breech and swung the stock up with a snap.

“Are you sure that bodge is going to work?” Alee asked.

“If I wasn’t I wouldn’t have done it in the first place” I said, cocking it back, muttering a quick prayer which consisted of “Fantasia fucking protect me”, and popping back up over the wall, punt gun soon aimed on the zyglak, who had its back turned to me.

“Pull!” I yelled for a little personal comedic effect, before pulling the trigger.

Boom!!!

I was promptly knocked on my ass as the gun bucked back violently and barked loud enough to drown out everything else in the town square, though I distinctly recall hearing aimless cursing in a foreign tongue which quickly died down signifying that my aim had held true.

“Could you make that thing any louder?” Tarn asked, rubbing one of her ears with the palm of her hand.

“Stow it!” Autumn hissed, as she peered over the top of the wall and her looked turned to one of amazement “don’t count your blessings yet, Onælan, but that thing actually worked!” I recovered and peeked over the top of the wall, following her gaze to see the zyglak now lying dead in the middle of the square, a sizable hole in its back which oozed silvery red blood, the rest of the zyglak, clearly stunned by the one shot kill, were now trying to hunker down behind walls and buildings.

“That worked a lot better than I thought it would...” I thought.

“I’m gunna need to make a scope next chance I get” I muttered “I was picturing using it as a heavy shotgun, but apparently those slugs work well enough to accurately take down larger targets”

“Oh, give it here!” Alee said, taking it in her magic and levitating the bag over “you said slugs, aye? Not shot?”

“Aye” I said “I’m not sure if shot would make a dent in their armour at this distance” Alee simply nodded, loaded a cartridge into the breech and then proceeded to walk in front of me.

“Hold me” she said.

“Excuse me?” I asked, surprised by her forwardness.

“Yew have more mass than me and even yew got knocked on your arse, this will send mey flying, ah need yew to hold mey to absorb the recoil” she said, rolling her eyes.

“Oh, right, of course” I said, shifting back as she rested the end of the barrel on the brick wall, adopting a kneeling position with both forelegs holding the gun firmly. I then got in place behind her and leant against her back, just enough to stop her moving, then I wrapped both of my arms around her waist to secure my hold on here

“Don’t focus on where ah’m aiming” she said in a quiet voice as she levitated 7 cartridges and placed them in a line along the wall, add the one already in the breach and that was one shot one for each zyglak “ah need you to watch for anyone trying to sneak up on mey” I noticed Autumn staring at Alee as she held the punt gun.

“You were the one that shot me...weren’t you” she asked, to her credit Alee didn’t so much as flinch, though her expression turned serious.

“We fight side by side today, any quarrels we had in the past, they die with our enemies” she said “We’re battle-blooded now, that makes us damn near sisters so far as I’m concerned” she then turned to look at Autumn, a rare look of clarity on her typically manic face “Aye?” Autumn looked stunned.

“Ay...yes” she said, somewhat hesitant, before her resolve hardened and she nodded “Yes...let’s end this. You think you can get them all?”

“ah hit you through cloud cover at 1000 yards” Alee said, returning to look down the sights and slowly training the barrel on a zyglak who was peaking around “take that as an indicator of my marksmanship...mah folks even had a nickname for me on the rivers.

“Oh?” I asked. She didn’t answer for a moment, before breathing in then at last responding.

“Steady Aim”

And with that she pulled the trigger and the recoil hit me like a kick to the chest as sparks and smoke belched out the barrel with a cacophonous boom. For a split second I actually saw the slug sail through the air before hitting the zyglak in the center of its head, which promptly imploded as the slug tore through metal, flesh, and brain matter, and leaving a bloodstained hole in the wall behind as the zyglak crumpled to the floor without so much as a yelp.

“You’re watching my aim, human” Alee said in a warding tone as she reloaded and aimed for a new target, before switching to one tinged with annoyance “watch for anyone tryna be sneaky!” Another slug shot from the gun with a bark, another Zyglak went down. Unfortunately Alee’s warning chose to come true at the most inopportune moment as I spotted a Zyglak charging over.

“Alee, Move!” I barked, shoving her to the ground just in time to dodge a swipe from the Zyglak’s tail, only to be picked up and launched through the air and across the town square. I landed with a thud which stunned me, but I didn’t have much time to recover as already the zyglak was charging over. Bracing myself I rose to my feet and summoned my sword and shield with a quick spell before assuming a defensive stance.

The zyglak drew some sort of pistol and fired, but I quickly sidestepped and struck at his hand with my sword, knocking the gun out of his grasp but unfortunately leaving him uninjured, I then pushed the advantage by shoving at his midsection with my shield, striking as his left shoulder with my sword and then finishing off with a kick to the chest, my enhanced strength taking the zyglak by surprise and sending him sprawling. I came it him with my sword, flipping it around and attempting to run the creature through, only to stop short as the tip of the blade hit against its natural metal armour. I received a kick to the chest for my troubles, launching me through the air once more and knocking my sword and shield out of my reach. By the time I was back on my feet the zyglak was upon me once more, coming at me with a swipe from the right, hitting me in the shoulder, before backhanding me with the same hand and sending me flying into the base of a statue located in the center of the square. The zyglak groaned in disgust as he heaved me up with one arm and drew the other back, aiming for my face. Just before the fist hit its target I ducked out of the way, creating a crater in the base of the statue and showering me with stone dust. I reached up for the glowing light embedded in the chest armour of the zyglak, this was its heart stone, and began to prise at it attempting to rip it from its chest.

I got as far as actually managing to bend some of the metal away before the zyglak looked down, shocked for an instant, before backhanding me across the face, cursing in its native language as I was launched some 5 feet across the square, before I could even get up I received a kick to the face and was forced to roll out of the way as it attempted to curbstomp me not once, but twice. I tried to land a kick to the zyglak’s knee, hoping to knock it off balance, only to misjudge and end up striking it with my shin, which sent pain shooting up my leg and making me cry out, pretty sure I heard a few ponies wincing. The Zyglak on the other hand cackled in amusement as it picked me up and flung me across the town square and following after me, picking up my own sword on the way over and brandishing it with the clear intent to kill.

“Never been one for a sword, too unwieldy” the zyglak said, looming over me “but it will do for ridding the world of one more wretched toa!” and with that he raised the sword above his head with the pointing down, and thrust down intending to skewer me. I shut my eyes, awaiting my fate.

the clashing of metal made my open my eyes in surprise to find Alee stood over me dressed in sleek blue armour, her twin double blades locked against the crossguard of my ow sword.

“Yew hurt mah friend” she said, levely “ah’ll make yew regret that”

“Oh? Do tell…” the zyglak said, changing the angle of attack until it was mere inches from the clear blue visor which now covered Alee’s eyes. Though Alee, to her credit, didn’t so much as blink “just what exactly do you intend to do? you are nothing but a lowly river pirate!”

“Pot calling the kettle black, mate” she said, slowly side stepping now that the attention was solely on her and pulling my sword with her using her own blades so as to take me out of the fight. Then, almost faster than I could blink, she shifted one blade till it was at a 90 degree and to my own blade, pulled the other away, began to spin it till the blades faded into one, then drove it upwards…straight through the skull of the zyglak. For a moment the zyglak didn't so much as move, but I couldn't help but watch with morbid fascination as the front of the zyglak’s skull slowly slid down before falling off completely, with the rest of the zyglak following a short moment later. Only now did a pool of silvery-red blood begin pooling on the ground. Alee now turned to address the rest of the sea raiders, who were stunned into silence.

“Alright, here's how it's gonna play out. These lands are under our protection now. Yew wanna raid these towns? Yew gotta go through us, or more accurately…” she paused for a moment, driving both her swords into the zyglak before lifting it up above her head “We go through yew!” and with that she launched the carcass towards its brethren and it landed with a thud at their feet. “and if yew happen to attack a town whilst we're gone? We will find yew, and we will kill yew, we now feck off!”

The remaining Zyglak quickly got the message and scarpered.

Author's Note

I give you the first race from Bionicle to officially make an appearance in the story:

"Zyglak don’t have friends... just meals they haven’t eaten yet."

Species: Zyglak, Ironbacks (or various translations of, depending on the nation)

Description: 15 ft tall, bipedal, therapodoid in build, biomechanical biology.

Abilities: Amphibious, invulnerable to direct elemental magic (though through the right application indirect attacks can have an effect), carry a flesh eating bacteria on their skin, some carry weapons with the ability to shatter objects on contact at will.

distribution: The ocean, coastal waters of the twin continents and "The Chain" region of islands, they tend to steer clear of Equestria due to past altercations involving Princess Celestia, consequently they are practically unheard of by equestrians, and at a glance would simply be mistaken for aquatic dragons.

Occupation: typically sea raiders, though small groups live more peaceful lives as fishers or sea merchants

New legends await, but old lessons must be remembered

All over the city magic flares started to rise up into the sky, signifying that the raid had finished and, more importantly, that there were people who needed help.

Whilst some of the others set to work helping with this relief effort, most notably Alee who was put to use putting out the various fires across the city, and Tarn who used her newfound powers to secure buildings which were unstable with supercooled ice, Autumn and myself had bigger fish to fry, or more accurately zyglak to interrogate, I had questions that needed answering, and Autumn was more than a little curious herself.

I walked over to one severely injured example, who despite her injuries, a leg that was practically gone, was still being restrained with magic. This wasn't the first brush with her kind this city had faced so the locals weren't taking any chances.

“Alright you sack of kikanalo shit” I said, brandishing my sword “I have a few questions for you, either you answer them and I'll be on my way, or you can try and make things difficult”

“And if I don't want to answer your questions, Toa?” she spat.

“First of all, I'm going to take your heart stone and make myself a pretty little necklace out of it” I said, waiving the one I had obtained earlier for emphasis. “and second, I'm not some bloody Toa, I'm too short for one thing, I'm also not above cutting your throat and leaving you to choke on your own blood” at this I took off my mask, revealing my face, at which point the zyglak went wide eyed and, for lack of a better word, panicked at the sight of me, though an electric bolt from one of unicorns restraining her soon subdued her.

“Human scum, what do you want of me!?” she demanded.

“For one thing, what is my species to you?” I asked, more than a little surprised that I'd been recognised off the bat.

“I know your kind, you are scavengers, ravagers, you fill every corner of land with your filth, eradicate those who do not fit in with your world view and bleed it dry of resources, leaving nothing but wasteland in your wake!” she hissed.

“Well you're not wrong” I muttered “but how do you even know of my kind? I was dragged here across dimensions, I'm not from this world”

“Your filth plagued this world till 3000 years ago, but you disappeared overnight” she said “I only wish I could say my kind had any part in it, at a guess where you came from is where they went”

“And how did your kind come to inhabit this world?” I asked, the zyglak scoffed.

“We walked this world long before your type appeared” she said, before raising her voice “before any of your kinds walked this world!...We were the first to venture north after the great reformation, where we found a world inhabited by…organics” she actually shuddered at this, as if the word was unclean on her tongue.

“And other species? Toa, Matoran, Skakdi, Vortixx? Where can they be found?” I asked, causing a low growl to work its way up her throat.

“a long walk off the nearest cliff” she spat, though she soon found the tip of my sword pressed against her throat

“keep testing me” I said, applying just enough pressure to draw a smallest hint of silvery red blood and making her eyes bug out.

“Go south” she said in a resigned voice, bowing her head “follow your charts as far south as they'll take you, then keep going. We didn't map out our journey north” I pulled the blade away.

“Alright” I said “That will be all” she seemed surprised at this.

“You won’t kill me?” she asked.

“Why would I?” I asked in return, shrugging “You’re of no threat to me, and you’ve answered my questions to my satisfaction. You’re clearly not fatally wounded, and considering my friend here survived getting nuked with a grenade I think you can get yourself a replacement leg, though not without working for it. To kill you when I have no need to is a waste, not to mention completely unnecessary” and with that I put my mask back on, turned around and began walking away.

“showing mercy will get you killed down south” she called.

“You’re welcome” I shot back, waving without turning around “Just try and make something of your life”

“You’re playing a dangerous game, Onælan” Autumn said after a few minutes “I wouldn’t have let it off so easily”

“Her” I I corrected “your attitude will do nothing but perpetuate the problem”

“You say that like you have an idea…” she said, concern creeping into her voice.

“A hint of an idea at this point, it’ll take a while to develop” I said “Part of the problem with Zyglak was they were viewed as mistakes from the word go and outcast from the very fringes of society, they just need a little nudge to find their place in this world...even if I have to ask Celestia herself to help me”

“I see no way that could possibly backfire” Autumn said, rolling her eyes, before her expression shifted to a look of confusion mixed with concern “what that creature said…about your kind…?” I let out a resigned sigh at this.

“Let's just say my kind is far from perfect and leave it at that” I said “perhaps one day I'll elaborate, but not today” It was a few hours before we met up with the others, at which point the local ruler of this region of Yarvik, known as a Rider, wanted to speak with the lot of us, and so we found ourselves standing in the town hall, tykes lined all along each wall dressed in bulky armour, their helmets…no, masks, bore the likeness of a great horned dragons head which literally snorted licks of flame out of their nostrils with every breath.

Midnight Quarry had explained, in her own thick dialect, that the helmets had small oil burners inside the nostrils whilst the rest of the masks were surprisingly complex, using a system of one way valves to permit the wearers to breath in through holes in the horns so they didn't burn themselves, then upon exhaling the valves would direct the air out of the nostrils, creating a small jet of fire.

Truth be told, even as a fire wielder I was somewhat intimidated when faced with row upon row of 7ft, sometimes 8ft, tall heavily armoured fire snorting horses, for they absolutely were horses, I don’t care how many times Autumn, Vinyl, or Octavia tried to correct me and called them ponies, they were fecking horses.

Returning to the matter at hoof…

In front of us sat Lord Ironhoof, the chief rider of the three ridings of Yarvik, even now he was dressed in armour enchanted in the house colours; white with yellow accents, this wasn’t like the ceremonial display armour I had seen Autumn wearing when we first met, no, this was battle-ready armour which bore the scars of more than a few conflicts, whilst his face, brown coated with a black mane and a white stripe running down his muzzle, was similarly scarred and bore a reserved expression.

“So you are the strangers that helped drive the ironbacks from this city” he said, before his eyes focussed on Autumn “though your stocky build tells me that you are of the Westwards folk, pegasus?”

“Ayy, that be true” she said, allowing her accent to become more pronounced, Lord Ironhoof smiled faintly.

“Then I bid you dynnargh dhis, the westwards have been a long standing ally of Yarvik, friend” he said, and Autumn bowed her head in thanks. Ironhoof then turned his attention to Octavia.

“And if my eyes do not mistake me, you are no less than the King’s daughter, though it has been some years since I last laid eyes upon you” Octavia, smiled nostalgically.

“Indeed I am, dear uncle” she said, she had explained to me when we had been summoned that Yarvik maintains very close ties with the capital due to its heavy industry, as a result Ironhoof was practically family to her.

“Though I am somewhat surprised to see not a lady of nobility next in line for the throne of the south, as I had thought, but a warrior, a bowmare no less” he said “tell me, how has this come to pass?”

“It’s complicated” Octavia said “to put it simply the six of us are bound by destiny”

“First it was a gap year which turned into 6, now this?” Ironhoof asked, before he burst out laughing, which soon spread to Octavia “well isn’t that just you to a T” I glanced back and forth between them in confusion. Octavia caught my look and rolled her eyes

“Growing up I didn’t always act in the way expected of a princess” she said, before shooting Ironhoof a glance “no thanks to you! You were the one who taught me archery in the first place, mother and father were not happy”

“Aye, old reg was spitting feathers when he caught you prancing around carrying a bow” he said.

“That’s also on you” Octavia said, smirking “you always were such a bad influence on me”

“Now what kind of uncle would I be if I wasn’t?” Ironhoof asked “but moving back on topic, anyone who’s an ally with Octavia and helps to defend my realm is an ally of mine. You can tell me the deeper details of your story later, when I hold a feast celebrating our victory today and in honour of you 6, but for now you can relax as you see fit, the guest quarters of my home are yours to use until you are ready to move on, that will be all”

“Thank you, Lord Ironhoof” Octavia said, giving a quick bow in a final show of formality before turning and beginning to walk back out of the hall, the rest of us quickly followed.

The Germane offensive into Cervbuckenland is continuing at an unprecedented rate, the Empress’s new army of fast moving heavily armed and armoured troops have so far laid waste to the defenses of its eastern neighbour. Already the death toll from the offensive is in the tens of thousands with no signs of mercy from the troops, with no end in sight to this push for more territory. Already rumours are flooding in that elk civilians of the region are being rounded up and sent off, but where they are being taken is uncertain-

Autumn slammed her hoof on top of the radio, silencing it.

“That bitch” she muttered, walking over to a sofa and sitting down before taking a swig of whiskey. Our group, Midnight Quarry included, had retired to one of the guest quarters, though the mood had very quickly soured when news of the new northern war had reached us

“I bloody said, didn’t I?” I asked, feeling no small amount of vindication as I tinkered with one of my gauntlets, embedded a small enchanted gem into the palm “just you wait, the cervs’ll be sent to labour camps with numbers burned into their foreheads” Octavia baulked at that.

“How can you suggest such a thing!?” she exclaimed.

“This is playing out exactly as I thought it would, I wish it wasn’t, but it is” I said, finishing up the gauntlet and putting it on my right hand, the crystal embedded in its palm began to hum and glow orange”

“Oh aye?” Autumn asked “And I suppose you’re going to be the one to take them on my yourself, are you? You can barely fight as it is, what makes you think you can get the upper hoof on an army which has been steamrolling an-AAAH!” autumn cut herself off in shock as I proceeded to aim my open palm at the radio and send a focused beam of my fire powers at it. Obliterating it and leaving a perfectly circular scorch mark on the far wall about 20ft away.

“Celestia-fuck, are you gonna warn us next time!?” Alee spat, wide eyed.

“I might not be much of a fighter” I said “but I’ve got one thing no one else on this planet has”

“And what would that be?” Autumn asked, recovering from her shock.

“Ingenuity” I said “my kind doesn’t have wings or magic, instead we’ve learnt to think our way around problems. I find a problem, I make a solution; this is my way of ensuring I don’t get caught out again like I did with the zyglak earlier today, just need to modify the other one and I should be all set” at this I raised my modified gauntlet “speaking of, what’s our next stage of the journey, Autumn?” the burnt orange pegasus shook her head to clear her thoughts, before peering at the charts laid out on the table

“All going well, a straight shot from here north-west through Meire to Prance” she said “but given who’s watching over us along with our track record for luck it’ll be anything but a straight shot” at the mention of Meira, Alee had given a strangled whine.

“Are you alright, dear?” Octavia asked.

“The sooner we pass through the other end of Meira the better” the shark-like pony said, looking nervous “there’s a reason so many of our kind live outside of there despite coming from there”

“Why would that be?” Tarn asked.

“let's just say there's a reason so many of my kind live outside of those lands” Alee said cryptically in a low voice, getting the sense that she would rather not be discussing the matter I spoke up in an attempt to steer the conversation away.

“Fantasia has some things to answer for” I said as I let flames dance on my hand, absentmindedly trying to make them take form but for the most part failing “she’s a god by our understanding, she knew about the zyglak existing, she would more than likely also know about the other races like them which, so far as I have been able to determine, exist far south of here. Wrakjon have more than passing similarities to Toa, and she was the one who gave us these powers. There’s so much that she knows which she clearly isn’t telling us...I’m calling her out right now, because I know she’s listening” as this the form of Fantasia shimmered into view in front of the fireplace.

“Is what he’s saying true?” Alee asked “what are you keeping from us?” I cut in before Fantasia could respond.

“One of the zyglak said my kind used to exist on this world a few thousand years ago, yet you said nothing” I said “what happened to them?”

“Why should it matter to you?” she asked defensively.

“Because they’re my people, and because so far as I know I’m the only one in existence on this rock” I said “you cannot possibly expect me to not care if my kind existed here or not” she avoided my gaze for a moment, before giving a resigned sigh.

“It is true that your kind did indeed exist on this word, your very ancestors in fact” she said “unfortunately...humans can be...chaotic things, they are greedier than griffons, more violent than diamond dogs, they reached a point where I was left with little choice…”

“Please tell me you didn’t…” I trailed off.

“The better parts of humanity were cast into a pocket realm, accessible from this world through the right means”

“And the rest?” Octavia asked.

“They, and every trace of their civilisation, were cast off to another world” she said “the world Onælan comes from” before anyone had chance to react I leapt to my feet and all but shoved the palm of my gauntlet into her face, the focal-gem glowing with barely restrained energy.

“Give me one good reason not to blast your face” I said “and don’t just threaten my destruction, because I’m long past the point of caring about that” her face dropped into a deadpan at this.

“You have heart but you are also incredibly dense, rain your fire upon me and you wouldn’t be able to so much as scratch me” she said.

“And I wouldn’t blame him in the slightest for doing so” Octavia said, walking over to stand beside me, a fire in her eyes that I hadn’t seen in her until now, the sort of barely concealed anger that was rare for her, like a raging ocean tempest looming just beyond the horizon, at that moment I was glad her ire was directed at someone other than me “You have given us these powers and our so called destinies, the nonsensical poetic bullshit that they are. But at every step of the way it feels like you’ve lied and withheld information, almost for your own amusement. If you’re wanting Onælan to abandon your cause then so far you’re doing a pretty good job of it, and I’d be right by his side every step of the way. I’m fully aware that you have power beyond our wildest imaginations, but if you want is to do your will then you need to give us a reason to do so, not just bestow us with powers we know nothing about and then send us on our way with no destination in mind”

“If you want me to do as you say? I want two things in return” I said “One; You gotta give us a few fucking hints about what you want us to do long term. And two; perhaps pointing us towards someone who has experience with these sorts of powers so we know how to better use them would come in handy, or else if any of us die in battle, that’s directly on you” Fantasia actually looked surprised for once. For a few moments her expression flashed through a range of emotions, as if conflicted, before finally she muttered some foreign curse.

“Fine” she said “All right...for the moment, I just want you to travel north up this continent, and south down the eastern continent, to gain you some real world practical experience, when you settle into proper roles as protectors you need to be ready to handle any terrain, any weather, this is to prepare you for that, and if you participate in a few wars along the way or overthrow a couple of oppressive regimes...I wouldn’t stop you”

“And what of our long term goals?” I asked “no poetic prophecy bullshit, just tell us up front” Fantasia sighed again, less than happy with the turn of events.

“Yes, I sent humans to another world, but it wasn’t meant to be permanent and you know better than any that they’re starting to run their course back on your world, but for all their problems, they have much to offer” she said “this world is far bigger than anyone living on it can imagine, the three continents known to the races that walk these lands is only one half of the globe, there exists far more uncharted lands on the far side. Once you are ready, you will be the ones to help humanity adjust to a new life on this world” I was gobsmacked by this revelation.

“You combine our two words? Everything it going to get thrown into absolute chaos, you know that?” I asked “To transport a lone individual is one thing, a couple hundred, or a couple thousand might be manageable, but you’re talking about over 7 billion people” at this Autumn began choking on her whiskey.

“Fuck me, 7 billion in three thousand years? you guys breed like rabbits” she remarked

“Which is specifically why I chose you as a human to be part of the wrakjon” Fantasia said, ignoring Autumn “you will be there to help humanity adjust to their new lives”

“And when will this be?” I asked ”when will you be bringing them here?”

“Not until the required preparations are made” she said “you certainly aren’t ready now”

“Déithe thuas, no thanks to you!” Alee said “I’m certainly not comfortable about going any further unless you direct us to someone who does have an idea of what we’ll be dealing with” at this the terran god hummed in thought for a few moments.

“I think I know of a few individuals residing in meire who might” she said

"For once I knew of a species on this planet and the others didn't" I said "The zyglak rightly shouldn't exist, they were fictional stories back home, yet them and others like them apparently exist and thrive on this world. Did you not think that maybe it would be to my advantage to mention it to me? at least then I would have something useful to bring to the group" I then began imitating Fantasia's voice "oh, by the way Onælan, this world is also inhabited by the races of Spherus Magna, just as a little heads up" the god narrowed her eyes at this.

"Not inhabited by the races of spherus magna, this is Spherus Magna" she said "I will tell you all about it another time, but for now, go and enjoy a few days to yourselves, I shall have other things to attend to in the meantime” as she said this I also heard her speaking again, this time inside my mind.

"what I tell the others will be half-lie, I will tell you the truth in private afterwards. You would do well to keep it a secret for their sakes"

“You actually do stuff when you're not watching us?” Tarn asked, bemused. Fantasia rolled her eyes.

“Yes” she said “as a matter of fact I oversea an entire nation when you Wrakjon aren't badgering me” and with that she disappeared.

“Bloody gods” I muttered “I hope they aren't all as unpredictable as her”

“Don't hold your breath” Alee said.

A few hours later we were preparing to head out to attend the feast. The others were all but ready, though I still had one more thing to do.

“We don't really have time for you to be practicing spells” Autumn scoffed as I flicked through one of my spell books.

“Hush you” I said “I have a specific spell in mind which I read of a long time ago, I'm just trying to find it again-Aha!” I found the spell I was searching for and stood up, it was a simple illusion spell which changed the casters appearance. I pictured exactly what I wanted to apply to the spell before uttering the incantation.

A wave of orange magic rolled over me, my armour shifting in to more normal attire. I now stood dressed in formal shoes and trousers, with a shirt, waist coat and trench coat, topping it off was a black flat cap.

Put simply, I looked dapper as fuck.

Hey, not bad” Alee said “you now look like a normal person, not just some no-name sell sword”

“Oh hush” I said, rolling my eyes, before turning for the door “shall we, then?”

Author's Note

Something of note worth mentioning, in Yarvik terminology a "Rider" has a different root word to typical English, it's derived from the term assigned to a subdevisions of Yarvik; a Riding. taken from Yorkshire

and Yorkshire is the chief influence in the Yarvik realm of Trottinghamshire. Yarvik comes from Jorvik, the old norse word for York. The main industries, coal and steel, are the same as those in Yorkshire. and the general attitudes of the people that live there are taken from that of Yorkshire also; stubborn, bullheaded, more than a little crass, very conservative with spending money for the sake of others, but not altogether unfriendly, and fiercely loyal to those they consider friends or family.

And the thicker end of the Yorkshire accent is also the chief influence in the Yarvik dialect

I live in the very north of the county below Yorkshire, so you tend to get a lot of folks, especially the older folks, who came from Yorkshire to work at the local steelworks which has very much influenced the local accent, so a Yorkshire accent is something of a reminder of home for me.
I even picked up a few habits myself, Aye instead of yes, sen instead of self, ken instead of know (it ain't just a doric-scots term), t' instead of the or to, though I've yet to hear someone natively speak in a yorkshire broad as demonstrated in the video above.

and on that note I shall leave you all with some classic british self deprecatory humour

Pilot error

[POV 3rd person]

Three Weeks after the raid on Tees Side...

Mist hung low on an unnamed shore on some unnamed lake in Meira, through the early morning murc 6 figures could be seen wading out of the water, dressed in drenched cloaks and saddlebags. All around them bits of wooden and metal debris could be seen washing ashore, in particular a section of green planking with the words Defiance painted on it. Very suddenly the stillness was shattered by a string of cursing.

“A-barth an Jowl a gyj!” Autumn spat “...well that stunk...” Tarn, a dark blue and White kobald, coughed up water, before looking at the burnt orange pegasus.

“It would appear there was an error in our transport…” she then proceeded to shoot a foul look at the Kelpie that was present among them, a shark-like unicorn with legs ending in webbed paws. “Pilot error…”

“Go ropa an diabhal thú!” Alee protested “I was only following orders, Onælan was the one giving them!”

“No need to be critical” Octavia said, wading out of the water “regardless of the gracefulness of our arrival, we are all alive, and on shore, in one piece I might add”

“Uh, folks…” it was Midnight Quarry, a looming Yarvik mare who stood some 7ft tall, who spoke up, casting an unsure gaze over the lake. “it 'ood appear wea'ar daahn on someone…” the others gave her a blank stare, before Alee glanced around at the group, as if mentally counting off, before her ears shot up and her eyes widened in panic.

“Shit, Onælan!” she yelped, drawing in a large breath before dumping everything she’d managed to salvage and diving back into the water in a single leap which spanned some 20 feet.

Under the water Alee began swimming around frantically, darting between the larger pieces of debris that could potentially have trapped the human, suddenly her eyes focussed on a shape at the bottom of the lake which stood out, and taking a chance she dove. Her gills could keep her breathing underwater so long as she kept moving forwards, meaning her lungs could act as makeshift air tanks, the only problem was this made it more difficult to dive, the air in her lungs fighting to rise to the surface with every sideways stroke of her tail. As she swam closer she could see that Onælan’s was pinned by the boiler of the boat, and that he was struggling to get free, she only hoped she could reach him in time.

[POV 1st person: Onælan]

My lungs burned as I tried desperately to shift the heavy boiler. We’d been making our way across one of Meira’s many large lakes with Alee watching things over as we slept, when she’d inadvertently drove us straight into some razor sharp rocks. My initial anger had very quickly turned to panic as the boat began to break apart, and I tried to gather all of my possessions into my bag to stop them getting wet. Before I knew it a wayward sheared pipe had hooked onto my cloak and began dragging me down to the bottom. Now I was stuck 30 feet underwater with the a half ton boiler pinning my cloak, that damn enchantments meant I could simple cut it way, believe me I had tried, my sword just glanced off, and to top it all off I wasn’t sure what I’d do once I got free...I wasn’t what one would call a swimmer period, and right now I was cursing whatever turn of events had made me decide against taking up lessons.

Suddenly! Just as my lungs felt like they were about to give out Alee appeared out of the gloom, her shark-like form making my instincts panic for a split second, before recognition took control. It was at that moment that my lungs decided to give out and I exhaled, I was then taken by surprise as Alee rushed forward and pressed her mouth to mine, though that surprise turned into understanding as I found not water entering my lungs, but air. She quickly pulled away before I could inhale a full lungfull and proceeded to dive down and heave to boiler off of my coat, giving just enough of a gap for me to pull my cloak free, she then grabbed me under my arms and began to swim upwards, pressing her own mouth to mine again to supply me with more air as we rose towards the surface.

I gasped for air as we broke the surface of the water, grappling onto Alee in an attempt to stay afloat.

“Hey!” she protested “I know we practically snogged down there but you could at least ask before copping a cheeky grope!”

“I can’t feckin’ swim!” I shot back, feeling extremely uncomfortable about being out of my depth. Alee’s eyes widened and her mouth opened slightly in a “oh” of understanding as what I just said clicked into place. She then snorted...then burst out into full on cackled laughter, I was less than amused “It’s not feckin funny…”

“Oh I think it is” she said as I felt a current of water pushing us towards the shoreline “Of fucking course the fire elemental can’t swim, it’s fucking hilarious if you ask me”

“You’re the one that got me in this mess in first place, remember that” I shot back.

“Bah, you’re no fun” Alee said “Besides, I don’t think we’re that far off where Fantasia told us we could find some help” eventually we reached the shore and I waded on to dry land before collapsing in a soaked, panting heap.

“Where the fuck are we even?” I asked to the others, who were looking at me in varying stages of worry. Alee glanced around, scanning the horizon, before her face began to contort into concern.

“If I’d had to guess, I’d say somewhere in the Meiran midlands” before turning to me “Onælan, you wouldn’t happen to have anything on wards or charms in those books of yours, would you?”

“Perhaps” I said, reaching into my bag and sifting through the various books until I came across one which seemed best suited to what Alee needed, she then began flicking through the pages in her magic.

“Rule one of travelling on hoof through Meira...you don’t” she said, not looking up from the book, her horn flashing off several times as she cast multiple spells in quick succession “rule two, if you have no other option, drop any hint of skepticism about spirits or the supernatural. Whatever you do or don’t believe, these lands abide by very different rules, and they abhor having those rules broken” Autumn snorted.

“I never took you to be skittish” she said, rolling her eyes. Alee shot her a deadpan

“I grew up here, Autumn, there’s a reason most folks move away from these lands” she handed me back the book then turned towards a nearby path and took a few step forwards before stopping and looking back at us “Just follow me and do exactly as I say; don’t pick anything up that isn’t yours, don’t leave anything that is yours, shipwreck not included, don’t follow strange lights, don’t follow after anyone or anything, don’t go after wailing, don’t join in with random singing, and above all else, if you get the feeling of being followed. Do. Not. Turn. Around!” and with that she began trekking up the path. The rust of us shared a look, feeling bewildered, before quickly following after her.

For the next few hours we followed the Kelpie as she led us along the path, the light slowly growing better as we wound our way west. Very quickly Alee’s warnings had started to come true, much to the concern of the rest of us. In the early morning dusk we could start to make out dark shapes shifting in the treeline, watching us pass by. I could feel particular attention being focused upon myself and ended up resorting to putting headphones on and turning my music on in an attempt to distract. I maybe should have paid more heed to my instincts as before I knew it I was suddenly launched off my feet and being carried through the air, two armour clad pink hooves wrapped around my barrel. I took my hood off and looked up to see an aging pegasus mare with a blue mane.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing!?” I called indignantly, pulling my headphones down

“Inbelûcan hê, mennisc!” she barked, shooting me a deathglare. With a mere thought I summoned my armour and began channeling y power into my hands and and feet, crystals embedded in my boots and gauntlets began to glow and immediately I seized control of the situation, sending us both shooting skywards and up through the clouds. The pegasus was clearly taken by surprise as she cried out and tightened her grip around my chest, I then angled my hands, sending us both into a very tight spin. After a few seconds I felt her grip suddenly disappear and I took advantage of the opening by pouring every last reserve of power into putting as much difference between myself and...whoever that was.

I soon came upon a mountain peak and took to taking shelter in a small recess in the rocks as I watched for any sign of the strange pegasus. What I was interested was why she had carried me off like that.

“Surprise!”

A bubbly voice called out from behind me, startling me. On instinct I turned around and shot off a blast of fire, for a split second I saw the image of a white and yellow pegasus with voluminous mane & tail standing in the path of the fireball, but they seemed to zip off in a random direction just in time for the fireball to pass by and strike a piece of rock behind where they had been standing. I looked around in confusion for a few moments, before the face of the white pegasus appeared out of nowhere from the top of my vision.

“You know you really should learn to control your fire, someone could get seriously hurt” she said. I yelped out in surprise and jumped back.

“Jesus Christ!” I exclaimed, edging back from the pegasus, now stood on the ground, who giggled.

“Don’t be silly” she said, shaking her head dismissively. “there’s no Jesus here, just me, Surprise!” I looked the strange pegasus up and down, getting a very strange sense of dejavu revolving around a particular pink pony I’d encountered back in Canterlot.

“You’re called...surprise?” I asked.

“Uh huh!” she said with aggravating levels of enthusiasm.

“Okay...stupid question, why are you all the way up here?”

“Just out for a stroll” she said, shrugging as if that was a perfectly normal explanation for being on top of a 2000 foot tall mountain.

“You casually walked up a mountain?” I asked, feeling just a tad confused, again, she nodded, as if that was a perfectly normal response. Suddenly bright blue flames sprung up all around me, blocking my view of the white pegasus, before the pink pegasus from before landed in front of me, blue flames rippling along her armour and a snarl etched on her face. Sensing a fight I summoned forth my sword and shield, though I had a feeling that this mare, whoever she was, was far beyond my capabilities to handle, she had been able to remotely summon a ring of fire, I struggled to control anything beyond a solid beam. I hunkered down into a defensive stance, the shield held in front of me, at most I could probably hold off her attacks for a few moments.

“You shouldn’t have done that” she spat, her accent similar to cockney.

“Hey, I’m still here, you know!” Surprise could be heard from beyond the column of fire, we both ignored her.

“What do you even want with me?” I asked “What have I, as an individual, done to warrant being hauled through the sky like you just did to me?”

“You’re a human!” she spat, prowling around me like a predator circling its prey “I know your kind, better than most, your presence here will bring nothing but trouble!”

“So I’m to blame for what went down three millennia ago?” I asked, feeling a touch insenced “Whatever my kind did, I’m sorry, but I had no part in it. I’ve been getting hate for the actions of my ancestors, from zyglak and from you. so what, should I start blaming you for the actions of the Germane Empress, waging her own self-righteous race war up north as we speak?” she hesitated at this.

“What does the northern war matter to you?” she asked, frowning.

“It matters to me as someone who understands what is occuring better than most” I said “if something isn’t done then her actions will cast a shadow of shame upon all of equine kind, I’m taking it upon myself to act when no nation will”

“You think you can stand up to the Germane empire by yourself?” she asked, looking me up and down “Human or not, as violent as your species are, you are just one person” I let flames dance up and down the length of my sword.

“For one, I happen to have a few tricks up my sleeve” I said, before I noticed a cool chill glance across the column of fire, followed by the sound of metallic resonance. I couldn’t help but let out a smirk “And two...who said I was alone?” at this the column of fire turned to ice, which promptly shattered as Tarn & Autumn landed in front of me, weapons drawn and ready to strike at any moment.

“Just try it, bitch” Autumn spat, hunkering down as if preparing to strike, small particles of dust appearing to resonate around her hooves. The pegasus’ head jerked back, as if struck, and she muttered something in some foreign, ancient language as she studied the three of us, she then looked down, as if thinking.

“Proclaim the ones of new forged skin” she muttered. Before she looked back up at us, a troubled expression on her face “You and your friends need to come with us...now!”

About an hour later we grouped back up, with these two strangers leading us through the middle of a dark forest, much to Alee’s discomfort.

The pink and blue pegasus, who I had learned was called Fyrefly, lead us towards the mouth of some sort of cave, before stopping us.

“A word of advice, it’s best if you keep back, we have a...friend who doesn’t do well with outsiders” she said, and with that she told Surprise to keep an eye on us before heading inside the cave. From inside I could hear Fyrefly speaking.

“Lee, wake up you old rustbucket!” she said “We have visitors”

“I told you a thousand times...no strangers, no visitors!” a male voice called back, and suddenly everyone’s attention was on the cave as heavy footsteps could be heard walking towards the mouth. Glowing orange eyes seemed to peer through the darkness at us, before the figure resumed his walk out of the cave. Light slowly revealed rippling emerald green muscles and dark grey metal existing in harmony beneath a heavy cloak as the figure stepped into full view, shielding his eyes from the light.

The being stood some 7 foot tall, and was clearly harked from the same region as the zyglak, mechanical components could be seen perfectly interwoven with organic muscle, the being was clearly aging somewhat, any metal armour was either scratched, tarnished or outright rusting, and their muscles bore many scares. On its face it wore a green mask, with round symbols running up the center, behind which an almost alien-looking face could be seen peering through a blue tinted visor, Fyrefly stood alongside the being, looking almost hesitant, but finally she let out a sigh and spoke

“This is...Lesovikk”

Author's Note

sorry that such a long wait yielded a relatively short chapter, but I feel it's better to keep the story moving forward a bit at a time rather than waiting for go knows how long to produce a 3000+ word chapter, especially with the shifts I'm now working (6-2/2-10 alternating shifts are fun! :pinkiecrazy: )

Sins of our forefathers

“You’re a toa!” I exclaimed, Lesovikk snorted.

“It’s been a very long time since anyone has called me that” he said “and you’re one to talk, you should be in a museum...or a mausoleum”

“What do you know of my species?” I asked, at this he walked over and loomed above me.

“Enough to know that you are trouble” he said, jabbing a finger into my chest with enough force to make me stumble back.

“Yeah...about that” Fyrefly cut in, walking over “there’s evidence pointing to them being...wrakjon”

“What do you know of wrakjon?” Octavia asked, at this Fyrefly struck a dramatic pose.

“You’re looking at one of the original Wrakjon, baby!” she proclaimed, blue flames swirling around her “not bad for thirty five hundred years, if I do say so myself”

“Fyrefly here lead one of very first teams to exist” Lesovikk said, before gesturing to the white and yellow pegasus who was seemingly oblivious to unfolding events, instead electing to chase after a butterfly “Surprise controls the power of light”

“For all her doolally nature, she’s often there to help right when she’s most needed” Fyrefly said “I’m not afraid to admit she’s saved my skin more than once, it’s the reason I put up with her”

“You love me really!” Surprise called out, prompting Fyrefly to roll her eyes, before focusing her attention on us.

“So, clearly some of you are wrakjon, I spotted, fire, ice, and some sort of metal control from you” she said, pointing at myself, Tarn and Autumn in turn “what about the rest of you?” I began pointing to each member of the group.

“Autumn controls Iron, Octavia controls gravity, Alee controls water, and Vinyl controls sound” I said “Midnight hasn’t yet had her powers revealed, but it’ll happen some time soon I figure”

“So it’s safe to say that you’re all new to this, but how much experience have you all had in battle, a real battle, not just a small scuffle?” Lesovikk asked, at this we all looked away awkwardly.

“I have some experience...but never as a wrakjon” Autumn said, at this Fyrefly facehoofed.

“Great, we got a bunch of rookies who haven’t even grown into their armour” she muttered “and you’re saying you’re off to fight the empress!?”

“Well, I figure that’s why we stumbled across each other” I said.

“How so?” Lesovikk asked.

“Uh...you wouldn’t happen to be familiar with Fantasia...would you?” I asked, prompting a frustrated groan from Fyrefly.

“Oh you have got to be kidding me!” she said “that bitch roped you lot into this?”

“Well, not so much going to fight the Empress, that was my call” I said, crossing my arms. “but yes, I’m the poor fuck that’s soulbound to her” Fyrefly let out an audible wince.

“Soul magic’s a nasty business, you tread carefully” she said “but you were saying, “why we stumbled across each other”?”

“Fantasia mentioned something about some people in this general area who could help us get a better grasp of our abilities” Octavia said “given her propensity to dip her hooves into matters, we figure that would be you three” Fyrefly and Lesovikk shared a look, before looking at us and as one..

“No”

And with that they both turned and began to walk away from us, seemingly in a gesture of washing their hands and hooves of us, leaving the rest of us standing there, stunned. Myself and Octavia shared a look, before I turned to the rest of the group.

“Just...wait here for a few minutes” I said, and the two of us proceeded to follow after the Toa and Wrakjon.

“No?” Octavia called after them once we caught up.

“Yep” Fyrefly said, not stopping or slowing down.

“First new Wrakjon in 3000 or so years and your reaction is to just leave us?” I asked “you would leave us to head north with no preparation”

“If it involves Fantasia, we shall have no part in it” Lesovik said “doubly so if involves the likes of you, pakanga”

“So you would just leave us hanging?” I asked “and you wouldn’t even consider helping us to fight?”

“That just about sums it up” Fyrefly said, I scoffed at their apathy.

“So much for duty” I shot back, in an instant Lesovikk rounded on me, his blade materialising in his hand as he pressed it against my throat, as Fyrefly moved to stand between us and Octavia, preventing her from getting close.

“Do not dare to invoke the three virtues to me!” He hissed. “Your kind knows nothing of duty, to have a reason to fight. What do you know of duty?” this stirred something in me like a red flag to a bull.

“Oh aye?” I asked “and what about the reason why I’m heading north to fight the empress?”

“Probably to fight for fighting’s sake” Fyrefly said dismissively.

“Have you heard anything about what’s been going on up there?” I asked “foreign lands being steamrolled by an opposing army swiftly and without mercy? My kind was doing amongst themselves that some 80 years ago. Innocent civilians being rounded up and transported in cattle trucks to god knows where? My kind did that too. For the longest time my friends have been asking me why I’m so dead set on going after the empress, and not once have I told them why because I care to much about what they think of me and I know how bad it would make me look”

“Onælan?” Octavia asked.

“Ask me about the night of shattered glass” I said, looking Lesovikk dead in the eyes, making him raise an eyebrow “ask me about how millions were targeted and rounded up purely because of what faith they believed in, or where they lived, or who they loved. Ask me about the remains of one of the camps I visited 70 years after the fact. Ask me about how I saw hallway after hallway filled with portraits of the prisoners with numbers stamped, guilty of no other crime than being born to a certain race, believing in a certain faith, thinking a certain way, or loving a particular person. An entire room filled from floor to ceiling with pots and pans to the extent that it had to be viewed from the room above. I another room filled with the prisoners luggage with the return addresses painted on because the prisoners thought they would one day be going home. A room where photography was banned because it was filled with human hair ripped off the scalps of those who had been gassed to be used in bedding and clothes.” I heard a gasp and glanced over to see Octavia with a hoof covering her mouth, a horrified look in her eyes, for a moment I considered stopping, but decided against it, I had a point to make.

“I walked through one of the "showers", where these people would be sent and told to wash themselves, only to be gassed for the crime of who they were...I saw scratch marks on the walls from where people had tried to claw they way out through solid concrete as they died in pain, I was told that they’d had to run machines at full power to drown out the screams of women and children dying in absolute agony!” at this point I was starting to raise my voice, temper at their apathy combined with my own hazy memories rising to the surface “11 million died in hellholes exactly like that, and for what? Because they were perceived as inferior. Yes, my kind has done some evil, abhorrent acts in the name of faith and ideology, I’ll be the first to mention that fact, but for every one bad person there are ten willing to stand against them, to fight back. You ask me what I know of duty? I come from a world where my kind has commited many mistakes, I’m trying to stop those mistakes from being repeated. In return I ask what you two know of duty if you would willingly sit back and let such atrocities play out all over again?” the two of them looked clearly stunned. I backed away from Lesovikk and turned towards Octavia.

“Come on” I said “We’ll find our own way from here, it’s clear that whatever help we wanted won’t be found here, there’s nothing but some jaded relics with no fight left in them” and with that I stormed off, perfectly content to leave the two of them standing there, if they wouldn’t help us, then they we had nothing worth learning from them anyway.

“Onælan, wait!” Octavia called, galloping over and stopping on front of me, rearing up onto her hind legs and placing a hoof against my shoulder to stop me, the two of us were now looking eye to eye, Octavia even had a couple inches on me, looking slightly downwards at me with her face filled with concern. “You thought our view of you would change if we knew? That’s why you’ve only ever hinted at your reasons for heading north all this time, why you’ve avoided our questions on it?”

“That about sums it up” I said, not even having the courage to look her in the eyes, I then placed a hand on her outstretched hoof and squeezed it, savouring in the contact “I care too much...I care too much what you think, what Tarn thinks, what Vinyl thinks, I care way too much about what Autumn thinks. You’re all I’ve got in this world, and I’m not even talking romantically, I’d go so far as to say that all of you...you’re like a family to me. I worry that eventually I’ll do or say the wrong thing and that I’ll be left on my own” Octavia let out a sigh, sympathy mixing with frustration and she pressed her forehead to mine, a gesture equivalent to a comforting embrace in a culture that had to rely on conveying meaning through gestures that didn’t always make use of the arms.

“Onælan, understand that we would never simply abandon you” she said “We ponies place a high regard for loyalty, among other virtues”

“You have your own virtues?” I asked, she nodded.

“But that can come later” she said, dropping back down onto all fours “come on, let’s go find the others and continue on our way, we have a long journey ahead of us, and now we need to find a town to resupply” I nodded and went to follow after her, but stopped.

“Just...don’t tell the others...about what I said, okay?” I asked “Loyalty or not, I’d rather they didn’t know, okay?” Octavia nodded, and soon our group was reunited once more and heading west, in search of the nearest town or village, hell, even a small settlement where we could at least get some rest for the night. Naturally, the topic of conversation had fallen to our own powers, it wasn’t exactly a peaceful discussion, either

“I’m just saying, how useful is the power of iron, really?” Alee asked. Autumn snorted, hovering lazily above us.

“You’re one to talk, I don’t exactly see water as powerful. water...” the pegasus scoffed, rolling her eyes “water soothes, calms, and luls the spirit into sleep. What power does water hold over any other power out there?”

“Water is patient, Autumn” I said, prompting everyone to look at me in surprise, typically I was happy to let them bicker amongst themselves without getting involved, so for me to speak up like this was odd to them “water just waits...it wears down the cliff face, corrodes metal, washes away the earth, extinguishes fires, melts ice, drowns life...water always wins”

“You realise you’re saying that as a wielder of fire, right?” Autumn asked.

“No element is without power, we all have our own strengths, Fantasia said as much for the four of us” I said “Tarn, for example, you now hold the power of ice, and blizzards, and glaciers. Ice has the power the move maintains and shape continents, or wipe everything out in an avalanche. If you fail to see the power in a given element, then you’re a fool”

“WAIT!!!!!” suddenly a shrill voice pierced the air from some distance behind us, and our group turned as one to see Surprise & Fyrefly, both fully decked out in their armour, and Lesovikk, hidden behind a thick cloak that all but concealed him completely, all running after us, the white pegasus of light leading the way, suddenly she seemed to disappear in a flash of white light, only to reappear right in front of us. “I just came to say that we never said goodbye, so...GOODBYE!” she made to dash off, only for Fyrefly to zip over and bite onto her tail.

“Now wait just a minute!” the pink mare said through gritted teeth, only when Surprise stopped trying to get away and instead began floating in mid air without moving her wings, did the Fyrefly let go of her tail. She then glanced at us, jerked her head away breifly as if cursing internally, then let out a sigh “Look, Onælan, I’m sorry about how me and Lesovikk were back there, and you’re right, if we were in your situation we would do the same, all three of us would”

“So...we would like to offer you our help in fighting the empress” Lesovikk said, looking decidedly sheepish. “And to teach you what we know, at least as well as it can be applied to different elements”

“What do you mean by that?” Alee asked.

“We’ll explain later” Fyrefly said “but first, we need to head to the nearest town for some supplies, then find somewhere to set up a camp for the night” Fyrefly said.

“Funny you should mention that, because that’s exactly what we were doing” Autumn said, rolling her eyes “We might not be millennia old, but we aren’t incompetent”

“5 bits said they come to blows by the end of the week” I whispered to Vinyl, she shot back with “make it fifteen”.

Many hours and miles later, we were now gathered around a campfire, casually talking amongst ourselves. One thing which had become apparent with Fyrefly & Surprise was that they had been bullshitting modern accents, Fyrefly cockney, and Surprise something approaching an almost stereotypical upper class british accent, they’d lasted for all of 20 minutes sat with everyone else before fyrefly had let slip her true accent, after which it soon came out that the both of them spoke in smooth, drawing accents which for a linguist nut like myself were absolutely fascinating to listen to, and had hints of more modern regional dialects all intermingled, I had managed to pick up hints of west country and Australian, among others. Given that they were both on the tail end of 3 millennia old, it wouldn’t have surprised me if these accents all originated from the ones that the two original Wrakjon sat before us were speaking in.

“And what of you, monkey boy?” Fyrefly asked “You’re gushing over how we’re talking, but how on earth did you arrive at the accent you’re speaking? I’m getting lesser yarvik broad with a hint of lower trottingham from you”

“My memory is foggy at best, no thanks to Fantasia” I said, taking a swig of my drink “but from what I recall till I was about 12, I was living in the south of my country, amongst the working class on the outskirts of the capital, but from then till I came here I was living further north, equivalent to southern Yarvik, in a steelworking town to boot, and that was during the years when it would have influenced me the most” I then nodded my head towards Lesovikk “we know of you and the Zyglak, but what others are roaming up here?” the rogue toa of air pondered for a moment, his hood pulled down exposing his mask and glowing eyes in the low evening sun, he absentmindedly tended to the fire with one of the larger sticks

“For the most part, those who had no reason to stay” he said with a shrug “one thing you organics need to understand is that compared to you, our cultures progress at a near glacial level, we measure lifespans in hundreds of thousands of years, our kinds do have idea of what lays beyond their homelands, but your empires rise and fall so quickly compared to ours it’s like watching mayflies live out their lives, so they simply don’t bother to make contact”

“Ok, but that doesn’t answer my question” I said “Who else lives in these lands?”

“Outcasts, outlaws, those simply wishing to make a new life for themselves” he said “I recall hearing about a couple of former order of mata nui members who struck out north, a few toa; Chiara, Orde, Zaria, to name a few. we tend to keep a mutual kinship, all former conflicts are buried in the past up here. Up here the average person lives and dies too quickly for us to form any meaningful bond, so we tend to keep to ourselves, appearing in cloaks under the guise on Minotaurs or dragons if needed. myself and the other toa tend to keep tabs in each other's location for the sake of practicality, a friendly face if things go south. I can tell you now that you wouldn't find anyone willing to step within a Kio of Equestria's borders” I raised an eyebrow at that, whilst Autumn looked confused.

“Kio?” she asked, looking back and forth between us two.

“Measure of distance, about point two leagues” I said, before turning back to the Toa of air “why wouldn’t there be any in Equestria?” Fyrefly let out a snort at that.

“Let’s just say your Princess luna didn’t take too kindly to a certain toa of psionics poking around in her head out of habit a couple thousand years ago” Lesovikk said, giving a pointed look towards the ponies present. “Plus there was another incident involving Celestia and some old seaborne warlords who decided to piss her off not long after banishing her own sister” Vinyl winced at that.

“That can’t have gone well for them...” she said.

“Well duh!” Surprise said “Why do you think old sunbutt has managed to maintain a nation of that size for well over 1500 years one a purely pacifist ideology? You play with fire, you get burned, a Celestia is like the sun!”

“What about Wrakjon like you two?” I asked, looking at the two new ponies present in our company “are there any others kicking about still?”

“That’s where my kind come in, funnily enough” Lesovikk said “when things went bad for them during Discord's reign a few of us stepped forward, took them under our wings if you will, so far as any of us can guess they're pretty much immortal, so it provides us with some company, plus they're our eyes and ears on the rest of the world, so it's a mutually beneficial arrangement. typically if you find an original wrakjon, you'll find a toa or some other being from the south not far away”

“But that’s something I don’t get, tall boy” Alee said “How did you even find folks like Firefly and Surprise in the first place?”

“Serving in the first Equine-Scythian war” Surprise said, surprising us with a rare show of calmness to her demeanor “We were both Wrakjon at this point, but had been in hiding for, what was it? two...three hundred winters? and whilst we knew of each other and had talked in the past, we'd never really interacted much”

“Who can blame me?” Fyrefly muttered with a roll of her eyes “these days I struggle to keep sane with you around”

“You love me really” the white pegasus shot back, sticking her tongue out.

“At the time I was staying in the local inn” Lesovikk cut in “during that period I would travel from town to town, seeking out odd jobs as a sellsword: a dragon terrorizing the local county? A crime gang? You name it, I would deal with it for coin, food and drink. I happened to be lurking in one corner when a recruiting sergeant announced his presence, told us “whoever so chooses to fight for our lands shall receive commendation for the local guard, forgiveness for past crimes and moral sins”...”

“It was the part about sins which perked Fyrefly’s ears” Surprise piped up, a shit eating grin on her face.

“That’s horse shit!” Fyrefly shot back.

“Fyrefly turned to the sergeant” Lesovikk continued “and she asked “what sins would be forgiven? Would they forgive adultery?” and the sergeant said “yes, for two years service”...”what about theft?”...”yes, of course, for 3 years”...so the young firespitter mulls it over, and then she turns back to the sergeant and says “better sign me up for fifteen”...” prompting chuckles from our group at the pink pegasus’ expense.

Aggressive negotiations

“Ouvre la porte!”

Fyrefly practically bellowed as we sprinted for the castle’s wooden doors, I couldn’t help but make note that her pronunciation was damn near flawless.

For the past few weeks there hadn’t really been muich of note that had occured, at least nothing worth retailing in any great detail, we’d continued in a north west direction towards Caracoler, that’s Prance to the common tongue, but when we’d heard news that Heimut had switched its focus from east to the south I’d all but forced everyone else to book it, consequently we’d been traveling light and fast, only stopping when even our incredible endurance was spent, needless to say tempers had frayed even between those of us that were usually close, but we’d gradually resolved to sort our shit out when we weren’t racing against a near-unstoppable army.

Now we’d finally arrived at a large fort city by the name of Crinière, with the heimut army literally no more than an hour away from reaching us, seriously, we could see smoke on the horizon, it was just as well that we had stopped early the night before to actually get our strength back.

A small hatch opened up, about eye level with Fyrefly, I had learned some rudimentary french during our time on the road, certainly not fluent by any means, but I got the jist of what was being said as the millenia old pegasus spoke with some unseen guard, who was asking as to our reason for being here, and why we wished to enter. Fyrefly explained that we were here to help in the impending siege, and that we were warriors who could bring a great deal to the coming fight. The guard seemed to disappear, and we took that time to rest. After a short word o Octavia I walked off to one side to earn myself some privacy and took the music box Twilight had given me out of my bag and proceeded to activate it. After a moment of the crystal on its base flashing the figure sprung to life, though the expression on Twilight’s face soon shifted to one of aggravation.

“You’ve got some nerve contacting me, you realise that?” she said, I’d tried talking to her once before, but let’s just say that news of certain incidents had trickled down, and Twilight was smart enough to put two and two together quickly enough to all but castraight me via long range magic for resorting to murder instead of pushing for a peaceful resolution, I never was one for conflict with those I considered allies, so I’d practically hung up and refused to answer her attempts at communication ever since, all the same I couldn’t help but feel sheepish.

“Yes, I know, but you can kill me later, we currently have a far bigger situation on our hands” I said, at which she raised an eyebrow.

“What, finally got into a situation you couldn’t butcher your way out of?” she asked.

“I could always end this call now and plough on with my original plan of burning my way out of trouble rather than asking for your help to attempt to resolve this with as little bloodshed as possible, like you’ve been wanting me to do” whatever she was about to offer in retort died on the tip of her tongue, and her expression settled into a scowl as she gestured for me to continue. “OK, so right now we’re in northern Prance, outside a city called Crinière. There is currently some fifteen thousand Heimut troops marching for this location ready to besiege the fortress and starve those inside in the name of their abhorrent ideologies”

“I don’t see how you need my help” she said, raising an eyebrow.

“Despite what you think, I do have at least a basic idea of how to pick my fights, I know that if myself and my friends try to fight this out unaided, shit’s going to go south, I certainly don’t want to be in a battle of this scale” I said “That’s why I’m asking you, as a favour, to please talk to Celestia and Luna to try and get them to send aid, preferably apearing in person. Their physical appearence in the field of battle has got to have some sort of effect on the heimut’s moral, maybe it could get them to withdraw” Twilight frowned, clearly thinking the matter over with some seriousness.

“I’ll see what I can do” she said.

“That’s all I ask, but understand this, your highness” I said, before bringing the music box close to my face and looking Twilight dead in the eye “if you deliberately decide not to talk to them and the battle runs its course, I will be personally holding every single death on your head, because you would have had the chance to try and put a stop to the killing, to practice what you preach, and proceeded to do nothing as good people, people on both sides who are simply fighting for their country, for their families, died needlessly...do we have an understanding?” for once, Twilight appeared to be sent on the back hoof at my sudden proclamation.

“I-I’ll get on it right away, Onælan” she said, stuttering slightly, as the doll on the top of the music box became lifeless and still once more. At that moment I heard the thudding of a door and Tarn called over to me, looking up I saw that the doors were now open to us. Almost immediately we were set to work, though as the impending siege drew closer and word of the enemy being sighted reached me down in the forge, I began to grow restless, enough that Autumn and Fyrefly had began to notice.

“Are you alright?” Autumn asked, I sighed as I stepped away from the forge.

“All the time I’ve known you and the others I’ve been in all of two fights” I said “and before that I was never what you would consider confrontational, I wouldn’t caIl that enough experience for what lays ahead. I...I don’t want to be in a battle, but standing on the edge of one I can’t escape is even worse” the two glanced at each other with a look of uncertainty and Autumn went to speak, but Fyrefly cut her off with a wave of the wing, an uncharacteristically sympathetic look on her face”

“You could always stay behind the wall and help out on duties other than fighting” she said “tartarus, I don’t blame you for feeling that way” I shook my head.

“No, I wouldn’t want others to feel I’m a coward” I said “I’ll fight, just...promise me you’ll watch my back, aye?” Fyrefly gave a small smile at this.

“I wouldn’t do anything less” she said “Us firespitters gotta watch out for each other” at that moment a war horn sounded and Fyrefly’s head whipped around, her expression turning serious “They're here…”

Not five minutes later all of us were stood together atop the wall of the city, thunder crashing and rain pouring as we overlooked an immense army that rendered me speechless. Through the mirk of the rain foot soldiers stretched as far as the eye could see all dressed in dark green armour, interspersed between them were many variety of siege engines, towers and trebuchets, all built from angular steel plate jointed with rivets and moving on great tracks, and all belching out smoke and steam. What had me the most worried were the tanks, they had fucking tanks, similar to those of my world's interwar period, but of comparatively cartoonish proportions with ridiculously huge guns that looked better suited for firing cannon balls than shells.

“Fuckin’ great…” I muttered, a touch of what could only be likened to irritation creeping into my voice.

“Courage, Onælan” Fyrefly said, before procuring a flask from behind her breastplate and taking a swig before hoofing it to me, after some hesitation I took to flask and took a tentative swig, wincing at the burn in the back of my throat, only to down it after the pink pegasus nodded her head upwards. “You're going to need it, first battles are never easy, powers or no. Just stick by my side and remember everything we've taught you and the others” I couldn’t help but glance upwards at the dark skies through narrowed eyes as the rain pelted down.

“Feckin weather” I muttered “Just what a wrakjon of fire needs, a bloody thunderstorm…” Midnight, dressed in the heavy, flame snorting armour of her kin, let out a grunt of frustration

“Ere! Leso, sure you can’t do something about this deluge?” the hulking Tyke mare called. The Toa of air, who stood out like a sore thumb, let out a snort which caused vapour to rise from the front of his mask, his hands resting upon the handle of his upturned blade

“It is raining, Midnight Quarry” he said “and it will continue to rain until the rain is done! If you wish to change the weather of the world then I suggest you find yourself another Toa” Alee, meanwhile seemed a little less irked by the weather, if anything I’d say she was enjoying it, her helmet off and her head held high with her eyes close, a small smile on her face.

“Nah...let Gia be” she said “I can tap into this weather, gives us an advantage”

“Give you an advantage, maybe” Midnight retorted, before adding “bloody fish”

“Gia?” I asked.

“What Fantasia is to fate and destiny, Gia is to nature” Lesovikk said “of the two I’ve always found her the more amicable”

“Bugger your heights, I can't feckin see!” Tarn called out to no one in particular, jumping up and down in an attempt to glance ofer the wall

“Do you want me to describe it to you?” Midnight Quarry called.

“Might be better to fetch her a box” I called.

“Get fucked, tall boy!” she shot back, prompting spatters of chuckles to rise up among the troops, our banter helping to relieve some of the underlying tension, though much still remained. Many of these soldiers, stallions and mares alike, would die today and they knew it.

“The moment her or Octavia look like they're in trouble, I'm going after them” I said “They're all I've got in this world, I'll be damned if I let them die”

“Noted” was the only response the Pegasus next to me offered. Her vision was cast downwards at the hoard below, focusing on the sight of a lone pony breaking ranks to walk towards the walls of the castle. “Someone's attempting to negotiate” and with that Fyrefly took flight towards the lone figure, leaving me fumbling for a few brief moments before following after her, the crystals embedded in my hands and feet roaring as I surged to catch up with her before landing in unison a few meters away from an unfamiliar unicorn mare.

Her coat, what little of it was visible behind ceremonial armour, was a dark, almost emerald, green. Whilst her mane and tail were a shockingly pristine jet black.

“I believe the term you Prench use is “parlay”, ja?” the mare called, her voice surprisingly young, she couldn’t have been older than 20.

“We aren’t Prench” Fyrefly said “but we speak on their behalf...Am I to assume you are the empress?” the mare let slip a soft smile.

“Keisarin Reinesfell Willenstark” she said, giving a quick bow “I am here to offer you a bargain; the terms of surrender”

“Not interested” I cut in before Fyrefly could say anything, causing her to go ramrod straight and let out a strangled growl as she glared at me. The empress meanwhile turned to look at me, her eyes widened with curiosity.

“Forgive me…” she said, trailing off “I did not think you intelligent”

“I flew over here by myself, didn’t I?” I retorted, just being around this mare was driving my blood pressure up. “Whatever terms of surrender, we don’t want to hear it. I’ve seen your type before, dying in battle is preferable to whatever surrender you would offer us” she seemed to study me for the longest time, not saying anything, her face a mask, before her head dropped and a resigned sigh escaped her lips, catching me off guard.

“So be it” she said “It would seem you are set on fighting to the last to protect what is yours, I can respect that. Very well, I hope fate favours you in battle, and that perhaps we might personally cross blades” and with that she turned and walked back to her own ranks, leaving us both very confused by what had just happened.

“What was that about?” I muttered.

“If we make it out of this, I’ll be decking you one” Fyrefly said “you outright refused a potential parlay, I thought you knew how to pick your fights better than that”

“This is different” I said, watching the empress walking away, her wording had caught me off guard, not the xenophobic remarks I had expected that’s for sure.

“Like hell it is!” Fyrefly shot back, before taking off into a hover “Now come on, you big lump” I followed her back to the wall, where Octavia was waiting for us expectantly.

“Well?” she asked.

“Well, we learned one thing” the pink pegasus said “You’re gonna need to drill some tact into your ape” Octavia face hooved and let out a groan of frustration.

“Gods, Onælan, could you not have just kept your mouth shut?”

“You can kill me later...if we get out of this alive” I said, as a loud horn blared out from the enemy lines, I then saw a spattering of flashes from the artillery, followed by dull booms, as they began firing. I saw Unicorns and other magic users, Vinyl and Alee included, all along the length of the wall hastily throw up shield spells, and great ripples appeared as mortar shells bounced harmlessly off. Most were deflected, though some got through and took out parts of the wall, sending mares and stallions, both dead and alive, flying through the air. Octavia quickly reached out to pull Tarn and a few other troops over as a shell struck where they had been stood not a split second before.

I pulled the kobald to stand in front of me and turned to look at Autumn, who was stood about 20 feet away “Now would be a good time to step in, Autumn!” The burnt orange pegasus seemed to shake herself out of a trance and turned to look at me, before turning back to look at the shells bouncing off the shield, and nodded as she took off and hovered towards the edge of the shield.

She then brought her front hooves to her chest and bowed her head, focussing her mind as an orange glow began to surround her, growing in intensity until ponies on both sides stopped to look in awe at the spectacle despite the mortar shells still raining down. Then she let a cry as she threw her arms out as the aura surrounding her ripped out like a shockwave.

I couldn’t help but let out a shout of surprise as I lurched forwards suddenly, a force pulling on my armour for a split second, other troops along the wall exclaiming in surprise as they all stumbled forward one after the other like a wave. Meanwhile in front of us I could see countless mortar shells rapidly slowing to a stop just before the forcefield. After about 30 seconds the sound of artillery fire petered out as Autumn continued to hold the shells in place, she then pulled her hooves back, before punching them forwards, as one the mortar shells turns and shot back on the enemy lines, hitting without precision or accuracy, but causing no less damage all the same, cheers rose up along the wall as a number of the enemy’s siege towers were hit and began to collapse in on themselves. To give the Heimut army credit, then responded almost immediately, tanks and unicorn spellcasters began aiming upwards at Autumn and firing upon her, at this the burnt orange pegasus seemed to turn frantic, dodging wildly this way and that as she began zipping back towards.

“Remind me never to do that shite again” she muttered as she landed back on the wall, now sporting a number of ricochet marks which wore away to top colour on her armour, exposing fresh metal underneath. She winced when she saw her tail, much of the hair ripped away by an errant mortar shell. A horn blared and the many siege towers that remained began lurching forwards, troops marching along side.

“So it begins” I said, summoning my sword and shield and standing reading for the coming tide of enemy soldiers.

“Épées prêtes, tours entrantes!” Fyrefly barked, brandishing two reinforced horseshoes which reached up her legs like a pair of armoured gauntlets, all along the wall troops began reading all manner of weapons best suited to them.

“Finally!” Tarn called, balling her fists as thick, supercooled ice formed around them. As the towers drew closer I began to study them, looking for any glaring weak spots, finally I spotted one; the tracks didn’t have any armour around them, leaving them open to being broken apart.

“Mages!” I called “target the wheels, break the tracks apart!” Fyrefly reiterated what I called out in french and magic began raining down as I began sending beams of condensed thermal energy at the bases of the towers, aiming for the hinges between the tracks, my hunch paid off when the track on one side came away, sending the tower lurching in a circle, before inertia and a shifted center of balance sent it toppling over on the troops below, taking out many an unsuspecting soldier in the process.

“Good call, Onælan!” Fyrefly said, she sounded genuinely impressed, amused even.

“The technology on those towers is some 80 years out of date compared to the tanks back home” I said. But alas, that was just one tower, there were still some 20 more left, still advancing towards the wall, they drew closer at an agonisingly slow pace, until finally they were close enough for the drawbridges to lower down.

The battle had begun...

I am the man who grabs the sun!

Autumn was the first to land a kill once the drawbridges on the towers fell, slashing in both directions with her hoof mounted blades, ripping out the throat of some unsuspecting troop, sending him collapsing to the ground as he choked in his own blood, things very quickly devolved from that point on into a killing frenzy on both sides as myself and my fellow wrakjon fought simply to stay alive, many details quickly being forgotten in the adrenalin rush. Truth be told myself and Tarn probably only remained alive because the troops wouldn’t have been used to dealing with people of our builds before, giving us just enough of an upper hand to get in a killing blow, that and liberal use of our powers helped.

Fyrefly, Surprise, and Lesovikk meanwhile were a sight to behold, during the brief moments I was able to get a look they were effortlessly holding the Hiemut troops at bay, with Surprise making effective use of a comically large war hammer.

“You have no idea how much I’ve missed this!” Fyrefly called above the din of battle, for once she wasn’t her usual grumpy demeanor, instead replaced with a gleeful grin, which when coupled the fact she was bludgeoning her way through soldier after soldier kind of made me question her stability. Meanwhile I was starting to struggle with how hectic things were getting, consequently I paid for my inexperience why I ended up on my arse with a Unicorn stood over me, sword hovering above him ready to plunge into my throat, just as the blade was about to fall and I was ready to accept my fate Octavia hurled herself on top of the unicorn and grappled around his midsection, before rearing back until the unicorn was lifted clear off the ground

“Have some of this, ya gobshite!” she bellowed, years of self imposed refinement bleeding away in an instant to reveal a thick cockney accent as she proceeded to effortlessly fling him off the wall. She then turned to regard me “You can thank me later, now get off your arse and get fighting” I felt a strong sense of vertigo as I found myself stood up once more, my plane of gravity having been shifted for just a moment, it seemed our particular section of the wall had earned a brief respite, though other sections both ways up from us were still in the thick of it

“I don’t know how much longer we can go on like this” I said, leaning against a section of wall to catch my breath

“Welcome to siege warfare, lad” Fyrefly said, scanning the skies, suddenly her ears pricked up, she’d spotted something “eyes up, folks, we’ve got airborne crafts inbound” she then took off into a hover and turned to us “Onælan, Autumn, Surprise, I need you with me”

“What are we going to do?” I asked.

“Now would be the time to stick some of your loud music on, human” she said, a smirk creeping into her face “we’re gonna go wreck some shit” I couldn’t help but also smirk.

“Gladly. Tarn, you’re with me, I’m gonna need an extra set of eyes out there” I said.

“Are you sure that's a good idea?” the Kobald said, looking more than a little concerned.

“You’ll be fine, I went and fitted handholds on my back for this reason” I said, turning around and gesturing with a thumb to my back, where a series of ring-like handles were fitted in strategic locations. “Just make sure to hold on extra tight, I’m gonna be pulling Gs that’ll put Chuck Yeager to shame”

“I don’t care if you’re the founder of the wonderbolts” Fyrefly said “just get your flank up here and help us fight” I crouched down allowing Tarn to clamber on before standing straight and stowing my shield and sword away for later, with that done I retrieved my phone and a small but powerful wireless speaker from respective storage locations on my armour and passed them behind my back to Tarn.

“You should find latches to hold them in place” I said “you’ll know what to do from then on” I could feel her fiddling with the clips, before finally she called out.

“Done!” she said.

“Alright, then” I said, getting into a stance ready to take off, as the rest of the group were already beginning to fly ahead, I then quickly added with a cheeky smirk “Clench up, lizard-tits” I could practically hear the confusion in her face.

“Wut...?” she asked, just as I poured as much power as I dared into the crystals embedded in my boots and gloves, causing her to let out a cry of surprise from the acceleration, said cry turning into a panicked scream as we climbed higher and higher, I could feel her pulling herself tighter to my back. "Cachau Sanctaidd! Ti'n Goc Oen!” eventually we leveled off, flying alongside Fyrefly, Autumn and Surprise high over the enemy troops, with the sound of cannon fire growing cleared, but its source obscured from me by clouds.

“Well someone’s clearly not a fan of flying” Fyrefly remarked, looking rather amused at a clearly uncomfortable Tarn.

“Feck off, bird” came Tarn’s eloquent response, before I felt her relax considerably and lean back into something approaching a sitting position “and as for you, mister. Lizardtits!?” I felt a clip around the back of my head.

“Keep in mind Im the one keeping us suspended some 10,000 feet in the air, before you go beating me” I said, Autumn snorted.

“Lizardtits?” she asked “I’m so remembering that for later”

“Listen here, you bird brained oaf!” Tarn said, out of the corner of my eye I could see her shaking a finger at Autumn “I’m not a fucking lizard!” Surprise’ face became a mixture of amused and confused, and she let out a snorting laugh.

“Wait, that’s what you’re taking issue over?” she asked “not the “tits” remark, but the fact he called you lizard?” in response Tarn let out an irritated groan, and I felt both her hands leave the handholds

“I don’t know how many times I’ve had to say to people, but kobalds aren’t fecking lizards!” she said “we aren’t lizards, dragons, drakes, or anything even remotely reptilian. Last I checked lizards don’t have these things, which Onælan seems strangely fixated on of all things”

“I know full well you aren’t a lizard, I do have a basic grasp of biology” I said “but “protomamalian tits” doesn’t roll off the tongue quite so well. I assure you it was intended as a term of endearment”

“By the gods, we could die in the next five minutes, and this is the conversation you choose to have?” Fyrefly asked, looking incredulously at the two of us. Tarn leaned over to look me in the face, and we shared a look before turning back to look at Fyrefly then as one stating.

“Absolutely” Fyrefly snorted and rolled her eyes.

“Now I see why you pine after him so much” she snaked “clearly you’re both just as mad as each other”

“I do not pine!” Tarn exclaimed indignantly.

“Eyes up!” Autumn announced, cutting through the bickering, the three of us turned to see a mass of hulking gallion like airships exchanging canon fire some 500 feet out “It would appear Prance’s arial navy has already rolled out the welcome wagon”

“Right...navy” I muttered grimly, Fyrefly & Surprise on the other hand grinned manically, their level of glee making me question their sanity. “Has anyone told you two that you might be just a little bit nuts?”

“That’s part and parcel of being a Wrakjon, mate” Fyrefly said, before she shook her head, appearing to clear her thoughts then levelling a look at me “Now come on tall boy, music!”

“Uh, pick a song?” I said

“Something heavy, something loud” she supplied.

“You’ve described 90% of his music” Tarn said “be specific” at this Fyrefly pondered, tapping her chin with a hoof.

“I forget it’s name, but I think it goes something like old does not mean dead, new does not mean best?” she said “that one”

“I never pegged you as a fan of that sort of music” I said, before doing a double take “ and since when have you been listening to my music, I don’t recall playing that to you?” I asked.

“I can be very quiet when I want to” she said.

“Found it!” Tarn called, and immediately I heard the sound of music filtering through the air (0:07 - 3:09).

“Oooh, turn that shit up” I said, aiming for a nearby ship flying the colours of the Heimut navy
Autumn listened intently, a confused look on her face as wavering synth notes gave way to primal drumming and discordant guitars.

“What...what is this?” she asked. Fyrefly and I beamed.

“You’ll have to keep up to find out” I said, putting more energy into the crystals as I accelerated away, making a beeline for the nearest heimut ship and landing in sync with the music as Tarn jumped off of me, followed by Fyrefly, Surprise, and then Autumn.

There was a split second of silence as the crew of the ship regarded us with surprise, before the music kicked back in and I leapt into the fray ahead of everyone else, landing in the middle of a group I grabbed a pegasi by the tail with both hands and proceeded to swing them about, knocking multiple stunned crewmembers over with enough force to incapacitate them before releasing my grip of the pegasus’ tail and sending them sailing over the side of the ship. I then summoned forth my sword and allowed fire to engulf the blade as the rest of my allies joined the fray, allowing us to start making quick work of the heimut sailors.

“I have to admit” Autumn called out as she slashed into yet another overwhelmed crewpony “I’m starting to see the appeal of that noise you call music”

“Now you’re getting it!” I called back, unleashing a jet of fire which sent multiple ponies sailing over the edge. I turned expecting to round upon someone behind me, only to see Tarn getting backed into a corner by two crew ponies, a malicious glint in their eyes as she stood in a defensive stance, her dagger at the ready

“Not so big & tough now without your friends, lizard” this seemed to spark something inside Tarn as she proceeded to let out an animalistic shriek, which sounded closer to the noise a fox would make, and leapt into the air sailing over their heads before landing on the back of one and began tearing at them with claw, dagger, and tooth, slicing massive gashes all along their back and up their neck, before finally lunging for the pony’s throat, sinking her teeth into the jugular and pulling back, covering herself and the stunned heimut pegasus to the side in a spray of blood as the unicorn she was latched onto slumped to the deck, choking on his own blood.

Tarn let go of the unicorn and now, panting heavily, turned towards the pegasus, who was now practically white with fear, she then barked out something in welsh and jumped towards the pony, making them jump and stumble as they took off, flying towards a nearby Hiemut ship.

“Are you alright?” I asked, eyeing her bloodstained face and chest with no small amount of concern.

“Ayy, I’ll be fine, mwnci” she said, her hands resting on her knees as she panted, trying to catch her breath, after a moment she let out a dry laugh, the shuddering sending drops of blood falling from the tip of her snout to the deck “I must look like quite the savage to you” I simply shrugged noncommittally as I leant against the wall.

“Where on earth did you learn to fight like that?” Autumn asked, looking more than a little shocked. “Not even griffins on the southern continent were that ferocious!”

“In a land like Minotauria, you gotta learn to fight” she said “but let’s just say when the slavers got ahold of me I didn’t go down without a fight…” I took advantage of the now empty frigate to survey the battlefield below, but already I could see that things looked dire for our side, there had to be a good 20’000 troops with god knows how many tanks and artillery, sooner or later they would get through.

“not that this isn't fun and all, but unless we do something about the endless horde down below, our actions up here are going to be pretty meaningless” I said.

“Good luck with that, unless you plan to firebomb them or something” Fyrefly said, she caught my grin and deadpanned “No bucking way, absolutely not”

“Onælan, don’t even think about it” Autumn said, quickly catching my intentions “Assuming you somehow survive a drop from this height, do you have any idea how many troops you’ll take out, how bad it’ll make you look?”

“Since i’m not tied down to any nation anyways, I don’t much care” I said, tightening the straps on my shield to an almost uncomfortable degree “and if I do die, well...I figured I was on borrowed time any way”

“You’re...not backing down from this, are you?” Surprise asked.

“Not in the slightest” I said, walking to the edge of the ship and climbing up on the sidewall “some people think the best weapon is one you never have to fire, I respectfully disagree. I say it’s the weapon you only have to fire once. That’s how my species does it and I’d say it’s worked out pretty well for us so far” and with that I threw caution to the wind and let myself fall, ignoring Tarn’s panicked shout, as much as it hurt to do so. I felt a sickening sense of vertigo as I dropped, falling faster and faster. I clenched my sword tightly and began to call forth my power, by didn’t allow it to go anywhere, instead letting it build up inside, I felt a pressure, a tenseness, building higher and higher until I noticed that I was beginning to glow beneath my armour. As the ground raced up to meet me, scores of heimut troops stood waiting for the call the action, I allowed myself to succumb to the pure adrenaline rush.

“I am the man who grabs the sun!” I called, as the pressure reached a peak and the glowing turned to flames which licked out between my plates of armour, I noticed a number of troops look up in confusion at my cry, before their eyes seemed to comedically shrink to pinpricks “RIDING TO VALHALLA!!”

“Oh, Scheisse”

WHOMP-BOOOOOM!!!

Octavia leant against a remaining section of wall, panting in an attempt to catch her breath, for the moment their section of wall seemed to be getting something of a respite, and she found herself thanking the gods.

“These bastards don’t know when to quit!” Alee called, proceeding to buck a lingering heimut soldier back over the wall. Octavia was about to offer a response when a blinding flash prompted the both of them as well as any other individuals to cry out in surprise as they all ducked to cover their eyes.

“Sacré bleu!” came the exclamation of one Caracolean soldier. As the light began to fade Octavia turned to look out upon the battlefield and gasped.

Deep within the enemy ranks a massive churning fireball could be seen rising into the sky, obliterating everything beneath it, she also caught sight of a rolling shockwave mere seconds before it slammed into the wall, bringing with it a ear spitting boom which Octavia felt deep in her chest. When the ringing in her ears stopped Octavia heard a pained gasping and turned to see Vinyl lying on the ground clutching her eyes.

“Vinyl?” she asked, leaning down and placing a hoof on her friend's shoulder. Vinyl raised her head, revealing her eyes to now be bloodshot and red, staring unseeingly, the unicorn’s horn flickered falteringly into life.

“Octavia...the flash….I can’t see…” was all she offered before she returned to covering her eyes with a hoof. Octavia gingerly pulled her up into a standing position.

“It’s OK, I’ve got you” she said, before turning to look for one of her friends and eventually settling on the Kelpie. “Alee, I need you to hold things down out here” in response the kelpie turned and looked inquisitively.

“What’s up?” Alee asked.

“Whatever caused that just blinded Vinyl, I need to get her to sick bay” she said “there’s no way she can fight like this” Alee, to her credit, didn’t press any further or offer any form of protest, she simply nodded.

“Me thinks I’ll be taking a little trip out there” she said, casting her gaze towards the now scorched circle of ash about a mile out in the middle of the ranks of troops. “I have I pretty good idea as to who caused that, and I’ll be havin’ words with the idiot ape myself”

“Just make sure you don’t hurt Onælan too much” Octavia said, a dark expression on her face as she turned to lead Vinyl away “You leave that to me” and with that the pair gingerly walked off towards the nearest usable staircase, Midnight Quarry let out a huff when the pair disappeared.

“Well hasn’t this turned into a right royal shitshow” she deadpanned.

“Well it’s not over yet” Alee said, readying her swords as she planted a hoof on a section of the wall and looked out onto the ranks of troops below “Midnight, my large and imposing friend, we have a choice ahead of us. We can either make our way up the wall to assist the troops here, or we can go out there and do something really stupid” at this Lesovikk walked over to the pair of them, drove the tip of his blade into the stonework and leant on the handle.

“You do realise that’s got to be at least a Kio of tightly ranked soldiers between us and Onælan, right?” he asked, but didn’t make any moves to abandon abandon the two of them to their fates. Midnight regarded the troops below and appeared to weigh up the options, before giving something of a conceding shrug.

“Certainty of death...small chance of success” she said, before a grin split her mouth “what are we waiting for?”

Author's Note

Anyone: Proposes a batshit insane plan
Midnight Quarry:

I'm probably going to play into this trope on more than one occasion, which I suppose makes Midnight the berserker of the group?

Clear the way!

Autumn stared at the rising fireball with mouth agape, it was almost close enough to scorch the underside of the frigate they were stood on, and drew enough attention to cause the other ships to stop firing.

“By the fucking devil” she drawled in a tone of awe in her native tongue. Fyrefly, Surprise, and Tarn all had similar reactions.

“Not even I have that much raw power even after all these years” Fyrefly said, before frowning and scratching her chin in thought as she remembered something “I can only ever recall one other wrakjon who had that much raw power, and she was bad news from the start”

“And who was that?” Tarn asked.

“The less you know the better” Surprise said, a haunted look in her eye “but the gist of it is that Wrakjon tend to manifest their power along something of a scale; high precision but low power, like myself, or vast amounts of raw power with very little focus... Fyrefly is middle of the road. Those with a lot of raw power had a tendency to go off the deep end big time,"

“If Onælan has that much raw power, that’s a red flag for me” Fyrefly said.

“Now hang on” Autumn said, rounding on the two elder warriors “Onælan might have a tendency to be a bit bullheaded, like the incident in the swamp, but he’s absolutely not the type to “go off the deep end”, he was afraid to spar with me in case he hurt me for buck’s sake, he’s gone after this army out of fear of what they might do to innocent ponies”

“You also weren’t alive when Humans existed on Terra, shit, he’s even told us some of the things his kind has done whilst on another planet” Fyrefly said, stepping up to Autumn and straightening her neck until she was a good foot taller than the already stocky westward pegasus “if we make the call that he might be a danger to others, do yourself a favour and stay out of our way”

“Onælan wanted you to help and now you’re just gonna kill him?” Tarn asked.

“We exist to maintain the balance, that means we can’t be allowed to slip too far one way or the other” Fyrefly said “sometimes that means sacrifices must be made”

“If that’s your take on this, then you can forget helping us” Autumn said, turning and walking away from Fyrefly and Surprise, stopping just as she placed a hoof on the edge of the boat “I won’t fight you now, but if you want to kill Onælan then you’re gonna have to go through me as well. The crazy bastard's lost enough being sent here in the first place for me to just abandon him...come on, Tarn, let’s see if he’s OK” the Kobald quickly followed after Autumn and climbed on her back, and with that they both departed, Autumn taking a leisurely descending glide, though thermals produced by the residual heat nearly sent her soaring into the air. Surprise made a move to follow after them, but Fyrefly place a hoof on her shoulder to stop her.

“No, let them go” she said “We’ll deal with the Human later, for now let’s focus on winning this battle, we certainly don’t need some young blood for that”

I awoke with a start, gasping for breath and proceeding to choke on the ash, when I opened my eyes all I could see was ashen ground. I slowely made my way to my feet, kicking up small wisps of ash, and immediately came to the conclusion that I might have gone overboard just a bit. My powers felt almost entirely depleted, my armour still glowed from the residual heat, my shield had seen better days, and for a couple hundred feet everything around me had been reduced to a circle of ash radiating out from my location, with the occasional charred body to be seen scattered throughout the ashfield, then beyond the ash lay badly burned but otherwise still living soldiers, those still in a state to be stood all stared at me in horror and fear and I could hear not only the moans of the wounded, but the hushed horrified chatter of the soldiers..

“Yeah...might have overdone that a bit” I muttered, staring around in a daze before my shoulders slumped “man...Octavia’s gonna kill me” nethertheless I began to harden my resolve, they would eventually get over the initial shock and make moves to retaliate and there were still thousands of them out there. I found my attention pulled behind behind me and turned to see a lone armoured figure approaching.

“Your raw power is formidable, ape” the voice of the heimut empress pierced the quiet of this part of the battlefield as she drew nearer, a smirk creeping onto her face. “Though I’m curious as to what your plan was after you immolated my troops, for a start you are closer to our point of command than your own. Secondly, I hardly doubt that your Prench allies or even your Equestrian friends will take too kindly to the atrocity you just commited” her voice was dripping with a tone that just screamed gotcha!.

“Assuming I survive?” I said, looking all around to make sure no one snuck up on me “I hear the Scythians are an alright bunch, figured I’d go hang with them” this prompted a snort of amusement from the Unicorn.

“You’re a funny one, ape” she said “though you needn’t worry, my troops will not engage you whilst I am on the field. No, I wanted the pleasure of fighting you myself”

“And why would that be?” I asked “You aren’t short of grand weaponry, by the estimates of my own kind your panzers are some 300 years ahead of the military discipline of other countries, you could just have one of them shot me to bits from afar” at this her face became serious.

“You make me curious” she said “for all my country loves to proclaim its superiority of blood, amongst all the races it looks down upon there is not one mention of a talking hairless ape that stands proud and tall. I would wish to judge for myself as to whether you would indeed be inferior, afterall your stence lends you well to the wielding of a blade” at this she procured a small tubular object, levitating it in her magic. A click and a thrum and a shaft of energy burst forth, crackles of raw untamed energy dancing along the shaft like lighting whilst the empresses magical aura tookon an appearance akin to the visualisation of a magnetic field stretching from her horn to the handle. I recognised the tool immediately from Alee’s teachings, it was an arcane wand, a multipurpose tool of wonder that tapped directly into the wielder’s own magical reserves and could be used to harm or heal, to build or destroy, reserved for the rich and wealthy, or for the most skilled of bladesmiths.

It looked for all intents and purposes like a lightsaber with a blade hue that matched the Empresses own magical aura, and indeed they could be just as deadly when wielded as such

“Ah...shit” I muttered, drawing my own blade but discarding the shield, I had one little trick up my sleeve that I’d withheld even from my newfound friends in case I ever found myself being turned on, and it was vital that the shield didn’t get in the way. One of the few aspects of my old life I could recollect, half remembered studies in a martial art straight out of fantasy.

Altering my stance I brought my blade up in front of my face, then down to the side, before charging. Rather than the hesitant bumbling I’d displayed to my allies I felt no small amount of familiarity and comfort as I launched into a flurry of strikes that initially caught the empress off guard and onto the defensive until she was able to recover and managed to lock our blades together and push down, sending the tips into the dirt and grounding them there.

“You’ve impressed me, ape” she said, smirking, causing a pit in my stomach as I came to the realisation that she was very much enjoying this “I did not expect you to be familiar with Qillin dueling techniques, but you’ve made one thing apparent”

“And that would be?” I asked, trying to unlock my blade, the arcane wand seemed to have a certain degree of attraction to it, drawing my own blade to it like a magnet.

“You’re not nearly as proficient as me!” before I had chance to react I felt a force push me back, and proceeded to have the tables turned as she charged at me displaying a level of skill with a blade that far outstripped my own, soon I was struggling just to keep her attacks from getting through and I felt no small amount of regret at having discarded my shield.

Alee, Midnight Quarry, and Lesovikk stood behind the raised drawbridge of the fort. Waiting for it to open to charge across the mass of enemy troops, even if it was a suicide charge, they would still more than likely cause far more damage to the enemy forces than if they were to wait for them to make their way up the siege towers.

“Well” Midnight said, tightening the straps of her armour, she couldn’t help but feel a certain energy about her, a sense of purpose “Live or die, I promise you both that no matter what happens I’ll make them remember me, should make them think twice before stepping foot in Yarvik”

“You’re pretty hard to forget” Alee said, wiping a cloth over her blades to clean them “you stand a good 4 hooves above everypony else, surprised other ponies don’t shit themselves upon first seeing you. And if you don’t deter them, the bullheaded stubborness of your entire species just might make them reconsider within a week”

“You wound me” Midnight muttered in a dry deadpan. At that moment a trumpet sounded, and the clanking of chains announced the opening of the gate as drawbridge dropped with a boom, revealing countless Heimutian troops staring bewildered at the three warriors. Lesovikk drew his sword and let out a harsh war cry in his own ancient language, joined quickly by Alee & Midnight rearing up to proclaim cries of their own.

“He taua!”
“Faugh a Ballagh!”
“Howay the lads!”

And with that they charged forwards, Alee and Lesovikk had their weapons pointing straight towards the Heimutian troops, whilst Midnight galloped between them and slightly ahead, her head bowed low with the plates on her back of her neck locking into place to transfer any impacts directly into her armour. Just before she hit the line of stunned soldiers, Alee chose to play her secret trump card.

You see Kelpies, specifically the shark-like Capall-Ishk like Alee, are very odd creatures once one gets down to it, and even without her newfound water powers she had more than a few surprises up her proverbial sleeves. Many assumed from a casual glance that they were mere equines, albeit strange ones, though the truth was far odder than that, they had the fins, tail, & the head of a shark, and webbed, otter-like paws. They could create disproportionately loud singing vocalisations heard for miles around, like a whale. And just like some members of the shark family, specifically rays, they could build up an electrical charge, stored along lateral lines running all the way along the back and tail, located between the hip & shoulder, and the spine. With exertion, such as when running or swimming at speed, they would start to build up a charge and glow a neon blue, just as they started to do on Alee, and when they were fully charged she could feel a slight tingle all the way along her back, similar to the goosebumps one felt when listening to a particularly nice piece of music.

But rather than blindly letting off these electrical pulses she first began to manipulate the moisture in the air, sucking it out of the area occupied by her allies and forcing it forwards and away. This meant that when she finally released the pent up electrically energy, bolts of blue lightning raced forwards, arcing through her swords and towards the gobsmacked Heimutian troops whilst leaving her comrades unharmed. Once, twice, three times the electricity discharged, each one containing thousands of electrical pulses, either killing the soldiers in the immediate vicinity outright or at the least badly stunning them.

But Alee wasn't the only one doing something to catch their enemies off guard, for Lesovikk followed in the wake of her attack with a shockwave of air which rippled outwards with a whoosh, this further disorientated the soldiers on their wake, before Midnight finally chose to make her presence known.

Her armour began to glow a golden brown and then change, wrought iron plate turned into immaculate & durable steel with a polished surface of brown and highlights of tan, whilst the ends of her hooves became heavily reinforced, perfect for dealing considerable damage to anyone unlucky enough to be standing in their way. The colossal mare let out a harsh battle cry before rearing up her front legs and slamming them down at the same time before resuming her charge, at once glowing cracks in the ground shot out from under her hooves towards the troops, spires of bedrock burst forth through the earth, clearing a path right through the troops all the way to the circle of ash, sending scores of Heimutian troops sailing through the air to land back down among their own ranks. The way was now clear for them to charge the distance towards Onælan, either to aid him in battle or rescue him. Alee half-eyed Midnight’s change with bemusement as she ran, cutting through the occasional troop that ventured back into their path.

“I know my kind’s warcry is clear the way, but I didn’t mean literally clear a path for us!” she said between pants “all the same, it’s about time your powers manifested, sister”

“Happy to be of use besides acting as a living battering ram-Havat it!” at this she charged an unlucky pony, before pulling her head up and sending them sailing through the air.

“I had wondered what you would be a protector of” Lesovikk said in the midst of their charge “I’d figured something like stone or earth, maybe even magnetism”

“I thought Autumn controlled metal, why have two powers that control the same thing?” Midnight asked “and what do you mean “protector”, I thought we were called Wrakjon”

“Firstly lots of elements overlap; Ice and water, earth and stone, fire & plasma, but magnetism would also give you the ability to fly” Lesovik said “as for titles? Well, formally you’re wrakjon, as my kind are formally Toa, but in day to day interaction your correct title is protector, just as toa are known as spirits”

“Not that that doesn’t sound like a riveting discussion” a familiar voice called out as Autumn flew down and landed to gallop alongside them, joined by Tarn who jumped off the pegasus’ back “But I think we have better things to focus on than titles and semantics!” as if to prove her point one of the heimutian tanks began lumbering its way into their path a hundred meters away, there was a flash from its gun, followed by a boom as a mortar shell shot towards them. Without missing a beat Autumn took off into a low level flight, the metal of her forelegs splitting apart to reveal all manner of mechanical components held inside before settling upon two formidable grappling caws, similar in appearance to the talons of an owl, angling her body she deftly caught the shell firmly in both claws and used her wings to change its course, using her innate powers over metal to provide a little nudge she completely reversed the direction of the shell, performing a piruet in midair before sending the shell back towards the tank with a yell. The tank exploded in a fireball and Autumn landed back on all four hooves with ease to run alongside her comrades once more.

“Ruddy show off!” Midnight remarked, rolling her eyes, Autumn simply shot her a toothy grin, and Midnight noticed for the first time that those on the right side of her face were silver.

I was knocked on my arse for the second time, only instead of feeling a blade being ran through me I noticed the empress merely standing at the ready.

“Come on, ape, you disappoint me!” she goaded “surely you can do better than that!” I used the opportunity to pull my shield over with a quick hand gesture and rose just in time to bring my shield to bare to block another strike from the Unicorn, sparks dancing along the scales. The Empress seemingly took note of this and hummed “Interesting...am I to assume you are the one responsible for killing that dragon?”

“You can think what you want!” taking advantage of the opening to deliver a kick squarely in the empress’ chest, sending her stumbling back with a yelp, though that gave way to a chuckle as she recovered.

“That’s more like it!” she snarled, and as she came at me with renewed vigour, I got the distinct impression that she was enjoying this, dare I say she was actually toying with me “You tutor must have been terrible, come on! Did they not teach you to distract your opponent’s focus, to control their central line?” I felt no small amount of irritation at this, here I was getting my ass handed to me by a pony who was very likely the up-and-coming tyrant of this chapter in history, meanwhile she had the gall to be giving me tips whilst she was laying a beating on me. Unfortunately this irritation would cost me as I proceeded to block sloppily with the shield causing her blade to glance upwards directly into my face. The helmet offered some level of protection, however it wasn’t perfect as I felt the metal heat up rapidly and a searing hot pain on the left side of my face as my vision on that side went blank. The Empress must not have fully intended to bring me harm as I remember the blade being pulled back rapidly, though my focus soon shifted to trying to get the damaged and still burning hot mask off. Grunting in pain I dropped my sword and shield and all but threw the mask off as I fell to my knees, clutching my left eye. Gritting my teeth I looked up at the Empress to see her looming over me, her blades at the ready.

“Sorry about that” she said, actually sounding genuine, only for one of her blades to draw close to the underside of my jaw, the heat causing my to lift my head up on reflex “But I’m afraid our little dance ends here, so tell me, what name should I inscribe upon your casket when I send it to the princesses” I didn’t dignify her with a response, choosing instead to spit in her face, my act of defiance no less satisfying despite the Empress quickly casting a shield and tittering quietly.

“A pity” she said “But at least this makes me feel slightly less bad about killing you” and with that she drew the blade back, aiming for my throat, no doubt intending to decapitate me, just as I accepted my fate and she brought her blade down there was a blue flash as a familiar double-bladed sword bounced off the empresses own blade, causing the unicorn to recoil as a gust of wind blew her back and Alee & Autumn jumped between to two of us, weapons at the ready.

“Keep Onaerlan out of the way," the Kelpie said “we’ll deal with this bitch!” the Empress merely chuckled at this.

“Finally” she said, bringing her blades to bear “a real challenge” and with that Reinesfell lunged for them, this time things seemed much more evenly balanced, and if anything things seemed tipped in our favour. I let out a hiss as Tarn pulled my hand down to look at my eye and visibly winced at the sight of my injuries.

“That doesn’t look pretty” Lesovikk said.

“Gee, you think!?” Tarn asked, shooting him a dirty look before tapping me on the shoulder “Up you get, you’ve lost an eye but you’ll live” I accepted a hand up from the Toa and took stock of the situation, whilst Tarn and Autumn continued their duel with the Empress, Alee trading blows very much in keeping with the Empress’ own form and Autumn fighting in an altogether more primal style. I noticed that troops lining the perimeter of the ash pit watching with no small amount of bemusement, some cheering on their own empress. Continuing to glance around, a task now made much more difficult by the loss of my eye, I felt a sudden shock as I glimpsed the turret of a tank aimed directly at Midnight and without thinking on the matter I took advantage of Alee & Autumn keeping the Empress distracted as I ran straight towards the towering pony. I scarcely registered hearing the dueling stop, followed by the Empress barking something out in a panic in German as I shoved Midnight out of the way.

I saw the world turn upside down before I heard the boom or even felt the blinding pain coursing through my lift side. I didn’t even remember hitting the ground before blacking out.

The beast within

I awoke alone and in no small amount of discomfort, sitting up in what could be best described as a cot I looked around to find myself in what looked like the cabin of a warship, albeit slightly more homey….somewhere between military and cruise cabin. Up against one wall was a proper bed big enough for two or three, and against the opposite wall was a dresser. The view out of the window didn’t reveal much, I only saw blue skies and clouds. I went to scratch the back of my head with my left arm...only nothing happened, looking down as best I could with only one eye I found my heart sinking as I was greeted to the sight of a short stump where my left arm had once been. Immediately events flooded back into my mind and for a moment I sat there, rubbing my left shoulder in thought, before I came to my senses and finally decided to do something about the increasing urge to find out where I was. Looking about the cabin for anything to wear that stuck out as immediately obvious I first found my armour, most of it was fine, but the hemet and much of the left arm and shoulder were useless. I had an idea for using the scraps, but that that could wait.

I rifled through a wardrobe and soon found what looked like a knee length tunic, some simple leather shoes, an eye patch, and a cloak, my old cloak of concealment gifted by Fantasia in fact, the tunic and shoes wouldn’t have looked out of place in the medieval period and was clearly made for me to wear going by the fact that the shoes were, well, shoes made for a human, and the tunic only had a right sleeve and it was designed to just slip on. As I took the tunic by the hanger noticed a paper note fall out and drop to the floor, placing the tuning back on the rack I bent down to pick up the note and after some trial and error opening it one handed I started to read.

‘My dearest Onælan.

The doctors have said that you should be waking up some time today, so I’ve preemptively written this letter in the hopes of clearing up a few things.

Know that currently we are flying in the Empress’ personal airship and making good speed to Marelin (from a purely technical standpoint you might find it quite the experience, I know you do so love your transport), we crossed the border yesterday morning, I know you will more than likely take issue with this, but allow me chance to clear things up.

Firstly, know that Autumn practically crucified the Empress over what happened, not just for your injuries but the whole nasty affair with Prance, and more or less demanded that she fix your injuries. Secondly, some political business came up in the capital, so the Empress had to make her way back north anyway. Her troops are currently at a standoff in northern Prance trying to secure territory they’ve already invaded.

I also took the liberty of explaining the situation about you, your convictions and your people's history as best I could to the Empress; I also managed to find some colour documentary footage on the conflict in question on your larger device (you called it a Laptop, I think?). She was, put simply, mortified. She began pleading with me and Autumn that she’d never even dare of committing such atrocities. For what it’s worth, Vinyl says she was being genuine; she’s typically bang on when people are lying.

Lesovikk parted ways with us not long after you went unconscious, owing to a...disagreement between Autumn & Tarn and Fyrefly & Surprise over your actions, for what it’s worth the Toa wished you well and promised to try and keep them away as best he can, he did leave some notes with us regarding the whereabouts of potential allies, as well as how to get down south, perhaps a matter to mull over whilst you’re recovering.

Should you wish to find us, we’ll be out on the main deck, all I’ll say is for my sake at least...humour the Empress and try not to get into fights with her troops.

Your loving Octavia.

P.S. should we come into conflict with anything just do me a favour and hold back, you need to rest.

P.P.S. if you're willing Tarn would like to discuss something with you in private when you have time.

I turned over what I'd read in my mind, I wanted to be furious at the turn of events, more than anything, but Octavia was a mare with a strong will and a fiercer temper, and I'd rather not do anything to provoke her ire. After much trial and error I managed to get dressed, though I was thankful there wasn't anyone there to see me make a fool of myself. It seems someone had repurposed the cloak to be shorter, and hang over my left shoulder, going some way to reduce the visual impact of my now missing limb. I was still clearly missing an eye, but the attire would do.

Finding my way out onto the main deck had been simple enough, and I found myself standing on the deck of a formidable battleship it was a real mish mash of styles, both real and fantasy by my own reckoning, we were suspended below a large balloon filled with some of form of gas, modern artillery guns lined the sides in place of traditional gunpowder cannons, there were even some smaller caliber guns mounted on turrets, no doubt rapid firing anti-air guns for targeting griffins and pegasi, and all around there were ponies of all description milling about.

At once they noticed me and the air became decidedly frosty, with looks ranging from idle curiosity, to fear, to outright hatred. It wasn't a pleasant experience in the slightest.

“You’ve made quite the impression” a familiar voice called, and I had to suppress the feeling of the hair on the back of my neck standing up as I turned to see the Empress approaching, accompanied by Octavia.

“That's pretty hard not to do regardless of my actions,” I said levelly. “The world isn't exactly brimming with my kind.” The Empress raised an eyebrow at this.

“Indeed,” she muttered, “you seem to be recovering well.” I scoffed at this.

“It fucking sucks” I said, shooting her a pointed look, Octavia rolled her eyes at this.

“At least try to be tactful” she said “Like it or not she did allow you to be brought onto her own ship, despite her own troops misgivings. She will also be providing you with a new arm and a leg at the end of this, and need I remind you that you are single handedly responsible for the deaths of some 700 of her own ponies” I stirred at that, and stared at the empress long and hard.

“Why?” I asked “why after everything would you actually help me?” she seemed to bristle at this.

“I may have let you live and allowed you aboard my ship” she said “But I am still kaiserin and you continue to remain...beneath me. And as you are beneath me it is not your place to question my decisions. I would have thought by traveling with royalty you would have already learned your place. ” Octavia bristled, and I could tell she wanted to voice her obtections, but in the end she held her tongue, Reinesfell meanwhile seemed oblivious, instead making a move to leave us “I will say no more” and with that she departed, leaving the two of us surrounded by less than friendly Heimutian troops going about their work. Only once Octavia was absolutely sure the Empress was out of earshot did she speak once more. Barely above a whisper, but no less resigned in tone.

“Don’t think I want to just let her make those comments, they hurt me as much as they might hurt you” she said, rubbing the back of her neck “but unfortunately I’m merely an heir apparent, there’s formalities I have to adhere to as well. Heimutians hold hierarchy in higher regard than most nations except perhaps the Prench...or maybe Equestrian Nobility. Since you’re not officially my consort, which I don’t have the power to officiate by myself, and you’re not of any known line of nobility. At most I can swear you in as a bodyguard, but that won’t really work in your current state...which unfortunately puts you in quite low standing”

“Which means what, exactly?” I asked, feeling somewhat indignant.

“It might be better to...hold your tongue?” she said, finishing off with a pained smile, clearly she wasn’t content with this either “You can bitch about “he said-she said” all you want in private” I sucked in a breath of air to suppress my anger and clicked my tongue, an urge to be particularly sarcastic overcoming me.

“Out-fucking-standing” I muttered dryly before glancing around “Where are the others?” as if on cue a thunderous boom ran out from above us, and I spotted a cloud or red dust falling out of the sky. Octavia gave a small smile.

“Practicing” she said, before gesturing with a hoof “Come on, I’ll show you where they are” she began to lead me up through the balloon, where the atmosphere became considerably damp and cool, accompanied by the strong smell of ozone. As it turned out, this airship wasn’t staying aloft using gas, but using great big clouds secured in place with nets instead; there were also some large floating rubber sacks dotted about the cluster, with wires stretching between them like the wires between pylons, and as I passed one I felt my hair stand up.

“What the fuck…” I muttered, reaching out to one of the netted clouds and expecting my hand to pass through easily, only to have my hand repelled by a magical bubble, which lit up and rippled.

“Did you think we used gas for airships?” a voice called, and I turned to see Autumn trotting her way over. “Clouds are an extremely versatile resource: they're naturally buoyant in air, and can be used as a building material. They can even be used to store different charges, both magical and electrical” she then stopped, and looked at me long and hard, before her demeanor softened almost uncharacteristically. “hey...how are you holding up?”

“Well I’m, not dead” I said, absentmindedly playing with the bubble shield “and I’m only down an arm and an eye, that’s better than you had it” I was startled as Autumn shot forward pinning by hand against the shield with a hoof. She was now looking at me with a stern but concerned expression.

“I know what you’re doing and quite frankly it’s a shit coping mechanism” she said “having the mindset that there’s always someone who’s got it worse will lead to bigger problems in the long run. As someone who’s been through this without people there to support me, trust me on this” she then slowly lifted her hoof away “if you ever want to talk or vent about this, then I’ll be here to listen”

“With respect, I’d rather just be left to it for the time being” I said, Autumn frowned but didn’t offer any retort. We soon made our way to the top deck, above the balloon, where the others were spending time keeping out of the way. I hadn’t even had time to lift my head up as I climbed up the ladder before one of Vinyls bo-staffs embedded itself in the decking mere inches from my face.

“You breathe so loud I could have hit you using the airflow alone to find your location” an unfamiliar voice said, as the staff vibrated and shot back out of decking to land Vinyl’s outstretched hoof, I noticed that her eyes were now covered by a bright blue bandanna, she was stood next to some manner of target launcher. Alee was holding the punt-gun, now a host to a number of modifications, such as a hefty magazine, its barrel resting on the railings and aimed out into the open skies. Tarn was lent against the railing, with music from my laptop playing at a low volume as she played along on the fly with her hurdy gurdy, she was currently hashing out an accompaniment to Apocalyptica’s cover of Fields of Verdun. Midnight was lounging off to one side, though her size made ner no less imposing despite being laid down.

“Ok...how badly did I fuck up, exactly?” I asked.

“Vinyl’s blind and 700 troops are dead by your doing” Midnight said “So you couldn’t be further up shit-creek if you tried, you overzealous cunt. You’re bloody lucky Octavia managed to convince the empress to spare your life. On the plus side Vinyl can use her sonic powers to talk now, so we’ve got that going for us...which is nice.”

“You’ve got a lot of nights on the couch ahead of you” Alee said as she tinkered with a sight mounted to the side of the gun, a recent addition, before calling out “Pull!” Vinyl yanked back on a lever and a bright blue disk went sailing into the air, after a brief moment Alee pulled the trigger. Rather than getting flung across the deck like I’d expected the entire barrel slid backwards along a rail mounted on the stock, and Alee only received a fraction of the recoil, equivalent perhaps to a 12 gauge back on Earth. The disk exploded into a cloud of blue dust which began raining down and Alee hefted the gun up to rest the shoulder guard on the deck, sighing in satisfaction. “I think that’s as fine tuned as this big boy’s gonna get.” she said, shooting me a sideways glance “The Empress let me make use of the workshop on board to overhaul this to make it a bit more user friendly; Iron sights, recoiling barrel, which is now rifled I might add. 8 round magazine. This will now punch a hole through just about any ironback or small tank that happens to be in our way”

“It’ll actually punch a hole in one of the Empress’s tanks?” I asked, making my way over and attempting to heft it up, only to fail miserably, this was definitely a two handed beast.

“I tested it out on the armour plate they use” she said “punched clean through it and left a dent in the wall, which is why I’m up here for target practice”

“That and the Hiemutians hate our guts” Midnight muttered “stuck up, elitist cunts…”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Let’s just say you weren’t the only one to get dirty looks and leave it at that” Octavia said. Suddenly a commotion rose up from the main deck, loud enough for everyone to hear clearly “Something’s wrong, armour up!” and with that the Earth Pony bolted for the stairs, her armour just starting to materialise as her tail disappeared out of sight

“Alee, bring your gun” Autumn said, about to follow after Octavia “I’m picking up something on the deck down below, like the Ironbacks, but not quite so big” Alee smirked as she hefted what was now an anti armour rifle up in her magic and followed after Autumn.

“Are you fucking kidding me!? I’ve only just got up here!” I said as Vinyl shot past, my sore legs forcing me to limp as I struggled to keep up.

“You might be best keeping out of the way, love” Tarn said, brandishing her dagger in one hand as ice formed into a makeshift shield around the other, making me do a double take.

“Excuse me?” I asked.

“Forget it!” she said, ducking down another stairwell and down a hatch leading to the deck below.

“Just keep out of the way and try not to get yourself killed, you useless prick!” Midnight snorted as she brushed past me, now clearly in full wrakjon armour, complete with rather vicious looking armoured gauntlets on her front hooves. When I finally caught up to them the six of them had stopped dead in their tracks, clearly completely unprepared for what lay before them.

Running a mockery of the deck were a number of large, biomechanical spider like creatures with four limbs and massive crescent shaped fangs, with rotor like projections towards the rear of their carapaces, all around Hiemutian marines were working to try and fend them off.

“Spiders” I said, no amount of nervousness bleeding into my voice “why did it have to be spiders?”

“You know what these monsters are!?” Autumn asked.

“Visorak…” I said “or in their tongue; the stealers of life” Alee let out a nervous laugh at this

“Uh..do they even have tongues?” she asked “All I see are teeth”

“Yeah...don’t let them bite you” I said “their venom will do a lot worse than just knock you out or kill you” I went to summon my own sword, only for Alee to draw it from a sheath in her own armour.

“Stand down, you’re in no condition to fight,” she said, jabbing the sword towards me.

“Fuck...fine!” I eventually said, relenting “Just try not to let them land a hit on you, and watch out for rhotuka spinners”

“For what?” Autumn asked, only for a glowing green wheel of energy to sail overhead, just missing her, the stocky pegasus blanched at this. “Uh...point taken.” And with that the six of them got into the thick of it, whilst I was left on the sidelines feeling thoroughly useless.

The modifications Alee had made to the punt gun soon came into their own when Alee was able to land multiple kills in quick succession before needing to reload, not only did the built in dampers diminish the recoil to the point where she only had to pause for a second before firing, but the new rounds made short work of whatever the natural armour of the visorak was comprised of. Midnight was resorting to brute strength and sheer brutality to beat any visorak within stomping distance into submission, on more than one occasion managing to punch straight through their armoured heads, scattering gore & gears across the deck, and on other occasions all but flattening their armoured shells. Autumn and Octavia resorted to flinging visorak over the side of the deck using their powers over gravity and iron, whilst Tarn used much more sneaky tactics, using her small and nimble stature to dart between the spiders, at times seeming to breeze across the deck as if carried on the wind, spreading a trail of black ice in her wake and sending Visorak skittering uncontrollably across the deck, this didn’t kill them, but it did leave them as glaring targets for others to take care of, every so often Alee would give her a little boost in between firing at Viorak with the punt gun, spreading water across the deck for the little Kobald to freeze into an ice rink. Vinyl meanwhile went on the defensive, protecting myself and a few heimutian marines who had been injured, rotating her staffs at a high speed until they seemed to thrum with pure sonic energy and using them to deflect any errant rhotukas. Safe to say each of them were beginning to grow into their powers...everyone but me.

The others had almost succeeded in driving off or killing all the Visorak when a blood curdling scream cut through the air, turning I saw Autumn enveloped in a red energy and struggling to remain on her hooves as her back arched from the pain, her face contorted into a look of pure agony as a red Visorak, the last one still alive, approached her, unnoticed by the pegasus. Not thinking for my own safety I summoned my sword, ripping it from Alee’s telekinetic grasp as I ran to Autumn’s aid… too late, as the Visorak sunk its mandibles into her torso just below the ribcage, and a glowing green energy could be seen coursing through her veins as I adjusted my grip on the sword so the blade was pointing down. Hefting the blade up I leapt into the Visorak back and drove the sword down, plunging it through the armour right between the monster’s eyes. The Visorak thrashed and twitched for a moment before collapsing and going still.

At once the red energy surrounding Autumn dispersed and Alee rushed over to begin dragging her away.

“It’s alright, I’ve got you” the kelpie said, holding the pegasus as she lay panting with wide, panicked eyes. I yanked the sword out of the carcass and wiped it on my clothes, before looking Autumn up and down...this wasn’t going to be pleasant.

“Restrain her” I said, understandably more than a few protests rang up at this.

“You...you can’t be serious” Alee said.

“Visorak venom is mutagenic” I explained “Though I can’t rightly say what effect it’ll have on you, it’s better for everyone's safety if your restrained until it’s effects take hold” Autumn scoffed at this as she stood up and dusted herself down, her armour melting away in a wave of oxide magic.

“Oh please, I feel fine. Perhaps a little lightheaded but that’s it!” she said “I seriously doubt I’m gonna turn into some savage beast and attack everypony...” as if on cue, a strange thrumming began to emanate from around her, as a green glow enveloped her. She didn’t even have time to question what was happening before she grunted, shutting her eyes and clenching her teeth in pain, as she hunkered down with her legs splaying further apart in an attempt to keep herself from collapsing. As the energy seemed to wheel wrap around her body in waves, she began to physically change, her body becoming longer and thinner, and the strands of her tail seemed to weave together, becoming fleshy and serpentine. She threw her head back in a scream, only to fall silent as her jaws began to extend, blunt teeth turning sharp and clearly intended for tearing at meat. Her robotic eye seemed to devolve, going from a near-perfect representation of an eye to something far more mechanical, two simple shutter plates to form eyelids with a ring running around the perimeter of the device.

Her wings, both organic and mechanical, also began to change, going from avian to batlike, with the membrane of her mechanical wing having something of a transparent hue to it. Her legs didn’t escape the mutagenic venom unscathed either, going from stocky and equine to slender and reptilian, with hooves turning into claws, her hind legs in particular gaining a nasty set of sickle claws on the inner toes, much like a raptor. I could also see new flesh begin to grow between the metal plates of her other prosthetics, organic and mechanical material now becoming one. After what looked like an exceedingly painful ordeal the shimmering magic began to fade, and a now mutated Autumn was left panting, her head hung low and her eyes shut with a snarl etched on her face. It was only when her panting settled into more steady, but still laboured breaths, that Alee cautiously approached.

“Uh...Autumn...are you alright, lass?” the kelpie asked tentatively, for once even she seemed on edge. She went to reach out a paw to the mutated pegasus, only for one of Autumn’s own clawed forearms to shoot towards her suddenly, gripping firmly around the kelpie’s neck as her eyes snapped open, now taken by a sickly green colour as she began to rise on her hind legs, hoisting the shark-like pony into the air until her paw no longer touched the ground.

“Am I alright? Autumn asked in a snarl, her voice dropping a couple of octaves “AM I ALRIGHT!?... DO I LOOK LIKE I AM ALRIGHT TO YOU, RIVER DWELLER!?-”

“Fit enough to be killed, I reckon!”

Spiders, Steam, and Obscenities

The voice made Autumn pause, enough so that her eyes flickered for a moment, before the green glow dissipated completely. The mutated pegasus seemed to stare into nothing for a moment, blinked owlishly, then looked outright horrified that she was essentially choking Alee and hastily put her down, a few whispered pleadings to ensure the stunned kelpie was okay before turning to focus on the source of the voice.

Stepping out of the shadows of the stairway came a hunched figure, concealed in a dark and tatty cloak which had small tears, offering the vaguest of glimpses behind the fabric. Their gait was uneven, as if they had a limp or were perhaps walking on only three limbs when they should have been using four. A strange four-digit hand, which looked more like the talons of an owl with two fingers and two thumbs, seemed to worm its way out from the left side of the cloak and grabbed hold of the handrail to steady its owner for a moment. He seemed to revel in the confusion and suspense his appearance had caused as his let out a low, almost choked chuckle, before removing the hand from the handrail to slowly grab the edge of the hood of the cloak and pull it back, revealing the head of this strange newcomer.

Whatever it was was definitely draconic in nature, my first thought was perhaps some hybrid, a kirin or dracoling or something, though its true identity was completely hidden beneath a cage-like mask which was pitted and rusted, like it had spent a good few years languishing at the bottom of a lake, a series of horns being the only thing permitted to poke through, along with a strange orange glow coming from the eyes which seemed to leave a subtle trail akin to when the light of a sparkler gets burned into one's eyes for the briefest of moments.

As we all stared at the being with varied reactions, from fear to unease to going outright defensive, I felt Fantasia come crashing into my mind, practically screaming with rage.

~~“What have they done to him!? what did they do to one of my chosen warriors!? those curs!!! I demand their damned souls for the depths of oblivion!!!!”~~

it was such a mental uproar that I physically winced, clearly by the way Octavia grimaced she seemed to feel it too, though the others seemed oblivious. The creature continued talking, seemingly oblivious of the visorak and changelings now working their way out of the stairwell, Octavia and Autumn both scowling with no small amount of loathing at the sight of the bug-like ponies, the latter even letting out a low canine-like growl. Vinyl seemed to cotton on mere seconds later and a similar look of loathing; clearly, despite being quick to adapt to her blindness, she was still at some disadvantage.

“Seriously!? You killed everything up here!? Gah, he’ll have my ass for this for sure” he said, before turning to those around him, including another being, clearly of changeling origin, but clearly also hordika; four-armed, bipedal and bulky, moving in a manner best described as hauling himself along.

The first figure continued ranting at those around him, seemingly being the one in command. “Visorak! Let your hearts hold no mercy! We’ve no time for prisoners here: slay the lot, and let their worthless “gods” sort them out! 'Lings, los Gehts; the rest of you have fun…!”

At this, the Visorak surged towards us, Autumn was the first to counter charge, stopping to grab one by the jaws and pull upwards and then apart, forcing the Visorak to lock eyes as she unleashed an almost unnatural roar, before spinning on her heels to send it screaming over the edge of the ship.

Whilst everyone else was occupied forming a defensive circle around the injured, both Wrakjon and Heimutian marine working together simply to keep the visorak at bay, the stranger ran and jumped onto the deck’s rail, grabbing hold of the rigging as he looked back. “Pharynx, no dawdling!” He shouted at the four-armed behemoth who had accompanied him.

“But I smell a royal guard…!” The larger figure growled, gesturing over the chaos towards Autumn with a couple arms as he locked his hungry teal-and-purple eyes with his leader. “One I’ve smelled before, and I'm hungry! I wanna drain 'er!”

In form, this guy looked like some unholy fusion of a wolf, some kind of reptile, the type of aquatic creature that brought the words “Black Lagoon” to mind, and a Changeling, but with all the latter’s teal accents swapped for red and purple. He also seemed to be part organic and part machine, more seamlessly so than Autumn now was. Given what little could be seen of the cloaked figure's body, it was safe to say they both shared the same condition.

There was a massive explosion from somewhere below decks that rattled the entire ship, nearly throwing our invader off and almost knocking us to the floor. “No time, Pharynx! We gotta move!” With that, the cloaked figure jumped off the edge, two tattered draconic wings with transparent teal membranes spreading from underneath the cloak as he went. Any Pegasi who tried to fly after him were either blasted by lingering Changelings or hit with Visorak spinners, I was unfortunate enough to see one Pegasus turned to dust by a spinner launched by a blue Visorak.

The one he’d called “Pharynx” leapt across the deck to knock Autumn flat on her back before the creature grasped her neck and pulled her up until their snouts were practically touching.

“You may be Hordika now, but know this; you and your brethren will pay for the loss of mine!” he snarled “count yourself lucky today that I am required elsewhere” And with that he shoved her to the deck and leaped towards the railing, paused for a moment more to get a bearing, then jumped over the side, as he disappeared from view I just caught sight of four dragonfly-like wings sprouting from his back.

Everyone else was still focussed on maintaining our defense, but I had a sneaking suspicion about the explosion, there was now white vapour rising up from the side of the ship, obscuring the view beyond.

“Alee, Tarn, think you can help me?” I asked “We’re probably gonna be in big trouble real fast if we don’t do something about the cause of that explosion”

“Spreading us a bit thinly, don’t you think?” Vinyl said, throwing up shield spells in rapid succession to guard against rhotuka spinners.

“Onælan’s right” Tarn said “I’d put my money on that being one of the boilers...or a turbine” she finished with a wince.

“Do what you must” Octavia said, planting an arrow right in the mouth of one visorak, causing it to collapse in on itself under the effect of a small singularity which also drew other visorak in the immediate vicinity into its midst. “But make it quick!” not waiting any longer the three of us nodded and quickly set out for the stairwell. Once Tarn had stopped by our quarters to retrieve her bag of tools It was some struggle to try and find our way through the labyrinth of corridors simply to find someone to ask for directions, let alone find the boiler room itself. And when we did get there Alee went to open the door, only to slam it shut immediately as a jet of steam burst through the gap, nearly scolding her in the face.

“What the fuck was that!?” Alee yelped

“God’s, someone’s sabotaged the boilers! Probably turned the fires to full to try and boil them dry, no guesses who’s fault that is!” Tarn said, gingerly touching a hand to the metal bulkhead only to pull back with a yelp “Room’s full of steam, probably dropped a couple of fusible plugs...no wonder a boiler blew”

“Think you can get it under control?” I asked, I only had theoretical knowledge, whilst I understood what she said perfectly Tarn had the practical experience to be able to come up with a solution based on said knowledge.

“Pushing it slightly, but I might just manage” she said, pulling out three rags, trying one around her own face and passing the others to Alee, who in turn tied mine up for me before tying her own “if a boiler or two blew then the room’s full of gas, steam’s probably raised the humidity enough to prevent it from igniting, but that won’t stop a few lingering pockets...Alee, do you think you can control the steam? It won’t be pleasant but I need you to create a pocket for us to work safely”

“I feel like this is stretching the limits of what classes as water, but I should be able to,” she said, reading her blades, but forgoing unfolding them “Now that you mention it if I focus on it I can sense the moisture in there”

“Right” I said, placing my hand on the door and beginning to syphon off the heat being conducted through the metal, giving me something of a pick me up which I proceeded to syphon towards speeding up my own healing, then placing my hand on the handle “ready?” they both nodded and I turned the handle and heaved the door open. As the steam rushed forth my own resistant to heat diminished any injuries, but I probably would have still been scolded if Alee hadn’t started to manipulate the water molecules in the air to create a pocket of clear air in front of us. With a corridor opened up into the room we rushed forward, the door slamming shut behind us in a wave of Alee’s magic to prevent the corridors outside the boiler room being flooded by steam.

Even in our little pocket of clear air it felt unbelievably humid, and despite the fact Alee was successfully holding the visible steam at bay I personally felt like I was being pushed out of sorts by the overabundance of the one element which could directly counteract my own power, let alone the injuries I was already handicapped by. I would go so far as to say that the room almost felt oppressive, choking.

“Hot air indeed, I actually feel ill being surrounded by so much moisture” I thought, tarn must have taken note that something was up with me.

“You ok there, Onaelan?” she asked.

“It’s the moisture, it’s dampening my own powers” I said, the atmosphere in the room making my reply more snappy than I’d intended “let’s sort this shit out and get the fuck out of here”

“The heat ain’t so great for me, either” Tarn said, apparently in agreement with how I felt. The Kobald began to lead the way, first directing Alee to push the steam as far back as she could manage, so she could work out how best to proceed, first was to shut off the gas supply to the now missing boiler, which had left a gaping hole in the hull through which steam had been pouring out. Next, we had to go to the boilers and one by one shut off the gas to dampen down the fires, then I had to carefully syphon the heat out so as to cool the water back down below boiling, but not too quickly as to risk cracking the still pressurised boilers. By the end of it I not only felt ill from the excess moisture, but I almost felt over-fed from an excess of thermal energy, making me sluggish and short of breath.

“You do realise you are literally glowing right now, right?” Alee asked, eyeing me up and down warily, true to her word my skin had taken on a dull red glow, like hot metal

“I can’t help it” I said, panting as I painstakingly absorbed the heat from the last of the boilers, before adding in a half mutter “When we get out of here, I need a dunk in some ice water or something, gotta get rid of this excess thermal energy” Alee snorted

“Well, when we need some fireworks I’ll give you a shout, OK?” she asked, smirking as she began absorbing the excess of steam in the air. Out of the three of us she was seemingly the only one who wasn’t near-debilitated by the conditions, not in the mood to deal with her snark I ignored her.

“As I thought!” Tarn called from one of the cold boilers, before poking out of the firehole waving what looked for all the world like a large brass bolt with a hole running through its length “the whole lot of boilers are gonna need new plugs before we can get underway, unless the pegasu want to get out and push” Alee scrunched up her nose.

“Why?” she asked.

“This is a fusible plug” Tarn explain “it’s meant to be full of some sort of metal with a lower melting point”

“And that’s bad?” the Kelpie asked, I snorted.

“No” I said “it’s good that they all failed, it means we didn’t loose all our boilers. They’re supposed to fail, else the ship would have shat its guts by now” Alee scrunched her nose up.

“That’s vulgar” she said.

“But not wrong” Tarn said, though from her begrudging tone she clearly wasn’t any less disgusted by my remark.

The ponies up on deck had just finished killing the rest of the visorak when Reinesfell appeared from the stairwell, looking a little flustered, but nonetheless she quickly sized up the situation, and with a hastily barked order several of her guards surrounded Autumn with thaumic rifles and magic barricades, boxing her in so she couldn’t move.

“Take her to the brig” Reinesfell said, before focussing on the mutated pegasus “until such a time as I am certain of what to do with you” Autumn let out a low growl at this.

Midnight Quarry rounded on the empress, accompanied by Octavia. The Empress to her credit didn’t shrink under the shadow of the Yarvik mare.

“What the bloody hell are you doing?” Midnight asked.

“It’s because of Autumn that fewer ponies died” Octavia said “now you’re going to imprison her!?”

“Those things, whatever they were, have done something to Autumn” Reinsefell replied in a level voice, though her eyes held a sea of fury “I will not risk the lives of my crew more for the sake of one loose cannon of a freak!”

“You best watch it, you prissy bitch” Midnight drawled “Your social standing doesn’t prevent me from physically decking you six ways to sunday, merely gives you a greater excuse to throw your miniscule weight around” out of the corner of her eyes the titan of a mare caught sight of a particularly nervous marine levelling a rifle directly at her, and didn’t so much as break her death stare with the Empress as she pointed a hoof straight at the unicorn stallion “drop that rifle, you bloody girl...tougher girls than you have tried to kill me” the Tyke turned and began walking towards the unicorn, only for Reinesfell to speak up.

“I’ll give you a choice” she said, making Midnight stop, though she didn’t take her eyes off of the stallion, who still had the rifle aimed at her and looked about ready to piss himself in terror at the sight of the 7ft mare “...either Autumn retires to her quarters voluntarily and remains there for the duration of the journey, or we take her to the brig by force. You’re choice” Autumn let out a low growl, before her aggressive demeanor finally deflated and she hung her head with a sigh.

“Fine” she finally said, and with a nod from Reinesfell she was allowed to take her leave. Only once the mutated pegasus was out of sight did the Empress turn to address the rest of her friends

“I would suggest that the rest of you also retire for the remainder of the day” she said, before adding “that's a request, not an order, but I would prefer to reduce any risk of...altercations between yourself and my crew”

When the three of us returned to the deck we found that our allies were noticeably absent and I proceeded to collar Reinesfell.

“First of all, you’re down on a boiler, you have a hole in the side of the ship, and the rest of the boilers dropped their fusible plugs leaving this ship dead in the air, so you best have your engineers get on that pretty sharpish” I said counting off on my fingers, before looking around a second time, just to be sure “second...where are the others?”

“The relationship between my own crew and your friends is less than optimal” she began in a haughty tone “so I have requested they remain in their quarters whilst we work to rectify any damage” she then looked me up and down “for another thing I should not need to remind you of where you stand below me”

“Pardon?” I asked.

“You heard me, ape. Do not presume to give me orders” she said, at once Alee made to start, and I held my hand in front of her chest to physically stop her without a word. I had to pause for a moment to really choose my words carefully, and consciously reel in my own tone. When I spoke, my accent was noticeably polished up to the point when one could confuse me for someone of nobility.

“I apologise if I came across that way, the stress of battle along with the environment inside the boiler room has made me somewhat short in temperament. Elemental forces have a very real effect on me, and being exposed to that much moisture in the air has put me out of sorts” I said “I was not giving orders, I was merely outlining everything that had gone wrong for you to pass on to your own crew, to ensure as little time is spent searching for problems to rectify. As you said, you would like to ensure things run as smoothly as possible, I’m merely wishing to aid you in achieving this” the effect on Reinesfell was plain to see, she didn’t reply immediately, clearly taken aback, and blinked owlishly, before shaking her head.

“Um, yes...o-of course, thank you, you may take your leave now” she said, clearly startled enough for her carefully constructed decorum to slip for just a moment. I gave a simple nod and with that I left for the crew quarters, two clearly confused companions following behind.

Mental breaks and mental links

Just as the three of us were about to head below deck a clatter rose on deck, followed by panicked shouting for Reinesfell.

“Keisarin! Keisarin!” the voice of a mare called, sounding absolutely frantic. Making my way back to the deck just in time to see Reinesfell walking towards a panicked pegasus I made a beeline for them.

“Calm yourself, mare” Reinesfell said, gently holding the pegasus in her magic and talking in a firm but soft tone “Deep breaths, I will not have my ponies so easily shaken” she then began personally helping the mare regain control of her breath “now, tell me what happened”

“Those things who attacked us” she started, her accent one I didn’t fully recognise, but definitely not German “We followed them, hoping to capture...but it was a trap. They killed the others and let me go-”

“Why? They could have simply killed you and called it done” I said, startling the two of them.

“I gave you permission to leave, why are you still here?” Reinesfell asked.

“I know what those spiders are, I might be able to shed light on why they were here” I stated matter of factly, making the Empress huff irritably though she refrained from arguing with me further.

“One of them wanted me to pass on a message…” the pegasus said, pausing in thought before adding “he said they were the Hand of Makuta…” if she said anything else I didn’t hear it, I was too busy starting to panic,stumbling back as if I'd been struck. I might have bumped into someone, though I wasn’t sure. I scarcely even registered the blinding flash accompanying the violent lurch which signified teleportation, but I definitely felt the jet of water to my face, making me splutter and cough. When I came to my senses the five of us were now in a small windowless room, Alee was pointing one of her blade's directly at my face.

"Sorry about that" Reinesfell said "I would rather not have the crew in a panic"

"Good gods, something really got you rattled" Alee said, looking at me with concern.

"Yeah, you look like you've seen a ghost, love" Tarn said.

"That fucking name" I muttered, pinching the brow of my nose "Makuta should not be in the vocabulary of anyone on this world"

"What does it mean to you?" Reinesfell asked, studying me intently.

"You remember Lesovikk? Big green guy, about a foot taller than me, kind of grumpy" I got three nods in response "And I assume you guys also have a cultural personification of death and darkness as well"

"We-well yes, of course, what culture doesn't?" Tarn asked, rhetorically.

"Well, Makuta was more or less a real life demon, complete master of the dark arts, Tirek? Discord? They are mere footnotes in history compared to him, this guy would probably curbstomp them purely to ensure he didn't have competition" I said "last I was aware he kicked the bucket after taking a planet to the head…" I was met with a sea of gormless looks.

"are you being serious or just bullshitting?" Alee asked "cause I honestly cannot tell"

"It's a very long and complicated story, but the fact is that he should be dead, and his name should be long forgotten" I said.

"How do you know it isn't just someone else using his name?" Reinesfell asked.

"Because it's been longer than most people have been alive since he died, and I very much doubt that the people he came from would freely state it" I explained "No, if there's a group going around casually dropping his name then that means he is at the very least connected to them"

"H-how bad are we talking, here?" Tarn asked.

"About as bad as it could be, then times that by ten" Reinesfell didn't seem convinced.

"Eh…I think you are overreacting, human" she said with a shrug "does your own kind not have a nation that shares my mother tongue? And another sharing that of Prance? There could be any number of reasons why a being known as Makuta has surfaced, it's probably some necromancer minotaur who stumbled upon some half rotted scrolls in the depths of the world detailing this daemon's exploits and decided to try and follow in his footsteps"

"But Reinesfell-" I tried to protest, but she cut me off

"If this being were to rise, then they shall be swiftly defeated, either by Equestria's Elements of Harmony, or by the superior might of my own military" she said "Understand that I have the wellbeing of an entire nation to consider, I do not take the possibility of a threat lightly, but I am sceptical as to their true power; any dark mage worth their magic could assemble a few Changelings and storm a ship" I wanted to scream, to try and show her just how much of a threat Makuta was, but I sensed that she would not willingly back down, and frankly I didn't have the energy to enter a verbal tennis match. I let out a tired sigh, signifying my defeat on the matter.

"Very well, I will take my leave" I said, making my way to the door with Tarn and Alee following close behind.

"this has clearly got you rattled" Alee began once we were out of earshot "So why did you let it drop?"

"If someone isn't willing to budge on a matter, then it's easier to just let it go and move on" I said "I'm certainly familiar with the frustration of dealing with those sorts of people, and I doubt she'll be the last"

"And if you are right?" Tarn asked.

"then god help us all…"

Some time later I was sat in the shared quarters of Octavia and myself, I was sat at the writing desk with the laptop opened to a document full of information about Teridax, or at least information that was relevant when Bionicle had packed up the first time around. I heard the door open and shut, followed by hoofsteps making their way over. Hooves draping over my shoulders followed by a kiss on the cheek told me it was Octavia and I let out a little hum of satisfaction as I cupped my hand over her cheek, as much as I sucked at showing affection I very much enjoyed moments like this.

"What are you working on?" she asked, glancing over the reference art "I trust you aren't taking ideas for new armour…you're supposed to inspire hope in ponies, not scare the everloving shit out of them" I chuckled and shook my head.

"No, I'll make use of what I've got. I have a few ideas, you'll see" I said "if you must know I'm brushing up on knowledge of the southern lands, if earlier today is any indication, we might be having a fight on our hands sometime in the future… the dragon looking mug casually name dropped this magnificent bastard" there was a pause as Octavia took the time to actually study the document.

"zyeesus…" she drawled, butchering the pronunciation of the slur I would typically use.

"Taking after me, are we?" I remarked.

"Technically I own you" she said in a teasing, sing song voice "So I am free to say whatever you say as and when I please" she paused once more, before asking.

"You don't actually think we'll be fighting that thing at some point, do you?"

"I would hope not, but it pays to be prepared" I said "Tarn and Alee know already, but it's probably best not to trouble the others yet, we don't even have a single full team, I still need two more" I saw Octavia blink in the corner of my vision.

"How can you be certain?" she asked.

"Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Ice, Stone" I rattled off "It's like the de facto line up of elements, and only once that team is fully formed can we make tracks towards getting along as a team, as for your team… Who knows? Fantasia said twelve people, so you need three more, it's anyone's guess what elements they will control" I felt Octavia squeeze my uninjured shoulder reassuringly.

"You must have patience, dear, and faith in Fantasia" she said "we both heard her, now she knows something is attempting to work against her, as fickle as she can be she will absolutely be trying to move two steps ahead of her rivals" I couldn't help but agree with her assertion, from personal experience I knew full well that if that psychotic bitch of a god really wanted something she would get it one way or another. I was pulled from my musings by Octavia nuzzling against my cheek and humming in thought.

"Speaking of working as a team," she began "I have a proposal"

"Go on" I prompted.

"Would you know anything about soul-bonding?" she asked, almost casually. I stopped and physically turned to take a long hard look at her.

"Isn't that what Fantasia did to me?" I asked, more than a little wary of the direction this was taking, to call my being turned into a magic sugar baby against my will a personal sore spot was a massive understatement. I was less than happy that Fantasia could essentially hijack my body at any given moment, even when taking into account the fact that I could now theoretically go toe to toe with the likes of Celestia (my own lack of magical vocabulary notwithstanding).

"not even close" she said, waving a hoof dismissively "That was soul-binding, soul-bonding works differently and in both directions. Think of it as a bit like a changeling hive mind; an isolated telepathic and empathic link, we would be able to read each other's thoughts and make sense of how we are feeling, and to a lesser degree feel what the other physically feels"

"Why?" I asked "What brought this on?" at this Octavia moved, dropping down from being draped over my shoulders to stand next to me, so that we could be face to face.

"I'll admit I have been contemplating this for some time" she said "It is true that you'll never truly have a quiet mind, you'll always get the occasional thoughts and feelings drifting your way which can be jarring at times, but at the same time it can be a much needed remedy for loneliness. You've said yourself that you struggle to read people, even among your own kind, and I felt given the nature of our relationship that it would be a benefit for you to at least be able to read me, to better understand how I'm feeling. In turn it would allow me to better understand how you think, you've mentioned in passing that you have your own problems that you deal with, and I want to be there to help you" Naturally I was more than a little hesitant.

"I… I don't know" I said "Magic is still such an unknown for me, how do I know that this won't backfire?"

"This sort of magic is a sign of complete trust between two individuals" Octavia said "and I trust you enough to be willing to grant you access to my own mind…I won't judge your own thoughts, if that's what you're thinking cause you'd be getting all sorts of subconscious thoughts drifting your way too" I mentally debated the situation for a solid minute before sighing.

"I suppose the term 'Penny for your thoughts' will be right out from now on" I muttered dryly, in response Octavia pulled me into a hug before stepping back and gesturing for me to stand up. She then set about scribing out some sort of shape on the floor of the cabin, not a circle, more like a rectangle with rounded edges containing a smaller circle at each end and runes in between.

"That ain't permanent, is it?" I asked. She put the finishing touches into the circle before spitting out the drawing implement .

"It gets erased in the process" she said, before standing directly opposite of me, just outside of the shape "Now, for the final time, are you absolutely sure about this? It's not permanent persee, but it is tricky to undo, so I need to be sure that you are certain you want to go through with this" I thought long and hard for a few moments, taking the time to word my response correctly before answering.

"Whilst I can't say I'm totally certain, because magic is still very strange to me, I trust you enough to know that you wouldn't deliberately do anything to hurt me" Octavia was apparently satisfied with this answer and gave a curt nod.

"Then as one, we step into the box…you'll get in influx of foreign memories as the spell begins to take effect, just to warn you" she said, before mentally psyching herself up and letting out a final exhalation "Three… Two… One" as one we stepped onto the shape and the lines began to glow, looking to Octavia I could see a purple aura beginning to manifest around her and looking down I could see a similar orange-red aura manifest around myself. Then quite suddenly I felt an influx of thoughts and memories which I had no prior recollection of come pouring into my mind.

~~Glimpses of a childhood spent in an orphanage, and after that the Palace in Trottingham.~~

~~A music recital in front of a large audience.~~

~~An argument between Octavia and her adoptive royal parents, and Octavia walking away from the Palace.~~

~~Arriving in Ponyville for the first time, and meeting Vinyl amongst other ponies.~~

~~Nights of heated passion spent with Vinyl…~~

"Terra to Onælan" Octavia's voice cut through the onslaught of memories, bringing me back to the present, looking in her direction I could see a knowing smirk on her face. "I can tell if you're looking at my memories, dear" as she said this I felt a feeling of amusement, distinctly seperated from my own mood.

"Not my fault" I muttered "I couldn't control what memories I saw…I don't suppose you saw anything of my past" at this her face fell and I felt a hint of concern trickle into my mind.

"glimpses, flashes, only very generic memories, certainly nothing that could give any hard clues as to your life before" she said, rubbing the back of her neck, before a look of confusion crossed her face "Side note: you're country's government is odd… You have a monarchy and a parliament of commoners?"

"It's…complicated" I muttered. All the additional input entering my mind was actually overwhelming me, and I had to sit down on the bed as I tried to reign in my own thoughts. Feeling hints of concern mixed with sympathy I looked to see Octavia jump up on the bed to rest her head on my right shoulder.

"it'll take some adjustment, but I think this will be for the better" she said reassuringly.

"You don't seem to be having an issue" I said.

"That's because I already soul-bonded with Vinyl, so I'm used to it" she said, she must have sensed my trepidation as she quickly added "She can listen in, but only if I let her, I decide what she can and can't read from you"

"But if she was soulbonded to you then shouldn't she have already known that you were royalty?" I asked, only to receive an eyeroll in response.

"Oh, she knew, she simply bullshits about things like that a lot" she said, before her eyes became lidded and she grabbed the chair to make me face her, rearing up to placing a hoof on my chest "now, we can either sit here chatting, or we can spend the night really getting to know each other"

Too stunned by the turn in her behaviour coupled with the influx of thoughts and emotions, I wasn't in a position to argue as she all but dragged me to the bed.

The future of warfare

The next morning we were roused from casual discussion, typically dominated by Octavia questioning any thoughts about earth which came to my mind, by a knock on the door and opening it I found myself looking down at Reinesfell levitating some form of long wooden box alongside her.

“Might I enter?” she asked, same old haughty tone but with a noticeable trace of courtesy, and I got the feeling that if I’d said ‘no’ she might have actually obliged, regardless I nodded and stood to one side to let her past. Upon entering she paused at the sight of Octavia sat on the bed brushing her mane with a small mirror levitating in front of her in a hazy purple aura of gravity magic.

“I did not realise you two were an item” Reinstall said in a reserved tone, clearly trying to bite back a remark.

“For now it’s purely a private affair until I can discuss the matter with my father. Understand that it’s mostly for Onælan’s benefit, Reinsfell” Octavia said in a warding tone “He was dragged from his homelands and dumped here by the gods; he has no blood family, no sigil, no nation, and little material possessions beyond the clothes on his back”

“So why not just let the Equestrians claim him?” Reinesfell retorted, as if I wasn’t even present “I’m sure they have the means and charity to provide for him until he can earn a living”

“Oh yes, leave him in the care of millenia old demi-gods, that certainly won’t make him feel even more isolated, why, I’m sure the canterlot nobles will make him feel right at home. He might just become best friends with Prince Blueblood” Octavia shot back “I’m trying to give him a live with friends, family, who won’t just exploit him for political gain in one way or another...now, did you actually have a reason to be here, or are you simply going to pry into matters that are not your concern in the first place?” I had to resist the urge the let my jaw drop, risking me making a bigger fool of myself that Reinesfell perhaps already perceived me to be. Octavia had actively talked back to a pony who, younger or not, politically outranked her by some margin, and I was on the verge of preparing to break up an altercation between the two, but instead the Empress merely shrugged.

“Tsch, it is of no matter to me” she said, walking to the writing desk and placing the long box on the worksurface “as for why I am here, I wanted to thank you for your actions yesterday, Onælan. Your work in the boiler room saved us a lot of problems later on, the ship might be limping but we are still making good progress for home, as such I would like to give you this” at this she levitated out what looked like a prosthetic limb for an equine, like the ones Autumn used to have before her mutation. I couldn’t help but be confused

“Uh...not to seem ungrateful” I said, picking my words with care “but that’s a hoof, I question how useful that would be for me” Reinefell giggled at this.

“Have some faith, this won’t be your final prosthetic, we shan’t begin work on that until we set down and you shall have full input into its design” she said “but safe to say this one should serve you well despite first appearances...well go on, you can’t try it with that shirt on”

“My my, that’s very forward, Empress, I would have thought you’d at least have the courtesy to ask to borrow him” Octavia said, though her voice held mirth rather than offence, she then turned to me and nodded her head upwards, giving me the OK. Taking off my tunic I couldn’t help but notice the empress staring wide eyed at my injuries, before looking away.

“Tut mir leid” she muttered apologetically “I was not present when the doctors stitched you up” she then levitated the prosthetic limb over and held it up to my shoulder, just before the two met she hesitated “I will warn you...this will hurt” I sucked in a breath and nodded, giving the empress permission to proceed, with a shove she pressed the arm against my shoulder and immediately my vision went white with pain, I wanted to scream and thrash out, but as soon as the feeling came it disappeared into a dull ache.

Coming to my senses I looked down to see the limb shifting; the arm lengthened to match my right arm and the hoof began splitting apart to form two fingers and a thumb. At the same time I gained an eerie sensation of feeling returning to my left arm, needless to say I was rendered speechless.

"I…I really don't know what to say" I managed to get out.

~~Thank you, would be a good start~~ Octavia said.

"Uh… thank you, Reinesfell" I parroted, trying out the range of movement "Seriously, this is beyond anything I was expecting"

"And your proper arm will be even better, this I guarantee, just take care for the first couple of days, it might be a little clumsy" Reinesfell said, before holding up a hoof "but that is not all, Octavia tells me that you have something of an interest in certain vehicles, the tanks as you call them, yes?"

"I guess you could say that I have an academic interest in them, as I do in many types of transport and technology, yes" I said, at this the Unicorn beamed.

"Wundabar!" she exclaimed "meet me in the hold in ten minutes, I can show you some of the newest designs that we have stored. I'll have a guard waiting outside" and with that she took the wooden case and departed, once the door shut I turned to Octavia.

"Is it just me is was she acting unusually friendly?" I asked.

"we're not surrounded by ponies expecting her to maintain social standards, what you saw was how she really is" she said, before letting out a sigh "the poor dear has so many expectations to live up to, and so young to be saddled with the throne"

"When was she crowned?"

"her parents died when she was 13, and she was crowned two years later" she said "she's not like me, she never had the opportunity to go out into the world and make friends unburdened by her status as I did, most ponies she interacts with are servants, the rest are trying to use her for their own gain. In truth I'm hoping to help her, which is why I'm asking you to humour her and look beyond your own misconceptions as well as the culture of her people. To have an ally outside of Equestria would come in handy, and dare I say having her as more an acquaintance will do you both some good"

"Playing matchmaker, are we?" I asked, raising an eyebrow, to which Octavia shot back a conspiratorial smirk.

"That, my dear, would depend on how much interest she shows" she said, before she looked me up and down "because if what happened last night between us was any indication you certainly need a lot more experience with mares" I couldn't help but blink and recoil my head at that.

"I don't recall you complaining last night" I muttered dryly, and Octavia rolled her eyes before standing up and rearing up to playfully bat me on the nose with a hoof.

"Oh hush, I didn't say you were bad, just inexperienced" she said, dropping back down to all fours "Now, let's go, I'm sure Reinesfell is eagerly awaiting us"

We were quickly escorted to the hold of the ship, the guard escorting us was blunt and to the point, but had a modicum of cordiality. He left us once we reached the chamber were we found Reinesfell sat upon one of the tanks in a pose strikingly similar to how a human would sit, upright with her hind legs crossed and dangling over the side, with her forelegs behind her back propping her up. Sat next to her was another pony I didn't recognise, a stocky unicorn, closer in build to an earth pony, with a similar oxide-red coat to Autumn, but with a silverish-grey mane to set her apart, on her flanks the image of a steel bolt was emblazoned.

The tank in question, one of a number parked in a line, was like a blend of the first British tanks and later turreted tanks. a large rhomboid shaped body with tracks running the full length and height and duckets containing swivelling turrets on either side, then on top there was a boxy turret with a rather large main gun.

"This is Glück Bolzen" Reinesfell explained, jerking her head towards the aforementioned mare "She is the chief designer of these "tanks" as you call them, and a good friend of mine, she'll be taking notes on any input you have" I nodded and began making my way around the tank, Glück shadowing me all the while and taking notes whenever I gave pointers, I typically stuck to advice regarding the armour and overall layout rather than contributing anything to the armaments. As we went I found myself connecting with Glück, certainly not in a romantic way, but as someone with more than a casual interest in engineering I couldn't help but click with the mare, who was largely reserved, but passionate about her talent and exceedingly knowledgeable, and by the time I finished looking over the tank a couple of hours had passed, Glück had some 20 pages of notes, and I dare say we had become firm friends with Glück inviting me to personally help on future engineering projects once we had settled in Marelin.

"You simply must see my engineering works" she insisted "I think you will like it, ja? You could even have a go at designing something yourself"

"I certainly won't say no to that" I smiled, before turning to Reinesfell "But no weapons, you hear? I want to improve lives, not end them if I can help it" at this the Empress regarded me with an odd look.

"But you're a warrior, are you not?" she asked "Is your whole role not to fight, to end lives?"

"I don't want to start fights, simply work to end them" I said with a shrug "If given the choice I'd rather make peoples lives better, not shorter"

~POV 3rd person~

Inside Autumn's quarters Alee rested her head on the edge of the bed, once Autumn had been confined to her quarters she hadn't so much as moved from under the cover of a blanket, seemingly dead set on hiding herself from the world. The others had tried one by one to try and pull her out and at least get her to eat something, but to no avail, and so it fell to the former river pirate to try her paws at shifting the mutated pegasus.

"Come on, lass, you can't lay under there sulking all day" The kelpie said, prodding the mass of blankets.

"Just you watch" Autumn shot back, curling up tighter under the covers till only her cybernetic eye could be seen glowing dimly from under the covers.

"Why won't you at least come out and have something to drink?" Alee asked, turning her head to the side to rest on a cheek. The light of Autumn's eye shifted as she looked away.

"When I first turned something came over me, I just couldn't stop myself, and I just wanted to hurt something" she confessed "I don't want to risk that happening again with you or anyone else, so for everyone's sake it's best if I stop here…" faced with this revaluation Alee said nothing in response for a good few moments, before she nodded determinedly and proceeded to hop up onto the bed and worm her way under the covers, much to Autumn's surprise and subsequent protest.

"If you won't come out, then I'll just have to stop here with you" she said, wriggling her way under Autumn's organic wing and nuzzling against the feral pony's cheek "There, you see? I'm perfectly fine, it'd take a lot more than you to put me down for good" Autumn grumbled at the kelpie's chipper tone.

"You aren't moving from there, are you?" she muttered, secretly thankful that the covers hid her flushed cheeks.

"Nope!" came Alee's cheerful reply, at which the one time pegasus let out a huff and shifted her head to rest under Alee's.

"breath a word of this to anyone and I'll gut you…" she muttered, prompting a giggle from the kelpie.

"Love you too, Autumn"

“No pauses...no spills” Glück said, levitating mugs brimming with the finest Hiemutian beer to Octavia, Vinyl, and Midnight.

“And no regurgitations” Reinesfell added, smirking as she held a tankard of her own. After the little rendezvous with Onælan the human had retired to his quarters for the remained of the day, he was still recovering after all, and clambering around a tank for the better part of two hours had exhausted him. Following Reinesfell and Glück to the mess hall they had soon found Vinyl and Midnight Quarry, light-heartedly bickering over drinks, where the Empress promptly invited the two to join them for a round of drinks.

“So...it’s a drinking game?” Octavia asked, to the cheers of the sailors surrounding them in mess hall.

“In Hiemutia drinking and politics are the same thing” Glück said “Good luck being taken seriously by the nobles if you can’t hold your liquor. Besides it’ll warm you up to the crew if you’re seen drinking with the Empress”

“Last one standing wins” Reinesfell said, before chugging her beer

“Well” Midnight said, enthusiastically grabbing her own tankard “I’d take a scrumpy over Germane piss water any day, but I’ll be damned if I’m gonna be drunk under the table by a prissy unicorn”

“That’s the spirit!” Vinyl egged on, and as one they downed their pints, Glück’s eyes bugging slightly as Midnight proceeded to down her pint in a single gulp.

I stood with my hand gripping the rail and my head peering onto the top most observation deck on top of the balloon, Tarn was sat resting against the perimeter handrail with her arms crossed, her eyes scanning the night sky.

~~Just go up there and talk to her~~

Octavia's prompting brought me back to the present, and even though she wasn't even here I couldn't help but rub the back of my neck.

~~I don't know…are you sure about this?~~

I could practically feel her exasperation drift across.

~~For Celestia's sake! We both know how she feels for you, quite frankly she couldn't be more obvious about it if she tried. How even you haven't noticed is quite frankly beyond me~~

At this I felt a sudden shift in gravity at my feet, making me stumble up a step, Octavia had used her powers to effectively give me a remote shove… needless to say once I’d started moving I couldn’t easily stop, so I was forced to step onto the deck, her ears twitched and in the pale moonlight I caught a glimpse of her looking my way out of the corner of her eye.

"I wondered when Octavia would send you my way" She said "I was beginning to think that she'd kept you to herself"

"Nah, if anything she's been pushing me to talk to you" I said, walking over and sitting down next to her.

“I see you’ve got a new arm” she stated matter of factly, not looking away from the night sky .

“Courtesy of Reinesfell” I said, looking the hand over. It was obvious at this point that we both knew why I was here, talking to here, but neither of us quite knew how to address the elephant in the room. Taking the plunge I let out a sigh. “Tarn...what do you see in me?” this clearly wasn’t what she was expecting, and promptly scrunched up her nose in confusion.

“What do you mean by that?” she asked.

“Well, Octavia’s already told me more than once that the primary nature of our relationship is more about giving me the means to settle down in the long term rather than romantic, so it’s not necessarily any attraction to me” I said

“I don’t see why that would spark any doubt over my feelings for you” she said, leaning forward and hugging her knees to her chest “the way I see it I’ve made my feelings perfectly known, both to you and to Octavia, I’ve simply been waiting for you to return those feelings”

“But no one has shown any real interest in me before, romantic or otherwise...god knows I’m not the epitome of masculinity nor attractiveness by my species standards” I said, before letting out a hum “hmm, baby faced they called me, told me looked about 5 years younger than I actually was”

“Who told you this?” she asked.

“People” I said, waving a hand dismissively “not that I could tell you their names even if I wanted to, Fantasia’s being as frustrating as usual...only showing me stuff to put me down”

“Well, clearly that means you need to look past what she shows you” Tarn said, a cheeky grin on her face “and it’s just as well that I’m not a human bound by your society’s standards of attractiveness” at this she starting to lean against me, sighing contentedly.

“Meaning what, exactly?” I asked.

“Like it or not, you’re stuck with me” she said, letting out a yawn and worming her way under my arm, settling down further “so quick worrying and get snuggling, you big lump”

*some hours later*

Octavia groaned as she rested her forehead on the edge of the table, her eyes clenched as she put the last remnants of coherent thought into not throwing up the contents of her stomach.

“Damn you...for dragging meh into this, viy-nul” she slurred, her inexperience made her one of the first to tap out. Her alabaster coated friend wasn’t much better, still sat upright but definitely out for the count and visibly swaying despite her supernatural tendencies.

“Believe me, I’m regretting this myself” she said, surprisingly coherent “I forgot how heavy beer sits in my stomach”

“You… told me you were vampire...how can you...forget detail like that?” Reinesfell wasn’t much better either, a hard learned tolerance to alcohol being the only thing allowing her to retain a modicum of grace compared to the other two, but she was still well passed drunk at this stage

The reason for their heavily inebriated states could be seen a table away, Midnight and Glück were still at it, downing pint after pint, Glück was just starting to struggle whilst Midnight, giver her much larger stature, was only slightly tipsy at this point. Glück had a strong strain of earth pony genes in her blood, giving her an advantage over Vinyl and Reinesfell, but it was clear that she was fighting a losing battle with basic biology, the same reason that made drinking with dragons near-suicide; larger creatures always have greater tolerence for alchohol...always.

“Meine vati did not raise...somepony who gives up” Glück said, struggling noticeably. Midnight smirked, picking up another tankard and downing it in a single gulp as if it were simply a shot of liquor. Glück hesitantly picked up another tankard, took a gulp of it, struggled to focus her eyes, and paused for a moment before saying “Kaput”

And with that she promptly fell backwards off the bench, passed out.

“Game over?” Midnight asked, smirking.

I quietly carried a certain drowsy kobold in my arms, nothing much had happened between us, but all the same it had been a pleasant evening enjoying each other’s company under the starlight, but I’d figured it high time to retire for the night. I carefully shifted Tarn so that I was carrying her in one arm in order to open the door, before making my way inside and placing her down on the bed. I had gone to the bathroom to relieve myself and returned to the sleeping quarters to find Tarn stripped completely naked and knelt on the bed with her head hanging and her left hand resting on the opposite shoulder, her bare back turned to me revealing years worth of scars upon scars, rendering almost the entirety of her back and parts of her arms and legs rough

“Tarn?” I asked tentatively

“Seven years” she said, her voice low and thick.

“Pardon?”

“Seven years I was enslaved. I was beaten till I blacked out, lashed till my skin peeled and thrown in a cage to “recover” purely because my masters had a particularly frustrating day a hundred times over, and raped so many times I become desensitised to it all” she said. “Tell me what made you think I was worth saving, Onælan?” I felt my heart sank, from personal experience I was more than accustomed to a spontaneous depressive spell, but that meant I also knew exactly what she needed. I let out a sigh as I took off my gown and wordlessly made my way over to her, sitting close to her, pulling her into a protective embrace, and planting a gentle kiss on her cheek, which the kobald deflated into.

“No matter what happened to you before, you will always be worth saving to me” I soothed “you and the others, every single one of you, you’re all I’ve got in this world, and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let anyone try to hurt you again...it doesn’t matter what happened, I’m here for you now”

“would you keep me, Onælan?” she asked, looking up at me with a pleading look, desperate for a positive response “you said your kind only does pairings, so I could be yours alone, to keep, to care for, to love, no one else could ever have me but you” I couldn’t help but let out a sigh at that, it was quickly becoming apparent that the poor girl had all sorts of underlying issues as a result of her time in captivity, she was almost desperate to be wanted, no, she was desperate to be wanted.

“Tarn, listen to me” I said, softly, but a small amount of firmness in my voice “please understand that if you want to be with me, it has to be entirely of your own choice, don’t feel like you have to do it as some form of repayment for me freeing you in the first place. I would gladly take you, but I’d never do anything that you didn't feel comfortable with. You’re free of them now, you don’t need to rely on others to control you or tie you down” at this her ears folded down and she looked away, a strangled whimper working its way up her throat.

“I know, but I was stuck with them for so long that sometimes I don’t know what to do without someone to tell me” she admitted, holding onto my hand “part of me still needs someone to guide me, tell me what to do”

“Well, we’ll just have to figure that out at our own pace” I said, planting a final soft kiss on her forehead before moving to take off my robe and “but for now, it’s getting late...or early depending on your viewpoint, we should get some sleep”

“Just sleep?” she asked as I turned the light off “nothing else?”

“Well, I certainly didn’t have any plans” I said, climbing into bed, Tarn quickly following after to lay beside me “not unless you wanted to, of course” for a moment Tarn said nothing, before I finally felt her shake her head.

“No, I don’t think I’m quite ready just yet” she said, starting to snuggle closer until her back was pressed against my chest, I was of course only too happy to oblige. With her smaller stature she was perfectly sized for cuddling into me and held within my protecting embrace Tarn quickly drifted off to sleep, my eyes adjusting to the darkness to reveal a contented smile on her face. Sleep evaded me as it typically did, but even I found myself drifting off faster than normal, some of the last thoughts I remember being that I could very easily get used to this.

Consequences

Author's Note

I know it's been a long time since the last chapter, and you no doubt thought this story dead in the water, but I'm not done yet, I still have a great deal that I want to wright, it's just that motivation has been low recently. As such this chapter starts off with an overview of events for a period I had ideas for, but struggled to cohesively tie them together, then it goes back to proper story telling.

Consequences

*two weeks later*

There had been much change in the two weeks since our arrival in the Hiemutian capital. Our collective group had, for lack of a better word, been more or less *claimed* into servitude by Reinesfell as supposed spoils of war, though she claimed it was as much to prevent the often zealously xenophobic nobles from having us literally hung, drawn, and quartered, as it was a way of making us repent for any casualties among the Hiemutian army.

Like it or not, we were now slaves in the eyes of Hiemutian law, and Equestria wasn’t exactly rushing to aid us either, as we’d found out quite spectacularly when Luna had warped herself into the throne room unannounced, fully prepared to bath the marble in my blood for my harsh words to Twilight prior to the battle in Prance, and it had taken quite the effort from Reinsefell to talk down the raging nighttime demigod, who instead settled for merely banishing our collective group from Equestria under the threat of death for me, and at the very least imprisonment for the others.

It goes without saying that this put me on just about everyone’s shit list, not least Autumn, the former royal guard. Reinesfell decided that it would probably be for the best if I stayed with Glück for a couple of weeks, not just to heal from the injuries and work on developing my prosthesis with the engineer, but also to give everyone else a chance to cool down. Tarn had opted to come with me, for what it’s worth she hadn’t had any connections to Equestria anyway, nor had she any intentions of visiting till now, but that didn’t stop her from chewing me out for my brashness.

Over the two weeks our relationship had become...interesting, I’d certainly had time enough to figure out my own feelings. Tarn’s feelings were simple, it was clear she felt greatly for me and dare I say relied on me to be her rock from time to time, my own feelings, not so much. I wouldn’t call it love, certainly not what I imagined love to be, I’d be just as happy to receive such affections from someone else. Call it a complete lack of loyalty on my part, but all the same I did enjoy the close companionship along with having an outlet for my own long repressed desire to shower someone else in affection. Even Glück had commented that we’d made a good match, though she’d warned us about being so liberal in our display of affection when outside her home.

Glück for her part I found to be a perfectly pleasant mare, and one with more than just an academic interest in engineering, as I’d discovered when she’d showed me around her estate, which boasted not only a full blown blacksmithing forge, but a well equipped workshop.

I had a few days to rest, and the fact her estate was located in some beautiful scenery helped to no end, before we began in due course building my proper replacement arm and a new eye, the fact the latter was even possible blew me away until tarn had teasingly reminded me about Autumn. Glück even got some inspiration from my kind’s technology, but I’ll save those for another time.

It was two weeks after our arrival that you join me making my way through the halls with a purposeful stride, and upon bursting into the throne room I was met with the sight of Reinesfell sat upon her throne, as expected, whilst Octavia and Vinyl were stood either side of the throne wearing their full armour, albeit now in the deep green colour with gold accents of the Hiemutian guard, apparently serving as personal guards for the Kaisarin. I spared only the briefest glance at Octavia, ignoring her flurry of mental questioning, and directed my attention towards the forth occupant in the room.

They were a bipedal humanoid, between seven and eight foot tall, but they most clearly were not human, the exposed, metallic-sheened muscles & metal plating hiding under his cloak as well as the inhuman face marked him as hailing from the Matoran realm, and as much as I wanted to geek out at this fact, the matter of who it was kicked me from nostalgic to about ready to run him through, assuming he didn’t get the drop on me first. Had I not been aware of just who had come calling courtesy of a slip of Glück’s tongue the red and black coloration combined the three glowing blue eyes would have given away just who it was despite the mutation having long since been reversed.

“Oh! Onælan, I wasn’t expecting you back for at least a full day” Rainesfell said, the surprise clear in her voice, I ignored her and, not breaking stride I stretched out my right hand and allowed my elemental power to flow through it, summoning my sword in a very clear display of the powers I possessed. Glück had been able to give me a few lessons on sword combat during my time staying at her estate, she certainly wasn’t a fighter, but as part of the nobility it did afford her a certain level of education on such matters. At this the keisarin’s surprised expression dropped into a scowl, and even Vinyl and Octavia were now on guard “Mind explaining why you’ve chosen to display a very clear act of aggression within my throne room, ape?” Octavia stepped forward, likely trying to attempt to defuse the situation

“I can’t help but agree with her, Onælan” the slate grey earthpony said, her tone kept very level “I thought we’d agreed that, despite your own preconceptions as to her nation, you would at least give her a chance”

“With respect, I’m not her for you, Keisarin” I said, now pointing my sword at the fourth occupant in the room, who until now had merely been watching with curiosity “I’m here for him. Forgive me for questioning your judgement, but I think I have a much better understanding of who exactly this is” at this the being let out a low chuckle.

“Then you would know better than to idly threaten me, boy” he said, at this I raised my right hand and ran two fingers down my left cheek, metallic plates not unlike those Autumn had possessed as part of her own facial reconstruction prior to being mutated flexing under my finger tips.

“I figured after a particularly nasty run in with one of Reinsefell’s tanks a member of the Barraki would be small fry” I said, causing Kalmah to scoff.

“Indeed” he said, before turning to Reinsfell ever so slightly “if you’ll forgive me, I believe your dog needs bringing back in line”

“Very well” Reinesfell said, moving a foreleg in a shoeing motion “just make sure you don’t damage him, those prosthesis are expensive” Kalmah’s grin became almost predatory as he began stomping forward, drawing from beneath his cloak a huge great-sword, big enough to be a zwiehander even in his hands.

“Let’s see if your sword skills are as half-passable as the empress says” he said, before hefting the great sword up and swinging down at me. If I’d attempted to block his attack directly the weight of his sword alone would have straight up shattered my own blade, so I was forced to side step and swing at it from the side, aiming to direct the momentum away from me. His blade embedded itself a good 3 inches into the solid marble.

Kalmah tugged at the sword, and when it didn’t pull free immediately I attempted to seize the opportunity to get a strike in, raising my sword up and bringing it around, aiming to strike him in the gut. The blade stopped short as Kalmah reacted, grabbing the blade, wrestling it out of my grip and slinging it to one side. For my efforts at trying to sneak an attack in I was rewarded with a gauntleted backhand, sending me sprawling to the floor with the vision in my left eye marred with static. I was left flat on my back in a mild daze as I heard the sword get ripped out of the marble. The small part of my mind that was still cognizant noting that he’d feigned the sword being stuck. I looked up just in time to see Kalmah stood looming over me with his sword poised, aiming to pierce my skull right between the eyes. I shut my eyes out of reflex, only to open them a few second later when I realized that I was not only still alive, but felt perfectly fine apart from my fall. Looking up I could see his huge blade hovering mere millimetres in front of his face.

“What are you waiting for?” I asked as he slowly drew his blade away and sheafed it “You beat me, don’t you want to finish off the job?”

“And what job would that be?” he asked, leaning down and reaching out out for me, offering a hand up, which as confused as I was I took all the same “As I said, I only wanted to bring you in line, let us hope for your sake I was able to knock a little sense into you” and with that he began making his way back to the throne

“Why?” I asked, dusting myself down “I know of you, you’re a warlord, last I checked you’d never pass up the opportunity to assert your supremacy” Kalmah let out a humming chuckle, and I couldn't help but analyse his voice… it was refined but with a defined baritone, dare I say I was getting “gandalf” vibes from his voice.

“Had you met me not 3000 years ago and I would have gladly cut you down where you stood without even hesitating. Safe to say I’ve changed since then” he said “these days I take greater satisfaction in knowing that my opponents must live with their failure”

“I personally know little of his life prior to residing here” Reinesfell stated “But what I can tell you is his days as a barraki, as you call it, are long behind him. For as long as Hiemutia has been a unified people he has been a strategic advisor, helping us win battles”

“Stirrupe is a land of chaos, so many nations all vying for the same thing whilst fighting over some petty sense of tribalism” Kalmah said, crossing his arms “had I more power I would see it that Stirrupe was unified as one entity, one nation, like Equestria, but it would not last were a pony not at the helm of a single state of such size, so I make do with what I have to hand”

“So you pull the strings from behind these walls of stone and wage your own war from afar” I shot back “You’re still a warlord, you’re just a lot more subtle about it”

“I’ve remained alive and stable for this long” he retorted “can you say the same of my brothers?” Octavia coughed.

“He, uh, means the scouring of the chain” she said, prompting another snort from Kalmah.

“Pridak and Mantax got too ambitious too quickly” he elaborated, likely dropping names for my sake over anyone elses “and now all they have to show for it is their armies eradicated by Celestia and a once empire all but reduced to a feudal string of islands” he then began making his way to the balcony, apparently his business with Reinesfell already seen to. “I would have words with you, boy, alone” I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the manner in the way he addressed me, and glanced at Reinesfell with a questioning look.

“There’s seldom a time I truly understand what’s going on in that head of his” she said “only way you’ll find out is to see what he wants.” somewhat hesitantly I made my way over to stand next to the 8 foot giant of a being. I got the odd realization that he was but a typical individual in his own lands, but here he was a titan. He dominated any space he occupied, no wonder he picked one of the shortest races on average to lord over. And as I studied him looking out over the snow-capped city, I thought I could detect a hint of...was that pride? Then it sunk in, he did say his vision was for a unified Stirrupe, he’d likely been here as they built the city. Whether I Agreed with him, he’d helped build this.

“It’s been many winters since I last saw man step foot in Stirrupe, let alone one touched by the elements like you” he said, gazing out over the city “whether you like it or not, you’ve caught the eye of some of the ageless. Understand, boy, like it or not there will be those automatically wishing to align themselves with you, and those who would seek to destroy you as soon as lay eyes upon you”

“And what of you?” I asked, he looked down at me, not with anger, or hate, he genuinely studied me from the perspective of someone who was interested in something

“I’m curious to see how far you’ll get” he finally said, looking back over the city “not least with that little menagerie you call a team” I could help but rise up at that remark.

“I think we do the best we can” I said.

“True, but I have doubts as to your collective longevity” he said “One of your group is a kelpie, another is one of the night folk, and yet another is a hordika, yet it’s you who’s meant to lead them. I’ve listened to how Octavia described you...you need a stronger spine...”

“Just get to the point rather than insulting me” I said

“For as long as your group is made of such vastly different species there will be a near constant battle for who’s on top” Kalmah said “Next time one of the others tries to assert dominance, and it will happen, maybe try to put them in their place, physically, if you have to”

“I’m not the dominant type, and I can’t just force myself” I said simply, Kalmah narrowed his eyes “I never asked for this, to be stuck with this armour, these powers, I don’t even want to lead them, given the choice I’d much rather just be left alone”

“Then those you care about, those you love, will die, because you weren’t strong enough to protect them, and in that moment you’ll have no one to blame but yourself” he said “it doesn’t matter if you’re “good” or “bad”, protector or warlord, the only way you win in this sort of life is because rather than backing down you dig in, stand firm, and tell the other person ‘no...you move’” and with that turned and skulked off, moving with a surprising quietness despite his size.

I didn’t miss the fact Octavia had to practically scurry around him to avoid getting stepped on.

“Judging by your little internal tirade, I shall assume that went less than perfectly” she said, trotting over to stand next to me and rearing up to rest her forelegs on the balcony.

“He says I need to grow a spine, but last time that happened I got us all banished from Equestria” I muttered, before glancing down at her and allowing my eyes to trace their way along Octavia's form for the first time in two weeks, lithe muscles where it mattered but she still had curves in all the right places. Falling into a strict routine of training, drills, and guard duty had done wonders to the physique of a pony who, prior to starting our little adventure, had definately been verging on the pudgier side (not that there was anything wrong with how she looked back then, either). Octavia must have caught my look as she looked at me with a half lidded gaze.

“Like something you see?” she asked, stretching out her body to accentuate certain areas, I had to quickly draw my eyes back up to her face, where I was met with a pair of amused eyes “Have patience, you’ll have all the time tonight to really let your eyes wander, it’s Sunday tomorrow, so that means reduced patrols, the kaisarin has her day off on Sunday so we aren’t required unless she specifically summons us”

“After the way everyone reacted last time I saw them I’m surprised I’m not sofa surfing”

“Oh, you’re still going to be making up for that on an individual and personal basis” she said, bumping my hips and shooting me a look that said I’d be paying for my brashness in other ways “but lets just say it isn’t quite all so bad as things first appeared”

“How so?” I asked “Luna seemed pretty set on mounting my head on a pike”

Well, a couple of days after you went to stay with Glück, Celestia turned up, a little more gracefully compared to Luna I’ll add, and for the most part overruled Luna’s order of banishment” she said “having said that I’d still be careful around Luna, and Celestia herself said that she expects you to formally apologize to Twilight Sparkle. You do still have that little music box that you use to communicate, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do, but I’m not exactly thrilled at the prospect of having to talk to her again” I said “she probably cut off any connection we had before giving me a chance to talk to her again”

“If Celestia is expecting an apology, then Twilight probably is as well. But if you want I can help you make that apology” she reassured, before her face turned quizzical “By the way...where is Tarn?” as if on cue a shout cut through the throne room

“Onælan, where the fuck are you!? [I would have words with you!]” Octavia blinked, her face going blank as the pitterpat of footsteps began making their way in our direction from the throneroom doors.

“You left her back with Glück, didn’t you?” she deadpanned.

“I left a note?” I offered.

“In heuimutia, in winter!?” she hissed.

“Onælan!” Tarn barked, and I turned with a sheepish smile to wave at the Kobold who now stood in the doorway to out little balcony, her clothes were practically soaking wet

“Hey, Tarn, I take it you got my note?” I ventured, knowing I was about to be on the receiving end of one royally pissed kobald.

“Do you have any idea how fucking long it took me to get to this accused palace trudging through the snow!?” she asked “I am three feet fucking tall, I fall over in the snow, I fucking die! And don’t get me started on the fucking guards in this city-”

“Yo, Tarn!” came the shout from Vinyl, we all turned to look at her, she was still dutifully stood by Reinesfell’s side, the latter looking amused more than anything at the situation. Vinyl shot Tarn a look that was dripping with sass “You. Control. The snow. Grow a pair, lizard tits” Tarn began turning red with rage and let out a growl, she went to spit out a retort when Octavia came up behind her and nuzzled her, only to recoil on shock.

“By Celestia, you’re freezing!” the earth pony explained, shivering before pulling the Kobald into a hug “Goodness, let’s get you inside and warmed up. Oh, you must come with me immediately, my quarters have a bath that will chase that chill of yours right away” Tarn didn’t have time to so much as offer a word of acknowledgement as she was deposited upon the earth pony’s back in a purple bubble of Octavia’s gravity powers. I went to follow, then stopped and turned to Vinyl and Reinesfell.

“Saturdays are usually quiet” Reinesfell said “You may retire, but don’t expect me to be so relaxed come monday” I gave her a bow of thanks and began to follow after Octavia.

“Yo, torch” Vinyl called, and I turned around to regard her with a quizzical look, unsure if she’d actually been addressing me “If you see any of the others, send one of them up our way, OK?”

“Will do” I said, shooting her a two fingered salute and making my way out the door.

Remnants

Author's Note

Edit: Holy shit I wasn't expecting to reach 100k words!

the writing juices are really flowing now, on the odd occasion I can get a good enough flow going that the story can be split up into more parts, this is one of those times.

I'm also trying out something experimental with the mind-link Onaelan and Octavia have, using colour to differentiate the two, for clarification it's Grey for Octavia and Red for Onaelan. let me know what you guys think. does it work? maybe you have your own system for denoting thought that you think works better, let me know

Remnants

As it turned out, the personal quarters of the palace staff, guards included, was located in a rather large seperate building, which looked a bit like a mansion, albeit somewhat spartan in appearance. The entire building was shaped like a three sided box, each side each holding a different aspect of the palace staff; central were guards, which meant us. The left “arm” was for general staff, maids, clerks, servers, those people that announced the arrival of some esteemed individual into the throneroom, and the right arm was for kitchen staff.

Palace staff could access this building via a tunnel, with the entrance to this in the gardens itself under a sheltered walkway stretching to the quarters, lest any maids and such got wet in the rain. Octavia had explained that here the social hierarchy was deeply entrenched, and for even a member of staff as low rung as a palace maid to be seen walking the streets on their way to work among the common rabble was deemed highly improper, so instead the royalty had made steps some 150 years ago to make sure that staff could travel freely between work and home, which was provided as part of the wage, so as to free up room previously occupied by staff lockers.

Right in the middle of all this was a huge communal garden that stretched out for at least an additional length of the accommodation past the building itself, which we were now walking through, and even in the cold of winter I could see ponies and even to my surprise a few other races like griffons and minotaurs milling about. some were simply strolling along the pathways, wrapped up warmly and enjoying some mutual company with a friend, others were tending to flowerbeds and allotments, Octavia explained that everyone was given the offer to take up a plot of flowerbeds or an allotment if they so wished, and that the palace actually put a great deal of emphasis on allowing, if not actively encouraging, staff to undertake extra-vocational activities so as to keep the moral and wellbeing of the staff high. She’d even shot me a very knowing look when she explained that a number of staff were members of a larger engineers club which resided within the city itself.

The whole time Tarn had been kept largely quiet, perched as she was on Octavia’s back, now huddled into a small coat which Octavia had “borrowed” from lost property and shooting me glares which could make anyone guilty...when she wasn’t asking Octavia about where we’d be staying, that was.

“Oh, you’ll be getting your own individual quarters on Monday, I’d assume” Octavia had said when asked by Tarn “but you’re more the welcome to stay with me over the weekend, the guards quarters aren’t exactly cramped” it was at this moment, as we entered what could be described as a foyer for the building, that we practically bumped into Autumn and Alee, in what I recognized as their full armour, albeit now wearing an enchanting brace to change the colors to match the palace guard. I also didn’t miss the faintly glowing collar now clamped around the Autumn’s neck.

“Onælan? Tarn?” Alee asked, as Octavia stopped to stand with them “what are you doing back early?”

“Ask Onælan” Tarn spat “he’s the one who got it in his head to challange a fucking titan on some bullheaded assumption and left me to trudge through the snow” Autumn raised an eyebrow and shot me a shit eating grin.

“Still as joyfully lacking in restraint as ever, I see” she remarked, I didn’t miss her collar’s glow intensifying ever so slightly nor the resultant nudge to the ribs and a whisper in the ear from Alee, resulting in Autumn taking a step back, running through some breathing exercise, then stepping forward again, looking noticeably calmer or at least keeping a lid on any underlying emotions. She looked away as she next spoke, likely she’d had to work through her words beforehand “I’m...sorry for how I was when we last spoke. It was out of order for me, even given the situation” Alee nuzzling Autumn in the neck didn’t escape my gaze, clearly I needed filling in on a few things. I ignored it for the time, wasn’t really important all things considered.

“It’s fine, really” I said, before elaborating “Honestly I wasn’t looking for an apology off you...I’m the one who needs to make things right” at this Alee smirked and lifted a paw to hide a laugh

“Aww, don’t you fret, you’ll have plenty of chance for that, Torch” she said in a teasing tone, hold on...was Autumn blushing as Alee spoke? There was one other detail in her statement that caught my ear.

“Torch?” I asked “Vinyl’s already called me that, is there some inside joke I’ve missed?” Octavia chortled.

“Nothing like that” Octavia said “It’s just a little nickname that some of our number came up with”

“Even you have to admit it flows better than Onælan” Autumn said.

“I’m not totally sure, but I’m not against it?” I ventured “Honestly I need to think on it”

“Whilst this is a riveting discussion, I’m currently freezing my tits off courtesy of our friend Torch” Tarn said, her voice dripping with sarcasm “any chance of us catching up some other time when I’m not about to become an icicle?”

“Yes, I’m afraid we do have somewhat more pressing matters to attend to” Octavia said “we need to get Tarn undressed and warmed up” Alee grinned at that

“Hmm, sounds like lewd times ahead to be had by all of you, I wish I could join you three” Alee said with a cheeky grin “sadly we’re on afternoon guard duty, so we should be making tracks ourselves” that reminded me.

“Oh! Speaking of, Vinyl needs one of you two in the throne room” I said “they’re kind of a guard short right now, two in return likely won’t go amis”

“Ayy! we’ll get on that” Alee said, a genuine smile lighting up her face “Thanks, mate!” and with that the two of them continued on their way, heading out the doors behind us and striking up their own conversion between themselves that was quickly blocked out by the doors

“Why do I feel like we need filling in on a few things that happened whilst we were gone” I ventured, speeding up to keep pace with Octavia as she now lead us through the central wing of the accommodation, cautiously placing a hand on Tarn’s shoulder and slowly forcing some of my own thermal powers into my hand to warm her up. She squealed in pleasant surprise at my touch and grabbed my hand, clutching it to her chest. I had to try and not think about the fact she was holding my hand to her breasts

“Oooh, you could have done this 5 minutes ago” she chided “still not happy with you” all the same a smile began working its way onto her face.

“You know I didn’t mean for you to be stuck trudging through the snow, right?” I asked “Like, yes I know I kind of disappeared on you, but did Glück not offer to help you?”

“Truthfully I didn’t give her all that much chance to offer to help” Tarn said, looking away “looks like we’ve both got issues with impulsiveness to work through”

“Which I’m more than happy to help the both of you with” Octavia spoke up “that’s what I’m here for, and to answer your question, Onælan, Alee and Autumn are a couple now, not least to try and help Autumn keep a lid on, what was it you called it?”

“Hordika?” I offered.

“Yes! To try and keep a lid on her Hordika side” she said “for the most part it’s worked, alongside that collar of hers”

“I had wondered about that” Tarn said “it’s nothing-” she trailed off, but Octavia clearly caught the Kobald’s meaning as she ducked her head in shock

“Oh, certainly not!” Octavia responded, sounding aghast at the notion “it’s just a little something of Twilight Sparkle’s design that monitors her heart rate and stress levels and gives her little prompts, worst case it’ll painlessly knock her out if she flies into a rage. Autumn can remove it whenever she wants, so it’s entirely voluntary on her part”

“When did Twilight Sparkle come to learn of Autumn’s affliction?” Tarn asked

“I had a little talk with Celestia when she dropped by following Luna’s little...shall we say outburst, and in return Celestia had a little chat with Autumn” Octavia said “About a week later it showed up in a parcel addressed to Autumn, along with an invitation for her to travel down when she had time to try and work on at least studying what caused the mutation to try and create something that could suppress it”

“How’s she been handling it?” I asked, and was met with a smile from Octavia

“I dare say it’s saved her from spending the foreseeable future in a cell” she said, before stopping and turning to face a door “Aha! Here we are!” she raised a hoof and a small brass key floated out from behind her armour surrounded by a hazy purple glow, and with a push of the hoof the key found its way into the keyhole, the door opening with a click.

“That’s some party trick” I muttered as Octavia made her way inside, I followed and hung my coat and bag up on one of the provided hooks, though at the height it was mounted my coat was practically touching the floor. Octavia gently placed Tarn down and pulled her into a quick hug before letting her go sit on the sofa. It was now that I got a good look at the place and was taken aback at how extravagant the flat was, it was comparable to a 5 star hotel on earth. The living room that we were stood in was lavishly furnished with very comfy looking sofa and armchair occupying the room

“I’ve had a grasp on my powers for a while, but I’ve never really had a reason to put them into practice beside fighting, maybe it was my stubbornness as an earth pony to do things by hoof” Octavia explained, deftly turning on a wireless that sat in the corner with the flick of a hoof and then pottering around, performing a quick tidy up and giving a full demonstration of her quasi-telekinetic powers “but eventually I thought, why not use it like magic? My powers haven’t gotten much stronger, but they have become a lot more precise, I dare say I could give Twilight Sparkle a run for her money in a dead lift....Onælan, dear, why don’t you get a fire going whilst I get the bath ready, I think all three of us deserve a little relaxation together, don’t you?”

“Wait,all three of us together?” I asked, surprised. I’d assumed that Tarn was going to be left in peace to warm up. Octavia rolled her eyes and shot me a look.

“Darling, there’s no need to be modest” she said “I shan’t speak for you, Tarn but I know that Onælan and I have certainly gone far enough to dispense with any semblance of modesty. No doubt the two of you have at least made steps in that direction, either way there’s nothing wrong with a little joint relaxation” from the sofa she was sat on, Tarn tapped her claws together bashfully.

“We’ve, uh, spent most night together” she said “but not actually slept together” Octavia regarded Tarn with a look for a solid moment, and I could tell that she was thinking something intently as she studied the Kobald, but then almost as soon as the expression appeared it was gone, and Octavia simply shrugged.

“Fair enough, I’ll go get the bath running” she said before disappearing through one of the doors, then added in a singsing voice “don’t do anything without me” I let out a soft chuckle as I crouched down by the fire. As I called forth my fire powers I felt Octavia’s presence in my mind.

‘Make it look like you’re just tending to the fire...but tell me honestly, how far have you gone with her?’

‘Honestly, We’ve just cuddled, shared the occasional kiss. We’ve certainly never had sex if that’s what you’re trying to find out’

‘Has she ever come across as distant? Have you ever tried anything and been rejected?’

I had to stop myself from sighing, I could tell what she was trying to find out and already knew the answer.

‘Octavia, you weren’t there when I found her. If you were, you wouldn’t be dropping so many hints...fuck. This doesn’t leave our minds, but she was in the middle of being raped when I found her. I physically dropped in on the guy and killed him there and then. It’s never been a question for me because I saw her in captivity and saw what she would have been going through day in day out for years.

‘Celestia, Onælan, I’m sorry, I didn’t…’

‘It’s fine, it’s not your fault. Honestly, it’s been something that I’ve tried not to touch, and hoped that she’d open up of her own accord, and when she hasn’t I’ve respected that. I’m no genius, but I’m smart enough to know when to leave something well alone...knowing my track record I’d try to help and just make her worse...shit, I won’t say she’s all I’ve got, because there’s you too, but if I tried to help her and ended up making things worse...I don’t want to think about it’

‘Come monday I’ll ask around about therapy...for both of you, because by my reckoning there’s stuff you haven't let go of either. Until then, just follow my lead’

“Onælan, do you think you can help me with this?” it was Tarn’s voice that cut through my thoughts, and I felt Octavia retract from my mind somewhat, keeping tabs but reducing her level of communication from coherent thought to emotions and suggestions. Turning around I was met with the Kobald stood behind me, gesturing to her sodden dress “between wearing a sodden dress and going bare, I know what i’d prefer...besides, Octavia said we’d be getting a bath, might as well get this over with now” I shifted back from the fire and adjusted to sit crossed legs, patting my thigh to bid her to sit in my lap. A moment later and the petite Kobald was sat in my lap facing the fire, and she tugged at the hem of her dress, pulling it up slightly, and which point I took over and carefully pulled it off in one deft motion, laying the dress out in front of the fire to dry and exposing her bare back and the multitude of scars which criss crossed her skin. They were definitely well on the way to healed but they would never truely go away, and this fact left an ache in my chest.

“Honestly, Tarn, how do you cope with this?” I asked as I gently placed my right palm on her back, this was treacherous territory for me, and I was worried about putting my hand in the wrong place. Tarn initially tensed at my touch, but then she sighed and leant into my hand all the same.

“Honestly...I cope much as I did whilst I was a slave” she said “I just live my life one day at a time, makes it easier if you aren’t thinking you’ve got the rest of your life ahead of you where you aren’t some broken former plaything” almost immediately, Octavia entered my mind again, her words hushed and careful.

‘I know you want to shy away from it, but don’t, the worst thing you can do is to leave her with that mindset, you need to refute what she’s saying in a positive way’

“Well, I don’t see you that way” I said, at this Tarns ears perked up, a look of genuine surprise on her face.

“Oh?” she asked “well then, what do you see?”

“Hmm, well, back home there was this race of people who had a tradition called Kintsugi” I said, my voice turning softer as I started to gently trace my finger along the scars “it’s the practice of taking a broken pottery, such as a bowl or jar, and repairing it with gold inlaid into the cracks, the idea being that by embracing all the flaws, all the imperfections, you end up with something far more beautiful. That’s what I see when I look at you; someone who’s been through so much, something no one should ever have to experience, and I see someone who is so much more beautiful and stronger as a result” by now Tarn had turned to look at me, her eyes wide and on the verge of tears.

“Do...do you really mean that?” she asked “this isn't just some positivity bullshit? You actually believe that?” I nodded

“I do” I said “Ponies might ask me, ‘who’s your inspiration? Who’s your reason to keep going?’ and I’d tell them it was you, the person I wake up next to every day” at this Tarn let out a sniffle, tears starting to run down her cheeks before she buried her head in my chest, I didn’t say anything, instead I pulled her closer to me and let the tears run their course, soaking into my shirt as I gently rubber her back. I looked up to see Octavia sat in the doorway, but making sure she wasn’t obvious, watching us with a sad smile on her face.

‘I dare say I couldn’t have done better myself in the situation’

‘Those scars are never going to fade, only thing I can do is try to help her live with them’

‘Well, bath’s waiting when you’re ready’ and with that she disappeared towards the bathroom, letting us have our little moment together.

a roll in the hay

It was about 5 minutes later that Tarn had calmed down enough for us to decide that we were ready to join Octavia, with no other place to leave my clothes I opted to strip down and leave my clothes laid out by the fire next to Tarn’s dress. It took a little poking around, but eventually we found the bathroom, with one slate grey earth pony lounging in a sizable tub more than big enough for the three of us. Hell, I’d go so far as to say it wasn’t so much a bath as it was verging on a hot tub. From the looks of things Octavia was utterly blissed out, allowing herself to float on the surface, I was a little confused until I spotted a faint purple glow surrounding her body.

“You’re a bloody showoff” Tarn snarked, climbing into the tub and attempting to tread water only to sink under completely with a yelp, then reappear in that same purple glow a few moments later bobbing at the surface of the deeper than it looked water, now looking less than amused with a pout on her face and her arms crossed over her chest “I reiterate my statement, ya big grey bitch”

“Oh, you’re just jealous that you’re unable to stand in 4 feet of water” Octavia shot back, righting herself and letting her hooves touch the floor of the tub, the water now coming up to her shoulders as she sat on her haunches and pulled tarn into a hug “Come here, I’ve missed you” she then began assaulting the Kobald with nuzzles and the occasional kiss, and I chose this moment to climb into the tub, in treading the water I found that there was a ledge which was at the perfect height for me to sit in, with a well towards the center which left me standing about waist deep.

“How d’you get this filled up with so much water so quickly?” I asked, taking a seat right next to Octavia and throwing an arm over her shoulder. The water was at a perfect temperature, that goldilocks zone when it’s hot but not scaldingly so, and I could already feel my stresses start to melt away.

“Hmm?” she asked, clearly distracted in her raining affection on Tarn, who by now had started to practically melt into the earth ponies hooves, there was a pause before my question fully sank in “Oh, there’s an enchantment that summons water” Tarn meanwhile moved her way over to me, a now unoccupied Octavia opting to snuggle into my side as the Kobald can to rest knelt on my thighs facing me, placing her hands on my shoulders, my own sense of modesty forcing me to turn my gaze elsewhere rather than let my eyes get drawn down there.

“Hey” Tarn said, drawing my attention back to look her in the face and being greeted by a pair of almost glowing turquoise eyes, she then playfully tapped me on the nose, causing my to jerk my head back in surprise and prompting a giggle from the Kobald “You needn't be so bashful around me” her expression then turned more serious “I know that you feel you have to be modest, dare I say cautious, for my sake because of my past, and I‘m flattered that you’re so considerate, but I’m not some fragile doll that’s at risk of cracking from the slightest touch. I wouldn’t have chosen you” she then turned to look at Octavia as well “either of you, if I didn’t feel prepared for the possibility that we’d end up doing the things that, well, healthy couples do.”

“This is something that I think needs to be discussed frankly rather than beating around the bush, so I’ll ask you up front, how far are you willing to go?” Octavia asked “because, putting it bluntly, there’s all sorts of things I would love to do to you and with you, but I wouldn’t won’t to overstep my bounds, certainly not in your case” at this Tarn twisted to sit in my lap, the water reaching just her shoulders as she turned to face the earth pony whilst leant against my chest, in response I let my arm snake around her, pulling her into a hug and prompting a contented sigh from the kobald. I dare say at that moment things were perfect from my perspective, they were free to discuss boundaries as frankly as they’d like, I was perfectly happy to cuddle with two gorgeous ladies from this world even if nothing else came of this.

“I don’t have issues with sex, if that’s you’re meaning” Tarn said “I know you’ve been very cautious in that area, Onælan, and I do appreciate that, but you don’t need to hold back, I’ll tell you if I want you to stop” at this Octavia moved closer. It was pretty clear where she wanted things to go, what with the way she’d been talking with me earlier, and how she’d been almost frisky with Tarn. it was almost surreal watching it occur as someone who’d never been all that active in this way back on earth, it’s not that I hadn’t seen any action, it was just infrequent, and certainly never this sort of situation.

“What about right here and now?” Octavia asked, at this Tarn’s eyes widened, clearly she hadn’t quite picked up on the signals Octavia had been sending.

“Wait, you mean now-now?” she asked, the surprise clear in her voice “us two? Here? With Onælan watching?”

“My not?” Octavia asked, looking at me out of the side of her eyes “in fact I’m sure he’d rather enjoy watching us two let loose. As a matter of fact he’s more than welcome to join us”

“I...uh, wouldn’t be opposed” I said, truthfully I was stunned. After this OK on my behalf, it was Tarn’s turn to look bashful, looking away and tapping the tips of her claws together in thought.

“It’s not that I’d be opposed, far from it” she said “it’s just that, well, I’ve never been with-” she didn’t get to finish her statement as Octavia leant forward to plant a kiss on her lips, the kobald’s eyes widening for a moment, before she melted into the kiss. Octavia began to carefully guide Tarn off my lap and towards her. Then, when the Kobald was practically straddling the earth pony, Octavia pulled away, her cheeks rosy but otherwise appearing unflustered, Tarn on the other hand was practically putty in Octavias hooves, panting softly.

“Why don’t you let me lead you?” Octavia asked, though she didn’t wait for an answer as she all but dived right back in...

...I let myself sink into the mattress with a sigh, now well and truly spent. Tarn hummed as she rose up off of me and moved to lay beside me, Octavia also making her way to lay the other side of Tarn.

The other two fell asleep relatively quickly, though sleep didn’t find me quite so easily for whatever reason, I never could be sure with how my mind worked. For a while I was content to watch them sleep, the sight of the both of them sleeping peacefully was enough to bring a smile to my face, eventually, however, I grew bored, and opted to find myself something to pass the time. I gently planted a kiss on both of their foreheads and got out of bed trying my best not to disturb them, unfortunately I failed in my task, as heard Octavia stirring as I set about getting dressed.

“Onælan?” she asked “Are you alright?” turning around I saw her crack a single eye open to look at me through the gloom, I shot her a smile

“Yeah, I’m fine” I said, before elaborating “couldn’t sleep, my mind’s too active right now...I’ll be fine, you go back to sleep” a barely perceptible nod was the only answer I got as Octavia pulled Tarn closer.

A couple of minutes and a glass of something alcoholic along with a sandwich later I found myself stood on the balcony of the living room which offered me a view of the city. All told there wasn’t much that could occupy me at that moment, but it did give me time to think, mostly about my own preconceptions about what Hiemutia would be like and how they had been proven at almost every turn. Truthfully I felt embarrassed about how many times I’d been wrong, but at the same time, I found my mind wandering back to when myself and Tarn had first arrived at Glück’s house, a rather tidy estate up in the northern hills just out of the city.

We had not long left our belongings in the room which Tarn and I would be staying in when Glück had called us down for some afternoon tea.

We had just sat down in the extravagantly furnished study when in strode an equine-like creature which I could only describe as exotic, there was scant fur on its body, though it did not appear to be shaved, just around the hooves and ears, with a brunette mane tied into a ponytail, instead it possessed tannish skin which was almost unsettlingly close to human, with the addition of dark tribal-esc markings. Its tail was long and muscular, almost reptilian in appearance. The forelegs were noticeably shorter than the hindlegs, meaning the shoulders sat much lower than the hips. But perhaps the most startling of all were the eyes, two pairs of them, a vibrant green colour.

As the strange creature made its way over to us pushing a cart laden with a teapot and cups I couldn’t help but find myself staring at it.

“What race are you?” I finally asked, only to find her seemingly ignoring me as she went to stand by Gluck

“Ma’chen is what’s known as a Tatzle, a particularly exotic offshoot of earthkin who hail from the southern continent” it was Glück who spoke, as she began pouring out tea, the third cup did not escape my gaze “Unfortunately she was mute when I bought her” this caught my attention, and put a foul taste in my mouth”

“Bought her?” I asked as levelley as I could manage. At this Glück paused and looked away, letting out a sigh.

“Onælan, I want you to understand something, but I need you to let me explain in full before offering a rebuke” she said, levitating a teacup over to me, then another over to her apparent slave, who gave a nod of thanks as she sat on her haunches to hold the cup between her hooves. I simply nodded “It is true that, in the eyes of the law at least, she would be considered a slave, but understand that I’m doing it for her benefit more than my own”

“How can enslavement be to someone’s benefit?” I asked, fighting to keep my anger in check.

“It is true that slavery is comonplace among the nobility, often they try to find to most exotic race they can as some sort of fasion statement” she said “and whilst there are some that do not treat those in servitude to them as decently as they should as set down in law, there are a number of us assigned to track those abusers down and bring them to justice, and their slaves either transferred elsewhere, or freed entirely”

“And Ma’chen?” I asked “how did you acquire her?” I asked, at this Glück glanced to her servent, the two seeming to share a silent conversation, before finally the Tatzle nodded.

“When I found her she was in less than desirable circumstances” Glück began “understand that whilst slavery is legal, those who own slaves must adhere to certain laws, they must be treated as one would an employed house servant; given food, accommodation, a monetary allowance so as to have a life outside of hours spent working, not forced to work more than a set number of hours, and one cannot use physical or magical punishments nor withhold basic living necessities as a reprimand”

“Sounds similar to Victorian house servants” I noted.

“Victorian?” Glück asked, tilting her head to the side inquisitively “are they are race?”

“It was a period defined by the ruler of my country, Queen Victoria, as well as the social trends and fashion of the period. It ended about 120 years ago” I said, at which Glück nodded in understanding “Now, you were saying about slavery laws”

“Ah, yes” the unicorn said, before her expression soured “When I found her, she was not being treated so courteously as the law would warrant”

“How bad?” I asked, another silent conversation between the two, before again Ma’chen nodded.

“She had been bought by a brothel owner” Glück began “this in itself isn’t illegal, but her owner had her magically rendered barren, made her work longer than was legal, beat her, raped her, and had her tongue cut out so she couldn’t go telling anypony”

“That’s vile” Tarn growled, no doubt reliving her own memories.

“Indeed” Glück agreed “if you feel curious as to the specifics, I do have a small collection of newspaper clippings from the time it all came to light, if you wish to read up. But in short it caused a public outcry even among slave owners, and lead to new laws being passed which made slave owners have to sign a register, and have government officials check frequently to ensure they weren’t mistreating their servents. Now Ma’chen, in the state she was in, would not have been able to lead an independent life”

“So you bought her to give her a better life?” I surmised, Glück nodded.

“Exactly” she said “In the eyes of the law she is indeed my slave, but I’d consider her closer to family, perhaps something more. She has as much food as she likes, and a generous allowance well above the minimum requirement, in return she cleans, cooks when I am too busy, and occasionally makes tea when we have guests” at this, Ma’chen put down her mug of tea and rested her head on the arm of the sofa Glück was sat on, letting out a sigh of contentment as Glück took to stroking the strange pony’s head.

“So she does this willingly?” I asked.

“Oh yes, if she wasn’t content with her life, I could soon arrange for her to be transferred to somepony else” she said “from what Octavia told me your species outlawed servitude, yes?”

“In most countries, that’s not to say it doesn’t happen” I said “every so often something will come up”

“I was a slave” Tarn said, pulling her legs up and hugging them to her chest “I was kept by slavers for seven years, they kept me in a cage only to bring me out to...to rape, beat me if I didn’t cooperate, or sometimes even just because they wanted to, and then shove me back in the cage after they’d had their way with me...it was Onælan who found me and got me out, and for that I owe him my life”

“I know this might not seem like it’s worth much coming from me” Gluck began “but I’m sorry, truly. I wish I could have known, and maybe have been able to do something to help you”

I let out a particularly sharp exhale as I found myself returning to the present, then found myself doing a double take at the greyish plumes which shot out of my nostrils, then I found myself studying the twin jets as they merged into a cloud and then gradually dispersed.

“What the hell..” I muttered

“You’re maturing” came a familiar disembodied voice as Fantasia materialised to my left “when every Wrakjon is first granted their power there is a brief period of time where they are not fully fledged, in time you will begin to better reflect your element, in time you may find that your skin resembles that of cooling magma whilst using your powers”

“You saying I’m gonna end up looking like a lava monster?” Fantasia snorted at my question.

“Nothing quite so drastic, no” she replied “it would only become apparent as you were using your powers, the rest of the time you would be for all intents and purposes look completely human”

“Well, apart from these” I retorted, pointing to my left eye with my left arm, bringing them into full view.

“Hmm, quite” she said “well, regardless I am pleased to see you are returning to your...previous levels of endurance” at this she glanced behind me to look inside, her face becoming marred with a slight frown.

“Don’t give me that” I said “do you honestly think we’d be that stupid as to try and actually conceive”

“Indeed, but still, I would advise caution with such activities” she said, shooting me a sideways glance “spells are only so effective”

“What are you, my mother?” I asked in mock indignation, before turning away and muttering to myself “am I seriously being given the talk by a feckin’ god?” that prompted another snort, and an eye roll.

“Don’t be so dramatic, I’m merely offering a little advice” she said “if you want to talk technicalities then I am your superior which means it is part of my own duty to ensure that you don’t allow yourselves to get too hedonistic”

“If you’re gonna start preaching celibacy I’m just gonna walk away” I retorted.

“And I could simply follow you” came her lightning quick response.

“Did you come here to prod into my private life, or did you have a reason to be here?” I asked “you never turn up unless you want to offer advice, and I don’t think giving me the parental talk was your reason for coming here”

Hmm, quite” she said “I came here because I could sense your indecision”

“About if anything bad’s happening?” I asked “if i’m just letting my own preconceptions about my own kind cloud my judgement?” Fantasia nodded

“I won’t say you’re wrong, however I would suggest that your aim is off, as it were” Fantasia answered, and following a gesture to elaborate she continued “I haven’t been idle during our time apart, I’ve been doing some digging around under a couple of assumed identities. There are indeed dark things happening within these borders, particularly to the east under recently annexed territories. A great many people are suffering, more than I have the power to help, though the blame lies not with the empress or her rulership, but those under her”

“So what do you suggest?” I asked

“Go with the flow for the time, your little group falling under the charge of the empress can be worked to my advantage” she said, before turning to address me directly “keep your head down, gain the empress’ trust, in time you will have the chance to make your way into the lower rungs of the local nobility. I believe Octavia mentioned an engineer’s society, that might well be your ticket to meeting the nobility”

“As much as it’d be fun for me, I don’t see how playing with engines will help save lives”

“Hiemutian culture feeds off of a sense of pride; of one’s self, of their nation, and of their nations achievements, do the same of yours, show off what your people have built, take the time to let your own ingenuity loose, and you will earn acceptance, in time you might just find the people you seek approaching you in search of advice or seeking inventions that could further their goals” I nodded in agreement

“That’s all well and good, but I’m no socialite,” I said.

“But your friends are, there’s a reason I chose Octavia and Vinyl, they are both well experienced in two very different levels of society; Octavia is experienced with high society, whilst Vinyl is experienced not only with the underworld, but also the social circles of the youth” she said “I shall help you in the short term, give you the occasional push here and there based on what I’ve uncovered myself, but in time you must learn to use your friends abilities to your advantage, I can’t always be here to help you and you need to learn to work these things out without me” I took a moment to digest this, I had the makings of a plan starting to fall in to place, and I got the sense Fantasia was able to see me figuring this out, there was just one more thing I needed to be sure of

“What about Reinesfell?” I asked “after everything I’ve seen I want to believe she would help me, but I don’t want to spring my plan on a potential ally to our enemy” Fantasia nodded.

“A sound judgement” she said “I would suggest you go ahead with any plan you have without her, until such a time as we can both be sure that she’s not secretly in on everything that’s happening. In the meantime I will make myself useful by seeking out what I can” that left me with another question

“What is it you do when you aren’t here anyway?” I asked

“For the most part, I observe” she said “I have avatars that I assume in order to walk among mortals so that I might experience life as they do, it helps me to know if I’m doing well in my own duties”

“Do any of those have their own lives?” I asked, and upon receiving a genuinely confused look I elaborated “I mean, do you ever live out the life you wanted through them? Ever raised a totally normal and insignificant family that wasn’t bound to destiny? It must get lonely as a lonely god” at this she frowned and looked down at her hooves.

“Truthfully no” she said “they are mere shadows that I look through the eyes of to see...I believe an apt comparison might be those “NPCs” from those games of yours that you told me about” it was admittedly odd to hear her talk about such things, and even she seemed to find it a strange topic to reference.

“I think I understand” I said “you know, you would be more than welcome to tag along with us on occasion” at this she looked genuinely perplexed as she turned to regard me.

“Well, all the stories do always have some ageless wise character who wields unfathomable power” I explained “plus I’m sure it would provide you a chance to relax a little, what would be a challenge for the rest of us would likely be a walk in the park for you”

“Such as?” she asked “you imagine I would just walk up to an approaching army and proclaim the words you shall not pass?” I was so taken aback by the rather platelet reference that I couldn’t help but let slip a chuckle.

“I never took you for someone who partook in literature” I said.

“A mare has to have her hobbies” she said with a shrug “Even if that includes material from other worlds” that brought a question to my mind, and I leant against the railing of the balcony, thinking how best to word it.

“Fantasia” I asked “I know I now have my duty here, and don’t think I’m looking to abandon that...but would you ever give me the opportunity to return home, even for a short while?” Fantasia didn’t respond right away, and when I glanced at her she looked to be deep in thought, like she was actually weighing up the answers. Eventually she looked at me with a small smile

“I could perhaps looking into allowing you a brief stint back on your home world” she said “Though don’t expect me to just let you go digging for remnants of your old life, you know now that, especially after the injuries you’re received, you could never return to stay”

“That wasn’t my plan” I said, before glancing back into the bedroom “I was thinking more a short getaway for a few of us, once we have the luxury of doing so of course. My newfound friends are always showing me things of their culture and countries, I’d like to be able to do the same of mine without doing so through a computer screen”

“That is understandable” she said, casting forth a projection, I was surprised to see it was of my world, flicking through multiple different views “at times I feel I let my own duty to preserve the balance of this world colour my view of others. Your kind are so...industrial that I worry what any large number of them would do in this world”

“But not everyone is like that” I said, and she surprised me by actually nodding “I think it’s just that the wrong people are the ones that have been allowed to the top”

“Which is why I even considered allowing you as a human to set forth on my planet” she said “your kind does possess an innate and flawless adaptability that other species on this world do not possess”

“But we don’t have magic, or wings” I countered.

“And yet in the space of a few short millenia of your exile you have spread out to become the dominant species on the planet” she said, leaving a pointed look at me “one that now threatens to bring about its own destruction through multiple reasons” I went to argue, only to fail to come up with a counter, and instead opted to keep silent. After a brief pause Fantasia let out a final breath of air.

“I have said what I have needed, I will leave you be” she said, following up with the briefest of flashes from her horn, and a flick from her head. Both were accompanied by a feeling of tiredness washing over me “consider that just a little something to help you find sleep more easily from now on” and with that she disappeared, leaving me alone once more.

Despite my creeping tiredness, I still felt that I had unfinished business, and calling the mind the spell I required, I still had enough focus to summon a familiar music box from its stasis in a personal pocket dimension I had been able to conjure up during my time at Glück’s estate...

---The shores of southern Meira, that same night---

A six or seven foot tall bipedal figure made its way to shore, rising out of the ocean and making its way onto the deserted beach, they’d made sure of this before poking their head above the surface. their blue armour was cast in a magenta glow by the setting sun, revealing the myriad of scars from battles eons past, and their glowing yellow eyes, hidden beneath a relatively plain-faced mask, displayed an almost impossible wisdom. In their right hand they held a fierce mace whilst a shield was strapped to their left arm, as they walked the whirring and hissing of servos and pistons long past their best produced a quiet rhythm

This being’s name was Helryx, the first Toa created many hundreds of thousands of years ago. She was a being who held herself above the moral code that she’d written for her own kind. A being who believed in doing whatever it takes in the name of the greater good. A being who had once been willing to sacrifice herself and everyone else in her universe for the sake of taking down her sworn enemy in the process, and right at this moment a being who was on the hunt for a human.

She’d heard word of this some time ago from a band of particularly loose beaked griffon traders, something about a zyglak raiding party to the south. She’d been willing to dismiss it off hand, perhaps amble her way over at a more leisurely pace out of curiosity, and to eliminate a few zyglak scum as a way to pass the time.

Then they’d mentioned the human, it had only been a passing description, but her run ins with with humans aligned under the Shadowed One’s black legion and the Skrall Empire some 3000 years prior told her everything she needed to know, if this makuta-spawn had been spotted with zyglak then that would mean only bad news and after showing herself to them, demanding more information, they’d managed to stammer out the vague direction in which it had travelled before soiling themselves in fear. She cared not as to why it had broken off from the band of zyglak to travel northwards, nor how it had somehow corralled a number of locals to follow it, her main concern right now was to find out what it was doing and eliminate any threat it posed. She’d managed to secrete herself aboard a passing merchant ship until she could see the eastern shore of Stirrupe, from there it had been a simple task of swimming to shore, where she now found herself.

The shores of Meira were bleak, much like the rest of the country, it wasn’t some picturesque beach one found on the back of a postcard, instead of pristine sandy beaches it was harsh grey stone, with boulders poking out here and there, ahead of her looked to be boggy ground with patches of trees spattered in between. Meira as a nation wasn’t the most prosperous of lands, much of it was either dense woods or muddy peat bogs, but this suited her perfectly, she could do a little digging around without worrying about any of the incompitent local militia that those equine rahi oh so loved to use. Based on her own personal experience they would brand her a monster and attempt to take her down, those that did so soon learned the very permanent and painful lesson of what happened to those that would dare challenge a toa of water.

Helryx stopped with a jerk, her left foot sinking into the boggy ground with a squelch. She looked down, her eyes narrowing in annoyance as she looked at her leg slowly sinking into the depths, crossing this quagmire unaided would be impossible. The Toa let out a barely audible growl as she practically ripped her foot from the sludge and took a couple of steps back, she then lifted her hand and the bog before her seemingly quivered as if it had come alive. great mounds of earth and peat were shifted using the vast quantities of water, until a pathway made out of syrupy mud stretched before her, then with a flick of her wrist there was a strange gurgling sound as the water was extracted from the earth, rising up through the air and then beginning to glow blue as it was absorbed directly by the Toa, turning the walkway dry and firm and absorbing the water into her own reserves of power, replenishing the exertion of having to swim across a sea. The toa nodded almost imperceptibly at her own handiwork before setting forth along the now paved bog, the ground now firm enough to take her weight

As she walked she spent most of her time mentally cataloging the scant information she had to hand, then filling the rest in using her vast prior experience, all the while keeping a lookout for potential leads. Those griffons said the human had headed north along one of the main rivers, so she would trek inland until she reached it, from then on following it wouldn’t be too difficult, Humans had a habit of leaving a wake of chaos wherever they travelled.

Quite suddenly she found her senses snapping into focus, and she got the distinct feeling that she was being watched, she was past being so rattled by signs that had saved her in the past. She stopped, sweeping her mace across the bog which stretched out before her for miles, her vision following along and looking for any threats.

“If you’re looking for an easy meal, you shall be sorely disappointed” she called out, her voice having the odd quality of sounding youthful yet aged all at once “I don’t go down easily, and should you somehow win, you will find that I don’t taste all that good, either” for the longest time nothing happened, and Helryx almost prepared herself to keep on walking as if nothing had happened. Then a foul looking rahi sprang forth from the bog, a weird abomination that looked much like a changeling with tentacles sprouting from its back, truthfully Helryx didn’t much care for the specifics of what it was, she had already wasted enough time as it was. She all but rolled her eyes as she lifted her left hand and drew it back with a flick of the wrist, the creature ceasing its cacophony abruptly as its blood was suddenly and rather violently ripped out of every orifice. Helryx suspended the orb of life essence even as the exsanguinated husk collapsed without a sound, then let it shower down onto the ground, extracting and purifying the water contained within blood was more taxing than it was worth from the usable moisture it yielded, so she let it serve another purpose, its scent would mark her as she walked through the puddle, serving as a warning to any other basal predators. And so it was that she continued on her journey, her footsteps now noticeably stained red and what little wildlife that surrounded her now deathly silent.

do these chapter titles even matter at this point?

Rather than immediately opening the music box I turned it over in my hands for a solid minute, mentally debating whether to go through with what I had in mind. Eventually I sighed and tossed the music box up into the air and caught it, pocketing it as I made my way back inside, hunting around in the dark for a few select items and returning to the balcony once more when I had gathered them. I took a small wooden tablet, resting up upon my crossed legs as I went about readying the letter that I had chosen to write out, then when I was ready to write I waited some more, thinking on how to word this letter, before eventually putting pen to paper.

Princess Twilight Sparkle, sovereign of the Ponyville Province of Equestria*

I have no misconceptions about how you will feel reading these words, which is why I have opted to write instead of attempting to communicate with you through more direct methods as before. It will also allow me to perhaps explain my actions better than speaking in person would allow.

I will first wholeheartedly apologise for my actions towards yourself, I have no excuse that could even begin to justify my decorum, save that it was entirely caused by fear and desperation brought about by the situation at hand, and for that I would humbly offer aid to yourself in future matters in any way possible, though I wouldn’t blame you if you instead opted to file a restraining order against me**.
If it does make you feel better I came out of the sorry incident an arm and an eye lesser for it, so I suppose that’s Karma.

I never wished for things to unfold as they did, and in many ways I feel as though I have been thrust into a situation where no matter what direction I travel it will only make things worse and had I the option to give up this power and live in some secluded spot away from this maddening world I would gladly do so.

Not sure if I’ll ever understand my place in this world.
Onælan.

*I will come clean and claim complete ignorance as to the correct form of your title, or indeed how it stands
**can a princess write restraining orders for themselves or do they need a court judge to do it for them?

P.s. do please send my regards to the other princesses, and tell them that I wish them prosperity after the events that were unfolding when I first met them.

With a sigh I placed the quill down and lifted the scroll, inspecting for any damp spots of ink. It had been a learning curve to make use of the quill, and I found it a struggle for much of the time compared to the more organised typing, but it was a necessary skill in this world. I was slow and methodical in wrapping up the scroll and binding it, and I held it in my hands for a while.

Octavia had explained to me that the binding was the spell that would send the scroll upon its merry way. It’s known among pony kind that dragons’ breath has the power to imbue magical spells, and this system worked in a similar manner, the intent and action of the spell is woven into the flammable yet stable fabric of the binding, and that spell lays inert until such a time as the binding is ignited. Upon ignition two secondary spells would activate, the first protects the scroll from being scorched, whilst the second injects just a little bit of magic, stored in the fabric, into the flame, converting it from raw un-arcane fire to dragonfire and allowing the spell to be carried out to its completion.

I rose to my feet, holding the scroll in my hands as I looked out over the now sleeping city, then without a second thought I snapped my hand, igniting a flame that hovered just above my fingers. Touching the flame to the scroll binding I brought the scroll closer and muttered the name and location of the recipient before blowing, sending the scroll into the ether in a flash of green fire.

With that loose end tied up for the moment, I opted to retire for the night. Octavia stirred slightly as I crawled back under the covers, but only to pull me closer as sleep finally found me.

Puffs of ash rose from the ground, kicked up by Helryx as she walked through the site of a battlefield of not long past. Recent enough that some bodies had still remained, little more than charred husks. Two equine factions had fought against each other it seemed, and the defending side had triumphed...barely, but this mattered not to the ancient toa, she was in search of a very different quarry.

She had picked up the trail of the human some days previous and kios south of here, from the tracks they had been travelling with a small group, likely slaves, though one set of tracks in particular had stood out, it was familiar…

“Looking for something, old one?” a voice called, Helryx whirled around with her weapon raised and her command over the surrounding water a mere thought away. Facing her was a toa of air, young compared to her. Though he felt familiar, she regarded him with suspicion all the same.

“What’s it to you?” she asked simply

“I might have the answer to your questions” he replied, cryptically

“I seek a human” she said “he passed by this way, not so long ago” the toa of air hummed

“Yes, I travelled with them”

“You traveled with a human?” she parroted incredulously.

“As far as humans go, he certainly isn’t the worst” the toa said “he is Wrakjon now, granted the powers of fire by Fantasia” Helryx snorted.

“Believing in the gods of mortals now, are we?” she chided.

“I accept the Alicorn’s existence” he said, giving a shrug “the matter of what she is is debatable, but I acknowledge her existence, as should you. Regardless, the human is marked by her, and if her ways are anything to go by she will have big plans for him”

“And what do you make of these plans?” Helryx asked.

“In time they shall come to light, but for now he and the other wrakjon with him are just finding their feet” he said “the human is brash, quick to resort to less peaceful means, and often voicing ideas beyond his or anyone else's capabilities, but he is also a reserved sort, he doesn’t make small talk easily and if given the choice he will isolate himself, listening to strange music” that confused the Toa of water, in her experience Humans were simple savage barbarians, if what this toa of air was saying was true then this suggested a surprising amount of sophistication.

“Is he dangerous?” Helryx asked.

“No more than a young dragon” the toa responded “his heart is in the right place, he fears for what the Heimutian ruler might be doing to the people of the lands recently taken under its banner, but he is young and inexperienced, he uses his powers like a child testing its boundaries, and when he discovers his limits it can be...messy”

“Where did he go from here?” she asked.

“He was injured in this fight, badly, and he was taken captive by the attacking army along with those accompanying him” he explained “Last I heard they were headed for the capital of Heimutia” at this he jerked a thumb behind him, leading north, Helryx pondered this for a few moments, before nodding.

“Thank you, stranger, I will find my own way from here” she said.

“May Mata Nui guide you” came to toa of air’s reply, causing her to stop and turn around, regarding the toa with a dark, piercing gaze

“Mata Nui forsook our kind millenia ago” and with that she carried on, Only when she was out of earshot did Lesovikk voice his response.

“He never forsook us, we damned ourselves when we abandoned unity”

Author's Note

Revision log (01. 04. 2022): this chapter used to have a segment of some 2600 words that ultimately backed me into a creative corner, so it's been pruned to allow me to push the story forward

Stranger in a stange land

Oh! Hello there, I suspect you're wanting to know my story, young one. You're not the first, and I doubt you'll be the last.

Hmm, all these centuries later and people still want to know my story first hand. Well, you better order yourself a few drinks, this will take a while.

I suppose the best place to start my story would be at the beginning. Now, it might surprise you to know this, but before I ended up on Terra I was a simple electrician. Now, it sure as hell wasn’t glamorous, and it certainly didn’t pay well, but it served its purpose and helped me to pay the bills at my parents house (I sure as hell couldn’t afford my own place).

I was just on my way driving home from work after a job at a house in the more rural areas surrounding my old hometown, when what could only be described as a shimmering point of light appeared in the middle of the lane. Given the speed I was going and the suddenness with which it appeared I had to swerve to avoid it, all I can say is thank god it was a quiet country lane and not a busy road, else I would have surely hit another car or a pedestrian.

Making sure that my car wasn’t left in a stupid position obstructing the road I got out of the car. Now I don’t know what made me do this, but for some reason I decided to take my rucksack with me, maybe I figured I could use the camera inside to get a decent picture unless it suddenly decided to up and vanish, I don’t know. Regardless I got out of the car, rucksack slung over one shoulder, and cautiously made my way over. It was certainly somewhat surreal, picture a star in the night sky, only its point of light was about half a foot across and about 5 and a half foot off the ground.

“Blimey, that’s surreal...” I couldn’t help speaking aloud. Waking close to it I found myself...entranced, and as I drew closer I felt myself drawn to it, like a proverbial moth to a flame. Without realising it my right hand came up to touch it and a lightening-like tendril of white energy shot out to surround my arm, sending pain lancing through my body and causing me to shout out. Suddenly I felt a lurching sensation as I was pulled, or pushed, towards the pinpoint of light and my world went white, my body still wracked with pain.

When I came too again my mind felt heavy, like when you’ve just been woken up in the middle of a sleep cycle, I also felt like I had forgotten something very important like when you go to recall something only to draw a blank.

I was on the ground, face down in the dirt. And as I pushed myself up I saw what could best be described as a head up display flash into my field of vision. The bottom left showing my vital signs, such as a heart beat. In the top of my vision was a compass, with what appeared to be a locational identifier directly underneath it, currently reading “Area unknown”. To the right was what piqued my interest, what appeared to be a weapons loadout, currently reading “Flame Sword: unequipped".

Standing up to my full height I took the time to examine myself as best I could without a mirror, noting with some interest that the head up display seemed to fade out of view unless I concentrated on it. I was still clearly human, that much was certain. But I was adorned in armour, not like a full suit, but a main chest plate, with large singular plates on my arms and legs, all coloured a rich crimson, and scale-link protecting the more flexible areas, coloured orange, I couldn’t help but note with curiosity that I didn’t feel at all encumbered in such armour, as if it were merely a second skin. Acting on a hunch I reached up to my face and my hands came into contact with what seemed like a helmet or mask. Humming in thought I pulled it off, though the action felt...uncomfortable...as if I felt exposed or naked without it, pushing that thought aside I took the time to examine the mask (it was the term which seemed the most appropriate in my mind).

For the most part it was simplistic, a domed cranial plate with a vent at the top, where my mouth and nose was there was a raised grill, with a pronounced, almost jaw-like bridge connecting the grill to the cranial dome on each side. Where my cheeks were there was a recessed area featuring three prominent openings almost like great claw marks or even tribal paint below each eyehole.

I put the mask back on and the feeling of being exposed faded. reaching onto my back I felt the handle of something materialise in my grasp along with a weight which had a certain degree of comfortableness to it. Bringing whatever it was around I found myself gazing at what was undeniably a beautiful sword, with a blade about 4 and half feet long and crafted with the utmost care and devotion, turning it over I saw not a single imperfection, wrinkle, or blemish on its surface and somehow whoever crafted it had managed to insert a flame-pattern made from brass into the steel blade, with not one sign of a raised edge where the brass met steel along the mirror-polished finish f the blade, as if they had been forged from a solid ingot with the pattern already a part of the raw stock. Giving it a few test swings I noted that it didn’t feel at all heavy in my hand, in fact, holding it brought a newfound sense of completeness to my arm, as if it were simply an extension of myself.

Once again I got the strong feeling that I was forgetting something, like there was a...wall in my mind, but I had more important thing to focus on, like where in the world I was. Putting the sword away and glancing around I appeared to be in a dark forest surrounded on all sides by ancient gnarled trees, off to my left I could see my rucksack seemingly left haphazardly in the undergrowth.

Making my way over I hefted it up, noting with no small amount of curiosity that it felt much lighter, or perhaps I felt much stronger, opening it up and quickly rifling through I found that all my belonging were as they should be, though I once again felt the wall in my mind make itself known, as if something was deliberately preventing me from remembering something. I actually had to put a hand of to my temple and close my eyes in an attempt to subdue the feeling, until in time it faded seemingly of its own accord.

Shaking my head to focus my thoughts, I decided to pick a direction and walk in it. Eventually I settled on walking north, I had always preferred going north, for some reason it felt like...going home. For the better part of a day I walked through the forest, and I repeatedly found myself thanking the compass in the top of my vision as the meandering route which I had to take, often having to resort to crawling between trees and through bushes, meant I could have very easily gotten lost, however I soon found the forest to be thinning out and more light began to seep through. Eventually I came to a break in the forest, and from the edge of the trees I could see that it was evening, with the sun starting to sink low behind a quaint little town,

“At last!” I thought “looks like there’s civilisation afterall” Though in the back of my mind I felt trepidation, almost as if a voice was whispering in my mind to heed caution. However I pushed that to one side at the prospect of food, drink, and maybe a bed in which to rest from a day of crawling through a murky forest. Still, a cautious approach would not be unwise, it’s not every day that someone walks into town decked out like a knight bound for war. And with that, I cautiously stepped out of the clearing and made my way towards the town.

As I half crouched, half ran across the open field I spied a small building, painted bright red with ornate detail work, and made my way over in the hopes to use it to provide a sheltered lookout from where I could discretely scope out the town. I drew up to the side of the building and cautiously peered in, finding it empty I slowly made my way along the side of the building until I was close to the corner. I was just about to take a gander around the side of the building when I suddenly felt something cold and sharp press up against my throat.

“What’s this? An armour-clad warrior caught off his guard?” I heard a female voice with a typical American accent say quietly from just behind me, no small amount of smugness colouring her words. A part of me thought it was extremely unusual for someone, presumably law enforcement, to be carrying a blade, but I wasn’t going to voice such concerns when said blade was up against my throat, instead I raised my hands placatingly.

“I mean no ill intent, I promise you” I pleaded.

“and yet you come dressed as if for war and sneak around like a thief in the night” it wasn’t a question.

“I have no explanation for my attire, for I have no memory of obtaining it” I said “and my approach was merely out of caution as a result of said armour. It’s not exactly normal to go casually walking into town decked to the nines in crimson and orange armour, I wouldn’t want to cause a panic amongst the locals”

“So in short you have no justification” said the wielder of the blade.

“And you’re going to arrest me for simply being here?” I asked.

“I am if I feel you to be a threat to this town” and at that moment I felt the blade shift, accompanied by some unusual footsteps as whoever was wielding the blade came into view. Once she did my mind performed a record scratch.

Standing in front of me was not a police officer, or even some random knife wielding gang member, but an honest to god pegasus, about 4 feet tall, with a pure white coat & light blue mane & tail, adorned in golden armour and holding a small pike, whose blade was now pressed against my throat.

Now, there are no doubt some of you who will question my sanity considering said pegasus had a blade pressed against my throat, but I very quickly found any sense of seriousness about the whole situation abandoning me and I increasingly struggled to keep a straight face. A smile, turned into a smirk, and that smirk very quickly became a chuckle, which then turned into all out laughter. The pegasus looked exasperated.

“Have you gone completely mad?” she asked, looking me up and down, by which point I was practically rolling on the ground, unable to control my hysterical laughter. “Oh for celestia’s sake, we've got another loony”

I didn’t even see the butt of the pike get rammed into my face before my world went black.

Cold dark sells & bumpy train rides

When I woke up again I found myself in a dark & dingy cell, sitting up and looking around I could see that it was of a very simple construction. 4 walls, a single wooden door, and a paneless, barred window positioned high up, I swear I even saw a rat scampering around, but I couldn’t be sure through the gloom.

I then noted with some alarm that my armour and mask, along with my rucksack, was missing and I was dressed in what appeared to be a plain and ragged robe of some sort. Part of me was thankful that they had the common decency to allow me to keep my dignity intact, but another part of me didn’t feel any less naked without the armour.

I was stirred from my rather uncomfortable musings by the sound of footsteps approaching the cell, though I soon found that term to be inaccurate as I saw a metal shutter about halfway up the door move aside on the door and the pegasus that I had first encountered peered into the gloom, though this time around I didn’t find her appearance all that funny

“Good, you’re up” she said “had your fill of laughter, I take it?” I ignored her quip.

“My armour, mask, and rucksack” I said simply “where are they?”

“Under lock and key until I’m certain you can be trusted” she said “Quite frankly I’m hesitant to even give you back your armour and “mask”, but you needn't worry about anyone else touching your rucksack”

“What exactly can I do to prove I’m trustworthy?” I asked, touching the tips of my fingers and thumbs together tilting my head to one side to look at her “I’ve already told you I have no ill intent on this town, that much is still true despite the fact you assaulted me unprovoked, what cause have you got to keep me imprisoned-”

“Equestrian Royal Guard Guidelines, section 34, paragraph 2b” she said cutting me off and stamping a hoof against the door and causing an audible thunk “A guard may use any non-lethal forth they deem necessary to apprehend and contain an individual they feel is acting suspicious and may be a threat to the peace. Don’t go proclaiming your rights to me, you haven’t even given a name”

“Because you knocked me out” I shot back.

“Well go on, then” she said, a ghost of a smirk gracing her face “tell me what it is, I can’t exactly write “anorexic, mangey, chimpanzee” on my report, now can I?”

“My name is....” only to draw a blank, almost immediately the smirk on the face of the pegasus grew.

“As I thought” she a victorious tone to her voice, she apparently noticed my distressed expression “Aww, what’s the matter, upset that you’ve been caught out?”

“No, no” I said, waving a hand in her direction to quiet her. I gripped my knees to stop my hands from shaking “I can’t remember my own name, come to think of it, I can’t remember where the hell I’m from, I can’t remember anything...where the hell am I?” I felt myself spirally into a panic and I barely registered the clicking of a lock and squeak of the hinges as the cell door opened, then closed, and hoofsteps cautiously approached me. I saw a white hoof gently rest itself on my left knee, and I glanced up to see the pegasus studying my face, the smirk gone and in its place concern marred her features, a small part of my mind noted that her face was surprisingly human, it was almost weird.

“Hey, calm down, alright? Deep breaths, big fella” she said, a small part of me noticed her voice taking on a twanging accent, similar to the type spoken in southwest England “I don’t wanna have to call psych-personnel over if you have a breakdown, OK?" I clenched my jaw and forced myself to take in a deep breath. She softly tapped my leg and nodded, humming in encouragement until she was certain I had calmed down

“There we go” she said, before sitting down and slowly taking her helmet off, almost as soon as it left her head the white coat and blue hair begin to disappear, rolling across her body like a wave to be replaced by a burnt-orange coat with a multi-toned maroon mane and tail, the former of which cascaded to almost completely cover the left side of her face. her physical build changed as well, the armour appearing to fill out as she became noticeably stockier, meanwhile the tip of her snout as well as her hooves became highlighted a sort of tan colour. I couldn’t help but stare in amazement, she simply smiled and replied with “standard issue, the helmet is enchanted so that we all look alike. Now, let’s take this slowly, tell me everything you remember”

And so I did, I told her everything, from when I woke up in the forest, to when we first met.

“So...you can’t remember what happened before? Where you’re from?” she asked.

“Nothing concrete” I said, bringing a hand up to my forehead. “I get glimpses, like a dream that you soon forget after you wake up. Other than the fact I’m Human from the Nation of England. I’ve got nothing, it’s like a wall in my damned mind” I practically spat out the last part, the mental block was beginning to cause no small amount of frustration.

“I can tell you now that I have never heard of your species or your country” she said, I simply sighed, I’d thought as much considering I definitely didn’t remember seeing talking little horses with wings. “But I know of someone who might” that made me jerk my head up.

“Seriously?” I asked, she simply needed as she put her armour back on, the enchantment once more turning her coat and hair white and blue.

“Our leader, Princess Celestia” she said, making her way over to the door and unlocking it “she very old, and very wise, if anyone knows of your kind, it’s her” I expected her to simply leave, but instead she stood there, waiting for me. “Well, are you coming?”

“You mean I’m not going to stay locked up?” I asked. She rolled her eyes in response.

“You had a panic attack when I asked your name, I think we’ve established at this point that you aren’t a threat” she said “and she can’t exactly help you if you aren’t there in person”

“Well in that case then I’m going to need my things” I said “I’m not going to go outside practically naked” she slapped a hoof over her head in annoyance, and I swear I heard her mutter something about “prude highborns”.

“Alright, I’ll get your armour” she said, before her demeanor shifted to one of sternness and she pointed a hoof at me accusingly “but I’m watching you, if you try any funny business in canterlot, you’ll regret it”

“I don’t doubt it” was all I offered in response before she disappeared, locking the cell behind her. She soon returned, bringing my belonging on a cart, and then left once again to grant me some privacy. Soon I was once more wearing my armour and mask, and feeling all the more relaxed for it. Instinctively I once more rifled through my rucksack, and was pleased to see that everything was as it should be, seems I could trust this one pegasus at the very least, but this “Princess Celestia”...only time would tell if they were someone worth trusting. My memories might be gone, but one thing that I knew was unchanged was my wariness of strangers.

I walked over to the door and knocked on it, being rewarded by the satisfying click of the lock and the squeak of the hinges as it opened to reveal the pegasus, now devoid of her full armour and dressed in something more slimmed down, revealing the mark of an autumn leaf surrounded by a metal shield emblazoned on her thighs. Gone was the slightly cocky bravado of before, replaced by a calculating and stern demeanor.

"I'm off patrol-duty now" she explained upon catching my look "but I still gotta keep an eye on you, so I've gone for something a bit more comfortable that still offers some protection. The name's Autumn, by the way, Autumn skies"

"Not sure how effective an armour solid gold is" I said as she began leading me out of the guard outpost. "if anything it seems like it'd be more of a hindrance, being so heavy and soft, especially if you can apparently fly"

"It's only gold plated" she said "it's actually some sort of high grade metal...which I forget the name of" when we exited the outpost I was left stunned at the sheer diversity of not only people, but the colours of them as well. all were small horses, similar in size to Autumn, though she seemed to be a bit on the small and stocky side. They varied from stockily built and unextraordinary in shape, to lithe pegasi, to regal unicorns. but one thing thing united them all was their vibrance and diversity of colour, grab a colour palette, pick a random colour, chances are that colour would be present somewhere on one of these creatures. And every single one had that same human-like intelligence in their large eyes.

"you really aren't from around here" I heard her say.

"Really?" I asked, feeling a bout of sarcasm coming along "I hadn't realised with all the miniature horses walking about when I'm the only bloody ape!" my outburst prompted a number of passers by to stop and stare. Autumn turned to look at me with incredulity before she proceeded to take off into a hover and then fly around me to push me on my way, ignoring my confused protests.

"Nothing to see here! just an idiot tourist" she called, giving a nervous chuckle, before I felt her lean in and speak to me through gritted teeth "word of advice to keep you from getting decked, never call us horses" she didn't stop pushing until we reached the station, at which point she hastily ordered tickets for the next train. after a few minutes of us standing in tense silence I finally plucked up the courage to ask.

"H...how much of a fubar did I commit back there?" I asked, her eyes practically bugged in responce.

"Are you joking?" she asked, before spitting what I could only assume to be some foreign curse in what sounded like a celtic language "A-barth an Jowl a gyj! If Rainbow Dash or Thunderlane had just so happened to hear you they would have at the very least threatened to knock you three ways to sunday"

"I'm sorry?" I offered "I don't even know what the problem is with what I said, I literally only arrived here today!" Autumn proceeded to groan in frustration and face...hoof(?), then dragged the hoof down her face in an exaggerated manner before answering through gritted teeth, clearly trying to avoid getting heard by passers by.

"To call somepony a "whorse" is basically saying they get around like...a lot!"she explained, I very quickly put two and two together and proceeded to let out a string of curses in frustration at my own slipup. this prompted no small amount of amusement from Autumn. "colourful choice of language"

"You're one to talk" I retorted "what the hell was...whatever it was you said? A bath a jaw a git?" Autumn snorted and rolled her eyes.

"A-bath...an Jowl...a gyj" she repeated "it means..." she began rolling her hoof in a circle as if trying to reel the words forward like a fisherman "Pyth yw....By the spirit of chaos? something like that"

"You've lost me, but ok" I offered in response, eventually the train arrived, the fact it was steam powered was a novelty to me, and only once we were well under way did I let out a sigh of relief as I pulled my mask away, something which Autumn took note of.

“What’s wrong now?” she asked.

“Nothing” I said “I’m just not keen on crowds” I was referring to the not-to-inconsiderable amount of attention I had drawn to myself by my mere presence, she regarded me with an odd look.

“You wear all that armour, and yet a simple thing like crowds bugs you out?” she asked, resting her head on a hoof and watching the scenery go past

“My memory might be blocked, but I can assure you that where I’m from we don’t just go wondering about in suits of armour" I said "I feel like someone from several hundred years ago"

“About your memory” she began “you don’t seem to remember much about yourself, yet you seem to know bits and pieces about where you were from, care to fill me in on what you can remember?” I scratched the back of my head in thought.

“It’s difficult to think where to start” I said “I remember things to do with culture and world history easy enough, but any memories to do with my own life are just...gone” I glanced out the window, studying the passing countryside “so many of the things things I see seem familiar...Trees, hills, mountains, dales...but seeing it all together, as I am now, it’s completely unfamiliar to me”

“Dales?” she asked “now you’re starting to sound like one of the Yarvik Tyes from my home country, Trottinghamshire....come to think of it, your lilt isn’t too far off, though it’s rather watered down” I raised an eyebrow at that.

“Oh?” I asked “And where would you happen to hail from?”

“Westwards” she said with a shrug. I wrinkled my nose in confusion.

“As in...you’re from the west?”

“No, I live in a realm of Trottinghamshire that’s literally called Westwards” she corrected “I mean, yes, it’s in the west, but that’s its name”

“And what’s it like?” she brushed her hair back with a hoof as she hummed in thought.

“Cold, mountainous, windy” she summed up “It’s mostly just Pegasi living there, the Earth Ponies are to the east in Yarvik, and the Unicorns to the south” after this the conversation started to dry up and before long we had taken on a comfortable silence. Not content to simply sit in the quiet I opened up my rucksack and began rummaging through it, before fishing out my phone and a set of headphones. This caught the attention of the pegasus, who eyed it with curiosity

“What’s that?”

“It’s called a phone” I said “it’s used to talk to people for the most part, but it can also hold music, photos and movies”

“You can hold a library in that thing!?” she asked, her eyes widening.

“In a manner of speaking” looking through the phone, I noted with some frustration that all my personal details, anything that could have given clues as to my life, was meticulously scrubbed clean. “Whoever or whatever brought me here was damn meticulous, I’ll give them that, not a single scrap of a clue as to who I once wa-oh, hey! I’ve still got music!” and before the pegasus had a chance to even respond I had my headphones in my ears and began scrolling through the list. I once again felt irritation creep into my mind to find out that none of the songs looked familiar to me anymore...I had completely forgotten about them all. Acting on a whim I picked a song which seemed to stick out in my mind and relaxed further into my seat as the sound of an acoustic guitar finally provided a structured melody which blocked out the background noise and gave me time to focus my chaotic thoughts.

As the song ended I felt a sense of purpose creep into my mind.

“Whatever brought me here did so for a reason” I thought, studying my reflection in the window “why else would I be given this armour? Somehow I don’t get the impression that I was sent here for a sinister purpose, which means that I’m here because I can somehow make a difference. It probably won’t be quite so simple as looking for a way to get sent back…” I continued to ponder this as we made our way towards this nation’s capital, and eventually myself and the pegasus, now once more fully adorned in her armour, found ourselves walking up the steps of the capital’s castle, festooned with all manner of ornate decorations, I couldn’t help but take a moment to stop and admire the architecture. I heard a chuckle and looked down to see Autumn with an amused look on her face.

“Yep...does that to just about everypony who sees it for the first time” she said “pick your jaw off of the floor and let’s go inside” I rolled my eyes before making my way past her and towards the guards who stood sentry at the front doors. At first they drew their pikes across the entrance when they saw me, only to lift them once again when Autumn proceeded to bark her name and rank.

As she me through the seemingly endless hallways I found myself turning my head this way and that to admire the stained glass windows, which appeared to depict various historical events.

As we entered the throne room I was taken aback to see no less than four ponies who had not only wings but horns as well. As we drew closer I could hear them talking, their voices laided with worry.

“....With no pegasi to control the weather, there will be no rain in Equestria.” said the tallest of the four, with a pure white coat and a rainbow-coloured mane & tail which appeared to flow as if suspended in water “And there is word he has gone after the earth ponies as well. Without their strength, they will not be able to tend the land.” I heard the pegasus to the side of me gasped in shock, though I just looked from the four winged unicorns to the pegasus and back in confusion, feeling like something really important had just flown right over my head.

“Ponies will no longer be in control of their world” said the second tallest, dark blue with a mane and tail that resembled the night sky itself “That power will belong solely to Tirek!”

“There is no doubt that Tirek is after Alicorn magic.” Said the white one once more “With Discord by his side, we will not be able to stop him from taking it”

“Once it is in his possession his power will know no bounds and all all hope will be lost”

But...there is one solution” the white one said with certainty in her voice, and as one three of a winged pegasi, called Alicorns apparently, flew down from a dias towards the smallest of the four, who was coloured in various shades of purple. “It is only by making this sacrifice that equestria and the lands beyond it might be saved…” she paused and closed her eyes, as if deep in thought, before finally opening them, determination showing on her features.

“We must rid ourselves of our magic, before Tirek has the chance to steal it from us!”

Author's Note

Chapter heavily edited as of 11/04/2019, wanted to redo a couple things to preemptively avoid a few plot holes later in the story.

also managed to knock together a basic reference for Autumn Skies

it's more of a loose reference than anything else, it's by no means an exact representation.

she's of the westward folk, that means she's more adapted to living on cliff sides and mountains, so she's shorter (about 4ft, rather than 4'6) and heavier set (hence the exposed hooves) with larger wings than a typical pegasus.

Ponies of strength, ponies of Teeside

We left Autumn’s home not long after, Tarn had made use of the time we were staying there to tinker with the spares I had obtained, hell, I even got to get my hands dirty helping out, which expanded my knowledge of steam engines from purely theoretical to practical experience. I was even able to make use of a workshop that was located in the town to make a new screw wound reverser which was much more precise than the lever-type reverser it had already been using.

As a way of thanks for ridding the town of the dragon, some local armour smiths had repurposed some of the smaller dragon scales to make me a shield, apparently dragon skin had some inherent magic which made it stronger than the strongest steel. They even had some unicorns enchant it to change its colour to match my own armour. Admittedly I had been dubious about just how durable dragon scales were until Alee had proceeded to unleash a volley of blows on in with her swords...point proven.

Cut to a week later and we were now well inside the realm of Yarvik and well our way to the region’s capital, Tee’s Side, looming mountains and deep canyon rivers had given way to rolling hills and dales which, much like the region's name, brought to mind whispers of memories of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire back home, indeed like the aforementioned counties the folks here spoke in distinctive thick accents, greatly influenced by centuries of on-off skirmishes with nordic-like griffon raiders from the eastern continent. I thought I had a good grasp on a Yorkshire dialect, whoo-boy was I wrong. I’d had to rely on Autumn to translate, much to my own aggravation.

I was also surprised at just how big the ponies here were...well I say ponies, they were absolutely in the realm of horses, though they still had cutie marks funnily enough, some of them made Celestia look short in comparison, and they were built like brick shithouses to boot, which wasn’t all that surprising when you consider that the staple trade of this area was mining, mining and more mining, also steelworking.

I also very quickly learned why the tykes had a reputation for being...rude...

By god were they crass as all hell, the way some of them went on you can forget making a prostitute blush, they could make a pornstar faint with embarrassment, although I did have a little number up my sleeve which I was secretly have Tarn teach me to play which would hopefully one up them

On the subject of my training meanwhile, no sooner had we left Autumn’s birth-home than Alee had began sparring with me, making use of the wide and open front of the boat to make a perfect spot to teaching me the basics. One thing that soon became apparent was that Alee was much better suited as a general teacher for fighting with a blade, pirate she may be, but one thing she had picked up as a pirate was a tome on sword fighting, which covered all the different styles. So, although Autumn was an accomplished combatant, even by Alee’s reckoning, she was too rigid in her form, those little hoof mounted switch blades she wielded, she only knew how to ward off different styles, not how to adapt her own techniques for it to translate across to training someone in those styles.

Alee’s use of magic also allowed her to adapt her own style to better train me through the basis, she could wield her sword higher than she would if fighting her own kind so as to give me a more preferable stance, rather than constantly having to swing down on my strikes Alee could shake it up, coming at me from an angle that most humans would struggle to achieve.

“It’s to get yew familiar with different races of opponent” she had told me, and true enough the races I would potentially be fighting were varied indeed. Sythians, minotaurs, drakes, all races I would potentially fight who had a similar stature to my own, though they each had very different styles. And then there were other less orthodox methods, Nagas; snake like cousin’s of the dragon, who had no legs but four arms which were structured more like the tail of a snake, were notorious for unleashing an ungodly whirlwind of blades, teeth, and scales, she had launched me off clear off the boat and well onto the river bank when she’d shaped her own magic aura into a representation of one of those demons and made me spar with it.

Which brings me to now.

“Block high!”

Our blades met with the spitting of sparks as they locked, we had been sparring for the better part of an entire morning whilst Octavia and Vinyl had trotted ahead to scout out Tee’s Side to gauge what it would be like and whether there would be any potential issues.

I felt the pressure against my blade increase, bringing my mind back to the present, and Alee smirked.

“Come on, monkey boy, focus!” she said, I pulled my blade back and swung it back around from underneath, only for her to bring her own sword down to block me, though she seemed genuinely impressed “Good...so yew can learn...well, come on them. What’s yer next move, and fer gods’ sakes don’t pull yer attacks, ah’m not going to shatter to moment yew touch meh” feeling particularly bold I struck out with my left leg, aiming to clock her in the neck with my shin, though before I could even realise what I was doing I instinctively hesitated, not wanting to wish her harm.

Alee snorted as she ducked, grabbed my outstretched leg and used it to tip me off balance, sending me sprawling on my back. Before I had a chance to get back up the tip of her sword was pressed against her neck.

“And that’s yer head” she said, looking less than pleased “Yew need to stop holding back, I know yer mindful of how yew apply yer strength, but I’m not weak by anyone’s standards, yew needent worry about hurting mey, and if yew do, ah can still walk it off” She then pulled the blade back, flipped it around and rammed the hilt into my forhead, stunning me. “there’s some motivation for you!” Autumn, who had been half watching from a perch on the roof of the Defiance’s cabin up until this point, suddenly perked up and shouted out

“Hey, what the bloody hell are you doing!?” she asked, the shark-like kelpie ignored her.

“From now on every time yew hesitate, it’ll be a bruise somewhere on yer body” Alee said, before holding out a hoof, which I begrudgingly accepted.

“Were you trying to bruise me or give me a bloody concussion?” I asked, rubbing my forehead in the spot where she’d hit me as she heaved me up, when I pulled my hand away I discovered that she’d actually broke the skin, creating a small cut which bled slightly.

“Walk it off, yew mewling quim, you’ll be facing far worse on the road to Germaney” she said, before striking me in the backside with the flat of her blade, making me stumble forwards with a yelp “now gow on, we’ve been sparring all mornin, have yerself a breather”

“Wait, what do you mean worse?” I asked, walking over to a bench placed to one side of the cabin door and sitting down, continuing to hold a hand to my forehead.

“Oh, that’s easy” Autumn said, jumping down from the roof of the cabin, a ghost of a smirk on her face “The fauna between here and Heimut aren’t the nicest. There’s sabre toothed cats, short faced bears…”

“Hydras, wyverns” cut in Alee “chimeras, feral equines”

“Feral Equines?” I asked.

“Oh yeah” the kelpie said, nodding enthusiastically, before looking off to one side with a cheeky smirk and tapping her chin with a clawed hoof in the manner one does when pretending to be thinking back about something “supposedly the descendents of the cursed bastard of spring of ponies and dragons. Round about yer hight, they have great big scales running along their back and chest, they also have nasty hooves which split into three claws...oh, and they may or may not breath fire” I deadpanned.

“If you’re trying to scare me, it isn’t working” I said, conjuring a ball of fire in the palm of my hand “fire is my element” Alee’s expression dropped to a sulk.

“Daineann dia duit, moncaí!” she spat “Yer no fun”

“Ní bheidh sé a thuiscint tú, ach is féidir liom!” A female voice called from the back of the boat, and it took me a moment to realise it was Tarn, for one her usually soft voice was gone and replaced with a harsh tone “Gheobhaidh tú cúnamh an asal an chéad uair eile!” Alee recoiled in surprise as if struck, before her head dropped, a dark smile coming over her as one of her eyes twitched in annoyance.

“Damn river folk, I forgot kobalds tend to get around” she muttered, before walking to the side of the boat “ah’m off fer a swim, ah need to clear mah head” and with that she leapt into the river, producing a small splash as she began swimming upstream.

“I tell you” I said to Autumn, watching her wake disappear around a bend in the river “That mare is hard to read, one minute she’s as serious as a priest at a funeral...the next she’s cracking jokes, I swear she’s giving me tonal whiplash” Autumn frowned, as she walked over, reared up using the bench for support, and moved my hand out of the way with a hoof, examining the cut on my forehead.

“I don’t fully trust her, she sets me on edge” she said, before catching my raised eyebrow and adding “not because she eats meat, you twit, I’m not specist like that”

“Could have fooled me the way you go on about me being a “predator species”, whatever the fuck that means” I said, before hissing as she tentatively touched the cut with a hoof.

“With you it’s different, and there’s a whole lot of other folks out there who are worse than me. If I were being prejudice I’d be doing a whole lot worse, and I certainly wouldn’t be paying what she just did any heed” she shot back, before lightly hitting me in the arm and dropping down “you’re fine by the way, quit making a fuss”

“I wonder” I muttered, fishing out a book from my shoulder bag which had been lying on the bench. It was a book on magic, specifically verbal griffin magics, I’ll admit my first thought when I flicked through was “great, real life dovah” alas no, I would not be running around shouting Fus Roh Dah towards my enemies, about the only similarity was that it could be shouted, though that wasn’t a prerequisite either. Could be said in any manner the caster required. This system used what I could only guess was ancient norse, and its structure system often had a leading word which specified the mature of the spell, with all words which followed specifying the specific spell.

“Try not to blow up the boat this time” Autumn said, noticing me flicking through the spell book and cautiously backing away.

“It’d be a hell of a fucking trick to blow this ship up using a healing spell” I muttered, before finally finding the spell I was looking for, just a simple healing spell “Hu...Huggan Skathi?” as I cast the spell I waved my hand over my forehead, directing the magic to the afflicted area. Almost immediately I felt a cooling sensation, and the pain receded, when I hesitantly prodded where the cut used to be I found it had healed perfectly.

“Great, you didn’t botch it” Autumn said, taking flight and landing on the roof of the boat’s cabin before settling into a laid down position “At this rate you might be able to cast a stable levitation spell. Just do me a favour and practice levitating when I’m not around”

“Watch it, Autumn” I said, looking up at her “Keep talking like that and I might just start learning weather magic to call down a lightning bolt on you” Autumn let out an audible, sarcastic laugh at that.

“Ha, you do realise you’re talking to a species that can manipulate the weather, right?” she asked, at which point my mind decided to perform a mental reboot as yet another ridiculous and fantastical aspect of this world became known to me.

“Uuuuuh…” I said, intelligently “What?” all things considered Autumn’s response was perfectly reasonable for the situation of encountering someone who up until this point had been silently oblivious to a fact considered common knowledge…

She proceeded to faceplant the roof of the cabin...hard. She then slowly extricated her face, when seemed to stretch to a cartoonish degree, from the roof

“Please tell me you aren’t that fucking dense” she said, practically seething.

“I come from a world where my kind is the only intelligent species, remember?” I asked “there’s no magic, no flying, no...whatever cantrip all the other races tend to have. So you could do with cutting me some slack in this regard”

“Fat chance of that, you’ve had every chance to notice the weather patrols doing their work up until now” she retorted, before muttering, punctuated by an eyeroll “Next you’re going to tell me the sun moves by itself”

I stared at Autumn owlishly, before responding, eyes narrowed

“The sun doesn’t move, the earth orbits the sun” the resulting eye twitch Autumn began to suffer from told me everything I needed to know, and I proceeded to jump up, turn around to face her and throw my arms up in the air dramatically “Oh fuck it, I give up on this fucking planet”

“That’s a tad excessive” Autumn said, regarding me with a sideways glance.

“Nope, fuck this backwards ass planet, fuck your senseless logic, fuck your magic, fuck your flying” I said, before levelling a finger at her “Fuck you, and most importantly fuck Fantasia for dragging me across dimensions to this world that makes no sense” it was right as I mentioned Fantasia that Autumn proceeded to go several shades paler and begin staring off to one side. I felt a pit of dread rising in my stomach as my shoulders sagged and I cautiously turned to find the aforementioned god stood off to one side watching me with what could best be described as a shit eating grin.

“I’m flattered, but there is a time and a place” she said smugly.

“Of course you’d choose that moment to be listening in” I said, sitting back down on the bench “that aside, it’s about time you showed up again. Though is there any particular reason why?”

“Can’t an immortal simply descend from upon high to visit her chosen warriors with no real reason?” she asked, a mischievous grin lighting up her face.

“Yeah...last time you showed up you made him a bloody warlock” Autumn cut in “so even I’m put on edge by your sudden appearance”

“If you must know” she said, ruffling her wings “I came to hopefully provide some insight into the additions to your little group”

“They won’t be the only ones, will they?” I asked, guessing where she was going, at which she nodded, for a split second I could have sworn she looked...sheepish, apologetic?

“You would be correct” she said “I cannot restore an ancient order of guardians with four rag tag individuals. In their hayday there used to be some 50 active, but I think for our immediate purposes...12 will suffice, in two teams of 6. Autumn, you already have Octavia and Vinyl to your team, and Onælan you have Alee and Tarn”

“When will Tarn and Alee gain their powers?” I asked “and for that matter what will their powers be?” at this she giggled and...petted me on the forehead with a wing...talk about emasculating.

“Now now, focus not on the end goal, it’s the journey that matters” she said “but soon, very soon, Tarn is showing promise, but Alee has yet to prove herself, I gave you four powers from the start as a nudge, but those in turn who join your company will each have the chance to prove themselves and be rewarded for their efforts.” she then looked at me specifically “as for you, keep striving to protect those around you as you have done twice so far and I might just reward you for your efforts with some of your old memories”

“Are you going to give my name back to me?” I asked, at which she raised an eyebrow.

“Do not be so presumptuous” she said.“if you must know I have a very specific reason for keeping your name”

“And that would be?” I asked , raising an eyebrow.

“When it comes to old magic, words have power, names have power” she explained. “For someone as unique as you I could not risk it”

“Of course” Autumn said, her voice oozing with realisation “Zebra magics, they can kill somepony simply by weaving their name into the right rhyme. But if that’s the case…”

“Why didn’t you do the same with everyone else?” I asked.

“Everyone else has families, and in some cases rather significant ties as a result” Fantasia said, before focussing on me “you do not. To go sifting through every single record of Octavia to erase her name from existence...that is something that is beyond even my power” her form then began to shimmer, signalling that she would be leaving once more “Oh, before I go, one more thing…”

“Yes?” I asked, raising an eyebrow

“I know about you and Octavia, and Tarn” she said, levelling a deadpan look at me that told me she was less than impressed “do try not to reproduce whilst you’re travelling, having to raise a child whilst protecting the world is no fun for anyone” and with that she disappeared, leaving me flustered, not to mention bewildered.

“Cockblocked by a god” I muttered, pulling a canteen of water out of my shoulder bag and taking a gulp from it “That’s certainly a first…”

We continued to make due progress towards the realm’s capital, we even caught up with Octavia and Vinyl, who were in the process of galloping back to find us.

“Alee swam off in a huff a few hours back” I explained when Vinyl asked about her absence “You didn’t happen to see her, did you?” Octavia shook her head

“No” she said “though she might well have seen us and swam along the bottom of the river so as not to attract our attention”

“Great” I muttered “The last thing we need is a kelpie gone-” I was cut off as the water to the left of the boat exploded and a form shot skyward. The thudding of hooves on woodwork announced Alees sudden arrival as she landed, panting, with a rather large fish in her mouth, she spat it out and looked up at me, a soft frown on her face

“Ah brought meat for the two of us, Onælan” she said, before adding “Tarn tew if she’s in the mood” and with that she picked the fish up with her magic and began carrying it into the cabin of the boat.

“Alee, wait-” I began, but she snapped her head around to look at me.

“What?” she barked “Did yew think ah was just gonna swim off and leave the lot of yews after a simple scrat?” I was taken aback by her outburst.

“Uhh...No” Was all I said “Actually I was just going to thank you for the fish…” almost immediatly Alee’s face flashed through a range of emotions, before she settled upon a scowl and scoffed.

“Whatever” she muttered, before turning around and walking inside the cabin “Ahm gunna go gut a fish…” and she left me feeling, for lack of a better word...wounded.

That evening we docked in Tees Side, as we walked our ways through the dockside I found my head was perpetually on a swivel, no matter where you looked I could see all kinds of races working on and around many a great ship, both river and ocean going, all of them hard at work shifting crates of fish, unloading minerals like coal and ore with great dragline buckets, and all the while the workers sang various songs and shanties to keep them moving to a beat. For someone like me who was intrigued by industry it was fascinating, I had stopped for a moment to watch some griffins unloading an ore boat when I heard Autumn calling my name.

“Come on, Onælan!” she called, the rest of the group were now some distance away “Or should I start calling you ore-head from now on?”

“Says the Wrakjon of Iron!” I retorted jogging to catch “speaking of which, I haven’t seen much of your powers, or any of yours” I looked at Autumn, Octavia, and Vinyl in turn as we spoke. The latter was the first to respond.

“I’ve got sound powers alright, just haven’t had much chance to make use of them”

“Remember, dear, Iron or gravity isn’t as direct as fire” Octavia said “give us time to figure our own powers out”

“All you have to do is point and shoot, Guardian of ash, it’s not that simple for me” Autumn snarked, before looking at the ground under her and lifting her hooves one by one, a look of perplexion on her face “All I’ve got is a sense of things beneath the ground...I think I can sense ore seams running through the earth...”

“Well, next time way wanna forge ourselves a wicked blade, way’ll let yew know” Alee said, rolling her eyes. “Though it makes may wonder if ah’ll end up with powers. Will ah be able to swim through the skies apon currents of air? Or perhaps bend the very mountains to mah will?” at this she pulled a pose, lifting a foreleg and flexing her bicep.

‘Oh you have no idea…’ I thought, though I doubted it would be something so ill-fitting of her biology as air or stone. The banterous tone we shared quickly faded about 10 minutes later when we entered the town proper and were presented with a scene of total chaos.

Store fronts and homes stood burning and raided, with many sizable holes in each building from where something had elected to barge through the walls instead of using the door.

“Weapons?” I asked, looking at Autumn as I readied my shield.

“Weapons” she nodded, a wave of energy rolling along her body and her own armour appeared as I drew my sword and summoned my mask, Vinyl and Octavia quickly followed her lead, whilst Alee levitated her double blades to bare and Tarn unshiefed her dagger, and with that we began running towards the sound of a commotion.

“You know” I said as we ran through the streets “just once I would like us to visit somewhere without having to deal with God knows what terrorising the locals”

“Fantasia’s watching us and laughing, I’m sure of it” Autumn said, letting out a mirthless laugh as we rounded a corner and came face to face with just one of the many creatures which were laying waste to this city.

Interlude: Never Meddle in the affairs of dragons... For you are crunchy and good with ketchup.

...I slid and rolled until I collided with what turned out to be a massive pile of gold, gems, and other medieval-age rich-people stuff. Talk about cliché.

"Honestly, I half expected you to put up more of a fight when I captured you," the dragoness commented, pausing as she dragged the Manticore carcass further into the cave. "That's what I get for finding such an unusual specimen. I've never seen, heard of, or smelled the likes of you before. Not that it matters: you'll do just fine for my purposes."

"Seriously, I only just showed up here, like, an hour ago, and I have no idea where I even am! Hell, far as I know, you and that Manticore shouldn't exist! I mean, I'm obviously not in Kansas anymore, but still!"

"Spare me the tall tales," the dragoness told me, her tone dismissive as she rolled her eyes with great exaggeration. "Now, prepare yourself: if you're lucky, in mere moments, the only thing you'll be feeling is oblivion."

"That, or disappointment." I replied, grabbing a handful of the priceless stash behind me. "Go ahead: flip that coin. Speaking of which...!" I hurled the handful of coins and other glittery debris in the direction of her face. She instinctively recoiled as some of the stuff bounced harmlessly off her snout, which gave me enough time to scramble onto the pile of treasure. I nabbed the hilt of a sword from the pile and yanked the whole thing up in a shower of valuables. Giving it a few brief test flourishes, I readied myself for the fight of my life.

"A foolish effort," the dragoness told me. "What do you plan to do with my favorite toothpick there; turn me into hors d'oeuvre?"

"I'll have you know, I'm one-eighth Norwegian...!" I said. "My ancestors were slaying dragons mightier than you in their sleep, back in the day...!" Blatant lies, those were, but she didn't know that.

"I thought you implied my kind didn't exist in... I believe you called your homeland 'Kansas,' yes?" The dragoness asked, creeping slowly forward with a malicious grin on her snout. She obviously believed she'd caught me in a lie, though I could only hope it was not the one I was currently feeding her. "If so, then how could your ancestors have done as you claim?"

"There used to be dragons," I explained, "but not anymore. It's been generations since anyone's seen a real, live dragon. Closest anyone gets would be going to see some of the bones we've got on display in some of our museums."

"Bastards!"

I never had a chance to react as she suddenly spun and slammed me with her tail, which sent me flying across the cave to slam into a wall. I may have blacked out for a couple seconds after the impact.

"Ya fookin' wot, mate?" I demanded in my best imitation-British accent, and stood up as my vision cleared. "I'll fookin' fight ya, ya daft cunt!"

I was immediately slammed against the wall again, held in place by one of the dragoness' giant claws as the sword clattered from my hands.

"I'm sorry," the dragoness said, with evident sarcasm and scorn, "I don't think I heard you over the smell of my people's blood on your hands. Care to repeat that for me?"

"Punish not the child for the sins of the fath--hrk!!" I was cut off mid sentence as she pressed hard on my torso.

"Oh, sorry, still didn't catch that. Care to try again...?"

"Do not... meddle... in the affairs of dragons..." I gasped, head drooping from the pain, "for you are crunchy, and... and good with ketchup."

"Better." The dragoness said, then looked to one side. There was the sound of fluid-filled glassware being abruptly -- and violently -- shifted into motion, and a stoppered Erlenmeyer flask arced into view. With a surprising deftness, the dragoness caught the fragile glass container and popped the cork out of the flask's neck.

"Wait...!" I gasped, holding out a hand. "Before you, uh, do whatever you're about to do... What's your name?"

The dragoness, with the flask already halfway to her lengthy snout, paused. With a curious eyebrow raised, she turned to impale me with her gaze. "Why do you care...?"

"I'd rather know your name, if I'm about to die or whatever, than go out in ignorance."

"Hah, little late for that...!" She snorted. "Fine. It's Gilraea. Happy?"

"Mmm. Good to hear it at least starts with a 'G'. At least some people's parents stick to the old ways..."

"What do you--" Gilraea stopped, blinked, then squinted at me. "You're stalling, aren't you...?"

"Not by intent," I admitted, "but, to be fair, it's only natural."

There was a brief pause, and then Gilraea spoke once more.

"Alright, then," she said, "since I let you ask me a question, I have a question for you."

"Yeah?"

"Die."

"Wait, that's not a ques--" I got no further before she slammed back the contents of the flask and exhaled some sort of thick, viscous gas all over me. I coughed and wheezed, struggling to breathe, but I could feel myself fading fast. Faster than should have been possible.

"That's because I don't make requests," I heard Gilraea say, and then everything went dark...

Infinity's Edge

Author's Note

the first in a series of little side scenes, this one in particular is a way of shouting out that "hey, someone else is writing a story within the same AU as me"

Me and Caldoric have been pretty close in our discussions of this AU and were I want things to go, so much so I'd consider him a co-creator of the Unity-Duty-Destiny-Harmony AU, and his story will cover "the other side" of events.

So go show him and his story some love