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