When the Silent Roam

When The Silent Roam.

Chapter 1 – A journey begins

Ponyville sat in its usual place. The usual citizens roamed around and mingled. Friends played in the ever green parks and relatives hugged relatives in rare, cherished meetings. The bakers baked delicious goods for all to enjoy and the writers wrote books that may line the shelves of libraries or stay as a personal memento. But, this meant nothing to Shuur ‘Makhanee right now. He was concentrating. Ten books floated in a circular fashion around him, each enveloped in a deep red field of energy.

His current magical mentor spoke, “Okay, that’s great. Now, try lifting twenty books.”

Shuur stretched out his mind, and doubled the amount of books he was currently floating. His hands grew brighter as he used more magic to grab the extra tomes. Each he studied with his Mind Eye ability, a power that allowed him to magically sense all around him. It let him see others magical fields and even if he was blinded, he could see all directions at once. It took awhile to get used to, but he adapted.

Twilight smiled, “Great! See, your already getting better at this. I remember when five books gave you trouble.”

Shuur smiled in return, “Those were the days, magic was so new to me. I could barely cast a beam spell, only when I attacked that green vengeful dragon did I really use one effectively.”

Shuur let his mind wander, the first time he figured out how to use his newly found powers; he was lying in a hospital bed. Right after he had… *Bonk*

“Gah!” cried Shuur in surprise.

The rest of the books followed suit from the first that had hit him. And each one that fell, Shuur’s confidence went with it. He could feel the want to continue slipping. He wasn’t very good with magic. He tried levitating, he failed, he tried illusions, he failed, and he wasn’t even good at using offensive spells. Sure, he would release the occasional beam or blast, but they left him drained and were almost never accurate.

Shuur surveyed the area around him with closed eyes, his mind eye ability allowed him to see everything at once. At least he had that right. His unusual ability was the only thing that kept him for giving up magical training. That and whenever he found himself trying to quit, Harmony would visit him in his sleep and scold him for giving up so easily.

“Aw, you were sooo close to.  Just a little longer and you would have beaten your old record.”

Twilight was always encouraging him to do better, another reason he did not simply give up. This entire magic thing was confusing and frustrating; he had trained his entire life! Learned how to pilot nearly every vehicle and use every weapon! Now he was having trouble keeping primitive books afloat.

“I believe I’m finished for the day Twilight, I need some rest and time to meditate on my learning’s.”

Shuur rose from his seated position on the floor. As he bent upwards, he felt his muscles cramp and tighten from sitting for hours on end trying to cast some

Twilight sighed, “Fine, you can go Shuur. But remember your book this time please.”

Shuur nodded and moved to the Library’s center table and picked up his book on the behavior of magic and some novice spells. Twilight had given the book to him a year ago. An entire year he had been training with Twilight, helping around at the Apple’s farm, taking care of the Cutie Mark Crusaders and simply becoming a well-known resident. He had repainted his home, added some furniture and had even invited guests for a bite to eat. He was a softy now a days. Just a year prior, the only ponies he would trust were the Cutie Mark Crusaders and he would kill other creatures without hesitation. But this planet, this country, had changed him. He trusted every pony, hesitated when he hunted for meat, and even gave up his armor and weapons for study at a Canterlot College. What was he becoming?

“Ahem, Shuur, you said you’d be going.” coughed Twilight.

Shuur blinked, realizing that he had been standing there with his magic book in hand.

“Ah, yes, thank you Twilight. See you tomorrow I suppose.”

“Alright, tomorrow it is. Bye Shuur.” Twilight waved as he exited her home and occupation.

As he left he looked up at the sky, it was covered in the dainty speckles of stars and a single solid full moon. Shuur sighed; it had been on a night like this he had figured that the rest of the Covenant would have found this world. Asked the ponies to join the covenant, let them advance throughout the ages. Now, he walked home with a book in one hand, and a fistful of air in the other. Thoughts of leaving this world seemed like a stupid idea now. Why would he want to? It was peaceful; he had friends and a home. Why was he so down in the dumps? Oh, that’s right; he would never see another of his kind again. Never have a child of his own or a mate that he loved. This place was like a paradise in prison.

Well sorry that you feel that way Shuur, but I’m afraid this planet simply doesn’t have the technology to even reach it’s moon.

Shuur was surprised; Harmony had never contacted him outside of his dreams other than the first time they ‘met’.

Which is why I reserve this kind of communication for emergencies. Get your rest Shuur, Twilight will receive a letter tomorrow that may change your life forever.

Before Shuur could enquire further, he felt her leave his mind. She was mysterious that way. He continued his solemn night march to his home, just meters away.

Once he reached the gate, an honest smile crossed his maw; he made this house a home. The small fence outside was a pearly white, the house itself had a base color of deep red, but not crimson. A small rug was placed just in front of the door, it stated ‘WELCOME’ sewn into the fabric. Shuur grabbed the doors brass handle and gave it a firm twist. The oak frame opened silently on its well-maintained hinges. He stepped inside, and let out a long breath. Home is where the heart is they say. This obviously meant his other one was still with the hopes the Covenant would find this world.

He snickered at his own terrible joke and walked upstairs. The floor boards no longer creaked under his weight as he had some new apparel, a long grey cloak to be exact. Of course, Rarity couldn’t make it plain; she added brass buttons up the middle and embroidery along the edges of the hood and sleeves. He really didn’t mind that terribly, it was just hat it made him look like he was going to some Canterlot college, not a noon day stroll or lessons with Twilight. Shuur made his way to his bedroom, opening the door and setting the book down on the dresser beside the door. Why was there a dresser? Because Rarity had also seen it fit to make a whole line of different clothes and cloaks for him, that’s why. She truly was an Element of Generosity, and she showed it every way possible.

He undid the buttons on the front, slid his arms out and threw the cloak to the floor, too tired to actually care. He literally fell into bed and covered himself up beneath the warm sheets. He stared at the ceiling, what had Harmony meant by a life changing letter? Or was it a changing letter that was alive? Perhaps it was… ZzZzZz…

(ஜ۩۞۩ஜ)

*Knock Knock Knock*

Shuur was shaken from his dark dreamless slumber by the door. He rose up from bed looking out the window to see he had over slept. Shuur retrieved his cloak and book, figuring it to be Twilight wondering why he was late. He hastily buttoned up the cloak with his telekinesis and ran down stairs to the door.

He grabbed the door handle and yanked it the door open, “Sorry Twilig…”

That was not Twilight. The Unicorn standing in front of him was a bright white and wore golden armor. A royal guard.

“Err, morning officer, something wrong?”

The Unicorn looked him over, “I take it your Shuur ‘Makhanee?” he asked, a tone dead of emotion, obviously a little more experienced.

“Yes I am, again, something wrong? I have lessons I am to-” Shuur never finished as the guard interrupted.

“That is why I’m here; Princess Celestia has asked that all the Element bearers are gathered, plus one.”

“Oh, well then, lead the way.”

The guard nodded, then began to trot towards the Library. Shuur followed without hesitation, if this was a Princess level of attention then he would never question to where he was lead.

The guard looked him over again, “You know, when the Princess said you were different, I thought she meant like a crazy or deranged pony, not an 8 foot tall lizard.”

Shuur cringed, “Saurian, actually. And I’m not just a different citizen, I’m alien, seems you didn’t get the memo.”

The guards eyes widened, “O-Oh, sorry sir, I just never thought…”

Shuur chuckled at the guard’s sudden change in mood.

“I am not your superior, and I don’t have any death beams if that’s what you think; I gave those all to college students.”

The guard seemed to calm down just a smidgen, “It’s required I say sir to a person of importance, that and you are slightly imposing; and college students? Isn’t that a bit dangerous?”

Shuur shrugged, “Both Princesses said that my donation was appreciated, so I assume that it is fine. Though yes, students just learning about this sort of thing and then messing with plasma batteries is a little dangerous, I’m sure they have teachers who know how to handle the situation.”

The guard was considerably more relaxed now, “Okay then, oh, we’re here.”

Shuur looked up, yep the Library. The guard stepped aside and Shuur went inside, wondering what it was that they needed his assistance with. What he found awaiting inside surprised him; both Princesses and all of his friends were present, each looking his way.

Celestia smiled, “Ah good, Shuur, you’re here. Now that everypony is present, let me explain why you’re all here.”

Shuur stepped alongside Twilight, eager to know what Harmony would have contacted him for.

“Well, everypony remembers when the… infected Six stated that he transported the Elements of Harmony all across Equestria?”

Celestia looked over them all, after confirming they remembered, she continued.

“Well, for a year now, we have had our best adventures and scouts scour Equestria, and they found something very disturbing.”

Shuur gulped, knowing what was coming next.

“They were only able to retrieve a single Element, Magic, the rest are truly spread across the planet.”

After Celestia finished, a chorus of gasps followed suit.

“But Princess Celestia” asked Twilight, “how are we supposed to protect Equestria if there are no Elements?”

Celestia smiled, “Well, since you all can’t wield magic that can defeat gods, I have decided to send you all on a journey to explore the rest of the world and find the remaining Elements.”

Shuur stood dumbstruck, a journey all across Equis? It couldn’t be done, well, not without some sort of fast mobile aircraft that didn’t require the winds guidance. And since the only air transport ponies had was a hot air balloon, he doubted this plans execution.

Twilight spoke for everypony’s silent mouths, “But princess, we don’t have any way to transport us all across the planet. That would require some sort of mobile air platform, which we haven’t developed.”

Luna smiled and stepped ahead, “Oh contraire Twilight Sparkle, thanks to the generous donations by a certain alien, we have developed an airship with special propelling technologies. And some other cool features as well.”

Shuur raised a brow, “How did my armor and weapons help with aircraft technology? Sangheili armor wasn’t developed for flight, even a ranger’s armor was made for the weightlessness of space.”

Luna kept up her smile, “We were having troubles with weight and durability. Your armor metal is light and tough, making it an excellent choice. But, we didn’t have a single metal like it, until I remembered something.”

She lifted the crown off her head using magic and held it in front of her.

“My regalia are made of Lunar Steel, a special metal only found on our moon. I had the two compared on a hunch, and the Unicorns magical tests turned up positive. After I personally went back to the moon for a period of time, I retrieved as much Lunar Steel as possible. The amount I dug up was enough for us to make a proper airship.”

Shuur was, to say the least, a little in denial. How could Princess Luna just up and go to the moon but not go around the planet and find the Elements? And what spell allowed them to test metals, that could be a useful in a couple of simulations Shuur made up.

“Well, that is the plan. Any questions?” questioned Celestia.

A single cyan hoof rose up.

“Yes Rainbow Dash, what is it?”

Rainbow smiled, “Okay, first of all, what color is it?”

Celestia smiled, “Its base color is blue, and the metal structures are deep blue from the Lunar Steels natural color as well as a few red stripes for added effect.”

Rainbow Dashes smile spread, “Soooo awesome!”

Celestia turned her focus to the group entirely, “Well if there are no further objections, the airship will be here in five hours to pick you all up. Please use this time to pack and say your good-bye’s.”

Celestia watched as the group dispersed. She didn’t like not giving them a choice, but with the rising hostility from the Griffins and the re-appearance of the Crystal Kingdom, Equestria was becoming a little too unstable without its main line of defence.

Luna sat down beside her sister, “You forgot to tell them I was coming.”

Celestia’s eye’s widened, “Oh dear, sorry Luna, I was distracted.”

Luna waved a hoof, “It’s nothing huge, I will tell them myself when they are ready to go.”

Celestia sighed, “This entire situation has me so worried. If we can’t find the Elements, Equestria is vulnerable to attack. We have no standing military; yes we have the Royal Guard, but there are no more of them than there are ponies in this town. That is nowhere near enough to defend a country, especially a country large and peaceful as Equestria.” Celestia

Luna wrapped a wing over her sister’s shoulder, “That is why we must not fail. Worry not sister, we have the most famous and powerful ponies in Equestria joining the Leviathans crew. Not to mention an alien who has wielded Harmony’s power directly, we shall return with the Elements and perhaps even new allies.”

Celestia smiled and leaned into the hug, “Your right, you won’t fail. You’re going so I don’t have to worry about their safety, and I know that Shuur has the ability to defend himself and others as well.”

“See, you’re already feeling better, we’ll be fine and maybe even come back with a few tales to tell.”

Celestia was nothing else than happy right now, her sister was right. They would be fine, they would return unharmed and with the Elements in their possession. The only reason Luna was going though was because of the slight chance they would meet other races, other tribes species beliefs, Luna would be a royal ambassador for Equestria while Celestia looked over the nation alone. Again. Though they had argued that Celestia should be the one to go, Luna insisted that she wasn’t ready to govern the country alone and that Celestia was still the major figure head. Celestia had cringed at her sisters thinking that Luna was still saw as the old day mare, even after three years of staying and learning modern Equestrian traditions.

A nudge removed Celestia from her wandering mind.

“Cely, are you alright?” asked Luna, “You seemed to be zoned out.”

Celestia shook her head to clear it out, “I’m fine, just reminiscing on events past.”

Luna nodded and stared off at the many books lining their shelves. Each sister sat in silence as they waited.

(ஜ۩۞۩ஜ)

…And waited, and waited.

“Ready!” called twilight from upstairs.

Both sisters turned their heads upward, one from a slumber, and the other from a book she had found in the library.

“Oh, Twilight, good to know. The airship will be here in an hour or so, you still have plenty of time.” said Celestia as she replaced the book.

Twilight let out a sigh of relief, “Good, it’s going to take a while to get all my bags downstairs.”

Luna raised an eyebrow, “Just how many bags do you have?”

Twilight lifted a disturbingly long list from behind her and began to read.

“Bag 1: Scrolls, quills, ink, extra ink, extra scrolls, extra quills.

Bag 2: Coat, rain coat, scarf-”

“Alright, I understand, just how many bags though?” interrupted Luna.

Twilight frowned but continued, “Well considering the circumstances, 7 large suitcases is packing a little light. Would you like me to pack more?”

“No, that’s quite enough.” answered Luna rather quickly. She had no desire to be packing Twilights entire house aboard the airship.

Twilight stored the list and began floating her first bag away from her room. Luna eye’s widened as it barely fit through the door. And she had seven others like this?

“T-Twilight, are you sure that all of those supplies are necessary? Surely you could do without seven suitcases full?” inquired Luna.

Twilight looked back, and then gave a sheepish grin, “Well, I suppose I could do without bag six and four, and maybe three.”

“Much better, now, shouldn’t you be saying your goodbyes? I’m sure that there are some ponies who would wish you well.”

Twilight scratched her chin, “Well there’s… no… then there’s… nah…”

Celestia looked a little concerned, “My dear Twilight, how many real friends have you made here?”

“Let’s see, there all of my best friends and they’re coming, spike asleep after helping me pack. So that leaves…” Twilight looked back at all the ponies she had met, she had really considered all of Ponyville her friends, but not such great friends that she would really need to say goodbye to.

She sighed, “I have plenty of friends, but none are really great enough friends that I need to personally say goodbye to.”

Celestia smiled, “That’s good to hear, I had almost thought you stay in the library for most of your time here. Being in-sociable is not a healthy lifestyle for a pony.”

Twilight nodded, “I know, it’s just hard to make good friends with everypony when you can’t break physics like Pinkie Pie.”

Both princesses chuckled at her jest, then Twilight continued to bring down bag one.

Luna stepped upstairs, “Need any help?”

Twilight looked rather surprised, “W-What? No, I’m fine princess, I can handle this.”

Luna waved a hoof, “I insist, now which bags are you taking?”

Twilight looked a little troubled but sighed in defeat. She pointed out the bags needed to be moved and Luna picked them up. Twilight picked up the remaining bag and headed out the door, she could only wonder how her friends were doing.

(ஜ۩۞۩ஜ)

“Ah’ll be fine Big Mac, stop yer blubberin’ and shape up! You need to take care of Granny Smith and little Applebloom while ahm gone.”

Big Macintosh nodded, wiped a tear from his eye gave Applejack a hug.

“Take care of yerself sis.” He said his usually monotone voice had a faint sadness to it.

Applejack returned the hug, “Ah will, you just focus ‘ere and we’ll be back before you know it.”

With that, Applejack threw on her saddle bags, bulging from to unusually large load they now carried. She started down the path to Ponyville and gave a final glance back. She saw the farm just like the first time she left while she was a youngin’. Big mac and Granny Smith sat out front, each with distressed looks, and a feeling that she would never see the old farm again. She puffed up her chest, strengthened her resolve and set out.

This was very important, if they didn’t find the Elements, then Equestria was defenseless. She saw the bigger picture; if she failed then there might not be a farm to come back to. If she came back at all. The stakes were high, they could be attacked by some vicious creature while on the journey, or maybe the ship would be damaged beyond repair. She didn’t know a whole lot about the flyin’ doohickey but she knew anything could break.

She then literally bumped into the side of the Library, not realizing that she was in town at all.

“Ow, okay so ahm here. Now what?” she asked to nopony in particular. She looked around, seeing she was the first, she wondered how the others fared.

(ஜ۩۞۩ஜ)

“And that that that, and those those those, and ooh, look at that I’ll take it.” sang Rarity in her best sing-song voice as she gathered the needed supplies.

Things such as extra materials, needles, hats coats scarfs, they were all coming. Rarity forced shut her fifth bag, chocked to the brim with materials and other trivial things she dubbed worthy of the trip. She looked over the pile of suitcases she had packed, just hoping that the ship had enough space for her bags. She would be another ten minutes or so; she wondered just how little Fluttershy was doing.

(ஜ۩۞۩ஜ)

Okay, so Angel only accepts a good salad, the feed for the chickens is in the shed just beside my house and the bird feed is on the shelf above it.” said Fluttershy, watching Carrot Top carefully write down notes.

“Okay, got it, you can trust me Fluttershy; there won’t be a thing different from when you left I can assure you.”

Fluttershy smiled, “Oh thank you so much Carrot Top, this means so much to me and on such short notice to.”

Carrot Top waved a hoof, “I got your back, don’t worry, I’m sure that being an Element of Harmony can be stressful.”

Fluttershy nodded, “It’s not that bad, but it can be a little stressful. Thanks again Carrot Top, I had better hurry, I wouldn’t want to upset any of my friends.”

Fluttershy turned around, adjusting the weight of her bloated saddlebags on her back with her wings. Carrot Top waved good bye as Fluttershy left for the Library, she saw a streak of rainbow cross the sky, and how was Rainbow Dash doing she wondered.

(ஜ۩۞۩ஜ)

Rainbow Dash soared towards the Library, she needed no baggage. She had everything that she needed at her immediate disposal. Wings, check, hooves, check, awesomeness… wait for it… check! She was prepped. On her way, she spotted Sugar Cube Corner, and wondered how Pinkie was doing.

(ஜ۩۞۩ஜ)

Pinkie Pie bounced around Sugar Cube Corner, she already had her bags stashed near the Library. Her Pinkie sense told her about a long trip near the Library, and so, had a saddle bag and a suitcase buried near the Library. She had said her good byes to the Cakes; shed a tear over not getting to see the baby Cakes again, and then grabbed a tray of freshly baked cupcakes for the road. She was on her way out when she noticed something she thought was a little under looked.

“Hey, you! Up there writing this! Why does RD have so little?”

If you had read it, you would see why. She’s awesome.

“Well if she awesome, then why so little?”

Just read it, this shouldn’t even be possible! Gah, I’m going nuts aren’t I?

“Aw, it isn’t so bad. At least reality won’t bother you so much!”

Let’s just move on, please?

“Fiiine, you’re no fun.”

I’m Human, you're literature, of course I’m no fun.

Pinkie just shrugged and bounced away in her own little fashion and her own direction. I say this because I really don’t have that much control over her.

(ஜ۩۞۩ஜ)

Shuur hobbled along the path to the Library, he had given up trying to pry Lyra from his leg about an hour ago. He had said his good byes to his new friends, Vinyl Scratch, Octavia, Carrot Top, the Cakes, then came Bon Bon and Lyra. After learning that he was going on an adventure, Lyra had begged Shuur to take her. After refusing multiple times she latched herself to his leg, he had tried removing the mint leech by means of both magic and physical strength. Lyra proved stronger than he expected and had held strong for all of the trials, if he really wanted to get rid of her it would require him to break her spine.

“Please take me with you!” she yelled up to the robed giant.

“no.”

“Please!”

“No.”

“PLEASE!”

“NO!!! For the last time Lyra, I have no desire to take you with us. If anything, you are putting yourself at risk, this trip could be dangerous.”

He looked down expecting to see her at least a little afraid; instead, she had the slightest twinkle in her eyes.

“I know! Imagine all the fun we could have, meeting all sorts of new animals, and the Sea Ponies!”

Shuur sighed, final chance, “Look, you’ll have to speak to the princesses about it, because you’re not getting my recommendation.”

“Okay then, onward mighty warrior! We have princesses that need to be talked to and far away land that need discovering!”

Shuur sighed, at least they were close. He could see Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity and Rainbow Dash all waiting outside the Library.

Rainbow looked his way, smiled and then fell over laughing. The others all gazed his way and joined in Rainbows fit of giggles. Shuur sighed, of course they would laugh, who wouldn’t get at least a giggle at the eight foot tall alien being harassed by a tiny minty green pony with a horn.

“Hahaha, laugh it up, would someone please assist in the removal of this minty annoyance.”

Applejack stopped for a moment, “And why haven’t you mister big and tough?”

Shuur groaned, lifted his leg, and gave it the hardest shaking he could manage. Lyra was sent flying back and forth at a speed of at least sixty kilometers per hour.

“Woawoawoawoawoawoawoa!” she cried, desperately clinging to his leg.

This only served to send the group back into a chorus of laughter. The Library door swung open, and four large suitcases were thrown outside.

Twilight popped her head out the front door, “What’s going on here? And Shuur, why *snicker* is Lyra attached to your leg?”

He sighed and lifted his leg for Lyra to speak, “I wanna come! And I’m not letting go until you let me.” she said, voice sturdy and unmoving.

“Please, for the sake of my sanity, remove this mint parasite from my leg!” Shuur pleaded.

Twilight was holding back snickers, but lit up her horn and teleported Lyra off his leg.

Shuur clutched the leg, feeling the circulation returning. “Thank you, I was beginning to feel numb.”

Twilight nodded, barely fighting off a case of the giggles. “It’s alright; Lyra overreacts about pretty much everything.”

Shuur smiled, “I know, you should have seen her when I told her about me giving away my armor. She couldn’t believe I had sent it to Canterlot and not her, Bon Bon was able to calm her down though.”

Twilight released a couple of giggles, “Really, just over your armor?”

“Yep.”

The sound of somepony clearing their throat made them all turn towards the Library.

“Ah, good to see you’re all ready; the airship will be here to pick you up shortly.” said Celestia.

“Also,” began Luna, “I have decided that I will join you on this journey. Should we encounter another tribe or sentient species, I will act as Equestria’s ambassador. If we do not, I can always try to keep us all safe from the dangers that no doubt await us.”

Twilight smiled a wide grin, “Great! Having a princess aboard will allow us to tackle challenges that would be too great for us alone.”

Celestia nodded, “And I will stay here to watch over Equestria, as usual, but also contact me if you require assistance. I will track Luna’s magic signature and teleport a regime of guards to help.”

The group agreed the plan was sound, and so began their wait for the airship. It wasn’t long before a certain rainbow maned somepony was tapping her hoof out of impatience.

“Aw, come on! Where is it!” shouted Rainbow Dash.

“Hush now Rainbow,” scolded Rarity, “the airship will be here when it gets here.”

Rainbow ‘harrumphed’ but otherwise obeyed.

They all sat about doing nothing other than twiddling hooves and playing with rolls of grass. After about ten minutes of doing so, a shadow cast itself over the group.

They all looked out towards the sun and found it covered by a huge black shape.

Luna stood, “Ah, there it is! Feast your eyes upon: The Leviathan.”

As she said so the ship moved away from the sun to reveal itself. They all gasped at its appearance. The huge craft loomed above them, its blue coat of paint a shade darker than the sky, making it stand out rather handsomely. It looked as if someone had taken a cruise ship and made it airworthy. It had a low swept hull and had two rather large flame spewing engines attached to the rear. The vessel made an odd humming noise as it passed overhead, engines roaring as they belched brilliant blue flames. The craft began to slow and make a right turn, a smaller engine mounted to the front left lit up, pushing it in the desired direction. They all saw the name imprinted by in pale white stencilled letters on its side.

Shuur searched the vessel, and found the engines were made of Lunar Steel.

“Princess Luna,” he asked, “Where is the rest of the Lunar steel? Surely there are other places than just the engine.”

She smiled, “Ah, Shuur, glad you asked. The crystal we have powering The Leviathan is called The Magna Crystal. The crystal was created by Starswirl the Bearded. He found out that if you took a crystal of high enough quality, you could supercharge it with self-renewing magical energy. This event unfortunately took his life, but he made a humongous breakthrough in the theory of crystal energy. Unfortunately, the crystal gave off much power to be used successfully, and so it was stored in a Canterlot vault. Upon the discovery that Lunar Steel could be used to successfully contain the crystals power immense power, we built an engine to draw the energy out.”

She looked among the group, “Does anyone know what a Pyre Crystal is?”

Twilight instantly raised her hoof, “A Pyre Crystal is a fire type crystal that can emit flame so long as it’s powered. Unfortunately, it emits flames in a propelled fashion, making it unworthy for basic heating.”

“Precisely, so the engines funnel the energy towards the packets of Pyre Crystal in the large engines to the rear, another reason they are made of Lunar Steel is the extreme heat. With those in place, we found the crystal had much, much more power to be used before it began to become unstable. So, studying Shuur’s armor further, we developed our own version of his shielding unit. The entire vessel is covered in a shield that will temporarily protect it from harm.”

Shuur was flabbergasted. Humans had made their own shields, some stronger than a Sangheili’s, but never to cover an entire craft. The ponies had simply studied his light Spec Op shields and come out with a ship wide shield. These ponies were geniuses!

Rainbow Dash raised a hoof, “How does it fly? I don’t see any wings or hot air balloon, so it has to do it somehow.”

“After we made the shielding unit, we still had plenty of power left over. The original design had wings, but after discovering that we had power to spare, we used Cloud Crystals to float it. And if you haven’t studied the effectiveness of Cloud Crystals, they are the reason that Canterlot has not crumbed off the side of the mountain it resides upon.” stated Luna in a matter of fact voice.

These Cloud Crystals reminded Shuur of the anti-gravity units used to float their huge ships into a planet's gravity field.

Luna turned around to the ship, which had just touched down and was opening a rear ramp.

“With the remaining power, we invested in lighting, and some weaponry.”

Twilight turned to face the princess, “Weapons? Like big crossbows and archers?”

Luna shook her head, “No, by studying Shuurs advanced weapons, we were able to replicate this plasma effect by using a special type of fire crystal called a Plasmass* Crystal. It literally masses together a ball of plasma in its core that can be fired, but only once, and then it must be replaced.”

(*Plaz-mass - a word I made up)

Shuur was once again, surprised. It was like an old artillery cannon, only instead, it fired plasma. Then he realized, this entire ship was possible because he donated his armor and weapons, ultimately it went back to Discord bringing him here. So in the end, Discord had foiled his own plan! Now that was actually rather funny.

As Shuur chuckled, Celestia looked his way, “What is so funny Shuur?”

“Nothing much, just that in the end, Discord foiled his own plan.”

Celestia thought about it, then snickered a bit to herself as well, “Yes, I suppose he did, didn’t he.”

Well, actually, if you wanted to get really technical, this entire event was possible because a tiny particle of matter exploded to fill in the space that is the universe today. But, back to the story.

An earth pony stepped out of The Leviathan, he had a thick black coat and a short cut grey mane, his cutie mark consisted of a wooden wheel, like that of a wooden sailing boat. He sported a white captain coat and a black brimmed hat.

“Well lassies, we best be off! Them Elements aren’t about to find themselves y’know.” He said, voice heavy with a Shetland Pony accent.

Luna looked his way, “Ah, Captain Coal Stack, good to see you too.”

“Aye princesses, a pleasure. Now can we go, I’m desperate to fly ‘er about a bit. I only got to take this beauty from Canterlot to ‘ere.”

Shuur raised a brow, “It can’t be that fast, it took you hours to reach here.”

Coal Stack smirked, “That was because we had to run over a system check and basic maintenance. We left from the dock about twenty minutes ago.”

That, again, surprised Shuur. Twenty minutes? He had been to Canterlot twice since he began his stay, and both trips took at least an hour by train. And this thing had made it in twenty minutes, he was impressed.

“Hah,” chuckled Coal Stack, “I can see that look on your face ya oversized lizard, she may look like a floatin’ boat, but she soars like a Pegasus on a tailwind.”

Shuur had to chuckle at his directness, not many were willing to call him a lizard, especially when he was the reason that their ship existed. He liked Coal Stack, he reminded Shuur of the Ship Masters, always ordering commands and never giving a second glance to anyone.

Celestia stood and cleared her throat, “Alright everypony, and alien, grab your bags and board The Leviathan. I do hope you’ve said your goodbyes; you will be gone for quite a while.”

The rest of the group looked about each other, then grabbed what baggage they weren’t already carrying and walked towards the ship.

Shuur noticed that Twilight was shaking a little, and so decided maybe he could comfort her.

“It’s not that bad, I’ve travelled world to world so I know. After the initial take off, you be feeling fine.”

“It’s not that, it’s just that we’re going to riding on a ship made from alien metal and powered by the magic of Star Swirl the Bearded!”

“Oh…” well Shuur felt a little dumb, great way to start a journey.

Luna turned and gave a brief hug to her sister.

“Be safe little sister, if anything were to happen to you again…” Celestia’s voice trailed off.

“I’ll be fine Cely, you just worry about the Griffins. I’ll take care of the trans-continental affairs.”

Celestia smiled weakly, hugged her sister again and watched her board the craft, praying that it wasn’t that last time they see one another. When they were all aboard, Coal Stack tipped his hat to the princess, then boarded himself. The rear ramp slowly lifted shut; Celestia stepped back a little and watched the ship as its mighty engines flared to life. It hoisted itself off the ground by means of the crystals inside.

It reached a height of at least forty meters, then the rear engines spewed bright blue flames and it rocketed forward, onward towards the sparkling oceans and into the unknown. It roared across the sky, edges of its shield glittering off the high noon sun giving it a very mystical appearance. Celestia watched it disappear above the clouds and into the distance. Whatever dangers awaited them, she could only hope that they would be strong enough to defeat them.

And this marked the beginning of the a grand adventure, a tale to be told over the eons, of how a single ship, a crew of the finest sailors ever to live and breathe in Equestria, shaped the borders of the planet forever.