Of Myrs, Fire And Mind

*Insert whatever songs from Iron Maiden you want here*

The party ended with one of Iron Maiden’s greatest hits. As the final note sounded, marking the end of ‘fear of the dark’ the ponies started dispersing talking about how great the party was.

“Alright guys! Time to pack everything!” Malik shouted as the stage, myrs and instruments got enveloped in a faint gray light. In a torrent of energy, everything got sucked by the gauntlet of unsummoning.

“You still cease to disappoint me! That band is just freaking amazing!” Chandra said with a grin.

“Yes Iron Maiden is a very good band but we have other worries at the moment. It’s already night time and we have no shelter.” Jace said.

“We could just go to some plane where one of us has a house.” Malik replied.

“Not really. The mana here is a bit… confusing. I need some time to figure out how to use it to planeswalk. Our other spells, however, work the same.” Jace concluded

“Huh… well what now?” Chandra asked Jace.

“That was awesome! I never heard music like that before!” They were interrupted by Rainbow.

“It’s called metal, the band however is Iron Maiden. It’s a band back from my home plane, it is one of the few memories I have. But if you don’t mind we are trying to figure out what to do now.” Malik replied, still thinking about the situation. Rainbow left them alone and a few seconds passed.

“Light bulb!” Malik exclaimed. “I’ll summon a place we can stay in!” He said.

“You can do that?” Chandra asked.

“It will not look pretty but it’ll do.” He was met with stares from the planeswalkers. “It will be a metal box. It’s the best I can do with what I have.” He said with a shrug, as rest of the ponies approaching them.

“Fine, just summon that thing already, I’m getting tired and God have mercy on your souls if I don’t get any sleep.” Chandra said impatient as ever.

“Noted.” Malik replied with a grin.

He started the spell, gray strands of mana were circling around him as he molded the building from the energy surrounding him. His eyes and the gem on his gauntlet were glowing with astonishing intensity in a gray hue. His brown cloak and hair were being blown by an invisible wind and were flailing around wildly. He slowly rose his right hand, as he did so a big iron cube started emerging from the ground. Soon the cube was completely out of the ground, but Malik wasn’t finished. Using the remnants of his energy he managed to create a door and some windows on the box, as well as hollow out some rooms to make it a regular two floor house.

“That is amazing!” Twilight shouted out staring at the iron box.

“That was waaaaaaaaay more tiring than I thought it would be.” Malik said before passing out from exhaustion.

“Well, I guess we’ll see you all tomorrow.” Jace said picking up the unconscious artificer.

“Good night.” Chandra said idly waving at them while heading towards the door.

Most of the ponies were still in awe because of what they had witnessed. A few seconds passed before they snapped out of it and said their goodbyes.

“So Malik is here… Time to finish what I couldn’t before. But, then again, there is no fun in not having the opponent fight back. I shall reappear one day, and the last survivor of Earth will die at my hands.” A figure wrapped by shadows said before being swept away by the very darkness that made its body.

…

Malik woke up  as the Sun was already over the horizon. ‘I wonder if Jace and Chandra are awake.’ He thought before looking for them.

“Malik wake up, breakfast is ready!” He heard Chandra shout.

“You’re lucky I was already awake… Where did you get the food?” Malik asked as he arrived downstairs.

“It was on a basket outside, along with a message from Pinkie Pie. Apparently it’s a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ gift basket.” Jace said.

“Well that’s nice, that’s a nice way of doing things.” Malik replied sitting down on the metal table “Note to self: Learn some nature magic. Wood is much more comfortable than metal.” He looked at the food in front of him. “Apples and cupcakes… sure why not?” He muttered before eating.

Breakfast went by rather uneventfully. “Well, I think we should probably head for the library. We are supposed to tell them in a more detailed way what we are and stuff like that, aren’t we?”

“Yes we are. We’ll leave as soon as everyone’s ready.” Jace said.

“That means we’re waiting for you.” Chandra said tapping her fingers on the table.

“Well, I’m ready. I don’t see why we’re still waiting.” Malik replied with a smirk.

As they exited their metal home Malik failed notice something. “Huh… Malik? There’s a spell bomb at your feet.” Chandra said.

Malik looked over at it and saw a note on its surface. ‘Missed me?’

He tried to say something before the spell bomb flared to life and blew him against the library. “Ah! What the hell is this?!” He shouted before getting stuck halfway through the library wall, scaring Twilight and her dragon assistant Spike.

“What just happened?” He asked still dazed.

“What just happened is that you scared me and Spike half to death when you appeared through our wall!” Twilight said glaring at the planeswalker.

Malik examined the hole he was in. “Doors are for people with no imagination.” He said with a grin.

Twilight couldn’t resist the urge to facehoof as Jace and Chandra appeared through the door. “What the hell was that all about?” Chandra asked.

“I’ll explain it at another time. Now… can someone help me?” He asked.

With a sigh Twilight picked him up with her magic and got him in. “Guess we’ll deal with that later.”

“I got it. I know a bit of green magic. Just in case I need it.” Chandra said before repairing the hole in the tree. “You’re welcome.” She completed with a smirk.

“Well… thank you anyway. Now, I arranged a meeting with the princesses to save you the work of repeating yourselves. The carriages should arrive soon.” Twilight said while she lowered Malik.

“Well that’s… convenient. Thank you.” Malik said dusting his brown cloak and white shirt.

“Not a problem.” Twilight replied.

“Now we play the waiting game.” Jace said taking a book from one of the shelves and beginning to read it.

“Did someone mention game?” Pinkie said, coming out of nowhere.

“For God’s sake Pinkie how did you get there?” Malik asked, very startled.

“You underestimate my sneakiness silly!” She excitedly answered.

“Does this happen a lot?” Chandra whispered to Twilight.

“All the time.” Twilight whispered back.

The next few hours went by rather uneventfully unless you count the arrival to Canterlot an event.

“Big castle… I hate it already.” Chandra said with a frown.

“May I ask why?” Rarity asked.

“Because it’s too easy to get lost in it. Why do people need big palaces and stuff? Why not have a little house that’s way more comfortable and easier to navigate in? And besides, it’s made of stone… stone isn’t easy to burn.” Chandra answered leaving everyone a bit uneasy with the last part.

Hastily, Jace renewed the spell that stimulated the part of Chandra’s mind that needed to burn something, resulting in a much calmer Chandra. “By the way, where the hell did Malik go?” She continued.

“Wait what? Wasn’t he right behind us?” Twilight asked.

“Well not anymore silly!” Pinkie pointed behind Twilight and a blinking white outline of Malik was there.

“How does she do that?” Chandra whispered to Jace, starting to question everything about the pink pony.

“No idea. I can’t detect any mana, the type of magic… I, for the first time in my life, have no idea.” Jace whispered back. With even the mind mage clueless about the mysteries of Pinkie Pie, Chandra gave up in trying to understand the bubbling ball of energy.

“If he wants to he’ll catch up to us with no problem at all.” Jace said.

“I guess you’re right. Let’s go.” Twilight said.

…

“This place is a freaking labyrinth! How do you even get around in this castle?” Chandra asked to the guard escorting them.

“Years of practice miss.” He deadpanned.

Soon they reached a big pair of double doors. “This it?” Chandra asked.

“Yes this is the throne room, just go in.” Twilight said.

“Way ahead of you…” Chandra said with a grin, kicking the doors causing them to open at breakneck speed and causing the two rulers of the plane to become startled. “Sup?”

The white alicorn tried to calm down as did the dark blue one after the scare. “My student told me you would come.” The alicorn with green, blue and pink mane said.

“I’m terribly sorry for this but it appears my partner doesn’t know how to behave in front of royalty.” Jace said glaring at Chandra. “And it also appears we are missing one of us.” Jace continued.

…

“They are approaching… myrs are you ready?” Malik asked hiding beneath the windows of the throne room from outside of the castle.

“Sir yes sir!” They shouted in unison. Malik spotted a black cloud moving towards the castle.

“Cloak now!” He hastily whispered. Almost instantly the myrs and himself became invisible, a function installed by Malik in every one of his myrs.

The cloud soon revealed to be a swarm of bug-like equine creatures, with several holes in their bodies. Their blue eyes were filled with hatred, hatred for whoever lived in the castle. They burst through the windows, breaking them with no effort. Malik heard a triumphant laugh and conversation from inside. “With you all inside that barrier there’s nothing stopping me from ruling Equestria.” An unknown voice said in triumph.

“Move in!” Malik shouted. At that single command the myrs flooded into the throne room and Malik landed in the middle He saw the army of bug things and everyone else in a green barrier. “Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but you’re surrounded, so give up maybe?” Malik said with a victorious grin.

The leader of the bug like creatures turned to him, a black alicorn with blue mane, and her green eyes examined him. “And you are?” She asked.

“I’m Malik Arcanus, artificer. And, excuse me but...” Malik looked around at his small army of myrs. “… I win.”

“Not so fast.” All heads in the room turned towards the being in the wooden beams that supported the roof. “Hey… missed me?” The being spoke in a monotone that could only be described as creepy. Seconds later a blue blast of energy landed in front of Malik.

“Zetto? How did you manage to planeswalk?” Malik asked, shocked at the newcomer.

Zetto examined his mechanical arm. “Oh it was nothing really. I just made an agreement with someone.” He said supporting a grin. This grin, however showed no signs of happiness, it just showed his sharp teeth. The orange clothes were now visible as he jumped to the ground along with a large, blue Z adorning the neck piece of his armor. His pale skin contrasted with his piercing red eyes and he had a wrist blade in the shape of lightning bolt on his regular arm. His hair was unnatural, with a blue color not normally seen anywhere.

“I hope you’ve gotten stronger, because I want a challenge.” He finished.

“So be it! Myrs, you deal with the bug creatures, Zetto is mine!” Malik said preparing for battle.