Chapter 108 – A New Shard Bearer

The Sunik boy stayed silent, instead he simply reached out his clawed hand to shake her hooved hand. "Can't you talk?" she asked.

"Oh, he can." Syls said, "But he's a bit shy and only talks to those he knows personally. But he's got one of the cutest voices."

"SYLS!" Kklement said as he turned to her in shock. His voice was slightly high-pitched, a more boyish version of Rainbow Dash's voice.

He received laughter for his outburst and his hair rubbed in a sisterly fashion from Syls, "You're right." Pilit said as she quieted her laughter, "It is cute." Kklement blushed a bit as he turned to her in shock. She noticed the rest of him now. He had long hair on his head, enough to hide his eyes when he tilted his head just right in embarrassment. "You gonna be ok?" He simply nodded.

"I'm still a little uncomfortable letting a child work with such heavy machinery." Twilight said in worry.

"I'm only seven cycles, and I built the Spell Burst Engine." Pilit said, "In this solar system we're allowed to start working at five and a half cycles if we want to. It's not like we're children."

"The age-to-wisdom gap is different here than {snort} on your planet because we grow at different rates than you." Tusks said with a smile, "Mental maturity normally happens {snort} around five cycles old while physical maturity {snort} happens at around twelve or thirteen cycles."

"So, it's ok for Kklement to work with us, because he's reached mental maturity?" Applejack asked.

"Different planet, different rules." Blade flatly said.

"Whoa, that's deep!" Pinkie commented, earning a confused look from everyone there.

"Please?" Syls asked again, "He's got to get better, and what better way to become the best than learning from the best?"

"So, an apprenticeship?" Writch asked, getting the young Sunik to nod shyly, "I'm game!"

Twilight sighed in both confusion and relief, "Well, alright." she said, "It's fine by me. Thought the numbers are going to be difficult to wrap my head around."

"It's not that hard, Twilight." Pinkie said, "Especially if you remember that each cycle is eighteen years long."

"Right." Twilight said with renewed confidence, "Cycles."

"Welcome to the team Kklement." Tusks said happily. Kklement, smiled in happiness, glad for the answer he had received, his smile only faltering when Tusks pointed his hooved finger at him with a stern expression, "But that means {snort} you're going to have to push yourself to become better." the large Treeopon continued, "You're going to have to trust the rest of {snort} this team and learn from them as much as you {snort} learn from Writch and Blade, got it?"

The little Sunik instantly stiffened and saluted the large Treeopon. A salute that had his right arm crossed his chest and his fist collided with his shoulder, "Yes Coach." he said with respect.

"Good." Tusks said, "Now go make friends with the rest of {snort} the team."

Kklement let his posture fall into confusion as the words settled into his mind, "Trust me kid." Syls said as she placed her hand to his shoulder.

"You're going to want them on your side as friends." Tris added in.

"Plus it's better to get it over with quickly." Sselekk said as he approached, "Trust me, they have a way of making friends with everypony." To this, the giant Sunik stopped in shock, and tilted his head back in annoyance, "Gyah! Now you got me doing it!" This response quickly got giggles and laughter to erupt from the entire group, until they were enveloped in a large shadow. The shadow first covered Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash, the change in light getting the alicorn to flinch and the pegasus to look straight up at the one casting the shadow, Tri-Tiner.

"Ah think yah got some 'splainin te do, aie?" the large Hok-Sai said as they spotted the aurora-skinned man.

"Uh…" Rainbow asked in confusion as she tried to guess what he meant.

"I believe he is referring to the Sunik Emperor." Chivalry said.

"Oh." Rainbow said as she looked to the two Meltackians in shock.

"Did we forget to explain that to him?" Pinkie asked in genuine thought.

"For some of us, it was more like we chose not to explain it." Rarity said in embarrassment.

"It just never came up." Applejack argued.

"I don't suppose an apology would suffice?" Twilight asked as she looked the hulking Hok-Sai in the eyes.

"It wouldn't hurt." Tri-Tiner said, "What's this talk about teh Sunik Emperor's Chosen goin' off te do some nay-good stuff, aie?"

"Well…" Twilight hesitated.

"The old Sunik King told me that the Sunik Council runs the entire planet." Spike said.

"Plus, Kkelmar is the Law Keeper, and I've been told by a very credible source that he's a bloodthirsty maniac." Sselekk added in.

"Oh?" Tri-Tiner asked skeptically, "What's te keep me from believin' yer just a disgruntled pilot, aie?"

Sselekk growled, and then breathed in, calming himself, "How about the victim of his torture methods?" he asked, catching the Hok-Sai off guard in surprise, "Mirikka, he's been removing her scales by force."

"How do yah know?" the Hok-Sai asked in genuine curiosity and disgust.

"I rescued her while helping to rescue Image's sister." Sselekk said as he pointed to Serenity, "Whom, which I'm fairly certain, the Law Keeper was keeping around as a detonation device for Image."

These last few words caused the hulking Hok-Sai to rear back in shock, "Oh." he whispered to himself.

"That's right." Twilight said in acknowledgment, "If Image's sister is killed, his powers would go out of control and would tear our entire garage to dust."

"It would be like a psychic bomb going off in our faces." Blade said in the same realization, "It's a good thing you two were able to save her." He then placed his nose to Spike's, his eyes narrowing in an angrier look, "But don't do it again." getting Spike to grin in nervousness.

"Ah'm so sorry yah had te go through that." Tri-Tiner said to the young Meltackian.

"It's alright." the young Meltackian said, "She is safe now and I've learned a valuable lesson."

"Still…" the large Hok-Sai continued.

"Do Hok-Sai go through anything like that?" the purple alicorn asked.

"No, we don't." Tri-Tiner said solemnly, "We're not born of Meltack like they are."

"What do you mean?" she asked curiously.

"Before ah explain that, ah'm gonna have te describe our planet." he stopped hesitantly, "Yah sure yer ready te hear what ah'm about te say?"

"It can't be that bad." Twilight said.

"Oh it's not bad…just…unnatural is all." he said.

Twilight turned to the dark-furred pegasus with a questioning look, "What is he talking about?" she asked.

Galaxy Blade just shrugged his shoulders, "Don't know." he said, "Shy never talked about her world and we never really discussed it in school. All the students just thought that her aurora skin was…cool."

"Some of the boys thought she was hot." Breeze added to his brother's dismay.

"Were you one of them?" Rainbow teased.

"Yes." the grey unicorn blurted out before realizing what he had said, so he pulled back on his words a bit, "…kinda." he corrected as he let his ears flatten against his head while he watched her roll her eyes and smile at his obliviousness.

"What do you mean by…'Unnatural'?" Fluttershy asked nervously.

"Just that Meltack isn't a natural planet." the giant Hok-Sai said.

"WHAT?" Twilight asked in shock.

"I'm with her." Blade said, "You're going to have to explain that one."