A Displaced Mask Hunter

Chapters

0 - An Unwanted Unity
1 - The Code We All Live By
2 - An Appointed Destiny
3 - An Abrupt Scouring
4 - A Roll of the Dice
5 - An Out-Of-Place Advising
6 - The CMC's Masked Craziness
Interlude 1 - Delving into (In)Sanity

0 - An Unwanted Unity

Alex let out a sigh as he looked around the convention. He had been somewhat perturbed that he couldn't work on his fanfics, what with his laptop still being repaired, but even he couldn't deny that he was eager to find out new events or gaming news that would be announced. It was the middle of July, and the annual convention had arrived right in the middle of an all-time scorcher of a week. With air conditioning provided throughout the building, not only were the regular crew and special guests there, but a slew of regular fans and even some people who just wanted to escape the heat were there, making the building vastly more packed than usual.

"C'mon, Alex, let's have a go at it!" A friend of his in a home-made Sniper costume said to him before briskly running into the convention, his fellow Heavy and Engineer cosplayers following him to the Steam booth. Alex chuckled at this, before hefting the custom shield he had brought with him onto his back. Unlike the rest of his friends, who had all dressed up as various TF2 characters or characters from League of Legends, Alex decided to branch out on his costume and wore a Bionicle cosplay; A Nuparu Mahri costume, to be exact. Most people probably wouldn't get the reference, what with the series no longer in production, but it was nostalgic to Alex.

Now, what to check out next, Alex thought as he looked around the convention. His mind, though, wandered over to a clock. Noticing the time, though, he remembered what had happened a few hours earlier and frowned.

He had just been to the Lego section, and was quite happy since Lego had announced that Bionicle was returning to stores. As for now, though, he was fine with just walking around the minor booths, where various authors, company booths, or just independent groups were stationed. Since it was lunchtime, there was an all-time low of attendance for that day, only some of the more obsessed fans or workers there at the moment. As he walked down the aisle, he noticed an odd stall to the right. It wasn't a big one, by any means, but it somehow had this... appealing air to it. The booth itself had several shelves, each holding items varying from various series, some of which included a golden ring from Sonic the Hedgehog and a TF2 sentry that looked pretty realistic, which Alex was sure would interest his friends. However, that wasn't what interested Alex.

In front of the stall, there had laid a man, a black scroll and what looked like an oddly shaped ruby clasped in his hands, while another man dressed as the Merchant from was crouched over him. Alex, thinking that the first man had fainted or had a heart attack, and was about to walk over and see if he could help. What followed, though, kept that from happening. The man dressed as the Merchant muttered some obscure words, which Alex couldn't understand, and a bright flash of light glared from the location. Alex shielded his eyes until the light faded away, and he looked back only to see the first man gone. The merchant looked around for a few seconds, thankfully not noticing Alex since he had hidden himself behind a nearby booth, then slunk back to his booth. Alex, not wanting to spend any time there, ran back to the main lobby the second the man was out of sight.

Alex shivered as he remembered the creepy feeling that the Merchant cosplayer gave off as the man had left to who knows where. However, he knew that there was no-one else who'd realize that the one man was missing for a while, since he had been the only witness to the incident. Steeling his nerves, he turned towards the west wing of the convention and began to briskly walk in that direction.

When he arrived at the stand, it was almost the same as he remembered it being earlier: Its shelves were chock full of various merchandise, its owner absent from behind the stand. Well, if I want to find out what's going on, He thought, I better observe the area around the POI. With that decided, he began to look around the stand. One item, however, stood out to him: On one of the nearby shelves, there lay a blue Zora mask, looking exactly like it did in 'Majora's Mask'. Picking up the mask, Alex couldn't help but notice how accurate the mask was to the original thing. As he turned the mask over, he felt the strangest urge to put it on, and began to lift the mask up...

"Hello, there."

Alex let out a yelp as he turned around, the Zora mask falling back down onto the table. There, standing right behind him, was the merchant that had sent the other guy to who knows where! I have to give him credit, he is certainly stealthy, Alex thought.

"Are you, perchance, interested in the Zora mask?" The man asked, looking eagerly between Alex and the mask. Alex looked at the mask, then shook his head.

"Not really, I was just looking. Besides, I'm not entirely interested in this type of mask," Alex said. The man looked at him with an appraising glance for several seconds, then gave a grin.

"I believe that I have just the thing for you," The man said, and walked behind his booth. He briefly ducked under the table, before coming back up with his target, "I believe this will work quite well. I had gotten this from a Mister.... Farshtey, I believe his name was."

In the man's hands, there lay what looked like a life-size Kanohi Volitak, the same one that belonged to Nuparu. during the Mahri arc. Alex was hesitant to accept the item, considering what he saw happen earlier, but heck! If what the man said was true, this was owned by Greg Farshtey, the godfather of Bionicle! Alex carefully took the Kanohi the man offered him in one hand, and looked at it with a crucial eye. Due to him being a considerable fan of the Bionicle series, he was certainly not going to accept its 'authenticity' with only a few words. From what he could observe, the mask certainly seemed like it was an item with a lot of hard work put into it, given by its heavy weight and near-perfect accuracy to the original mask design. It even had a mouth piece for someone to bite down on! Lifting his free hand, he formed a fist and knocked on the mask, resulting in the mask giving off a metallic *clang*.

"It's made of solid metal," He observed aloud, and the salesman grinned wider at this. Drawing to a conclusion, Alex set the mask down and looked at the man. He was skeptical of the man still, but such a item would certainly be of value.

"Considering that it's made of solid metal, I'm guessing that it is worth... $75?" Alex said, throwing a price out that wouldn't seem too low, but would still be a bargain for himself. He didn't want to dissuade the man too much, after all.

"On the contrary, I'd like to give it to you. Consider it a gift," The man replied, and Alex looked at the man in surprise and suspicion. While he appreciated the gift somewhat, he was unsure whether to trust him, considering what the man had done.

"I insist," Alex said, pulling out his wallet. The man looked at him for a little bit, then nodded.

"Very well," The man reluctantly said, and held his hand out for the money. Alex looked at the man with some surprise, since he had expected for the man to try to raise the amount by some degree, not just accept the given price. Not one to complain, however, he gave the man the decided amount.

As the man put the money in his pocket, though, Alex finally couldn't hold back the topic he wished to bring up, and said to the man, "I'm guessing this is where I'm sent to an alternate dimension?" The man's eyes widened for a second at the statement, then narrowed. A menacing aura began to surround the, causing for Alex to start to feel afraid of the man, and he took a step back, ready to flee. Damnit, Alex, why didn't you keep quiet?, he mentally chided himself. This was when the man finally made his move. Rushing forwards at a speed that betrayed his build, the Merchant-dressed man grabbed the Kanohi Volitak and slammed it on Alex's face, Alex instinctively biting down on the mouthpiece as it slid in his mouth.

What followed next could only be described as pure pain, Alex letting out a blood-curdling scream at the feeling. For seven consecutive seconds, it felt as though he had his blood replaced with acid that was on fire, while blades were constantly rattled back and forth after piercing each of his joints. Once the seconds passed, the pain instantly faded, leaving blissful nothingness that Alex gratefully succumbed to. As such, he never heard the words uttered by the man.

"You should've kept quiet, boy. Now, however, you will have to deal with a terrible fate set upon you."

The Merchant frowned as he transported the teenager away. He had not expected for someone to actually challenge him for sending people away. Well, none who haven't been displaced already. I'll have to start keeping people from remembering, or else I'll be swamped with people either investigating the disappearances or asking for powers as well, he thought. With a wave of his hand, he ensured that no one would remember those that were displaced. Nodding at his work, he went back to the booth, awaiting his next customer.

1 - The Code We All Live By

-Discord's POV-

Discord laughed heartily as several buffalo passed, each one dressed in matching gym outfits and doing a ballerina tip-toe. This is the most fun he literally had centuries!

I love the smell of Chaos in the morning, he thought, his eyes wandering over to a nearby cotton candy cloud. Holding out his hand, he conjured a glass and filled it to the brim with chocolate rain. "Chaos is a wonderful, wonderful thing," he said aloud, lifting his glass to his lips.

"Not as wonderful as friendship!," A familiar voice declared. Discord looked down from his drink, and let out a groan when he saw Twilight Sparkle and the rest of her 'Friends of Harmony' standing in front of him again. He was the Spirit of Chaos, after all, so it bothered him whenever repetition happened.

"Oh, this again?" Discord said, giving them an uninterested look. Lifting up his glass, he drank the container and, after inspecting the chocolate for anything left, threw the drink behind him. An explosion happened from said drink, but he kept an eye on the ponies just to see what they were going to this time.

"That's right. You couldn't break apart our friendship for long," Applejack said, and Discord let out a laugh at this statement. Surely, they didn't think he couldn't stop them again?! He gestured with his paw, and dragged the earth pony in front of him by her necklace.

"Oh, Applejack, don't lie to me. I'm the one who made you a liar." Discord chided her, and gestured with his other hand to telekinetically drag the other four ponies he had corrupted over to him, telling the five of them, "Will you ever learn?". He was surprised, however, when Twilight teleported into the middle of the five before floating back to the ground, letting out a slight gasp that she was able to do so.

"I'll tell you what we've learned Discord. We've learned that friendship isn't always easy. But there's no doubt it's worth fighting for," Twilight announced, her friends joining at her sides.

Discord gagged at this statement, teleporting close to them for exaggeration. Well, then. If they want to prove the power of 'friendship', let them go right ahead, Discord thought. "Fine, go ahead, try and use your little Elements, 'frenemies'," he said, teleporting back to his throne and gestured to the glorious chaos around him. "Just make it quick. I'm missing some excellent chaos here."

"All right, ladies, let's show him what friendship can do!," Twilight said, and the others prepared to try to cast the spell again.

"Wait-wait-wait!," Another voice interrupted, and everyone turned around to see Pinkie drinking chocolate rain from a cloud, making Discord smirk that at least somepony appreciated his chaos. Once she finished her drink and the six ponies tried their pitiful spell again, Discord suddenly felt a familiar, yet unexpected tingle run up his back, making him become ram-rod stiff. For some inexplicable reason, he had just felt something, and that something felt like a fabulous source for all kinds of chaos.

"Hold on a second, girls," he said, stopping the spell with a snap of his fingers and disturbing their concentration, "I'm detecting some marvelous chaos to be had." Snapping his fingers a second time, he redirected the source of said chaos to his side. What came, however, was what could only be described as something akin to the minotaurs, outfitted with an odd armor that Discord had never seen before and laden with an odd assortment of items.

"What in tarnation is that?" Applejack asked, the attention of everyone now on this new figure.

"I'm not sure myself," Discord admitted, swooping down to look at the being more closely. After inspecting the being for a few more seconds, he let the spell dissipate, and the being fell to the ground with a metallic *clang*. A grin grew on his face as the figure began to stir, and he said aloud, "But I'm sure we'll find out soon enough."

-Alex's POV-

Alex let out a grunt as he fell on... some sort of ground. Opening his eyes, he saw what could be best described as a surrealist's fantasy. Various chunks of earth floating in the air, the ground being painted over with everything from plaid to checkerboard. In addition to this, its inhabitants were a mismatch of beings that would seem out of place in a Looney Tunes short: Ballerina bison, a warren of rabbits running around with giraffe legs, pies flying through the air, and - Were those winged pigs he saw flying in the distance?! "What the hell happened here?" Alex asked, standing up to get a better view of his surroundings. For that matter, where was here? The last thing he remembered was the merchant slapping the mask on his face, and then... nothing.

"Why, hello there," A voice that sounded somewhat British said, and Alex looked behind him only to let out a yelp at what was behind him: Like the landscape around him, the creature was made of a hodgepodge of cartoonish animals. With the head of a goat, the horns of a deer and some spiraling horn, the limbs of a bird of prey, a lion, a lizard, and a horse attached to his serpentine body while both types of wings jutted out of his back, his scaly tail coiling behind him in mid-air.

"What in Karzahni are you?!" Alex said, scrambling back from this... chimera, for lack of a better term. Noticing his Aqua Blaster Blade laying on the ground nearby, he grabbed the weapon and held it in front of him. "S-stay back!" He stammered, lifting the blade up and pointing it at the chimera. In doing this, though, revealed something he had not noticed until now. Whereas his arm had once been pale and thin, it was now much more muscular and life-like, unlike the plastic mold it had originally been. However, it was the reflection on the sword that showed the most change.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?!?!?," He shouted, dropping the sword and looking at his body, trying to figure out what exactly happened to him. His outfit, which had previously been just made of remolded plastic, was now entirely made of metal, actual wires and gears visible underneath one robotic limb while his build had become something that could be considered close to a bodybuilder's. The oddest part of this wasn't the muscle growth, though. No, it was the fact that this felt... natural for him to be like this. Each breath had the metallic chest move out and in, as though there was no difference of where the metal ended and where he began.

The chimera laughed at his plight. "Oh, you're going to fit in perfectly. However," He continued, turning to face to his left, "I do have a show to watch. Not that I'm expecting a light show, by any means." At this, Alex looked up from his self-examination and looked in the direction of the chimera's gaze. There, standing on the only circle of 'normal' land were six ponies, or at least what Alex was guessing were ponies. However, they were nothing like the ponies his cousin helped raise: Standing at 4 feet or so, they weren't exactly tall, but the diversity was obvious from even a single glance: Two of them, while cartoony, looked like regular ponies, albeit with one having a poofy pink mane while the other wore a cowboy hat, the two in the air were flying - yes, flying! - with wings too small to reasonably hold them up, and the last two had horns, as if they were unicorns or something. Not only that, but each of them was wearing a form of jewelry. Each one of them was wearing a golden necklace with a carved gem adorning the center: the exception being the purple pony, who wore something along the lines of a crown.

"This ends now, Discord!" The purple unicorn stated, and she - at least, Alex assumed it was a she, as given from the voice - began to close her eyes deeply, her friends following suit. Several seconds passed, which made Alex begin to wonder what they were exactly doing, when an aura began to surround the six. Oh crap, they're going Super Saiyin!, Alex thought. Nonetheless, he began to back up as the necklaces the ponies were wearing began to glow, looking for some place to hide. It was probably best that he did so, too, as one of the ponies' necklaces began to shoot out an odd symbol shaped like a lightning bolt.

"What?," The chimera said in either confusion or disbelief as several additional symbols flew past him. Alex ducked behind a nearby floating chunk of rock (Not that Alex questioned how that the mass of earth was floating at the time) to avoid any stray fire. Alex was barely able to avoid what followed in time, as the six ponies from earlier unleashed what could only be defined as a rainbow of energy, which rose up before coming back down on the one that called himself 'Discord'. Alex drew his metallic arm in front his face as the rainbow light spread outwards. Once the light faded down, he lowered his arms and looked at what had happened.

What had previously been a hodgepodge of a landscape that would make a surrealist artist jealous, it was now something that would fit in the countryside of the 1600s: Wooden houses placed next to dirt roads, but the countryside was otherwise untouched, with massive swaths of grass. However, there was one thing that was minimally changed: The chimera, which had once been made of flesh, was now made of solid marble, his figure laying fallen on the grass beneath. Alex's breath hitched when he saw this. He didn't like the chimera, by any means, but the power used certainly gave him heed as to what could happen. I think that it's best for me to high-tail it out of here, He thought, and began to crept towards a nearby alley, intent on making his escape.

"Hold it right there, pardner!" A voice rang out, and Alex stopped mid-step. Looking behind, he saw the six ponies began to walk over towards him, the orange 'regular' pony pointing straight at him.

"How come you weren't affected by the Elements?" The orange pony asked. Alex looked at them in confusion at this statement. Elements? They didn't look like Toa...

'By 'Elements', I'm guessing that you mean the jewelry you're all wearing?" Alex guessed. This statement caused for the six to become shocked at his statement.

"What?! How can you have not heard of the Elements of Harmony?" The purple-horned pony exclaimed, to which Alex shook his head in reply.

"I'm a Toa." He deadpanned in response (Or at least, I think I'm a Toa, since I seem to have become Nuparu in his Mahri form, Alex thought to himself), "This means that the only elements I know of are Ta, Ga, Le, Onu, Po, Ko, Av, Kra, Vo, Bo, Fe, Ba, Su, De, and Ce." The ponies gave him blank looks at this statement. A gesture from the purple one, and the group of six drew into a huddle. Over a minute passed with their talk, with multiple glances in his direction, before they broke out of their huddle and faced him again.

"Sorry if we scared you earlier," The purple one said, and Alex shook his head at this.

"No, it's alright. To be honest, today has been a bit... stressful for me today," Alex replied. The pony looked relieved for some reason, then continued to speak.

"By the way, we couldn't help but notice that you seemed a bit discombobulated when noticing your ...appearance. I'm guessing that it isn't your preferred attire?," The white one asked, looking a tad disgruntled at him. Alex looked at her with a raised eyebrow for her expression, but nodded.

"Well, if you want, we," The purple pony continued, waving her hoof at the other five, "figured that if we used the Elements of Harmony, we could help fix whatever the problem was!" While she grinned at this idea, Alex's expression became one of disbelief. Did they seriously expect for him to believe that? That, plus the purple one's expression had extreme difficulty hiding that she had no intention of curing him (Little difficulty, that was, in comparison to his compulsive liar of a cousin). Any alternative outcome, though, was currently out of Alex's mental grasp.

"You're telling me the 'cure' would be to use the same rainbow beam that turned that guy to stone on me?" Alex said, gesturing at Discord's petrified self for emphasis, but 'Twilight' shook her head at this.

"Maybe, but that was Discord. It should just reverse the damage if we use it on you," The purple pony answered, but Alex was still dubious as to their intents. They claim that by blasting him him with a petrifying beam, he'd revert to being a human? He just didn't buy it.

Screw it, Alex decided, and answered their question with a single "Nope!". While the ponies were still caught unawares, he raced forwards and grabbed the few items he recognized that belonged to Nuparu's arsenal before dashing towards the forest he had spotted earlier.

"Hey, get back here!," The rainbow-haired pony said, and he heard the group chase after him.

"I AIN'T GOING TO BE NO BIRD STAND!!!" Alex shouted back over his shoulder as he continued to run. As he turned a corner, his mind began to race, trying to figure out how he could get rid of them chasing him. Let's see now, what could Nuparu do again?, He thought, tilting to the right to avoid a tree branch sticking out over the path, Earth manipulation, stealth-based invisibility, is supposedly amphibious... Wait, can I even access my Toa powers?

This question was answered when he rounded the corner, only to trip over a stray root which jutted out of the ground. He let out a yelp as he fell down, the Aqua Blaster Blade sinking up to its hilt into the ground. Just my Makuta-damned luck!, He thought, scrambling back up and grabbing the hilt of the blade to pull it out.

"We've got you now!" A voice shouted, and Alex looked over his shoulder only to see those same six ponies standing behind him. At this point, a crowd had begun to gather around the seven.

"Please stop running," The yellow pony asked, her ears pulled back timidly.

"Yeah, chrome-dome! Drop the sword, or I'll show you what for!," The rainbow-haired pony said, to which Alex snorted at.

"First you say that you want to 'cure' me, now you want to beat me up? Jeez, where's the trust?," Alex retorted, causing for the rainbow-haired pony (Seriously, he needed nicknames for these ponies) to growl. At this, several other horned ponies in the crowd took this as the signal to prepare for combat, many pointing their horns at him. By this point, Alex was more than a tad ticked at the world. I've already had it up to Ko-Koro with the fact that I'm in another dimension and have become techno-organic, but to be beaten down by a mob? Screw it,Alex thought, and let out a growl, causing for the ponies to back up. "Leave," He began to say, gripping on the hilt harder than he had beforehand, the blade starting to slip out as he pulled.

"Me," He continued, the Aqua Blaster Blade beginning to glow violet. As this happened, however, Alex felt something began to surge through his veins. He was unsure as to what it was, but the feeling of it made him feel like he had been in a drowzy have until now, his body nearly shaking from the energy. Gripping the blade harder than he had beforehand, he ripped the Blade straight out of the ground, the nearby ground being infused in the same aura.

"ALONE!!!"

Whether it was intentional or not, Alex triggered his first case of elemental manipulation: As he removed the blade, from the ground in a single pull, the ground on both sides of blade rose, the two portions of the earth curving upwards and outwards into twin stone tsunamis. The ponies around him let out a yell as the ground rose outwards in a tidal wave. The winged ponies easily dodged the earthen tsunami by flying over it, but those who couldn't had to run from the waves, making the flying ponies have to help them. I guess that confirms it, Alex thought as he shouldered the Blade. Taking advantage of this distraction, Alex ran between two buildings and...

...Right into a one-way alley. Alex let out a curse at his misfortune.Well, at least I have Nuparu's earth powers, He thought, raising his blade to force the wall in half when he was struck by an epiphany. Wait, if the earth powers works, then that most likely means..., Focusing on his mask, he imagined the idea of being stealthy: To be invisible to all, to not make a sound while moving and be undetectable to those unaware of his presence. It took a few moments, and Alex was worried that he couldn't access his mask powers (Which he should, considering that Toa gained their elemental powers after they awaken their Kanohi), when he felt a chill run over his body. It was then that he saw his body shift colors until all that was left was a near-indistinguishable blur, as given when Alex looked at his arm. And not a moment too soon, as the rainbow-haired pony swiveled around the corner, only to stop when she saw the 'empty' alley.

"Hey, where'd he go?!," The rainbow-haired pony shouted, looking around for any sign of him. His breath hitched as she drew deeper into the alley in search of him, coming closer and closer to touching him until...

"He must have teleported away," The purple one said as she and the other four ponies joined the rainbow-haired one. Said pony let out a huff, but joined the others on the ground, Alex letting out a breath of relief that he hadn't been found out.

"What should we do about him, girls?" The orange pony asked.

"I say we capture that beast before it hurts any more of us!" The white one exclaimed, and Alex scowled in her direction. 'Beast'? Oh, he definitely wouldn't get along with that pony.

"Ooh, and when we do, we can throw a Welcome-To-Ponyville party for him!," The pink one said.

"What do you think, Twilight?" The orange one asked the purple one, who was obviously the 'leader' at this point.

'Twilight' looked contemplative for a few minutes before turning back to the five. "We better let Celestia know about this once Discord has been brought back to Canterlot. If he can manipulate the earth as easily as Discord, there's no telling what else he could cause," 'Twilight' said, and the other five girls nodded before leaving, conversing as they walked away. Once they were out of earshot, Alex let out a sigh before stepping out of the alleyway.

If this 'Celestia' is a figure of authority, I best find a hiding spot before she arrives, Alex thought as he began to silently run towards the woods. There was not telling how long he had before they came after him again...

Author's Note

For those wondering as to why Alex was afraid of the , I'd like to clarify on one thing: When Alex first arrived in Equestria, the first thing he saw was a beam of 'magical' light change the landscape and turn someone to stone. With no prior knowledge of the world around him, is it any wonder that he was afraid of the same 'cure beam'?
Rightly said, m'boy!
...Discord, what are you doing in the Author's Notes?
Why, spectating, of course! With my body currently petrified, I needed some way to entertain myself. I just so happened to spot this lovely pocket dimension, and decided to simply enjoy the show. *holds out bag of popcorn* Popcorn?
*Sighs* Two chapters in, and I've already got a headache...

2 - An Appointed Destiny

Alex jumped over a overturned log, then turned back to look behind him. "I think I lost them," He said to himself, panting lightly as he did so. It had been a few hours since he had entered the forest, and he had been running without any real direction. At least, it felt like a few hours, He thought, looking up to see the sun still in the same position it had been when he had entered the forest as well as it had been an hour ago. I hope that it isn't stuck like that, Alex jokingly thought, and he turned to his right, ready to continue deeper into the forest. He had barely taken a few steps, however, when the shadows began to elongate at a rapid pace. Alex looked alarmingly back up in the sky, only to see the sun dive behind the mountains and a moon take its place.

"...I WAS ONLY JOKING!!!" Alex shouted, raising his arms up in exasperation. With the sun set, however, the forest became vastly more foreboding, its branches reaching for him. Perhaps I should take a rest, Alex thought, his arms now feeling sluggish and his legs feeling like jelly from all of the running. Taking a quick glance around, he saw a hole underneath a massive pine, the trunk of the tree easily wider than a truck with a 2.5' opening beneath it. Alex trudged over to the tree and, with some difficulty, managed to slip into the hole. Looking around the hole, he saw that, while it was only composed of dirt and roots, the crevice was quite spacious, and could easily fit him length-wise. Just as he was about to fall asleep, however, he remembered his quarry, and thought to himself, I should at least block the entrance, so that I don't get ambushed while I'm sleeping. Lifting himself back up, he walked over to the entrance and placed his hands on the base of the entrance.

"Now, how to trigger earth manipulation...," Alex muttered to himself, and experimented with how he used elemental powers. On his fifth attempt, in which he focused the 'feeling' he had felt earlier and projected it outwards, he finally succeeded, his hands becoming enveloped in the same violet aura that the Aqua Blaster Blade came with, the aura seeping into the ground in front of him. "Now we're getting somewhere," He muttered aloud and, careful to not go too fast, slowly raised the earth up until only a 3-inch gap was left at the top, leaving ample space for fresh air to come in. With that done, he lay back down and fell asleep in seconds, the day's toll finally taking him under.

Dreamscape

Alex blinked in confusion as he looked around. The second he had closed his eyes, he had opened them only to be an endless plain of white, with no hills or features. Looking down, he noticed that his arm was as it was once was, with skin pale and arm thin, and let out a sigh of relief. "Well, at least I'm back to being 100% organic," He mused.

"Greetings, Alex," A voice said, and Alex whipped around only to see a familiar metallic being standing in front of him. With curving shoulder blades, this golden being, while without weapon or shield, was a formidable sight to behold. However, it was the mask the being 'wore', with the image of a humanoid sprawling etched on the front for the face opening immediately identified who this was.

"Mata Nui! It's an honor to meet you," Alex said, bowing at the waist with his arms straight at his sides before uprighting himself. "However, if you don't mind me asking, sir," Alex asked, "But-"

"-How do I know your name?," The Great Being said, "I think you can figure this out." At this, Alex looked down in contemplation, thinking over what he knew of Mata Nui. Since his given mask was the Ignika, as shown in his current form, that instantly eliminated it being a Suletu. However, since it has been near-confirmed that Mata Nui had access to any elemental power, so perhaps...

"Is it because you're using the powers of a Ce-Toa?" Alex guessed.

"Not exactly," Mata Nui answered, "While I am using the telepathy of the Ce-Toa to contact you, it is not how I know your name. To put it simply, this," Mata Nui gestured to the surrounding area, "Is an astral plane, for which we can confer in peace." Alex's attention was drawn away to his internal thoughts at this statement. An astral plane? As far as Alex knew, they were only supposed to exist within series such as Dungeons and Dragons or the Marvel-verse, not Bionicle! Then again, Vakama had a similar divining dream like this place, so it was possible...

"Speaking of which," Mata Nui said, conjuring a glimmering teal orb and grasping it in his hands, "I managed to copy these memories from one 'DJ Pony' of the basic information beforehand. I think that you'll find them most useful if you want to blend in." That said, the Great Being threw the teal orb at the still inert Alex, and the human stumbled back as the teal orb was absorbed into him. As the orb was absorbed into him, Alex's mind began to catalogue names with figures he had met: 'Winged Ponies' were labeled 'pegasi', 'horned ponies' became 'unicorns'. There was even a fourth pony species with both features of the previously mentioned two called an 'alicorn', as weird as that sounded.

"However, that is a graver reason I contacted you," Mata Nui said, his tone becoming somber, Alex looking back at the Great Being while his mind continued to understand this new information. The white plane flickered, before changing into a black starry void, with the image of a planet (Eques, a memory said) projected below the two. A few seconds passed, before a flash of light appeared over a small town (Ponyville) next to some tracks.

"When you arrived on this planet, the resulting portal also opened a portal in Ta-Metru's deepest vault, where a copy of every Great Kanohi ever made is held." Mata Nui said. As he said this, dozens of flashes appeared all over map, trails of light falling from these points down to the map. "The rift, while it only lasted for a few seconds, scattered the masks far and wide. It is imperative that you retrieve them before any of the ponies find them, for the Kanohi will wreak havoc if worn by a pony." Alex looked at the Great Being in minor disbelief at this statement. Surely it couldn't be that bad, could it?

"I see that you don't believe me, Alex." Mata Nui said as he looked at Alex, and Alex looked down in embarrassment that the Great Being had noticed his skepticism."Tell me, Alex: Why do you think that the Equestrians aren't compatible with Kanohi?" Mata Nui asked, making Alex again look downwards in contemplation.

"Is it because they have a strong connection to 'magic'?" Alex guessed after several minutes of unsuccessful contemplation, and the Great Being let out a chuckle at his answer.

"No, that is not why," Mata Nui said, his voice becoming somber as he began to explain, "Unlike humans or Matoran, these 'Equestrians' have been directly connected to their inner power from birth and, once they've earned their cutie marks-"

"I'm sorry, but 'cutie marks'?" Alex interrupted, letting a snort at the absurdity of the name.

"I know, it does sound a bit ridiculous, but it's what the marks of their sides are called, which apparently work somewhat like a Kanohi, except that it shows something involving their special talent," Mata Nui answered. Looking back, Alex vaguely remembered seeing a few of these 'cutie marks' on some of the ponies back in the village. The only ones that stood out, though, were a could with a red-blue-yellow lightning bolt coming out of it, a lyre, and something that had to do with bubbles, of all things...

"As I was saying," Mata Nui continued, drawing Alex's attention back to the Great Being, "Once they've earned their 'cutie mark', they are incapable of completely closing their magic off, leaving for a neverending source for the Kanohi to work off of. If one of these 'ponies' put on a Kanohi, it-"

"-Would result in the Kanohi's power activating to its full potential the second it was put on, its power running rampart without any control," Alex finished, his mind quickly connecting the dots, and shuddered at the possible outcomes. While some of the Kanohi could be more easily controlled, such as the Pikari or Calix, if they tried to put on a Suletu, a Felnas, or worse, the Vahi or the Ignika...

"Exactly," Mata Nui said, nodding in affirmation to this conclusion Alex had reached, "That is why I am asking for you to retrieve them." Alex thought about the idea, and understood why Mata Nui asked this of him. However...

"Where do I fit into this?," Alex asked. He wasn't a warrior, a legend. Heck, he wasn't even a real Toa!

"Unfortunately, since both of the Kanohi Olmak that I had direct control over are no longer usable, I can't send over anyone to do the task, leaving only you to do the task," Mata Nui said, and Alex realized that the Great Being was right. The two Olmak in the main universe had been either destroyed or fused with Vezon, so there was no way for any interdimensional travel to happen.

"But I can't remove the masks. Heck, I don't even know where to find the masks." Alex lamented.

"I can help you with that," Mata Nui interjected, and Alex turned to look at him. "A few miles east of your physical position, there is an old castle, broken off from the rest of your world. Within its depths, you will find the Kanohi Elda, which should help you find the remaining Kanohi." Alex nodded at this, figuring that the idea was sound. After all, the Elda was known as the Mask of Detection for good reason.

"As for the Kanohi, should any one of these ponies put one on, you should be able to remove them with a good pull, since any of your Toa forms will bond with them much better than they would with a pony," Mata Nui said. Alex looked skeptical at this, but nodded anyways.

"Oh, and one more thing," Mata Nui said. Alex looked at the Great Being in confusion, and the Great Being lifted his hand...

...Only to poke Alex in the forehead, making Alex stumble back from the metallic finger. "That should help you with your transformation problems," Mata Nui said, chuckling.

"Sir, if I could ask you one last quick," Alex said as he rubbed the spot Mata Nui had poked him, "Did you have the guy who was at the convention send me here? Y'know, the guy dressed up as the Merchant?" It wasn't until he mentioned the person by name did Mata Nui seem to recognize who he was talking about. However, the Great Being, rather than acknowledging that he knew the man, reacted as though he had been prodded with a protdermis dissolving solution, his mask almost seeming to pale at the name.

"No, that was... someone that is far out of my realm of power," Mata Nui said after several minutes of silence, and Alex blinked in surprise at this. Something that even more powerful than Mata Nui, one of the Great Beings? How powerful really was that merchant, Alex thought as he noticed Mata Nui's body begin to shimmer.

"Sir, your body!," Alex pointed out, and Mata Nui looked down to see his now-flickering form start to dissolve, as though it was made of sand and he was in a whirlwind.

"Relax, this is simply you waking up," Mata Nui said as his body began to destabilize more, the surroundings changing back to their featureless state. As Mata Nui's body began to fade away in a golden mist, the Great Being said to Alex, "May the Three Virtues help you with your plight, Toa Alex, and if you need any more help, contact me through meditating when the situation is dire."

Alex blearily opened his eyes, only to wince and shut them as light shone straight onto him. "Well, it's definitely morning," Alex said, sitting up from the spot he had laid on, and sat up only to feel something land on his lap. Looking down, he saw the Kanohi Volitak lying face-down on his jeans.

...Wait, his jeans?

Getting up into a crouch so as he wouldn't hit his head on the top of the hole, Alex examined himself. It seemed as though he had been returned to his organic state, as given by the armor no longer existing. "So it wasn't just a dream," Alex mused aloud as he set the mask down with relief that he wasn't a techno-organic. Looking at the hole's entrance, though, threw his mind into a near panic. StupidstupidSTUPID!!!, he thought, his small hands digging at the top of the hole. Of course he wouldn't be able to lower the ground now that he wasn't an Onu-Toa! As his hands grew bruised and blood began to seep from its tips, Alex fell back. "Well, this certainly sucks," Alex said gloomily, looking down in defeat. Looking to his right, he saw the Kanohi Volitak lying on the ground, its silver form gleaming in the morning sunlight.

Picking up the Kanohi, he looked at the mask before steeling his face. There's no other way around it, He thought, lifting the mask and involuntarily preparing for whatever would happen to him, I've got to become Nuparu again, or I'll die in this hole. As he bit down on the mouthpiece, though, he did not feel pain, as he had expected. Instead, he felt an exhilarating feeling travel through his body, starting from his head and traveling to the soles of his feet. Once he was enveloped in this feeling, a light aura surrounded him and he felt himself... expand, for lack of a better description, his back rising until it pushed against the roof. Once the transformation was complete, as given from the light fading away, he looked down to see his arms and hands were larger and metallic, as they had been beforehand.

"At least the mask still works," Alex said, only stop as he realized that his voice sounded much more-oh, what was the word he was looking for...-gravelly than it usually did. Chuckling at the fact an Earth Toa had a gravelly voice, Alex crawled forwards and slapped his hands to the raised earth. With the method becoming much more familiar to him, it only took a few seconds for his hands to light up in the increasingly-familiar violet aura, and he shifted the earth to a level point before stepping out. Standing to his full height, he looked around, intent on finding where this castle Mata Nui said existed was. It can't be that hard to spot, Alex thought as he looked to his left, before looking to his right. After a few seconds of searching, he realized that the castle wasn't in sight, and let out a huff.

"Best get moving, then," He said, taking a few steps before stopping as he remembered that he was most likely on a watchlist by the Equestrians. Perhaps it's best if I leave the mask off until later, He thought, though he was unsure as to whether the mask would come off. Grabbing the mask with both hands, he pulled at the mask and, after a little effort, the mask came off, his form shrinking until he was his regular self. "Now, time to get going on finding that castle," He said, slipping his mask under his arm before heading in the direction he believed to be east. As Alex began to head eastwards, however, he failed to notice a certain rainbow-haired pegasus fly over him before sweeping back in the direction he had originally come from.

Deep underground, a figure stirred, before turning itself on. Getting up, it looked around before realizing that its current position wasn't that of which had been placed stasis in. However, none of that mattered to the being, said being beginning to dig at the cavern while what remained of its brethren awoke, with only three words telling it what to do:

Clean it all.

Author's Note

With Alex now discovering his main purpose, he sets off to retrieve his second Kanohi! However, how long does he have until the Mane Six catches up to him?
Not much longer, according to the script.
Give me that! *Snatches up script* Until next time, this is Runic Soul, signing out!

3 - An Abrupt Scouring

Twilight's POV

"Are you sure this is where you saw him heading, Rainbow?" Twilight asked as she looked down at the castle, the decrepit building standing forlorn in the valley.

"Sure I did!" Rainbow Dash quipped back, her mane blowing lightly in the wind, "I saw him walking this way just early after sunrise!"

"If that's true, than he should be here any minute now, according to my calculations," Twilight said, checking the time with a watch she had bought while she had been in Canterlot before slipping it back into her satchel. They had been told by Celestia to keep an eye out for the 'Toa' after they had told her of what had happened beforehand. Unfortunately, Fluttershy couldn't join them, since she had to find the rest of the animals that were displaced by Discord, and Rarity was held back because she was backlogged in work due to Discord setting her schedule back by days. Twilight was certain, though, that four, plus Spike to send new info to Celestia, would be enough to take this 'Toa' down. Of course, to ensure that he couldn't get over to the castle, Twilight had Rainbow hide the bridge so that the 'Toa' couldn't get across the gorge, which Pinkie had taken upon herself to use as a lookout stand.

"So, what are we going to do once we catch that varmint?" Applejack asked as she looked down the hill towards the path that led to the castle.

"Well, according to Princess Celestia, if we did come across him, we were supposed to capture him, with force being a more than likely course of action, and bring him to Celestia afterwards," Twilight said, only taking a moment to look at the orange pony before focusing again on the path below.

"And when we do, we'll throw a big 'Welcome-To-Equestria' party!" Pinkie exclaimed from her perch atop the wooden bridge, before falling off of it with a thump, her periscope rolling alongside her.

"...Right," Twilight and Applejack deadpanned in response as they looked at Pinkie being sprawled on the ground.

"Wait... I think I see him!" Rainbow whispered excitedly, and both Twilight and the rest of the four turned towards where she was pointing. Sure enough, a bipedal figure could be seen moving in their direction through the woods.

"Get down!" Twilight muttered as she crouched behind a large boulder, the others following suit as they hid behind various shrubbery and trees. They waited in anticipation as the figure stepped out of the woods. However, what came out was unlike anything that Twilight had seen before: It was obviously sapient, as given with the fact that it wore clothes. But, with its short black mane, short stumpy face, and even the make of the clothes, it was different from anything that she had seen before. It has to be a new species!, Twilight thought, a manic gleam developing in her eyes as she shifted her hooves back and forth in excitement. If she could study it, she might be able to earn the Canterlot Award of Science! As she prepared to go down to "introduce" herself, though, she stopped as the being walked towards the gorge and did something she had not expected at all.

Alex's POV

Alex let out a muffled curse as a tree branch swung back to hit him in the back of the head. By Karzahni, it's like the whole forest is out to get me!, He thought as he rubbed the spot the tree hit him. His temperament wasn't eased in the slightest as he tripped over an unsuspecting log, sending him tumbling out of the woods onto a dirt path. Just my luck to fall onto a dirt road, he thought, beginning to get up before stopping as a thought struck him.

"...Dirt?" Alex muttered to himself. Getting up from his fallen stance, he looked around, and saw to his left, a decrepit castle. Whereas it would've been a magnificent sight in time’s past, it had since become decayed and broken, remnants of towers noticeable around the building. "This must be where the Elda is," he muttered to himself, grateful that he was at least somewhere on track now. As he neared the castle, though, he noticed that the castle was surrounded by a large gorge, with no visible bridge in sight. Alex looked down towards ends of the gorge, and let out a sigh when he failed to spot a way across.

"Well, that leaves me up a river with no paddle...," Alex said in false sadness, his shoulders slumping slightly for a few seconds before a smirk grew on his face. "Is what I would say if I didn't have Onu-Toa powers," he said, pulling the Kanohi out from under his arms. Lifting the mask onto his face, he felt the now-familiar energy travel through him, his body expanding until he was Nuparu Mahri once more. "Still not used to the transformation," Alex muttered to himself, removing the Blade from his back before stabbing the Blade into the earth, violet energy coursing through the Blade and into the earth below. All it took was a simple shifting of the Blade forwards, and the ground beneath him moved forwards until it touched the other side of the gorge. His task complete, he pulled the Blade from the ground and hilted it, but kept the Kanohi on his face in case he had to use the earth powers again.

"Now, where to find the Elda?" he muttered to himself as he walked over to the castle. As he passed underneath the threshold, he noticed two sets of stairs: The first, which was the more noticeable of the two, led upstairs, and towards what Alex could only assume was one of the few standing towers, though he was unsure of this. The second flight of stairs, though, was vastly concealed beneath the first flight, and it was only thanks to the low-light vision the Onu-Toa form had that enabled for him to notice the stairs.

"Considering that Mata Nui said the 'depths' of the castle, methinks I know which way to go," Alex to himself and, after ducking underneath the flight of stairs, began his descent in search of the Kanohi.

Twilight's POV

Twilight could not help but gape at what had just happened. This new species had not only transformed into the 'Toa' figure, but did so by just putting on a mask?! This was an unprecedented method of using magic that was unheard of until now! Forget the Canterlot Award, Twilight thought, the manic gleam in her eyes shining brighter, I'll earn the Equus Medal of Science and Magic for this discovery, and have a statue built in my honor!

"Spike!" she hissed in excitement, and the once slumbering Spike fell off the log he had fallen asleep on with a yell.

"What is it, Twilight? Did we capture that Toa yet?" Spike asked blearily, still drowsy from his abrupt awakening.

"Not yet, but I need for you to send a letter to Princess Celestia," Twilight said, and Spike, who woke up fully upon hearing the word 'letter', took out a quill and some parchment from his bag. Once Spike was ready to begin writing, Twilight cleared her throat before she spoke.

"Dear Princess Celestia," Twilight started to say, Spike writing down whatever came out of Twilight's mouth:

"I've found the 'Toa' I mentioned encountering shortly before and somewhat after the Elements of Harmony were used on Discord. Thanks to Rainbow Dash scouting out the Everfree Forest, we found him heading for the old castle. When he arrived while we were waiting for him, however, it turned out he was actually an undiscovered species, who transformed into his 'Toa' form by putting on a mask! I and a few others will be following him in pursuit shortly after this letter is sent.
Your student, Twilight Sparkle."

Her letter finished, Spike rolled up the letter before setting the parchment aflame with his fire breath, the letter travelling in a smoky trail towards Canterlot.

"C'mon, everypony, let's go after him! He can't have gone too far in!" Pinkie exclaimed, and everypony nodded in agreement, Rainbow Dash rubbing her hooves together in anticipation.

"Yes, let us find him. FOR SCIENCE!!," Twilight declared, hoof pointed in the direction the 'Toa' went. This caused for the others to look at her with an odd look on their faces. "I mean, for Equestria!" Twilight hastily corrected herself, wincing slightly at her slip-up. However, her sentence went unspoken as the group of five ran towards the castle, eager to catch up to the mysterious 'Toa'.

Alex's POV

Alex shook his head as he rounded a corner, only to come to a stop as he came to yet another dead end. "Yeesh, what is this: a castle, or a labyrinth?" Alex muttered to himself as he turned around and backtracked several passageways. It had been at least an hour since he had entered the maze-like catacombs, and he still had no idea where the Elda was located!

As he stepped around a corner, however, he stopped as he heard a splash. Looking down, he noticed a small stream of water, his shoe submerged an inch in the trickle. “That wasn’t there before…” he mused, then looked in the direction the stream was coming from. In the stone wall, there was a large crack, the small stream trickling from the gap in the wall.
Roughly 40 feet in, Alex could see light seep in from the crack, showing that the crack exited to the outside. Alex moved towards the wall and put his hand on the crack. Concentrating for a few seconds, Alex forced his energy into the wall, his hand becoming enveloped in a purple aura. However, when he tried to push the energy into the wall, it only followed the cracks and mortar, leaving a web-like pattern on the wall. Alex quickly withdrew the energy, and frowned at this unexpected development. How was it that he could manipulate the earth with ease, but not these stone-

Alex froze as he realized the problem, then smacked himself upside the head. “Stupid!, He vocally chided himself. Of course he couldn’t manipulate the stone walls: He was a Toa of Earth! If I tried to manipulate the earth, I would only cause a cave-in!, he thought as he took off the Volitak. Once back in human form, he looked at the crack in the wall with a more critical eye. After a few minutes of studying the opening, he turned sideways and looked at the crack again before grinning.

“It’s a good thing I took Spelunking as one of my few Merit Badges while I was still in Boy Scouts,” Alex said to himself as he moved closer, then, with some difficulty, managed to slip through the crack, the Volitak in his forward right hand. As he traveled through the crack, he noticed that the water level gradually grew higher, until it had reached his ankles. As he reached the end of the crack, he felt the sides squeeze him slightly, but he managed to escape with a small *pop*, stumbling as he did so.

Alex righted himself, then looked around, examining this new area with the intent to find the Elda. The area itself was a spacious cavern, the room itself having rocky terrain. However, the roof of the cavern was clearly earthen, with both beams of light and roots reaching all the way to the ground. Not only that, but the stream he was standing had reached its origin point: A river easily ten feet wide, the river was made of raging rapids, the top of the river a frothing white. The only evidence that it was a river and not a pile of clouds was both the rocks jutting out from the surface, the waterfall crashing down on the left side of the river, and the opening on the left, a fine mist rising from the opening. In the center of the river, though, was the Elda, floating over a stone platform.

“There it is,” Alex said, and took a few step forwards only to stop as a portion of the rock crumbled into the creek, the portions quickly tumbling back towards the crack. That’s right, Alex thought as he looked from the creek to the raging river, If I’m not careful, it’s a quick flow and fall to my doom. Looking around at the surroundings, though, an idea began to form in his head. “If I take some of these roots,” Alex said to himself, grabbing a nearby root sticking out of the wall. Giving the root a few good tugs, Alex then proceeded to pull the root from the wall, the root slowly separating from the wall. Once Alex neared the edge of the river, he stopped, then gave one final yank, removing a few extra feet of root from the wall. “Now, simply wrap this around for support,” He said as he proceeded to wrap said root around his left arm, stepping back as he did so. Once he felt the root begin to become taut from the wrapping, he stopped, then turned towards the river.

“Hopefully, this will keep me from falling in,” Alex muttered to himself, then, after tugging once more to ensure the stability of the root, began to run at the river head-on, the Elda directly in his line of action. When he reached the edge, Alex jumped off the ledge and swung forwards, the root ‘swing’ keeping him from falling in the frothing water. As he neared the Elda, Alex reached out with his right hand, eager to grab it. However, his attempt drew short, his hand not even touching the Kanohi before he began to swing back. “Damnit, I didn’t go fast enough!,” Alex cursed as his feet touched the ground again. Using the energy from the first swing, Alex took a few extra steps before, using a upturned rock as a springpad, dashing forwards at the Kanohi again at an even greater speed. This time, Alex managed to reach the Kanohi, his fingers barely wrapping around the top of the Elda.

“It’s about time,” Alex said as he landed back on the ground, the root untwirling from his arm as he walked off the remaining energy from the swing. As he held the Kanohi in his hands, he noticed that it was quite squishy in comparison to the Volitak. But considering that it’s an ‘organic Kanohi’, that’s no surprise, Alex thought as he lifted the mask up and put it on his face. As the Kanohi’s power flowed through him, though, he noticed that the transformation was… different… from Nuparu’s. The feel of the energy was certainly one of the differences, with a comforting yet energizing feel to it, rather than it being rough and pushing down on him. However, he couldn’t help but notice that the build itself was different, the ‘muscles’ now slimmer and more lithe. As he opened his eyes, he noticed the third main difference: To be more precise, two main differences.

Twilight’s POV

Twilight let out a huff as she arrived at yet another dead end, Rainbow Dash and Applejack sharing her irritation. Pinkie, on the other hand… was nowhere to be seen.

“It shouldn’t be this hard to find him!,” Rainbow grumbled, crossing her forelegs as she looked down a hallway a few feet behind Twilight.

“He’s certainly one slippery varmint, I’ll give him that,” Applejack said as she joined the other two.

“He’s got to be somewhere!,” Twilight said, looking back at the two, “Besides, with all of the area that we’ve covered, it shouldn’t be that much longer until-”

“WHY THE HELL DID I TURN INTO A FEMALE TOA?!?,” A voice exclaimed, and the three ponies turned towards the direction of the shout.

“It’s got to be the ‘Toa’!,” Rainbow exclaimed, then took off in the direction of the voice.

“Hold up,” Applejack said, and soon gave chase, Twilight following shortly behind. As the two ran after Rainbow, a thought came into the forefront of Twilight’s thoughts: How is it that the ‘Toa’ can change genders?

Alex’s POV

“Okay, Alex, calm down,” Alex said to himself, his voice holding borderline hysteria as he looked at his body, trying to figure out how he had transform into a different gender, “You’ve transformed into a perfect version of Nuparu before; it’s no stretch that you’d be transformed into a perfect version of Hahli, gender and all.” As he began to calm down, he noticed a faint buzzing noise being emitted from somewhere. Looking at the entrance, he noticed that the buzzing noise was becoming louder. Is this the power of the Elda?, he thought, and readied himself for whatever came at him, his right hand grabbing the blaster that had been hanging at his side until now and held it up, ready for whatever came at him. As he did so, he noticed a second buzzing sound coming from underneath him.

Wait, underneath?

Alex leapt to the side, and was barely able to avoid being swallowed as a sinkhole opened up under his previous position. What came out, though, made Alex’s heartlight stop for a few seconds: A metallic screech reverberated through the chamber, before a green chicken-like machine climbed out of the hole. “Bohrok,” Alex whispered, a tinge of fear entering his voice as more Bohrok proceeded to pour out of the hole. He took a step back as he prepared to flee, only for the blaster to knock against a rock. This noise drew the attention of some of the Bohrok that had already got out of the hole, and they turned to him, letting out a ear-grating screech before charging at Alex.

Alex stumbled back as the Bohrok drew closer, but was too slow as the lead Pahrak lashed out with its head, the blunt, spear-like head slamming into Alex and sending him flying into the wall. As Alex slammed into the wall, his hand tightened around the blaster’s handle and let out a surge of water and lightning from the blaster, blasting the Pahrak back. Alex stared at the fallen Bohrok for a few seconds, allowing for the remaining Bohrok to escape from the hole and close in, before a feral grin grew on his face.

“Say hello,” Alex said as he pointed the harpoon at the oncoming Bohrok, “to the Conduit Cannon!” With that said, he pulled the trigger and let out a flood of water and lightning at the Bohrok. Though the charged torrent held back the group for a few minutes, Alex soon had to move when the Levahk in the group launched a wave of acid. As he rolled closer to the Bohrok, he reached out with the harpoon and, using the claw on the harpoon, ripped the Krana out of the nearby Parahk. Without its pilot, the machine slumped down and fell inactive. As he got back on his two feet, Alex thought he heard someone gasp, but shrugged it off as he focused on the remaining nine Bohrok. Using the same method that he had used to take out the first Bohrok, he soon moved between Bohrok to Bohrok, ripping the Krana out while avoiding both the lunging Bohrok and their bladed shields.

Soon, only one Levahk remained, Alex standing across from it with the Harpoon hanging loosely from his hand. For a few seconds, the two stared at each other, neither moving in an inch. Then, the Levahk let out a screech before rushing forward. Alex jumped over the Levahk as it rushed under him, and flipped the lid open, launching the Krana wide and sending the Levahk sprawling. As Alex landed on his feet, he looked at the surrounding Bohrok that were strewn on the ground, then frowned. Why is it that there hasn’t been a single Bohrok-Va that has shown up, Alex thought, looking across the room for any sign of a Va that was waiting to re-load the Bohrok with Krana. A sudden movement to the left drew his attention, only to stop as he spotted the purple unicorn from before pick up a Krana Ja with her telekinesis (‘levitation’), moving the Krana closer to her face as if she was going to put it on.

“Get away from that thing!” Alex shouted as he lunged forwards, knocking the Krana out of her grasp with the laser harpoon. The Krana let out a screech as it flew across the room, only to be silenced as it was knocked into the river, the torrent sweeping it away in seconds. Alex’s good deed would not go unpunished, though, as he was soon kicked viciously from his side, sending him airborne, before a second kick sent him flying into the ground. The impact left him dazed for a few seconds, but he soon regained his bearings. When he looked back at the unicorn, he saw the stetson-wearing ‘earth pony’ and the rainbow-maned ‘pegasus’ that he had seen with the purple unicorn had now joined her, the three glaring at him.

“What was that for?!” The purple unicorn asked angrily, her horn beginning to glow a light purple.

“Do you have any idea what you almost did?!” Alex asked, frustration entering his voice as he pried himself out of the ground. This shocked the ponies, who hadn’t expected the tone from him, as he continued to reprimand them. “That thing,” Alex continued, pointing at a nearby Krana for emphasis, “Was a Krana. They are the minds behind the Bohrok, the machines that were attacking me earlier, and only have one purpose: To clean all.”

“And how is that bad?” the earth pony asked, “After all, isn’t it a good thing that it cleans everything up?”

“I’m afraid that you don’t understand what that means. ...They consider all ‘life’ as ‘dust’,” Alex replied, “Once they are activated, they will eliminate everything on this planet, be it building, forest, or lifeform. All they care about is leaving this planet as nothing but one big dirtball.” At the end of this explanation, all three of the ponies faces were showing various levels of horror, with the earth pony and unicorn showing the most disgust, though the pegasus showed equal amounts of disgust and interest.

“Not only that,” Alex continued, “But when a Krana gets attached onto another being, the being will-” His warnings were cut off, though, when a pink earth pony slung herself over his shoulder.

“Hi!” the pink pony chirped.

“How did you sneak up on me?” Alex asked in a deadpan tone, his face matching his tone.

“I lived on a rock farm for most of my childhood, silly!” the pink pony replied, then pointed to Alex’s right, letting out a giggle as she did so. True enough, when Alex looked over in that direction, a hole was in the wall, with wooden beams supporting the entrance.

“I guess that answers the ‘how’,” Alex said with a slight grimace.

“Hey, don’t have a frown,” the pink pony stated, then pulled a cupcake out of her poofy mane, “Have a cupcake!” However, when the pony tried to feed him the cupcake, Alex was quick to swat the pastry away before flinging the pony over her shoulder, leaving her lying strewn on the ground.

“What was that for? She was just trying to give you a cupcake!” The orange pony said, a look of anger growing on all of the ponies’ faces. Well, all except for the pink pony’s face: Since she was facing away, Alex couldn’t make out what expression was on her face, the only hint of how she was feeling was her hair slowly flattening.

“Oh, I have my reasons,” Alex said as the pink pony’s hair completely flattened, and she began to make sniffling sounds, “Or rather, one big reason: If even a crumb had entered my mouth, I would’ve most likely-” Alex was cut off as the rainbow-maned pony launched herself at him, slamming him into the ground as she proceeded to hit him again and again.

“How could you make her cry?!” The pegasus shouted as she hit him again and again, her face showing her rage, “She was only trying to be friendly!” When the pegasus lifted both of her forehooves to slam into him, Alex knocked her off of her feet the flat of his blaster, then rolled back so as to get out of her range. As the two got to their feet and looked at each other, ready for the other to make their move, when an abrupt shout interrupted the battle:

“HUZZAH!!!”

Only because Alex was facing the crack was he able to react in time, swinging the blaster to catch the halberd with the blade as a unicorn with wings (‘alicorn’) dropped from above and lunged with her halberd. The two pushed against the other’s weapon before stepping back, the two glaring at each other.

“Forsooth, so thou art the villain who hath been terrorizing thy citizens,” the alicorn stated, pointing the blade of the halberd at Alex. Alex looked wary at the mare, but nodded nonetheless.

“Verily well, then,” the alicorn said, then pointed her halberd at him, “Have at thee!” With that, she turned into a dark smoke before spiralling at him, weaving back and forth as she charged at him in a patternless path. Taking advantage of her weaving, Alex ran towards the closest Levahk shell while firing a blast of lightning and water at the animate cloud. As the animate smoke cloud swerved away from the elemental beam, Alex took the hesitance to run towards the right exit of the river. When he reached the river, he stopped for a few seconds, and looked down at the exit, seeing only the white mist in return. With the alicorn closing in, Alex took this chance and did the only thing he could think of:

He jumped.

Twilight’s POV

Twilight stared in both shock and confusion at where the ‘Toa’ had jumped from. Why would he try to flee, rather than fight like he had beforehand?

“Come on, let’s go after him!” A voice cried out, and Twilight turned to see Rainbow Dash ready to chase after the ‘Toa’.

“That is not necessary,” a voice said, and the four ponies turned to see Luna reform from her smoky form, “The bottom of thy waterfall has spikes strewn underneath thy surface. Thou would hath to be a master of water to prevent thy demise.” With that said, she charged her horn and prepared to teleport. “Now, let us be on our way. This place has… bad memories for us.” As the four ponies drew closer to Luna to join the teleportation, Twilight slipping a few ‘Krana’ into her sidepack for later study, a thought struck her... bringing doubt of the ‘Toa’s’ demise to her mind.

“...Wait a minute…” Twilight slowly said, her eyes travelling over the river and the fallen ‘Bohrok’ units. When they had arrived, the ‘Toa’ had shot streams of lightning to stun them. However, the streams were mostly made of…

In a flash, Twilight realized what this meant, and turned towards the Princess of the Night, her eyes widening at the surprise of her realization. Stepping towards Princess Luna, she began to say, “Princess Luna, don’t teleport us-”

“-yet!” Twilight finished, only to stop as she realized where she was.

“What is wrong, Twilight?” Luna asked, her friends also looking at her in confusion.

“When we arrived at the scene, the ‘Toa’ was fighting these creatures called ‘Bohrok’,” Twilight said, her friends nodding in agreement to this. “However, when he was fighting, he had used elemental blasts that were water charged with lightning.” At this, Rainbow, Applejack, and Pinkie realized what she was getting at, the former two verbally showing their upset.

“We do not follow,” Luna said, though she seemed to start to connect two and two together.

“When we were waiting for him to appear, we saw him use a different form to manipulate the earth to a mastery most unicorns can’t reach,” Twilight continued to say, “If he was able to manipulate earth in that form, then was a water user in the form we saw shortly there…” It was then that Luna realized what Twilight was getting at, and proceeded to curse at a level that Twilight immediately covered Spike’s ears (Who had fallen asleep during the search, and had ridden on Twilight’s back for the rest) so as he wouldn’t hear it.

… Twilight hoped future encounters with this ‘Toa’ went better than Luna’s current language.

Author's Note

Well, that chapter was certainly chaotic! Though I personally would think that it could use some more chaos...
Yeah, yeah. Now, where did I put that Dimensional Isolation Stabilizer?
I'm serious here! When the conflict came up, it could've been a massive fight between Alex and the others. But what happened? He ran, leaving the climax to hang! Aaand why are you locking the dimension down?
Let me put it this way: I had just made Pinkie Pie cry for what may seem to be no reason. Considering the only pony that gets a bigger reaction from making her cry is Fluttershy, I need any form of protection to keep the other bronies from 'exacting punishment'. Now, to connect the Ionizing Unit to the Rift Conduit, thus powering the Vortex Negation Generator...
I see... Though considering that Alex is-
SPOILERS!!!
...You'll never let me have any fun, will you?
Not if it'll ruin the plot or the story, it won't.
Oh, fine... but while you finish up your barricading, is there anything to do besides watching the kid? This room feels like an empty box.
There's some anime DVDs in the cabinet, if you want. Though I can't say that they are all universally accepted...
Hmmm... Sword Art Online? I suppose it's better than nothing...
Well, in that case, I guess I'll see the rest of you in a few weeks... Though I really need to get this Dimension Isolation system up, not to mention that I've got ACTs coming up and need the upcoming time to study for it. With that said, I'll see you guys later! Let's see now... Connect Point A to Component Zeta...

4 - A Roll of the Dice

Alex let out a gasp as he breached the surface of the river, his arms still clasped over the empty Levahk shell. Looking around for any sign of land, he noticed a rocky shore to the side of the river and, with some difficulty, was able to near the shore before the current took him too far downstream.

“Hope that’ll at least give me a few hours of rest before they find me,” He said, falling on his back and landing on the shore, the Bohrok unit a few feet away from him. As he looked up at the sunlight, feeling the metallic body he was currently in dry off, he thought about what he had just experienced these past few hours.

How is it that the Bohrok were here in the first place?, He pondered. Mata Nui had said that only the Kanohi were transported to ‘Eques’, so how was it that the Bohrok arrived? Speaking of Kanohi… He thought, looking downwards at his new… assets. He knew that he transformed into an exact replica of the Toa who wore the Kanohi whenever he put one on, but did he really have to go through a gender-swap just so that he could use the Elda? I can already tell that this is going to be one of my not-so-well-liked Kanohi, He thought, lifting his hands up to the Elda. A sharp pull later, and he was back to his regular, male self.

“Now, what to do with you…” He said as he sat up, his mind wandering over to the offline Bohrok to the right of him. As he did so, a gleam drew his eyes downwards, only to spot an oddly-shaped purple rock that was shaped like a six-sided dice, the light catching it in a way that it looked as though an entire galaxy was within it. Alex reached down to inspect the die, and grabbed it with two fingers when he heard the following words echo through his head:

This is for anyone who needs help or just wants a friend. Summon the Dungeon Master of Equestria if you’re ever in need.

“What in Mata Nui?!” Alex shouted, dropping the dice as he scrambled away from the die, looking around wildly for wherever the voice came from. After a few minutes of looking, and failing to spot anything, he looked back at the dice, which gleamed innocuously in the the daylight. Walking back to the die, he picked it up and examined it, careful not to let it roll out of its hand.

“HELLO?!” a voice called out. “Is someone trying to summon me? Ya picked a REAL great time. If ya could roll the die, that’d be nice. Kinda trying to run from someone. Need help.”

Alex stumbled back a few steps as the voice rang in his head again, and he looked back down at the die-shaped stone. Perhaps someone was using it as a telepathic conduit? A few seconds passed before Alex, acting on a childish impulse, rolled the die on the rocky ground and shouted, “Roll for Initiative!”

After rolling the die, a portal about ten feet tall and four feet wide opened up, sending an elf looking creature barreling out of it, followed by a shadowy mist before the portal closed.

“Get back!” the pale elf yelled. “HIT STREAM!” Alex, not sure as to what that was, dove to the side as a wave of blue energy was sent flying from a sword he hadn’t noticed the elf had. The wave impacted the shadow, sending it hurtling into the stream. The shadowy mass let out a screech as it was swept away by the river’s current.

“Thanks,” the elf said, getting up and heading towards Alex. “Ya really helped me out there, getting me away from the guards.” Alex looked at the elvish man with suspicion. While he felt as though he could trust the man, he was still unsure of whether he could. What guards was he talking about?, Alex thought. He hoped he didn’t accidentally help a mass murderer escape prison or Death Row...

“Who are you?,” He asked after a few seconds of staring off, and the elvish man stood there, taking deep breaths.

“I’m…. I’m Dox,” he coughed out, “I’m also the guy you just summoned. You just helped me escape the shadow of a guy that I killed. He kinda fused with…. Well, I’d have to explain something else first. Just let me tell you that now he’s trying to destroy me and pretty much all life back on my Equestria.”

“Equestria? What’s that?” Alex asked, his guard now up since the man had blatantly stated that he had killed a man. However, after a few seconds of skimming through the memories Mata Nui had procured for him, he remembered what, or rather, where Equestria was, and said, “Never mind, now I remember.”

“What do you mean what’s that?” Dox asked. “Equestria is the land we’re in right now. It’s the nation here.”

“Well, I haven’t been able to get a chance to review all of the memories Mata Nui gave me, considering that I’ve been on the run for the last two days or so,” Alex replied.

“What do you mean you’re on the run?” Dox asked. He looked thoughtful for a second before continuing. “Actually, nevermind. I know how it feels. Back in my Equestria, the ponies were kinda…. well, weird. The princesses were even worse.”

“Princesses?” Alex said, letting out a snort. “Geez, with all of the pastel colors, it’s like this is a little girl’s show.”

“Oh, don’t get me started,” Dox said. “In all honesty, it was. Pretty funny, right?” Alex let out a chuckle in agreement.

“So, you were saying something about ‘your’ Equestria?” Alex said, drawing the conversation back to its starting point.

“Yeah,” Dox said. “Apparently, there’s this whole multiverse out there. A bunch of us got tricked by this guy called the Merchant into buying something, then he sent us to Equestria. Well, all but this one guy I’ve met, but I’m not sure he’s the only one with his circumstances.” At the mention of the Merchant, Alex felt what could be described as if someone had electrocuted, for some unexplainable reason. Wincing slightly at whatever the pain was, he focused back on Dox.

“That happened to me, too. Saw it happen to this other guy with a pronged ruby, as well,” Alex said, before his mind wandered and he wondered aloud, “So, what he trick you with?”

“A bunch of playing dice meant for Dungeons and Dragons,” Dox said, holding up a d6. “Mom said if I ever bought something, make sure I can actually use it for something. That, and they had this awesome galaxy design to them.”

“Huh, I’ve got one like it right here,” Alex said, holding out his hand, only to stop when he remembered rolling it. “Where did it go,” He muttered, looking left and right until he finally spotted it wedged between two pieces of granite. He walked over to it and, after picking the die up, showed it to Dox.

“Yeah, that’s a duplicate of this red one,” Dox said. “It’s actually connected. That’s how I was talking to you before you summoned me. I can hear things through it…. It’s just that, I lost the others to Celestia. Since then, my connection to the tokens has gotten weaker. So yeah, sorry for yelling at you.”

“At least you had your full set of equipment earlier,” Alex said, holding up the Kanohi Volitak, “While I was given just the Kanohi Volitak by the Merchant, apparently all of the Kanohi have been scattered across Eques. So far, I’ve found the Elda, which’ll be a blessing and a curse for finding the rest, but the rest are going to be troublesome to find.”

“Well, I might be able to help,” Dox said, “But I have one question first. Those words… are you talking about-” He was interrupted by his d6 glowing. Then, he started acting crazy and talked to it. “What do you mean?..... I understand. Hey, new question before I ask the first one. Can I see the token real quick?” Alex was unsure what he meant by ‘token’, but gave him the die he had found, anyways. “Thanks. Okay, big guy, I have it. Now, what did you want from me?”

That was all Alex heard before everything went black.

Alex looked around in confusion, unsure of where he was.

“Wow, it’s been awhile since I’ve been here,” Dox said. “Oh hey, big guy! How’s it going?” Alex looked in the direction of the voice, only to see Dox facing a giant being cloaked in a black robe, concealing all of his face except two gleaming spots where his eyes would be.

“What’s going on here?!” He asked, slapping the Kanohi Volitak on without hesitation. He felt that familiar energy course through him and, once the transformation was complete, drew the Aqua Blaster Blade, pointing it at the two.

“Dude, calm down,” Dox said, “You REALLY don’t want to piss that guy off. Trust me, an immortal being with his power can kinda screw you over.”

I don’t care, he amuses me, the large being said, I find it funny for a being like him to try and take a stance against me. Don’t worry, little man, I won’t harm you.

“And I should trust you because…” Alex said, his voice trailing off as he looked between the two. “On that note, who are you?” He asked.

I am everything, the being said, I am the Dungeon Master, the energy that controls everything. Right now, you’re in the void. It’s the only other place I can reside, besides my own realm. If we weren’t here, your world would have been destroyed, along with all of reality. I’m honestly glad you’re helping my champion. Just be careful, and good luck.

“Wait, what’s that supposed to mean?” Dox said.

Just call me if you need me Dox.

HOLD IT RIGHT THERE, CREATURE OF THE VOID!! A familiar voice interrupted, and the three looked up, Alex gaping slightly at the sight. Coming out of a rip in the sky, descended Mata Nui (Or at least, what he assumed was Mata Nui) in his Titan form, the gargantuan robotic form rocketing towards the ‘DM’. If you think you can corrupt my champion of realms, Mata Nui said as he came level to the DM, You’ve got another thing coming!

Oh calm down, young god, the DM said, I have no intention of corrupting your champion. I was merely saying hello to him and my champion. Now, calm down before something breaks in that giant machine of yours.

If you say so… Mata Nui says, before a bright light surrounds the robotic form before dissipating, leaving Mata Nui in his Bara Magna form and half the height of the DM.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, the DM said, I have to send these two back. Good bye kiddos!

And with that, everything went black again.

Alex blinked in confusion as he arrived back where he had stood. “Did I really just see Mata Nui about to put the beat-down on someone in his Magna Bomonga form?” He wondered aloud, still trying to comprehend what had just happened.

“Looked more like his Titan form to me,” Dox said. “Well, either way, ya can’t really kill the big guy, nor harm him…. He’s kind of an invincible over-god of all reality. I mean, he doesn’t really do much, but at the same time, he does. Kinda sucks the Fell Shadow is cutting him off from his powers. Freaking DM essence for blood…..”

“Great, so this ‘Fell Shadow’ is basically the DM’s version of Teridax?” Alex said.

“Well, kinda,” Dox said, “He got the ‘blood’ sample from me…. and it used to be Tirek. By the way, you see that douche try and steal magic, kill him. Or detain him forever. I mean, I destroyed his body, pretty much. Yet somehow, his soul escaped the plane of Hell. I mean, it’s no Tartarus, but Hell is Hell.”

“If he’s as bad as you say he is,” Alex said, images of a Teridax wearing an amplified Avsa passing through his mind, “I’ll just end up sending him into the Shadow Zone. He can’t escape there without the help of an Olmak or a Kahgarak, so he’ll most likely spend the rest of eternity fighting off the Zivon. Besides, since I’m technically a Toa, that means I can’t kill anything that’s sentient.”

“Ah, okay then,” Dox said. “Well, that means you’re obviously a good guy of sorts. Oh! That reminds me. Do you know where the mask of shadows is? Or maybe the mask of time?”

“Unfortunately, no, though they’re S-Rank on my list of Kanohi to find before any pony puts them on,” Alex answered.

“Good,” Dox said, “Although you might want to make them both Z-Rank. The multiverse does NOT want another Teridax running around. Found his token a while ago, vanished a few minutes later. I think he might be dead.”

If Alex was drinking when Dox said that, he would’ve most certainly had done a spit-take. “Teridax?!” Alex sputtered. Grabbing Dox by his shoulders, he fervently asked the man, “Are you sure he’s dead? Are you absolutely sure he’s dead?!”

“Listen buddy,” Dox started, “I don’t have a freaking clue if he’s alive or not. I didn’t bother to summon him, nor would I ever. Teridax was an amazing villain, yeah, but I’m not bringing him to my world. Not in a million years. Plus, his token just kind of vanished, so I won’t ever know. Just try and keep the mask away from people, or ponies in this case. Never put it on, and if you can without harming the world, DESTROY IT.”

“While I don’t think it’s best if I destroy it, I’m sure as heck keeping any and all Kanohi out of any pony’s hooves, because the Kanohi can’t be turned off once a pony puts them on, or even controlled,” Alex said, “So if the Vahi’s put on, you can kiss the time continuum goodbye.”

“Do you know what’d happen if a Displaced put one on?” Dox asked.

“As far as I can tell, they should be alright, provided they’re human,” Alex replied, “It’s mainly because the ponies’ cutie marks demand a constant supply of energy that the Kanohi will use that as a power source. And I don’t want to find out if that’s only for one universe.”

“Well, do you have a mask I could try?” Dox asked. “I mean, I’m not actually a human, I’m a changeling, but it should work. So, you got one?” A static noise started emanating from Dox right then. “One second.” Dox pulled out an iPhone and started messing with it. “Come on, again?” Alex could see the d6 sticking to the back of the phone. “I’m sorry, this happens. Or at least, it has recently. Happened in the middle of a meeting with Celestia, then she grabbed my arm when I went to check it out. Then, that fell shadow started chasing me, so I ran out of there. I don’t know why, it just does it. I think it’s the DM trying to call me, or at least that’s what it said. And then there was what he said to me, ‘Just call me?’”

“Perhaps,” Alex said, “Or maybe it’s meant to be some form of divine intervention?”

“I don’t know,” Dox said, “So, about that mask.”

“I’ve actually got two,” Alex said, holding up the Elda and…

“Whoops, forgot to take off the Volitak,” he noted, and pulled off the Kanohi on his face, his body transforming back to his human state. “Before I offer them up,” Alex said, holding up a Kanohi in each hand, “I have to ask: How comfortable are you with Rule 63?”

“Absolutely fine, why?” Dox asked. A small grin grew on Alex’s face at this answer.

“In that case, why don’t you try the Elda first? It should be less affecting the Volitak,” He said, holding out said Kanohi for Dox to take. When he put it on, he immediately transformed from a fleshy elf-looking guy, into the female Toa Inika of Water.

“Whoa!” Dox screamed. “What the heck?! Dude, not cool!”

“Now, you realize how I feel every time I change into her,” Alex said, snickering slightly at the now-female Dox, “The curse of the Gender-Swap is upon you!”

“Ha!” Dox said, “That’s what you think! Guess who’s a technomancer!” Dox then reached his hand onto the mask he was wearing. A weird pattern, reminiscent of a circuit board appeared on the mask before there was a flash of light. When Alex could see clearly again, there was a normal Dox standing in front of him, still wearing the Elda and flipping him the bird. “HAHA! TAKE THAT!”

“I hate you…” Alex said with no venom to his voice as he glared at the once-in-a-timeline male Toa of Water. However, the glare faded away as he looked at Dox’s hand with intrigue. “However, how did you do that? It looked like how I use my elemental attacks.”

“Well, it’s magic,” Dox said, “Let me run you through technomancer 101. Technomancers channel magic through objects to manipulate, control, and upgrade. It’s just how we use magic. Fun thing is, it works really well with machines. Technically, a toa is a machine, and so is this mask….. technically. So, it was easy to-” Dox was cut off as he fell to his knees and clutched his head. “Holy crap. Bad headache. REALLY BAD HEADACHE! And what is this glowing object in the distance?!” Dox looked up at Alex. “WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?!”

“That… is the power of the Elda,” Alex tentatively said, “When the mask detects nearby hidden items or beings, or spiritual beings, it should-”

“The crap!” Dox screamed, “It looks like a mask! It’s in some kind of forest. WHY DOES IT HAVE TO HURT?!”

“I don’t know!” Alex said, “It should only be causing a headache when-” Alex’s eyes widened as he realized what that could mean. Walking over to the writhing changeling, he put his hands on the mask. “I’m going to take this off in three, alright?”

“IT’S….IT’S…. IT’S…..” Dox said, clutching his head. “IG…. NI…. KAAAA!....” Deciding to skip the countdown, Alex grabbed the Elda and yanked it off, a blue aura dissipating around Dox as he did so. Dox then fell onto his face, exhausted.

“You alright?” Alex said as he helped Dox to his feet.

“I saw something,” Dox said, “It started with just something in the distance… Then, the headache got worse. I saw a blurry image, and as the headache got worse, the image got better. I saw it! The Kanohi Ignika! It’s in a forest somewhere! I don’t know where though, but it seemed farther off.”

Alex looked at Dox, then at the Elda, wondering how Dox detected the Ignika in five minutes when he had it on for an hour without detecting it. Putting on the Elda, he transformed into the Toa Inika of Water. Once the transformation ended, he activated the Kanohi, trying to figure out how far away the Ignika was. Sure enough, as soon as he triggered it, he felt an extremely small headache, but nothing on par with Dox’s episode.

“Looks like you can’t use the Kanohi either, as given,” Alex said as he deactivated the Elda.

“That would make sense,” Dox said, “Considering my conditions. Freaking rainbow ‘blood’. First making Tirek a fell shadow, now this! Sure, I heal faster, but I can’t do something cool. Fun thing was, I didn’t even try to use the mask!”

“That’s the same thing that’ll happen to any pony who uses it,” Alex said as he raised his hand to take the Elda off, but stopped as he detected… something to the far right of him. “I’m picking up something!” He said, walking in the direction of the signal.

“That’s the direction I detected something first,” Dox said, “Then, it kinda shut off. Then, the freaking headaches and the vision.”

“Considering that the Ignika has priorities for any Elda user, I’m not surprised,” Alex said, walking to the edge of the river. He paused only for a minute to pick up the Levahk unit, then turned to Dox. “You coming or not?” Alex asked.

“Yeah, yeah,” Dox said, jogging to catch up, “Don’t get your undies in a bunch. By the way, what’s up with the Bohrok?”

“A swarm of them attacked me shortly after I had grabbed the Elda, and I ended up fighting them off,” Alex said, shifting the weight of the currently spherical Bohrok on his back, “Luckily, none of the Krana got on any of the ponies, and I grabbed the Levahk unit shortly before I jumped in the river. I’ll need the acid-spewing shields for when I’m human, since I don’t have any powers of my own.”

“Yeah,” Dox said, “You also may want to look out for the queens. Holy crap, those guys are gonna be tough. Imagine if they took over a town full of ponies. The poor things….”

“To be more honest, I’m more worried of why they’re in Equestria in the first place. Mata Nui said that only the Kanohi were sent over, and no other rifts were opened. So the big question is: How did they pass through dimensions?”

“Well, I heard things leak,” Dox said. “Apparently, things from whatever universe the item you bought from the Merchant is, starts leaking into Equestria. I mean, it also applies to the Power Lottery guys, but they’re still another story, kinda…. Anyways, things from Bionicle are gonna leak in man. I’m just lucky things from D&D haven’t started leaking in to my universe… Actually, there was that fell shadow… and me…. and that void dragon… Okay, maybe my universe sucks.”

“Well, at least it hasn’t been a tarrasque,” Alex joked, “However, if things from Bionicle are passing over, that’ll mean I’ll have to face Tarakava and Visorak... and Mana Crabs… Oh, joy,” He noted, grimacing at the end of the statement.

“Let’s not forget Crystal Climbers,” Dox said. “Or Frost Beetles, or maybe even an Archives Beast! That’d be interesting! Oh! Maybe even a Matoran or two!”

“Archives Beasts are at least non-hostile, provided that you don’t harm them or force them to leave,” Alex shot back, “Though I shudder to think what would happen if a Matoran was captured. That one ‘Twilight’ pony looked like she wanted to dissect me when I transformed into a Toa, but I at least can fight back with my element.”

“I’d be more afraid of a Frost Beetle,” Dox said. “Do you KNOW what they eat?! Freaking memory crystals, that’s what! They’re smart as hell!”

“Visorak are worse,” Alex quipped back, “Their venom is just as potent as energized Protodermis, except it mutates your mind as well as your body. That’s not including each separate ability they various types have!”

“Good point,” Dox said.

“...Did we really just degrade ourselves to a argument of which Rahi was worse to meet?” Alex said after a few minutes of silence, lifting himself over a fallen tree as he did so.

“Yep,” Dox said, jumping the same tree. “Actually, you know about the weird fusions? Maybe a Frost Beetle Visorak fusion would be the worst. Smart, mutated, and dangerous as hell.”

“If we’re going that angle, I’d say the worst fusion to fight would be a Oohnorak and a Gate Guardian. All the dangers of a regular Visorak and is as smart as a Frost Beetle with the ‘bonus’ of telepathy, but you can’t see the real one without submerging it or dousing it in something,” Alex quipped.

“Maybe a Frost Beetle, Visorak, Gate Guardian combo?” Dox suggested. “I mean, then you’d be fighting a super smart being that has the danger of a Visorak. It’s probably be HUGE, too, with the abilities of the Gate Guardian….. Actually, screw the Visorak, Zivon. Zivon Frost Beetle Gate Guardian. Definitely the worst thing ever.”

“Fader Bull, Tahtorak, and Doom Viper,” Alex said with a note of finality, “Is big as a city block, can teleport without anyone noticing, and if its size doesn’t kill you, its ‘breath of death’ will.”

“Okay,” Dox said. “Add in my fusion and we have the ultimate Rahi of- WHOA!” Dox tripped and fell on his face. “Who put that there?!”

“Dunno,” Alex said, looking back at Dox. He didn’t see anything that Dox could’ve tripped over…

A sharp sudden buzz filled Alex’s head, and he turned towards the direction of the buzzing. “We’ve got incoming!,” He shouted, drawing his ‘Conduit Cannon’ with one hand while setting down the Levahk. A couple of boulders came flying in, only to be destroyed by Alex with a volley of electrically charged streams of water.

While he was dealing with that, Dox sneaked over to the Levahk. He raised his hand and brought it down with a loud *clang* noise. Then the Levahk was enveloped in the circuit board pattern before it started shifting its shape.

Right as Alex was about to shoot another boulder, a large, mechanical fist smashed it out of the air. Alex looked to the left, and saw Dox sitting comfortably in a Boxor unit, a sword attached to the right arm of the vehicle.

“A Boxor unit?,” Alex wondered, then gave a deadpan look to Dox. “Considering that you most likely used the Levahk unit I’ve been hauling for the last five miles as the building pieces, please tell me you at least left the shields intact,” He said with a hint of aggression.

“On the back, buddy,” Dox said, turning the mech around. “Feel free to remove them before this thing gets damaged.” A loud roar drew the two away from their conversation, only to see a black-and-brown blur land in front of them, sending dust flying everywhere. When the dust cleared, the duo looked at the center, only to see a Spiny Stone Ape glaring at them. However, unlike its usual brown self, this one had several pieces of metal be completely black, and the eyes were a sickly urine color. The reason for this was soon apparent as a Shadow Leech attached to the Rahi was seen sticking out of the shoulder.

“Nope,” Alex said, slowly backing away as the Spiny Stone Ape drew its arm back, “NopenopeNOPE SOOO MUCH NOPE!” As the Ape let out a roar and swung its fist, Alex turned towards the direction of the object he had been detecting earlier and began running, continually stating, “Nope,” over and over again.

“Pansy!” Dox yelled at him. He turned back to the Ape before shouting, “BRING IT ON!”

The Spiny Stone Ape did bring it on, colliding its fists with Dox’s Mech’s fists. Dox even got in a few slices and stabs with the flamberge he had connected to the Boxor. That is, until the Spiny Stone Ape did something odd. It started laughing like a madman before grabbing the sword off the mech, taking the right arm with it. It then brought the sword down on Dox, slicing off his right arm. Dox screamed out in pain before magically setting the Boxor to a weird auto-pilot, taking the shields, and running off, bleeding profusely all the way.

“Holy crap, man!” Alex said as Dox drew to his side, carrying the shields in his one remaining arm, “What the hell happened?”

“Freaking ape did this!” Dox screamed, dumping the shields in front of Alex before clutching his rainbow spouting wound. The rainbows instantly disappeared when they hit the ground.

“Just for the record, I’d like to point out that this is why I fear Spiny Stone Apes, considering that even Visorak consider them a threat,” Alex said absentmindedly, then turned forwards. “C’mon, we’re almost at the object’s location!” He shouted, running faster as they neared their destination.

“Yeah, yeah, the object,” Dox said. “Since when is a Spiny Stone Ape THAT F%&#ING SMART?! It ripped off the Boxor’s arm and then used my sword to slice off my arm! MY ARM, MAN!” At this last statement, Alex felt his heartlight stop for a second.

“They shouldn’t be,” He said gravely. His mind was drawn elsewhere, though, as the two burst of the woods and into a grove. There, hovering above a stump, was a Kanohi that Alex hadn’t seen before. With its four points at the top and its teal coloring, Alex was certain that it wasn’t any Kanohi released to the public. However, he was soon distracted as he heard a growl, and noticed several wolves that were made of wood standing in front of it protectively, as though the mask was their young.

“They’re mine,” Dox said. He pulled out another sword from his sleeve, surprising Alex, before charging at them and slashing them to bits. The bits in turn lit with a blue fire that seemed to be the same color as the edge of the sword’s blade, burning until nothing was left. Dox then muttered, “So that’s what happened to that ingot. Aetherium.”

“Thanks,” Alex said, nodding to Dox, only to turn around as a roar shook the forest. Running over to the mask, he pulled off the Elda, turning back to his human form, before grabbing the unknown new mask. Please don’t be the Mask of Undeath, He thought as he put the mask on. Once again, he felt the energy course through him, before dissipating once the transformation was complete. Looking down, Alex saw that his body (Which, luckily, was male this time) looked somewhat akin to that of the Toa Metru, with thin arms and broad shoulders. However, it was an odd mixture of green and blue, with the upper legs and chest being blue. The colors reminded him of some Element, but he couldn’t put his finger on what…

“Hey!” Dox screamed at Alex. “I kinda need your attention here, not on whatever it’s on!” Alex looked back at Dox, his ponderings going to the back of his mind, when a loud roar shook the woods. The two looked in the direction of the roar, when the Spiny Stone Ape burst from the copse, sending a rock flying at the two of them. “Damn it!” Dox yelled, running into Alex and throwing the both of them out of the way of the incoming boulder.

Alex lifted himself off of the ground and looked at the Ape, before his eyes flickered over to the Shadow Leech embedded in its shoulder. “We need to get that Leech off the Ape!” He said, pointing out said leech with his right hand.

“On it!” Dox yelled as he charged at the Ape, only to get smacked back into a tree. “DAMN IT! Wishing I had my arm right now!” Alex instinctively reached to his side, only to pull out what could be best described as an axe blade with a handle rather than a pole, a chain running from the end of the handle to what Alex assumed was something attached to his back. However, his mind drew back to the battle as the Ape stood over Dox.

“Get off of him, you damn dirty ape!” Alex said, swinging his arm sideways while letting the blade fly. The blade flew fifteen feet to the side before the chain snapped taught, and the blade arced forwards, ripping the Shadow Leech right off of the Ape……

And right onto Dox. A few seconds later, a large shadowy figure emerged from the leech, taking on the visage of a centaur.

“Finally,” the shadow said. “Now your body is mine. Equestria shall bow down or be destroyed. All of the magic in the universe is MINE!”

“Not exactly,” Dox said, ripping the leech off his face. “No, I’m still here. I’m bleeding, but fine.” Dox then took out his sword again before continuing. “NOW GO AWAY, YOU JACKASS! HIT STREAM AD FINEM!” With that, a wave of energy came flying out of Dox’s sword, missing the shadow and opening a portal behind it. The portal sucked the shadow in forcefully, causing the shadow to let out a deathly screech as it was sucked in and disappeared. “Wow, I was just shooting the breeze, didn’t actually think it’d work.”

The stone ape, meanwhile, whose color was quickly returning to normal, looked around in confusion for a few seconds before letting out a grunt, then turned around and went into the woods, the mountains deep in the distance it was heading. “I guess that’s the end of that,” Alex said as he looked at Dox, who was still bleeding profusely.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Dox said. “Now, DO YOU MIND DOING SOMETHING TO HEAL ME?!”

“I don’t know if I can!” Alex said, grabbing his armless shoulder for emphasis, “As far as I know, there’s only one Kanohi that can heal you, and that one is-” He stopped suddenly as he felt his Kanohi lit up and activate, and the two looked at the armless stump. Right before their eyes, the muscle of the gash rapidly repaired itself, skin growing over the socket until all that remained was an armless shoulder, but the injury looked like it had healed over years ago.

“Wow,” Dox said. “I don’t have my arm back, but at least now I’m not bleeding like hell. Thanks.”

“No prob, though this does answer the question as to which Toa this is,” Alex said absentmindedly as he pulled the mask off, reverting to his human form. “So,” Alex said, looking at Dox, “What now?”

“Well, if you don’t need any more from me,” Dox said. “You could send me back. I just need you to say ‘Our contract is complete.’”

“Very well then,” Alex said, and echoed Dox’s words with, “Dox, our contract is complete.”

A portal opened up next to Dox. “That’s my ride,” he said. “Thanks for the help, again. Call me if you need me, and if I ever see your token, I’ll make sure to call you and say hi.” And with that, Dox stepped through the portal and disappeared.

With Dox now gone, Alex looked around and frowned. “Now, where the hell am I?”

Author's Note

Oooh, this was certainly a fun chapter to read! One might even say it was... a blast.
...I see you've found the Naruto series.
You better believe it!
Oh, god, I'm already regretting letting you watch my collection. As you readers can probably guess, though, this chapter was brought to you with the collaboration of DJ A String, and his character Dox from The Dungeon Master of Equestria. If you guys get the chance, I'd definitely recommend checking it out! Until next time, which will come around much quicker than this one, this is Runic Soul, signing out.

5 - An Out-Of-Place Advising

*Whep-Crak-Shhnk*

*Whep-Crak-Chnk*

“Fraggin’ granite,” Alex muttered as he walked over to the blade, which was embedded in the rock, and pulled the blade free from the stone. After Dox had left, he had been experimenting with both his new element (Which had been a gift from the Great Beings, given the area) and his new weapons. He had gained quick proficiency with his element, but was having some difficulty with mastering the blades. For starters, the chains only had a 15-foot radius, making it so that he had to plan carefully before executing a swiping blow. Not only that, but ever since he had transformed into this new Toa, he had been wary of harming the environment for some odd reason. As such, he had been using the protosteel weapons on nearby boulders, so as to practice his ranged strikes.

“This is pointless,” he said to himself as he laid against the boulder. While he had been practicing, his new aversion to harming plantlife made it vastly more difficult to train. “I need to find a better training spot,” he said abruptly, and sat up. Yes, a place with less plantlife would be perfect to train in! With that thought, he looked around, searching for a clearing or a rocky face where he could train. However, due to the dense brush, there were none in sight. With that, he let out a sigh, and turned towards the mountains that the Stone Ape had went towards hours earlier.

“There’s bound to be a clearing over there,” he muttered to himself, and hoisted himself off of the boulder. Grabbing the twin acid shields, he began his trek towards the mountainside. As he walked towards the mountainside, he noticed less and less trees the size of that he had seen in the Everfree, and more shrubs and scraggly brush poking out of the rocky ground.

As a clearing entered his sight, a strange pulse seemed to emit from nowhere in the air before him. “What in Mata Nui?” he said, moving behind a nearby granite boulder to prepare for whatever came out.

Peering around the rock, Alex spotted a circular ripple of energy in the air. In moments, it opened wide, becoming a dark purplish portal, shimmering like a thin layer of water in the clearing he had sought. Alex looked at the portal in confusion. He figured it might be a Displaced, but considering that he didn’t activate a token (Or at least, he thought he hadn’t), he doubted it…

Suddenly, emitting from the portal, a rush of energy rushed out, thin but quick across the area. Momentarily blinking his eyes, Alex braced himself as he looked around to see what happened…

The clearing he was in now seems to be surrounded by a very thin barrier. But, upon closer inspection, he can see turning clocks fading in and out across its surface… and beyond the barrier, things seem to be moving in slow motion, even the swaying of the shrubs nearby is impeccably slow in comparison to objects within the barrier. Alex, not sure as to what would come out, drew his ‘vine-axe’, ready for whatever happened next.

From within the portal, a hesitant voice spoke.

“Here we go again… sigh… I need to get used to these portals sometime. I just hope that this meeting goes better than the last two. ...but, never hurts to build up some good karma, I guess. ...sigh… here we go.”

Soon after, a figure steps through the portal. The man appears fairly normal, wearing white sneakers, white socks, pants, and a baggy grey sweatshirt, through which a tiny bit of pudge is seen. The man appears to have smooth nearly black brown hair, the ends needing a trim despite some thinning of hair up on top, despite not appearing that old. Though, hard to tell with his thin beard and mustache.

Alex blinked in confusion at this. He has to be a Displaced, He thought. While he hadn’t seen a Displaced as… mundane… as this newcomer, he shouldn’t be so suspecting, considering that the only Displaced he had met was Dox. Stepping out from behind the boulder, he walked towards the man.

The man, seeing Alex approach him, smiled slightly.

“Well… this is nice. Seems my portal was as accurate as I meant it to be,” He shivered involuntarily, “Still feels weird to use though.”

“Portal?,” Alex asked in feigned ignorance, looking at the man with faked confusion on his face, “Was that what you came through?”

The man seems stunned for a moment in surprise, but after a moment, he smiled and shook his head. “No need to try to act innocent. ...You’re Alex, right?” At this, Alex immediately stiffened.

“How do you know my name?,” He asked, lifting his Vine-axe so he could throw it with no troubles.

Seemingly unphased by the weapon pointed at him, the man simply slumped his shoulders in minor apathy, a slightly depressed tone to his voice, “No need to get violent. I actually came to help… sort of. And… it’s actually somewhat complicated.” The man suddenly put his hands onto his back against his spine, pushing briefly to stretch it before stretching his arms a bit. He looked around the clearing for a bit with a slight frown, a sideways grimace adorning his face. He looks back at Alex with tired eyes.

“This may take a while, so let’s make at least the conversation a bit more comfortable.”

After blinking a bit, his eyes moved upwards briefly, as if thinking of something. Suddenly, a very quiet gust of wind was heard… almost as if something was fading.

Blinking in surprise, Alex spots what had made the sound. Behind the man, a genuine Lazy Boy chair seemed to have faded into existence… and it only takes but a moment for his mind to realize that he had heard not one, but two fading sounds, with the other one coming from behind him. Turning around, Alex saw an identical Lazy Boy sit innocently on the rocky ground, its foot rest already out. Alex turned back to the man with a raised eyebrow. “This doesn’t exactly explain who you are, or how you know my name,” He said with distrust evident in his voice.

The man just looked at him, shook his head, and sat down in his own chair. “I SAID it would take a while to explain… but as for who I am, my name is Joshua. Joshua McInnis. ...And, though no longer in my own reality, I’m not, technically speaking, a Displaced. At least not in the technical sense.” Alex, still not trusting Joshua or his ‘gifts’, simply sat on the ground, unsure as to whether the chair would be a modern Hephaestus's chair.

Joshua looked disappointed, dropped his head a bit and shook it with a sigh, “Well, to each their own, I suppose. ...And sorry for the suddenness of this meeting. But, I figured it’d be easier to be upfront and honest about things, rather than sneak around. Though, I made sure to put out this time field first… I figured that our conversation would take a while, and from what I could gather, you were kinda in a rush to stay hidden from your pursuers, so the ‘faster’ things went, the better. This force field… or, magic field, I guess I should say, ensures that it’ll be ‘fast’, relatively speaking.”

Alex stiffened as he remembered his pursuers. I can’t believe I was foolish enough to forget about them!, He mentally gripped. For all he knew, they might be on their way right now! “Very well then,” He said, looking at Josh head-on, “What is it you want to talk about?”

Joshua smiled slightly, “A few things. Such as where you are, since you don’t seem to know, as well as various other things.” Joshua paused before looking at him slightly more focused than before, “What do you know about the multiverse, first off? Might make things easier if I know how much you know of just what mess you’ve gotten yourself into.”

“I know for each world, there is an infinite number of similar worlds, where there could be, as impossible as it sounds, two worlds exactly the same, while for other worlds they could be complete opposites,” Alex said truthfully, then looked at his hand, “Of course, with the fact that me and Dox are in from separate ‘Equestrias’ and that there’s a second Teridax out there, I’ll go out on a limb and say that there’s infinite worlds for each series from the ‘hub’ Earth, as well?”

Joshua took a moment to take in all he said, and shook his head, “Yes and no. To put it simply… all Displaced are within a single ‘continuum’, since all are in a different timeline of Equestria. But… each continuum is linked to each other, but in a way most wouldn’t expect. That way… well, to put simply, every work of fiction in existence is created via subconscious links to other realities... said links creating the fictions, not the other way around. ...and yes, that also explains how I knew about YOU Alex, though things are more complicated than that summary… but it’s enough to explain a bit of things here.”

Alex took a moment for this to sink in, and then rubbed his ‘temples’. “I’m willing to bet that I’m just an OC in someone’s crappy fanfic, huh?,” He said, then abruptly looked at the man as he realized something. “Wait…” Alex slowly said, “If you know that this world is a work of fiction, then that means that you would’ve had to have visited that world, if not have come from there!”

Joshua smirked slightly, “Yeah, pretty much. Was also a fan of Bionicle in my youth, and am still a fan of the reality you’ve wounded up in as well.”

“So you know which series this is based off of?” Alex said, his focus now fully on the man.

Joshua nodded at this, “That’s correct. ...and in truth, I don’t think you really had to worry about the Elements of Harmony’s effect on you, though I can’t blame you for being wary. The Elements seem to have a mind of their own, you see. They choose punishment or cleansing based on the individual. I don’t think you’re evil, so I doubt they would have done anything bad to you. But, can’t blame you for taking caution, considering the circumstances. ...Anyways, as to your question, it’s a series that was made as a remake of a very girly series… but the remake is so drastically different that it has surprisingly gained a global following… called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.”

“...Oh god, it’s a remake of that series,” Alex said, his face in his hands as he remembered watching that show for his Contemporary History class, before pointing at Joshua, “And while what you said may be true for the ‘hub’ world, I’m not taking my chances for this world. Besides, what about that alicorn who tried to gut me with the halberd earlier?”

Joshua grimaced, “Unfortunately, the fic I read hadn’t gotten that far yet. Though, I’m guessing that the one that did that was Princess Luna? She’s the more… emotional of the two. She’s the dark colored alicorn of the princesses. If not, I can only see Celestia doing so if you somehow, intentional or not, threatened her subjects, especially her precious student Twilight Sparkle… but then again, different timeline could be different. Or, it could just be a misunderstanding, for all we know. … but can’t blame you for wanting to be cautious, regardless.”

“Well, I can guess that she might consider me a threat, since I did some… ‘hazardous landscaping’ back in the town, as you most likely know,” Alex said, gesturing with his hands for the air quotes around ‘hazardous landscaping’, ”But considering that the entire town was about to mob-pummel me, I’m claiming self-defense on that bit. Also, those ‘Mane Six’ you’re speaking of, who I’m guessing you’re referring to the two xenophobes, the one who sees me as a justifiable punching bag, the one with Class 5 ADD, ‘Twilight’, who wants to cut me up, as given from how she looked at me each time we’ve met after the first, and the quiet one who has, admittedly, been the only one to not do anything wrong so far? Yeeeah, they most likely hate my guts.”

“... I won’t deny that Rainbow Dash likely does. She’s unfortunately quick to judge, though admits when she’s wrong once proven it. As for Twilight… she’s not the type to dissect others… though she sure as heck would want to study your abilities. She literally lives in a library and tends to stay up late with her constant studying. She can be a bit dense when on such a study session, but she’d back off if asked. ...anyways, I think things may go easier for ya if you arranged a peaceful meeting with them to explain the misunderstanding. No doubt, you’d have to use another pony as a ‘middle-man’ for arranging such though. Thankfully, there’s plenty of ponies living on the outskirts of the village to find… but, no doubt, you wouldn’t do such a thing without some incentive, eh Alex?” Joshua said with a raised eyebrow.

“You most likely didn’t see what she was like in the castle,” Alex deadpanned, “Considering that she almost put on a strewn Krana had I not knocked it into the river.”

Joshua grimaced, “...I won’t deny that she can be a bit manic when focused on a topic, but she’s good at heart and wouldn’t, intentionally, cause any harm, even to ‘test subjects’. You could likely snap her out of it if you said something like she’s being like a villainous mad scientist in her obsession, and that she’s being heartless. She’s normally good at heart… but loses sight of herself when excited about her studies… to an admittedly scary degree.” Joshua shivered at that last line.

“I’ll try,” Alex said, though he mentally promised to do so only as a last resort. He wouldn’t touch her with a 35-foot pole unless she had, Mata Nui forbid, gotten her hooves on a Kanohi. “However, I’m surprised that you haven’t tried to justify the other three ‘offenders’. Are they really that bad in the hub world?”

Joshua raised an eyebrow again, “You hadn’t mentioned complaints about the other three, thus why I didn’t defend them. They do something of complaint for you, too?”

“Whitey was a racist, with ‘beast’ and ‘monster’ being a common nickname for her to use for me,” Alex listed, his second finger pausing for a few seconds before being lowered, “Stetson… in hindsight, didn’t do anything wrong besides call me ‘varmint’, but considering I’ve most likely got a wanted poster by now, is fitting for my public status. And Hype, while she most likely wasn’t planning to do so, would’ve killed me when she tried to force-feed me that cupcake. That, plus all six of them were planning on blasting me with the ‘Elements’, which was obvious since ‘Twilight’ has an awful poker face.”

Joshua chuckled at the last comment, “Agreed about Twilight, though she’s not as bad as Applejack, or ‘Stetson’, when it comes to lying. As for the ‘racist’ bit… Rarity likely wasn’t calling you that based on your appearance, but rather, your actions. She’s a ‘high society’ type, and thus, bad manners and dust are really appalling to her. For Applejack… well, it’s likely due to the fact that you, unintentional as it was, have been doing villainous actions (“Arson, assault and battery, attacking royalty, running from the law,” Alex listed at this), though I can’t blame you those actions considering the circumstances. And lastly, for Pinkie Pie… well, she’s considered weird even by her friends’ standards. She means well, but is plain cooky at times. She only wants to spread happiness and smiles to everyone… but can be scarily over-eager and wacky in her methods...”

“I’m guessing that ‘over-eager’ would have trying to force-feed a cupcake that, unless it was made from rice or tapioca flour, would’ve caused vomiting and not being able to breathe, resulting in death within 10 minutes without an EpiPen?,” Alex guessed.

Joshua hesitated for a few seconds before speaking, “...Iiit varies from reality to reality. Despite her focus on sugar, in some, her foods are delicious for humans, while in others… well, they’re as risky as you said. It varies, really, and I can’t blame you for being cautious about that fact. She means well, but despite how scarily intelligent she can be, she can be just as equally dense and naive.”

Alex nodded along with this. “I understand why they all did what they did, for the most part, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to be all chummy with them.” With that said, he ponders his thoughts before turning back to Joshua. “So, with that out of the way, is there anything else you have to add?”

Joshua nodded with a slight smile, “I actually came here to help ya. Though, for part of it, was hoping to make a deal for part of what I’d be offerin’. But, there’d be some freebies provided with… figured I’d handle helping a few others before focusing on myself, with the powers I’ve been granted… before I place my intended limiters on the overpowered abilities I’ve been given.”

Alex looked at the man with a raised eyebrow. “And what, exactly, would this ‘help’ be?”

Joshua leaned back in the chair before explaining, “There’s a few things. For one, from what I observed from part of your adventure, you usually flee when left in human form. I could grant your human body a lot more potential than it currently has, and have your Toa powers tied to it in such a way that when your human capabilities that I grant grow, so would your Toa powers… with said human capabilities based on other fictions. But, like the mask collecting, you’d have to work up the skills I unlock for ya as you go.” Alex looked at the man with some disbelief, then shook his head to show his disagreement. “As if that would happen,” He said, “Besides, I see the fact that I have powers only in each Toa form to be a limiter for me. That, plus power and I… don’t exactly have the best relation. I think it’s best if I’m restricted to relying on my Kanohi. Considering that you’re planning on restricting your powers, you get what I’m saying, don’t you?”

Joshua looked a tad disappointed, but nodded in understanding, “True enough. ...In that case, I’ll switch what was gonna be one of my free gifts into that slot, since I had intended for those upgrades to be the meant for being my side of the intended deal with ya. ...heh, gotta be flexible, eh?” Alex nodded in agreement, but kept silent, awaiting what else Joshua had to say.

Joshua paused for a moment, considering how to state what he planned to say, “... well, for the deal then… what I’d offer to you… is a present time map scan of the world, marking the locations of every Kanohi Mask… though, it would only display the current locations, which can be changed if they’re moved. And there’s, of course, the issue you’d have with travelling to those locations before that happens.”

Alex looked relieved at this. Having a map of where the all of the Kanoh were would be a god-send for finding him! “That would be greatly appreciated,” He said to Joshua.

Joshua smiled, “I’m glad to hear that. But, as said… it’d be part of the deal. And unfortunately for you… the deal is rather lopsided. Thankfully, however, I do not present ya with a time limit for completing your end of the deal. Though… admittedly, doing part of what I had in mind would help ya out anyways, since it’d possibly provide you with connections to allow for easier travel from place to place anyways.”

Alex nodded to this. “If that’s the case, might I hear the deal, then?,” he asked.

Joshua nodded, “Alright. There’s a large number of things. Some, admittedly, are just for fun on my part… but a good number of them are actually things that’d help you in the long run. The starting of which… though you don’t have to ‘be friends with’ them, I would like you to at least make peace with the ponies. You’re in their country, and they likely have many fast ways of travel that could aid you in your quest anyways. The middle-man idea I mentioned earlier would likely work, but the exact method of how you manage peace with them I leave up to you to choose. After all... one works best when certain that their decisions are,” Joshua paused, thinking over his words, “...methods that they’d prefer to use to reach their goals, eh?”

Alex thought this over for a while, mulling over the possibilities. Admittedly, it would be nice if the ponies stopped attacking him. However, it would most likely be some time before he ended up making peace with them, considering that he had attacked one of their princesses…

“Alright, I’ll try to make up with them. It’ll most likely take some time before it gets there, though,” Alex said, putting his hands behind his head.

Joshua shook his head a bit at this reply, “Maybe, maybe not. As I said, this has been shown in a series. The ponies, the princesses especially… though Luna a tad less so… are pretty forgiving. If you approach peacefully with them knowing that you are, it’d go well… thus why I suggest the middle-man approach. If you use a middle-man, you can set up a meeting with them knowing you want peace with them, rather than them attacking by assuming you’re evil and showing overconfidence by meeting them. Besides… I doubt you’d be able to run well, due to a little detail about the princesses, specifically Luna, that you’re unaware of...” Joshua states with a slight glimmer of mischievousness in his eye.

Alex snorted at this. “What is she going to do, stalk me in my dreams?,” He quipped jokingly.

Joshua’s smile widened, “Ironic that you got it right on the head there…”

Alex froze at this revelation for a few seconds, before grimacing. “Oh, joy…” He says, “Guess this means that I’ll have to grab a Hau or a Suletu to at least even the field, or else my ass is moon-toast.”

Joshua chuckled at this, “Thus, why I think getting the peaceful meeting over with early. ...You see, Luna can visit one’s dreams and influence them. ...Normally, she uses this to protect her ponies from nightmares, since… in this reality, it’s possible for nightmares to become SOLID with enough dark energy. But, she’s quite capable of using it for both tracking and information gathering, especially if she can excuse it away as her doing so for the protection of her country.”

“Well, my butt is screwed, then,” Alex said, slouching back slightly, before straightening back up, “However, if she’s at least willing to listen, I might be able to explain my actions that way, and thus, starting up my peaceful relations!”

Joshua tiredly smiled, “Glad to hear it. But, there’s still the matter of how to go about it. ...If you’d like, when we’re done here, I can warp you to a house on the outskirts of Ponyville, just out of site, to allow you to try and get a middle-man from one of the ponies. But, that’s for later… there’s many other conditions for that map beyond just peace with the ponies. But.. thankfully, they’re not as immediately pressing of matters.”

Alex replied to the man, “Nah, I think I’ll look around the Everfree for any more Kanohi before starting up my relations. With how ‘chaotic’ it is, there’s no saying as to how quickly something could grow over a Kanohi or someone takes one. However, you said there were other ‘conditions’?”

Joshua nodded, “That’s right… but if you intend to go through the Everfree… know that there are Cockatrice that can petrify with eye contact, and there are these blue flowers you definitely want to avoid. They’re called Poison Joke… imagine a plant that plays a random magical prank on those that touch it, one that typically CANCELS OUT the victim’s magic to make it harder to cure. Nasty things, those… though it takes a bit for the effects to activate after touching them.”

“Thanks for the heads-up, but I think with my Bo-Toa powers, I’ll be safe from the Poison Joke, what with the botanokinesis I have and all that,” Alex replied.

Nodding again, Joshua said, “If you’re sure. ...Oh, and be grateful you only angered the ponies. There are many sapient beings on this world. The buffalo, griffons, and minotaurs are… a lot more temperamental in comparison. Heck, despite them being the most powerful, the ponies, as a whole, are the most peaceful.”

“Really?,” Alex said, looking contemplative for a few minutes before shrugging, “Geez, this place is one big mythological haven. I’ll be sure to try and be more patient with the others I meet, though.”

Joshua nodded for a third time while commenting, “Glad to hear. Anyways, on to the next condition… when you do have peace arranged with the ponies, though I won’t force ya to succumb to being a test subject, it’d probably be good to tell Twilight all you know about Bionicle in the way of what could show up as threats, thanks to the Merchant putting you here. She’s good at organizing, can send the info to the princesses, and in turn, can lead to all their informants having an idea of what to look for, since the map I’ll be giving you will be a one-time scan for the Kanohi across the globe.”

“Considering that I’ll most certainly will have been on a neutral relation by this point, that will most certainly be a given,” Alex replied in agreement.

Joshua just smirked at that. “Well, after that… considering that your actions effectively will be protecting their world, it’s quite likely that the Elements of Harmony’s bearers will want to help. ...In truth, they’re a lot tougher than the average pony, considering a future event of the origin timeline showed them defeating a huge invading force with no formal battle training, only succumbing after a larger ambush surrounding them… but, they still don’t have formal training. So, IF they do want to come with, make sure you make this stipulation: they’ll only be allowed to come with if all six of them agree to undergo combat training. Considering the dangers of Bionicle, it most certainly will be needed...””

Alex frowned at this. “I do agree with that, but it’ll take some effort and finding working weapons to get them in shape,” He then pointed at Joshua. “Also, you do realize that you’ve given Luna more ammo to use against me now that I, while it’s not specific, know stuff that’s a ‘threat to Equestria’s security’, right? So please, don’t give any more spoilers.”

Joshua frowned, “Even if said threats would also affect you as well? Especially since part of the conditions is an aim to prevent some issues later on? ...after all, you’ll have enough issues with dealing with Bionicle-based threats. I doubt it’s only Kanohi that came in with you… and bigger threats may also be on the rise.”

“No, I’ll most certainly be helping against the invasion, what with my duty as a Toa and all that,” Alex replied, “However, if you keep giving me info, either it’ll be too vague that it’s no use, or it’ll be too accurate, screwing over the timeline if acted on and, in turn, your info.”

Joshua shrugged, “In truth, for the series I mentioned… there’s no changing of the known threats at this point in the timeline. They’re threats regardless. And as for changing the timeline… most of the events of the timeline focus on ‘slice of life’ type stories that teach morals. Thus, the ‘friendship is magic’ part of the title. But, I can understand your caution.”

“Well, that’s life,” Alex said, “However, back on the topic at hand, I’m guessing that you’ve got a few more clauses for the promise?”

Joshua nodded, “Yeah. For one… well, that invading force, many fans have theories about it, but it’s mostly agreed that they invaded due to starving, since they’re… ‘emotion’vore type shapeshifters. But… I’ve seen many a timeline in which these bug-pony Changelings have come to have peaceful relations, though not without some difficulties. I figure, since you’re gonna be travelling the globe anyways, I could give you something to track their main base, or bases depending on which theory is active in this reality, and try to get the starts of that running. And if it works, perhaps even ask to have one per hive accompany you as an ally. Having a shapeshifter to aid in combat would be useful for you, after all. And interesting, as well.”

“Well, I’m already screwing the timeline over, either through stopping the invasion or just being here, so why not?,” Alex said after a few moments of thought.

Joshua smiled, “Glad to hear it. Though, I forewarn… at least the leader of the invasion, Chrysalis, will be hard to deal with. She’s bitter, prideful, and malicious… though she only THINKS she’s cunning, if you know what I mean.”

“Et tu, Pre-HBP Malfoy?” Alex said in reply to this. To be honest, if she was as ‘smart’ as Joshua said she was, he shouldn’t have any trouble at all.

Joshua smirked, “Well, she, in the original timeline, tries to take over the pony controlling a force field over the whole city… while throwing away the Princess of Love… when their kind feed primarily on love. And that’s considering the fact that said princess can enhance any feelings of love someone may already have. ...and when it’s revealed that she’s a Changeling, she doesn’t try to hide it, and then has all her changelings reveal themselves, instead of using cunning to take use of the fact of having at least a tenth or more of the main capital replaced with her hive.”

“So in other words, she was Rube Goldberg-ing it all,” Alex said.

Joshua just chuckled, then answered, “Sort of. And in the ‘comics’ that are like a side story thing, she tries a second attempt, this time more directed at Twilight’s little group by kidnapping their little sisters… and she’s bitter enough to squash a little critter, guts going everywhere, in front of them just to get them to shut up.”

Alex frowned slightly at this. “Do you have any idea as to where she’ll be for the second attempt?” Considering that he’s already going to screw the timelike over, it’d make sense for him to launch a preemptive strike and take her out before she became a threat…

Joshua made a bemused expression, “At the moment, considering that they just defeated Discord, God of Chaos, she wouldn’t be there. You see, after her defeat, she and her Changelings are scattered all over via a blast of sorts… and she has immense luck as to where she lands, making a base out of the new location. However…. not every timeline’s version of her is evil. Some are just bitter and desperate to save her hive, having lived a ‘survival of the fittest’ type life with her hive and hating those that are free and happy out of jealousy… I’m hoping that’s the case in your Equestria, cause it’d mean that it’d be possible to talk sense into her. Though, no guarantees. There are many timelines. Some, she’s pure evil, while others, she’s misunderstood… and others still have it to where she overfed during the invasion and the power drove her mad. ...I have literally no idea which case it is for your timeline.”

“...Looks like I’ll need to do some recon before deciding the next course of action, then,” Alex said after a few seconds of thinking.

Joshua smiled, “Well, since they can disguise themselves, maybe asking for an audience would throw her off her game? Though, doing so as Nuparu would be best, what with the invisibility and whatnot… especially if, before using it, you say words to give off the impression that you’re teleporting away. Heh. Good defense should things go sour that way.”

“That’s most likely going to be my course of action, unless I can come up with anything else,” Alex replied. Considering that the parley would most likely be in an enclosed space, the real Kanohi of Teleportation, the Kualsi, would be useless.

Joshua nodded, “And… that’s not even considering the possibility that this may be a dimension with multiple hives, and thus, separate locations. Not only that, it’s theorized by many that the changelings within a hive share a psionic hive mind connection. So, get spotted once, and the others may be on to you… IF that’s the case in this timeline, anyways.”

“True that,” Alex said before shrugging, “Heck, they might even know I’m here, if one of the changelings was in Ponyville when I was there.”

Joshua nodded, “Good point. Anyways, along with dealing with the Changelings, a few other things. For one… I’ll hand over a gift with a message to the Princesses, basically for a smaller deal for fun. If they agree, it should prove interesting. Oh, and speaking of meeting with them… well, since they’ll likely provide ya with transportation, you’ll likely need to set up a home base at some point. As such, I’d like you to make that SOMEWHERE in that town you first arrived in. Your choice where, though. Could be mixed with the ponies, or some secluded outskirt location. Heck if I know where you’ll choose where in the town for such.”

Alex shrugged in response to this, “To be honest, if I do get a base, it’ll most likely be on the outskirts, or just on an open space where I can train without harming others in the crossfire. Heck, I might even set up shop here in the Everfree, or in another town entirely!”

Joshua grin got noticeably… devious… at the mention of training, “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that. Had an idea for a training gift to give ya that not only you, but others could also use to great effect. Though, it’ll be an intense, though useful, training tool for ya.”

Alex frowned at this. A training ‘gift’? He better not drop the Tahtorak or the Zivon on me, He thought, and asked with a hint of suspicion, “And what would this ‘gift’ be?”

Joshua smiled, “Imagine this. First, a portable dimensional chamber. Inside, it can split into separate rooms that are fully customizable for terrain. And for the opponents… it scans the one training, then scans the potential timelines for them, then makes a simulated fully confident and experienced version of them, with options to choose from. The default is based of your current equipment, but with full knowledge of how to exploit every skill you’ve yet to discover with said gear. Or, you could take the more advanced route, and choose a version that is fully geared up with gear that can be made or gathered in your timeline to take full advantage of your powers, and for you, that’d include possessing every mask that you seek. All the while, for that training, magics would be in place to ensure there’s no death, regardless of killing blows, so that at most, you’d be knocked out after defeat…. and it can do this for anyone whom decides to use the training chamber, even the allies you gain here. Basically… it allows you to face a version of yourself as what you could eventually become, learning the hard way just how much you can improve yourself.”

“I’ll think about it, but I think it’s best for that to wait until I get a home base set up first,” Alex said. Truth be told, he was very intrigued by what he had heard, but wanted to get a haven before doing so. It would be a pity if he was captured after being knocked out from a training session…

Joshua nodded, “Well, as I said, it’d be portable, and you could activate it wherever you choose to place it. So, I could grant you it, and let you decide where and when to use it.”

“In that case, sure,” Alex said, but mentally promised not to use it until he had a chance to find a safe place before doing so.

Joshua nodded, “Alright then… now, let’s see… oh yeah. I’d also like you to have Luna to try and get her Thestrals to come out during the day more often. There’s little known about their kind. And also… for your adventures, I’d like you to ask them to send with you a mare guard of each type from both the solar and night guards. And you’re more than welcome to state that that wasn’t YOUR idea to ask for that, but part of a deal that was made, if that is what you’d like.”

Alex thought over it for a while, but eventually nodded. “...I guess that is acceptable,” He reluctantly answered. Truth be told, he’d prefer to have worked alone, mainly for the sole purpose of not having to check behind and not get shot in the back. However, if push came to shove, he’d be willing to work with them, provided that they didn’t screw up the mission.

Joshua stopped to ponder for a moment… “And lastly…” Joshua closes his eyes for a moment before holding out his hand… In moments, a glow appears there before a gem appears. He opens his eyes and tosses it to Alex. Alex grabbed the gem in one hand and looked at it with a raised eyebrow. What was he supposed to use this for, currency exchange?

Joshua nodded at his catching, and continued, “Use that only when the ‘mane six’ and the Cutie Mark Crusaders are together. Also, ask for them to bring their families to meet you and hear about what’s going on. Considering how Maud is, the rest would be potential assets, though the choice is there… And to explain about Maud… well, when her sister, Pinkie, was in danger, she proved fast enough to be a blur, faster than even a pegasus, and had enough strength and speed with her punches that she was like a jackhammer when she turned a falling boulder larger than a house into pebbles within moments.”

Alex gulped at this, but kept the gem in his hands, what with having no pockets at the moment. “Of course, but that’ll be some time before that happens,” He noted.

Joshua nodded, “True enough. Anyways… that actually pretty much sums up my ideas for the deal, that I can currently think of. Oh… and to forewarn, though ponies in Ponyville are pretty nice, the politicians and the like in Canterlot are not.. with a few rare exceptions, like Fancy Pants, but his kind are very rare among the ‘canterlot elite’. Also… well, I won’t go into full detail, but one of the threats to come excels… in draining magic. So, best of luck against that one.”

“Oh, I already have ideas as for that,” Alex said, a slight smirk crossing his face and ideas flitting through his head. One of the more prominent ideas would involve the Felnas, but he wasn’t sure as to whether it would work.

Joshua smiled as he leaned back, “Good to hear. So, I take it you agree to these many terms I’ve given?”

Alex thought the terms over, weighing the cons against the pros in his head. Eventually, he simply shrugged and said, “Sure, why not?”

Joshua smiled, “Very well. Time to use these powers of mine to make the items for you.”

At that, Joshua leaned forward, crossing his hands before his face as he leaned and thought.

In a few moments, a sci-fi looking box with crystals embedded appeared before them, small enough to hold. Then, after a little longer, a strange disc appears. The top of it looks like it can be opened, the top see through, showing a button. And right at the edge of the casing is another button. Following that though, Joshua starts some peculiar motions.

His eyes open, glowing as he looks around. He stands up for a moment, walking in a random direction. Motioning his hand forward, he appears to grasp at something, before energy sparkles flow forward in an unseen wind, going down an invisible flow as they fade.

Joshua nodded, “Alright, that finishes setting up the things that I was wanting, with that little input of NEW data added to the world’s leylines. Should make that little bit-,” Joshua’s eyes flick towards the circular device as their glow fades, “-work as intended. That just leaves completing my end of the deal with you, Alex.”

With that, Joshua walked forward, opening his palm upwards as a scroll sealed with a gem appears upon his hand. “Here’s the map, just as promised. You can activate the scan by placing the gem on the map when it’s open. It’s a one-time scan, so only do so when you’re ready. And as for those other items… the box is the training room one. Shouldn’t be hard to figure out. And the circle is for a little deal with Celestia and them.”

Alex nodded in thanks as he took the offered items, and near-instantly set the scroll on the ground before opening it. Taking the gem, he set it on the map, and the scroll immediately began to sketch out where the Kanohi were. After a minute of sketching, the map finished sketching and the gem dissolved into a fine dust, its particles scattered into the air with a strong breeze. Alex picked up the map and looked at it. Sure enough, it was a map of all of Equestria. However…

“It’s a pity it can’t say explicitly say where the Kanohi are,” He muttered to himself. While it did show a massive amount of Kanohi, the size of the map, which was barely three feet wide and two feet tall, made it so that he didn’t know where the Kanohi were or what challenges he would face.

Joshua grimaced, “Well, won’t add details to the map, but I see one problem at least. One moment.” In a flash of light, in Alex’s hand… the map flashes as he stumbles in surprise, the map growing in size to better show where the Kanohi are more clearly, but other than that, it remains the same.

“Thanks,” Alex said, as he looked over the map. It certainly was a gift for the map to be bigger, making it so that he could distinguish all of the Kanohi for where they are. However, now all of the Kanohi’s images have been changed to that of a grey Hau, making it so that he couldn’t distinguish which Kanohi was which. However, unlike before, Alex kept his mouth shut on this flaw. To be honest, he wanted a bit of surprise for when he found the Kanohi, and didn’t mind not knowing which one was which.

Joshua nodded, “No problem. Though, figured you’d have waited till you were sure you had easier travel methods than going on foot before you activated it. But, your call in the end there.” Joshua shrugged at the hindsight there, but Alex chose to, not him. Alex shrugged before taking the mask off, reverting back to his human form.

“So, I guess that is it, then?,” Alex said as he pocketed the smaller items, the objects filling his pants pockets.

Joshua smirked, “Not… exactly,” Joshua’s smirk widened as a crystal appeared with some sort of interface appears, “Here. It’ll show ya some details that’ll be useful for ya, and you might find enjoyable, but best to do so when you’re not busy. But, what it’ll show will be limited if certain individuals are nearby, as to prevent unintended info from getting out. It’ll mark exactly where that cut-off point is, as well. ...You’ll understand what I mean when ya test it.” Alex gratefully accepted the item, and slipped it into the remaining free pocket. Any info on the world around him would be very valuable.

Joshua smiled, “Well, that about does it. I’ll leave the time field here for now. I’ve got one more task to deal with before heading back through the portal to the Equestria I’ll be making my home, so continue on as you wish. And best of luck on your adventures.”

Joshua stood up, stretched a bit, and within moments, vanished. But with the speed of the vanish, and the ‘whoosh’ that accompanied it, it doesn’t take a genius to realize he had teleported somewhere.

Alex looked at the spot where the man once stood before shrugging. “Well, at least I’ve got a good way of finding the masks, now,” He said to himself, then looked down at the map. After memorizing the location of the nearest Kanohi, he rolled up the map and slapped on the Volitak. He transformed in a bright flash of light, the map hidden in whatever subspace pocket the rest of his items go, and then raced in the direction of the Kanohi, eager to get to it as quick as possible.

Luna looked to her sister, Celestia, as they stood across from one another. It had been several hours since she had returned from the stallion-hunt for the one named ‘Toa Alex’, and while she had not been able to capture the Toa, she had quickly returned to Canterlot, hoping to find any possible previous info for this ‘Toa’.

“Are you sure that he was swept into the river?,” Celestia asked, her wings spread out slightly in alertness.

“As sureth as we stand before thee,” Luna replied, still dressed in her battle armor. However, the halberd she had brought with her for the battle was snapped in two halves, which were on the ground between the two.

“If that’s the cas-,” Before she can finish her sentence, the sisters heared a sudden, but noticable ‘whoosh’ into their chambers. The two turned towards the sound, only to see a bipedal being standing on the far side of the room. While Celestia was unsure of what this being was, Luna recognized the species immediately and pointed her horn at the being, a spell ready to be fired.

“YOU DARE INVADE OUR INNER SANCTUMS, HUMAN?!,” Luna bellowed, and Celestia’s eyes widened before she, too, pointed her horn at the ‘human’.

At the shout, the man noticeably shivered… but as he turns around to face them, it becomes clear that this is not the same ‘human’ as before. He rubbed his ears before looking at them, a sad apathy in his eyes, as well as a bit of fear… though it seemed he gets over that fear surprisingly fast… though seemingly from disconnection to it rather than suppression.

“A little loud, don’t ya think?,” The human rubbed his ears a bit, before pausing, “...and sorry for the sudden intrusion. The ‘spell’ I used was meant to take me to the location of the currently awake princess. Didn’t know where I’d wind up precisely with it...”

“Enough,” Celestia said with a state of finality, and looked at the ‘human’ dead in the eye, while Luna kept her horn trained on the biped. “Tell me, human,” She said aloud, “What are you doing here?”

The ‘human’ nodded at her, “Mostly, to clear up some misunderstandings that have been had here. Figured I’d do one last thing to help my new friend here before returning to my own ‘adventures’, sort to speak.”

“THOU ART WITH THE ONE CALLED ‘ALEX’?!,” Luna exclaimed, her voice still in the Royal Voice tone, then turned to Celestia and said, “SISTER, WE MUST DETAIN THIS ONE AT ONCE!!”

The ‘human’ winced his ears at her voice, then shook his head, “Please, Luna, calm down. I came here to talk peacefully here, not to start a fight. And besid-,” The ‘human’ paused… as if reconsidering his words, and shook his head, “Never mind. I doubt you’d appreciate that comment if I said it. And I don’t want to start a fight here.”

Celestia looked at the ‘human’ for a few seconds appraisingly before nodding, then turned to Luna. “Luna, I think that it might be best if you stopped with the Royal Voice.”

Luna winced at this reminder, then spoke to Celestia, at a much more quiet tone, “We’re sorry, sister. We did not realize that we were speaking in the Royal Voice.” With that said, the two looked at the ‘human’, awaiting for him to continue.

The human nodded, “Thank you for agreeing to listen to me. May I sit down? This may take a while to discuss.” The two sisters each raised an eyebrow at this. They notice him looking around for a comfy spot to sit, but he seems hesitant to move without their permission, clearly not wanting to provoke them.

Eventually, Celestia conceded to the actions of the ‘human’, and said, “You may sit.”

The human nods with a smile, “Thank you, Celestia.” Spotting a nearby pillow on the floor for sitting on, he walks over and sits down, crossing his legs in an unfamiliar fashion to the alicorns.

“So, tell us, ‘human’: Why did you enter our private chambers?,” Celestia asked.

The human nodded, then said, “Well… I wanted to speak with you, explain some things and some misunderstandings about Alex, as well as what’s going on within your world. ...Oh, and my name’s Joshua, by the way. It’s an honor to meet you two.” Joshua’s smile at the end is clearly genuine to Celestia’s practiced eye… there seems to be no ill intent, no joking tone, to his greeting.

“In that case, perhaps you could explain as to why your colleague attacked my ponies,” Celestia asked.

Joshua nodded, “I’ve seen his timeframe for a limited bit, but that first attack in Ponyville was in self-defense… that, and he didn’t know how to control the powers he was given when he was abducted and sent to this reality.”

“Please, we know that he had attacked our citizens ever since he was summoned by Discord and-,” Luna began.

“He was summoned to Discord, not by Discord,” Joshua interrupted, pausing as he realized he misspoke, but shook his head, looking forward determinedly, “Sorry to have interrupted you, but Discord did not summon him. Discord sensed a ‘source of chaos’... and then summoned to him the living being most closely tied to that, the moment he entered your reality.”

Celestia frowned at this. “I was unaware that other worlds had gained the ability of inter-dimensional magic...,” She slowly stated.

Joshua frowned at this, “Unfortunately, there’s a difference between ‘inter-dimensional’ and… ‘multiversal’ magic. Inter-dimensional tends to be limited to a single ‘continuum’, or the collection of realities focused upon a single world as its basis, both in regards to alternate timelines and alternate ‘universes’ that share similar factors to the origin within the continuum…” Joshua shakes his head, “And I’m sorry to say, but the one that abducted Alex and started this mess is of the multi-versal type. A far higher tier of danger.”

Luna frowned at this. “Perhaps we should be told as to this threat, in case it decided to invade our kingdom,” She said, her eyes still locked on Joshua.

Joshua nodded, “Thankfully for your people, ‘The Merchant’ doesn’t continue his assault after starting his chaos… He just leaves the other dangers he sends with handle it for him, and what that is varies from victim to victim. Alex is FAR from the first to be sent to an alternate timeline of Equestria. They’re actually a group, known as the ‘Displaced’. Usually, just one per timeline. He picks his victims at conventions, usually,” Joshua turned towards Celestia, “In your world, there’s comic books, so I’m guessing there’s at times meetings where fans of such gather, often dressed up as their favorite characters?”

“Indeed, though it is usually for series such as ‘Power Ponies’ and ‘Daring Do’,” Celestia, then cocked her head slightly, “However, I am unaware of any series as elaborate as the one that this ‘Alex’ is dressed up as.”

Joshua shook his head, “He’s not from your reality. You see, this Merchant… he tricks those dressing up as countless series with his merchandise, picking and pulling out items that’d fit their costumes, usually appearing in locations where countless series are being celebrated. He then gets their attention and sells them an item that goes perfect with their costume… only for them to be knocked out as they find out it’s enchanted. The costumed human is then sent, one way or another, to a version of Equestria… all while being transformed into whatever they were dressed as, complete with powers and any problems the character had, whether they be hero or villain for the costume. And not only that… as they’re sent to that Equestria, the Merchant’s powers ensure that things from the series they chose to dress from come along with, including any, and often, all evils that came from that series.” Both of the sisters widened their eyes at this, before sharing a look. To be cursed with a form one did not want… It was something that reminded them well of the Poison Joke that was strewn about the Everfree Forest.

“And what would these evils be?,” Luna said, getting straight to the point.

Joshua paused as he looked at her, “I’m willing to tell you a little bit, despite not being as huge of a fan of the series as Alex was. But… know this, Luna. Alex is NOT a villain… Put yourself in his shoes. He arrives in an unknown world, in an unknown form… and then watches a guy get turned to stone before his eyes by a beam of magic… which, by the way, in the world he’s from, is something so rare it’s considered a myth or fantasy. Magic, that is. ...That’s not to say it doesn’t exist at all, as I know, but still… his world at large focused on technology to survive a world much like the Everfree, and thus thought magic to be a fantasy. Yet, he arrives here, in a form not his own, and sees it used in front of him to turn a guy to stone and completely change the environment. Then, the ones that did this, despite trying to say it’s no threat, intend to use it on him as well… the same exact power that turned another to stone. He flees, only to get surrounded and pursued by the townsfolk. He literally sees a mob of your ponies, many of which charging up their horns. He takes a chance, hoping that his form he gained granted powers to go with, to try and separate himself from his attackers… but not knowing how to control it, overdoes it. And ever since, gets constantly pursued by your ponies. ...Not exactly good first impressions for arriving in another world, are they?” While both were abashed at this revelation, this struck especially hard with Celestia, memories of the other Equestria flashing through her mind.

“Perhaps we did start things off on the wrong foot…” Celestia said, looking at Luna with a pointed look, making the Moon Alicorn hold her tongue.

Joshua nodded, then paused, “...before I state his powers though, there’s something you should know in regards to the Multiverse. But… I warn you, it may blow your minds a bit, figuratively speaking...” This time, it was Luna who raised an eyebrow, not understanding what blowing one’s mind meant, but awaiting his statement.

“You see… when it comes to the multiverse… every work of fiction in existence is made due to subconscious links to other realities, and an ancient artificial ‘god’ of the series Alex dressed from noticed what the Merchant did and decided to aid him. ...Aid Alex, I mean.” Unlike what most would expect, Luna handled it rather well, simply raising her eyebrow more at this statement. It was Celestia that did not expect this, and gaped at this for a few seconds before recovering her composure.

“Surely, you do not mean that we are but a creation of this ‘series’, as well?,” Celestia asked, and Luna, not realizing that, widened her eyes at this.

Joshua smirked a bit, “You misunderstand. I didn’t say the world is created from the fiction, but rather… the other way around. The fiction is created from the dimension’s link to its creator. As for your world, its original timeline is mostly focused on your student and her adventures with her friends,” Joshua takes a moment to look up in thought, “In my world, the series is through its fourth season, and just starting its fifth. Discord’s defeat was the start of Season 2. They always had big events at the end and starts of the seasons… And that’s not even including the two linked movies, set after the third and fourth seasons respectively… Heh, Twilight’s life sure involves dealing with lots of dangers to Equestria, but at least she and her friends have the talents to make it through them,” Joshua finished with a strangely warm smile… well, warm compared to the mostly sad apathetic look he’s had for most of the meeting, much to the shock of Celestia. The sincerity and care in his words. Seems this ‘series’ he has mentioned has quite a place in this human’s heart.

Joshua smiled in remembrance, “Seeing her and her friends’ happy lives were always inspiring… It even gave me many ideas of my ow-” Joshua’s widened as if coming to a realization. He sputters for a moment before looking down a bit, as if angry at himself, “Darn it. I forgot to…” Joshua looks up at the princesses apologetically, “Could you excuse me for a moment? I forgot something during my meeting with Alex… though, the powers I’ve been given allow me to be able to handle this remotely, so we can return to our conversation fairly easily.” Celestia nodded slightly, letting him drop off whatever it was that he needed to drop off.

As he sat there, he closed his eyes, as if in thought. A few moments later, he opened his eyes. “Alright, that is handled. Had to figure out how to send it with the powers first…”

Alex let out a curse as he dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the Nui Rama as it swooped down and tried to pluck him off of the earth. “Damn it!,” He muttered as he focused the ‘Conduit Cannon’ on the flying Rahi before firing, knocking it out of the sky. It had been several minutes since he had started out heading towards the Kanohi, and he had made good progressed before he had been set upon by the Nui Rama.

Suddenly, a flash of light appears before him, as two orbs of light appear. As the light disbursed, it revealed a scroll and a strange circular item on a wristband. Abruptly, the item clamped itself around his arm before disbursing as the scroll floated down gently in front of him. Alex stared at it for a few seconds, before grabbing the scroll with a hint of annoyance. “What is it now?,” He muttered in minor irritation as he opened the scroll.

Dear Alex,

When I left, I had forgotten one of the items to give you. Now, you have it. You can ‘will’ it to appear whenever you want, though it’ll only become active once a certain moment has come to pass, if it hasn’t already. Once it has, it’ll become like a radar, able to direct you to any and all Changeling hives. You can handle it as you wish, but probably best to handle Chrysalis’s before her attempted invasion.

Anyways, with that done, best of luck on your adventure.

Sincerely,

Joshua

Alex let a small growl as he curled up the scroll and quickly switched back to his human form before switching back to Nuparu. “I swear, if he ‘forgets’ one more thing,” He muttered to himself, only to duck as another Nui Rama flew at him.

“...Anyways, let’s continue. ...and I’m sorry for the interruption. Part of my deal with Alex for helping him in his current quest was to not only make peace with you ponies, eventually, but also to attempt to prevent one of the future threats to your country from the original timeline, by trying to get peaceful relations before ‘their leader’s attempted invasion.” Both Celestia and Luna looked at him in surprise at this, before glaring at him and pointing her horn at him, a spell once again at its tip.

“Perhaps it is best if we hear it from you, considering that you seem to know much more than him,” Luna said.

Joshua smirked, “Well, the species is one you don’t know of. They’re called Changelings. Shapeshifters that feed on emotion, predominantly love. Their hive is starving, and their leader, inexperienced, thinks the only way to save her hive is by dominating the nation of their ‘prey’. Though, thankfully, I’ve seen a number of timelines where peaceful scenarios become possible between ponies and changelings… though, admittedly, depending on the timeline, there can be anywhere from just one hive to many hives spread throughout Equestria. Not sure which is the case in this timeline.” At this, Luna’s eyes widened in shock at this revelation, the spell dissipating in seconds.

“We have… met them before,” Luna said, and Celestia looked at her in shock at this statement, “Though it was during… darker times. While we were possessed by Nightmare Moon, we were exploring the Badlands, searching for any more potential allies. There, we met the one named Queen Cacoona. We asked for her to ally with us, but she declined, wanting instead to stay out of the war. With that, I left, with a promise that I would not attack her hive if she or her subjects did not attack me.”

Joshua took on a thoughtful look, “Seems this timeline is a bit different from the original then. The war in the original was more about your loyal followers trying to free you, not knowing you were possessed at the time,” Joshua paused before looking down, “And I’m sorry to say, but possession is a common trait among a number of the villains of Bionicle, the series that the Merchant is allowing through to your Equestria.” Luna let out a small growl at this, memories of her own possession running through her mind, while Celestia looked at her sister with a hint of pity and sorrow on her face.

Joshua nodded, “Yeah, there’s many threats to Equestria soon. In just the original timeline alone, though I have no idea how long till then, there’s Sombra, Chrysalis… which I’m hoping to prevent from being a problem as I said…, some old seeds Discord planted long ago in an unexpectedly delayed attempt to negate the Tree of Harmony, Tirek, whose cunning alone was enough to cause a short lived relapse for Discord’s, at the time, recent reformation… then there’s also Sunset Shimmer,” Ignoring the gasp from Celestia, Joshua continued, “Whom Twilight helps redeem despite her choosing to stay living where she is, as well as the Sirens, whom didn’t lose ALL of their powers as Starswirl predicted when he sent them to the same world that Sunset’s in… and that’s all I know from the original timeline… which doesn’t include the fact of the issues that Bionicle brings to your reality...” By the end of his explanation, Celestia and Luna were both looking at him with both sorrow and fear at the thought of all of their past previous threats returning, with even more unknown threats soon approaching.

“Tell us, then,” Celestia said with a motherly tone coming into her voice, though her expression was somber, “How can we stop these threats?”

Joshua’s face sombered, “Which ones? The ones from your timeline, or Bionicle?” The deadpan look he got from both Celestia and Luna gave him his answer to spill all.

Joshua paused a moment… but then chuckled as he gets their meaning, “True enough… well, in the original, Twilight helps stop Sombra with Spike’s help by discovering where he hid the Crystal Heart… though not without having to get through his booby traps. And despite this, apparently, he can survive and slowly recover as long as any part of him survives, even as much as just his horn. The Crystal Heart is hidden via a chamber within the throne room. Twilight figures out how to make it appear. He’s the next threat in your universe, if you exclude Chrysalis, which I’m hoping my actions accomplish.” Celestia shared a look with Luna, then the two nodded, Celestia mentally noting to start searching for any sign of Sombra returning, before looking back at Joshua.

Joshua nodded, “After that… well, your plans to get Twilight to ascend eventually work, though as you know, you can’t inform her of this till after the fact. The remaining threats from the original timeline don’t appear till after that… though, with this being an alternate timeline with Bionicle influencing things, there’s no guarantee my foreknowledge will be of use or not.”

“We see...,” Luna said, before looking at Celestia. “It might be best if we visit this ‘Alex’ when he is in the realm of dreams, so as to find out what threats from ‘Bionicle’ we’ll have to deal with.”

Joshua grimaced at this, “That… may not be necessary. You see… I made a deal with him. Granted him some help for the mission he was assigned by Mata Nui, the artificial god of Bionicle. Mata Nui sensed what the Merchant has done, and is trying to prevent the worst of the threats… but there’s far too many for him to manage. Case in point with Alex having already encountered a Bohrok. But… part of that deal is to make peace with you. However, he’s delaying it since, for his task, he has to hunt down some things that came with him, and one just so happens to be in the Everfree. He decided to find it first before meeting with you.”

“We understand your concern,” Luna said in reply, “But it still may be best if we contact him in the astral realm, so as to meet him without pointless hours of searching the Everfree.”

Joshua nodded, “Very well. I can tell you some of the threats. Planned to after I gave ya the info of the threats in the original timeline. But… it’s been an unfortunately long time since I studied Bionicle, as opposed to Alex, so my memories are vague. But, a decent enough start to go on at least.” With that said, Celestia and Luna both looked at Joshua, awaiting what threats there might be.

Joshua paused as he moved his hands before him, crossing his fingers in front of his face with a serious expression, “As I said before, long ago, without your notice, Discord planted something to drain the Tree of Harmony, something called Plunder Seeds. It’s no doubt still being drained as we speak, but it is not an immediate concern… which is a good thing, ‘cause Twilight and them will need them for Sunset Shimmer. Considering what happens in the original timeline, it’s best to let that hardship go as is, considering that it leads to Sunset Shimmer’s redemption, which is later needed for dealing with the sirens. Twilight… you send her in after Sunset after she steals her Element of Harmony, with Spike sneaking in after her… which proves to be a good thing, considering he helps keep her spirit up when she needs it most during her mission. So, best to just leave that as is, and handle the Tree of Harmony afterwards.”

Joshua’s eyes then shift over to Luna, “In truth, after Sunset helps against the sirens, she ends up achieving the ambitions she had thrown away during redemption, ironically enough. That ‘series’ I mentioned even had her sing a song for it. One that could be quite inspiring for YOU, Luna, considering the words involved in it.” Luna frowned at this statement, mainly due to this unknown being bossing her around, but kept her tongue so as to hear what other threats threaten Equestria.

Noticing her frown, he lightly waved his hands, “Don’t get me wrong, Luna. I’m glad to see you’ve returned to being the kind and caring princess you’ve now become. I just think that the mentioned song you could appreciate, is all. It’s very heart lifting, and its words are good for refreshing one’s heart during dark times. But, whether you wish to hear it before I leave, I leave up to you to choose.”

“As for the other threats?,” Celestia asked, sipping at her drink.

Joshua paused, “Well… around the time Twilight learns a time travelling spell or something, Tirek manages to escape from Tartarus, remaining in hiding till he’s ready to strike.” At this, Celestia did a spit-take, while Luna gaped at this revelation.

“Tirek?!,” Celestia asked with a hint of panic in her voice, “But we had banished him to Tartarus centuries ago!”

Joshua grimaced, “Well, Cerberus ends up leaving post for some reason. He sneaks out then, though making sure to leave the door closed in his wake, to give no hints of having escaped. Thankfully, it takes till the Equestrian games before he has absorbed enough free-floating mana to make his move. Plenty of time to find him. But… before then, you succeed, thanks to Fluttershy, with redeeming Discord… and make the mistake to send him after Tirek. Tirek may be weak at the time they meet… but his mind proves capable of fooling DISCORD of all people, and cause a temporary relapse towards evil… despite the guilt he feels at the time, which only gets worse later. He eventually turns over for good, and helps them figure out a puzzle the Tree gives to Twilight and them, which they then use to defeat Tirek… after he has already absorbed the magic of every pony in Equestria, yourselves included.” Celestia frowned at this. She’ll have to try and find him via scrying spells before he could do so…

Joshua nodded, “Well, that and the sirens, which I honestly hope can be redeemed like Sunset did in the original timeline, are the last of the threats I know of that TWILIGHT faces… Keep in mind, the series mainly showed her adventures. There very well could be other threats as well that you manage to handle without the aid of her and her fellow Element Bearers, ones that I’m unaware of.”

“That’s not including these new ‘Bionicle’ threats that arrived with the one called ‘Alex’,” Luna muttered to herself.

“Unfortunately… And… well, let’s just hope the worst are kept at bay by Mata Nui. There was one threat that could bring to life any and all fears of those near to him, whether it be melting, being destroyed from one’s own powers running out of control, as well as being able to do unrealistic fears. Bet he could even cause one to disappear by regressing into ‘unbirth’... then there was another villain that could turn anyone into dream energy, then ‘wake’ from the dream, permanently erasing the target, along with any memories others may have had of the victim’s existence. And that’s also not including the hordes of Visorak spiders, which have projectiles of various powers, along with venom that can mutate both the body and mind into bloodthirsty monstrosities...,” Joshua shivers at the thought.

After a moment, Joshua noticed no reply, then looked at the sisters. They looked noticeably paler with wide eyes at what he described. Luna’s fur has become a sickly sky blue… and Joshua was not sure how to describe how Celestia’s fur could ‘pale’ like that,though a slight green tinge was noticeable.

“That… is a very descriptive nightmare,” Celestia said.

“There’s worse,” Luna said in a deadpan tone. Celestia looked at Luna in slightly disgusted surprise at this, but stopped when given a look from her younger sister.

Joshua nodded, grimly at that, “And the one I mentioned can make any fear come to life instantaneously, all while feeding on the fears he fosters to make his power even that much stronger… thankfully, with Mata Nui doing his best to suppress the leak that the Merchant made, he SHOULD be able to prevent the worst of the dangers from crossing… but there are plenty ‘lesser’ threats that are bad enough on their own.”

“Such as the ‘Bohrok’ ‘Alex’ fought?,” Luna asked, memories of the bird-like robots coming to her mind.

Joshua looked at her, and nodded, “The Bohrok are spherical mechanical beings, piloted by living mask like creatures… if I recall right, they were called Krana. The Krana can possess anyone they are worn by, and each type has their own special powers. On top of this, whichever type of Bohrok they’re placed in grants them elemental powers, like how you saw Alex use. The six default are Fire, Water, Ice, Acid, Stone, and Earth, with earth typically being a subterranean type and stone being rocks and dessert. However, there’s elite ones as well, having rarer elements, like magnetism, gravity, plasma, and vacuum, just to name ones off the top of my head. And on top of this, many enemy species can fuse together into giant monstrosities under certain conditions… and then there’s the Shadow Leeches, of which, unfortunately, Alex has already encountered one of…”

“Shadow Leeches?,” Luna asked.

Joshua nodded, “You see, when they attach themselves to their victims, they drain the light from their victims, leaving only a husk for darkness to fill. This leads to the victims becoming literal shadow versions of themselves,” Luna let out a gasp at this revelation.

“That sounds quite similar to the Nightmares…” She muttered.

Joshua nodded, “Yeah, but they also tend to appear in numbers. Oh, and also, forgot to mention that the Krana of the Bohrok have a psionic hive mind. Take one, and the others know of it. Not to mention the fact that if they attach themselves to someone, that victim becoming their puppet.”

Luna looked at Celestia, and asked, “Didn’t your student gather a few of those ‘Krana’ to study?”

Celestia frowned at this, then nodded. “It might be best for her to stop her research. I’ll send her a scroll as soon as the meeting’s over.”

Joshua nodded, “Might be best to do more than that. Twilight’s taken an almost manic desire to study Alex… to the point of pinkie promising to use any means necessary to study him. She’s gotten so caught up in her desire to learn that she’s foregone the fact that he’s a living, sapient being, and she’s trying to get info on him against his will… I know she means well, but she really forgets herself sometimes when caught up on something like this…”

Celestia winced slightly at this revelation. “That was one factor that seemed to have persisted since the start of her apprenticeship,” She said reluctantly.

“Surely she can’t be that bad, is she, sister?,” Luna inquired.

“Do you remember the ‘Filly Inquisition’ I was telling you about?,” Celestia asked, and Luna nodded before she realized what her sister was getting at, letting out a chortle.

“You’re telling me that your student’s responsible for that?!,” Luna said in between giggles, and Celestia nodded with a small blush from embarrassment, sending her sister into greater hysterics.

Joshua raised an eyebrow in curiosity, “Never heard of that bit from the series. The greatest example I knew of her issues was the Mr. Smarty Pants doll incident. ...thankfully, in the original timeline, she DOES get over those issues… eventually. A large part of which being a lesson she learns from her… to-be sister-in-law. Considering you know their family, Celestia, you can guess whom I mean.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow in return at this. “I knew that Shining and Cadance were dating, but I was unaware that they were getting married soon,” She said.

Joshua grinned, “Well, ‘soon’ is relative. I know that they do at the end of ‘Season 2’, but that series never put exact dates as to how far apart its various parts were. For all I know, he may not have popped the question yet at this point in the timeline. But, if he hasn’t, it won’t be long.” Luna, still giggling from the memories of the ‘Inquisition’, grinned a little at the mention of the proposing before putting a hoof over her mouth in an attempt to smother her laughter.

“Heh. Anyways, back to the task at hand. Along with the Krana, there were also Kraata. I vaguely remember them as almost snake like dual colored things. They had much of the same powers of the Krana, but I vaguely remember that there was something far more dangerous about them, other than the fact that they could move on their own. Don’t recall what though. However, I DO know they were created by one of Bionicle’s greatest villains, Makuta Teridax, and like the Krana having the Bohrok bodies, the Kraata had Rahkshi bodies. Staff wielding lizardmen like forms, who could fly and use various powers with their staffs. Don’t remember all of them, but I do remember that one could cause hatred, another anger, as well as poison, and instinctive fear… and another could disintegrate a target at the atomic level by striking a target’s weak points.” Celestia scowled at this. It seemed as though this ‘Makuta’ is just as powerful as Tirek at his height, but with these ‘Rahkshi’ included…

Joshua scowled, “And that’s not all. Makuta Teridax was apparently the leader of some ‘Brotherhood of Makuta’... but the details on that are vague. One of his greatest power sources is actually something Alex has been tasked with finding. You see… he’s been tasked with finding the Kanohi Masks of Power, which have been scattered across your world… and one of those is the Mask of Shadows. With it… Makuta can see through and control all shadows in all locations, and not just physical shadows… but even the shadows of the heart and mind, seeing secrets one would prefer to keep hidden, and he has great delight with both destruction and corruption. But… that’s not the worst about Teridax…” Celestia frowned at this. This Mask of Shadows’ powers sounded like those wielded by the King of the Shadow Ponies, back when they were still around...

After a pause, Joshua continued, “You see, Teridax is very power hungry… but his ambition is matched by his intellect. In the Bionicle universe, he even succeeded in taking over Mata Nui’s body, that one artificial god I mentioned, the moment he woke up, before sealing Mata Nui’s spirit in a mask and flinging it to another planet… Through sheer luck of circumstance, Mata Nui eventually made it back and got his body back though. But… to truly understand how bad it was, there’s something you should see…”

At this, Joshua waved his hand for flourish, and then before them appeared a map of an island which seems to be separated into six colored areas. And with it is a legend representing its size, and an arrow pointing down to another legend showing what were clearly Equestrian distance measurements. “This… is the island of Mata Nui, named after their beloved deity,” Joshua stated with a bit flare as he watches their reactions to the map, “As you can see, the island is pretty dang big.” Indeed, in comparison to Equestria, while it was only half as wide, it was certainly just as long, if not longer, than Equestria.

Joshua then stands up and walks over to them, seemingly getting situated to face the same direction they are, “Now, to get you to understand how significant Teridax’s plans were… well, note that Mata Nui was as powerful as his size. And Teridax stole that body right as he woke. What I am about to show you is a video of Mata Nui’s awakening from the series in my world. ...and fret not, evacuation was made before this event.”

With a wave of his hand, a large rectangular screen appeared, similar to some illusion diagram spells. And upon it, an extraordinary video played.

After enjoying the nostalgia of watching the scene, Joshua turned towards the two princesses… smirking to see their jaws wide open, their eyes pinpricks at what they just saw.

“...You mean to tell us that is Mata Nui?!,” Celestia said with a whimper evident in her voice. That giant made even a fully grown Tirek pale in comparison when it came to height.

Joshua nodded, “Yes… and Teridax was cunning enough to figure out how to steal his body and all of his magical powers for himself. Thankfully, Mata Nui figured out a way to beat him, though in part by a large amount of luck. Still though, this gives you a good idea of just how much of a threat Teridax is, should he be one of the threats to show up in Equestria.” The two princesses gulped and nodded eagerly, ready to move on to the next topic.

Joshua sighed, “Unfortunately, the remainder of my memories of the threats from Bionicle are vague. Alex has a much better memory of them. But… beyond that, there’s a more pressing matter for you to focus on anyways....” Both Celestia and Luna paled slightly at this.

Joshua continued, “You see, there’s a reason Mata Nui assigned Alex with pursuing the Kanohi Masks of Power… because him, being part Toa thanks to the Merchant... is the only one, that I’m aware of, in Equestria that can handle wearing them, and the only one that can remove them. Anyone else that wears them are… incompatible, would be driven insane for the duration of wearing the mask, all while said mask’s powers run rampant.”

“They can’t be that bad, can they?,” Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow at this. Compared to the Alicorn Amulet, these ‘Masks of Power’ couldn’t possibly be worse.

“MOST of them aren’t, with them focusing on specific powers… but there are some that need to be acquired quickly. Teridax’s Mask of Shadows being one. Its counterpart, the Mask of Light, likely could be bad in the wrong… hooves, as well. After all, if Teridax’s mask can control the darkness within others, it stands to reason that its counterpart could CONTROL the goodness of others towards their own ends. Not only that, there’s the two big ones I know of… The Mask of Time and the Mask of Life.” Celestia took in a sharp breath at this. For there to be something that controlled time itself, let alone one for all life…

Joshua saw her concern after her gasp, “Yes. Those two are very big concerns. The Mask of Time… few Toa had the willpower to control it, risking destroying the very fabric of time in using it, despite needing it for a short time against certain villains’ plots… and the Mask of Life… it can create, destroy, and alter life in both body, mind, and soul. Though, in the original Bionicle, it eventually gained sapience, wanting to be a hero… only to do so by sacrificing its sense of self to re-awaken Mata Nui from his age long slumber as prophesied in order to stop the Brotherhood of Makuta.”

“It may be best, then, if we start searching for this ‘Mask of Life’ immediately,” Luna said to Celestia, who nodded in agreement.

Joshua nodded at this statement, “That may be prudent… here, some images of those four masks, though for the Mask of Shadows, it can be worn two different ways, so I’ll show both states there.”

With a nod, four pieces of paper appeared before them, each with a different mask design. The Mask of Shadows shown in both of its orientations.

“It certainly is… intimidating,” Luna said as she looked at the Mask of Shadows, before looking at the other three sheets. While the Masks of Time and Light were odd-looking, what she could only assume to be the Mask of Life had an outstretched figure on it for an engraving.

Joshua nodded in agreement, “That’s understandable, considering who wielded it. Unfortunately though, that’s about as much intel I can grant ya for now. Alex is the one with the greater amount of memories about Bionicle. I’ve been too far gone from studying the series, unfortunately. But, I do hope that all this helps you two in your timeline.” Joshua stands up and stretches, “With that, though I have one last thing I’d like to do before I go, I’m pretty much done here in this reality. So, I’ll likely just head back to the version of Equestria that I’d be starting my own journey in… along with setting limits on my own powers that I’ve been given. Don’t want to become too compliant on them. Could lead to corruption, and I’d rather avoid that…” Celestia nodded in agreement with his words, though Luna looked somewhat abashed at this. She remembered how easily one could be corrupted.

Joshua turned towards them, “Before I go though, was hoping to show ya something just for the heck of it. Another video, but this one not for fear, but for strength. The individual in the video is, admittedly, different… but there’s enough similarities that I think it could help strengthen one’s heart just from listening to it. ...and considering the dangers ahead for your Equestria, any increase in resolve I think would be welcome,” he added with a grimace. Celestia could only agree with these words. If threats as perilous as the ones described do arrive, then any morale raising would be appreciated.

Joshua looked at them, “Before I show this, know it’s of Sunset Shimmer from the original timeline, after she has redeemed herself through helping defeat the Sirens… and in so earning the place of a SEVENTH Element of Harmony bearer, and even more than that as well…” Both Celestia and Luna gasped, though Celestia’s was slightly more audible. There was the potential for there to be a seventh Element of Harmony?

Joshua smiled, “Yes, she really proves herself after Twilight helps redeem her in that timeline. But, there’s more,” Joshua looked pointedly at Celestia, “Celestia, as you know, Starswirl’s mirror portals lead to alternate worlds, where different duplicates of those you know here exist, correct?” Celestia turned her head down slightly as memories of her and Sombra come into her mind, but she nods, not speaking for fear of betraying her emotions.

Joshua frowned a bit at Celestia’s sadness, but continued, “Well, in the alternate world where Sunset visited, the portal transformed her to fit the residents, losing her magic in the process. In that world, the dominant species is near identical to my own human species, though the ones in that world have the variance in color potential that ponies do, which is different than humans in most of the multiverse. Other than that, though, it’s much like my own world. As such, magic is considered a myth. But, Sunset ends up earning magic. Also… for the video, a section of it shows what she becomes during the time she is still corrupt and seeking magic. You’ll see what I mean... ,” Joshua turned to look Luna in the eyes as he said this, “And Luna, I hope this that I’ll show will be of use to you, as well. After all the hardships you’ve gone through, you deserve happiness like what this hints at.”

With that, Joshua positioned himself to where they can see a single video again, as a surprisingly well-done video played before them.

Afterwards, he turned to look at the princesses… and saw them both smiling with tears in their eyes, for differing reasons. Celestia was happy to see that her former apprentice had finally come out of her inner darkness, while Luna couldn’t help but feel a connection to ‘Sunset Shimmer’ due to them both having fallen to their jealousy, but had gotten out of their darkness with the help of Friendship.

Joshua smiled at them, “You can see why I wanted to show you this. Thankfully, the Bionicle threats are only targeting one reality, not all connected to it… so there’s a high chance that things will be the same for your Sunset as it was for her, if you keep what I told you earlier in tact in terms of actions. Which is good, since it gives a little less to worry about. One dimension at a time, eh?” Celestia nodded in agreement. The last thing that she needed were several universes falling in on themselves, after all!

Joshua stood up and stretched, then told the two, “Well, that’s about all I had in mind to do here. I wish you ladies the best of luck in the trials ahead.”

“We wish you the best of luck, and thank you for telling us of these threats,” Luna said in reply.

Joshua smiled, “Just glad to help. And it’s been an honor meeting you two.”

“The same to you, and we are thankful for the info you’ve provided,” Celestia said, Luna nodding in agreement.

Joshua smiled, then said, “Farewell, you two. And I hope my meeting with your alternate timeline selves in the dimension I seek to make a new home in goes as well.” With that, he bowed before a familiar ‘whoosh’ was heard, the man disappearing in front of their eyes.

With a whoosh, Joshua arrived back in the time field by the portal… only to hear pained shrieking. He looks over at the portal… and saw a giant biometal crab attempting, and failing to get in, to which Joshua just raised an eyebrow.

Joshua sighed and shook his head, “Good thing I made it so only I could go through that thing… Hmm…” A wicked gleam appeared in his eyes, “Well, I had another bit I wanted to tell Alex. Why not take care of two birds with one stone?” His smirk was particularly devious as he initiated his plann.

Alex grunted as he fell to the ground, before getting up and glaring at the trio of Nui Rama that buzzed around over him. “I’m really tempted to screw the Toa Code over now…” He said as he lifted up the Cordak launcher, three missiles having already been launched from it.

As the missiles flew, Alex noticed something odd. A strange energy overcame the missiles as they fly and explode near, but not on, the Nui-Rama… causing them to fly together, stacking on top of each other in the air… right as a flash above them caused something to appear, landing on and smashing them to the ground.

As the dust clears, Alex saw the three Nui-Rama piled underneath a giant biometal crab, all of them unconscious with an orb of energy floating in front of them. Alex looked at the pile with a deadpan look for a few seconds, then turned towards the orb and asked, “Josh, is that you?”

A chuckle echoed from the orb, “Yep, it’s me. Found this guy trying to get through my portal when I prepared to head out. Good thing I set defenses in place. Figured I’d get rid of him in a way that helped ya out before I left. ...well, that, and I forgot one more tiny detail to tell ya for when you meet with the ponies and whatnot. You said that Rainbow Dash was quite a pest with ya, right?”

“Second only to Twilight,” Alex confirmed.

Joshua chuckled, then said, “Well, I know a perfect way for you to embarrass Rainbow for her problems without hurting her.” Alex raised an eyebrow at this. What exactly did he have in mind?

His voice floating from the orb, “For this, you have to use your human form. Perhaps starting from a headlock, but basically, from what I’ve studied from other timelines… well, start to scratch behind her ears with your human hands, or similar pet related actions. Continue such till her wings pop up, and she’ll become embarrassed as hell, yet still not be able to stop ya once you start.”

Alex chuckled at the image Josh provided. “So she’s like one big winged cat in that perspective, then, huh?,” He said at this.

Joshua chuckled at this, “Actually, that works for ponies in general. May even work on Changelings and other sapients of this world, in actuality. Heck, wouldn’t doubt it if you could get a job as a masseuse on the side of your current adventuring. At least, I plan to do that when I start to make a living in the Equestria I planned to move to. You could likely do the same to Twilight too, BUUUUT, Twilight isn’t so focused on ‘keeping up a reputation’ as Rainbow Dash is.”

“Is that so…” Alex said, contemplating this news. He may have to resort to using Nuparu a lot more than he had thought…

Joshua chuckled, “Yeah. Though, not sure how effective it’d be on Changelings, since they’re part bug. I have some theories, sure, but no ideas which ones are the case in this reality. So, guess you can find out on your own, eh? Oh! Speaking of… as I said, don’t know if there’s more hives than one in Equestria for ya. But, regardless, you’re likely to encounter the one that tried the invasion. Her name is Queen Chrysalis, and before I end the message, here’s an image of her from the ‘show’ I mentioned to ya about.”

As Joshua said this, the orb of energy emitted a cartoon diagram showing a peculiar creature from multiple sides. Alex raised an eyebrow at the image: He didn’t think that someone organic with that many holes in them could still be alive.

Joshua continued, “Admittedly, a cartoon image can only grant you so much detail. You’re there in real life, after all. There’s likely to be SOME differences. But, it should be enough for you to recognize her when you see her.”

“Provided that she isn’t disguised,” Alex quipped in reply.

“True enough… Regardless, this should help ya come the future. But, that’s it for me, I’m pretty much finished in this reality, so just gonna clean up here, and head back through the portal. Oh, and to forewarn ya, I’ll be likely noticeably different next time we meet, since I intend to alter myself with these powers of mine. Should be able to help out in more direct fashions next we meet, since I plan on training myself and such. But, ‘till then, best of luck.”

With that said, the orb flickered before disappearing. Alex looked in the direction where the portal had been, before shrugging and looking up towards the top of the mountain. “Well, at least it’s not too far to the Kanohi,” Alex said to himself, then continued his ascent. A few seconds afterwards, another orb appeared before Alex, this one a purple color, oddly enough.

As Joshua’s voice came through the orb, it sounded oddly younger than before, “Hiya, Alex. Seems I remembered another thing to tell ya after I got back to the Equestria I’m in now.”

“What did you forget now?” Alex asked in exasperation.

Slightly jovially, Joshua said, “Well, I figured, just in case things don’t go completely peacefully, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for you to learn what you’d be up against, in regards to the princesses and the Elements of Harmony bearers.”

“A heads-up for their attacks?” Alex mused, then nodded. “Alright, let’s hear it.”

Joshua’s voice had a humored tone to it as he began to explain, “Alright, we’ll start with the princesses. First off, a detail nearly no pony knows…. alicorns in most timelines are not born. They’re ascended to from reaching enlightenment with one’s cutie mark. In fact, the leader of the Elements of Harmony has the potential of reaching that, though she’s yet to do so where you are in the timeline. No idea if that’ll be the same here or not.” Alex looked at the orb in both surprise and disappointment. Was that really all that he had to fear?

Joshua’s voice continued, “And to forewarn… once assuming alicorn status, not only does their magic greatly enhance… but they gain powers from all the pony tribes. And to give you an idea… well, there’s an earth pony in Ponyville named Big Mac with such strength that he can be hopping forward with a robe tied to a HOUSE… and drag it behind him without a sweat. Admittedly, he was under the effects of a tunnel visioned love potion at the time, but still… anyways, despite him being THAT strong… putting all his strength into a hoof wrestling match with Celestia did nothing for her. Celestia was BORED with the amount of strength that pony put into a match. And many fans theorize that she was once just a unicorn, the more physically weak of the pony types. That give ya an idea of how much of a power boost ascension grants?”

Alex nodded in agreement, then thought over how he could counter this. Perhaps if he found the Olmak, he could trap them in the Shadow Zone to prevent them from attacking him?

Joshua continued a tad jokingly, “Thankfully, ascension isn’t too big of an issue. In over 1,000 years, only the newest Princess Cadance has managed ascension. As it is, there’s only three princesses, and considering that she’s still being trained by Celestia in how to handle being a princess, I doubt Cadance, the Princess of Love, will be an issue for you. Celestia and Luna on the other hand are another matter…” Alex cocked his head to the side at this ‘third’ princess, but nodded in agreement that the two ‘main princesses’ would certainly be a challenge to face. He was certain that had he stayed to fight Luna in the castle, he would have had a hard time winning.

After a pause to think, Joshua continued, “For this next part, I warn you… little is known about Celestia and Luna, though enough is known to be able to warn you of some things. But… their secrets alone could be dangerous, considering they have lived over 1,000 years… and with 1,000 years of experience and magical knowledge under their theoretical belts…” Joshua let that hang in the air, letting Alex understand the implications.

“Point taken,” Alex said, his mind now filled with methods to counteract any offensive maneuvers.

“So, which princess do you wish to hear about first?” Josh asked, curiosity evident in his voice.

Alex thought it over for a while, before eventually answering with “Celestia.” He had already met Luna and had seen how she had fought, but Celestia was still an unknown to him.

“Alright then. For Celestia, ironically like her sister, her battle style and personality are inverse of each other. Celestia goes for the straight forward and brutal combat style, honorable but powerful. But, personality wise… her kind, motherly caring persona hides a deviously cunning side. Many fans call her ‘Trollestia’, due to her method of using ‘trolling’ to ensure that the lessons she teaches stay within the minds of those she teaches to. She’s great at anticipating others’ actions, and often makes plans accordingly.”

At this, Alex froze before slowly saying, “Did you say her nickname... is ‘Trollestia’?”

Joshua chuckled, “Yes, many of the fans love to call her that, for good reason. Admittedly, she only uses such for good intents, but she’s dang good at using ‘trolling’ as a teaching method.”

“I’m afraid you don’t understand,” Alex said as a feral grin slowly grew on his face. “Back on my planet, I was known as the goddamn Prince of Trolling. For someone to attempt to provide competition - Well, that would be a declaration of trolling war.”

Great amounts of laughter erupted from the orb at this, “Oh, you two will get along fine then. She’s often considered a prankster by the fans during her free time, and she’s got well over 1,000 years of experience with living under her belt. ...I’m sure time spent between you two should prove interesting.”

“Oh, it certainly will,” Alex said, the feral grin fully grown by now, then pointed at the orb before stating, “Also, I’ll need some help from you for the first blow: When I give you the signal, could you teleport a literal ton of rubber ducks into her bathroom, but make it so that they can’t fall out of the windows or be teleported away?”

Joshua lightly chuckled, “Sorry, but I won’t take part in your trolling war. But… isn’t one of the masks to find the mask of teleportation? You could use that for such. And if it’s money for the pranks you need, it seems one of the currencies of the ponies are gems. And with your earth Toa powers… well, need I say more?”

“If it’s gems, I’ll need Stone Toa powers, not Earth Toa. Besides, I can’t transport anything thing that’s not on my person with the Teleportation Kanohi, though the Olmak has the effect you’re talking about. I’ll need to find a horde of rubber ducks to pull it off, though,” Alex replied.

Joshua continued with a mischievous lilt to his voice, “Oh, I’m sure you’ll figure out something,” after a pause, he continues, “Well, then that leaves Luna. She’s very straight forward, and can be very smart. However, she can also be impulsive, competitive, and… naive. The latter part not by choice though. Over a thousand years ago, due to jealousy, she became possessed by the queen of living nightmares. This Nightmare’s presence is currently unknown. It’s been defeated twice, but whether or not it’s been killed is… unknown. I don’t know what qualities it needs to possess a target other than negative emotions, but I can tell there’s something else it needs. ...Anyways, due to it, she’s been ‘out of the loop’ for over a thousand years, and she’s quite desperate to make up for it, both towards helping the citizens of Equestria… and to simply find someone she can relate to and the like. Ironically though, despite her straight forward personality, as you learned firsthand, her fighting style is a lot more ninja like, despite the power behind her attacks.”

“Considering that she is called the ‘Princess of the Night’, that’s not too surprising,” Alex replied. Heck, all he had to do was use the Elda or the Rode to keep her from sneaking up on him, and that knocks out her main battle strategy!

“True enough. Anyways, that’s the gist for the current princesses. But, considering how close you are to their home, and their current involvement, you’ll more likely encounter the Elements of Harmony in the future, eh?” The tone in his voice made it quite clear this is a rhetorical question.

“Well, if I’m going to be stationed in ‘Ponyville’, I most likely will,” Alex quipped.

“Alright then. In that case, I’ll let you choose which to ask about first. There’s the unicorns, Rarity and Twilight Sparkle. There’s the pegasi, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. And lastly, there’s the earth ponies, Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Oh, and though you’ve likely guessed by now, the leader of the group is Twilight.” Alex nodded along with this, and began to think over who he should ask about first. He had already seen how fast Rainbow Dash had flown, how magically adept Twilight was, and how stealthy Pinkie could be. The other three, however, were anomalies to him.

“Let’s start off with Applejack,” Alex eventually said. Given that she was part of the ‘hunt’ yesterday, it’d make sense she was powerful.

Joshua’s voice took on a somewhat studious tone as he began to say, “Alright then. Applejack... Of the Elements of Harmony, she represents the Element of Honesty, so her ability to lie is pathetic, though this is countered with her skill at detecting lies. She’s by far the strongest physically of the group. She spends every day at her orchard, using just single strikes with her rear hooves to shake loose ALL the apples of her trees, per tree. And if it’s enough for her to control her strength precisely enough to do that, one can only imagine if she let her strength go all out. And on top of this, like Rainbow Dash, she’s one of the most athletic of the group, with an extreme skill with a lasso on top of that. And in terms of running speed, she’s equal to Rainbow Dash, which is saying something considering that Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark represents a natural talent at racing. On top of this, though Applejack lacks creativity, her mind is still sharp, her special talent focusing on her managing skills for her farm. Admittedly, her mind’s more structured than creative, but she’s more than diligent and hard working enough to compensate for the lack of flexibility,” Alex heard through the orb Joshua taking a breath after that mouthful, “Oh, and despite all I said, many fans think that Rainbow and Applejack should have each others’ Element of Harmony. Considering that Applejack’s level of ‘Loyalty’ many fans think surpasses that of Rainbow Dash’s.”

Alex nodded along with this, and began to think about how he could counter this should he be on opposing sides of a fight with her. He could certainly use a Kakama to avoid her; heck, any Kanohi that helped with evasion would help! If push came to shove, though, he thought it best if he had the Mahiki, due to her having troubles with illusions. “With that said,” He said once he came up with a counter-plan, “How about we move onto Rainbow Dash next?”

“Heh. Very well. Rainbow Dash is the most… egotistical of the group. The type to leap first, ask questions never. She can also be quite overprotective… sometimes to her own detriment. And she’s not very bright either, despite her brash courage. She trains day in and day out in order to one day pursue her dream of entering the ranks of the Wonderbolts, a famous aerial stunt flyer group, so she gets faster every day. In fact, she’s so fast that twice in her life, she has performed what is called a ‘Sonic Rainboom’... where she, scientifically speaking, has reached Mach TEN speeds. And by the end of Season 3, which you’re near the beginning of, she’s trained enough to reach that speed in less than 3 seconds from a standing position on the ground. However… though she has speed, turning is often an issue for her… Thankfully, she has the endurance to handle crashes, but still...” There’s a noticeable amount of humor at the end of that statement.

Alex nodded at this, and quickly came up with a counter-measure: All he had to do was use the Kualsi to teleport away whenever she got too close so she’d crash while he got away, allowing for him to slowly whittle her endurance and stamina down. Not only that, but with the Rhotuka Shield and Cyclone Spear that would come with it, then he could keep her away should she try hand-to-hand (or would it be ‘hand-to-hoof’?) combat in true Roman style.

Joshua laughed to himself, “Oh, and almost forgot. Rainbow Dash also knows the pony equivalent of a black belt in karate.” This statement only reinforced Alex’s decision to use the Kualsi to counter her.

“Next up, let’s cover… Rarity,” Alex said after his musings, picking a name at random.

Joshua’s voice suddenly took on a serious tone as he began to explain, “With her, whatever you do, do NOT fight her around gems. She has a strong affinity for them with her magic, and though she lacks Twilight’s power, she is incredibly precise and skilled with manipulating numerous items at once, as her dress making job has helped refine. As for her special talent, she’s able to figure out ways to bring out the inner beauty within anyone with her talents, which extend not just to dress-making, but many types of crafts, even armor if the situation called for such. ...Personality wise, she’s a wishful high-society type, but without the pompous ‘better-than-you’ attitude that comes with it. In fact, she’s quite the opposite, with the Elements of Harmony having chosen her as the Element of Generosity. She’s even gone far enough to cut off her own mane in order to help another whom was in need. And though she hates getting dirty, she’s not opposed enough to it to the point where she wouldn’t do so if it meant helping her friends. Regardless, she’s a hard worker, and also ‘her own mare’, sort to speak. She took no charity and worked her way up with her own hooves to pursue her dreams, which she continues to work toward on a daily basis. So, just ‘cause she’s the most ‘girly’ among them, don’t underestimate her should she be forced in a fight. And with her being one of the most creative of the group, I doubt I need state how she can be if forced into any sort of strategically mental based combat. And also, best not encounter her in a fight while in human form. She’d likely be able to use some way to turn your own clothes against you to disable you, considering her immense knowledge about such.” Another deep breath was heard at the end of that long monologue.

At the end of the lengthy explanation, Alex gave one final nod, before diving into thought once more. With her expertise with gems and ‘mind magics’, that automatically eliminated any Toa of Stone or Psionics, and he would be forced to stick with a single form, given that he’d most likely be trapped once he turned human. Considering that she was one of ‘crafts’ though, there was bound to be plenty of needles or pieces of metal on her person that he could use to subdue her if the needs called for it…

“Now, I believe that Pinkie is next?” Alex asked, gesturing to the orb.

There’s a noticeable pause here as Joshua took a deep breath… apparently, this would be a long one, “Pinkie Pie is odd, even for pony standards. To forewarn, first off… she’s like a pony version of Deadpool, what with her ability to see and interact with the fourth wall! ...though it varies from dimension to dimension as to whether your Pinkie can see THROUGH the fourth wall enough to know that her life is viewed as a world of fiction. Though, in some realities, she can see it without understanding what it actually means...” He takes a moment to pause while letting Alex get the implications of just how bad THAT is.

“Oh… joy…” Alex groused, his face turning into a grimace at this. No wonder she was able to sneak up on him, with even the Elda not detecting her! “Anything else I need to watch out for with her?” He asked after re-composing himself.

A grunt was heard from the orb, “Unfortunately, much. Though she is still mortal and lacks Deadpool’s healing ability, she has enough durability to compensate. She can relocate herself and move in ways that completely defy physics, even limited shapeshifting included. She can move ‘off-screen’ in order to reappear at another location in an instant. She can stuff and hide herself in the smallest of cramped spaces, and even shrug off being flattened by a boulder when she’s aware of the danger to begin with. She can even defy physics in plain sight, such as when a friend asked her to try not to swim too quietly, and she then performed a cannonball… which stopped in mid-air centimeters from the water before silently sliding into the water without so much as a dripping sound. And that’s still not all she can do…”

Alex’s heart stopped for a few pulses at this revelation. “You’re telling me,” He said, his face rapidly paling at the thought, “That Pinkie is an irrationality lotus?!” Forget about simply trapping her with the Olmak: There was no way he’d fight her without wearing the Nikila to ensure he had the most luck, and wielding repulsor blades in addition to a Power Lance!

There’s a pause before he replied with, “Not sure what you mean, but by it’s name, it certainly sounds like that’d fit her. She can also pull things out of nowhere, appear in places thought to be locked up without using a door, and… she has limited clairvoyance, to further help her avoid any type of danger, or help her friends to do so.”

“You’re saying she has Spidey Sense on top of that?” Alex said in reply, his tone taking a somewhat deadpan tone to it.

Joshua’s tone was rather nonchalant at the analogy, “Preeetty much. And not only that… she’s bipolar, personality wise.”

“Are we talking ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ bipolar or ‘Teen Titans Raven’ bipolar?” Alex asked in reply.

There was a pause before Josh replied with, “...Depends on the reality. The constant part of her persona is the happy-go-lucky side. She’s super intelligent, but often dense or naive. She’s constantly seeking to make others happy or smile… but she lacks faith in her own capabilities or importance, as well as a fragile self-esteem. When her other side comes out, her hair tends to get flat,” this brought back memories of when Alex had refused the cupcake, marring his face with a frown, “As for how this effects her… in some realities, she gets super sad, and insane enough to mourn by communing with inanimate objects that she personifies…. but in others, her alternate persona becomes a bloodthirsty sadistic sociopath that still has all her capabilities.”

This last part of his statement drew all of the blood out of Alex’s face, leaving it a deathly white. “You’re saying that she’s got a ‘Hannibal Lector’ in her head?” Alex whispered, his mind working rapidly to figure out a counter-measure. Considering that she was mentally unstable, a Ce-Toa or a Suletu would work as a counter-measure. However, all it would take would be a thought in the wrong direction to screw things over royally…

There was a pause, and, “...it depends on the reality you’re in. Hopefully, her alternate self is just the crying type, and not the murderous type. If it’s just the crying type, it’d likely not be that bad for you… but if she’s that unstable, it probably wouldn’t take many harsh events to change what her alternate persona is, eh?” Alex nodded in agreement, and made a note to try to keep Pinkie as happy as possible to prevent her mania from expanding. “Thankfully, Pinkie’s the type to go with the flow, so it’d take something close to her heart to really break her.”

“Shall we move onto Fluttershy, then?” Alex asked at the end of this. The quiet pony hadn’t done anything to him, but it’d be best to get the into on her, nonetheless.

Joshua’s tone got lighter in talking about the young mare, “Fluttershy is a living contradiction. She lacks the willpower to fight unless her friends are in danger, and she’s often a scaredy cat… but when her friends are hurt, she has the courage to float face to face with a dragon whose eye is larger than her body… LITERALLY.” This painted the yellow pegasi in a new light, as Alex realized that she was far more courageous than one would think, given her timid demeanor.

Joshua continued on in warm remembrance, “Not only that, but she was able to talk down the dragon into submission, taking motherly instincts to a new level for reprimanding… Which is understandable, considering that she’s constantly taking care of countless animals. She can understand what they say, and has practically gained an army of loyal animals that love her like a mother… even animals from the Everfree care about her, such as Manticores, and they’d do anything to help her… whether peacefully or savagely…”

“Note to self: If, and that’s an extreme ‘if”, I have to fight her, I had better have the Mask of Rahi Control on me.” Alex said in a deadpan tone to this info.

Joshua smirked at this, “Not sure how well that’d work, cause she has a technique called ‘the Stare’ which she can use on anyone for reprimanding… and it actually creates an actual psychic link to her target while channelling her empathy and emotions to the target to make even the hardest of willed individuals to feel the guilt in their actions…” Alex blinked in surprise at this. For someone that was a pegasi, Fluttershy had some proficiencies in other fields of study the other ‘tribes’ can use… “And were that not bad enough, though she’s typically too weak willed to pull out her true potential… she has shown herself to be able to outfly Rainbow Dash in both speed and control before. And I doubt I need to say how easy to say someone as adorable as her can cause even the coldest of hearts to lose moral when seeing her sad.”

“You sure she isn’t an Alicorn?” Alex asked at the end of the explanation.

Joshua just chuckled and said, “I’m sure. Which makes you wonder how she’d be were she ever to ascend…”

“She’d probably be more powerful than any alicorn before her,” Alex said seriously.

Jovially, Joshua continued, “Yeah. Though, with all that, it’s not surprising she was chosen to wield the Element of Kindness, eh? ...oh, and forgot to mention, Pinkie represents the Element of Laughter… which could potentially be creepy were it to break...”

Alex nodded in agreement to this, shuddering at the idea of a world of no Laughter, but then said, “As for Twilight?” He knew that she would become an alicorn, but besides that, he didn’t know much else of her.

Taking on a contemplating tone, Josh answered, “Well, first off, know this. The sixth Element of Harmony, the one for the group’s leader, changes itself to fit the wielder. Her’s… is the Element of Magic.” Alex frowned slightly at this. If the others earned their Elements for having that trait in spades, it obviously meant that she was most likely on par with Gandalf when it came to magic. “And were that not enough, her family alone is gifted. Her family are not only among Canterlot’s well lived… she herself got babysat by Princess Cadance, her brother became Canterlot’s captain of the guard, and she herself is the disciple of Princess Celestia. And on top of that… well, let me tell you a brief bit from her past…”

After a pause, Josh continued, “Before she gained her cutie mark, which represents her talent in magic by the way, she went to apply to a school for gifted unicorns. She was tasked with attempting to hatch a baby dragon’s egg. During the procedure, a surge of power occurred from her due to being shocked by something that happened. This surge was powerful enough to not only hatch the dragon egg, whom later became an adopted brother and loyal assistant, but she also… temporarily turned her parents into non-sapient plants and super grew said dragon large enough to break through the roof of a ROYAL facility… and considering how high roofs are in just simple aristocratic societies, you can imagine how big he grew and how much power she had just when she was a young filly…”

“...Negatus Mysterium,” Alex said after a minute of thought, “Do not challenge her unless you got something that can negate magic, or learn negatus mysterium to seal her magic away and prevent her from using it.”

Joshua chuckled for a bit, then explained, “That won’t be enough to stop her. Not only is she a prodigy… she also studies all fields of science and magic every day, often far into the night, along with OCD. She’s so smart… she can list the square root of 546 passed the 9th decimal right off her head...”

“She is certainly smart… However, that’s not to say that she knows the knowledge to its best output,” Alex said, then chuckled. “Besides, if she’s OCD, I’ll probably stall her for at least a few minutes by scattering rocks that change color one by one every few minutes around and challenging her to sort them by color.”

Joshua cracked up at this, “True! Admittedly, she actually overcomes the worst of her OCD as she becomes a princess…. But no idea how close she is to doing so at this point of your timeline there. Also… though she has little experience in doing so, she’s fairly skilled at strategy even without practice. No expert, mind you, but no slouch either. And she’s studied more than just magic, so her extreme levels of knowledge could surprise you, so don’t underestimate her. But, other than that, since she’s the leader of the Elements of Harmony, she has a bit of aspects of each without being a master of any specific one. Though, she’s semi-new to the whole ‘friendship’ thing, having been a bit of a shut-in until recent years. Despite this though… her magic also gets empowered without the Element of Harmony just by the strength of her friendships… and you don’t yet know just how powerful she is, even before ascension, eh?”

“Point taken,” Alex said and shrugged in agreement, then frowned as a thought struck him. “So, if she’s ‘average’ with strategy, who would you consider to be the best of the six with strategy?”

Joshua paused a moment, “... Likely either her or Fluttershy, since Fluttershy is surprisingly intelligent, and not just in medical.”

“Okay, just wanted to check,” Alex said, then looked at the orb. “Anything else you want to point out?”

Joshua paused before saying, “Well… there’s just how powerful Twilight actually is. To give an idea… one day, an Ursa Minor visited her town. An Ursa Minor is a baby Ursa Major, a cosmic furred bear whose baby is larger than an average house. ...Well, solo, Twilight used telekinesis to lift it, rock it for comfort despite its struggles, picked up a water tower, emptied it, milked enough cows to fill it, conjured a baby bottle cap, used it to feed it, and carried it to sleep all the way to a cave deep in the dangerous Everfree, all on her lonesome. Oh! And also, one time when practicing transformation magics to turn an apple into an orange, she accidentally misfired and turned a frog into a living orange/frog hybrid.”

“Point taken,” Alex said, then thought over this new revelation of the ‘Ursa’ species. If the beasts were as big as Josh was saying, who’s to say what other constellations are given form?

There’s a bit of hesitation in Joshua’s voice as he continued, “...and since you’re a Displaced, you’ll likely have the bad luck to head to Tartarus for one of the masks, since that’s an ACTUAL PLACE in Equestria, and it’s guarded by an actual good hearted Cerberus.”

“...Why didn’t you say this earlier?” Alex said with a deadpan tone, his eye twitching from his irritation.

Joshua just laughed at this before replying with, “Didn’t think of it at the time. Heck, the show didn’t show how many places exist on Equestria that are dangerous, but there’s been several theorized, and there’s no telling what other places exist on that world that are dangerous. But, that just makes it all the more useful to ally with others that know the world, eh? But… time and place, time and place…”

“True enough,” Alex answered begrudgingly, his hands in his pockets.

There’s a pause, then Joshua sighed, “Well, guess that’ll do it for now. That’s the best I can think of for helping you out. From here, it’s up to you. Best of luck, Alex.”

“You too, Josh,” Alex quipped in reply.

With that, the orb faded from his view, leaving him to his journey. Alex let out a sigh, glad that the interdimensional traveller was done with his advice, then continued closer to the Kanohi.

Author's Note

Whew... That's the end of the chapter. I wonder how many words are in the fic...
Lemme check... I-IT'S OVER NINE-THOUSAAAAAAND!!!!!!!!!!
What, 9000?!
21,411 words, to be exact!
...No more anime for you.
Hmph. Party pooper.
Well, everyone. This collab chapter was brought about thanks to my friend and editor, Regreme, and his character Joshua from his story, Truths of a Visionary. Unfortunately, he won't be publishing any chapters any time soon due to a few projects he's working on, which includes a separate Displaced fic he's working on. Regardless, I hope that he'll post the first few chapters soon, and until next time, this is Runic Soul, signing out!

6 - The CMC's Masked Craziness

Alex let out a gasp as he grabbed the top of the ledge, then hoisted himself onto the ledge. “That was certainly harder to get to than I thought,” he said as he turned around, then shuddered as he looked at the sheer cliff below him. Shortly after Josh had left, he had discovered that the Kanohi was actually farther up in a cavern in the cliff. It had taken a bit of maneuvering, but he had eventually reached the cavern.

“Now, where is that Kanohi at?” Alex asked as he began to walk into the cavern. He didn’t take long for him to find out something, though, as that something flew at him, the size of the projectile easily dwarfing Alex. Alex dove to the side, the projectile flying passed him, and Alex took the time the projectile took to swing around to slap on the Mask of Healing, transforming into his Bo-Toa form within seconds. As he finished transforming and focused on the projectile, he let out a curse as he realized what that projectile was as well as how it was flying.

“YOU WON’T ENTER TOM’S HOME!!” A large being made of stone bellowed, the Mask of Flight enlarged to giant-size as it dive-bombed him. Alex used the vine-axe to swing out of the cave troll’s way, and was barely able to avoid the stone monster crashing into the ground before swooping back up.

“Well, I’ve certainly got my work cut out for me,” Alex said as looked up at the flying troll, then, with a throw of his vine-axe, took pursuit. As he swung upwards, he only hoped that there weren’t any other Kanohi that were found while he was busy.

Scootaloo’s POV

“Are they still there?” Sweetie Belle asked Scootaloo, the orange pegasi reaching underneath the floorboards while Apple Bloom kept lookout for anypony coming closer.

“Yep, they’re right here!” Scootaloo said as she pulled the three masks they had each found, then spread them out on the ground.

“What do you think they are?” Apple Bloom asked as they looked at their discoveries, picking up the oddly shaped black mask she had found on Saturday and held it up, the ridges on the top of the mask glinting in the sunlight.

“I don’t know,” Scootaloo said, picking up the grey-and-blue mask she had found herself, then turned to Sweetie Belle and said to her, “Perhaps we should go over the CMC logs to double-check for any sign of a pattern?”

“Alright, but I don’t think this will help any more than the last few times we did it,” Sweetie Belle said dubiously, lifting up the scroll containing the actions of their last few meetings, the white skull-like mask laying at her feet.

“Saturday, 8:34 AM:,” Sweetie Belle recited, “Apple Bloom found her mask on Sweet Apple Acres near the Everfree underneath the roots of ‘Sandy’. Saturday, 7:25 PM: Scootaloo found her mask in the woods by the school during our attempt of trying to become ‘Stunt Pony Cutie Mark Crusaders’, and both masks were stored in the treehouse for safe-keeping. It should also be noted that attempt was unsuccessful. Sunday, 9:12 PM: I found the ‘Skull Mask’ in the bushes next to the Carousel Boutique, and put it with the other two.”

“Oh, it’s pointless!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, throwing her hooves in the air in frustration. “We know absolutely nothang about this, and reviewing this darn info won’t help this.”

“If only we knew someone who knew everything about everything…” Scootaloo grumbled, putting her head on her forelegs.

A few seconds passed after this statement was uttered, then everypony looked at each other and exclaimed, “TWILIGHT!!!”

“She’s the smartest pony in Equestria; She’d have to know what these thangs are!” Apple Bloom said, holding up both her own and Sweetie Belle’s masks for emphasis.

“It’s settled, then!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, then pointed out of the window and exclaimed, the other two joining her, “TO TWILIGHT’S!!”

A few seconds later, allowing for them to put the masks in their satchels, and they were soon running into town, Scootaloo in the lead on her scooter.

“Wait up, Scootaloo!” She heard Apple Bloom cry out from behind her, but in her own joy, Scootaloo paid no heed to the warning as she zoomed down the road, the wind making her eyes water from the speed. Her carelessness was her downfall, though, as she failed to notice somepony as she rounded the corner. This resulted in the two of them crashing, sending the unsuspecting pony spiralling back while Scootaloo fell down, her scooter and mask clattering on the ground next to her.

“Watch where you’re going,” the pony said as she righted herself, then stopped as she realized who had crashed into her. “Oh, it’s the blank flank,” she said, sneering slightly at the orange pegasi.

“What is it, Tiara?” Scootaloo snapped, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle having caught up with her at this point.

“Well, I was searching for a Nightmare Night costume, when you rammed into me,” Diamond Tiara said condescendingly, then noticed the mask laying on the ground. “What’s this?” She asked, picking the mask up with her hooves.

“Hey, give that back!” Scootaloo exclaimed, leaping forwards to grab it back, only for Diamond Tiara to lift it out of her reach.

“Is this your Nightmare Night costume?” Diamond Tiara said, then chuckled before throwing the mask at Scootaloo. “That’s a fitting costume for a blank flank. What did you do to make it: carve it from one of your friend’s apple trees?”

“Hey!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, “An Apple tree would never be used for a simple mask!”

“That’s true…” Diamond Tiara slowly said, “After all, they couldn’t be sturdy enough for such tasks if they were grown by families like yours, leaving them frail and sub-par.” At this, she slowly turned towards Scootaloo as she continued, “Then again, your family has accepted sub-par before.”

“Shut it, Tiara!” Scootaloo snapped, her eyes narrowed in anger.

“What are you going to do: Fly up and drop me from the sky?” Diamond Tiara asked, then smirked. “Oh, wait,” she said, “You can’t. All you are is a cutie mark-less. Flightless. Filly.” It was then that Scootaloo’s patience broke, and she picked up her scooter before taking off, tears starting to trickle down her face as she raced away. She heard Apple Bloom shout something, but was unaware of what she said as she raced down the road. As she did so, she felt something tickle her side as she passed a tree stump, but shrugged it off as she was still upset from Diamond’s comment. She tried over and over to fly, but she just didn’t know what she was doing wrong!

“Heads up, rogue cloud on the loose!” A voice cried out, and Scootaloo turned to her left only to see a cloud flying at her, a few weather-ponies following close behind it. Not able to stop, Scootaloo could only step on her scooter’s brakes, her forehooves stretching out to stop the cloud, though Scootaloo knew from past attempts that this wouldn’t work. However, as she waited for the lightning-charged cloud to hit with her eyes shut, she felt something fluffy hit her hooves. A few seconds passed before she opened her eyes, only to gape slightly when she saw the cloud in her hooves, the lightning discharging harmlessly into the ground.

“Thanks for the assist, kid,” A weather-pony said as she took the much calmer cloud from Scootaloo.

“You know, I haven’t seen someone discharge a cloud mere seconds after they caught it.” Scootaloo heard a second weather-pony say to a third as the three weather-ponies began to head off, “She must be a prodigy with weather-manipulating magic!” Scootaloo blinked in confusion at this.

“What does magic have to do with manipulating weather?” Scootaloo asked. This statement made the three weather-ponies stop, and the three shared a look before turning back to her.

“You really don’t know why magic is important for pegasi?!” The weather-pony in the center asked in disbelief.

“Didn’t your parents teach you how to use your magic?” A second weather-pony asked, and Scootaloo flinched slightly at the question before looking back at the three weather-ponies, a false smile on her face.

“N-no, it’s fine. Besides, I’ve got Rainbow Dash to help me learn how to fly!” she answered, but the weather-ponies noticed her hesitance to answer, and shared a look before turning back to Scootaloo.

“Look, squirt,” the ‘head’ weather-pony said, catching Scootaloo’s attention at the familiar nickname, “I know that Rainbow is a great flier, but… I don’t think that she’s the best pony to learn how to fly.”

“What are you saying?!” Scootaloo exclaimed, narrowing her eyes at the pegasus for insulting her mentor, “Rainbow Dash is a great flier!”

“I don’t disagree with you, squirt,” the pegasus said, “but that doesn’t mean that she’s a good teacher.” Scootaloo blinked in confusion at this. How could one be a great flier, but not a great teacher at the same time?

“As I said,” the lead weather-pony explained, “Rainbow Dash is a great flier, which is due to her being an excellent flier by instinct. As such, she is an excellent teacher… for advanced students. For those that have difficulty learning how to fly, such as yourself, she can’t teach as good, because she wouldn’t understand how to help them slowly learn how to fly. Simply put, she’s TOO much of a natural flyer to understand the problems of those who are not.” By the time the weather-pony finished speaking, Scootaloo was downcast, her eyes looking at the ground. Did this mean that she would never be able to fly?

“Don’t get me wrong, squirt,” the weather-pony said, and Scootaloo looked up at him in confusion as the pony continued to speak, “You can still learn from your idol more… once you’ve gotten the basics down. You just need to better learn how to channel your magic through your hooves and wings. From how you stopped that cloud, you definitely have more power than an average filly.”

“If you want, I can refer you to somepony who could help you,” the third weather-pony holding the cloud chimed in, and Scootaloo turned to him with wide and hopeful eyes.

“Really?” she asked with clear hope and desperation.

“Sure,” the weather-pony said, “Just head to Town Center around 4PM, and look for somepony named ‘Bulk Biceps’, though he’ll also respond to ‘Snowflake’. You shouldn’t miss him, though; His build can help him be considered the most muscular pegasus in all of Ponyville.”

“ThankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouTHANKYOU!!!” Scootaloo exclaimed as she rushed forward and enveloped the pegasus in a hug.

“It’s quite alright,” the pegasus said as she removed herself from the filly’s grasp.

“Scootaloo!” A duo of familiar voices shouted, and said pony turned to see Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle running towards her.

“Hey Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle,” Scootaloo greeted as she turned fully to face the two.

“Are you alright, Scootaloo?” Apple Bloom asked, concern evident on her face as she put a hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulder.

“I’m fine,” Scootaloo said, then blinked before turning towards town, her eyes widening as she remembered the original reason they had entered the town in the first place. “Come on!” she exclaimed, getting back on her scooter, “We need to get to Twilight’s before she’s gone.” At this, she gave one last wave to the weather-ponies before heading off at a slower rate than before, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle running alongside her.

Fifteen minutes later, the three fillies were standing outside of the tree-based library that Twilight lived in. The three Crusaders shared a look, each seeing if the others wanted to quit before Sweetie Belle knocked on the door. A few seconds later, the door opened to reveal Spike, a scroll clasped in his left claw.

“Oh, hey, Sweetie Belle,” Spike said, opening the door wider to let them in, “What brought you over?”

“Well, we found these masks earlier,” Sweetie Belle said as she entered the house and held up the mask with her hoof, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo following suit, “And we were hoping that Twilight would know what they were.” Upon seeing the masks, Spike’s eyes widened before he quickly closed the door, then led them over to another door.

“She’s right downstairs,” Spike said, then opened the door before racing down, shouting at the time, “Twilight! The Crusaders found three Kanohi!!”

“What?!” Twilight’s voice exclaimed, the volume of the shout causing for the house to shake slightly, a few books falling off of the shelves. The three fillies flinched slightly at the tone, but continued downstairs nonetheless. As they descended, they noticed several apparati that they couldn’t begin to understand the usage of scattered about the room. As they reached the bottom, they noticed Twilight waiting for them, her eyes focusing on them as the three Crusaders came into her view.

“Did you really find some?” Twilight asked as she trotted over to the three fillies, a slightly maniacal glint entering her eyes, “Did you really find some Kanohi?”

“W-we didn’t find any ‘Kahn-oh-he’, Twilight,” Apple Bloom said, but held up the mask she had found with the others holding up their own masks, “But we did find these masks, and we were hoping that you would know what they were.”

“But these masks are Kanohi,” Twilight replied, grabbing Apple Bloom’s mask and setting it on the table, sweeping off a case with more fleshy masks in a wooden case off of the table in the process. “‘Kanohi’,” Twilight explained, “is apparently the word used to describe these Great Masks of Power from the reality of Bionicle, from what the Princesses informed me.” The three fillies blinked at this. Masks of Power?

As Twilight continued to lecture, Apple Bloom snuck her ‘Kanohi’ from the table and looked at other two. “So, should we put them on?” Apple Bloom asked the other two Crusaders.

“Why not?” Sweetie Belle said, “It couldn’t hurt.”

“We might even get our Cutie Marks from this!” Scootaloo chimed in, and the three shared a grin before donning the masks. As Scootaloo put her mask on, she noticed that the mask felt off. Something was… odd… about the mask as she bit down on the mouthpiece. Maybe it had been the fact that it felt as though it conformed to her face when she put it on, but she shrugged it off as being from another reality.

“...But ponies shouldn’t put on the Kanohi, because the Kanohi’s powers can’t be controlled, considering that it can be permanently activated, albeit with fluctuating power, by one’s Cutie Mark.” Twilight finished, then opened her eyes only to freeze when she saw the three Crusaders wearing the masks. “What…” She said slowly, her face becoming a grimace with a hysterical look growing in her eyes, “did you just do?!?”

“Well,” Apple Bloom replied, a sheepish look on her face, “we thought that if we put on the masks after you said they were ‘Masks of Power’, that it would help us get our Cutie Marks!” Twilight’s face grew angrier at this answer, which showed on her face for a few seconds, before she let out a huff and rolled her eyes, though fear was still evident in her eyes.

“Well, it isn’t that bad,” Twilight said, though it sounded more like she was trying to calm herself rather than to calm the Crusaders, “Since you don’t have Cutie Marks, then that means that the Kanohi won’t activate… I hope...” The Crusaders shared a look at this before turning back to Twilight.

“You can remove them, right Twilight?” Scootaloo asked.

Twilight paused for a few seconds, before giving them one of her ‘I’m-not-sure-but-I’ll try my best’ smile and saying, “Of course I can!” she then turned to Sweetie Belle and muttered to herself, “Just give me a minute,” before focusing her magic on the mask adorning Sweetie Belle, her horn alight with the violet aura her magic had. However, while it appeared on the mask for a second, it was soon dispelled, the violet-colored magic flying away from the mask before settling a few inches away from the mask itself.

“What?” Twilight said with slight disbelief and ended the spell, the violet aura disappearing instantly. “This doesn’t make any sense,” she said as she walked over to Sweetie Belle and put her hooves on the mask, “No known material can negate magic. It’s against all known laws of physics!” When she started to pull, though, Sweetie Belle let out a sharp cry of pain, making Twilight let go of the mask instantly.

“That hurt,” Sweetie Belle said as she put her hoof on the mask, only to pull away after she touched it, shock and fear written on her face as she exclaimed, “Why can I feel my hoof through the mask?!” As Twilight got closer, Sweetie Belle drew back, muttering in panic, “Leave me alone, leave me alone.” Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked on in fear and mild panic as Twilight put her hoof on Sweetie Belle’s mask, causing for the unicorn filly’s eyes to snap open and for Sweetie Belle to let out a scream, her mask flaring a dirty gold for a second before a wave of… something… flew out of Sweetie Belle. As the wave passed over Scootaloo, she felt it tug at something and, for a split second, saw herself from behind before snapping back to her normal view, her legs falling out from underneath her as it did so.

“W-what happened?” Apple Bloom asked as she looked around, her eyes slightly unfocused as she regained control of her body.

“I’m not sure,” Scootaloo said as she looked around, blowing her mane out of her face as she did so, only to stop as she saw what had happened. Starting from where Sweetie Belle was standing with a horrified look on her face, the energy wave had blasted away EVERYTHING. The ground around her was a crater. All of Twilight’s various devices were pushed away, even the large ones. There was even a circular indent upon the basement’s ceiling. However, the most noticeable impact was the potted fern that had sat on Twilight’s table. Where it had once been thriving, the plant was now brown and obviously lacking of life near the center of the blast radius, the pot tipped over and strewn on the ground from the blast.

“What… did that Kanohi DO?” Scootaloo heard Twilight say, and she looked towards Twilight, the unicorn finally regaining consciousness. Twilight looked around for a few seconds before starting to take stock of the damages. “How could this happen?” She asked herself, circling around a few times before stopping, a thought seeming to strike her, and turned towards Sweetie Belle.

“When the mask activated,” Twilight said, her mind connecting each point, “it had blasted everything away. Not only that, but it had barely left my plant alive. But a ‘blasting’ power couldn’t leave something on the brink of death without harming it… Unless the mask power isn’t ‘blasting’! But what would it be…”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed as she thought over what it could be, only to stop when she blew her mane out of her face. She touched her mane with her right hoof, confusion evident on her face about it for some reason. “My mane wasn’t this long at the start of the day…” Twilight noted, “At least, it wasn’t until…” A second thought struck her, and she looked at both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo for a few seconds. “Did either of you experience an out-of-body experience?” Twilight asked them, and both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo shared a look before tentatively nodding, causing for their manes to fall in front of their faces. With this noted, Twilight picked up a quill and some parchment, dabbing the quill in some ink spilled on the ground, before writing down all that she had found.

Their comments, along with the soothing scritch scratch of quill on paper seemed to snap Sweetie Belle from her shock… though only partially, as she slowly turned her head, taking in the damages she caused with wide eyes as Twilight continued her examination.

“Let’s see now…” Twilight listed, “Creating a crater, knocks everything away, can cause out-of-body experiences, can even cause for aging or loss of life…” she stared at the list for a few minutes before letting out a groan and exclaimed, “What do these have in common? The answer just seems to keep being repelled from-” She stopped as the last thought for the puzzle fit into place. “It’s repulsion…” she eventually said, the dots rapidly connecting, “When the mask activated, it created a wave of repulsion, repelling the objects on the tables, repelling the ground, though only slightly, and even... repelling souls and life force, causing for the aging of others and the separation of body and soul. It’s also probably why I couldn’t take the mask off, since it was repelling my magic.” With this last realization, she turned to Sweetie Belle, a smile on her face, only to stop when she saw Sweetie Belle on the verge of tears.

“Y-you mean that I’ll force everypony away because of this hideous mask?” Sweetie Belle whimpered before running away, tears starting to fall down as she ran up the stairs.

“Sweetie Belle!” Apple Bloom said, and started to run after her. Scootaloo could only see Twilight’s horn light up for a second before the mask on Apple Bloom’s face was alight in Twilight’s aura. “OW!” Apple Bloom cried out as she was flipped over, but the mask’s power was soon shown as Apple Bloom lashed out in pain, her hooves instantly destroying the support beams for the staircase.

“What’s going on?” Spike asked, stepping down the staircase as he did so. However, since Apple Bloom destroyed the support beams, Spike was only able to hold on for a second before falling off the collapsing staircase. This caused for the young dragon to land on Apple Bloom’s back, making the filly strike the ground in surprise and send shards of rock flying in all directions. As Scootaloo saw the large chunks of rock fly at her, she drew back in fear and shut her eyes, expecting for the rocks to cut into her.

A few seconds passed before she tentatively opened eyes, only to realize that the rocks had missed her… and her hooves that were covering her face were alight with a strange blue color - the same color as her mask. While she was unscathed, though, the same could not be said for the others: Apple Bloom was thankfully unharmed, but Twilight had received more than a few scratches from the ordeal, a large gash cutting through her left leg while her hoof was also bent at an awkward angle as Twilight laid on her side. Spike wasn’t as badly hurt in comparison, but the strangely hoof-shaped bruise on his head would certainly hurt when he regained consciousness.

“What happened?” Scootaloo heard Apple Bloom say, and she looked back at Apple Bloom to see her come out of her self-induced panic attack.

“I think your mask power might be Strength,” Scootaloo pointed out as she looked at the damage Apple Bloom caused. Then, the two shared a look before turning towards the door, the staircase leading up to it in shambles.

“Sweetie Belle!” They exclaimed, and the two began to climb up the staircase’s remains. As they reached half-way, though, the staircase began to shake, pieces falling off of the stairs as they stood stiff from the unstable structure.

“Jump!” Apple Bloom shouted, then leaped forwards, the stairs underneath her shattering into tiny bits as she leapt over Scootaloo and landed in the door’s entryway. However, this sets off the rest of the staircase, which starts to crumble around Scootaloo. “Come on, Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom shouted. As Scootaloo prepared to jump, several pieces of debris floated up while enveloped in a purple aura.

Looking back to the lower level, she saw Twilight trying, and nearly failing, to create a bridge so Scootaloo could get to the door. However, from the look of pain on her face, it was very taxing on her, and Scootaloo had to move before Twilight lost concentration. As she hesitantly prepared for the leap, though, she felt her mask begin to activate before a cry of pain went out, causing for the debris to rush up and breaking off the ledge she was on. Scootaloo let out a shriek as the dislodged ledge fell, only to stop as the descent came to an abrupt halt. Looking tentatively back, she saw the edge of the ledge had lodged itself in the wall.

Scootaloo let out a sigh, relieved that she had stopped falling, only for her breath to hitch as a sharp crack shook through the air. Looking back, she saw that the ledge was starting to splinter, a large crack developing in the rock. A second crack rang out before the ledge began to dip precariously, Scootaloo sliding off the ledge. Panicking, she tried to scramble up the ledge but ultimately failed, slipping off of the ledge and landing on a larger chunk of debris. With one final crack, the ledge broke off and fell, the falling ledge dropping down while a smaller portion flew up and struck another piece of debris, disrupting it from the spell holding it up. This ultimately had the rock falling on the debris before flinging Scootaloo flying up and at Apple Bloom, the two fillies crashing together and being sent rolling back.

“Owww,” Scootaloo said as she got back up, rubbing her shoulder from where a bruise was starting to develop.

“That sure was lucky,” Apple Bloom said as she sat up, then looked at the basement door before looking at Scootaloo, or rather, Scootaloo’s face area, before continuing with, “too lucky.”

It took a bit for Scootaloo to realize what Apple Bloom was getting at, before letting out a gasp. “You think that my mask power gives me luck?”

“Well, it certainly seems like it, given that you’ve survived several times without a scratch,” Apple Bloom commented.

“Point taken,” Scootaloo said, then looked back and forth between the main exit, which was now a hole with the door strewn on the ground, and the basement door not that far from it, let alone the damages to the main foyer of the library. ...Spike would be spending days, if not weeks, cleaning the mess. “So, should we get Twilight help first, or go after Sweetie Belle?”

“Perhaps we could tell somepony to get a nurse while we find Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom said. As they prepared to leave, though, they were halted as a familiar voice rang out.

“Ah, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo!” Rarity said as she entered the library, then frowned at the fallen door before turning back to the two Crusaders and asking, “Have either of you seen Sweetie Belle? I haven’t seen her since this morning and… What is up with your masks?!”

“We can explain-” Apple Bloom began to say, but was interrupted by Rarity’s following comment.

“Why, these masks are too drab!” Rarity exclaimed.

“...Say wha’ now?” Apple Bloom deadpanned.

“You can’t be planning on wearing just those for Nightmare Night, are you? Especially with them clashing with your coats.” Rarity asked, then grabbed Scootaloo’s mask before saying, “If you’ll just let me take them for a few minutes…” Her thought process coming to a halt when she tried to remove the mask, only for Scootaloo to be pulled with it with a yelp of pain.

“What in Celestia?!” Rarity exclaimed, dropping Scootaloo in the process.

“Now, I know how Sweetie Belle felt when Twilight tried to remove her Kano-i-whatsit,” Scootaloo muttered as she rubbed her sore neck.

“What exactly do you mean about Sweetie Belle? She isn’t hurt, is she?” Rarity asked, concern evident in her voice.

“Well, she isn’t hurt herself...,” Scootaloo hesitantly said, “It’s more like we should be worried about those who will get hurt by the ‘Mask of Power’ she’s got stuck on. We only saw a small bit of its power, and well…” Scootaloo motioned her hoof over the damaged doorway, “See for yourself.”

“Goodness!” Rarity exclaimed as she raised a hoof to her mouth. gaping slightly at the damage at what she now realized was caused by her sister, but said, “But at least it’s controllable… Right?”

“Uhh… About that…” Scootaloo said, looking away from Rarity at this question. “From what we can understand, she… can’t. The most that she can do is hold it in until-” As she said this, a wrenching boom rang through the air, and the three looked behind to see a dust cloud rapidly expand outwards.

“Oh no…” Apple Bloom said as the three stared at the expanding cloud.

Scootaloo replied hesitantly, “...I think we found her…”

Alex’s POV

Alex swung up and out of the troll’s reach as the stone giant flew down, crashing into where Alex once was before launching back into the sky.

“That was too close,” Alex said as he landed on a nearby spire, then knelt to keep hidden for a few seconds. As he caught his breath, he noticed something abruptly rise up to his left. Turning to his left, he saw a dust cloud in the distance rapidly expand before collapsing, various objects being sent flying both into the woods and into the nearby village. Alex stared at the sphere of destruction for a few seconds, then closed his eyes and let out a deep breath.

“That had better not be because of a Karzahni-damned Kanohi,” he muttered, only to freeze as a shadow grew over him.

“COME HERE, PUNY METAL MONKEY!” He heard the troll shout, and was barely able to avoid the troll as it swooped down, crushing the spire he had been hanging on in the process.

I better take care of that troll quick, or I’ll lose track of where the Kanohi went off!, Alex thought, then whipped his vine-axe at the troll, the blade lodging itself into the troll’s side before Alex was sent flying at the troll.

Scootaloo’s POV

“What in Celestia?!” Rarity exclaimed as she began to trot towards the blast, several ponies running from the blast.

“Sweetie must have released a big blast,” Apple Bloom whispered to Scootaloo.

“I only hope that nopony was hurt from the blast,” Scootaloo replied, then gasped as she remembered who was hurt. “Oh no! Twilight!” Turning to Rarity, she exclaimed, “Rarity, you need to get a doctor: Twilight and Spike are really injured!”

This statement drew Rarity’s attention away from the explosion, as she whipped around and asked, “How much is ‘really injured’?”

“I think it’s a mix between ‘unable to get up’ and ‘completely unconscious’,” Apple Bloom said in reply. Rarity flinched at this blunt reply, then gave a weak smile to the two fillies.

“I-I think that would certainly fit ‘really injured’,” Rarity stated, then turned in the direction of the hospital. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go get a doctor.” With that, she concentrated for a few seconds before teleporting away.

“Now, where do you think Sweetie Belle went to?” Apple Bloom asked once Rarity had teleported away.

“Well, if Sweetie Belle was over by Sweet Apple Acres,” Scootaloo mused, looking down at her hoof as she thought over Sweetie Belle’s location, “Then, it would only make sense for her to go to-”

“The CMC clubhouse!” They exclaimed as they came to the same conclusion.

“Let’s go!” Scootaloo said, and after grabbing her scooter, the two fillies set off to the clubhouse. As the two fillies got closer to the cloud though, they came to a stop as they saw the full scale of Sweetie Belle’s blast. Even though they had left the town only a few minutes ago, they were already at the edge of the crater, the edge stretching out on both sides to the edge of their sight, even though the dust cloud was still settling.

The two fillies shared a look, before slowly walking through the crater. As they passed through the crater, they noticed that there was no trees or shrubbery in the vicinity of the blast. This only made Scootaloo think that Apple Bloom was grateful the blast wasn’t any closer to Sweet Apple Acres. After what felt like a few minutes to cross it, though not as long as it took to reach the crater, they soon arrived at the clubhouse. Despite the fact that the door and curtains were closed, the light peeping through the cracks showed that somepony was inside.

“Sweetie Belle, you in there?” Scootaloo asked as she knocked on the door, Apple Bloom standing besides her.

“...go away…” A voice whispered, and Scootaloo paused for a second before pushing the door in. The inside of the clubhouse was the same as it had been beforehand, with the exception that only one candle flickered in the room, illuminating Sweetie Belle’s body as the filly unicorn was crouching in the far corner.

“Why didn’t you listen?” Sweetie Belle whispered as the other two drew closer, making Scootaloo freeze up and Apple Bloom even took an involuntary step back at this... before taking a deep breath as she proceeded towards her distraught friend and gave her a hug, Scootaloo hesitantly joining her shortly afterwards.

“Because we’re your friends, Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom replied as she continued to hug Sweetie Belle, “Do you really think that we would give up on you because of a mask?”

“But I don’t want to hurt you!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, then threw the other two Crusaders off of her before curling into a ball, tears starting to stream down her face and the curves of the mask as she whispered in fear, “I don’t want any of you to die…” Scootaloo looked at Sweetie Belle in despair as her friend continued to weep. If there was only a way to help her…

Alex let out a sigh of relief as he looked down at the unconscious cave troll. It had taken some maneuvering, but he had managed to knock it out by having it fly into the wall. “Now, to remove the Kadin,” He said to himself as he put a hand to the mask attached the troll. After getting a good hold on the mask, he then gave a hearty tug. The mask fought against him for a second before it gave way, the mask rapidly shrinking to Alex’s size as he stumbled back in surprise.

“Well, that went well, at least,” Alex muttered out of self-reflection as he exited the cave, then took off the Mask of Healing so he could put on the Kadin. This transformation, however, caused for the Kanohi that Alex had been carrying to fall out, clattering on the ground in the process. Alex sighed at this in exasperation before starting to pick up the Kanohi strewn about. I really need a bag for these, he thought as he picked up the Volitak, then came to a stop as he held the Elda in his hands.

When the blast had happened earlier, he had hoped that it hadn’t been caused by a Kanohi. However, it wouldn’t hurt to check, he thought as he put on the Elda, the becoming-familiar sensation coursing through his body and transforming him in seconds. As he activated the Elda, though, he instantly felt the presence of not one, but THREE Kanohi in close proximity, with two on the move, making Alex wince from the strength of their presence.

“I guess that answers my question,” he said as he took a step towards the Kanohi, only to stop for a second as he realized a better choice for travel. Taking off the Elda, he caught the other Kanohi before they fell to the ground, before lifting the newly-acquired Kadin to his face. Alex paused for a second as he felt the Mask of Flight almost seem to pulse in his hand before slapping it on. Unlike the other masks, this one had no mouth piece, yet fit perfectly over his face as he put it on. As he transformed, he felt that his entire body felt as though it was falling asleep with a tingly feeling travelling throughout his body.

Once he had finished transforming, he took in a breath before letting it out. “Well, that certainly was different,” Alex said as he moved his lips, only to stop as he realized that he had lips. Raising his hand to his face, he felt the mask pulse in time to his heartbeat before letting out a chuckle.

“I guess when they say the Inika’s Kanohi was organic, they really meant organic,” he muttered as he took his hand away, then looked towards where he had detected the other Kanohi. Taking a deep breath, Alex took a step back before rushing forwards and jumping off the cliff. As the air rushed past him, he focused energy into the mask, making it glow for a second before his descent leveled off and rose into the air. This only lasted for a few seconds before he dipped again, but he eventually managed to stabilize the flight. From there, he had a short flight before he neared the edge of the town he had arrived in.

As Alex neared the town, he realized that he would be spotted by the others, and deactivated the Mask of Flight as he neared the ground… making the last few feet a sudden drop. Alex was sent from flying over the forest to tumbling into a mass of bushes, leaves being sent flying from his landing.

“Well, that could’ve certainly gone worse,” Alex muttered, extracting himself from the bushes before and righted himself, only to find himself staring at an oddly built treehouse, voices coming out of the treehouse. Alex stared at the treehouse in apprehension before slowly starting to back away. I know I promised Josh I would make amends with the ponies, he thought as he backed closer to the woods, but I’m still not ready to meet them yet. As he prepared to run, though, he heard crying come from the treehouse’s open door.

This made Alex stop in his steps, and he looked at the treehouse before letting out a sigh. “Me and my big heart,” he muttered to himself, then steeled his nerves before walking towards the treehouse. As he began to walk up the treehouse’s ramp, he heard the crying stop. “Hello?,” he tentatively asked as he stepped to the open doorway, “Is everything alri-” His question came to a halt as he saw the three small ponies in the building look at him, all three wearing the Pakari, the Mask of Possibilities, and a skull-based mask respectively. The last mask gave Alex pause, and he focused on the mask for a few seconds before realizing that it was some form of the Crast.

Alex stared at the three and the three ponies stared back at him for several seconds before Alex rubbed his forehead in irritation, stating that, “This day just gets better, doesn’t it?” This apparently snapped the three out of their stupor as Alex heard a shrill scream, making Alex stumble back before falling off the ramp, landing on his back in the process. Alex stared up from where he had landed for a few seconds, then chuckled slightly before jokingly exclaiming, raising his hand at the statement, “Curse you, Mask of Possibilities!” This caused for a gasp to come out of the treehouse, before the three small ponies’ heads to pop over the side of the ramp.

“You know what these are?” The white pony with the ‘modified’ Crast asked, then continued with hope in her voice, “Does that mean that you know how to take them off?”

“Well, I can certainly take them off,-” Alex began to say, but was cut off as the white unicorn let out a cry of joy and relief before jumping down and hugging him, thanking him profusely in the process. “However,” he asked, trying to sneak out of the unicorn’s grasp, “Might I ask as to why you put the Kanohi on in the first place?”

“Well, we heard that these masks are Masks of Power,” the orange pegasus said as she jumped off the ramp, the light-yellow pony shortly behind her, “So, we put them on thinking that we could get our Cutie Marks from them. However, that was before we knew that the masks would be so dangerous.”

Alex looked at the three before letting out a sigh. “That’s probably one of the biggest problems with that idea:” he said as he reached forward and grabbed the unicorn’s mask, his energy flowing into the mask into the process, “You shouldn't have a single tool be the center of your life.”

“But what about those who are specialists with something, such as stunt ponies or musicians?” The light-yellow pony asked, “They need a special tool to work.”

“True, but they are trained to use a tool, rather than relying on a single item that is irreplaceable.” Alex said as he pulled at the mask, removing the bone-white Crast from the white unicorn’s face in the process. “If you want to be successful,” he finished, reaching towards the Pakari on the light-yellow pony, “You should make it so your talents might require tools to work, but not so much that your talents become dependent on one tool.”

“I guess that makes sense,” the orange pegasus said as she looked on at Alex removing the Pakari from the light-yellow pony, then asked with doubt noticeable in her voice, “But what does that mean about my scooter, then?” Alex blinked in confusion at this for a second, before noticing the scooter propped against the treehouse’s base. It wasn’t complex, by any means: Just a bent blue wooden board with a handle and four wheels underneath. However, its worn state showed that it was frequently used, as given by the bent handlebar and the dented front wheels.

“While it is vital for your use, be it travel or tricks, it isn’t something that is needed for everything.” Alex said after a moment of thought, “After all, while you obviously use it frequently, as shown by how worn it is, it’s your skill and how much you’ve put into becoming an expert with it. It may become broken, and parts may need to be replaced, but its both the memories and your training that are the most important.” This answer surprised the three ponies before they gave him a shared smile, though the orange pegasus’s smile seemed a tad more shy than the others.

“Hey, mistah,” the light-yellow pony asked as Alex slipped the newly-acquired Kanohi under his arm, “I forgot tah ask, but what’s your name?”

“It’s Alex,” Alex said absentmindedly, then pointed at the three and asked, “And your names are?”

“Ah'm Apple Bloom!” The light-yellow pony exclaimed.

“I’m Sweetie Belle!” The unicorn stated.

“And I’m Scootaloo!” The orange pegasus exclaimed, “And we are-”

“THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!!!” The three shouted, making Alex wince slightly at the volume, before the now-named Apple Bloom frowned at something.

“Alex… Alex…” She said in thought, making Alex tense in worry before Apple Bloom asked in slight panic, “Aren’t you the somepony who destroyed Ponyville Centre?” This caused for the others to become frightened.

Alex winced at this reminder before taking in a deep breath, exhaling a heavy sigh. “Yeah, about that,” Alex replied, “The thing is I... wasn’t exactly in control when that happened.”

“You mean like accidental magic?” Sweetie Belle asked, and, when looked at with a quirked eye, explained to him, “When unicorns first cast a spell that’s outside of levitation, they usually end up overpowering it, which can result in some crazy events happening.”

Alex nodded at this before replying with a hint of exasperation, “That’s basically what happened. Heck, I didn’t even know that I could, since I hadn’t been in that form for less than five minutes!”

The three ponies gasped at this statement, before Scootaloo asked with surprise, “This isn’t even your real form?”

Alex nodded while replying, “Yep. I don’t think that I have even been in human form for less than 20 minutes since I arrived in Equestria!”

“Hyu-mahn?” Apple Bloom asked, expressing each syllable as she said the word aloud.

“It’s the name of my natural species.” Alex said dismissively, becoming more and more nervous as time passed. Each second that passed was only one second longer before a pony that wasn’t as friendly showed up.

Alex’s fears were quickly confirmed, though, as a shout soon rang out from behind him, “Stop right there, you metal monkey!!” Turning towards the shout, he saw a familiar rainbow-hair pegasus charging straight at him with an enraged look on her face. As he prepared to jump aside, a shout of greeting reminded him of the three fillies standing behind him. Behind? Alex thought, before his eyes widened in fear when he realized that Rainbow Dash was most likely not going to turn in time. Goddamnit!, he thought as he stepped in front of Scootaloo and the others, crossing his arms in front of him mere seconds before Rainbow Dash rammed into him.

Considering that Alex was currently made of metal, he had suspected that he would have some resistance from the impact. However, he was still sent flying over the fillies’ heads and into a tree, his opponent being sent skidding back across the ground while the Kanohi he had taken off the Crusaders were sent scattering across the ground.

“Take that, you… you!” Rainbow shouted as she shakily stood up, stumbling in the process. Alex only let out a growl of irritation in reply as he pried himself from the tree.

I’m really starting to reconsider the deal at this point, Alex thought as he dropped painfully to the ground, his metallic body groaning from the strain of standing back up as his attacker continued to stumble around from the dizzying impact.

“Apple Bloom!” Another familiar voice cried out, and Alex blearily looked over to see the orange pony from earlier that day run over to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. However, she wasn’t alone as she was accompanied by several other ponies, the most noticeable being a massive red pony who stood a full head above the rest.

“Applejack!” Apple Bloom called out as she ran over, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo following shortly behind her.

“That varmint didn’t hurt any of y’all, did he?” Applejack asked.

“Alex didn’t hurt us.” Apple Bloom began to explain, “He-”

“Good. Now, stand back, sugarcube,” Applejack interrupted before turning to Alex and exclaimed, “Did you think you could mosey into our town and just terrorize our fillies without us noticing?” Alex looked at the pony incredulously. He was the one terrorizing?

“But Applejack, he-” He heard Apple Bloom begin to say, but was cut off when the large red pony covered her mouth with her hoof and shook his head, the filly trying to escape from the hoof regardless. The other two Crusaders tried to speak up in Apple Bloom’s place, but were silenced by two other ponies.

“Yeah!” Rainbow exclaimed, now back on her feet, “You were standing over them with your weird mask-thingies before I rammed into you!” This caused for the rest of the ponies to start murmuring, sending Alex several glares in the process.

“OBJECTION!” Alex gruffly said, pointing at Rainbow Dash in the process.

“...What?” Rainbow Dash said, looking at Alex in confusion. She wasn’t the only one to do so, though: In fact, only Alex seemed to have gotten the reference, since everyone (everypony) else seemed to also look confused.

“Nevermind, you wouldn’t get it.” Alex said dismissively, before turning to face Applejack and saying, “While I do understand why you would lash out at me, I do believe that you should hear both sides of the story before making a decision. After all: You are the Element of Honesty, are you not?”

Applejack glared at him for this revelation, but conceded as the other ponies gave her varying looks. “Very well, then. Out with it.” She stated.

“Alright, then,” Alex said, looking around for the Kanohi that scattered from the ‘rainbow divebomb’. He quickly reached down to pick up the nearest Kanohi, which was the Krast, for an example, only for the red pony to take his hoof off of Apple Bloom’s mouth and stomped down on Alex’s hand, making Alex wince from the pressure generated by the stomp.

“Just. Talk.” The red pony growled, and Alex quickly nodded in agreement, though his temper was starting to build up again.

“Well, to start clarifying things, let’s go with the claim of me ‘terrorizing’ the Crusaders.” Alex said, then gestured to the Kanohi trapped under his hand and the red pony’s hoof. “I wasn’t terrorizing them,” he stated, “I was helping them by taking these masks off of them.”

“You mean to say that you were stealing from mah sister and her friends?!” Applejack angrily asked, making Alex feel the urge to face-palm.

“No,” Alex said, “I literally took the Kanohi off of them, because I’m the only one who can. But don’t take my word for it: Ask your sister yourself!” After a few seconds of thought, though, he let out a snort before saying, “Though you’ll probably not listen to whatever she says…”

“What was that?” Applejack exclaimed, stomping over until she was face-to-face to him.

“Look at your actions for the past few minutes:” Alex said, gesturing to Apple Bloom in the process, “You’ve ignored and interrupted your sister not once, but twice. If you had listened to her even the first time, this whole mess would’ve been cleared up. But nope: It seems that if the witness is a child, their word isn’t worth jack!”

By this point, Applejack was looking quite upset at this comment, a mixture of anger and sorrow flickering back and forth across her face before letting out a sigh, blasting Alex with the scent of apples. “Apple Bloom, is what the… Toa saying true?” She asked, turning to look at her sister, who was also upset yet happy that someone stood up for her.

“Alex is speaking the truth!” Apple Bloom confirmed, causing for the crowd to break into murmurs. “We were hoping to get Kanohi Cutie Marks from it, but...” As she remembered what happened, she stared down in despair at the damages their folly have wrought, especially to Twilight and Spike. Sweetie Belle began looking nervous when the trouble she had caused was brought up. Applejack gave Alex a look while he gave her a replying look that said ‘Point proven’.

“And what trouble could a little mask do?” She said as the red pony lessened the pressure on his hand, allowing for him to sneak his hand out with the Krast.

“Oh, these can do much more than you think,” Alex said as he stood up, and held up the Krast for emphasis. “Case in point, and the cause of the blast: The Kanohi Krast, as you can see here.”

“That’s the cause of the blast?” Applejack said, looking at the mask dubiously. “It doesn’t look like it could hurt a fly!” This only served to make Sweetie Belle more upset, her bottom lip starting to tremble.

“Perhaps it will become more clear when I say that the more common name for it is the Mask of Repulsion,” Alex said, making the gathered ponies look much more warily at the Kanohi. “As you could probably guess from it’s title,” He continued, “This mask repels things.”

“So, it can push things away!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, rolling her eyes at this statement, “What does that have to do with-”

“Ah-ah-ah,” Alex interjected, waving his finger at the pegasus, “There’s more than that!” As Rainbow Dash gave him a glare, Alex continued to say with a much more serious tone than before, “As I was saying, the Krast has the power to repel things. However, there is a reason it is known as one of the ‘Forbidden’ masks. That is because this mask can repel matter, energy, the light in one’s heart, even… life.” At this revelation, the ponies drew back in horror.

“If that’s true, then why should we trust you with it?” Applejack questioned Alex, her eyes narrowing at him in suspicion.

“There’s three reasons for that,” Alex countered, “One: I’m currently the only one who knows each mask’s powers and limits. Two: As a Toa, I can’t let others die, as part of the Toa Code. And three: Kanohi… aren’t compatible with ponies. At all.”

“What?!” The adult ponies cried out, though the Crusaders shared a look of sorrow.

“From what I can understand, though I don’t want to see if it’s true, the Kanohi is powered by magic, or at least it draws power from magic.”

“So?” Applejack asked.

“Aaand your cutie marks apparently create a constant stream of magic,” Alex continued. At this, some of the ponies realized what Alex was getting at and gasped, though the majority didn’t get Alex’s point.

“...I don’t get it,” Rainbow said, looking confused yet again.

“To put it in simpler terms,” Alex said exasperatedly, “If you have a cutie mark, any Kanohi you have on will activate at varying levels, never turning off and being stuck to your face until you die. So, if one of you put it on, your town would now be a crater and the site of a massacre.”

This statement caused for the ponies to set into a minor panic, each telling each other that they couldn’t imagine such an incident. However, this ended up being the breaking point for Sweetie Belle, as she bawled to the crowd, “I’M SORRY!!!!” This exclamation only drew everyone’s attention to the filly, Alex included, as she continued to wail, “I didn’t mean to cause all the damage! I w-was just wanting to get my cutie mark, and I… I...” This was the last Sweetie Belle could get out before she broke down fully, falling back on her haunches as she proceeded to cry, tears streaming down her face.

Alex looked at the bawling filly, let out a sigh, and began to walk over to the crying child. The other ponies gave him varying looks as he walked up to Sweetie Belle, put his hand on her head… and ruffled her hair, making the filly stop crying and look up in confusion. “I don’t blame you for what happened.” Alex said to Sweetie Belle, “After all, you didn’t know what would happen when you put on the mask. Heck, I’m actually glad that you were the one to have it on, rather than someone who had a cutie mark. If anything, you were able to minimize the damage, so you actually protected the others, in spite of the damages.” At the end of Alex’s pep talk, Sweetie Belle was now smiling, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo sharing her joy and relief.

“Pfff, no matter,” Rainbow Dash said, “Next time you Crusaders are in trouble, just call on me to bail you out! Besides,” she continued, leering at Alex, “I remember that you wrecked the town with your earth powers!”

Alex’s mood soured near-instantly at this statement. “While I did unleash an earth attack, I didn’t have much choice in it’s form or direction, and was rather upset at the time, considering that you were insistent on turning me into a statue and have the town blast me into pieces.” The gathered unicorns who were in hearing range looked at least somewhat abashed at this reminder, but any protests were immediately cut off as Alex’s mood worsened. “However,” Alex coldly snapped, “That does not excuse you for what you did a few minutes ago.”

Rainbow looked confused for a second before glaring at him. “You mean when I charged at you?” she asked, “I can’t think of anything wrong with it.”

“That is what I’m getting at!” Alex barked, making Rainbow Dash jump at this, “You don’t think. Do you realize who was behind me when you charged me? The Crusaders you claim to protect!” This made Rainbow gulp as she realized what Alex was getting at.

“I-I would’ve gotten out of the way in time!” she said, though it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself of it rather than Alex.

“And what if you didn’t?” Alex continued, “I was at least made of metal at the time. If you had hit me while I was human, I-” he stopped as he poked his chest, feeling an inward curve in his form. Looking down, he noticed a faint, but still noticeable, hoofmark on his chest. He dryly chuckled at this, making the ponies look at him in confusion, before he said, “I take back what I was going to say: I wouldn’t be a bloody pulp.” He leered at Rainbow before darkly stating, “I would be a smear on the ground.”

“T-that isn’t true!” Rainbow stammered, becoming more flustered as she took a step back, the other ponies looking at her in surprise at this revelation.

“And what of the Crusaders?” Alex snapped in reply, walking closer to her as she tried to step back, “Do you think they would’ve survived something an adult couldn’t? Do you think that they would’ve just bounced away from impact unharmed? An impact strong enough to damage PROTODERMIS? With just their FLESH AND BLOOD to protect them?! NO! If I had not interfered and took the impact...” At this, he pointed at Rainbow Dash, who had backed up against a tree, and boomed, “YOU, Rainbow Dash, would’ve KILLED the fillies you claimed to protect! Slaughtered in cold blood by your own hooves! All because you. Didn’t. Think!”

This revelation made Rainbow Dash recoil at what she might’ve done, her fur now an ice blue. “I-I wouldn’t do that…” she stammered out as she looked around frantically, the other ponies now looking at her with lighter coats than before, looks of horror on their faces.

“Would? Most likely not,” Alex said as he backed away from her, picking up the Pakari in the process. “Could, though?” He gave a dry chuckle, before turning back to the terrified pegasus and told her, “Oh, you most certainly could.”

..Though you don’t have to ‘be friends with’ them, I would like you to at least make peace with the ponies.

“‘Make peace with the ponies’, he says,” Alex muttered to himself as he picked up the Mask of Possibilities, then let out a snort. “If I have to make peace with you ponies,” he told them, looking over his shoulder at the crowd, “I think it best if I do so with a town that cares more for their young.” With that, he activated the Kadin and took off into the forest, leaving a crowd of confused and ashamed ponies behind him.

General POV

Several seconds passed after the ‘Toa’ had left before Applejack turned to face Rainbow Dash. “Dash,” she said, “I think it’s best if you go calm down somewhere else.”

“But-” Rainbow Dash started to interject, but stopped as Applejack gave her a hard look.

“Somewhere. Else,” she grounded out, and Rainbow looked back with sorrow and regret before flying off, disappearing out of sight in ten seconds. With the main conflict gone, the rest of the crowd dispersed, giving the Crusaders sympathetic looks as they left.

“A-Applejack?” a tiny voice said, and the earth pony looked down to see Scootaloo staring at her sadly. “Rainbow wouldn’t really kill somepony with her tricks, would she?”

Applejack looked at the filly before letting out a sigh. “I wish I could say ‘no’ and leave it at that, but… as much as I hate to admit it, that Toa did bring up several valid points.” As Scootaloo looked like she was about to cry, Applejack put her hoof under Scootaloo’s chin as said, “However, Ah’m certain that Rainbow would never do that intentionally. In fact, with what happened today, Ah’m sure that Rainbow Dash will be much more careful, so that this never happens again. Now, how about we go see if Twilight or Pinkie Pie has something to cheer you up?”

Applejack’s last sentence drew looks of surprise on the Crusader’s faces, which she instantly caught. “Alright, what did you three do?”

“Well, we…” Scootaloo said, hesitating for a minute before blurting out, “Might’veputTwilightandSpikeinthehospitalduetothemasks!”

Applejack looked at the three fillies before letting out a sigh. “Ah’m sure that you didn’t mean it,” she told them, making them sigh in relief that they weren’t in trouble. “However,” she continued, “Ah think that you should give Twilight an apology for what you did.” The Crusaders looked at her at her for a second before relenting.

“Alright, Applejack,” the Crusaders chorused, and Applejack gave them a smile before setting off. Thankfully, the hospital wasn’t too far away, so they arrived at the hospital rather quickly.

“Oh, hello, Applejack!” Nurse Redheart greeted as the four ponies entered the hospital, “You looking for Twilight, I assume?”

“Eyup,” Applejack said, and gestured to the abashed Crusaders, “That, plus mah sister and her friends owe her an apology.”

“Right this way, then,” Redheart said as she stepped out from behind the desk and walked down the hallway to the right, Applejack, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo following shortly behind.

“So, doc,” Applejack asked as they walked down the hallway, “What’s the status on Twilight?”

“Well, she’s thankfully not too injured, with only a dislocated ankle being the worst she has,” Redheart answered as she stopped in front of a door, “But if you want to find out, why don’t you ask her yourself?”

With that, Redheart pushed the door in, and the four visitors gasped, drawing Twilight’s attention from the letter she was writing.

“Twilight!” Applejack said as she entered the hospital room, wincing at the number of bruises on Twilight.

“Hey, Applejack,” Twilight, lifting a hoof in greeting before dropping it as pain shot through her, “Did you find Sweetie Belle?”

“Applebloom and Scootaloo did,” Applejack said, but then gave the three Crusaders a look before saying, “But Ah think that they need to say something to you.”

“We’re sorry!” The three fillies said as they leapt at Twilight and gave the injured unicorn a hug, only to hop off when Twilight let out a gasp of pain.

“It’s alright,” Twilight said as the Crusaders took a step back, “Redheart said that I should be healed up before tomorrow and able to join the picnic.” As she finished speaking, though, she noticed something on, or rather, off, the Crusaders. “Wait…” she said as she looked at the three Crusaders, “How’d you get your Kanohi off? Only the Toa should be able to...” Her mind realized what had happened when the words started to come from her mouth and the other four shared a look. “Alex is here?!” She exclaimed.

“Well, he was here.” Applejack said as she looked uneasy.

“What?” Twilight deadpanned. As Applejack recalled what had happened, with Applebloom and Scootaloo pointing out any mistakes, Twilight’s expression became more and more dire. Once Applejack finished explaining, Twilight put her face and her hooves and moaned, “Princess Celestia is going to fail me for this!”

“Ah doubt that she’ll be that mad at ya, Twilight,” Applejack told Twilight.

“But Celestia said that Alex was supposed to be staying here in Ponyville!” Twilight exclaimed, making Applejack rear back in surprise.

“What in tarnation are you talking about, Twilight?” Applejack asked, giving Twilight a queer look. Twilight looked at Applejack before grabbing her satchel and pulling out a letter with her magic.

“This morning, Princess Celestia sent me a letter telling me of a being called ‘Jaw Shoe Wa’ visited her and Princess Luna last night, and told her that there was several new threats, such as that which had arrived due to the villain that tricked and exiled Alex to Equestria,” Twilight began to explain.

“‘The villain’?” Applejack asked, “Why don’t you call him by his name: ‘Discord’?”

“Because, Discord wasn’t the one to bring him to Equestria,” Twilight told Applejack, “He only teleported him to us after sensing his arrival to our reality.”

“What?” Applejack asked in a deadpan tone.

“According to this ‘Jaw Shoe Wa’,” Twilight explained, “He had been exiled here by ‘The Merchant’, a multiversal trickster that has been toying with his species while they were at costumed based events throughout several versions of his world by giving them an item that goes with with their costume, only to banish them to a version of our Equestria while transforming them into the character they were dressed up as, with there being no way to return to ‘normal’.”

“But if that’s true,” Applejack countered while Twilight regained her breath, “Then why can Alex change in between forms?”

“To be honest, I’m not too sure, though I suspect that it has something to do with the being called ‘Mata Nui’,” Twilight said, before letting out a sigh and saying, “As such, Alex… Is the only one who knows of all these threats that we can trust.”

“What?!” Applejack yelped, “Why is that?”

“Well, considering that he was dressed up as one of the beings from that universe, he’s immediately the best source for the knowledge of any and all threats that come from the ‘leak’, be it Kanohi or ‘Raw He’,” Twilight answered, only to stop as she saw Applejack’s bug-eyed expression of disbelief.

“‘Leak’? ‘Raw He’?,” Applejack asked in confusion, “What in tarnation are you talking about, Twilight?”

Twilight blushed at Applejack’s comment, before telling Applejack, “Well, when Alex was sent here, a ‘leak’ was opened between our world and the fictional world Alex got his forms and powers from, thus dropping beings from that world into our own. This includes both the ‘Raw He’, which are various creatures from that world, and the ‘Bow Rock’ and Krana that we had seen earlier.”

“How bad are these ‘Raw He’?” Applejack questioned.

“I’m not sure, but that’s why we need Alex to help us.” Twilight commented.

“But then, why did he attack the town and destroy the town center?” Applejack pointed out.

“Well, put yourself in his shoes,” Twilight told Applejack, “If you ended up in an unknown area in the body of a fictional character you know, such as Daring Do, surrounded by beings you don’t recognize at all, and were threatened with being hurt, how would you react?”

“Ah guess you’ve got a point,” Applejack conceded, “Maybe we were a tad too harsh on him.”

“And that’s what I’ve failed!” Twilight exclaimed, falling back against the hospital bed, “We were supposed to fighting alongside of him, but he only ended up running away!”

As the two thought over what happened, the slam of a door drew them out of their thoughts. Looking over at the door, Twilight and Applejack saw that the Crusaders were no longer in the room, with the door shaking back and forth.

“...The town’ll know of Alex and his origins within the hour, won’t they?” Twilight asked.

“Hey! Mah sister isn’t a blabber!” Applejack interjected.

“That may be true for Applebloom,” Twilight said to her, “But can you honestly say that Scootaloo or Sweetie Belle won’t in their excitement?” Applejack looked away at this, only supporting Twilight’s statement. The two shared a look before Applejack raced out of the door, Twilight attempting to do the same before falling back in the bed as pain lanced through her body.

“I only hope that Applejack finds the Crusaders before they cause any more trouble,” Twilight sighed as she laid back in the bed, her thoughts filled with dread of the coming chaos.

Author's Note

...Wow, you really ripped into Rainbow Dash this chapter.
I know, but... It's just that the fact that Rainbow Dash is shown at this time to be more impulsive than thinking it over just infuriates me!! I mean, it's just that-
GET ON WITH IT!!!
...Iiiitt seems that you've found my Monty Python collection.
Who, me? If that was the case, the only thing to say then is... Nee!
*face-palms* Sigh... Well, with this latest chapter finished after all this time, all I have to say is that I've been busy with a second Displaced fic, which should come out real soon, so keep an eye out for when that happens! With that said, all I have to say is that until next time, this is Runic Soul, signing out!

Interlude 1 - Delving into (In)Sanity

Alex let out a huff as he flew the forest. At this rate, Josh’s promise will take a lot longer to fill out on my end, he thought as he weaved in between the trees, his mind thinking over the massive fight that happened a little bit ago. To be honest with himself, he probably could’ve handled his true ‘first encounter’ a lot better, but Alex had been rather upset with ‘Rainbow Dash’ for her recklessness. Honestly, if she had just paid more attention-!

Alex’s thought process was cut short as a white sphere the size of a volleyball appeared in front of him, and he veered down to avoid it. “What on Aqua Magna?” Alex said as he sharply swooped upwards before deactivated the Kadin, landing on the ground which is only a few feet under him. As he looked up at the orb, the sphere pulsed before a voice began to speak.

“Hello!” A male’s voice said to Alex, “You have been selected to join the War of Shadows! My name is Time Spinner, and two fellow human/Displaced are having at it. Crush the orb, and one or more of my assistants will explain everything you ask.”

“Another Displaced?” Alex mused aloud, before smirking and said aloud, “Why not?” Momentarily letting his Mask activate, Alex leapt up with the Mask boosting him, and clapped his hands together into the sphere, popping the orb like a balloon.

As Alex landed on the ground, a flash of red light momentarily appeared behind him, and he heard something land behind him twice. “So, this is one of the people that Time Spinner wanted recruited?” He heard a voice ask, and he turned around, only to find two ponies standing behind him. One of them was a brown pony with freckles that were lighter than her brown fur, with a black mane that was braided, making her seem rather similar to ‘Applejack’, while the other was a cream-colored pegasus with a long red mane, while also wearing a hat that looked like it belonged to the Cat in the Hat.

“So, ye’re trying to join the war, huh?” The brown earth pony said, looking Alex up and down before commenting, “Well, you’ll certainly have your work cut out for ya. Other than yah being metal and all that, yah don’t look like yah could do as much damage as an apple seed.”

“Even an apple seed can grow a mighty tree that can topple walls,” Alex quipped with a hint of frustration, before also telling the brown pony, “But it can also produce the poison that can also fell an enemy.”

“Hey, both of you cut it out before I give you both an Ear Rape!” The cream pony shouted, making Alex start at the sheer volume.

“Y-yes, Fluttershout,” The brown pony says, and Alex looked at the pony in surprise. Was this ‘Ear Rape’ really that bad?

“Now, as I was going to say,” Fluttershout said, “I’m Fluttershout, Element of Rage of the Elements of Insanity, and this is Applepills, the Element of Obsession. And you are?”

“Alex Nima, member of the Original Order of Mata Nui,” Alex told them.

“Well, Alex,” Fluttershout said, “We’re here to invite you for the War of Shadows. This war is due to a Displaced by the name of Darth Folteren, who is attempting to invade the world of another Displaced called Lee Connors, who was Displaced as Venom. Rather than fight it out between themselves, however, they’re planning on inviting several Displaced to help them. Lee will be defending his world with the help of the Alliance of Heroes, while Darth Folteren will be attacking Lee’s Equestria with the much more powerful Empire of Nightmares.”

“Just because it’s more powerful doesn’t mean that it’s the right thing to choose…” Alex commented, but kept quiet as Fluttershout glared at him.

“However,” Fluttershout continued to say, “As we mentioned earlier, we would like to offer you the chance to be a deciding factor in this war, by joining one of the two sides. So, what do you say?”

“Well, considering that I’m a Toa, I obviously have to help Lee defend his world,” Alex said with a grin, “So, sign me up for the Alliance of Heroes!” While he outwardly showed the appearance of a simple man, internally, his mind was churning with how this could turn out. The fact that the opposing forces are being led by a Sith Lord alone meant that this would be an uphill battle. But with the other people helping the Sith, who were most likely all villains… He wasn’t sure if he could win any of the battles. I’ll have to find a lot more Kanohi if I want to even have a small chance of surviving this war, he thought as he shook Fluttershout’s hoof.

“Well, if ya’ve got any more questions, just use mah Token, and I’ll be there quicker than a tumbleweed in a dust devil,” Applepills said as she handed Alex what looked like a gold necklace with an ornament shaped like a classic red-and-white pill, with a red apple in the white half of the ‘pill’, and a white apple in the red half.

“No, I think I’m good,” Alex said as he gave Fluttershout a mild glare for the insinuation that he was incapable of handling himself, and the pegasus gave him a glare in return before disappearing in a flash of light with Applepills joining her shortly after. Alex stood in the silence of the forest for a minute before shaking his head. Focus, Alex!, he thought as he activated his Kanohi, and took off away from the town. If I’m going to be getting in this war, he thought as he continued his flight through the forest, Then, I’ll need a lot more variety in Kanohi, as soon as possible!