Six Ways, Book 2: Duty

Chapters

Chapter 1: Dwelling Spirit
Chapter 2: Mutinous Thoughts
Chapter 3: Vineyin Returns
Chapter 4: The Silver Sea
Chapter 5: So Close, yet So Far
Chapter 6: Fresh Life
Chapter 7: Six Warriors, Six Elders, and One Villager
Chapter 8: Rainbow Comatose
Chapter 9: Sleeping Spirit
Chapter 10: Follow the Light
Chapter 11: Strange Kohlii Balls
Chapter 12: Once Upon Titanic Ground
Chapter 13: United Against Them
Chapter 14: Villagers Can Only Beware
Chapter 15: Shattering these Close Ties for Peace
Chapter 16: Accidental Infiltration

Chapter 1: Dwelling Spirit

"Onward!" cried Pinkie, bouncing through the grassy fields. "To the mythical island of Okoto!"

And then silence.

Twilight raised an eyebrow, as did Spike. The two Equestrians exchanged a nervous glance, since nobody else seemed to hear what Pinkie had just said. Breaking the awkward silence, Twilight sauntered up to Pinkie's side and asked, "Uh—Pinkie Pie?"

The pink pony ceased hopping. "Yeah, Twilight?"

"I know we've been over this approximately—" She took a moment to count the times. “—no, exactly eighty-three times, but we're going to Mata-Nui, not to these places you keep saying.

A dash of red flowed to Pinkie's face. "Hehe—sorry! But that wasn't just some place I made up; it was some place I dreamed about."

Hearing such absurdity, some of the other ponies in the group listened in.

"A dream, huh?" wondered Applejack with a smile, coming to her friend's side. "So you're sayin' you dreamt about a fantasy land last night?" In an instant, she turned her gaze down to the ground. Her smile flipped into a frown as she mumbled, "I knew I shouldn't've given them that cider last night."

Of all ponies, Fluttershy came stepping toward Pinkie when she said, "I had a dream not that long ago—yet it feels like it's been forever since I last saw my Teridax."

Again, Fluttershy? thought Twilight. She had prayed for Fluttershy's talk of Teridax to end after a week, but apparently he still haunted her dreams. I hope the effects of that rock wear off soon—and the sooner the better! The last thing we need on this journey is for one of us to fall into madness... again.

"—hey Twilight, hellooooo!" It was Rainbow Dash.

Seeing the blue pony's face pop into her field of view brought Twilight back to reality with a start. "Ah!" she yelped. "Oh—Rainbow, don't startle me like that!"

A brief "Sorry," escaped the pegasus before she asked, "So—how're you liking that book?"

"Actually," began Twilight, using her magic to pull the red record from her bag. "I haven't really properly read through it yet. At this point, all I've done is skim." Almost subconsciously, she passed it to the pegasus' open hooves.

Rainbow Dash snorted. Pretty much sums up how I read it.

At that moment, Spike awoke from his two-hour nap, finding himself perfectly balanced on Twilight’s flank. "Huh—what about a book?" He rubbed his eyes and witnessed the crimson box in Dash's hooves. "What's the book about?"

Hmm…how to explain this to a kid? Thinking about that made the pegasus purse her lips and shake her head. After a small pause, she sighed and said, "Boring stuff, Spike. Boring stuff."

As the group of ponies pushed further forward through the field, they found themselves passing one hill after another, wondering every time what would be on the other side of every hill. Every time they reached a peak, they hoped to find the supposed entrance to this new world. Most of the time they found little more than a bunch of grass. But at one point or another, the lot of them found themselves standing before what looked like a broken Stonehenge.

"Whoa!" gasped Rainbow Dash. "It doesn't look like anybody's been living here since Celestia was born, am I right?"

But rather than reply to the witty remark, Twilight stopped right here she was. There's that feeling again. For what felt like the first time in a century, she felt her entire body freeze. Every bone in her body came to a halt, every joint stiffened, every muscle suddenly ached; everything around the unicorn saw her as an open target.

The demons of her past, present, and future watched intently as Twilight left herself open to an attack. With every breath she took, the air around her seemed to grow colder and colder; though she couldn’t move her head, Twilight could twitch her ears and sense the evil in her life floating around like spores in the wind.

In her vulnerable state, the pony sensed a light tingle running up the side of her neck. Pointed, vaporous fingers poked and tickled her exposed skin—and as much as she wanted to smack away the creatures doing so, she couldn’t muster the strength to fight back.

This is a little game of ours, called an unfamiliar voice.We see how long it takes before you lose. It’s very simple for us, but very much a different story if you’re it.

This isn’t happening! thought Twilight, attempting to shake and remove herself from the horrifying aura surrounding her. I’ve got to get out!

With a snap back to reality, Twilight shook her head blinked a few times. The vision came to a close, but she wouldn’t be satisfied with just that. She took a few steps—all the while praying her visions would never come back. Just thinking of them made her ears fold back. Those things—they’re like the Teridax rock, but even worse!

Her mind poisoned, Twilight witnessed as Rarity shuddered—as if an ice-cold snake had slithered down her spine. “Oh dear,” she said. “Oh dear—I feel something…something I haven’t felt since Fluttershy—” Rarity let out a gasp and turned toward her friend. Almost immediately she began to witness as images of that dreadful morning came rushing back. She, like Twilight, found herself backpedaling.

It didn’t take long for the lot of them to stop moving forward; not much longer still, all of them stopped pursuing the rocky area and merely stood back—as if waiting for the ruined Stonehenge to come to life and crush the ponies beneath its weight.

After a long moment of silence, Fluttershy—of all the ponies in the world—pushed onward. Onward, she pushed through the invisible force field keeping the others away, onward and toward the rocks.

Oh no, thought Twilight.

Just as those thoughts entered Twilight’s head, Fluttershy’s ears perked. She turned just enough to see Twilight from the corner of her eye when she asked, “What is it, Twilight?”

At that, the unicorn found herself frozen again. Uh oh—was that out loud?

Apparently, Fluttershy didn’t notice the lack of movement in Twilight’s jaw—for she merely proceeded to say, “Yes, Twilight—that was out loud. Don’t be rude; just follow me.”

Sweat began draining down the side of Twilight’s face. “But—but I didn’t say anything, Fluttershy!”

“She’s right, Sugarcube,” added Applejack as she came up to Twilight’s side. “I think it’s just the aftereffects of cider.”

Now Fluttershy noticed that she, too, had sweat building along her brow. "B-but," she began to stammer, "but I know what I heard! Twilight, didn't you just say, 'oh no?'"

Unsure how to respond, Twilight found herself stammering, as well. "Well, I mean—I guess I said it in my thoughts." The pony raised an eyebrow when she asked, "How did you hear it, though?"

Before Fluttershy had any chance to respond, that familiar voice crawled back into her head. Let me guide you, Fluttershy.

Teridax? she asked, her pupils dilated. It was as if her ex-spouse had returned to remarry her. What are you still doing in my head?

I have always been in your head, he replied. Only now my presence is stronger than ever before.

Already Fluttershy could hear the stifled tears begging to escape from her eyes. What do you want from me? she said, her breath growing heavier and heavier by the second.

A low chuckle seemed to rumble from within the depths of the pony’s mind. Only this, he began. Know that now you are with me, and now that you have proven your worth to me, I have given you the ability to look into the hearts and minds of those around you—so you can finally see what they think of you.

Fluttershy gasped. That’s why I could hear Twilight when she said “oh no;” it’s because of you!

Be ignorant no more, my little pony!

Chapter 2: Mutinous Thoughts

Just as Fluttershy prepared to cry out Teridax’s name, the spirit of shadow seemed to exit the reaches of her mind, leaving her back to where she was: standing in front of her best friends, unable to respond to wherever they’d left her off last time she spoke to them.

The pegasus shook her head—as if cleansing her thoughts of the conversation she had just shared with Teridax—and asked, “I’m sorry—what did you say, again?”

She wasn’t sure, but Fluttershy thought she could hear somebody chortling from behind Twilight. Looking over her friend’s head, she realized it was Rainbow Dash making such rude noises. Rainbow! she thought, resisting the urge to yell as the other pegasus within the vicinity resisted the urge to burst out laughing.

Seriously? thought Rainbow Dash. How long did it take her to realize that she zoned out?

Before Fluttershy could make any sort of response, Rarity’s thoughts cut in: Poor dear must be getting sick! Who knows what it could be if it’s causing her to think people are condemning her behind her back?

Then she could hear Pinkie’s thoughts making their way through. Why’s she acting so crazy? she wondered. Oh—is it because she’s gonna give us all a surprise when this is all over? That’d be great!

And again came Dash’s thoughts. She’s been through a lot, but I think she’s finally lost her mind.

Twilight found herself compelled to repeat what she had said to Fluttershy just a moment ago, but instead stood in awe of the angered look screwing up her friend’s face. “Fluttershy?” she asked. “A-are you okay?”

Her teeth grinding, her nose scrunched, and her eyelids twitching as they shut themselves tight, Fluttershy let out all her frustrations and all her anger with a sharp, “No!” from her mouth.

“No, Twilight—I’m not okay! I’m everything but okay! All you ever think about is how entertaining it is to make fun of me! All you ever think about is how I’ve gone crazy; well, I’m not crazy! Don’t ask me how, but—I know what you’re all thinking of me. None of it is good. Nothing you ever say of me is good!” And with that, the pony collapsed to the ground, weeping into her front hooves as she crashed.

“Fluttershy!” gasped Twilight. “Don’t be like that.” She paused and came down to Fluttershy’s eye level. “Fluttershy, we're your friends."

"She's right, Fluttershy," added Applejack, almost tempted to pat the weeping pony's hair. "No one here has nothin' against you, Sugarcube."

Do not be swayed by their trickery! demanded Teridax. They will bring you down to their level if you are not careful.

I'm sorry, replied Fluttershy. I just don't know what to do.

Don't let them lie to you!

Lie? If there was anything Fluttershy couldn’t comprehend, it was realizing she had listened to the liar’s mouth. But to realize she now stood before multiple liars—one of them representing the element of Honesty, no less—drew her blood to a boil, dried her tears up in an instant. Realizing this, Fluttershy curled up her lip in a snarl.

“You know what?” the pegasus began as she lifted her face from her hooves. Her red eyes shot directly at Twilight. “You wanna know something, little princess?” she snarled, stomping forward and obstructing almost the entirety of Twilight’s field of view. “Yes you did say something.” As she stood nose-to-nose with the unicorn, the stones behind her rumbled and shifted minutely in their sleep.

The pegasus raised her voice: “You said, ‘Oh no,’ as if there’s something to be worried about!”

Stunned by simply hearing such words fly out of Fluttershy’s mouth, Twilight took a few steps back. “Y-you heard that?” she asked. “But—that was—I didn’t even—”

“Yes you did!” interrupted Fluttershy. “I heard you loud and clear!”

Disgusted, Rarity attempted to step back in and confront Fluttershy, but found herself coated beneath Rainbow Dash’s shadow when she lifted herself up in the air and demanded, “Okay, Fluttershy—quit yelling at Twilight like that! You know it’s not—”

And there quickly came an echoing voice into the pony’s head. I will win you everything when you join me. It is your destiny to join me.

The voice made her tremble. My destiny? Daring as she was, Rainbow Dash couldn't bring herself to swallow her pride and move forward, to confront her friend when even in light of such disrespect toward her own friends.

Not Rainbow Dash, too! thought Twilight. If she’s not brave enough to stand in the face of this danger, probably nobody here is. Ironically, Fluttershy seemed the only capable pony at that moment.

In her anger, Fluttershy started grinding her teeth and bending her head down to her friends' shrinking bodies. One thumping heartbeat after another came to pass—and it seemed that with every ticking second, Fluttershy's friends took a small step backward. Fluttershy herself found it harder and harder to keep her demons away, to summon her once prevalent modesty—but she didn't care. She didn't care if her friends saw her as nothing other than a Shadow of her former self, didn't care what they'd labels they dare throw at her.

I don’t need to care what they think! she told herself. I don’t need anybody—anybody but you, dear Teridax.

But as such thoughts poisoned her mind, Fluttershy noticed that Teridax seemed to have disappeared from her now unguided thoughts. Teridax? she said. Where did you go, Teridax? It was while searching for the deity when a familiar face appeared—the likes of which pulled her gaze away from her friends and toward the hilly terrain.

A peach-colored pony made her way through the grass and toward the rocks, so it seemed to Fluttershy. The stranger’s velvety-red hair blossomed out from the grass—and once her hair shined bright within the daylight sky, she came to a halt.

“Who is that?” thought Fluttershy out loud. “She looks so familiar but—”

Chapter 3: Vineyin Returns

Before the other ponies could get a chance to turn their heads and see whom it was Fluttershy had seen, the peach-colored pony broke out of her moments’ pause and shouted, “What are you doing here?! What are any of you doing here?”

With a tip of her hat, Applejack was the first to speak. “Sorry ma’am! We didn’t know this was somepony’s property.”

The stranger ground her teeth. “This is not somepony’s property, you nitwit!” Seeing all six of these ponies and their dragon friend made her wonder, Just how did they get here? How did they find this place to begin with? Frustration invaded the peach pony’s thoughts as she raced up to the stones. Halfway to the rocky canvas, she found herself face-to-face with Fluttershy.

Being that Fluttershy was closest to the rocks than anybody else, the stranger brought a hoof to the pegasus’ chest, pushing her a few steps back. “Don’t you dare think about touching these rocks. Or moving them. Or destroying them!”

Confused and slightly offended, Fluttershy recovered from the light blow to her chest and said, “I wasn’t even going to touch them, Miss Overprotective!”

The stranger’s teeth started grinding. “I don’t need to take that from somebody who cries over petty little bunnies!”

With that, Fluttershy froze and stepped back. How does she know that? she wondered. Oh no—it's no wonder she looks so familiar! I have seen her before!

Twilight felt the same way—but such thoughts went interrupted when the peach pony landed a powerful smack to Fluttershy’s face. The force of such an attack—in addition to the weight of her horseshoe—proved nearly enough to knock out one of Fluttershy’s teeth. The pegasus went dizzy as she fell face-first to the grassy ground, blood gushing from her nose and dripping down on the grass.

The six Equestrians watched in horror as their friend seemed to lose consciousness. Of the lot of them, Twilight seemed most distraught—for all she could seem to do was stare back, her jaw hanging, before she snapped out of her trance and cried, “Fluttershy!” The unicorn rushed up to her fallen friend as fast as she could, nearly knocking Spike off her back as she went.

Horrific as the nearby stones were, nothing compared to the sight she had just witnessed. Never before did she think anybody would have had the nerve to beat one of the kindest ponies to ever walk the face of Equestria. The aura brought about by the Teridax stones were now insignificant to the unicorn—who now braced through and came down to Fluttershy’s side.

Twilight could hear a little moan escaping Fluttershy as she rolled the pegasus over on her back. “Are you okay?” asked Twilight, ignoring the peach pony's presence entirely. She felt like asking more, but the disfigured look on Fluttershy’s face kept any words from coming out. Already the pegasus’ upper lip began to puff up. Her once purely-pink hair now had spots of red splashed upon it. Her nose was clearly broken; Twilight could tell by the awkward angle at which it now hung.

Now belly-side up, Fluttershy tried her hardest to look into Twilight’s eyes when she rasped, “I’m so sorry…so sorry, Twilight!” In her pain, Fluttershy winced and seemed to bite the inside of her cheek. “Twilight,” she began. “I know who she is!”

You do? thought Twilight, as if relieved by such news. “Who is it?” she asked.

“It’s the waitress mare!”

The waitress mare—from when we were getting lunch the other day? The thought made her ears twitch. “Vineyin?” Upon realizing this, Twilight lifted her gaze from Flutershy’s fatigued stare and took a look up toward the peach pony. “Well, Vineyin—it looks like you weren’t kidding when you said you like to travel from place to place.” She raised her voice when she continued, “But it seems you forgot to tell me that you like to beat other ponies on occasion, huh?”

Vineyin bit her lip as those words stung her ears. “You’re right, Twilight,” she said. “I wasn’t kidding; I was lying.” She took a deep breath and prepared herself for the long explanation to come. “You see, little pony, I was only at Ponyville so I could retrieve my lost Teridax stone.” As she said this, Vineyin pulled out her silver amulet from one of her velvet locks, revealing the shining ruby now encrusted within it.

“Of all things to find near this—pitiful friend of yours,” she pointed a hoof toward Fluttershy, “I saw one of Teridax’s stones, waited for the right moment, and snatched him up. Once that was taken care of, I scratched out a bit of the stone and put it in my amulet. Then I took the rest of the rock right back to put him here—where he belongs.”

Some of the ponies in their group of six gasped; Spike scooted a bit away from Vineyin—but Fluttershy remained the only one unafraid of the sly pony’s words. “So it was you!” she hissed, struggling to rise back up on her hooves. “You’re the one who took Teridax from me!” As soon as those words left her tongue, Fluttershy wobbled back on her hooves and proceeded to tackle Vineyin to the ground, catching all the standingby Equestrians by surprise.

Is she really? wondered Twilight, her jaw dropping once more. She’d seen Fluttershy bring an angry bear down, but never one of her own kind! Then again, Vineyin really had it coming.

Vineyin’s shoulders stapled themselves to the ground as the crippled pegasus planted herself on top of them. “Who in Equestria do you think you are?” screamed Fluttershy. “On what planet did you think it would be okay for you to come out of nowhere and steal the only person who’s ever shown me any sympathy or kindness?”

Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash each exchanged offended, almost disgusted glances amongst one another.

Fluttershy’s puffy lip curled back in a snarl as she pushed her nose against Vineyin’s and asked, “Did you think it was wise to take Teridax away? Did you think it was clever?!”

From what seemed out of nowhere, Vineyin delivered a kick to Fluttershy’s flank, forcing her to leap, letting Vineyin free. Once free, the peach pony got behind Fluttershy and butted her head against her back. A scream escaped Fluttershy as she collapsed to the ground in defeat.

“Pitiful,” mumbled Vineyin as she brushed the dust off her legs.

Fluttershy looked up toward her friends—seeing them stand idly by as she struggled to stand back up. Her voice no louder than a moan, she fought back tears and demanded, “Help me; don’t just s-stand there! Help!”

Yet even as the others realized how much their friend needed help, neither of them had the nerve to come up and fight Vineyin. The only pony daring enough to take the first step forward was Rainbow Dash—who still could manage no further than that one step.

“T-Teridax,” murmured Fluttershy. “H-help me!”

At that, Vineyin took a step back and snorted, “What? You think my Makuta is going to help someone like you?”

Those words proved nearly enough to make Fluttershy lurch right back up on her feet—but with her strength already so diminished, she could manage no more than to angle her head toward Vineyin. “D-don’t say that—of course he’ll help me!”

Vineyin wrinkled her nose. “You pony freaks make me sick to my stomach! I’m the one who saved Makuta’s heartstone and took the final blow for him during the Great Rescue. Let’s compare that to what you did: steal one of his stones. I deserve more respect from him than anyone living in the universe—especially someone of the likes of you!”

The familiar green-blue gradient flashed in her eyes as she smashed her hoof against the rocky ground. As her hoof came crashing down, a tint of red enveloped the black rocks behind her.

Vineyin closed her eyes and inhaled—then opened her eyes back up and revealed two shining cyan lights. “Spirit of Darkness,” she began. “Hear me, O Spirit of Darkness. It is I—your servant, Roodaka—and I have returned to you, dear Master. I have retrieved the final rock and set it here in Kumo, as you requested.

“O Makuta Teridax, the sister plane is yours for the taking. When Spherus Magna falls under your control, this place they call Equestria will be ours! The Brotherhood is eternally grateful for your promise to expand our territory.”

A low rumble shook the ground beneath the ponies’ hooves; it was enough to knock Rarity into the dirt and make Spike fall off Twilight’s back. Darkness clouded the sun in what seemed a matter of seconds, bringing with it barely audible words: There is but one task I still require of you, servant.

At that, the peach pony turned around to face the red stones. “What is your request, Spirit of Darkness?”

Everyone within the vicinity listened as the ghastly voice commanded, Get the Elements of Harmony out of our path.

A grin turned up the corners of the pony’s mouth. “As you wish.”

At that point, Roodaka closed her blue eyes and let the darkness take over. Had she the strength, Fluttershy would have picked herself up and stepped away—but instead could only lie down as Roodaka underwent a horrifying metamorphosis.

The creature of darkness stood up on her rear hooves and let the shadow of Makuta take over her entire being. One by one, patches of her skin seemed to peel away and fall to the ground—a sight that sickened the watching ponies to their stomachs. The silvery ruby amulet seemed to tear through Roodaka’s skin and attach itself to what looked like a metal socket within metallic skin. Roodaka’s rear hooves were replaced by sharp, black feet and her front hooves were replaced with silver claws. Her once peach-colored skin was replaced by black and silver patches of metal—all of which led up to forming a creature beyond the ponies’ imaginations.

With that change came a beautiful, yet terrifying servant of the darkness. From what seemed out of nowhere, she spawned a staff in her left hand—but her right hand looked as if it had been cut off. It proved almost enough to make a cocky one like Rainbow Dash chuckle, as if to say, What could a one-handed monster do to us?

Fluttershy began trembling as she witnessed this alien being. I—I tried to fight that? she wondered. Oh, Teridax—help me!

Glimpsing toward the jittery pony, Roodaka sneered, “He’s not going to help you now, little pony.”

Her ears struck with vile lies, Fluttershy lied back in anticipation, waiting for Roodaka’s next blow to come. Just as expected, Roodaka shoved the pony off the rocky base with her foot. “Makuta is only loyal to those who swear to serve and protect him.”

“Fluttershy!” cried Twilight. Ignorant of Roodaka’s true intent, she rushed toward her injured friend one more time. “Fluttershy?” The last few blows dealt upon her body left the pony merely injured, but now there was no doubt about it: Twilight now stood in the presence of an unconscious pegasus.

A deep freeze took over Twilight’s body as Fluttershy’s breathing slowed. Even lying here now, she could visualize Fluttershy drifting away to fly above Celestia herself, floating upward until her soul got itself trapped within Roodaka’s clutches.

“You!” hissed Twilight. “Who do you think you are?!” Like Fluttershy before her, she found herself standing up to the monster.

A smile appeared upon the feisty creature’s face.

“I am only what the Brotherhood makes of me,” she responded. “Only what they say is what I shall ever be. All I have to do is follow Makuta’s orders, gain his respect—and maybe have a little fun somewhere in between.” Her smile grew even broader; Twilight swore she could see the metallic teeth lined within this creature’s mouth. “And now, little pony—well, now is the perfect time to have some fun!”

Right on cue, Roodaka’s stub of a right arm spawned an end to it: the likes of which came in the form of a hand made entirely out of red clouds. Hundreds of storms enveloped the arm, thundering and flashing before the Equestrians’ eyes. All these little storms spiraled up to Roodaka’s shoulder, down to her clawed fingertips.

To an ignorant bystander, it seemed as if no one, not even this foreign animal, could hope to control a gas-crafted hand—but Roodaka proved otherwise as she reached out and snatched Spike from under Twilight’s nose. Quicker than anyone could predict, the artificial claw extended itself toward the dragon and picked him off his feet. Consequently, Roodaka now had a hold of Twilight’s childhood friend.

Realizing how quickly it had all happened, Twilight jerked her head toward Spike and gasped. It seemed he was trying to squirm his way out of Roodaka’s grip, but could manage very little, if anything at all. “Twilight!” the dragon shrieked, only seconds left to free himself. “Help me!” But his cries for help, no matter how agonizing to Roodaka's ears, did nothing to free him.

“Master of Shadow,” Roodaka chanted. “See to it that this obstacle never again sees the light of day.” And with that, a portal appeared within the ground behind Roodaka. She grinned once more before flinging Spike down into the portal, leaving him screaming and flapping his undeveloped wings to no effect.

“Spike!” cried Twilight. “No—no, Spike!” Tears began leaking from her eyes. That little egg she’d hatched herself—all those years ago in Magic Kindergarten—now would become little more than a prisoner to the realm beyond Roodaka's portal. One day he was her best friend in the world; the next, he was nothing but a ploy in Roodaka's game. Alone, simply thinking about it made Twilight scream.

She could recall many times when others would push her over the edge—just to get a reaction out of her, yet no matter what they did to her, she felt no need to give them the response they deserved. Now she wasn’t the one being attacked; the closest person, her dearest relative’s very fate now rested in the audacious servant's hands.

“You monster!” she yelled, blinded by her own tears. “You—” But before she could let loose those final words, Roodaka grabbed her, as well.

Within a matter of seconds, everypony in the area had been plunged into the portal below—down into the uncharted abyss. It all happened too quickly for either of them to retaliate, to recall, to react. But as for what lied below: nopony knew.

Chapter 4: The Silver Sea

Wherefrom this plane of existence originated, nopony could say for sure. What rested within the shining silver sea—where it came from or what kind of water it held—nopony knew. What sort of horrors could possibly exist beyond Roodaka’s portal?

To think of everything the Equestrians had done for their home, of everything they had put themselves through to ensure the sanctity of Equestria, a damnation such as this was the last thing either of them had expected. Twilight could imagine the bones of many long-deceased Equestrians pulling her down to the sea, plundering her soul and forcing her to become a plunderer herself. For all she and her friends had done back home, this new world could not care less.

And even Celestia herself could not help them now.

Like seven individual asteroids, the Equestrians blazed and plummeted and twirled toward this plane of oblivion. Having been struck so soon by the notion of failure, that their journey had come to an end before it could even begin, Roodaka’s evicted enemies could hardly even believe what had just happened to them.

Could anybody truly warp somebody or something through a dimensional portal? Was the Teridax stone just one piece of a giant puzzle? Would they ever turn back home—as if nothing from the past week had ever even happened?

"Just try and escape!" said Roodaka with a sneer, her staff pointed toward the Equestrians. From up so high, from the perspective of an ignorant mind, the pole in her hand was nothing more than a stick. To Roodaka, an enemy's lack of awareness only added to the convenience of any situation.

For a moment she waited for one of the ponies to come charging back up. For a moment only the sound of fading screams surrounded her—but within seconds, the element of Loyalty sought past the danger of her current situation and regained control, tearing a hole through the net of freefall tangling and pulling her friends downward.

You’re a brave one, thought Roodaka. Her signature smile came crawling back to her face. You’re also ignorant. I like that. The power of a cannon rested in the palm of Roodaka's hand, yet the ensuing pegasus knew nothing of the ensuing blast.

Rainbow Dash grunted. "You're not going to take us down that easily!" Without hesitation, she began flapping her wings to their greatest extent, aiming to persuade Roodaka to get her and her friends out of this uncharted world.

Roodaka laughed a most innocent chuckle. "Nobody escapes Makuta's grasp."

"You're gonna eat those words!" said Rainbow Dash, clenching her teeth as she neared the speed of sound.

The longer she flew, the closer she came to performing a sonic rainboom—and the closer she came to reaching her opponent. As she continued accelerating, Dash noticed a purple light building up in the center of Roodaka's clawed staff. Little did she realize, Roodaka had spent those few seconds prior charging it up, prepared to defend herself and Makuta’s cause.

Though her subconscious fear dared to take over, Rainbow Dash continued to accelerate. If she made it in time, she could easily avoid Roodaka's impending attack; if not, all hope would be lost. Dash didn't know what that staff was charging up—and she was not about to find out.

Her hoof came inches from meeting Roodaka’s face. Any second longer and surely a sonic rainboom would result. Rainbow Dash could only imagine the pain of being punched by somebody moving at the speed of sound.

Yet she couldn’t help but wonder and imagine the pain of being attacked by the violet surge of energy brewing in Roodaka’s staff. Inner and outer pressure told her to cease flight, but she persevered.

The pegasus could just barely feel tears streaming from the corners of her eyes.

Roodaka could feel her staff getting hotter and hotter as time went on.

A deafening blast unlike anything the inhabitants of this land had ever heard stung Rainbow Dash’s ears and spread faster than any bird could dare fly. A colored flash spread out along the clouds from that one opening between Equestria and the uncharted territory. Time seemed to come to a standstill when the faces of light and darkness came head-to-head.

In an instant, the forces of speed and gravity came rushing back to reality, as did Rainbow Dash's senses: she had failed. The blast from Roodaka's cannon redirected the pony's momentum with nothing more than a shot to her heart. The last thing Rainbow Dash saw before falling back down was a great coat of violet—a coat which kept her from coming anywhere near Roodaka ever again.

Yet while Rainbow Dash held not the slightest hint of consciousness in her being, Fluttershy—awakened by her sudden contact with the ocean—found herself already drowning in this viscous foreign liquid. She attempted to swim her way back up to the surface of the water, but only found herself being dragged by the invisible palms of fate. She saw no sign of reemergence—only evidence that she would continue sinking deeper and deeper as time ticked life into terrific tales for the next generation of Harmony.

Help me, Teridax, she begged. I need you.

No words. No answers. No help.

Makuta could not help Fluttershy. Fluttershy could not even help herself. She wasn't sure if her friends could even help her.

The drowning pegasus turned her head in an attempt to find her friends floating about somewhere in this ocean, finding only silver silhouettes of what they once were. When she looked in their direction, when she cried out for them, she received nothing in response. No movement, no bubbles, no trace of life. No! But before she could do anything herself, before she could say whatever remained on her mind, one final breath escaped Fluttershy for good. Listless, she let her life go. The disabled pony, able to do no more, let herself descend lower and lower into the cold abyss.

Teridax...you will come down with me....

At that point, Rainbow Dash remained the only one of the ponies in the sky. Her sentience no more, she plummeted and plunged into the silver sea. Nowhere else to go, Rainbow Dash breathed one last sigh before splashing down into the silver waters below, bringing with her the dark energy cursed upon her by the servant of shadow.

This resulting impact triggered a cataclysmic burst of energy to spread across the silver ocean’s tides. Shocks of violet lightning spread around like a net, expanding across a mile-long radius within seconds. Anything and everything within the vicinity felt the impact of a single bullet.

“It is done, Master of Shadow.” Almost absentmindedly, Roodaka let a grin cross her face, knowing that the only people keeping her from victory would now drift in the sea of protodermis forever. Roodaka finished her job with a swift close of her portal—ensuring these so-called guardians would never step between herself and her duty ever again. Her destiny at Makuta’s side seemed all too close to exist in such a fragile reality.

With Rainbow Dash's impact on the silver sea, the dark energy from Roodaka’s staff sought whatever it could—including the nearby Equestrians. Had they still any pumping blood in their veins, the toxic mixture of dark energy and protodermis would have killed the ponies and Spike on impact. Only recently deceased, protodermis worked in a much different way.

Power unlike anything the Equestrians had seen in their living days found its way through the liquid, toward the fresh corpses from deep within the ocean quickly. Within milliseconds, the visitors to this land were stimulated—touched by millions of volts of power per second. At the same time, thin, solidifying layers of what was once the ocean’s water started surrounding the Equestrians. It was as if they were encapsulated in their own individual chrysalises—ready to emerge as butterflies in the midst of a forest fire.

As time ticked on and on, the Equestrian natives’ cocoons hardened more and more. Eventually their density proved enough to stop their sinking—enough for them to ascend from within the ocean’s stomach. The heavens themselves reached their arms down to those deceased. Damnation by sea could come another day—but not that day.

Seven gray capsules emerged from the ocean. The ocean, so lively and mysterious in nature, wanted no part of the dead. The subject of the dead remained a task for nearby island to handle.

Chapter 5: So Close, yet So Far

“What does this scripture mean, though?”

“I think it has something to do with the Toa, but—”

“Don’t be ridiculous! We haven’t seen the Toa in a thousand years!”

“Don’t be ridiculous? I should be saying that to you, Iruni. The Great Spirit is still asleep even a thousand years after we last saw the last of our city's Toa migrate to Mata Nui.”

The one named Iruni snorted. “I’ll agree to that—but can we also agree that we just may as well get used to the idea that the Great Spirit just may be asleep for as long as we’re alive?”

A unified gasp filled the forgotten musty chamber. Four of the six elderly, beast-like figures exchanged dismayed glances with one another as silence filled the air. The tension of the situation showed no sign of erosion as a red fifth character emerged from a corner of the dark chamber, ready to tell the sixth elder off.

His voice surprisingly strong for someone of his age, the figure said, “Iruni, that is inexcusable for us to do! You know as well as I do that we all have a duty to the Great Spirit—and no matter how long it may take for us to meet our goal, we will never back down.” His frustration slightly alleviated, the red creature lowered his voice and concluded, “We never backed down as Toa; we won’t back down now.”

At that, Iruni blinked a few times, scratched his wrist, and hung his head. The green elder didn’t know what to say other than, “Sorry, Norik.”

Yet as much as Norik wanted to reply with something along the lines of, “It’s okay, Iruni,” he knew that—as the leader of the Rahaga in these rough times—he needn’t offer anything but tough love to his partners. He knew this well—even now as he stepped up to the others and examined the stone tablets and slips of paper on the table. He served as the last piece of the group circle—the likes of which observed and examined its recently-acquired scriptures. The few freshly-written papers—surely translations of the stone tablets—stuck out in Norik's eyes.

All the other Rahaga, even Iruni, held their tongues as Norik began reading what seemed to him a fine collection of riddles—one of which he read out loud. “Though otherworldly and mysterious, they come from protodermis. When all seems fair to us and horrific for them, another’s time shall come.” At that, he grunted and stood in thought for a good while.

Norik’s normally cooperative teammates remained silent as their leader lost himself within his own thoughts. “I take it this is what you all were just talking about a moment ago?”

In response, the other Rahaga nodded their heads. The blue female in the bunch took a step toward him and pointed toward another tablet—one with almost very little empty space left for any extra words. “As you can imagine, it took me a good amount of time to translate the tablet over to paper—but once I did, it still seems like a whole new language altogether!”

A few in the back chuckled.

The blue one continued, “Just—now I’m wondering what the tablet means when it says ‘all is fair to us?’ Could that mean how we are now?”

“Perhaps, Gaaki,” replied Norik. “I would argue that our situation has been fair ever since we found this chamber and exterminated the rahi living within it. Since then, our studies have been much safer than ever before; I’d say we’re safer now than we were with the last group of Toa that we teamed up with.” He paused and looked down at the cluttered table once more. “I’m more concerned about what it means when it says ‘another’s time shall come.’”

The Rahaga of Earth croaked, “Another Toa team’s approach, perhaps?”

Despite still being unsure of which direction to direct himself, Norik nodded his head. “That certainly seems the most logical thing to think. It’d be much easier to say for sure if we could find out what happened to the Toa Metru.” The bestial elder sighed and rubbed his temples at the sheer thought of trying to piece this puzzle together when so few pieces sat within his reach.

Each of the Rahaga seemed to lose themselves within their own individual thoughts for the following moment. Some of them considered waiting for a call to action whilst others wondered how they would bide their time, how they would greet a new wave of warriors, assuming Norik’s predictions were true.

Then, a clap of thunder yanked the lot of them out of their thoughts.

Iruni turned his head toward the source of the noise and commented: "Well, the Great Spirit sure doesn't seem too keen on us doing something at the moment."

Suppressing the urge to moan at his comment, Norik replied, "I suppose not, Iruni." When another round of thunder sounded, Norik sighed, "I guess I'll go ahead and see how bad it is." And with that, he began making his way out of the room.

Once he came up to a flight of stairs, Norik lifted himself off the floor with the helicopter propeller clipped to his back. Up he went—and the higher up he went, the louder the storm became. Before long he made out the sound of heavy raindrops pounding against the ceiling of the Rahaga’s study. Not much longer still, he lifted open the trapdoor at the top of the upward-spiraling staircase and introduced himself to an uncomfortably strong blast of freezing raindrops; for a moment he couldn't even tell if it was rain or hail.

The elderly half-beast covered his face whilst attempting to make out his surroundings. Taking a look to his left, he witnessed the sea of protodermis rocking and waving back and forth with the wind. The waves seemed to grow larger and larger with time—and the longer Norik peered down at this ocean, the stronger the waves’ impact.

“By Mata Nui,” he muttered, wiping his damp face with his forearm. “I feel sorry for anybody who—” At that moment, Norik was cut off by another great crash of protodermis—which was quickly followed by another clap of thunder. A flash of lightning temporarily blinded him as he struggled to look down at the tides.

All at once, the bright flashes of light combined with the darkness of night made it seem almost impossible for Norik to grasp the details of the storm. With every flashing light, he could see detail by detail of the splashing protodermis, the rising waves, the cavalcade of liquid protodermis moving back and forth against the shore.

Then he noticed them: six foreign creatures encased in rock washing up after what just might have been days at sea. Once ashore, they seemed to lock to the land sea, unwilling to return to the sea of protodermis. Had the stones permanently rooted themselves to the ground?

New Toa? thought Norik with a gasp. Are the scriptures' prophecies being fulfilled so soon? Just by looking at the stones, he felt a sense of familiarity—as he had received a smaller, yet similar sort of stone shortly before becoming a Toa. That in mind, the Rahaga of Fire immediately closed the hatch and rushed his way down the staircase.

Before his feet could even touch the bottom stair, Norik was already shouting, "Quickly—everyone! We have to help them!"

The others turned their heads as Norik flew from the staircase entrance. No one asked questions; just listened as their leader commanded, "Help them, quick!"

And with that, Norik went rushing out the front door of their establishment. The others followed suit, struggling as the full force violent wind came along with their first step outside.

Her voice raising just barely above the sounds of the wind, raindrops, and thunder, Gaaki turned toward Norik and asked, "Where are these people you were talking about?"

Norik took no moment to hesitate as he deployed his propeller and replied, "Follow me! They just may be the answer we've been looking for." The Rahaga of Fire then flew off toward the waters, his partners following suit, albeit with a bit more caution than their leader. Norik made sure to stay high up so the protodermis wouldn't crash down and swallow him whole.

Like the Great Spirit's once ever-present waking gaze, six silver crystalline characters glistened before Norik's eyes. Every single one of them slept peacefully even as the storm grew ever-stronger with passing time.

Now as Norik hovered by these stones, he couldn't help but feel as though feel the gems could survive the storm on their own. He could tell just by touching one of them, feeling the unmistakable cold touch of metallic protodermis—the likes of which the Toa of generations past used to seal Makuta. Perhaps the crystals would live through tonight's strange encounter, keeping alive the sleeping Toa inside. However, by the time such a thought popped into his head, Norik sensed the others coming behind him, their propeller whirs quiet, yet detectable against the sounds of the storm.

"I see them!" cried Iruni, noticing the strange creatures sleeping within the crystal protodermis. They were unlike any Toa he had ever seen—alien yet rahi-like in appearance: surely the result of Visorak infection.

After examining the Toa from afar, Iruni crashed back to reality and stammered, "N-Norik—are you sure we can get these things inside?"

Chapter 6: Fresh Life

Three hours passed in the span of two days—or so it had felt to Norik, who had spent the whole night awake, waiting for the storm to blow over. Three hours he spent listening to his mental clock tick and tock, twiddling his thumbs back and forth, making himself appear anxious and—above all-vulnerable. A few times he caught himself peeking out the nearest door, only to find a blast of freezing protodermis splash against his face. When will the storm end?

Not too far away, Gaaki had trouble translating some of the stone slabs upon her desk—not because of translation difficulty, but because of what she called translators’ block. Thoughts of new Toa filled her with excitement, anxiety, and confusion; neither emotion helped in overcoming her supposed block.

Having watched her from behind many times during their days as Toa, Norik felt a hint of nostalgia as he sat back and listened to her mumble translations under her breath. He hardly managed to make out her words, yet he found it a pleasant experience to truly listen to her murmuring voice for the first time in what felt like a thousand years.

In meeting the Toa Hordika, the Rahaga felt as if they had breathed life to the next wave of Toa—as if the Hordika were their children. In meeting these alien creatures, they will have given life to their illegitimate grandchildren.

At any moment we will find out who they are, thought Norik. And when we finally do find out about them, Mata Nui give us strength!

From the trapdoor up above, a loud squeak echoed down to Norik and Gaaki, making the two of them flinch. “Norik!” a voice called; it sounded like Kualus. “Norik—Gaaki—everyone! It’s over!”

Norik flinched. Is it really?

Kualus shouted once more: “It’s over; let’s go see them!”

Hardly even caring where she now was in her translation, Gaaki immediately set aside her stone slab and made her way to the door. Norik grabbed his staff and followed close behind, feeling as if he were the most eager out of all the Rahaga to see the new Toa.

Gaaki shoved the door open and witnessed the early sunrise just barely looming over the sea of protodermis. And to her left, the very same six crystals still rooted to the ground. They reminded her of Toa stones—but unlike Toa stones, only these were all the same shade of white. Simply witnessing them caused her to halt right where she was.

Norik, on the other hand, saw no reason to stop; instead he made his way around Gaaki. Oh, thank Mata Nui! he thought, a hopeful smile showing on his face as he moved forward. He zipped toward the stones in an instant, surprising all the other Rahaga with his previously untapped speed.

And there he stood, utterly shocked by the stones’ beauty. Their appearance was nothing short of majestic—as if the Great Spirit himself had crafted these crystals with his own hands millennia ago. The rays of the two rising suns of Metru Nui added a shade of light to the otherwise shadowed gems.

In seconds, the crystals almost completely absorbed the suns' gathered light, making it harder to get a glimpse of the figures residing within each one. Each one shined bright white into the Rahaga's eyes; a couple of them had to shield their eyes just to keep from being temporarily blinded.

"The Toa," whispered Norik, taking a small step forward. He didn’t seem to be too affected by the shining light. “After so long—”

But before Norik could finish, Iruni rushed in front of him, bringing a gust of wind as he ran. “Oh my—this is just—just—I can’t believe it!” The Rahaga of Air came inches from pressing his head against the front of one of the crystals, as if immune to the intense brightness. “It’s amazing how—oh!”

In the midst of speaking his thoughts, Iruni looked past the large stone before him and noticed a smaller one—this one not quite as blindingly bright as the others—sticking out of the ground. The thought of such a thing made him scratch his head. Turning his gaze toward the others, he grinned and asked, “Baby Toa?”

Almost willing to actually laugh at that joke, Norik took a step toward Iruni—finding the supposed “Baby Toa” stone sitting behind one of the larger ones. So as not to offend Pouks, Norik silently uttered, It’s likely a new Toa of Stone.

But even as the thought crossed his mind, he couldn’t help but notice a river of cracks drawn along the side of this crystal. Did it get hit on the way here? wondered Norik.

As seconds ticked on by, the crack grew larger and larger; eventually it became enough to make Iruni take a few paces back. Like an egg, the tiniest crystal of the bunch started quivering in its spot as awe-inspiring surges of energy seeped from its imperfections. Meanwhile, the relatively dim light from the crystal started growing brighter and brighter in heartbeats, soon rivalling the brightness of the other stones.

A chunk of the crystal’s top shattered like glass and whisked away like dust in the wind. Before the Rahaga’s eyes, another chunk dissipated—and then another! Mere milliseconds came to pass when, at last, the small crystal’s peak completely disappeared, letting free the creature inside. Those watching turned around and covered their faces, so as not to be hit in the face by shattering, flying debris.

A small storm seemed to rage for a good ten seconds before finally calming down. Once the littlest crystal of the bunch finally shattered, the surrounding stones all dramatically dimmed down, becoming more transparent than white. Certain that the crystal’s fit of energy had come to an end, the Rahaga uncovered their gazes and took a look at the results.

A foreign creature, tiny enough to fit in with the Matoran, lied flat on the ground. It looked very much like a Ta-Matoran, but peeping around the more armored parts of his body were what seemed to be random splotches of scaly mauve—the origin of which none of the Rahaga could even begin to explain.

Nothing but the sound of the pushing and pulling ocean waves filled the air when—much to the Rahaga’s surprise—the crimson-and-mauve creature began pushing himself off the ground. He must still have some energy left in him yet! commented Norik, surprised that any regular Matoran could have withheld so much strength after being battered about by the recent storm.

The standing-by Rahaga kept their distance as the supposed Ta-Matoran lifted himself up at last. His head spun as he first pick himself up on his feet, but after a while the Firespitter managed to take a glimpse of his surroundings. The stranger rubbed his eyes and blinked once, twice, then violently shook his head. “Oh, man,” he muttered to himself. “I must’ve had too much of Applejack’s cider again. It always gives me weird dreams.”

“N-now wait a minute there, little one!” exclaimed Norik.

The Ta-Matoran froze right where he was. “Y-you can talk?”

As much as Norik wanted to sympathize with the little person, he couldn’t help but chuckle at his reaction. “Well, I am a Rahaga, young one,” he began. “Not necessarily a rahi, not exactly a Turaga, but—I would say I’m about halfway in between.”

A pause came between the two as the Matoran shook his head once more. “I—uh—are you sure I’m not dreaming?”

Growing impatient, Pouks cut in: “Boy, the only one dreaming around here is the Great Spirit and your Toa friends over there!” As he said this, the Rahaga of stone pointed toward the unshattered crystals upon the beach.

The boy raised an eyebrow. “My…what friends?” The Matoran took a look over his shoulder, noticing the crystalline towers sitting in the ground. For a brief moment they looked like nothing more than rocks; with further inspection, his heart leapt into his throat. “Oh no!” Realizing the horrific truth, he rushed over to the nearest crystal—the likes of which imprisoned his nearest and dearest friend. It all came too quickly for him to grasp what was happening. A trembling hand came up to the unicorn’s silhouetted face, touching the glass which now encased it. “Twilight?”

The mysterious Matoran couldn’t believe, didn’t want to believe his eyes. More than anything, he dared to dream that all of this was nothing more than a hallucination. Over and over he told himself, It’s just the cider—it’s just the cider, but no matter how hard he clung to that belief, thoughts of dread simply wouldn’t leave his mind. Her crystal may as well have been a block of ice—for the longer he touched it, the colder his skin became.

The longer he stood there in agony, the more he started noticing how much he himself had changed since his last waking days in Equestria.

With a flinch, the Matoran pulled himself away from the crystal and took a look down at his hands. Whereas before his hand was purple and scaly, a bionic layer of bright red covered up large chunks of the foreigner’s natural purple skin. Skin and bones was he no more—instead now he was covered up in metallic skin, pins, and axels.

If this was the case for the newcoming Matoran, what of his imprisoned friends? “Twilight?” he wondered, barely managing to suppress his tears. “What is happening to me? What—what’s happened to you?”

His friend did not respond.

Feeling as though he might have already known the answer, Norik stepped forward and asked, “I assume this isn’t what you and your friends normally look like?”

A nearly powerless, “No,” escaped the young one’s lips as he pressed his back against the crystal, covering his eyes with his forearm so as not to let the Rahaga see his tears.

Without a second thought, Gaaki made her way to the Ta-Matoran’s side and set a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, little one,” she assured. “They’re crystalized just as you were a moment ago; give it some time and they’ll escape, too!”

At that, the Ta-Matoran regained some composure. “Really?” he asked, looking up to face the blue Rahaga. The sight of her animal-like appearance made him want to cringe, but he could not bring himself so low after this creature had just helped him to see a bright, glimmering speck of hope.

“Give it some time, boy,” said Kualus as he stepped forward. “They should be out by the time the sun reaches its peak. For now, though—let’s just wait.”

The Ta-Matoran sniffled and wiped his remaining tears away. “Alright.” And with that, the little one took a good look at his surroundings, taking note of the metallic stalagmites, the silver ocean, the two suns peaked over the horizon. Never in his homeland had he witnessed such alien features; had the black, bionic woman transported him and his friends to another land, another planet, another dimension?

“You look confused,” stated Norik. “I take it you’re not from here?”

“No,” replied the Matoran, shaking his head. “This place—I’ve never seen anything like it!”

With a chuckle, Norik nodded his head and explained: “You are on Metru Nui: city of legends—once a populous island with all sorts of Matoran like yourself.”

Matoran?

“There was once a time when the Great Spirit Mata Nui watched over us all with great care. In His waking days, we were the Great Spirit’s servants. The city of Metru Nui was prosperous until Makuta took a hold of everything the Matoran and Toa once held dear to their hearts. It was an event we now refer to as the Great Cataclysm."

The Great Cataclysm? Wait a moment—wasn't Twilight talking about that?

Norik continued. "The Matoran counted on their Toa to protect them, but even the Toa couldn't prevent the Great Cataclysm. All the Matoran were removed from this place by a group of six Toa. Since then, we, the Rahaga, have been searching for Turaga Dume."

Gaaki sighed and shook her head. "It took us a few months to get any idea where Makuta put Dume." She looked up at the small tower behind their Ta- Matoran visitor. "We just recently found that tower filled with documents and scriptures; one of them said you and your friends would come."

Surprised, the Ta-Matoran took a glimpse over at the small tower, then back at the Rahaga. Someone predicted we would come? But—it was just an accident, wasn’t it?

In the midst of the stranger’s thoughts, Norik broke from the topic and asked, “Do you mind telling us your name, little one? The scriptures never said anything about the names of you and your friends, I’m afraid. They’re strange like that.” He chuckled.

“Oh,” replied the Matoran. “My name’s Spike.”

“And I assume you’re from Mata Nui?” continued Norik. “That’s where all the Matoran are these days.”

Spike raised an eyebrow and replied, “N-no—I’ve never even been to Mata Nui. I’m actually from a town called Ponyville.”

At that, Iruni broke out in a fit of laughter. “Ha!” he wheezed. “Ponyville—next thing you know, there’ll be a Muakaville, Ramaville, and—”

“Iruni!” shouted the five other Rahaga.

At that, Iruni shrunk down and looked away from his comrades.

As much as Norik wanted to whack Iruni right on the top of his head, he merely grunted and glared at him before turning back to Spike. “I’m sorry about that, Spike. Iruni can be—well, a little rude at times.”

As much as Iruni wanted to object, he hadn’t the nerve to argue with his leader at this point in time.

Noticing the red and purple parts covering up Spike’s body, Bomonga commented, “That’s an interesting color pattern you’ve got there, Firespitter.”

The creature’s idiom caught Spike off-guard. “Firespitter?” he wondered. “I mean—I spit fire, but—”

Before Spike could even begin to ask where such a term came from, the surrounding crystals started rumbling against the ground, just as Spike’s had earlier—only this time, the crystals shook and cracked even moreso than Spike’s. Time almost came to complete halt as the capsules grew brighter and brighter, eventually forcing Spike and the Rahaga to cover their eyes. A part of him felt like running away, but the dragon boy knew not to retreat from his best friends.

Six explosions ignited before the audience of seven, sending forth chunks of glass-like shards toward those watching. A raid of fireworks shimmered from whence the crystals once stood. Surely this was not the work of Makuta.

Nor was it the work of the Great Spirit.

Chapter 7: Six Warriors, Six Elders, and One Villager

Even an entire handful of magical crystals could absorb only so much light before finally giving in to its limits—before finally bursting, letting lose the sleeping soldiers locked inside.

Inconceivable amounts of light stretched out from the crystals as they hatched and shattered like giant eggs. Spike shielded his eyes, half-expecting to get jabbed by the shards, but his metallic skin served as a naturally-grown armor for the dragon. One bright, shining moment flashed by as the seven standersby stood back in awe, some of them going as far as to face away.

And just as with Spike’s, the six capsules’ light died out within a matter of seconds. Little pieces of the rocks tumbled as the light subsided—and at last, the witnesses to the incredible phenomenon could see whom they would now meet. It took a small amount of courage for Spike to uncover his face and witness the metallic creatures—one of which he recognized as his best friend.

“Twilight!” Without hesitation, he rushed toward his friend—but found himself suddenly stopping right where he was. He should have seen it coming—he even wanted to smack himself for not seeing it coming, but Spike found himself at a loss for words.

“T-Twilight?” he repeated. For a minute, it seemed as though the dragon-boys eyes were locked on his best friend—that was, until he took a moment to look down at his hands, examining the red metal coating over them. She’s changed—just like me, he realized.

But unlike him, Twilight seemed as though she didn’t want to wake up. She didn’t seem to be breathing, either.

“Twilight?” he said one more time. “Are you—?”

He couldn’t bear to say the next word, yet it sat on the back of his tongue. He knew that the longer he thought of that inevitable word, the closer to the tip it traveled. Yet Spike wouldn’t take it!

The thoughts floating within his head drove the dragon to his knees—where he found himself coming face-to-face with a motionless Twilight. His once beloved friend lied there with closed eyes and a blue mask covering much of her face. In spite of how awkward it felt to see her friend with a mask on, he felt the mask suited her perfectly, wrapped and tightened around her face as if it were nothing more than a thin layer of metal. But even such familiarity could not alleviate Spike’s pain—for even now, she still failed to completely resemble what she once was in Equestria. Whereas he would have felt nostalgia for his unarmored friend, this creature was nothing more than a disfigured shell of what it once was.

Spike could already tell that the same held true for all his former friends. Each one of them now had armor covering their bodies almost completely. Green armor covered Pinkie Pie’s skin, brown armor protected Applejack, black armor contrasted with Rarity’s natural white pelt, white armor shined upon Fluttershy, and a sheet of aqua wrapped around Twilight. The ocean had made animals of the former Equestrians—as if to mock them for having ever stepped into this world.

Yet all the armor in the world couldn’t protect Twilight now. Any magic this world had to offer would not release her from the shackles of reality. A magical creature such as herself knew that when it came to the end, there was no turning back.

Nearly in tears, Spike came closer to the purple-and-blue figure and took a moment to breathe. He felt as though deep breaths would calm him down a little bit—but the teary vision, thumping heart, and lump in his throat overpowered his efforts.

At last, the boy broke down. Beyond his control, his legs started him on a short run toward Twilight—at the end of which he found himself grabbing the pony’s limp forelegs as she remained motionless.

Heartbroken, the standingby Rahaga exchanged concerned, yet sympathetic glances among one another. Not a single one of them knew what they could say to cheer the boy up—and some of them didn’t even want to try.

The Ta-Matoran dragon found himself in agony for only a little while longer. His weeping grew quieter and quitter until only little murmurs could be heard along with the sound of the crashing ocean—but just then, Spike felt as the mass beside him began shifting awake, prompting him to jump back and stand straight on his feet.

The Matoran’s eyes glowed and his jaw dropped. She’s still alive? he wondered, almost thinking himself stupid for believing she and the others had died upon being crystallized. The more he saw her rise, the truer this notion became. “Oh, thank Celestia. She is alive!”

Norik, who had stood close behind Spike for the longest time, took note of those words and replied, “But of course, Spike!” He set a hand on the dragon’s shoulder. “She was crystallized just like you were earlier. I see no reason why any of your Toa friends would be dead—or even injured, for that matter.”

In the time it took for those words to hit Spike’s ears, Twilight had almost completely picked herself up on her hooves—though, like Spike before her, she had trouble standing up straight for a good few seconds. She still had yet to find out where she was or what had even happened to her—but given a moment, her balance returned. With balance came eyesight—and with eyesight came what, to her, looked like nothing more than images of a masked reality.

Startled, the unicorn witnessed the seven creatures and shattered crystals before her and let out a gasp. What is going on? she wondered. The robotic animals before her were unlike anything she had ever seen—yet they stood still like statues, as if waiting for her to make the first move.

Maybe they won’t see me if I just don’t move! The stress of simply not running away weighed down on her chest, made sweat drops appear along the side of her face. Don’t move—don’t make a sound! As an extra precaution, Twilight limited her breathing—but within a matter of seconds, she found herself struggling just to hold her breath. Oh, come on! She felt like letting out an irritated grunt; why now—of all times—did she have trouble holding her breath for more than a few seconds?

Her red face, thumping heart, and puffing cheeks indicated nothing but anxiety to the Rahaga—who started taking baby steps toward her. Oh no! she realized. I messed up! Without a doubt, she would now become a meal for these animals—or so she thought.

Glancing down at her hoof, Twilight realized a little reptilian creature standing no more than an inch from her. Could she not see through the layer of blue metal covering her eyes, through her own masked perception, she would not have recognized the little red-and-purple boy at her hooves. Seeing this, Twilight was shocked to examine the unfamiliar within the familiar.

“S-Spike?!” she gasped. “What happened to you?” Just as she said that, she took a look down at her hoof and saw the blue metal covering it. “What happened to me?”

Thinking about and simply looking at her friend’s changes sent a shiver up Twilight’s spine. The longer she stared back at her mutated dragon friend, the shorter her breath became.

“Oh, hello—Toa of Water, hello!” said Gaaki, cautious as she moved forward. “It is an honor to—”

But before Gaaki could even begin to introduce herself, a loud scream sounded behind her. Quickly turning her head around, she realized it was Rarity who had let forth such an ear-shattering noise.

The closest to the ocean, the distressed mare rushed over and peered down at her own silver reflection, too distracted by her own physical changes to notice anyone or anything else. "Wh-what am I?" she sobbed, each of her four legs trembling with the weight of her black armor and her shock to being suddenly transformed into what she now was.

From well behind her friend, Applejack raised an eyebrow, but managed to hold her tongue. Looks like Rarity fell in a mud puddle. That’s gotta be a rough way to start the day. She shrugged. May as well help clean it off.

And with that, the pony took a step forward—but quickly realized she could not move her hooves. Frustrated, she looked down at her hooves; thick, heavy horseshoes appeared around her hooves and made her ask, "What in the hay?!"

A horrified squeal sounded from Fluttershy as she witnessed the Rahaga—and an even louder squeal went loose when she noticed how she herself had changed. "D-did Teridax—no, he couldn't have!" Yet even as those words sounded through the air, she couldn't stop her entire body from shaking.

Of them all, easily the most optimistic of her transformation was Pinkie—whose green armor flashed back into her eyes with a glossy shine. "Oh...wow!" Excitement began coursing through her veins. “I’ve never felt so—so bouncy before.” The thought in mind, the pink pony bent her legs, preparing for a jump. “I feel like I could just—”

But before she could even finish her sentence, Pinkie Pie let herself go flying upward. Had she springs tied to her hooves, this sort of feat wouldn’t have surprised anypony—yet she still continued climbing upward! Even for Pinkie, such a leap proved one of the highest jumps any of the other ponies had ever seen; they could hardly believe that an earth pony, of all races, managed to jump so high. Whenever the others expected her to come crashing back down, she only kept rising higher and higher.

“Uh—Twilight?” asked Spike. “Do you think she’s gonna come back?”

Even as he asked this, Pinkie continued to climb upward. Nervous, Twilight looked down at her dragon companion and put a smile on her face that read, I really, really hope so, buddy.

“Of course she’ll come back!” replied Iruni from out of the blue. “Haven’t you ever heard the story of the rahi that went too close to the suns?”

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a screaming Rarity. “S-six snake-headed animals? Oh no!” She could just barely cover he words when she murmured, “I think they’re trying to turn us to stone!” She cast a foreleg over her line of sight. “Don’t look them in the eye!”

Yet in the midst of her panic, Rarity managed to peak out from her under her hoof and look over at two out-of-place characters standing by the Rahaga’s side. It took her a moment, but she soon identified the two figures. “Twilight? Spike?”

Applejack—who had just found out that the black splotches on Rarity’s skin were, in fact, not splotches of mud—stepped by her side. “So I’m not the only one seeing all this, then?”

With a flinch, Rarity turned her head over her shoulder to face Applejack—and immediately recognized her through a cocoa-brown mask.

And it was at that moment when Rarity noticed something horribly wrong—something missing. “Um,” she began, biting her lip. “Applejack, dear—would you mind turning ninety degrees for me, please?”

Normally Applejack would have just rolled her eyes and carried on, but instead now she did as Rarity said.

Rarity gasped. I knew it! She could easily see a huge omission in what made Applejack so special. Just to be sure her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her, the unicorn turned her head to get a good look at her flank—and found it bare, covered only in black armor.

“Apple—jack?” murmured Rarity. “Our cutie marks are gone!”

But along came Bomonga, completely ignoring Rarity’s aforementioned attitude toward the Rahaga as snake-like beasts. His weak voice barely hit her ears when he answered, “Sometimes I wish we did not lose things—that I had not lost my Toa powers and that the Great Spirit had not lost his consciousness; but after a while, you learn to accept things as they are.”

Unfortunately for him, his words did nothing but draw Rarity’s blood to a boil, whip her heart up into a beating frenzy. She felt like twisting the elder’s neck as she stepped up to him, pressing her nose up against his, and shouted, “I am not going to accept things in the absolutely horrid way they are!”

“It’s not that bad, Toa of Earth,” assured Norik. “You must understand both the negatives and the positives before coming to a conclusion.”

“Don’t call me that!” snapped Rarity, having tuned out halfway through Norik’s explanation. “I am not a mower of earth! I wouldn’t dream of touching dirt with my bare hooves!”

Bomonga chuckled. “On the contrary, your—I think you called them bare hooves—are covered up in armor. You needn’t worry about them getting dirty.”

One more time, Rarity screamed—this time in sheer frustration. “A-armor? I’m not a—! You can’t—!” But before she could finish either of her questions, the Toa of Earth fainted, falling backwards before making a great thud against the sandy ground behind her.

“Oh great,” moaned Twilight. “First Pinkie launches herself into space, then Rarity faints—what’s next?”

Twilight gasped. Wait a minute, she realized. Pinkie launched herself into the sky, Rarity fainted, Spike is here with me, Applejack is right in front of me, Fluttershy just got up, and Rainbow Dash—

Just as she said that, she realized Rainbow Dash had not awoken from sleep. “Rainbow Dash?” she called, trying to look for her friend—but to no avail. She didn’t seem to be anywhere.

But then she noticed a large rock in the ground—one still completely intact. Twilight gasped once more and rushed toward the remaining gemstone.

Chapter 8: Rainbow Comatose

If it wasn’t Twilight’s panic-stricken voice that surprised Applejack, it was the lack of color on Rainbow Dash—who still remained frozen in her own personal gem. For once, the brave horse defined herself through silence—for in her sleep, she made not a single sound. Dumbstruck, Applejack made her way up by Twilight’s side. Fluttershy followed suit.

“What’s going on?” asked Twilight, taking a look down at Spike. “Were we also crystallized like this?”

Frozen as she was, the once fierce pegasus found herself encased not in white crystal, but in something entirely foreign. Fluttershy, Twilight, and Applejack stood back in awe at such a sight; even the Rahaga didn’t know what to make of it. Brilliant white crystals—and nothing else—surrounded Twilight and the others; for reasons unknown, a small layer of glowing dark energy shelled over Rainbow Dash’s skin, giving her the likeness of one of Chrystalis’ minions. The Equestrians half-expected her to suddenly wake up and stare back at them with two red eyes.

Before Spike could open his mouth to speak, Fluttershy cut in. “It feels—so familiar,” whispered Fluttershy, who pressed her nose against the surface of the quartz. “So familiar—and so bad…but I want to know it better. Like it’s a new animal friend.”

With that, Applejack and Twilight exchanged a confused glance. “Uh…” began Twilight. “What feels familiar, exactly?”

Neither Applejack nor Twilight could seem to solve the riddle, but Spike immediately understood the meaning behind Fluttershy’s words. He looked close at Rainbow Dash’s prison cell and noticed something most peculiar about the way this dark energy reacted to its surroundings. It acted like a rodent—afraid of its surrounding foes, yet knowledgeable of the task it needed to take.

A few steps closer, Spike took a good look at the crystal. It’s moving, he noticed. This weird energy is just going back and forth. The way it pulsed in and out from Rainbow Dash herself—who rested in the core of the crystal—reminded him of a beating heart. With every pulse it made, the stronger it became. As time went on, any remaining white in the crystal was replaced by a dark shade of indigo.

Anything could happen at any moment.

Spike thought he could feel his own heart jump as he stepped in front of Applejack and Twilight. “Guys, stay back!” he exclaimed. “I don’t know what’s up with that energy around Rainbow Dash—but I know you guys didn’t have it!”

Applejack and Twilight asked in unison, “We didn’t?”

At that point, the Rahaga began to grow concerned, feeling foolish for not taking the situation more seriously. “I think you should listen to the fire-spitter,” commented Kualus. “I could be wrong, but I’m sure that crystal wasn’t like that before—”

“It’s the Makuta!” interrupted Norik. “Stay far away from it! If you touch it, you may become infected.”

His words seemed to offend Fluttershy, who pulled back, snapped her head in his direction, and hissed, “Infected?”

“Yes,” Norik insisted, not seeming to care that he had just upset the Toa of Ice. “If the Makuta gets anywhere on your body, it could very well paralyze you—then corrupt your mind and infect you into becoming a servant for the Brotherhood of Makuta.”

As he said this, the darkness of Makuta escaped the heart of Rainbow Dawn’s crystal. Time went on and dark energy pumped, circulated, infected everything it could. Any visible trace of light left in the tower disappeared before the watchers' eyes.

Dead silence followed.

Norik sighed before continuing, “It may very well be too late for your friend.”

“What?!” cried the four present Equestrians, who looked back and forth from the Rahaga to the infected pegasus. Was it really true?

While the ponies felt, hoped, prayed for their friend’s life, Spike felt almost certain that the Rainbow Dash they had once known and loved back in Equestria was no more. The dark energy surrounding her body took away all that she once was, stripped her of any loyalty. In his mind, there was no doubt that the darkness had turned her from the element of Loyalty to the element of Treachery.

Yet as much as he wished to weep, he could not bring himself to do so. Even as he took note of the horrified, hopeless look upon the standersby’s faces, he could let no further tears out—as if Twilight had already taken them all. He could only stand back and watch in silence as the Makuta ate away at the pegasus’ body piece by piece.

“How could this happen?” whispered Norik to himself. “A team of five—and without a Toa of Fire—? What can they do when one of them is
gone, infected by the Makuta? How could this happen?”

“Norik,” murmured Gaaki, a hand on her partner’s shoulder. “I—I don’t know what to say other than…Toa come and go. Over the years we’ve lost Toa of Magnetism, Toa of Electricity—many uncountable Toa. But this—I honestly wish I could tell you how I feel, but I just can’t.”

The Equestrians honored the fallen warrior with a moment of silence. The sleeping spirit silently thanked all of them—all of them except for Fluttershy—who had resumed peering into and pressing her nose against the crystal. Ever the quiet one, she soon found herself with an unanswerable number of questions. Is Teridax the Makuta who did this? she wondered. Is he really responsible for everything that has happened to us ever since I found him? Even without her stone, she Fluttershy knew how she could still communicate with the dark spirit—but would she now, in such a hopeless state?

Yet as Twilight witnessed Fluttershy still obsessing over the stone, a strange, familiar noise tickled the back of her ear. The pony’s ears twitched in response to such a sound; she turned her gaze toward the sky—and found a green-and-pink figure diving down through the air.

“Wheeee!” the figure cried.

A few seconds later, everyone within the vicinity heard as its cries grew louder and louder.

Is that Pinkie? After having not seen the Earth pony in what felt like an hour, Twilight had begun doubting she would ever even come back. Yet here she came, spiraling as she plummeted toward Earth.

Under normal circumstances, a sight such as this would have terrified her. She grew paranoid even when Spike skipped steps on the way down the staircase in her library; to imagine Pinkie fall from an almost infinite height was unthinkable for her. However, Pinkie’s altitude was achieved by nothing more than a hop, a skip, and a jump. Whether or not Pinkie intended such a feat was beyond Twilight’s understanding, but the fact that she’d even accomplished something so extraordinary at all convinced her that Pinkie would have no trouble landing back down to the ground on so little as a single hoof. It all seemed so silly; and yet, it seemed all to logical—for a pony like Pinkie Pie, anyway.

Down she fell like a nuclear missile about to hit its target. Of course, it was nowhere near the velocity of a sonic rainboom, but the Equestrians could tell that the Rahaga had never seen anything travel quite like this.

Green horseshoes hit the tip-top of the miniature crystal tower with a great twang! The mere sound made Fluttershy gasp, nearly tripping backward as she stepped a good number of feet away.

Her hooves vibrating with the impact, the pink-and-green pony doubled over in a flip and landed upon solid ground on her rear hooves. “Ta-da!”

Of the lot of them, Iruni was the only Rahaga to immediately respond—and of all ways, by clapping. But within seconds, he ceased his applause, leaving a wave of embarrassment to fall over him.

Just as well, the bright smile on Pinkie’s face disappeared as she turned her gaze to her left. Only then did she realize the damage she had done. “Uh…” she began, her wide eyes locked on the crystal. “Uh-oh.”

A horrible, deformed crack ran from the top of the tower to its ruptured base. Meanwhile, Rarity awoke from her sleep and yawned, “Oh dear—what on Equestria just happened?” The unicorn shook some of the dirt out of her pelt and sneezed. Rubbing her nose, she looked over her shoulder, caught a glimpse of the crystal, and gasped. “Is that—?” The question barely even managed to escape her jaws when a violet light shot out from the crystal’s apparent imperfections.

Just one more step backward and Twilight found herself tripping over one of the crystal shards. Oh no! Unsure of what to do, she covered her eyes with shaking hooves. As time went on, she could sense the light growing brighter and brighter. Is it going to blow up? She hoped to Equestria that the apparently impending blast wouldn’t hurt, much less kill her. The vibrating under her back suggested nothing but death to come; she hoped to Celestia that her blue armor would protect her.

But instead of a blast, Twilight heard a minute pop from within the tower’s core. Hearing this, she uncovered her face. Was that it? she thought.

Twilight picked herself back up, her concerns nearly laid to rest. It wasn’t until taking a look up when she realized the crystal had let loose what looked to be a stream of liquid.

At first the dark energy seemed to have died out—but Twilight was quickly proven wrong. In an instant, the energy went from covering just Rainbow Dash to spreading out across the ground, daring to drown the trove of Equestrians now standing before them, helpless and confused as they were.

Already on their toes, the Rahaga all prepared to evacuate from the impending darkness. “Quick, everyone!” commanded Norik. “Let’s grab the Toa and get back to the tower!” But before they could even prepare for liftoff, the forgotten implosion woke up after an overdue hibernation. Once more, everybody present upon the beach turned their unprotected gazes from the violent scene before them.

In ordinary conditions, Twilight would have been furious to be wrong about the impending blast suddenly leaving her plane of existence—yet here it came, in nearly full-force. Like Spike before her, she found herself surprised to realize that the shards had caused minimal damage to her skin.

The aftermath of the blast left no physical scar on the beach, yet it still managed to transform the once-pleasant atmosphere. It took no more than a heartbeat for the warm, inviting air to dip into one of chilly and unwelcoming conditions. The dark energy seemed to bring with it a freezing wind reminiscent of Ko-Metru.

Quick waves of pain washed over the Rahaga leader as he felt the unfamiliar air seep in. Any flame of hope within him died out at that moment. Somebody had blown it out—some faceless fiend he knew he could never reach. “No,” said Norik, his voice barely above a whisper. “It’s too late.”

Like snakes released from a cramped crate, the darkness of Makuta seeping into whatever it pleased. Like paint, it plastered onto everything it touched, moving forward toward the beings of light: the beings it hoped to infest.

To Twilight's surprise, the paint serpents of Makuta slithered not toward her, the one closest to the gem, but toward Fluttershy. The vermin took no moment to hesitate, no moment to wait for Fluttershy to open up and expose her weakest links to them, no moment to kill the pegasus’ rationale before killing the pegasus herself. Yet in the time it took for the serpents to make their way forward, Fluttershy felt as if she could already feel herself being immobilized more and more by the second.

The fingers of Makuta touched her foot, piercing like icicles. A shiver spun up her spine as Teridax’s presence caressed her, privileged to relieve her of all the sweet memories she’d had back home. All that time she’d enjoyed with her best friends, all that time she’d spent nurturing helpless creatures—all of it stood on the edge of disappearing, yet she wondered if she could even care less. New memories would come to take over, after all.

Those memories of being the third wheel to whoever thought they were better than her. Wishing secretly to go in first place, but letting somebody else take the honor. Staying quiet as others pushed her aside. She could give them up.

I’m ready, Teridax, she beckoned. Anything he had to give her way, anything he had to offer, anything to relieve her of this life of hers—she was ready for it.

The voice of Teridax sounded in her head. Be part of my power.

I can do it. She realized. I can join him and follow his shadow forever. I can hold a position with the Makuta as a loyal, servant to the darkness. What reason had she to refuse?

Those memories she’d shared with the Elements of Harmony. Finding consolation under the guide of Magic. Sharing picnics with her animal friends. She could drive a stake through their hearts.

No!

Inner strength began to pulse from the pegasus’ heart and soul as she finally took a step against Teridax. She stared down at the slithering, hissing shadow-snakes and prepared to defend herself from what was yet to come. Even now in the face of great danger, Fluttershy met the threat with her own inner bravery, ready for any incoming threat.

Yet by the time she could even react, Makuta travelled up her hooves, up her legs, and around her torso. The longer time ticked on, the faster they became.

She said once again: No!

The serpents came inches from running past her upper legs, up to her neck, and there they came to a sudden halt—much to Fluttershy’s surprise.

He actually listened to me? she wondered.

Confused, disappointed, relieved, she looked down at her hooves and noticed the shadow servants retreating back from where they came. The others who’d nearly come in contact with the snakes found themselves nothing short of relieved.

Meanwhile, the shadow of Makuta retreated into the crystal—into the sleeping Rainbow Dash, whom they had almost left behind.

“Rainbow Dash!” yelled Twilight. In her moment of panic, the unicorn squeezed her eyes shut and began chanting incantations in her head, but shortly thereafter realized something was missing—something small, but all too important.

Upon realizing this, Twilight flicked her eyes wide open. “My horn! Wh-where is my horn?” Come to think of it, Twilight couldn’t recall seeing a horn on Rarity or wings on Fluttershy, either. I’m practically useless without my magic!

Yet in her panic, Twilight looked back up toward the violet crystal and blinked, her mouth agape and eyes nearly blinded by the dazzling concoction of energy. However, the situation was not as she had first thought—for the darkness did not attack Rainbow Dash; the darkness fed her. But—is that a good thing or a bad thing? wondered Twilight. Had the darkness managed to corrupt her friend’s mind, or had her friend managed to push past the evil it held at its core?

For a brief moment, the former unicorn wondered if the Rahaga knew what was happening or going to happen—yet the six of them appeared just as much at a loss for words as she. Just as well, Rarity looked as if she would faint again, Applejack looked more frightened than Twilight had seen of her in a long time, and Pinkie actually looked rather terrified for the first time that whole week. Before she could even catch a glimpse of Fluttershy or Spike, Twilight witnessed as the last of the darkness receded into Rainbow Dash—not dead, but living and leeching.

Having absorbed all the dark energy Makuta had to offer, the pegasus finally revealed herself standing on her rear hooves, her eyes closed as she appeared before all the others. Any strength she had when confronting Roodaka disappeared as her limp body hit the dusty ground.

“Rainbow!” cried the Equestrians in unison. The lot of them rushed up to the sleeping creature, realizing the red armor covering the majority of her body, but caring about nothing but the mere sound of her breathing.

From behind, Norik noticed this and exclaimed under his breath, “A Toa of Fire!” He could make a step in her direction or a step back, yet he stayed still. And the armor on this one…it’s very dark—much darker than Spike’s armor, in fact.

Gaaki wasn’t certain, but when she glimpsed over in Norik’s direction, she thought she could see a light, yet nervous, smile crossing his face.

“Rainbow Dash!” said Twilight, her hooves set and shaking her shoulders. “are you—?” She gulped at the thought of speaking the next word. “—dead?”

“Nuh-uh!” said Applejack. “Ain’t no way she is, Twilight. Don’t you dare suggest that she is!”

“Well," Fluttershy butted in, “Not just any Toa can handle Makuta like that.”

The four ponies and Spike exchanged confused glances with one another, as if to ask, Why is she already starting to talk like the people here?
But as those thoughts entered their heads, the two ponies felt as though they could see a glint of Makuta in her eyes.

Chapter 9: Sleeping Spirit

These are the ending days of our time...
Cities have crumbled in your absence.
And just when you feel your people need you more than ever,
You soon find out they don’t need you at all anymore.
Why nurture something that no longer exists?

At first they understand that you’re gone, then they wonder where you are, then they go without you.
They take your spots in life away.
Harmony vanishes, but they’ll be fine
For a little while.

You have a question on your mind.
You ask who I am and what I want from you.
I am nothing to one, but a threat to all.
Try as you may, you shall never destroy me.
In fact, one day you’ll feel blessed that I am here.

But listen now while I have your weary subconscious pinned down.
Friends of mine have gone to find the ones you care for.
Flying to the clouds, they’ll hit their target.
I’ll make sure they hit their target.

The city in the clouds hangs peacefully for few hours more.
The ones up there will suffer no more, yet slumber in serenity.

“Toa, stand up—you were dreaming.” An unfamiliar voice shook the pegasus from her nightmare. Unlike the voice that haunted her in her sleep, this one sounded as if it wanted to soothe her.

Her vision hazy, the felt herself coming up on her hooves—which, as she quickly came to notice, felt much heavier and stiffer than she would have preferred. Her eyes stung as she struggled to open them a bit more.

A purple-and-blue mist solidified before Rainbow Dash’s eyes, revealing an old friend—one whom she thought she’d never see again. By her friend’s side stood a red, bestial figure—the likes of which would have made the pegasus flinch, were it not for Twilight standing by its side. Even so, the differences in Twilight’s appearance shocked her.

“T-Twilight?” she stammered. A good amount of blue armor concealed the pony she once knew, but Dash still managed to make out who stood before her, even now. “Twilight—wh-what happened to you?”

But her unicorn friend didn’t seem to hear the question. “Oh, Rainbow Dash—I’m so glad you’re okay!”

“Okay?” said the pegasus with a yawn. “But—but Twilight, that’s not what I was asking! I’m fine; what in Celestia’s name happened to you?”

At that moment, Twilight understood to what her friend referred. With a sigh, she confessed, “Something’s happened to all of us, Rainbow. We’ve all turned into what the Rahaga call Toa.”

“Indeed.” The short, red figure beside Twilight spoke up. “And you especially, Toa of Fire—you’ve been more inflicted than any of your friends, I’m afraid.”

Curious, confused, concerned, the pegasus raised an eyebrow. “Wh-what do you mean I’ve been more inflicted? I feel fine—honestly!” A warm, genuine smile crossed her face.

Her lips pursed, Twilight inhaled and explained her dilemma. “Rainbow Dash—you were more affected by Makuta than any other one of us. I saw when Roodaka blasted you with dark energy, sending you back down into the silver ocean just as the rest of us started drowning. Next time I saw you, you were trapped inside a crystal—but unlike the rest of us, you couldn’t escape.” Her eyes shining with the thought, Twilight bent her head low, coming almost nose-to-nose with her friend. Her friend came barely above a whisper when she said, “Rainbow—we thought you had died.” And with those final words, she bent her head downward, biting her lip as she struggled to fight back pouring tears.

Norik continued from where the Toa of Water had left off. “I thought we would have had to go without a Toa of Fire to lead your friends. The other Rahaga and I even thought that the Makuta had overwhelmed you completely—but you seemed to have overcome the darkness completely. It’s a miracle, if I’ve ever seen one.”

Sniffling a little, Twilight wiped her eyes and explained, “But you still have the darkness of Makuta with you. It may very well live in you forever.” The shades of dark red in her armor proved that point well enough on their own.

The curiosity lingering in Rainbow Dash’s mind collapsed on itself and turned into fear. “But—what does that mean if now I’ll have to live with Makuta forever? What’s gonna happen? Am I…gonna turn into a monster or something?”

“I don’t think so,” Twilight began, “but let’s think about it—because Fluttershy practically had the same thing happen to her while we were still in Equestria. It started off with nightmares, but then she eventually began started going insane—and after a while, she almost—”

And then she halted, knowing it would do no good to go over her friend's traumatic experience.

Twilight’s mid-sentence pause made Dash’s heart leap. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “What did she almost do?”

She almost attacked us. The thought made Twilight gulp—for how could she possibly break this to Rainbow Dash? What scares me worse is the fact that Rainbow now has the powers of fire at her disposal. If she so chooses, she could destroy an entire town—or worse, commit an act of murder. Thinking about this made sweat drip from the side of her head.

Difficult as it was to give a straight answer to Rainbow Dash, Norik cleared his throat and said, “Perhaps we should go downstairs at this point.” He turned his gaze toward the pegasus. “Your friends are probably most anxious to see you after at least a day.” And with that, the Rahaga began down a flight of stairs; the two ponies followed suit.

I’ve been asleep for a day? she thought, her steps slow compared to Twilight’s. Did those nightmares keep me asleep for that long of a time?

Her pupils dilated minutely as thoughts of last night crossed her mind. She could remember hardly anything of those nightmares, could hardly make out whatever images her subconscious mind dared thrust upon her. All she could remember was chaos—chaos that had left a lasting impact on her even after the night.

That voice—who was that? What was it I heard about Cloudsdale? It had something to do with a threat against Cloudsdale, didn’t it? If it doesn’t, that must mean— That’s when it hit her.

“The new Daring-Do book!” Her voice reverberated throughout the tower.

The sound of the echoes proved enough to make Twilight wince. Turning her head around, she asked, “What about the new Daring-Do book?”

Realizing how loudly those words blurted out of her, Rainbow Dash covered her mouth with her hoof and chuckled, “Sorry; it’s just that I had this weird dream last night and it had something to do with a cloud city being attacked.”

It took a moment for Twilight to draw the connection—but in a matter of heartbeats, her face lit up in a bright smile. “Say no more—The Forbidden City of Clouds!”

“Aw, yeah!” Rainbow Dash snickered. “Sorry for freaking you out there.”

“It’s fine,” replied Twilight. “But come on—all our friends have been dying to see you again.”

Rainbow Dash had almost completely forgotten about that. “Oh—right!” Without further ado, the pegasus felt a jolt of energy flow through her as she went on a race downstairs.

As she watched her friend go, Twilight chuckled and turned her gaze toward Norik. “You’ll have to forgive her; she can be quite the fangirl when it comes to Equestrian literature.”

During all this, the Rahaga of Fire remained silent and merely watched as Twilight ran after Rainbow Dash down the stairs. During this time, he couldn’t help but wonder, What did I just see happen? But before it could disturb him any further, he shook his head and started coming down the stairs at a snail’s pace.

At the base of the Rahaga’s tower, some of the ponies and elders sat around and conversed while others pondered. While Pinkie spoke endlessly with Iruni, others stared off into space, wondering where to go from here, how to defeat Makuta with their newfound abilities, or if Rainbow Dash had yet awoken. Of them all, Fluttershy delved deepest into her thoughts.

Some of the others merely delved off into space, whereas Fluttershy peered into the depths of oblivion.

I wonder where Teridax is now. He doesn’t seem comfortable around me like he once was. She paused and closed her eyes, breathing slowly as if she were meditating. Through closed eyes, she pointed her gaze downward; little did the pony know, she also started bending downward, as if she were about to fall asleep. Before long, her nose hovered only inches off the ground.

By the time she opened her eyes, Fluttershy noticed a little dweller upon the floor. Robotic in build and in nature, the creature retained a foreign appearance in Fluttershy’s eyes—but robotic or not, she could see the animal for what it really was: a little black spider. It seemed as if it had been forever since she’d last seen anything of the sort.

By instinct, and not as a means of showing care, the Toa of Ice greeted the little animal.

“Hello.”

The word came out wrong—and she knew it. She knew it so well that her face turned pink upon uttering the simple word. How did she mess that up?

Her usual greetings established the sweet, caring personality her friends knew her for—presented a perfect salutation to whichever creature she found herself standing before. In her current scenario, Fluttershy’s hello played as poorly as the tune of an untrained choir.

Yet the spider didn’t seem to mind, nor did it seem to even notice the yellow-and-white figure looming over it. On the contrary, the black creature seemed content only with finding a good meal for the evening.

“Hello?”

Again, her greeting hit all the wrong notes—as if one day without practice had rendered her completely unskilled in the art of animal communication.

As Fluttershy played these worrisome thoughts within her head, she heard as three of her friends rushed over to the other side of the room. Their rambunctious excitement settled in the back of her ear, but she paid it no heed. She instead focused on the spider.

For a good while, the eight-legged creature wandered here and there on the floor, as if luck would bring its prey to its mouth. Fluttershy watched it move around and about, though she found that even still she could not seem to catch the creature’s attention. On a normal day, this would have led her to using the dreaded stare—but today, even when her frustrations outweighed her joys, she felt no need to resort to such drastic measures.

Much to her surprise, the spider—in the midst of its supposed hunt—took a sharp turn and started making its way toward Fluttershy’s hoof. Her eyes widened and her breath still, the Toa of Ice took a closer look at her hoof as the spider’s legs tickled the base of her leg.

“You’re curious, aren’t you?” she wondered, feigning a smile. “Careful, Mr. Spider—I don’t know much about how my powers work yet.” The longer she stared down at the arachnid, the further up her leg it traveled. The further up her leg it traveled, the more she began to suspect some form of sentience within the bug's mind.

That’s odd, she thought. Interacting with this little bug felt similar to with bonding any other animal back in Ponyville—but deep within the recesses of her mind, she could hear a tiny voice telling her to run away—to fear the tiny beast and do whatever she could to distance herself from it.

It almost seemed logical for a part of her to be afraid of the spider, considering she’d never mingled with any creature of the sort back in Equestria. In all honesty, the pony could not find any logical reason for her having avoided these little insectoid animals.

Yet she found it only reasonable to believe the spider’s supposed sentience was the cause for the foreign sense of panic now invading her thoughts. Was is possible for something as harmless as a tiny spider to bring these feelings to her? As much as other ponies hated spiders, Fluttershy never saw any reason to fear them until now.

Fluttershy—

A familiar voice came crawling back into her head. She recognized the voice, she knew from whom the words came—yet she still felt the need to ask, Who—who are you?

Don’t play games with me, Fluttershy, the voice responded. No matter how hard you may try, you will be beyond!

At that moment, Fluttershy’s pupils dilated. She looked down at the spider crawling up her arm—noticing as all eight of its eyes seemed to lock in on the two of hers.

“No,” she whispered. Her head started shaking at the mere thought of it. “No. No! No!” As those words escaped her, Fluttershy smashed her hoof against the floor, causing the spider to lose its foothold on her hoof. Down to the floor it fell, landing belly-side-up, unable to get back on its feet.

This is the end of you, said the Toa. This is the last time I’ll ever have to see you! Her teeth clenched together as she began driving her hoof back down to the floor. The shadow of her hoof waxed over the spider as it looked up, breathless and unmoving.

This time her hoof made an unmistakable thud as it pounded downward. If the first smash caught everyone’s attention, the second one pulled a gasp out of every one of her Equestrian friends. And little did Fluttershy realize, the others had had their eyes on her for the past few seconds; they had stood by as their friend drove the final blow to end the spider’s life.

Once the loud thud died down, the room went silent. All the merriment over Rainbow Dash’s awakening suddenly disappeared in that one moment.

The silence rushed over Fluttershy’s body like a blizzard as she lifted her gaze from her hoof and looked up toward all the others.

“F-Fluttershy?” stammered Twilight. “Did you just—kill that spider?”

The pegasus’ lips pursed. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t know what to say to Twilight in such an instance. Her emotions would cloud her thoughts and she would be left to do hardly anything more than babbling and stuttering. Now with these new powers of ice blurring who she once was, Fluttershy knew the truth. “Yes,” she replied. “I did—I think I did.”

Some of her friends gasped once more and took a few steps back. This wasn’t the Fluttershy they’d come to know over the years; this was a machine made to fight at the side of another Toa. A thousand scenarios flowed through their minds as they made this great epiphany. Some would have considered Fluttershy’s newfound strength as a positive in this barren environment; others would have scurried and pushed themselves out of the way at the thought.

Another moment of silence slipped between the ponies before Fluttershy finally saw Rainbow Dash standing in the crowd with the rest of her friends. At that moment, her ears perked and she removed her hoof from atop the annihilated spider. “Oh—Rainbow Dash!” she said. “I didn’t notice you were awake.”

Dash thought she saw a smile on the pegasus’ face, but she paid it no heed. “Yeah,” she began. “I’m awake. You would’ve known if you weren’t so busy killing the things you always say you care about.”

One of the pony’s ears twitched. Killing the things I care about? She looked down at the spider once more, witnessing its crushed remains. I care about many things, Rainbow Dash, she wanted to tell her friend. But I no longer care for Makuta! She took a look back up at Rainbow Dash, feeling the pegasus’ red eyes piercing into hers. Had she felt any sense of intimidation from this Toa, Fluttershy more than likely would have pointed a sharp stare through Rainbow’s eyes.

But before Fluttershy’s stare could encapsulate anybody, Norik broke the silence. “Now then,” he began, acting as though the Equestrians’ situation was nothing more than a mere squabble between comrades. “I believe it is time I told you all what it truly means to be a Toa.”

Chapter 10: Follow the Light

For Twilight and Fluttershy especially, the next few hours felt like a study session for those who forgot to do their homework. Norik went on and on about the issues keeping the Matoran from peace, the threat Makuta imposed on every living thing in their world—most of it information the Toa already knew, yet the two well-read ponies could not help but shiver in response to Norik’s astonishing presentation.

The abundant amount of information—of terms such as kanohi and kini and rahi—gave them all a culture shock. Even Twilight found it difficult to organize these facts as the Rahaga guided the Equestrians to the Great Barrier.

As she followed the Rahaga and carried Spike down this path to the mysterious island of Mata Nui, Twilight thought to herself, This world is so dark and dead compared to our own. This abandoned city of protodermis gave her a feeling of dread the further she walked forward—but the more she absorbed her surroundings, the more detail she picked up.

To her left rested the endless silver sea, but to her right a herd of monolithic towers stretched upward into the sky. Snow began drifting downward as Twilight pointed her gaze up, marveling at the ice-crystal skyscrapers, wondering what sort of magic was used to create such beautiful works of architecture.

Upon further inspection, Twilight just barely caught a glimpse of the dying green webs cluttering the towers’ bases. Some spots of the webs formed little bridges that would connect one building to the other. Nobody’s been in these towers in a long time, she realized. At this point, they’re just a reminder of what once was. She sighed.

The Toa of Water wished she had come to this beautiful city years ago—or whenever the city was in its prime. She could only imagine how busy, how fantastic, how majestic the towers were before the city was abandoned and left behind for the spiders (she believed the Rahaga called these Visorak) to pick up the remaining pieces.

As the Toa continued walking forward, Twilight found herself walking side-by-side with Gaaki. Seeing the Rahaga, no longer ignorant of the knowledge she possessed, the unicorn tapped Gaaki on the shoulder.

“Yes, Toa of Water?” asked Gaaki.

“Gaaki,” Twilight began. “I’m sorry if what I’m about to ask sounds silly, but—where in Metru Nui are we?”

“Ah. There’s nothing silly about that.” The elder explained, “Right now we’re in the city of ice: Ko-Metru. This is where your friend, Fluttershy, and Kualus would live, if it were not for Makuta.”

“And what of the towers?” asked Twilight, still unable to keep her eyes off them; the way they reflected their surroundings left a lot to be desired back home. Even the Crystal Empire’s buildings had their limits; the towers of Ko-Metru, on the other hand, limited themselves only to the architects' imaginations.

“Ah yes,” chuckled Gaaki. “Back when this city still thrived, the citizens of Ko-Metru were astronomers who looked to the stars to find answers to the future.” She looked up toward one of the skyscrapers and extended her index finger. “I believe that tower was where Toa Nuju spent day and night trying to find the answers to the many questions the stars posed.”

“Nuju?” asked Twilight.

Gaaki smiled. “You’ll most likely meet him when we get to Mata Nui—though I think you’ll find yourself more familiar with Nokama. She was the Toa of Water last time I saw her.”

Just thinking about the Toa throughout history, Twilight could feel her head practically expanding with even more questions—questions she didn’t think could be answered. As much as she already understood the importance of unity and duty and destiny, as much as she reminisced of the talk she and Fluttershy had had with Celestia all those days before, as much as she took in what the Rahaga had told her up to that point, the unicorn found herself swept under a veil of ignorance.

As much as she’d learned, Twilight barely knew anything of this world’s history—and there was so much she would likely never know so long as she lived. On top of that, Twilight was the most insightful pony in her group. What would somebody like Spike—who even now was soaking in Gaaki’s words—carry with him when he once again roamed about in Equestria?

Yet still thirsty for knowledge, Twilight asked, “How many Toa are there, Gaaki?”

Immediately, the question seemed to stump the Rahaga. “Oh dear—I’m not sure myself, Toa Twilight. Toa aren’t as numerous as Matoran, but they’ve been around long enough that it’s hard to keep track. Though I will admit, there are far fewer Toa now than there were back when the others and I were Toa.”

At that, Twilight’s eyes widened. “You were all Toa at one point?” Even Spike couldn’t contain his astonishment.

“Oh yes,” replied Gaaki. “We called ourselves the Toa Hagah, and we did all we could to serve Makuta Teridax. This was, of course, before we discovered the Makuta’s true intentions for the Matoran. Pouks, Kualus, Bomonga, and I tried to stop Makuta’s plans. At some point, we were captured—and just as Iruni and Norik were about to rescue us, we were all transformed by a dark hunter named Roodaka.”

Just hearing that name nearly drove Twilight to a freeze. It resonated in her mind like the back of her hoof. Images of she and her friends plummeting toward that silver ocean began clouding her mind, obscuring her thoughts, almost completely closing her eyes and ears from the rest of the world.

“Twilight?” came Gaaki’s voice, breaking through Twilight’s barrier.

The Toa of Water flinched and warped alongside the Rahaga once again. It took her a moment to regain her composure; when she finally did, Twilight sighed, “Sorry, Gaaki—it’s just—I guess I still get nervous whenever I hear Roodaka’s name.”

“It’s understandable.” Gaaki nodded her head, gaze pointed toward the snow-covered ground. “But you should consider yourself lucky, Toa. While Roodaka turned us into what we are now, she later went and turned six helpless visitors into Toa Equestrian.”

Twilight felt a little more confident, but not enough for her to keep the questions from coming. “You do have a point,” the pony agreed. Her voice dropped to a level barely above a whisper. “But what about Rainbow Dash?” she realized, seeing how questionably poor of a condition their Toa of Fire was in. Are you sure she’ll be alright, being that she was struck directly by Roodaka’s dark energy?”

“I can’t say for sure,” admitted Gaaki. “All we can do now is make sure you Toa remember the virtues Norik taught you.”

“Unity, duty, and…destiny?” Spike murmured, counting each virtue with his fingers.

“Right,” chuckled Gaaki, pleased to know that the youngest of the group had stuck these virtues in his memory. “And it is unity that you will have to start with; nothing can change that.” The Rahaga’s voice dropped when she continued, “I stress this because Toa teams always seem to struggle with the unity above duty and destiny.”

“Oh really, now?” Twilight asked, a smile crossing her face as a huge wave of elation blanketed over her. “Cause back at home, I’d say we had the best unity anybody could ever ask for. The Elements of Harmony only work when they’re together—and we all know that. And being that we’re already friends, I don’t feel too worried about keeping a strong unity.”

Her words caught Gaaki by surprise. “You’re not even worried about Toa Rainbow Dash?”

“Maybe a little,” admitted Twilight. “But in spite of that, I think we’ll be a fantastic Toa team! In the time I’ve spent with my friends, I’ve learned that we never turn our backs on each other.”

The closer the travelers came to the light at the end of the tunnel, the stronger this trial seemed to become. Ironically, the Rahaga trudged onward without a problem, but the ponies’ hooves began to ache and—for some of them—go numb as they all pushed through the snow. Even Spike—who was asked to get off Twilight’s back—noticed as his dragon toes lost all sensation.

Oh jeeze, thought Rainbow Dash, unused to walking with—as opposed to hovering around—her friends for so long. If these old guys are already doing better than us at walking, I dunno if we can be the heroes they want us to be. But even in such a doubtful state, the flightless pegasus pushed onward.

My hooves really are hurting, realized Fluttershy. She wanted to sit down and have somebody rub her feet—but rather than worry about her aching hooves, she continued on and distracted herself with the ruins of this great city. Like Twilight, the towers caught her curiosity, made her want to explore all this city had to offer—to know what things were like when Metru Nui thrived.

Yet even with these ruins before her, even with this serendipitous curiosity in her head, the Toa of Ice felt something bothering her.

She wanted to say it was the webs were bothering her—but in reality, she admired what they added to the ruins, how they gave off the impression that this city was made by creatures of nature and habit, rather than humanoid workers with a hundred tools at their disposal.

She knew it wasn’t her hooves; she’d already gotten over that.

Though she couldn’t see it, Fluttershy could feel the presence of something nearby—something with a taste for invasion. Something that spread over anything it touched. Unlike ice, which stood still, this little something sought the need to take over everything it caught a glimpse of.

It’s not Makuta. But even by deducing such a large variable, she couldn’t help but grunt in frustration. What else could it possibly be—?

When it hit her at last, the Toa of Ice immediately froze, letting all the others go past her.

As Fluttershy knew, a creature like him desired power above all else. Makuta had already touched the strongest and fiercest Toa in their group—yet she knew he was not with them. Their Toa of Fire may as well have been Teridax’s reincarnation.

“Uh—Fluttershy?”

Hearing her name called along the road by which she had traveled, Fluttershy flinched and noticed Rainbow Dash facing her direction.

“Are you coming?” asked the Toa of Fire. “C’mon, Fluttershy! It’s not that much further!” She said this, yet still couldn’t help but let out a little moan over her aching hooves.

Fluttershy blinked and noticed how far behind she had fallen from the others. “S-sorry!” she exclaimed. Not wanting to drag her friends back any further, she ran up to the others.

Chapter 11: Strange Kohlii Balls

Stay quiet—and stay still, he told himself, keeping the kohlii balls still in his arms. The thought of being with this creature in a nearly-perfect stone ring of a wall didn’t help his state of urgency. Maybe this is one of those rahi that can’t see you when you stay still.

Lyra raised an eyebrow and took a step forward. “Uh—hello?” asked she. “I can see you, you know.”

Drat! the defenseless Po-Matoran swore. So I guess this is what this rahi’s eyes are supposed to look like; it hasn’t been sprayed by the Nui-Jaga. But what kind of rahi has eyes that big, unless it’s a Nui-Rama? In his panic, thought up a diversion. He pointed over Lyra’s shoulder and cried, “W-what on Mata Nui is that?”

What were earlier unshed tears of misery soon became tears of laughter when Lyra burst out laughing and snorted, “You honestly think I’m going to fall for that?”

The Po-Matoran felt tempted to respond, but instead found himself dumbstruck with a horrific epiphany. Wait a minute…oh no—have I got the plague now? It would explain why this bright cyan-colored, foreign, talking rahi now stood within his field of view. Nothing like this can possibly exist, right? It can’t exist—but who’s gonna help me now? Half of Po-Koro is already infected with the plague!

Noticing how obviously the Matoran had fallen into his own silent monologue, Lyra rolled her eyes and brought herself down to his eye-level. Her yellow eyes stared deep into his, yet the Po-Matoran remained completely oblivious to the outside world—that was until the unicorn cleared her throat and brought him back to reality.

“Gah!” he exclaimed, dropping one of the balls. “Sorry, uh—but I’ve gotta go! Have lots of kohlii balls to sell!” And with that, he began making his way back to Po-Koro.

“Why not sell one to me?” said Lyra, stepping forward and smirking as the Matoran turned his back on her. “Unless you’re lying to me and you’re not really a businessman. Is that it?”

“Just don’t listen to it,” the Matoran murmured. “It’s not real—it’s just a figment of your imagination—it’s not real—it’s just a figment of your imagination—it’s not real—it’s just a figment of your imagination—!” The more he went on, the louder his words became.

“Hey!” called Lyra. “Mr. Lying-Businessman?”

At that, the Po-Matoran faced Lyra once again. “Nobody calls Ahkmou a liar!”

For the first time during their confrontation, Lyra legitimately felt a little afraid of the angry Matoran. Had she not undergone the torment of living under Onepu’s suppressed thumb, she would have done to this Po-Matoran what she had done to the red-and-blue Matoran she met on the beach. Instead, all she could do now was stand by and watch as Ahkmou left all but one stony ball on the ground and made his way back up to Lyra.

“So you want to buy one of the kohlii balls, huh?” he asked, walking a circle around Lyra. “Usually I would give my customers a discount—or even a freebie—for their first ball.” He chuckled as he stared down at his ball. “But I’m afraid I have an attitude fee—something I don’t think you would understand. I don’t care if you come from the Southern Islands or wherever; the attitude fee applies to all I see fit.”

Just as Ahkmou opened his mouth to continue his explanation, Lyra nabbed the ball out of his hand with her front hooves and asked, “So is this thing a ball or a rock?”

The Po-Matoran’s temper flared when he replied, “It’s a ball, it’s a rock, it’s whatever you want it to be. But just remember to play well whenever kohlii season starts!”

Lyra merely nodded her head, resisting to ask the Matoran questions about kohlii—questions which would have likely resulted in another near-fit-of-rage from the little man of stone.

“So,” Ahkmou continued. “With that being said—this kohlii ball comes to you at the price of only ten widgets!”

“Ten what’s-its?”

“That’s it.” Ahkmou rubbed his temples with his free hand. “Never mind! You’re not worth my time.” Frustration overcame the Po-Matoran as he went over and started picking up the balls he’d set on the ground.

And as he struggled to keep himself from throwing a full-on tantrum, Lyra—still holding the ball in her hooves—wondered, “Um…don’t you want the ball back?”

“No!” said the Matoran. “Just keep it. You’re not worth my time!” Once he managed to retrieve the kohlii balls he’d earlier dropped, he continued on his way back over to Po-Koro, hoping to sell all his specialty-branded balls by nightfall.

Oh well, thought Ahkmou. Maybe that dumb rahi will manage to get this plague going a little faster. The idea made him chuckle. Unless, of course, that thing really is a figment of my imagination and I’m coming down with the plague, as well. The idea made him cringe.

From behind the pony, a familiar voice said, “He’s a rude one, isn’t he?”

A flinch zipped through Lyra’s body as she looked over her shoulder. “Pewku! I didn’t even know you were there,” she said with a sigh. “You scared the wits out of me! How’ve you been?”

The crab chuckled. “I suppose I’ve been alright, though nothing much has changed. I haven’t really heard anything about that journey of yours. Did you do what you wanted to?”

“You’d better believe I did! I built and met four other people like Tahu—and in four different environments. I’m only guessing that now there’s one more I have to find here.” An almost nostalgic smile crossed Lyra’s face. “Well, I’m sorry to be going, but—”

“Where are you going?” Pewku interrupted. “I’m sure you’re busy trying to find the sixth one, but feels like I haven’t seen you in moons!”

Lyra blinked before sighing, “I know we haven’t seen each other in a while, but I need to find the sixth Toa so I can build him. The only problem is that this desert is so huge and confusing and whenever I think I’ve found the one they call the ‘Toa of Stone,’ turns out it’s just another giant rock.”

“So you’re lost, is it?” wondered Pewku.

“Well yes,” replied Lyra, feeling a light amount of sweat coating her brow. “But I think that—well, maybe—” Try as she might, the empty-hoofed, frustrated foreigner couldn’t come up with a logical rebuttal to the crab’s question. Her face started to scrunch up as she turned around and huffed, “Just—let me figure things out for myself, okay?”

The crab blinked, but didn’t seem to feel at all disturbed by the pony’s anger. After a small pause, she blinked once more and replied, “Okay.”

“It’s just so dumb,” muttered Lyra as she started walking around in circles. “No matter where I go, I always seem to end up in the same place. Just when I think I have the answer, something goes wrong!”

She knew this wasn’t entirely true, but perhaps the stress of finding and building these Toa had gotten to her head. She loved building and setting things in the way they were supposed to be, but doing so with hooves nearly drove Lyra mad. Whenever she built a Toa, over half the time she’d pick up a piece and it would fall right out of her hoof.

In addition, every time she went to build one of those biomechanical giants, she’d receive vague directions from the talking Toa heads. Some of them got impatient with her mistakes, whilst others merely sat by. Her worst experience in building came to her when she had to build Lewa—who always found a way to make fun out of telling her the wrong instructions. Part of her wished she had let that jerk remain a pile of pieces in the wilderness.

Frustration rolled over itself as Lyra thought these things over. As she continued walking around and around in circles, she eventually stopped in front of the lone kohlii ball. The little rock seemed stared up at her as she stared down, wondering what the kohlii ball was thinking of her. If she looked hard enough, she could see Ahkmou’s stupid face looking back at her—as if to say he had won. The more she thought about it, the more Lyra wished she had actually done the proper when she first saw that black mask of his.

“Can’t anything just go right for once?!” All her pent-up frustrations trailed down into her hoof. She pulled her leg back—then let it swing forward, firing the ball over a rocky wall, toward the sky as she did so. Surprisingly, the impact didn’t hurt her hoof at all; it seemed to hurt the ball more. Lyra then took a moment to catch her breath.

Pewku wondered if it would even be appropriate to talk at that moment. Surely, Lyra would snap at her—yet the crab went ahead and asked, “Do you feel…okay?”

Her teeth clenched, the pony turned to face the crab once more. The piercing look in her yellow eyes suggested an angry rebuttal—but Lyra’s agitation finally seemed to plateau when she replied, “I guess. I just…need a moment to breathe.”

But just as those words escaped her, a loud explosion sounded from the other side of the stone wall. Lyra found herself jolting off her four hooves as the sound hit her eardrums. Even Pewku crab found herself in a state of panic; she wanted to sink into her shell. “What’s going on?!” she wondered. “Is Onepu coming?”

At that, Lyra’s ear twitched in confusion. “Um…does Onepu have explosives?”

“Who knows? Onepu will do anything to get his ussal crabs back after they’ve been lost! After all, he’s the kind of person who would sell his best friend just to win the annual competition. Just think about what he—”

“Pewku!” Lyra interrupted, resisting the urge to giggle. “Relax! I’m not sure, but I think I have a good idea of what’s happening.”

Almost instantly, Pewku’s state of panic subsided. “You do?”

Lyra nodded. “I’ve heard that noise five other times before. My best guess is—” But right as the thought crossed her mind, she heard as the little individual pieces pattered about. That noise—it’s the same noise that the others' pieces made when they rolled on the ground. With hardly any warning, she ran off, making her way around the rocky wall separating her and Pewku from what just might have been the sixth Toa.

“Hey, wait!” cried Pewku as Lyra escaped the confining barriers. “I can’t run that fast!”

But Lyra didn’t listen—didn’t seem to remember that Pewku even existed. Instead she rushed toward the explosion site, curious to know whom she would meet next. It was at that point when she remembered how close she was to the ocean; just a few steps closer and she picked up the sound of waves tugging back and forth at a sandy shore.

A few steps later her pursuit persisted—but shortly thereafter, she came to an immediate halt. It’s just as I thought; a sixth one! Already she began making images of what this character might have looked like. She imagined he would have a similar appearance to Tahu—but that was before she saw the triangular mask.

And the lack of a sword.

And the stone boots.

"Oh my goodness!" cried Pewku from behind. "So that metal thing over there is what exploded?"

Lyra turned her head toward the canister's torso and witnessed the little bit of red highlighted along its rim. Whenever the metal made contact with water, a little bit of steam rose through the dry desert air. Thankfully, not a single part of this biomechanical being's body managed to get trapped within the ocean's constantly-casting net—which relieved the pony more than anything.

While Lyra felt, at worst, a little worried as to how she would build this creature, Pewku felt nothing but horror ebbing through her mind. She could just feel herself shaking like a rattlesnake tail. Lyra noticed this and raised an eyebrow, wanting to ask what was wrong when Pewku shrieked, "That Matoran blew himself up!"

As much as she would have liked that to happen, Lyra had to disagree. Humored and annoyed at the same time, she replied, “Don’t worry, Pewku. I think this is the sixth Toa.”

At that point, silence fell upon the desert. Pewku stopped trembling and merely blinked at the pony. She took a deep breath before asking, “Y-you do?”

Lyra nodded before turning her gaze toward the pieces once more. Already she could feel her mind processing what this creature would become by the time its construction completed. Whether or not her mind gave an accurate portrayal was to be seen; there was only one way to find out for sure.

Chapter 12: Once Upon Titanic Ground

“Wee!” shouted Pinkie. “Finally here! Finally here! Finally here at last!”

“Yeah!” added Iruni. “We’re here—except…the Rahaga and I have to go back. Shoot.” Simply realizing such a horrible truth made him close his eyes and bow tip his head down to his feet. “I was expecting to make sand castles while we still had the time.”

“Iruni,” sighed Norik. “You know we have some responsibilities to uphold. And besides—” The fire-spitter took a good look at his surroundings and shuddered. “This place feels uncomfortably different from what I’m used to.”

Twilight, while she found herself wholehartedly comfortable with her environment, understood where the Rahaga was coming from. Having laid witness to the towers of Ko-Metru and the sea of protodermis, she understood how an organic ecosystem could destroy the psyche of a biomechanical creature like him.

I've been there," she said with a nod. "We've all been there. It's just not like home to you.” She raised a sympathetic gaze up to the elder. Her purple eyes showed the resilience and wisdom of a young spirit who had accomplished so much in so little time. She learned so much from books, but so much more from experience.

Norik wondered how much more he would see with just a closer look—but rather than waste time, he smiled and said, "Thank you."

“So,” began Rainbow Dash, "what do we do now?”

With that, the six Rahaga exchanged nervous glances. They don't have a plan, thought Twilight. They looked more as if they were trying—and right in front of the Toa—to cook up a new list of directions.

After an awkward pause, Norik sighed and confessed, “All of you need to go to your respective villages and tell the Matoran there that you are there to help them.”

The bluntness of his plan surprised the newcoming Equestrians. They'd all expected something much more complicated—something only a man of his caliber could think up.

Applejack, struggling to keep the Rahaga from noticing her pitifully-stifled laughter, placed a hoof in front of her mouth and asked, “Uh—are y'all sure that's a good idea there?”

“Yeah!” added Rainbow Dash. “It’s like you're asking us to surrender.”

Without hesitation, Norik responded, “That's exactly what I am asking you to do.”

At that, the Toa and Matoran stood back and stared at Norik in disbelief. But before any further questioning could commence, he continued, “Right now the Matoran are in a state of war and will take any help they can. All they'll have to do is look at the masks on your faces and realize that you are on their side.”

His plan seemed logical, but it relied heavily on luck. Could the Toa be lucky enough to run into their respective villages without facing dire consequences? Furthermore, did any one of them had what it took to squeeze out of said consequences?

Gaaki—who had stood to Norik's side closer than any of the other Rahaga—could not decide whether or not she should have agreed with him. A troubled village would want all the help it could get, but it would also do everything in its power to avoid negotiating with potential traitors.

“What if this plan doesn’t work?” challenged Rainbow Dash, throwing out the question on everybody's minds.

“Then they’ll likely cast you all off as foreign rahi.”

As Norik went on, Twilight found herself astonished at his blatant honesty. I can't tell if he trusts us that much or if he's just stupid. But as much of a bad idea it seemed, she understood that there really wasn’t any other feasible way to get on the villages' side.

Eventually, the Rahaga of Fire was interrupted by a rude Toa of Fire. “I’m not doing it!” Dash claimed. “Who do you even think I am? I'll tell you who: I'm a pony who doesn't surrender to a bunch of defenseless villagers just so she can get on their good side!”

Twilight had to suppress a gasp just to distance herself from the two fire-spitters' argument. Don't say that, Rainbow! she silently begged.

Betrayed as he felt on the inside, Norik maintained his temper and asked, “What other choice do you have, Toa? If you don't surrender, the Matoran most definitely will cast you off as a rahi beast. That I can assure you without a doubt in my mind."

Frustrated, the Pegasus grunted and protested, “But what about our duty—you know, the thing you talked about on our way here! How are we supposed to stop Makuta if the Matoran attack us?”

“You make a good point,” said Norik, nodding his head. “But do you know why unity comes before duty in the three virtues?” He took a few steps to his left, then to his right, before he finally halted and said, “Because one cannot fulfill his duty without a united group of friends by his side. And you will not find unity if cannot show the Matoran that you are on their side. Your safest path toward success in this regard is to completely give yourself up to the villages.

The more he spoke, the more logical his argument grew. Twilight—knowing she could help Rainbow Dash as both a friend and a team-member—pushed past the fears in her mind and said, “I agree with Norik. We have to think about our unity before anything else—and right now, the only way to maintain our unity is to show the villages that we're not a threat.”

Rarity, admiring the way Twilight had stepped in, pleaded, “Rainbow, darling—you must understand. There's no other way.”

At that point, all eyes were on Dashie: the stubborn filly of the bunch. The weight of twelve others' argument weighed down on her worse than the weight that came with the final race. Were she in a race, she would have felt the thrill of competition run through her veins. Instead she could do no more than sigh and mumble, “Fine—I'll go along with the plan.”

“Wonderful!” exclaimed Rarity, her eyes twinkling. “Where to first, then?”

That was a good question; it was something Norik had hardly considered. In an attempt to find the nearest village, he noticed a dense jungle in the distance. “Perhaps there,” he said, pointing toward the plantlife. “I believe you’ll be able to find the Toa of Air fairly easily if you can manage to get through some of the dangers of the jungle.”

Ignoring the notion of danger, Twilight nodded and said with a smile, “Shouldn’t be a problem at all.”

“In that case,” Norik began, taking a few steps up to the Toa Equestrian. “I wish you all the best of luck. May Mata Nui be with you.”

For the first time since their arrival on this strange world, the Equestrians had to find their own way around. Like in Equestria, they were expected to be responsible for themselves and determine their own destinies—but unlike in Equestria, they had almost no idea where to go next. Instinct could only get them so far.

Once they had made it to the jungle, the visitors quickly found that they couldn’t figure out where on Mata Nui this native Toa of Air resided. Every time a nearby animal chirped, croaked, or woofed, Twilight scanned her surroundings just to make sure the strange Toa hadn’t slipped under her nose.

Simply searching for the Toa was one thing, but getting bitten by hundreds of little bugs nearly drove the Toa of Water to insanity. The more they bit, the more she itched—and the more she itched, the more she began to feel as if she had contracted some horrible foreign disease. However, she knew to push past such fears, as now was not the time to worry about petty little viruses; in any case, her chances of contracting anything serious were slim at worst.

“Where is this guy?” asked Rainbow Dash, tired of walking. “Cause I'm starting to think he might be in the trees.” The thought in mind, the pegasus readied herself for liftoff and proceeded with a giant leap in the air—only to remember that she’d lost her wings in the process of becoming a Toa. She came crashing to the dirty ground, mud staining her eyes and tainting her tongue.

“Blech!” she spat, dirt in her mouth. “What the—oh, that’s right.” She moaned and rolled her eyes. “I can’t fly anymore."

“Don’t feel too bad, Dashie!” called a voice from above.

Rainbow Dash pushed herself off the muddy ground as the voice clamored in her ears. “Pinkie?” the she asked, her gaze pointing upward as she struggled to find her friend. “Where’d you go?” A million and one jungle leaves blocked her field of view—but how hard could it be to find a pony whose parents named her after the color of her pelt, even when she was covered in green armor?

“Pinkie!” cried Dashie. “Where the heck are you?”

“I’m up here, you silly goose!”

Surprised to hear her voice coming down from up above once again, Spike and the five ponies below pointed their gazes upward, but found nothing. Upon realizing nopony in the trees, the sound of bubbly laughter started echoing through the forest; Twilight thought she could even hear a snort.

“Pinkie, come on!” shouted Twilight, sharing Dash's impatience. “This isn’t funny. We need to find your Toa companion and get him to understand—”

Another giggle cut her off mid-sentence.

Twilight could feel a snarl starting to curl up from under her lip, but suddenly she heard what sounded like whispers coming from the trees above. Is she up there with somebody? she wondered, tuning her ears to listen in, but failing to understand the conversation over her head.

Applejack, who stood beside Twilight, felt a nudge against her torso when the unicorn asked, “There's somebody up there with her. Am I the only one noticing this?”

“No,” replied AJ. “I think I can hear what you're talking about. Celestia only knows what in the hay it actually is.”

Now it was Rarity's turn. “Pinkie, dear?” She took a step forward, hiding herself from the shade of the trees. “We’re in a bit of a rush, you know. Could you please come down?”

Rarity expected Pinkie’s voice to call down from the trees—but instead she heard an unfamiliar, more masculine one:

“Maybe I’ll scurryspeed down one day, but neverso at this instantmoment.”

At that, each of the Equestrians below flinched and turned their heads toward the source of the voice: a green figure camouflaged by a horde of leaves. Beside him, a few splotches of pink could be seen.

“There you are!” shouted Rainbow Dash. “Get down here, already!”

Twilight, noticing the clusters of leaves surrounding the two figures, raised an eyebrow and asked, “Pinkie, who’s that up there with you?”

She could hear the pink pony chortling. “I dunno—but I like him; he’s very friendly! You should come and talk to him.”

Did she really just say that? Rolling her eyes, struggling not to facehoof, she grunted, “I would if I could, Pinkie.”

“Oh!” Pinkie Pie took a moment to laugh at herself; just as well, the friend she’d met up in the trees joined her little bout of laughter. “Sorry—hang on a minute.”

Once more, she exchanged a few whispers with her newfound friend before raising her voice and saying, “Okay! We’re coming down right now.”

And with that, the Equestrians watched as the tree-dwellers leapt from the branches and came down to the ground, careful not to tackle the grounded Equestrians. Pinkie came first, her mask glowing as she safely touched down on all fours; her friend, on the other hand, landed on two feet—and shortly thereafter came tumbling forward on his hands. He then continued rolling forward without any sign of stopping, but shortly thereafter, he hit a nearby tree; the impact seemed to cause a good amount of fuss to the little animals living within the tree.

Twilight gasped. Is he alright? she asked herself, wondering how any creature could go through such a blow without feeling some sort of pain. To her surprise, the stranger almost immediately picked himself up on two feet and brushed himself off, as if almost nothing had happened at all.

“Ah—this is nice!” exclaimed Pinkie. “It feels like forever since I’ve been on solid ground.”

“Uh, Sugarcube,” began Applejack. “Y’know you were only up there for a couple minutes, right?”

At that, Pinkie Pie’s ears twitched. “Really?” she gasped. “Wow—the forest is weird!” She paused for a moment, then flinched and shot a glance toward her new friend. “Oh—everyone, this is my new friend! Introduce yourself, buddy!”

The Equestrians turned themselves toward the green figure and stared in awe. The being before them stood tall on only two feet and seemed to be made almost entirely out of metal, just like the Rahaga. Beneath the metal exterior was a decent amount of muscle; this, coupled with the chopping weapon hanging on his back, gave him an intimidating profile. In contrast, the way he stood gave him the impression of an impatient child, for he struggled to stand still on his feet for more than a few seconds.

“Hello there!” he said through a gruff voice. “I like to call myself the Guardian of the Jungle, but you may call me Lewa. I am the Toa of Air.”

A red flag went up in Twilight's head. “The Toa of Air, you say?”

“That's right!” exclaimed Lewa with a smile. “Just watch my leafwind trick.”

Without hesitation, the Toa turned his gaze toward a few dried-up, grounded leaves and inhaled. His hand, as if the wind around it controlled its very motion, lifted upward, allowing him to whip the decayed particles of wildlife into a mini-vortex. They worked under the aid of air—pushed and pulled as Lewa's hand did the same. Within seconds, the leaves moved and behaved like individual animal units under the guise of one powerful trainer.

In their vortex, the leaves orbited Pinkie Pie. She saw them circle around her for just a second, then ascend to the skies above—where they would migrate and disappear into never-ending space.

Pinkie found herself in shock, but soon she snapped out of her trance and began applauding. “That was great, Lewa!”

Twilight almost felt like chuckling and applauding, herself—but instead cleared her throat as she stepped toward the Toa and asked, “So—Lewa? Have you already acquainted yourself with your village?”

“Have I acquainted them?” the Toa laughed. “They practically worshiptreat me as if I’m a god! Why do you ToaRahi want to know that, though?”

The Toa of Water sighed and took a moment to explain the weight of their situation—how Roodaka had left them for dead, how the Rahaga helped them get to Mata Nui, how the Elements of Harmony needed to bond together with the elements of life—the likes of which were yielded by the mysterious Toa of the island.

After almost forgetting her original intention for coming to the island of Mata Nui, Twilight mentioned how Equestria and the Matoran universe were bound together through a relationship between the Great Spirit and Celestia herself. In telling him this, she noticed how rude she seemed to behave in the face of this stranger; she may as well have told him that he and his team were not strong enough to save their world. But she couldn't take the risk; the balance of light and darkness would spread over every plane of existence once Makuta took over the Matoran universe.

“The fact that our worlds are linked means that perpetual darkness could very easily get cast over.” Twilight concluded her explanation through a lowered voice: “And that’s why I need to ask that you please take Pinkie with you to your village. We need to unite if we have any hope of standing a chance against Makuta.”

Despite having heard the same sort of pep-talk over and over again from, Matau, Kongu, and the like, Lewa nodded his head and smiled. “I understand the problemconflict—and I’m sure my village will accept pink rahi into their midst as long as their masks aren’t infected.” Just for good measure, the Toa abruptly examined Pinkie’s mask, but found nothing out of the ordinary.

A little perturbed by whatever it was she had just witnessed Lewa do, Twilight let a little smile cross her face when she came up to Pinkie and said, “Well, Pinkie—good luck with Lewa. Remember that we need to be at the Kini after at least a week, okay?”

Pinkie winked. “Okie dokie lokie!”

Chapter 13: United Against Them

In fulfilling their duty, the Equestrians had to sacrifice their complete unity for the sake of unifying with tribal strangers. This was just what the Rahaga wanted—yet while the Equestrians understood the irony in following the elders’ orders, they ventured on without their own Toa of Air.

It’s weird—I know, said Twilight, throwing the plan’s inconsistencies in the air as she and her friends exited the jungle. But if Pinkie does the right thing, she’ll be unified with Lewa and his village—right?

The village of air held its fate in the hands (and hooves) of two jungle-dwelling warriors. Soon Twilight would hold the same position for this island’s village of water—but would things differ with each individual village? Should we go back? she wondered, looking over her shoulder as she and her friends continued onward.

Twilight knew Pinkie. She knew Pinkie’s quirks, habits, and hobbies—but whenever Twilight felt as if she’d uncovered every shred of Pinkie Pie, she found herself unpleasantly surprised. She wanted to believe that her friend was responsible with her power—but was she really? For that matter, did she even trust Lewa enough to feel comfortable with his mentoring Pinkie?

A sudden thought occurred to her. They probably have a village elder. Surely an external entity with authority over the village could knock sense into the two Toa, if need be. As she realized this, Twilight almost struggled to retain some sense of optimism. Even if they do get out of hand, I can tell they already like each other. She smiled nervously. At least they have that.

Perhaps Pinkie wasn’t much to worry about after all—but what about Fluttershy? Twilight thought it only appropriate to talk to the pegasus during such a time of uncertainty—but she feared Fluttershy would end up snapping at her, as she had done quite often in recent memory. In addition, Fluttershy now always seemed to carry the same dull, blank expression on her face wherever she went; just looking at it made goosebumps crawl up Twilight’s leg.

The further north the Toa travelled, the more anxious Twilight became. Cold air took place of the warm, tropical climate the Equestrians had known just a few short minutes ago. Gone were the hundreds of insects looking for some nourishment—much to Twilight’s relief—and down came the snowflakes of the north. Fluttershy will blend into this environment before long, she thought with a giggle, moving up to her friend’s side, so as not to lose track of her.

Much to the Toa of Water’s surprise, Fluttershy made the next move. “Hi, Twilight,” she muttered.

A little humored, Twilight replied, “Hi, Fluttershy.” Immediately afterward, awkward silence filled the air between them. Twilight and Fluttershy could do little more than stay silent, making out only the sound and touch of the eerie breeze as it blew past the nearby mountains and whistled through the air. Fluttershy couldn’t help it; touched by this unknown force, she hardly even noticed the heartbeats passing by.

Every now and then, Twilight would glance over at Fluttershy and see her friend staring down at the ground—as if watching every little snowflake gather up. The longer she held her head in such a depressing position, the sadder her eyes became. Frozen tears lingered on Fluttershy’s eyes as her hooves started crunching against the icy gravel beneath them.

She looked as though she needed a shoulder to cry on—but would she even allow herself such a luxury?

A little further on, the sound of nearly inaudible sniffling caught Twilight’s attention. Again, she turned her gaze to Fluttershy, but she wasn’t sniffling from the cold. As chilly as their environment was, not the slightest hint of color came to Fluttershy’s cheeks.

Please, Fluttershy, Twilight silently begged, wondering if her friend could still hear her thoughts. If there’s something wrong, you know you can talk to me—right?

The Toa of Ice blinked once, twice. She sniffled, took a deep breath, and finally turned to talk to her waiting friend. “Um—Twilight?” she began.

Acting as if she were surprised to hear Fluttershy’s voice, Twilight twitched an ear, turned her head toward her friend, and asked, “Yes, Fluttershy?”

“What do you think we’re going to see out there?” The yellow pony lifted her gaze up to the sky. “I feel like somepony’s out there waiting for us.”

Twilight lifted her gaze as well, seeing the horde of mountains jutting out from the ground of what she believed to be Ko-Wahi. Normally she would have continued from there on, but Twilight found herself bumping into Applejack, who said, “Oh—sorry, Sugarcube. I’m just a little nervous about this here dirt.”

“Nervous?” asked Twilight. “What do you—” Just then, the Toa of Water blinked; the ground before her did not bode well for the Equestrians. “Oh,” she murmured, biting her lip. A layer of ash coated over the ground like a sheet of gray snow—but what bothered her more than that was the volcano to her right, which was clearly visible without the trees of Le-Wahi getting in the way.

Rainbow Dash’s village has to be somewhere nearby if the volcano is here, she noted. But I don’t see it anywhere. If the village were nearby, it certainly wouldn’t have been on this side of the volcano. No village existed on this side of the mountain’s face—only little streams of boiling lava and what appeared to be pores within the rock.

Wait a second. The Toa of Water twitched an ear toward the direction of the volcano. As she came closer and closer to the suspicious ash-covered mountain, Twilight heard what sounded like a colony of buzzing bugs—something akin to bees. She looked around to see if there was an insect flying by her ear, but she found nothing.

Rainbow Dash, noticing as Twilight diverged from the others, came her way and asked, “Something wrong, Twilight?”

“I don’t know,” she confessed, her ears still twitching and her mind itching to find the answer. The buzzing continued on in the tips of her ears when she said, “I hear something but—am I the only one hearing it?”

Rainbow Dash, along with Fluttershy—who was listening in—perked their ears toward the mountain. The Toa of Fire squinted her eyes and rotated her ears every which way. “I dunno,” she murmured. “All I hear is those lava streams over there—and all I can hear from that is a bunch of popping.”

Growing desperate, Twilight turned her gaze toward Fluttershy—to which the Toa of Ice responded by shaking her head. “Nothing.”

The unicorn wanted to grunt, but instead perked her own ears once again. “It’s getting louder!” she said. “It sounds like a bunch of bugs.”

“Wait.” Rainbow Dash’s ears twitched. “I think I hear it, too.” Much like the ringing of a sore ear, the noise grew louder and louder until it became almost difficult to hear anything else. “Uh—Twilight?” she began. “I think we have company.”

And just as those words left Dashie’s lips, the air around the Equestrians grew still, then exploded into a rush of pure noise—buzzing unlike anything ever heard by Equestrian ears. Even Fluttershy—familiar with bees and their ways—could not familiarize herself with such sounds.

From the volcano, they came in droves. Enormous, hideous bugs beyond the Equestrians’ imaginations began to litter the sky—some of them orange in color, some of them lime-green. They looked to be split between a species of dragonflies and bumblebees; their large blue eyes, powerful claws, and sharp stingers gave off that impression with ease.

Applejack gasped. “They’re headed right for us!”

“What do we do now?” said Rarity.

Twilight, paying little attention to her friends’ words, looked over her shoulder and toward Spike. “I need you to stand back.”

Without any argument, the dragon boy turned tail and ran, making sure to distance himself from the Toa and the bugs as much as possible.

Their first battle on this planet was about to begin. The five Toa, missing the sixth piece to their whole, waited for the bugs to come down. Then, one by one, they would attack—but with Applejack anxiety, Rarity’s pristine values, Rainbow Dash’s temper, Fluttershy’s timidity, Twilight’s uncertainty, and Pinkie Pie’s absence, had they any hope of attacking as one?

The buzzing of the bugs’ wings grew louder and louder by the second. Twilight, unwilling to lose any time on her hooves, felt their presence like a tickling whisper right by her ear. Determined, she flicked her gaze from Spike’s direction and faced the great insects.

Never before had she feared so vehemently for her life.

With hardly any warning at all, one of the giant bugs’ stingers—a stinger of which nopony could tell whether or not it was venomous—stared her straight in the eye, coming for her near the speed of sound. Her life flashed before her eyes as she nearly felt the stinger pierce through her skull.

Her right eye faced the consequence of being pierced at the hands of this animal, but her left eye sensed a flash of orange light coming to save Twilight from her doom. Fast as she was, Rainbow Dash leapt to her friend’s rescue. The Toa of Fire’s power seemed to take control of itself as she lurched toward the bug—intending to punch it—and noticed as a rush of flame surrounded her hoof. The fire didn’t hurt the pony, but almost seemed to soothe her skin as she landed a terrific punch to the animal’s ugly face. In doing so, she watched as it just barely missed the opportunity of ending Twilight once and for all.

And with that, Rainbow Dash and the bug came to the ground—one standing on all four hooves while the other twitched its damaged wings. Dash stared in awe at what now lied before her—watched as the metallic beast crashed to the ashen ground, unable to flap its wings and escape. She felt accomplished, yet—at the very same time—horrified by what she had just done.

That’s incredible! thought Applejack, almost completely distracted by the many beasts flying through the air. If Rainbow can do that on her own, I reckon I’ll be able to do something else like it!

A hundred moving targets flew about in the air, making the Toa of Stone wish she had brought her lasso with her on this trip. Nuts, she thought. In her frustration, she stomped a hoof against the ground. Had she not tilted her gaze to the ground, Applejack wouldn’t have noticed the stone on which she stood—which started to crumble beneath her hoof. That’s it!

Without hesitation, Applejack stomped her hoof again—and then again! Before she knew it, a stalagmitic figure rose from the ground. Before she knew it, she had managed to do something she never thought possible: she controlled the rock without even touching it.

Her hooves themselves seemed to be made out of stone; Applejack wondered if she could kick the stalagmite toward the bugs, if she could put as much force into her kick as she dared to dream. She leapt up into the air as her stone floated before her eyes. One kick was all it took.

Two carcasses fell down on impact. She couldn’t help but grin as they fell down. It’s like killing two birds with one stone, she thought. Or two giant bugs. But at least ninety-eight living insects still pursued.

“Whoa!” called Spike from behind all the others. “How did you do that?”

Rarity heard the boy and put a shocked look on her face. “Spike!” she exclaimed, turning her gaze back to the swarm. “What are you doing out in plain sight? You need to hide—now!” And with that, the Toa of Earth unknowingly created a barrier of hardened soil—an igloo of dirt—to go over Spike’s entire being.

For a moment she merely stood and waited for the bugs to approach—but then looked back over her shoulder and saw the dome she had just created. “Wait a—Spike?” She started to panic. “Wh-where did you—?”

At that moment, she noticed a little peephole on the side of the igloo. Through it, she saw Spike’s green eye as he attempted to look and see what was going on.

“Spike?”

But before the dragon could respond, he watched as she suddenly swept away from his view. One of the bugs came down and stole Rarity from under the other Toa’s noses. She let out a screech as the creature’s oversized claws caught a firm grip on her body. Up it went, intending to turn Rarity into a new slave for the hive.

The sound of Rarity’s scream stung Twilight’s ears as she turned her head and witnessed the black-and-white Toa being lifted further and further from the ground. “Oh no!” said Twilight, her hoof pointing toward her endangered friend. “Rarity!”

The others almost immediately turned their heads toward where Twilight’s hoof was pointing and gasped at the sight. Seeing Rarity struggling and squirming and trying to squeeze through nearly drove all the Toa to insanity—all except for Fluttershy. Rather than wait for the bug to slip up, rather than hope Rarity could get out on her own, rather than fend for herself and nobody but herself, the Toa of Ice allowed her instinct to take over. Heartbeats passed by slower and slower as she felt her body temperature drop below zero. Within seconds, frost began to form at the bases of her hooves. Within heartbeats, a razor-sharp icicle shot upward toward the insect, landing a blow right in its blue, oversized eye.

With that, the bug came crashing down—as did Rarity. The parasite made a loud clank noise as it hit the round, whereas Rarity only thumped and screamed in pain. The damage caused by this impact was immediately apparent.

Twilight gasped as she heard what sounded like Rarity’s tibia snapping in half. Horror flashed in her eyes as she to her friend’s side, ready to protect her from further incoming danger. “Stand back,” she commanded, gazing at Rarity from the corner of her eye. “I don’t want you getting any more hurt than you already are.” As Twilight said this, Rarity looked as if pain-stricken tears would start leaking from her eyes.

Yet as much as Twilight wanted to assure her friend that everything would be okay, she knew she couldn’t promise anything. Instead, she could only stay in one place, making herself and Rarity the easiest targets for these bugs. Sweat began pouring down the side of Twilight’s face as she awaited their approach.

Before long, one of the hideous creatures took a turn in its flight without warning. It started heading right for the two Toa.

This had better work, thought Twilight. The idea of being completely unsure drove her to near insanity. How do I even know if I can do it? What will happen when I move and think a certain way? The magic of Equestria was one thing, but the magic of this world’s elements left her with nothing.

Twilight’s ear twitched as she heard something from behind. Bzz, one of the animals whispered.

There’s another one, she realized.

Before Rarity could let out a horrified shriek, Twilight raised her hind legs and smashed the subtle scum. As she did so, a wave of water spontaneously rose beneath her hooves, adding a elemental power to her attack.

Realizing this, Twilight did something she thought she would have never done in a strange and violent place like this:

She smiled. She smirked. She faced the danger as if it were another unread novel.

The bug heading for Twilight and Rarity took no notice to the bookish Toa’s newfound confidence. Unaware, the bug faced the impact of Twilight’s hoof slamming against its eyes, knocking two cobalt masks off its face in one fell swoop. And as she did so, the insectoid animal went flying in an arc before crashing to the ground.

Rarity, meanwhile, couldn’t help but notice the way it collided with the ground and struggled to get back up. As it attempted to crawl, the bug pointed its empty gaze toward the two Equestrians, staring at them with its two black sockets. Normally Rarity would have been slightly disgusted by the sight of a nearly dead bug—but now, she didn’t know what to feel.

Unable to fly, the bug attempted to flap its wings, but went nowhere in the end. The only movement it gained was through clawing at the dirt in front of its face.

Twilight’s ear twitched again. Oh, now what is it? she wondered. What is with today and nopony hearing all the things I can hear? The strange noise sounded like something low and gurgling—almost as if a large animal were rising from the depths of the ocean. With one quick glance, she realized it coming wasn’t the depths of the ocean—but from the pit of a river of lava.

The Toa of Water flinched as a horse-sized animal lifted itself from the molten rock. As it came up, some of the lava dripped off its back and down into the river; the rest of this magma cooled on its back, giving it the impression of a turtle with a defective shell. The unidentified creature moved slowly as it came up, but demonstrated its speed with a long, springy tongue.

It happened like lightning; had Twilight blinked, she might have completely missed what had just happened.

Like the largest toad the Equestrians had ever seen, the lava landlord grabbed the dying bug with its tongue and swallowed it whole. The bug met its end with a loud gulp. Seeing this, the Equestrians and the horde of flying bugs stopped what they were doing.

The bugs knew their place. The Equestrians were no longer worth the cause. So—as one unit, the insects retreated back into their home.

But just as quickly as the bugs had turned away, more of the giant frogs rose from the lava streams and went on to capture and swallow as many flying insects as they could. In due time, the last of the surviving bugs made it back into their hive—while the rest made a new home in the frogs’ bellies.

“Whew!” sighed Twilight. “Isn’t that a relief?”

Applejack, who was just about to chuck another stone at the swarm, chuckled. “You’re tellin’ me! I thought we were gonna be toast.”

Twilight smiled. “It’s just as I’ve read time and time again: there’s always a bigger fish.”

“Um, Twilight?” It was Rarity. She looked absolutely helpless on the dirty ground, casting a smile on her lips and a look in her eyes that read, Please pick me up right now!

Seeing this, the Toa of Water blushed an embarrassed shade of red and grabbed Rarity’s hoof to help her up. “Sorry, Rarity,” she said. “Are you okay?”

But by the time those words left her mouth, Twilight could already tell her friend was doing much better than she’d initially thought.

Rarity seemed to read Twilight’s mind when she replied, “Actually—I feel almost like I was never even hurt! I could’ve sworn I broke a bone in one of my legs.” As she said this, the Toa of Earth took a few steps forward. “My leg barely even hurts now that—aaaAAAHH!!”

“Hey!” shouted Rainbow Dash, her mouth agape. “Rarity isn’t a bug! What the heck is that thing doing?”

Perhaps they were still hungry; perhaps they were curious as to what horse meat tasted like. Either explanation would have made sense at that point—for Rarity found herself being rudely whisked away and picked up by the lava frog’s tongue. The animal’s tongue—hot like the inside of an oven—whipped her off her hooves and made her want to scream with every second it touched her skin.

Even from his earth dome, Spike could see Rarity about to become a statistic in this harsh world. In just a few seconds, she would disappear from this realm completely.

Rarity came in contact with the giant frog’s lips. Time froze as the standingby Equestrians stood back in awe. Their blood froze, the air they breathed froze, their thoughts drew to a stop.

And like a bolt of lightning, a flash of brisk light drifted toward the frogs, stopping them, as well.

Chapter 14: Villagers Can Only Beware

The heat vanished in an instant, but the agonizing burns on Rarity's legs still persisted, leaving her to moan in pain as the surrounding volcanic desert turned into a tundra.

Fluttershy could hardly believe her eyes. Had she truly just witnessed lava turn into ice? What force could possibly be powerful enough to accomplish such a feat? Her eyes darted here and there as she asked, “What was that?”

Rainbow Dash spotted the perpetrator and felt her blood draw to a freeze. “I think it was him!” she said with a gasp, pointing toward the mountains. The other Equestrians followed the direction of her hoof and noticed—camouflaged in the white of a snowy mountaintop—a stranger unlike any they had seen before.

Standing at the top of a snowy decline, the unknown warrior emerged from a mist of snow. Like a knight of the tundra, this figure held a sword in one hand and a shield in the other. Like Lewa and the Equestrians before him, he wore a mask that almost completely covered his face—but in his case, three robotic eyes covered up what should have been one right eye. Were she close enough to see and had she not still found herself within the jaws of a frozen frog, Rarity would marveled at the intricate, fantastical mask design.

The confused Toa of Earth had so many questions to ask—but before a single one of them could settle within her head, the white knight threw his shield down along the snowy hill and, for a split-second, chased after it as it went sliding down. His feet hit the shield and the knight came sledding down at a brisk, yet alarming speed. He looked as though he planned to attack the Equestrians before they could attempt to escape.

The closer he drew, the colder the air seemed to become. Twilight could already tell this character was going to be Fluttershy’s partner during their time on this island—but how would Fluttershy react to his mere presence? Would she react in the same way she had with her Teridax rock—always secluding herself from others and wondering what meaning her life holds? Twilight didn’t want to think about it, but how could she not?

After a short amount of time, the knight’s sled came to a gradual stop around the base of the snowy, steady decline. Without a word, he kicked his sled-shield off the ground and into his hand once again. Having seen him slide down the snowy decline, some of the Equestrians had forgotten that this circular tool was a shield first and sled second.

With the stranger's presence came a cold, awkward aura of silence. Fluttershy wanted to say something, but her natural shyness kept her quiet; Rarity wanted to thank him, but the blank look on his face made her wonder if he was anything more than a lifeless drone; Twilight wanted to ask who he was, but by the time she could get those words on the tip of her tongue, he had already passed her, making his way to the volcano.

The sound of every step he took resonated in the Equestrians’ ears. Even Spike—still trapped in his soil igloo—couldn’t help but shiver as the knight’s mechanical echoed all around him. He felt a little vibration whenever this man’s feet touched the ground, yet the stranger seemed hardly like the kind of creature to cause such a rumble—albeit a very low rumble. All this he felt without even seeing him.

A few steps later, the humanoid figure touched a foot to the frozen lava—and just as Rarity stepped out from the amphibious jaws of her personal predator. As the pony’s hoof touched solid ground, she found herself struggling to stay up on the slippery surface. Recently frozen, the solid lava beneath her had round bumps all over its surface, making Rarity uncomfortable going anywhere.

The stranger briefly stopped in his tracks and looked down on Rarity, as if to say, “Do you want me to help you?” Rarity couldn’t do anything but stare at his intricately-crafted mask and wonder, Is he a Toa? She continued staring, her mouth open but saying nothing; he carried on.

Not much further still, the white knight managed to climb up the volcano’s face before stopping once again. Is he going to freeze all the lava in that thing? wondered Twilight. Is that even possi—well, this person just froze a pack of lava frogs, but— The more she thought about this world’s laws of thermodynamics, the more intense her migraine became. I mean—there’s no way he’s going to freeze all of it—just enough to keep those bugs away, right? There’s just no way; he can’t possibly freeze an entire volcano!

For a good second, the silent rogue stood still. They’re definitely still in there, he thought, hearing the buzzing insects moving around as they struggled to keep themselves quiet. And they’re not coming out any time soon. That’s good. Without further hesitation, he flipped his sword upside-down and drove it deep into the volcano’s face. Almost immediately, the ground below him froze beneath a layer of ice—and with the sudden transformation came absolute silence.

Even from a good hundred feet away, the Equestrians not no trouble witnessing this incredible display of power. Any little bit of buzzing from within the volcano ceased in an instant—and with that, the knight used his shield as a sled once more and came sliding down the volcano’s slippery slope.

At that point, Twilight still failed to comprehend this world’s physics, Rarity still struggled to get back onto solid earth, Spike still couldn’t manage to get out of his tiny prison, and Fluttershy could only let her jaw hang open. Yet the knight seemed not to notice the Equestrians
around him as he made it back down to the base of the volcano.

It wasn’t until Rarity screamed and landed flat on her face when he paid the newcomers any heed. He noticed as Rarity sat back up and started rubbing her sore nose. “Ow,” she moaned. “Is my nose bleeding? No—I don’t think so…”

As she mumbled to herself, Rarity failed to notice as the white knight came by her side. His sudden appearance startled her—but what astonished her more than his quiet approach was his ability to resist slipping on this bumpy ground.

He reached a hand down and helped Rarity back up, holding her by her hoof. Normally Rarity would have blushed at the notion of being picked off the ground by another man, but this man hadn’t a hoof to pull her up—only cold, metallic, gripping fingers. Instead of blushing, she found herself shuddering.

“Come on,” he said, his voice deep and calm and soft all at once. “Off the ice.” He continued holding Rarity’s hoof as he guided her back toward the fresh soil. “You’re obviously not the other Toa of Ice I was told about.”

Rarity wanted to scoff at the knight’s rude behavior, but found herself cut off when Fluttershy finally stepped in. “Um—actually,” she began, her voice projected more than usual. “That would be me.”

“I thought so.”

“And you’re the Toa I’m supposed to team up with?” She hoped the question wasn’t too intrusive.

He nodded.

Twilight spoke this time. “Oh, good! I was wondering when we would find the next one of you.”

The yellow-and-white pony continued. “I’m Fluttershy.” She paused and looked up at the stranger, witnessing as his cold blue eyes stared back into hers. “Um—what’s your name?”

The character blinked. “Kopaka.”

Their conversation was interrupted by a voice unfamiliar to Kopaka sounded from what seemed out of nowhere. “Guys? Get me out of here!” It was Spike. “It’s starting to get musty in this thing!”

Rarity heard the dragon-boy’s voice and felt her heart leap into her throat. “Oh, dear goodness!” she exclaimed, running to his soil shelter. Knowing anything that had stood so long must have retained some level of strength to it, Rarity predicted it would have taken more than a few minutes to break the boy out.

Absentmindedly, she tapped the igloo with a single hoof and watched it turn to dust.

She surprised herself. It was that easy? she thought. For how long had she underestimated her own abilities?

Coughing, Spike shook the dirt out of his scales and said, “Thanks, Rarity.” He wasn’t sure, but he thought he could feel himself blushing. Such a realization made Spike want to slap himself. Get it together! shouted a voice in his head.

As Spike attempted to regain some level of masculinity, Twilight took a step toward Kopaka and began to explain the weight of their situation. “Kopaka,” she began, hoping not to surprise the quiet Toa. “I know this all seems very strange, but we have come to this island to help you and your brothers in your war against Makuta.”

The unamused Toa blinked. “Go on.”

His words stung the pony’s ears a little. He doesn’t believe me, does he? I guess it’d be hard to believe in a group of fish out of water. Twilight took a deep breath before continuing. “We were directed to Mata Nui by a group of elders known as the Rahaga.”

“The Turaga,” corrected Kopaka.

Part of Twilight wanted to smack Kopaka for interrupting her—but another part wondered where Kopaka had heard such terminology. Her ear twitched and she replied, “No—I mean the Rahaga.”

She paused and watched as Kopaka’s eyes bored into her own, unresponsive and unblinking. Her lips pursed, she took another deep breath and diverged from the topic. “Never mind; the only thing you need to take from me is that my friends and I have been sent here to help you.

“I know you have no real reason to believe us; for crying out loud, the we probably look like—what was the word?—rahi. We probably look like rahi to you, but you have to believe me when I say that we are here to help you and your brothers. One of us even went with your brother in the jungle.”

Kopaka let out a nearly inaudible chuckle as he scanned the crowd before him. “I thought one of you was missing.” Looking down at Twilight, he asked, “So your friend is now with Lewa?”

The Toa of Water nodded. “If by Lewa you mean the green one who likes to pull pranks, then yes.”

Kopaka rolled his eyes. “Yep—that’s Lewa, all right.”

From behind them, the two Toa heard somebody clearing her throat. There they found Fluttershy. “I don’t mean to rush,” she said, “but I think we should get going.”

It wasn’t even yesterday when the Equestrians last plundered through an icy wasteland, yet here they walked amongst mounds of snow—as opposed to the crystalline skyscrapers of Metru Nui. A few of them had to squint their yes just to keep themselves from seeing nothing but blinding white.

The two Toa of Ice spoke not one word as they ventured side-by-side to Ko-Koro. Instead of talking, Fluttershy took this time to absorb her surroundings—which left her mesmerized in their wintry and relatively motionless ways.

It wasn’t too often when the pegasus noticed a tree’s torso growing and attempting to nourish off the rock-hard ground. Every tree had snow coming up to its waist. Could she even imagine herself covered up in a coat of snow on a breezy winter afternoon—without a friend, without a family to accompany her as she struggled to evolve?

With every step she took, the bark along the trees’ faces seemed to chip away bit by brittle bit. They were dry from lack of any liquid water; now that Fluttershy had taken a moment to think about it, her lips were rather dry, as well.

“This will be as far as you can go.”

Kopaka’s deep voice pulled Fluttershy out of her thoughts. Like everypony else, she tilted her head up to the Toa and heeded his words.

The native Toa continued. “Not that much further is the village that I come from. I’m only going to bring your Toa of Ice with me.”

“Understandable,” said Twilight with a nod. She turned to face her friends when she affirmed, “In that case, I guess we all better get going to our own respective villages.”

“But wait,” Kopaka protested, his voice sounding actually a little bit concerned. “Before you do that, I need to warn you about the villagers.”

He now had the ponies’ eyes and ears. “Whenever one of you goes into whatever village you’re trying to get into, you need to send just one person over. I assume you’re going to Onu-Koro next. When you get to the cave that leads there, just send your Toa of Earth and nobody else.”

“Now, you wait!” commanded Rainbow Dash. The Equestrians and Kopaka turned their heads toward her as she stepped forward and asked, “If we leave our friends behind, what are we gonna do if they get attacked? Just up and leave?”

The Toa of Fire’s hotheadedness humored Kopaka. “Trust me—if they see just one of you, they won’t hurt you. If they see any more than one, they’ll get concerned.”

Twilight nodded. “He’s right, Rainbow Dash. We just have to go in one at a time.”

And with that, the Toa of Ice turned his head toward what looked like a village of silhouettes crowded in snowy mist. He then looked over his shoulder, his gaze pointed at Fluttershy as he asked through his camera-like eyes, Are you okay to go?

Fluttershy blinked. I think I’m ready, said she, her breath still. She took another moment to absorb her surroundings, and—with a sudden inhale—continued walking by his side. The two Toa of Ice left without a single word. Within a few steps, they became one with the surrounding mist—became two phantoms swimming in their native element.

Never before had she walked into such a freezing climate—yet never before had she felt so close to home.

Chapter 15: Shattering these Close Ties for Peace

The Equestrians walked forward for a few hours longer, humored that the land had seemed to transform from an icy tundra to an unfamiliar warm desert. To further add to the exoticism, not a single cactus sprouted from the ground. Despite having visited Appaloosa on multiple occasions, almost none of the travelers noticed the lack of cacti—none except Applejack, who noticed immediately and shuddered, feeling like she needed to find a cactus just to keep from going insane.

Not long after entering the desert, Twilight heard something nearby and gasped. “Stop!” she exclaimed, her voice barely above a whisper.

All the others did what they were told—though some of them looked a little annoyed.

“What is it, Twilight?” asked Rainbow Dash, her words sharp and bitter.

“Shh!” The Toa of Water clenched her teeth, as though she was resisting the urge to bite Rainbow’s head off. “I can hear somebody nearby.”

At that, the Toa of Fire blinked and opened her mouth to protest, but then realized she could hear something, too—something pitter-pattering on the other side of this sandy dune. She could imagine a small figure cowering away once it realized the Equestrians had spotted it—cowering, yet unable to cry for help as it fled.

She blinked one more time. “Oh,” said Rainbow Dash. “It doesn’t sound like anything I’ve ever heard.”

Twilight’s ears twitched. “You’re right. It sounds small—way smaller than Kopaka or the Rahaga.”

Rainbow Dash turned her head toward the source of the noise. “I’m gonna sneak a peek.” And before any one of her friends could protest, she took a great leap over the sandy hill.

By the time she hit solid ground, the Toa of Fire had already discovered where the noise was coming from. On the other side of the dune, a large brown crab walked uphill on six legs. The crustacean panicked as the pony leapt from what seemed out of nowhere.

Once Rainbow Dash’s hooves hit the ground, the crab immediately turned herself around and retreated, moving at a snail’s pace.

“Oh,” muttered Rainbow Dash. Turning her head back over her shoulder, she called, “Don’t worry, guys—it’s just a crab.”

Hearing this, the large animal turned back around and exclaimed through a withering female voice, “Don’t scare me like that, you ruffian!”

At that, the pony’s jaw dropped. “What the—?” Was she having desert hallucinations or did crabs in this world have the ability to talk? “D-did you just say something?”

The crab took a few steps forward. “Of course I did! Now, don’t scare me like that again! Do you understand?”

Normally the Toa of Fire would have found herself at a loss for words, but instead she only nodded her head and replied, “Yeah—yeah, I understand. Sorry.”

“Good,” the crab said, somewhat satisfied. “Maybe now—oh, by Mata Nui. When did your kind suddenly become common here?”

Before the former pegasus could ask what the crab was talking about, a voice from behind asked, “What in tarnation? A talking crab?”

“Oh, honestly!” The crustacean took a few more steps forward. “Is your kind common on other parts of the island?”

Twilight was the first to speak up. “Actually, no. We’re here to fight the darkness threatening your homeland.”

The Toa of Water wasn’t sure, but she thought she could see the giant crab take a few baby steps backward. The creature blinked. “Is that so?” she wondered, her tone a tad more cynical than before. “And what about those tall Matoran?”

“You mean the Toa?” asked Twilight, her ears perked. “How do you know about them?”

“Haven’t you heard? The tall Matoran are being built by someone from your species. I don’t really remember her name, or why she was doing it, but all—”

“Hold up!” This time Applejack spoke. “You’re saying you’ve already seen one of us?”

The crab nodded, though really it looked more like her eye stocks were just being abruptly lowered and raised back to their original position. “Last time I saw her, she was building the tall Matoran of stone. I thought the Matoran was dead, but apparently he was just somebody who needed to be fixed.”

Feeling like she may have had an idea of whom the crab spoke of, Twilight asked, “And what did she look like?”

“She was cyan.” The crab tried to recall more details. “And she had a horn coming out of her head and hair with bits of cyan and white in it. Is that someone you know?”

A great mystery may as well have unraveled before the Equestrians’ eyes. “Yes!” replied Twilight, her purple eyes suddenly dazzling with relief, success, and hope. “Nopony back home knew where Lyra was.” She sighed. “Poor thing; it’s been almost a week since we last heard of her. And I can’t even begin to wonder what Bon Bon feels about the whole ordeal.”

“Well, shoot!” Applejack snorted. “No wonder Lyra’s been gone. Roodaka must’ve zapped her here like she did to us!”

Eager to find out more, Twilight stepped up to the crab—her body casting a shadow over the crustaceous being—when she asked, “Do you know where Lyra’s gone since you last saw her?”

“Um…I truthfully have no idea.” And at that moment, the ponies’ progress toward finding Lyra seemed to come to a halt. The crab looked down at the sandy ground, clearly embarrassed. “She could be anywhere by now.”

Looking around, she tried to find some place where Lyra might have gone. “Hmm—maybe she went to Onu-Koro,” she said while pointing toward a nearby cave with her pincer.

Rarity’s ears twitched. “Onu-Koro?” she probed. “The village of Earth?”

“Oh yes,” cooed the crab, feeling a little nostalgic. “If you want to look for her there, I can give you people some directions.”

Twilight found herself a little taken aback by the crab’s polite gesture. “That’d be very kind of you!” But even still, the unicorn knew not all of them could go. Remember what Kopaka said, she told herself. Rarity will have to go in on her own.

As the Toa of Water lost herself in her thoughts, Rarity walked up to the cave on her own accord, “So odd,” she murmured to herself, noticing the mysterious scriptures upon the cave’s walls. “These people have their own language, their own tunnels—yet they leave so much of this island alone.”

Stuck with these thoughts, Rarity’s nose started to tickle; her ticklish nose started to quiver; she took a deep breath and stifled a sneeze, burying her nose in her foreleg.

Twilight came walking up from behind. “Celestia bless you! I forgot you were allergic to dust.” The thought in mind, she looked up at the cave and saw some of the little dust particles floating around—some of which Rarity had stirred into the air when she sneezed. “Oh my; to think you’ll have to live here for a while.” She turned to face Rarity. “Do you think you can handle it?”

Rarity turned around and chuckled, “Don’t worry, Twilight! I may be allergic, but I’m not going to let that get me down. Besides—” She sniffed again. “—a little sneeze never bothered me, anyway.”

While still a little concerned, Twilight assured herself that Rarity would tolerate anything for the sake of fulfilling her duty. With a nod of her head, she replied, “Okay. In that case—I wish you the best of luck!”

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Spike came walking in from behind. Rainbow Dash was the first to speak: “You’ve got this, Rarity!”

Applejack nodded. “Go out and find your partner. You’ll both be the best Earth team ever—or whatever you wanna call it!”

But as the three ponies encouraged Rarity to move forward, Spike couldn’t help but feel something like an ulcer peeling away at the pit of his stomach. The dragon-boy twiddled his thumbs, unsure what to say or what to do. He found it so strange that throughout their journey to this island, he had never once spoken to her about his thoughts—only cried for her help shortly after being trapped in a cage of soil.

The Ta-Matoran wished he could go with her to the Onu-Matoran village, but he knew such a thing would not, could not happen.

From her slightly skewed perspective, Rarity managed to catch a good glimpse at Spike’s saddened face. Seeing this, she pushed past her friends and asked, “Spike, dear—is something wrong?”

Hearing her call him “dear” relieved some of the dragon-boy’s stress—but not enough to keep him from admitting his woes. His eyes peering down at his feet, Spike nodded and replied, “Yes.”

A moment of silence came in. Rarity—feeling the tension weighing in on the sides of her head—blinked a few times before continuing, “Well…what’s the problem?” But right as she said those words, she’d already thought of a good reason why. She knew instantly that Spike would come to miss her like no one else.

Before the Ta-Matoran could utter another word, the Toa of Earth bent over and placed a kiss on his head.

Spike’s entire body froze as he felt the woman’s lips pushing gently against his skin. That sweet moment lasted no more than a split-second—and by the time Spike had managed to snap out of his trance, Rarity had almost completely escaped his field of view, shrouded beneath the cave’s shadow.

Though he wanted to go after her, he knew no such thing had any right to happen.

Realizing what she had just done, the crab flinched. “W-wait a minute!” she cried, her tiny legs struggling to carry her any faster. She made her way in between the four Equestrians—but found herself suddenly turning around and facing Applejack. “Oh—and for you, tall Matoran of Stone—you need to get to Po-Koro. Look for the giant stone wall with the arch opening.” And with that, the crab turned back around and proceeded to enter the cave, all the while calling, “Wait up! Make sure you turn left; don’t turn toward the lava farm!”

Just that little message was enough to make Spike jump. “Wh-what? Lava farm?”

Knowing he needed to go and save Rarity from being scorched alive, Spike nearly lurched forward—but found himself being halted as Twilight’s motherly hoof curled over his shoulder.

He looked up and saw his Toa friend gazing down on him. “It’s okay, Spike,” she assured, a warm smile on her face. “Rarity’s stronger than she looks.”

From behind the two of them, Applejack cleared her throat and said, “Well—I guess I’d better be going off to Po-Koro.”

Her words startled Twilight—who turned around and said, “Oh—well, good luck to you too, Applejack!”

Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Spike bade Applejack a fond farewell before watching her go off into the distant desert. Only after seeing her fade away did they continue their journey to the Matoran villages.

The desert had left the Equestrians warm and dry—but after a while, they finally made it to a nearby body of water. All three were relieved, yet Rainbow Dash—having contracted cottonmouth when in the desert—felt an enormous wave of elation washing over her. A large body of water stood before the Equestrians; Twilight’s village stood not much further ahead.

Before Twilight could even begin making her way to the sandy shore, Rainbow Dash rushed forward—as if completely disregarding Twilight’s existence. The Toa of Water wanted to turn up her nose at the pegasus’ rude behavior, but held her tongue and let her anxious friend be.

Rainbow Dash began lapping up the water mouthful after mouthful. Meanwhile, Twilight stood back and rolled her eyes. Explosion in three…two…one….

And right on cue, Dashie spat the water back out; she may as well have vomited. She spat and spat until she was sure that every little droplet of that water had flown off her tongue. “What in the hoof?!” she cried. “What kind of water is this?”

“Tsk tsk,” said Twilight, walking up to the angry Toa’s side. “That’s saltwater, Rainbow. You won’t find saltwater in Equestria because we don’t live near the ocean.”

Feeling as though her friend had gotten what she deserved, Twilight tilted her chin up and absorbed this strange splendor. She’d read many novels that would describe oceans as vast, ever-expanding stretches of water that seemed to go on forever and ever. She’d heard about how these waters hosted the most beautiful and most violent displays of nature imaginable, yet there was still so much to explore—so much ponykind had yet to discover. An orange sun started dipping into the water, revealing the silhouettes of the water villagers’ leaf-crafted houses.

And here she stood, soon to live amongst those strange ocean-dwelling people. What all did they know about this world beyond her world? Could they tell her how far it expanded, where it ended—if it had an end at all?

Twilight would live peacefully amongst the Ga-Matoran, but what of Rainbow Dash and Spike? Where would they now live? Pinkie Pie went to the jungle, Fluttershy stepped into the icy tundra, Rarity delved deep into the dark caves, Applejack found herself at home in the desert, and Twilight stood a short swim away from the island’s beautiful bay.

Taking her two friends’ elemental orientation into consideration, Twilight realized there was only one logical area for them to go: the volcano.

Realizing this, Twilight looked over her shoulder and saw the nearby mountain, realizing she and her friends—in the course of one single day—had nearly walked a circle around it. From where she now stood, she could see a path cutting through the beach and into an indistinguishable gray area a little further down the line.

The idea of living near a volcano made Twilight shiver. Maybe it’s dormant, she thought. But what if it's not? Back in Equestria, Spike—born into dragonhood—was the only person Twilight knew who could resist the heat of molten lava; could Rainbow Dash manage something so incomprehensible

Rainbow Dash seemed to have the same thoughts in mind. Stepping just behind Twilight, she scratched her head and said, “If I could still fly, I’d be able to see where the heck the fire village is.”

But just as she said that, the rainbow pony felt a sharp poke on her back. “Um—Rainbow?” asked Spike. “Well—I hate to break it to you, but…with something that big, the Matoran here probably built their village inside the volcano.”

With that, both ponies’ necks snapped toward the dragon boy. Twilight looked especially dumbfounded, her ears folded over her head. “Spike—”

“W-wait a minute!” a disturbed Rainbow Dash interrupted. “What if that thing blows?!”

“It won’t blow,” he replied. “The dragons in Equestria do this same thing. They just kind of move the lava somewhere else.”

“But…but if I’m gonna live in some thousand-degree pit of hot rock snot, where the heck am I supposed to get water—or cider, or whatever?”

Spike contemplated for a moment. “I don’t think that’s how it works,” he confessed. “Since we’re both going to be living in a fiery environment, we’re gonna have to drink something else.”

The Toa of Fire raised an eyebrow. “Like what?”

“Probably lava.” Spike shrugged as Rainbow Dash cast a dumbfounded stare his way. “Hey, it’s the best I could think of! Besides, lava’s delicious.”

Under normal conditions, Twilight would have just rolled her eyes and moved on, but now she found herself blinking in disbelief. She was about to be left with people she’d never met before—and even worse still, two of her best friends would find themselves living in a volcano.

Twilight turned around to face her two friends. They’re both beings of fire, she kept telling herself. They’ll be okay. She blinked a few more times before forcing a smile on her face.

They’ll be okay. Rainbow Dash is strong and Spike is smart.

She blinked again before taking a few more steps toward the beings of fire. She wanted to start laughing for their sake—but just as soon as she made a noise, Twilight felt warm tears rolling down her cheeks.

Spike and Rainbow Dash felt Twilight’s forelegs wrap around them as what should have been fit of laughter turned into a fit of sobbing. Twilight sniffed. “I’m sorry—just…I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“Twilight—” Spike began, knowing Rainbow Dash wouldn’t be able to calm their friend down. “It’ll be okay,” he said, his young voice soft and soothing to the unicorn’s ears. “I think you’re just stressed.”

Having worked under Twilight’s belt for most of his life, he knew what it was like to see his mentor, his best friend under so much pressure. But even with that in mind, all the deadlines she’d come to meet, the books she’d had to read, the hours she poured into studying couldn’t compare to the weight of the world—much less the weight of two worlds—pushing down on her shoulders.

Deep down, Spike new this—and Twilight knew it too, but she simply had too many words to say on the whole matter. “Y-you’re right.” Twilight wiped her eyes and pulled away from the two of them. “I’m sorry,” she sniffed.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t a fan of emotions, but she still had a heart. Her voice gentler than anything Twilight had heard from her, the former pegasus asked, “You’ll be alright, Twilight.”

Blinking the rest of the tears out of her eyes, she nodded. “I just…you guys know where you’re supposed to go, right?”

At that, the two of them looked over at the nearby volcano—which towered over a desecrated forest. Spike shrugged. “Honestly, it seems like the only place that makes sense.”

Twilight nodded once more. “I agree.” Knowing her journey would soon come to an end, she took a look over the ocean and saw a series of little huts floating in the nearby gulf. “I'd better get going—and so should the two of you.”

One more time, Twilight came up to her two friends, but proceeded to hug Spike. Rainbow Dash stood by and almost blushed as she saw the two best friends bond like brother and sister. Were she feeling the slightest bit more “sappy,” she would have shed a tear, herself.

After a good few seconds, Twilight let her dragon go, feeling his brotherly presence slowly fade as she stepped away. Twilight backpedaled into the ocean, which she managed to walk upon thanks to her control over the element of water. The waves carried her backward to Ga-Koro. She waved one last time toward her two friends

“Bye, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight cried. “Goodbye—goodbye, Spike.”

She choked on her words, but still managed to swallow her pride before turning herself around, on her way to the village of Ga-Koro.

Chapter 16: Accidental Infiltration

Before long, the two fire-dwellers found themselves walking on gray soil once again—only now they had a charred forest to accompany them. Finding herself a little spooked, Rainbow Dash had to try extra hard to keep her composure—but the further in she and Spike went, the more this place creeped her out. She felt as though one of the trees would extend its branch out and try to scratch her with its spindly twigs.

Spike, ever the vigilant one, managed to find what he assumed was a path to their destination: a clean trail leading to an orange light off in the distance. He beckoned Rainbow over—but before he could speak, Spike heard sounds coming from the village; it sounded like talking. “Well, there’s definitely people nearby.”

With Spike’s knowledge in volcanic villages, he was not at all surprised to see Ta-Koro sitting right in the volcano’s belly. A giant hole had been cut out of the mountain’s face, allowing anybody to simply walk inside.

Whenever she attempted to imagine what one of the villagers might have looked like, Rainbow Dash could only picture something with the likeness of the volcanic frogs they had run into earlier. Perhaps that was the reason why the Ta-Matoran were unafraid of a possible eruption. Could the Matoran just blend into the lava and—if so—did Spike and Rainbow Dash also have that ability? Part of Rainbow wondered if they were going to turn into lava frogs, as well.

As the Toa of Fire lost herself in her thoughts, her dragon companion—without a single word—pushed forward. At that, Rainbow Dash gasped and rushed up in front of him. “Whoa there, lil guy! I know you’re probably just as anxious to meet the villagers as I am—”

Well…probably anxious in a different sense…

“—b-but I don’t think we should just barge in, y’know?”

Spike raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean? Everybody else did it; we just have to go in one at a time.”

“Exactly,” said the Toa with a nod. “So—so you should let me go in first. Trust me, Spike.” She turned to face the volcano once more. “I’m not sure about this village.”

The dragon boy opened his mouth to protest, but was abruptly cut off when Rainbow continued, “I’ll be back in just a moment.” And with that, she stepped away and started on her path through the volcano’s arching doorway.

The sound of boiling, crackling, popping rocks echoed within the mountain’s stomach—so much so that Rainbow could barely even hear her hooves as she trotted on the stone bridge. The air surrounding this place—unimaginably hot, yet in her case still tolerable—made her feel dizzy as she looked down at the lava below; she watched as streams of the molten rock pushed against one another, pressing and squeezing this way and that. As much as she liked seeing red, orange, and yellow joining together for a hot bath, she knew looking down for too long would likely result in her falling straight into the magma and to her death.

At least I’m not sweating like crazy, she thought, trying to conjure some positive things to say. So then I won’t look all nervous when the villagers here see me for the first time. The fate of everything she knew depended on her confronting the village of fire with confidence. They’re probably not that scary! she told herself. I’m sure they’re not! They’re probably just a bunch of little pipsqueak frogs. She snorted at the thought. I wonder if their tadpoles swim in the lava.

But knowing the last thing she wanted to do was offend the villagers, she knocked the thought out of her head and wiped the humored smile off her face. C’mon, Dash! her inner self screamed. Maybe they’re nothing but pipsqueaks, but you can’t just call them that!

And just as that thought crossed her mind, the pegasus caught a clear view of two guards standing at Ta-Koro’s gate; seeing this place up close, she got the impression of a towering stone fortress. Both guards stood still—pitchforks in hand—as she stepped forward. As though the world wished nothing more than to mock her, the villagers were not at all what she had expected. Rather than frogs, the Matoran had a humanoid stature—with two legs, two arms, and a head on top of a long torso, like tiny red versions of Lewa and Kopaka.

Rainbow Dash, feeling no need to remain silent, walked up to one of them—but found herself being promptly cut off.

“Shoo!” the guard commanded, his long pitchfork now pointed at Rainbow. “Go on, get going, you dumb rahi!” During his sad attempt at scaring Rainbow away, he moved back and forth, as if unsure whether he really wanted to hurt her or not.

The other guard looked as though he was about to start teasing her, as well—but before he could do that, the dumb rahi stepped up. “Hey, buddy,” she touted. “I’m not stupid!”

The second guard finally spoke up. “By Mata Nui—it can talk!”

“She can talk!” Rainbow Dash corrected. “Now if you can stop being idiots for two minutes, I want you to take me to your leader!”

“Back, you animal!” the first guard spat, taking a step toward Rainbow. “Stay back or I’ll get the Captain!”

Rainbow’s ears perked. The Captain? she wondered. Wow—I didn’t think getting them to take me to their leader was gonna be that easy. But even so, it seemed she still had a bit more taunting to do before the Ta-Matoran took her to the Captain. That in mind, the Toa of Fire stuck out her tongue pulled down on her eye sockets, revealing the pink flesh beneath. “Like he’ll do anything!”

The provoked guard looked like he was just about to pierce a hole right in the pony’s chest, but before he could do so, the other guard pulled out a horn and as his mouth touched the ebony-like instrument, a low rumble sounded throughout the volcano.

There we go, thought Rainbow with a sigh. Maybe now I can tell Spike it’s okay to come in.

A few seconds of silence passed—and following the silence, the unified hum of even more horns blasted in the pegasus' ears. Rainbow took a look up and noticed a row of guards suddenly walking to the front of their fortress' top. As they did so, the two guards down at Dash’s level held their pitchforks tight in their hands, ready to defend their homeland at any cost.

The pony gulped. Maybe I should've held back some of my punches. These guards didn't look like they were going to bring her to their leader at all; she could tell by the metal disks in their hands. She could imagine one of those little frisbees knocking her out with one hit if she wasn't careful.

With an entire army against her, Rainbow Dash felt the need to apologize, but such a privilege now stood beyond her reach. She had little time to prepare as three words echoed through the cave:

“Ready. Aim. Fire!”

Still standing by the volcano’s face, Spike heard as a hundred of the Matoran's saucer projectiles went flying. He heard as Rainbow Dash screamed, evacuating toward the exit as fast as her out-of-practice legs would carry her.

The village of furious guards continued firing at the invader—who already found herself halfway to the exit. A few times she'd almost been hit by one of the villagers’ projectiles, yet she still kept her gaze forward, not daring to look back.

Almost there! she silently cried. On the very edge of freedom, the pegasus leapt high into the air, her wings carrying her away from this hell and toward the heavens. That's how it should have played out; that’s how it would have played out, had she still any wings to aid her.

Her ascent brought her high into the air, but her descent brought her head to the ground. Before the pegasus could even scold herself for forgetting something so stupid, a loud clank! blocked out all noise, leaving Rainbow Dash with a searing pain in the back of her head. Within a second, the barely-conscious target went crashing into the ground.

And as all momentum ceased, her hoof came just inches from Spike's foot.

“Oh no!” exclaimed dragon boy. “Rainbow Dash!” Just a moment ago he saw her alive as ever, her heart thumping and leaping up to her throat, looking as though she might perform an on-ground sonic rainboom at any moment; now she lied on the ground with her mouth hanging open and her eyes shut. Spike noticed the damage the Matoran’s disk had done to her head and grimaced.

Not sure if she could hear him or not, Spike grabbed the pony by her front hooves and said, “I’ve gotta get you out of here.”

But at that moment, an angry voice sounded his way. “There’s another one of them!” somebody cried. “Get it!”

Spike had barely managed to make out what the Matoran had just said when one of their disks whisked by, scratching his red armor. Having nearly kissed his arm goodbye, Spike screamed and retreated toward the nearby forest, knowing he had no other option.

His heart pounding, the dragon boy evacuated, panicking as he left the army of disks to crash to the ground. He made haste toward the dead forest, hoping with every inkling in his body that he would escape. As the guards started marching across their village’s bridge, the darkness around Spike grew denser and denser, leaving the boy to trip on a decaying branch and fall face-first into the dirt below. Beyond his control, the dragon let out a yelp as he flipped over.

His heart still racing, he got up on his hands and knees and clambering further still from the village. Yet even as he did, he couldn’t shake the notion that he had nowhere to go. Everywhere he looked, he found nothing but pitch-black silhouettes stretching their arms before the gaze of a red-orange sun.

While wandering through the darkness, Spike eventually felt something smack him in the face. The assaulted dragon took a few paces back and extended a hand; in doing so, he felt a pile of dry twigs, branches, and debris crowded up in one space. It feels like a giant bird nest, he thought with a snort. But as he humored himself with these thoughts, the Matoran’s march only grew louder. Prematurely, Spike crawled his way into the nest, hoping to Celestia that nobody would find him.

Once his small body made its way through, Spike found himself in absolute pitch darkness. Now inside, the Matoran’s sounds were a lot more muffled than before, relieving him like nothing else. It was as if the marching and violence was finally starting to die down.

Unfortunately, Spike quickly discovered some other noise—something from within the nest. Someone—or, more likely, something—was breathing heavily in the nest, as though it were sleeping. The stranger’s hot breath almost completely filled the hot nest, making Spike feel as though he had just slipped into a cramped boiler room. As Spike suddenly tensed in place, he sensed the larger creature shifting in its sleep.

Sweat immediately started falling down the side of his face. I’ve really messed up this time, he thought. Worse than not knowing what he had fallen into was the fact that he still couldn’t tell what this animal was; he couldn’t imagine what it would have looked like in the light.

I’m getting out of here! But just as that thought crossed his mind, a voice from outside shouted, “We need to get the rahi’s adversary! He’s likely its owner.” In addition to sounding hostile, the voice came close—far too close—to Spike for comfort. To add insult to injury, sleeping animal shifted once again.

But just when Spike knew things couldn’t get any worse, a voice in the distance called out to the Matoran.

“Hey—it’s Tahu!”

Spike wrinkled his nose. Who the heck is Tahu? He hoped to Celestia that this was the Toa whom Rainbow Dash would have to team up with. As the thought came and went, Spike heard some of the villagers outside talking—though he could barely make out their words.

In the midst of the villagers’ mumblings, Spike heard a deep voice say, “…take care,” but he couldn’t make out the rest.

All he could do now was lie in wait. Wait for the villagers to disappear, wait for the sun to come back up, maybe even wait for Rainbow Dash to come and save him—but as of now, Rainbow Dash needed a savior of her own.

“You people really need to learn to mind your own business,” said a disgruntled Ta-Matoran as he spun the spit roast. “I do not appreciate your accusing me of harboring some kind of criminal. I thought I would be the last person you would suspect of doing that.”

The two other Ta-Matoran exchanged a nervous glance. One of them stepped up and replied, “Sorry,
Kapura. Just following the Captain’s orders.”

Kapura grunted. “Tell the Captain to go suck a lightstone,” Just as he said this, he bent over and reached to pick up some of the leafy green material sitting on his spit. “I am starting to get sick of his attitude.”

The other Matoran stepped forward. “Look,” he began, his voice a little softer than his adversary’s. “I’m not going to tell Captain Jaller what you said—but you’ve got to have a bit more respect for him than that.”

At that, the victimized Matoran scoffed, “I will pay him more respect when he treats me like a fully-independent Matoran and not just an ussal crab.” As Kapura said this, he smashed the leafy greens with a rock. “Now then—please leave me. I have some personal duties to attend to.”

And with that, the two Ta-Matoran turned around and headed back home. Once again, Kapura shared the forest with no one but the ever-lurking shadow of Makuta—or so the Matoran thought.

Little did they know, Kapura had been keeping an unfortunate friend of his under a shelter for the past few days. She was getting worse and worse by the hour, but Kapura knew he had to help her somehow. He had once heard that cooking harakeke over a fire made plague symptoms go away—but that was just what he’d been told. He hoped to Mata Nui his trip to the northern jungle wouldn’t be in vain.

Kapura wholeheartedly knew that if somebody had found his friend lurking out here in the wilderness, they would have panicked immediately. That was why he had kept her hidden in this nest of branches—one that would conceal and hold up under its weight. To make things convenient for him, he built a lid for him to lift up whenever he wanted to help her.

His friend had waited long enough for some properly-cooked harakeke. Knowing this, the Matoran put his smashed greens on a plate, walked over to the nest, and lifted the lid.

“What on Ma—hey! Get out of there!”

After having hidden there for the past hour, Spike responded with a jolt. “Gah!” he screamed, holding his hands out in front of him. “I-I’m sorry! Please don’t hurt me!”

At that, Kapura scratched his head. “Oh. Uh…I did not mean to frighten you, but—you see—my friend really needs help there.” As he said this, Kapura pointed over Spike’s shoulder.

Wondering what the stranger meant by his friend, Spike looked over his shoulder and finally caught a clear glimpse at the animal he had spent the last hour resting beside. From no more than one second of staring this animal down, Spike recognized the cyan pelt, the teal mane, the single horn—struck pink with Celestia knew what. This creature, dirt smeared into her bright colors, lied nearly motionless on the floor; all of her that moved was her chest, rising and falling ever so slowly.

“L-Lyra?” asked Spike, his gaze switching from the awakening pony to the Matoran. “What did you do to her?!”

Kapura blinked. “Excuse me—I have been trying to help her ever since she came back from her journey across the island.” As he said this, he reached down to shake the pony by her shoulder. “She has been very ill since I saw her coming to Ta-Koro for the second time. I think she has the Po-Wahi plague.”

Those last few words reverberated in Spike’s head. “She has a plague?” At that moment, he leapt out of the nest and shuddered. “Does that mean I’m gonna get it, too?”

Blunt as he was, the nursing Matoran replied, “Probably so!”

And after having shook Lyra by the shoulder for the past minute or so, he watched as her eyes opened into slits. Just a sliver of her yellow eyes opened when she asked through a voice so hoarse, “Kapura? Harakeke…thank you….” As she started shuffling in her place, Spike noticed that Lyra’s skin looked greener than usual—as if the plague had almost completely sucked out the blue in her body. In addition, he could easily tell her hair hadn’t been brushed in quite some time.

The Matoran set the plate of medicinal food down to the horse’s mouth as she nibbled a bit of the leafy greens. Their bitter taste stung her tongue and almost made her want to vomit as it slid down her throat, yet still she held it down without so much as a grimace.

Once Lyra had finished, she licked her dry lips and closed her eyes once more. The unicorn couldn’t breathe through her nose, so she sufficed to just keep her mouth open as the medicine worked its magic.

Spike—well aware of Kapura’s thinning patience—knew he had no place in making a suggestion, but his conscience took over when he went on and asked, “Don’t you think she needs some water?”

“Maybe,” admitted Kapura. “I have been giving her water, but the closest pond is in Le-Wahi. I would have sent her over to Ga-Koro if I had the strength to carry her.” The thought made him chuckle. “It really is ridiculous; you would think that with my Pakari, I would be able to hold her up with one hand—but even with two, I am not strong enough.”

As he thought out loud, the Ta-Matoran took the following moment of silence to examine Spike. He noticed Spike’s Ta-Matoran qualities, as well as his alien qualities. He saw the unusual color scheme and thought of Takua and all his unusual quirks.

Kapura realized this and asked, “So—you are from Lyra’s village, then?”

“Yes,” said Spike, his response sharp as he bent down to pick up Lyra. “Now come on—we can’t leave her here!”

Seeing Lyra lying so helplessly on the ground—barely conscious at all—made the dragon boy felt as if he should have done something to prevent her ever coming to this horrible place. Perhaps if he had spoken to her just once—or maybe if he had asked Twilight to speak with her, she wouldn’t have had the plague. She wouldn’t have been in worse of a state than Rainbow Dash.

And right as the thought of Rainbow Dash entered his mind, Spike felt a horrible urge to scream. What at first was a battle to came to Rainbow Dash were those last few words: “Take care.” What did it mean? Did somebody mean to tell somebody else to “take care?” Did somebody say he was going to “take care” of the situation? Did the deep voice want the villagers to “take care” of Rainbow Dash?

As Kapura started heading toward the other side of Lyra’s nearly-lifeless body, Spike sighed. “Wait,” he began. “I can’t. A friend of mine needs me.”

Kapura scratched his head. “What are you talking about? Is this not your friend?”

“Well—technically, yes,” he replied. “But another one of my friends just got taken by the Ta-Matoran and I need to go save her right now!” As those words flew off his tongue, Spike stood back up straight and started heading toward the village, his little feet carrying him as fast forward as they would allow.

Spike had barely made any progress toward Ta-Koro when Kapura shouted, “Now, hang on!”

Surprised by the force behind those words, Spike stopped running, but did not face Kapura.

“Do you even know where your other friend is?”

He sighed. “No.”

The native Ta-Matoran shook his head. “You understand you may very well be beating a dead rahi if you go out there alone. From what I have heard, Tahu has already come and took care of the issue before I had even heard about all the commotion.”

With that, Spike gave in to the harsh reality. Turning himself to face Kapura, warm tears in his green eyes, he sniffed, “But—but I need to save her—”

“You need to save yourself first,” Kapura corrected. “You and I are at risk of contracting to Po-Wahi plague—and as of now, our only hope is to get to Ga-Koro and have the Ga-Matoran treat us of this illness. Just as well, we need to get our friend out of here.”

Believing every word from this Matoran’s mouth, Spike came back to Lyra’s side, hesitating as his step-by-step route to her resting body came to its end.

“Let us go, then,” Kapura encouraged, bending down and waiting for Spike to make his move.

Shaken up but still determined to get Lyra to safety, Spike grabbed the pony by her rear hooves as Kapura held her by her shoulders. Kapura blinked and admitted, “You are very brave and full of will, young one.”

As the wise Matoran’s soothing voice filled his ears, Spike looked up with watery eyes.

Kapura continued. “And for that, I thank you.”

In response, Spike could do no more than simply blink the rest of his tears away. He found himself tongue-tied as he and Kapura started hauling Lyra away. It took the dragon a moment before he finally asked, “Wh-what do they have at Ga-Koro?”

Kapura grunted. “There is a lot of untested medicine in Ga-Koro. I am not sure if they will do any good for Lyra, but we have to at least try.”

“And what about us?”

“There are rumors floating about,” he began, feeling himself coming closer and closer to the nearest beach, “that when one puts himself in fresh water, the plague washes away. The only problem is that fresh water is not so easy to come by—unless you live in Ga-Koro, where they can desalinize it.”

“Desali—what?”

But before he could answer, Kapura, thinking Spike’s arms must have been aching just the slightest bit at the least, suggested they gently set Lyra down. As they did so, he looked toward the ocean and just barely made out the giant lilly pads and leaf-built huts; Spike couldn’t see a thing.

“We need to find a way to get their attention,” said Kapura. “We can’t just swim over there; we could run into a tarakava.”

Despite not knowing what a tarakava was, Spike turned his gaze toward the ocean and yelled, “Twilight!” After screaming her name from the top of his lungs, the dragon boy’s throat started burning. A sudden glint lit up in his eye as he set loose the longest lick of green flame he had ever released; its sheer size astonished Kapura.

Neon green light flashed against the water. Lyra, head on the ground, blinked her slitted eyes and tilted her dizzy gaze up to the dragon. She saw a strong hero willing to give all his energy to save her, though he had never come head-to-head with an opposing warrior in all his life.