Prologue - Saved by the mask
-Comic con, Nexus’s POV-
It was the Last day of comic con and I and my childhood friend Crux were wandering around when I saw a vender selling all sorts of Knick knacks when someone who bought something from the vendor VANISHED! “What the!?” I exclaimed and ran over to see what happened. Upon arriving at the vender’s station I turned to him and demanded he tell me what happened to that person. In response the vendor scowled at me.
“So you saw it?” he said before pulling out a knife.
Before I could say anything, let alone react to the fact he had a knife, he jumped over his stand and stabbed me in the heart. I screamed in pain and began to pass out from the shock, but before I blacked out I noticed him dragging my body behind his stall and Crux running in my direction.
-Comic con, Crux’s POV-
I was looking at the stalls when Nexus disappeared from my side. I started to panic, after all Nexus was my only friend but he didn’t know I was a void dweller and there were other void dwellers here selling things to create Displaced. I was mostly worried because Nexus knew nothing about the Displacers and the multiverse, and I couldn’t warn him without him finding out my true identity and if I told him he might abandon me thinking I was either some kind of crazy person or hate me for lying to him for his entire life! And that’s when it happened, I heard Nexus scream. I immediately ran to find out what happened to find the Merchant dragging Nexus behind his booth, but then I saw the knife sticking out of Nexus’s chest. I was furious, disposing my disguise I ran at the merchant and punched him right in the kisser sending him flying over a couple of booths. I then reached down and felt for a pulse, it was faint but it was still there. I quickly pulled out the dagger and checked the damage to his body, sadly it was a fatal wound. In a last dich attempt to save his life I broke an oath I made years ago to make sure he never got displaced. I reached into my back pocket and pulled out a mask we made together while making up our own Bionicle OC a few years ago and put it on his face. I then used my power as a void dweller to turn him into a Displaced using the mask as the object of displacement. “I hope this works…” I hoped as we faded into another dimension.
-???, Nexus’s POV-
“Urgh… what happened…” I thought aloud before opening my eyes. I then noticed I was outside for some reason and that I felt strange…
“I see that you’re awake…” I heard Crux say with a sad tone for some reason…
“Ouch... my head… hey crux, what happened and why do you sound so sad?” I asked my childhood friend before trying to sit up.
“First, before you freak out I did what I had to in order to save your life. Second, you were mortally wounded by the Merchant who is a being called a void dweller. In order to save your life I had to turn you into something called a displaced which is a being who has either gained a new form or special powers while being ripped from their home world and deposited in a new one, often a version of Equestria. Like the merchant I am a void dweller, so I used my power to give you a new body but I was panicking and in a hurry so I ended up using what I had on hand causing you to turn into what you are now… I am so sorry Nexus!” he cried.
I was shocked to say the least, but I managed to keep myself from freaking out (Just barely) as I began to remember what had happened. As I looked at my old friend y began to feel immense sadness for him, he had tried his best to make sure I had a good life while hiding part of his identity so that he could stay by my side. I reached out my hand and placed it on his shoulder, “It’s ok Crux, I can’t imagine how you’re feeling right now but its ok it wasn’t your fault…” I said trying to comfort the one person I could truly call my friend. The only one at fault here was the Merchant… as I continued to comfort Crux I began to examine myself.
To give a general description of my appearance. My coloring was purple with dark red armor, I had four biomechanical dragon like wings, my arms and torso were shaped like Roodaka’s, where my face should have been I had a dark red mask that resembled a kanohi olmac combined with the ignika, I had glowing blue eyes, my legs and feet were the same shape as mirror verse Teridax’s, my hands were the same shape as an average toa, and I was currently about seven feet tall. Overall I don’t look half bad in my opinion! I then finally got Crux to cheer up by telling him it was ok a few more times and then started to joke around with him. Once I cheered him up a bit I decided it was as good a time as any to ask him a few questions.
“So, what world is this?” I asked him, to which he began to laugh nervously. ‘That can’t be a good sign’ I thought as I figured out how to retract my wings into my back and then proceeded to sit down while leaning back against a tree.
“Funny how that’s the first question you ask…” he said before composing himself and spreading out his arms, “Welcome to Equestria!” he exclaimed.
My eye started to twitch once he said Equestria, you see I was a brony back on earth and I always wondered what it would be like to go there. To say I was excited was an extreme understatement, after all I was fanboying like how a trekkie would if Spock personally came to their house to say hi! Luckily Crux managed to calm me down.
“You do know it wouldn’t be safe to go charging into a Pony town as you are right now right?” Crux said while looking at me with a serious expression. “First of we need to do something about your appearance.” He said before walking over. He then pulled out a prototool and a kanohi hou from under his cloak and passed them to me. I decided to put the kanohi hou (I’ll refer to it as the mask of protection.) over my mask to see what would happen. As soon as I set the mask of protection in place tendrils of energy shoot out of it and wrap around me, suddenly I feel like im being squeezed and there is a bright flash of light! Once the light fades and I shake my head clear I notice something off.
“Hey crux why do I feel shorter?” I ask looking over in his direction only to find that he is now a full two feet taller than me.
“No reason, you just temporarily turned into a matoran!” he said with a huge smirk on his face and causing my eye to twitch. “But don’t worry you can switch between this form and your other form by simply putting on or taking of that mask.” He said in a matter of fact tone causing me to sigh. I was glad it was not permanent, I didn’t want to be stuck as a matoran. I then noticed how crux looked, he was a humanoid wearing a blue full body cloak but for some reason all I could see inside his cloak was a mass of solid shadow with glowing blue eyes like mine and a very toothy smile.
“Well what are we going to do now?” I asked worried about what I was going to do seeing as I didn’t know where in Equestria we were! I then looked at Crux waiting for further advice but he then smiled at me in a way that gave me a chill down my spine.
“What you’re going to do now is find yourself a place to stay, I would stay with you but I have work to get to. And if you have any questions save them for another displaced, preferably one who knows what he is talking about!” Crux said before he began to spin rapidly before shrinking out of existence.
With my eye twitching from watching Crux vanish I began to trudge through the forest to try and find civilization. I knew Crux was going to come back and visit every once in a while but I still wished he had stayed… I wonder what work he does. I’ll figure that out later, for now find out more information on the current events in Equestria and eventually contact another Displaced somehow and try and figure out what I should do now. I then heard growling behind me ‘But let’s worry about that stuff as soon as I get out of this forest!’ I thought as I Grabbed the prototool and ran from whatever was making those noises.
- White Tail Woods, Nexus’s POV-
After I ran from the mysterious growling I had wandered around the forest for a while until I spotted the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, but seeing as it was in perfect condition I noticed I was in the time period before the banishment of nightmare moon and made me realize I was in the Everfree forest. So I did what any sensible person would do, and high tailed it out of there! After running from the castle so that I don’t interfere with the time stream I found White Tail Woods and decided to wander around. In the forest I found a cave and decided to explore it hoping it would be good enough to set up a decent home until ponyvill was founded.
As I went into the cave I noticed I noticed that it was eight feet tall and seven feet wide, as well as thirteen feet deep before opening into a large underground room. The room was about thirteen feet wide and twenty one feet deep, as well as thirteen feet tall. I was awed at how well this cave could be used to make a temporary base! And then I saw something that gave me concern. In the back was a three foot wide pool of protodermis. It would be bad if any of the ponies found the protodermis, and if there was more anywhere that could be found I would need to protect the ponies from it I thought before starting to flatten the floor a bit before beginning to make my base. There was one good thing about the pool of protodermis in the cave, and that would be that if I ever needed any I would not need to go out to find any before I settled in.
After I flattened the floor I began to smooth the walls and ceiling of the room while making plans of what I was going to do in the future. There was all sorts of things I wanted to do but in order to do them I needed supplies and tools. So out of the need of tools I prepared to go out of the cave, and after making sure the coast was clear I ran out of the cave to go look for supplies to make tools and renovate my new home.
-Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, 3rd POV-
“You think you can destroy the Elements of Harmony just like that? Well, you’re wrong, because the spirits of the elements of harmony are right here!” Twilight said before announcing her friends and the elements they represent. Then the sixth element appears before Twilight and the six mares activate their elements and blast nightmare moon.
At the activation of the elements ancient powers begin to stir and awaken. Among those powers are beings that normally should have never existed in Equestria but were dragged into the past of this world upon Nexus’s arrival. In order to survive the dangers that now lurk in this worlds future the ponies, Nexus, and the unknown beings will have to work together to survive.