Infinity's Edge (Beta)

Chapters

A Prologue, If You Can Call It That.
1: Dimensional Disaster
2: Phase Gearing
3: Fyld Trippyng
4: Fryndly Fyre
6: Energetic Awakening
7: Quantum Traversal
8: Chilly Contacts
9: Fight or Flight
10: Captured!
11: Musicals and Mutagenics
12: Freedom Fracas!
13: Light Banter, Heavy Sleep
14: Rescued, But Not Recovered
5: Dark Descent

A Prologue, If You Can Call It That.

Time: Years(?) In the "future"... But not many(?)...

Location: An undisclosed world, in a backwater corner of the Omniverse.

In a tavern, situated snugly in the branches of the biggest Banyan tree you've ever seen, sat a figure. In fact, there were several figures in said tavern, each of various species and gender and color. But there was one who stuck out, ever so subtly, even to the untrained eye. One's attention just seemed ever-so-slightly drawn to the figure, like a microscopic black hole, or like one's tongue is always drawn back to the site of a missing tooth. He (for it indeed was a he,) was sitting with his back to the bar, nursing a simple cup of coffee. He did little more than bob his head to the music being played, which he knew was from another place, another time, and occasionally sip at the beverage in his hand. He still remembered the simpler days of his long and strange life, thanks to the music.

He wore very light armor, which was slightly unusual given the peaceful nature of the local land at present, but nobody seemed interested very much. It took all kinds to make a universe, after all, and in the Omniverse, where anything could happen (and probably already had, in a way)? Said armor was nearly equal parts monochromatic and red-and-orange, if that makes any sense. To be honest, only he knew the exact proportions, having designed it himself, not that anyone ever seemed to care. (41.3% monochrome, 50% red-and-orange, and the rest was a metallic silvery color, slightly bordering on gunmetal or dark steel, to be precise.)

He turned his head towards the door, and seconds later, it opened to admit three small figures. They seemed drawn to him, as young folk everywhere always seemed to be. He didn't mind too much, though. The figure liked children, for the most part. He was GOOD with kids. Always had plenty of stories to tell, he did, and was usually up for whatever off-the-wall game he was challenged or invited to. Most folks who knew him well, (and there were precious few of those to be had at the best of times,) said he was young at heart, yet seemed to have an old soul. He usually laughed if someone said the last to him, for reasons of his own. After all, his was probably older than most...

And there they were, the three younglings. Now that he got a closer look, they seemed to be in their mid to late teens... He didn't seem to recognize them, but they recognized him for sure. One was a griffon... mostly. There were some draconic aspects to her appearance, and she had what was definitely a Unicorn horn sticking out of her forehead. The second was a bio-mechanical being, (similar to an Agori, Matoran, or Protector,) was definately male, with a blue mask, and red armor that covered the rest of his body. He dubbed that one "Takua." The third... appeared to be a hybrid of a Dalek, an Aperture Turret, a mech of some sort, and a Rahkshi. That was new to him, but he didn't seem phased. Much. They took up a few seats near him, and ordered a Root Beer Float, each. The strange figure chuckled and shook his head. Some things never changed, no matter what corner of the 'Verse you were in.

He'd had run-ins with the various reincarnations of the once-legendary "CMC" down through the ages, and these three seemed like just the type. Perhaps something akin to girl scouts or boy scouts had finally cropped up in the Omniverse? Yes, there; they each wore badges, bearing the crest of the original legendary triad, he could see. Oh, not with his eyes, of course. Those were focused on some figures across the room. No, he had other ways of seeing. The figure smiled faintly. That was a long story of its own.

He closed his eyes as he took a deeper draught of his chosen beverage, using the opportunity to "watch" the three newcomers in extended detail with his mind's eye. He observed them stealing frequent glances his way, and decided now would be the time to cut his impish side a little loose, if only for the moment. He opened his eyes once more, let his energies flare in just the right way, and lifted the mug to his mouth. But instead of drinking, he spoke, affecting a slight southern drawl, voice slightly muffled and distorted by the mug.

"Y'know, kids, if'n it's a story ya want, ya could'a just asked." He then opened his eyes and smirked, looking at the trio.

Their reaction was priceless. The mechanical one stiffened and gave a small "eep" sound, "Takua" merely froze in place, and the semi-griffon started so hard she fell off her seat. She was was helped back up by her friends to a hushed chorus of childish cursing, a mumbled "I meant to do that," and something about a bucket.

The figure's eyes had gone a solid lime green, with a slit pupil in the left one, with six more slits orbiting a slightly larger, boxy-shaped oval pupil in the right. Draconic Vision Eightfold, at its finest.

He discretely looked a bit closer at the griffon, who had regained the top of her barstool once more, and nodded mentally. Yes... He'd THOUGHT that one'd seemed familiar somehow. The way she held herself, which was proud, but not snobby. The pale pastel ruff of feathers at the back of her head, which was a smidge more noticeable now that they'd been disturbed when she fell over. She obviously had some of the genetics of some of his earliest friends here, though he'd been afraid to call them anything more than acquaintances back then. Ah, the old social stigmas of his homeworld, and the things they did to young folk.

"H-how did you...?" The mechanical one's question tapered off. He definitely has their attention now.

"Oh, not to worry," he replied, smiling kindly as he relaxed his eyes, and they returned to normal once again. "I get folks asking me for stories all the time. I'm always happy to oblige, though I usually ask for a reason as well. Have you one?"

The triad looked at one another, and "Takua" spoke. "Y-yeah, sir. It's... for a school report. 'S due in a month or so."

"A report, eh? Well, I've helped with a few of those in my time. I'm game. It's about time I did another retelling, from what I've gathered, my last one's gotten garbled in the history books. Again." The trio smiled at that. "Now, before I get started, I'd like to know what specific part, if any, you're looking for. Your names wouldn't go amiss, either." They looked at each other. Finally, the griffon spoke up.

"My name's Cloudsnatcher. And these are my totally rockin' friends." She gestured to the mechanical menagerie, and continued. "This is A.L.E.X., they're from a relatively new species calling themselves 'Glitch.'"

"Hello!" Said A.L.E.X., whose voice, while slightly tinny, gave no indication of gender, or even a synthesized nature. Given Cloudsnatcher's use of a gender-neutral pronoun, A.L.E.X. was probably either hermaphroditic, or asexual. Didn't matter to the coffee-drinker either way. He gave a polite nod, and said "hi."

"And this," continued Cloudsnatcher, "is Zaka. He's descended from the Okotoan Spherus Magnans."

"Greetings," said Zaka.

"Salutations," returned the taller figure, and took a sip of coffee. "And you already know my name, so that's that, eh?" The kids giggled, and the stranger pressed on. "Alright then, if you're ready to begin, then let's move over to one a those booths over there," he said, gesturing near the door, "and while we're at it..." He turned his attention behind the bar.

"Ey, Smoakey, old pal," he called, getting the Barkeep's attention, "I'm gonna move over by th' door with these young'uns. We'll probably be there a while, so... could we get some new drinks for the little ones, on me? And some food as well?" The barkeeper, who was in fact a large bipedal bear who always emitted faint whisps of sweet-smelling smoke, and was presently wiping out the inside of a large crystal mug, nodded. "Alrighty then. Let's move, kids."

And so, they picked up what was left of their respective drinks, and migrated over to one of the available booths. It was near the door, and had a good view of the inside of the tavern, but wasn't next to a window. They sat down, the kids on one side, and the stranger on the other. He began preparing himself to tell his story, rearranging certain items in his possession, mentally laying out the path he was going to take them through, and then steeled himself for one final thing he knew he must do before he could properly start.

Normally, the figure put limiters upon himself during day-to-day affairs, to keep from going mad with his own abilities (that HAD happened on more than one occasion, with spectacularly disastrous results.) He had, long ago, spread his consciousness across many places, many worlds, many focal points. But when it came to telling the many tales under his belt, he always gave it his all.

Normally, the figure saw what went on through his own life "nowadays" in a sort of "third person" mode. He liked it that way. It reminded him of when TV used to be a thing, or reading books, or even video games. But at times like this...

He pulled himself together, and felt his sense of self come to rest where it had originally been birthed. He felt himself sliding together, becoming more "whole," and closed his eyes...

For the first time in a long while, I reopened my eyes, which were now their old nearly chocolate-brown color, and felt my form shift into something more casual, more familiar. More... original. The armor had vanished, and the tall figure that I once had been was now replaced by a strange-looking, seemingly fragile figure. It had been a while since I'd last used this form, and I actually had to readjust. As I did, I took in the three amazed faces before me, and began to speak.

"Now, let's start where it all began for me. After all, as the song goes, it's a very good place to start.

"It was a Monday, as to be expected. Nobody has ever really liked Mondays, as far as I know, but this one was the one that changed my whole life. Not to mention, I looked a whole lot different back then... Something a lot like this..."

And so, I released myself to the rigors and waves of the story, and the weaving of the vast tapestry that was my history began anew...

1: Dimensional Disaster

There are a lot of things that I've done, experienced, whatever, that I never intended to. They just kinda happened of their own volition. Like how I accidentally shut down an Air Force Base when I was 2 years old. Or, more recently, how I accidentally stole a Kanohi Olmak from a museum, or nearly causing a nearly-over inter-dimensional war to flare up again with said Kanohi. I've been shot, stabbed, and otherwise injured beyond count in my time, most of that since said museum incident.

Wait. Does it count as "inter-dimensional" if the different worlds have, due to preexisting shenanigans, been brought into the same solar system? Ah, whatever. You probably wanna know about how it all kicked off, am I right? Yeah, well, here goes nothin'. So, I was at this one museum near where I used to live, back on good old "Datum Earth," as I call it. There's a long story behind that, and I'd recommend looking it up. (It's from the "Long Earth" series by Terry Pratchett and Steven Baxter, FYI.) It helps to have names for various different iterations of one's homeworld so everyone knows what you're talking about, take it from me.

Augh, sorry, I tangentialized there for a second. That's ADHD or whatever for ya. Anywho, back on the Datum, in a museum. I was wondering about, looking at various exhibits, when I found myself in a room filled with a large quantity of masks from several cultures worldwide. I was looking at the few they had in the Egyptian corner, when my eyes fell upon one that seemed to be made entirely of gold (or maybe brass, it's hard for an untrained eye such as mine to tell the difference,) which made them open all the way, and my jaw nearly hit the ground.

I recognized it at once, as it stood out immediately from the other paltry samples around it. The lateral ridges running front to back on the top; the fin/blade/spike-ish extensions on either side of the... weirdly-shaped... mouth bit; the perforated mesh betwixt the fins and mouth; the slanted eyes; the holes on either side of the eyes, like ports for something to plug into; and the overall alien-spaceship-looking air to it's design. All characteristics of the legendary Kanohi Olmak, Mask of Dimensional Gates. They had it labelled as a death mask for some lesser noble back towards the beginning of Egyptian history.

I took this all in within a moment, barely caring about the presence of a nearby tour guide going through his standard routine. My reaction?

"Holy FUCK!" I said.

He turned to me, and said, "excuse me, ma'am--"

I cut him off immediately. "I'm a dude, sir," putting extra venom on the last word, "don't go judging just because I have long hair, and you've also got this mask COMPLETELY mislabeled. It's a Kanohi Olmak, the Great Mask of Dimensional Gates." I began pulling up the Bionicle wiki page about it, but he cut me off.

"I am sorry, sir, for mistaking your gender, but we do not allow profanity here."

"I apologize for my outburst," I replied, tacking on some extra formality, both to match his, and to try and make up for the earlier exclamation. "I just never expected to see a REAL Kanohi Mask, I thought they were only something from the old Bionicle storyline..." He waved his hand dismissively, like he got this sort of thing frequently, glaring at me all the while.

"Yes, yes, they based that off this specimen here. Now..." He trailed off, tapping his foot and glaring at me. What, did he expect me to "vacate the premises" for accidentally swearing? Well, no dice, pal.

I went back to staring at the mask, and shortly after heard the guy clear his throat, still tapping his foot. I looked at him with the most deadpan raised eyebrow I could muster.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Leave. Now." He commanded. I was about to argue, possibly getting myself into more trouble, when I noticed the mask rapidly beginning to glow, and it didn't feel friendly.

"Get down!" I yelled, as the glass case began splintering and cracking from whatever forces were raging inside. I turned as the case exploded, fully expecting to feel shards of glass entering my body, but the pain never came. All the shrapnel seemed to avoid me, which was weird, but it hit the guide guy worst of anyone. And, of course, alarms went off everywhere.

The mask began floating, and hovered over towards me. I backed up a bit, but it followed me, so I reached out a hand, and the mask placed itself withing my outstretched palm. I could feel it thrumming with ancient and pent up energy. Suddenly, a beam of light shot out, and struck one of the other cases, shattering it as well. Another mask came my way, and I recognized this one as well, to a lesser extent. It was basically one of the masks worn by the Protectors from the G2 Bionicle line, but stylized.

I didn't really stop to worry about why two masks seemed interested in me, seeing as guards were headed my way, so I grabbed the second mask, and crammed the Olmak onto my face, and thought "HOME!" as strongly as I could. A portal appeared, and just before I could jump through, the guards arrived.

"Halt!" they cried, but I had no such option.

"Sorry!" I called, and jumped in. It closed not a second later, and I found myself in my living room. I quickly gathered as much stuff as I could into an old backpack, like a couple pocketknives, a few tools, phone charger and external batteries, some extra clothes, stuff like that. Anything I might need for running away.

I then grabbed a few non-essentials, such as a certain pocketwatch, a ring, necklace, watch, a high-quality lightsaber I'd bought online once, a couple old NERF guns and the one NERF sword I owned, my laptop (and it's few accessories,) and shoved them into yet another couple of backpacks, and headed back to the living room. I left a note explaining what happened, grabbed some of our old camping gear, (sleeping bag, pillow, a few blankets, etc,) and sent a text to my family, giving them the short and sweet of it;

"Accidentally caused some shenanigans at the museum, now the government's probably hunting for my ass. Will be back after things cool down... Eventually. Full explanation is at home. I'm sorry this happened. Love you all. Please don't try to find me, though." That done, I went to the top of the stairs, turned around, and thought: "Get me out of here. Someplace safe. Someplace I can hide." A portal appeared in the air above the steps, and I jumped into it. A literal "leap of faith," if you will.

Of course, it was at that precise moment that the front door opened, and I saw the briefest glimpse of my parents and sister, looking up in shock and confusion at the portal, and myself entering it. I didn't have a chance to say goodbye. It closed right after me. I fell for a couple minutes, judging by my watch, though I wasn't sure if time flowed the same in between the dimensions as it did within each individual dimension. I chuckled a little after a while, and said, "into the rabbit hole I go, it seems. Curiouser and curiouser as well, eh?"

When I eventually was ejected out of the exit portal, I came out almost horizontal, feet first, like I'd just jumped off a swing. It was the dead of night, I noticed. I landed a little harder than I liked, but I managed not to fall over and break my stuff, mostly because I now had some sort of armor suddenly. I needn't have worried, though, because something far more concerning happened. My stuff seemed to vanish into nonexistence, piece by piece. I panicked for a moment, before I had an idea.

I reached behind my back, about hip level, and felt... well, it felt like a... "soft" spot in the air, for lack of a better term, and I could sense multiple items on the other side. It seemed that, should I but focus on one with my mind and stick my hand into the space, the object would solidify, and I could pull it out. I smiled, and sagged against a nearby tree, which was part of a somewhat dark and foreboding forest. "Hammerspace," I said, grinning like an idiot.

On a whim, I concentrated on the Olmak, willing it to shift places with the other, unknown mask. I was rewarded with a glorious sound, as the masks complied with my desires. It was one from the old Bionicle flash animations, used whenever one of the Toa switched masks. It was, however, a rather unique sound, and as such, would stick out even at a very loud party. I removed the strange mask, and pulled a flashlight from one of my Hammerspace pockets.

Once I actually got a good look at it, I found that it looked a whole lot like a Kanohi Arthron, the Mask of Sonar. Except almost the entire bottom half of it was "missing". And a few other details were changed. This was not, in fact, a Kanohi Arthron. It was, as I said earlier, a stylized version of the elemental protectors' masks. The main part of it was a deep midnight black, whereas the ends of the flanges that stuck backwards off the top of the mask were a translucent lime green. The whole thing had what looked to be scales faintly carved into it. Needless to say, I didn't know what power it possessed. With nothing more to learn from it at the moment, I put it back on.

I looked around at my surroundings, and noticed what looked like a small town relatively nearby. I squinted, but couldn't make out any real distinguishing features, aside from a large tree near the middle, which almost seemed to be glittering, in a strange way. Abruptly, I heard a whirring from my mask, felt something shift on the right side, and then there was an object sliding across my right eye's field of vision. It turned out to be a sort of telescopic lens, and I could now see things a fair bit clearer.

The "tree" I had seen turned out to be some sort of carving, all angular and such, and appeared to be made up of one solid, translucent substance. Alarm bells were ringing in my head at this point. I quickly scanned the rest of the town, finding one building that looked like a miniature circus tent, and another that looked like a gingerbread... house...... More alarms went off as time went by. More out of fear than actual sense, I muttered "show me thermal," to nobody in particular, and the view switched, from a monochromatic blue-and-white, to a spectrum of reds, yellows, whites, blues, and black. I zoomed in, focused on the few sources of movement in the streets. They shaped up to be four-legged creatures of some sort. Most certainly equine in origin.

I don't remember getting to my feet. I just suddenly remember running at top speed, away from the town, crashing through the underbrush, mask set to some sort of night vision, and mentally cursing myself. Of ALL the various worlds I could have fallen into, it HAD to be fucking THIS one, didn't it. I had landed myself in the world of talking, sentient horses, where friendship is... (gags...) /MAGIC.../ (shudders). I jumped over a wolf-shaped pile of wood and sticks, and kept running, thinking nothing of it.

I have to say, here, that although I knew where I was, and the name of said location (sort of), I was NOT a fan of the TV show that this place was a reflection of. I do everything possible to avoid it and anything pertaining to it at all costs, due to the controversy surrounding the subject. I mean, I'm divided over it, to a degree. I like to be open-minded about things, so naturally, a part of me is curious about the show.

But I never actually act upon that curiosity, because another part of me is.... Well, not so much REVOLTED by it, but... desperate to stay away, due to seeing how male fans of the show were treated at my high school, and online. So, I ran. Even though I've graduated, long ago, I still run. And it's not like I didn't try using the Olmak again to escape. It just wouldn't reappear. Just. My. Luck.

I eventually stopped, and made camp for the night, setting up my tent, sleeping bag, blankets, and a tarp I'd brought. I didn't bother removing my armor or helmet (which the mask both was attached to, and served as a visor for). The padding inside it was actually pretty comfortable, in addition to the pillow. I made sure to turn off my phone before going to sleep, both to conserve power and because I wouldn't be able to use it anytime soon, seeing as this planet, which relied more on magic than science to get things done, most likely didn't have any sort of satellite technology.

I awoke the next morning, and had no idea what time it was, due to the fact that my watch was still set for Datum Earth Pacific Standard time. It read about 7:30 pm. I kept it on my wrist, though, for the little comfort it offered. I heard something moving outside, and unzipped the front flap a bit to see what it was. When I laid eyes on it, I had to blink and rub them a bit. There was a Gukko bird roosting outside my tent, though it flew off in a flurry of giant wings once it noticed me.

"Ok, THAT just happened," I said, stunned. With that, I crawled out of the tent, zipped it up, and took a look around. I was in a very small clearing in the forest. A few of the trees had a strange feel to them, but there was nothing else unsettling nearby. I could hear strange birds in the trees. The trees themselves looked like very eerie willows, but that didn't bother me too much.

It was at this point that I noticed a familiar synthesized female voice cutting through the silence around us, and gradually getting louder. We soon saw why: the source of the voice was being dragged unceremoniously by a large gold-and-purple being, whose mask seemed to have something similar to ram's horn curving down the sides, like the ones on the stereotypical iron helmet from Skyrim, except that the mask was golden. This seemed to be the G2 Makuta, but given he was in the same world as me, dragging none other than GLaDOS herself behind him, I had my doubts.

I waved frantically to get his attention, at which I succeeded. I quickly made a "shoosh"ing motion, and indicated to him by way of pantomime that I wished to speak with him, without GLaDOS getting involved. He carefully dropped the end he had hold of, and waved a hand in GLaDOS' direction. The orange-yellow glow of her singular "eye" faded significantly, and her constant death threats and complaining died out. She was, for lack of a better term, out of it. Makuta marched over to me, and I felt the distinct urge to go hide in my tent. Perhaps, if I had, things would've been different, but it was too late now...

"What do you want, human?" He demanded. I knew then, from his unique baritone voice, that this was not the fallen mask-maker of Okoto. No, this was Makuta Teridax, master of shadow, who felled Mata Nui himself and took over the entire Matoran Universe, but in a forcibly powered-down state. I had no idea what was going on, but I decided to bluff it.

"I am requesting your help, Teridax. And I will help you in return, eventually, assuming that THING on your back hasn't dulled your edge by that time." He was obviously intrigued by my offer, if you knew anything about him. I could see the gears turning in his mind (not literally,) at the thought of returning to his dark throne, as it were. I had to let a bit of my (very feeble) dark side come into play here.

"I just KNOW you're planning something," I said. "It's classic 'you,' Teridax. I look at that... suppressing thing on your back, and I see a leash. Whoever managed to knock you down a peg or two decided to rub some salt and dirt in the wound; add insult to injury. They wanted to turn the Big Bad Wolf, the baddest of the badasses, into a little lapdog to use at their bidding. Back on my world, within the circles that knew of you and your universe, you were the bad guy that everyone loved to hate.

"I mean, that whole 'slipping into the central processor before Mata Nui could and taking everything over' move? The ultimate coup d'etat! Everyone was at their deepest point of hate at that moment. But, inside, deeper than they'd admit, they LOVED it. They ate that shit up like CANDY! I'm still geeking out a out it, all these years later. You know how some beings will look at someone they idolize, and think, 'that's my hero'? Well, in a weird way, the Bionicle fans did the same with you, but more along the lines of 'he may be a complete scumbag, but I wouldn't have anyone else, because he's my villain'.

"Every world needs a proper bad guy to throw it into jeopardy once in a while, to keep things interesting, else it gets stagnant. And you, good sir, were the top-of-the-line, grade-AA, very best at being the absolute WORST bad guy. And then, all... THIS... happened," I gestured vaguely in his direction with both hands. "I'm starting to think you're going the way the LAST major threat here, and you've seen how HE ended up." Teridax scowled at me, dangerously. "But I can possibly change that, if you just do me a few couple small favors."

Once my monologue ended, he gave me an intensely dark look. Like he was trying to decide if he should kill me outright, or torture me. Then he spoke. "You're not like the other humans-turned-Toa that have shown up here. Why do you not like this world?" I frowned. "Well, you're the expert mind-reader, you figure it out," I said. As I felt his mind slip tendrils into my own, I have him a pointed look, adding "Look, but don't touch. You'll find what I'm asking of you in there as well."

"Yes, I COULD do that. But why? Why can you not just go back to your home world? I know you have an Olmak, I felt you arrive last night."

I deadpanned, slightly. "Dude, you were just looking through my mind, how can you not know this?" I sighed. He was playing dumb, I was sure. "I got it under shady circumstances, and I'm on the run from gods know how many organizations because of it. And now, it's not working, let alone showing up when I summon it. To make if worse, I'm stuck in friggin' Equestria, of all places! Where I came from, all of this was just part of... Actually, I better not say. Just.... Will you do it, or not?"

He thought for a moment, most likely debating how it'd benefit him in the long run, and then reached out his strange hand. It had three fingers, and two thumbs, and they were all clawed. "Yes," said Teridax, "I will... ASSIST you." I shook his hand.

"Oh, where are my manners?" I asked. "My name, while I'm HERE at least, is Caldoric." He nodded.

"An interesting choice, Toa," he began, but I had to cut him off there.

"Please, don't call me that. We both know I'm all kinds of unworthy to bear that title, now. I'm a... Well, let's just say 'pariah,' and have done."

And with that, he used what parts of his power he could access, and enough of mine to flesh out any shortcomings, to conceal a good sized area around the small clearing, making it so that anyone who came near would not be able to see or approach whatever I would build there. Only someone with a Kanohi Rode (Mask of Truth,) or possibly a Kanohi Akaku (X-Ray Vision) would stand a chance of surpassing it. It was linked to my mind, so I could "open" and "close" the field and allow someone in. That was the first favor done, and he set off again, once again towing GLaDOS. After he'd gotten a fair distance away, he brought her out of her stupor, and she went right back to berating him, and throwing stupid insults and vague threats around as usual. The second favor would be to not let anyone find out I was here until I decided to reveal myself.

"Well, THAT went over like a lead balloon. Now, let's go see if we can find something useful around here," I told myself, psyching myself up to explore my new surroundings. I discovered there were some wild pigs, cows, and such living nearby, which I could possibly kill for food, as well as a river that was usually filled with fish. There were also, possibly, edible plants around, but I was hesitant to mess with them. I took a look at the options on the HUD to see if there were any way of setting a waypoint so I could return, and noticed a certain readout in one corner.

It stated that I had two masks collected, one accessible, and only one whose powers were usable at present. It also, theoretically, gave the name and power of which mask was presently in use, assuming I had unlocked it. I ticked a box that kept that up on the standard viewscreen. There was, joy of joys, a waypoint option, with teleportation settings, though they were locked, requiring something else to unlock them.

I took the opportunity to take in my armor, since I'd been busy up till then. It was almost all black, with the lower arms being white, the legs and the fingers were grey, and there was some stray extra plate armor on my right shoulder and forearm. I also had a cloak/cape hybrid, which was either black or a very, very dark grey.

I set a waypoint, which I labeled "DrakeHeim Keep," for personal reasons. After that, went off exploring deeper in the dark forest that was now my "home." I must say, it was a rather pleasant walk, despite being on another plane of existence. Having spent most of my life in the Pacific Northwest, I was comfortable in forests, to an extent. There was a certain dark serenity there, amongst the creepy trees, which seemed to hold up the desolate grey-brown sky above them. They were a comfort to me, a sort of reminder not to get complacent, because things could always be worse than you first thought.

Almost to prove this point, I was swooped down upon by a very large dragon. Part of me was excited, because I love dragons. Part of me was scared shitless, for all the natural reasons. Part of me was angry, and that part was yelling and screaming at the dragon to put me back down and go to hell. And the rest of me was strangely calm, even resigned. I'd see soon enough what was in store for me. Within a few minutes, we came to a cave, where the dragon dropped me, before landing itself. I was cornered.

"What do you want with me?" I asked, more out of habit than anything else. I wasn't sure if all dragons could talk here. I'd heard of one, who lived in the town I'd arrived near, but he might have been an exception for all I knew at the time.

"Not you specifically, mortal," the dragoness corrected, "but the sheer, untapped power you hold within you, just waiting to be released." I raised an eyebrow.

"You sure about that? The only power I've got is being annoying, causing accidents, and being a total klutz."

"You shall be the final piece," she continued, as if I hadn't spoken. "Your power will be the driving force behind my great creation, made to rival the most powerful beings in this universe."

"Uh, what? No, thanks, I think you've got the wrong guy--" I never finished the thought, for with sudden speed belying her size, her face was suddenly right in my personal space, breathing some sort of solid air at me. I fell over, curled in the fetal position, having had my breath knocked out. A moment later, so was I.

When I came to, I was unable to see, because I was in a dark, highly enclosed space. I was a bit freaked out because of this, but I was glad I wasn't claustrophobic. The inner surface was smooth, and curved. And the outside was not attached to anything, because my moving around caused whatever I was in to roll over violently, until I was on my back. I needed some way to break out of here, and I had an idea. I reached into my Hammerspace (via my sleeve,) and pulled out the lightsaber handle I'd brought with me. It was aerospace-grade T60-61 billet aluminum, and it had two sharp points on one end. Perfect.

I began using it to scratch at the surface before me. A moment later, something heavy settled on my cage, holding it still, and I heard the voice of the dragoness who had trapped me, now muffled by the walls of this... thing I was in. "Hush now, my little knight in the shadows. Your day of awakening shall come soon enough, and by then, your master will have come to claim you. Sleep, now, and dream of darkness and destruction." Well, THAT wasn't a good sign.

Without really knowing why, I pressed the button on the lightsaber, pointing the operational end at where I'd been scratching. I was rewarded with a loud screech and a blast of warmth as a blade of light and plasma shot forth, piercing the wall, sending cracks all around. I heard a scream of pain and rage from outside, the weight was removed, and fresh air rushed inside, allowing me to breath freely once more.

"Gotcha, bitch," I said, gave an almighty kick with both legs, and the container shattered violently. As I picked myself up from the mess, I saw that the jail that had temporarily held me had, in fact, been an egg, though I was unsure at that point as to what purpose it would have served by holding me.

"Wha--? Impossible! How are you still alive?" The dragoness screeched at me, clutching her left forepaw, which I saw had a large, scorched hole through the "palm." Score one for me, it seems.

"Surprise, motherfucker," I said sarcastically, "nothing's impossible; only improbable. And, it seems, that goes double for this world." I hefted the lightsaber, giving it a few swings to test the weight and feel of it, before I resumed speaking. "I don't particularly know or care how I ended up in that egg thing, but I've had it up to HERE with this place. And I think I've just found something to vent some karma on." And with that, I charged.

I'll just say it now: I have no weapons training whatsoever, so it came as a shock to me that I was able to hold my own against a dragoness. Then again, it's hard to lose against an unarmed opponent of ANY size when your weapon can melt through titanium like it was nothing. Pretty soon, I had dismembered the dragoness, and I held the humming blade against her throat.

"I wish it hadn't gone down like this," I said, disappointedly. "Normally, I love dragons. But you left me no option. And now your life is forfeit." She turned her head to me, and opened her mouth to speak.

"You cannot stop us. Our plans WILL come to fruition. There is nowhere that the Hand of Makuta cannot--" a quick slash of my blade put an end to her words, and she drowned in her own blood.

"So uncivilized..." I muttered, turning off the lightsaber and dropping it into Hammerspace once more. I returned to the shattered egg, and began gathering up as many pieces as I could, storing them in Hammerspace as well. I'd need to analyze them later... somehow. Knowing what I did about dragons, I figures it wouldn't hurt to look around the cave for valuables.

My curiosity paid off, in the form of heaps and heaps of coins (of various denominations,) gems, gears, (widgets?) and other treasures. I took it all, sorting it out into separate Hammerspace pockets. It was made easier by the fact that the late dragoness seemed to have had OCD, or was very organized. I found a couple of old Kanohi and Toa tools as well, which might be handy. The masks in question were a Mask of Quick Travel (Kualsi) and a Mask of Telekinesis (Matatu.) I put them both on, but their abilities were locked as well.

After I had looted everything from the cave, (and placing a waypoint,) I spent the next hour or two walking back to the waypoint I'd left at the tent. I arrived right about sunset, having fought off two or three small groups of wolves made from scraps of wood on the way. I got into the tent, shoved the sleeping bag off into the corner, and tried to catch some sleep. But I just couldn't seem to shut off my brain. So, I began sorting through the tools I'd found, deciding which to put into use and which to set aside.

Over the next few days, I knocked over a few trees to use for a more permanent dwelling, and began digging out sub-levels below ground (using some digging gloves i'd found in the loot,) to expand into later, Minecraft style. There was one memorable evening when the ground suddenly lurched beneath my feet, and the sun and moon spun crazily across the sky for a minute or two before slowing to a stop. After that, things settled into a routine: dig out more tunnels, flesh out the preexisting cave system I'd found, furnish any bits I saw need for, collect food, etc.

It was on the evening of the fifth day that things changed. I was digging about as usual, working on making a replica of the Gate Room from Stargate SG1 on the third sublevel, just because I could, and pondering what I should dig out next. In the midst of my musings, the icon for the Olmak began flashing, and the words "commencing teleportation" began pulsing gently on one screen, while a thirty five second timer appeared on the other.

"No, no, no..." I murmured, racing upstairs and grabbing all of the loose stuff I'd left lying around the house.

Five seconds...

"Abort!"

Three seconds...

"Cancel Teleportation!"

One second...

"Stop!"

No luck. A portal grew beneath my feet, and I fell into its gaping maw, and through to another location, and continued falling. I crashed through something hard before I hit the ground, with the sound of splintering wood and the tinkling of smashed dishes, with one or two latecomers. I raised my head and opened my eyes, to see a grand chandelier above me, hanging from the ceiling of an even grander room. There were two noble-looking Alicorns, one on either side of me, with highly shocked expressions on their long faces. Evidently I had interrupted them in the middle of having tea together, hence the broken china.

The figure to my left was the tallest of the two, with a white coat, a pastel tri-colored mane (and matching tail,) that seemed to flow in an unseen wind, and a fair bit of golden ornamental jewelry. The one to my right was smaller, almost younger looking, with a dark blue coat, silver jewelry, and her mane and tail were a midnight blue-black filled with stars, which behaved the same as those of the first figure. From what little I knew at that time, I could infer that these two were the ruling entities of this world, the Princesses Celestia and Luna, respectively. Definitely the two people I LEAST wanted to have dropped in on.

"Seriously," I said, reaching under my mask to massage the bridge of my nose, as the Princesses exchanged concerned glances. "Fuck my life. Sideways. With a shovel."

I had a feeling... that it was going to be a long night.

2: Phase Gearing

About three seconds later, seven guards burst into the Hall through various entrances, both conventional and concealed, and armed to the teeth. I raised my hands in a submissive manner, indicating I was unarmed and friendly.

"Who goes there? What are you doing here at this time of night?" One of the unicorn guards, (presumably the senior officer of this watch, judging by his armor,) asked of me, holding a spearpoint to my throat by way of magic. The effect, however, was ruined by the fact that (had I been standing,) he would have come up to, what, my hips? My lower abdomen, tops.

"Parleleley," I slurred, slightly concussed, and furrowed my brows. I tried a few more times, with less success: "parlelellyleloooo... Par le nee... Partner, par...snip? Parsley? Parliament..." All that got me was some very weird looks all round... Until a small, slightly nerdy-lookin' fellow towards the back of the group got an "oh, I get it!" look, and raised a hoof the way a human would hold up a questioning finger.

"Parley?" He suggested, helpfully.

My eyebrows skyrocketed. I propped myself up on one elbow and pointed an enthusiastic finger in his direction. "That's it!" I exclaimed, "That's the one. Parley." I spread my arms wide. "Parley!"

"Parley?!" Growled one of the more intimidating (and slightly aquatic,) looking guards. "Blast to the depths whatever pony what thought of 'parley'!"

"That'd be the French," I said, holding up a finger as I laid back down in the debris, with warm tea beginning to wick through my scale mail under-armor.

"What happened here? And who is he?" These were leveled at the princesses by the first guard that had spoken, (whom I had mentally dubbed "Commander Vimes,") seeing that I was obviously going to be of no help in the matter. Luna went to speak, but was beaten to the punch by her sister.

"Oh, it was merely a sparring match that got out of hand, nothing more than a slip-up." Luna gave her an intense look at the blatant lie, as Celestia continued. "He is a local Glatorian I hired, for the purpose of keeping us on our toes by 'attacking' at random times of the day or night, attempting to 'assassinate' one or both of us. He's only just started tonight." One of the guards quirked an eyebrow at that.

"Are you sure that that's such a good idea, ma'am?" She said. "I mean, we ARE in the middle of a cold war with the GCA. If they were to catch word that you two had been injured or killed, they'd not hesitate to swoop down and rain destruction on our planet and many others?" It was dead quiet for a moment, in which time I took the opportunity to act a little loopy, in case they weren't convinced.

"We jumped outta window!" I said, slightly slurring, and allowing my eyes to unfocus, for added effect.

"Shhhh!" Luna growled to me. I put a finger to my lips, and spoke again in something akin to a stage whisper

"We jumped out a window!" Then I let my arm drop heavily.

"As I was going to say," continued Celestia, "that is EXACTLY the reason for it! And need I remind you, Lance-Constable, that it is not your place to question what we do in our free time, or how we choose to enjoy it? I do appreciate your enthusiasm on the matter, but there is such a thing as being overzealous. On another note, none of you are to ever speak to anyone of this, or let it get out in any other way. And, no, I don't want to see any paperwork on it either." This last was just after the nerdy-lookin one's hoof shot into the air, like a child with a question at school. "This occurrence does not leave this room. That is all." With that, the guards left the room via the front door.

I waited a few seconds before speaking. "That was a tad... harsh, for someone who's supposed to be all sunshine and rainbows, all the time."

"Well, as the Lance-Constable said, there's a war on. Just a bit."

I folded my arms, looking her dead in the eyes as I did so. "Pull the other one, it's got bells on." Then I smiled. "Cross one off my bucket list, I've been looking for an excuse to use that phrase for years now. As long as I'm here, my name's Caldoric, and I'm already certain of who you are."

"Thee should be grateful to my sister that she hath saved your flank," said Luna, sharply. I bristled a bit at that. I'd heard that she occasionally spoke in a faux "Olde Englishe Mannere," but this was ridiculous. And her use of the word "flank" rubbed me the wrong way, just a little. "By rights, we should have had thee thrown in the dungeon for appearing as you did in our home."

"Calm down, sister. You're just upset because he landed on your favorite tea set. Kindly refrain from antagonizing our guest," said Celestia, calmly. I took the opportunity to get up and brush myself off, before facing them both with my hands clasped behind my back as she continued speaking. "If you'd look closely at him, you would find he's no mere Glatorian, nor is he a newly ascended Neu-Toa."

"A WHAT Toa?" I asked incredulously, looking at Celestia, as Luna walked up to give me a more thorough once-over. I leaned away a little as she raised a hoof towards my mask, trying to lift it up I suppose. I wasn't sure why she didn't use her horn, which was slightly above my eye level, but I was glad she didn't, since it was a long, sharp object. Not good around the eyes. I finally let her lift the mask, and she gasped in surprise.

"A human?" She asked, incredulously, as she backed off a couple steps. She then put a hoof to her chin in a contemplative manner. "But... The last one to arrive was a couple YEARS ago! I didn't think there would be another!"

"Yes, Luna," said Celestia, a sly look playing across her face, "I also made that assumption, which I maintained until a few days ago, when he arrives by way of an unstable portal."

"Wait, you noticed that?" I asked, a little scared now. She nodded. "Well, so much for nobody knowing I was here!"

"As a matter of fact," she said, "although I could sense the injection of your presence into the Everfree Forest, I couldn't track your exact location, which intrigued me. That being said, I can feel you right now, which is all the more unusual. I would have alerted my brother, Nova, of this in the morning and sent him to find you. But then you saved us the trouble."

"Lucky me..." I said, processing just how much of a close shave I'd just had. "And, just for the record, it wasn't my decision to just drop in on your little conference." I sighed, and decided to tell them my story, leaving out the encounter with Makuta. I then pulled off the helmet, and both of them raised their eyebrows when my long, dirty-blonde hair tumbled out.

It was in a decent-sized braid that reached most of the way down my back, tied off at both ends, with a black elastic hair tie at the bottom, and a slightly lighter blonde one at the base of my skull. What I found strange was the fact that woven amongst the strands of hair were lengths of what seemed to be copper wire, though I knew they had to be something else, based on how flexible and durable they were for their thin diameter. Same thing with my facial hair. And then there was the rest of my face. It was now covered in strange green and black circuitry-looking lines, all angled corners and ending in small empty circles. All of this had shown up after I'd woken up that first morning, which seemed a long time ago, now.

"I'm not proud, or even happy, about the dragoness, and I'm not even going to sully her memory by trying to excuse or justify what happened," I said, then decided to backtrack the conversation a bit. "Anyways, you mentioned something about 'Neue' Toa? Are they German or something?" The two sisters looked at each other for a moment, before turning back to me.

"Thee speaks Germane?" She asked. My eyes narrowed for a moment, and I took a moment to murmur something unflattering about horse puns before answering.

"Ein bischen," I said, holding up a hand, with index finger and thumb about an inch apart. "Aber, es heißt 'German' wo ich komme sind. I'm a bit rusty, though, as you can tell, since I probably didn't conjugate it properly."

"Yes," said Luna, "thee should have said 'wo ich herkomme,' but it was close enough. And we are well aware of what thy world's equivalent names for the language are."

"I'll remember that, thanks..." I said, feeling a tad embarrassed.

"In answer to your question," said Celestia, "no, they are not all 'German.' My brother, Nova, hailed from Scunthorpe, in Great Britain."

"Aaand... How exactly does a member of Equestrian royalty claim an Earth city as a birthplace? Let alone become a Toa... I mean, if one of your folk was born on Earth, it would have been all over the news."

"That is because," continued Celestia, "he was born human, to human parents, who raised him until he was transported here."

I had to parse that for a second. "Ok, then, how did he become royalty HERE? And how is he your brother, too? Like, is it just in name, or...?"

"Our mother, Fantasia, who is a most powerful goddess, interfered at his conception," said Luna. "If not for her, he would never have existed."

I hummed for a second, before I said, "Must have been one helluva three-way then." Next second, Luna's wings suddenly shot out, stiff as a board, with a feathery "floomph!" Celestia's seemed to be trying to do the same. Both of them blushed. "Did I... Did I say something offensive? Or do I even want to know?" Nowadays, I know exactly what that meant, but back then, I had NO clue. Honestly.

"Nothing, it's nothing," said Luna, struggling to get her wings under control once more.

"Anyway," continued Celestia, "our mother wasn't there at that point in time. She was here, on Terra-1. She used her magic to... Ah... ensure his existence. As to how he is allowed to lay claim to royalty, because of Fantasia's actions, Nova's DNA is 90% alicorn."

I smiled. "Ok, now you got that song stuck in my head." Seeing their looks of confusion, I elaborated. "You said 90% alicorn DNA. That leaves ten percent unaccounted for. And there's this one song on earth whose chorus goes like this: 'ten percent luck, twenty percent skill, fifteen percent concentrated power of will. Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain, 100% reason to remember the name.' So, now you get it."

Celestia shook her head, chuckling slightly. "Yes, I'm familiar with that piece of music. The other ten percent is human, like several others of the Neue-Toa. They are... Different from the Toa you may be familiar with. And please, if you run into Nova at any time, don't tell him I told you about his heritage. Nowadays, he'd rather forget he ever was human at all, after the Battle of London."

"I'm sorry, London?" I asked. "You've got a city named London here in Equestria?"

"No, no," said Luna, shaking her head. "Thee are most mistaken. There is no London on this world. It happened on thy own homeworld last year, which is called Earth-1 now, ever since the Convergence a few years ago." They both started looking at me funny, probably because of my evident confusion. "Thee should know this already, should thee not?"

"Um, no? I'm pretty sure there's not been any attack on London in recent memory... The closest thing to that was the ISIS bombing in Paris last year."

"Um, Caldoric," said Celestia, "that... wasn't LAST year. That was SEVERAL years ago. It's currently the human calendar year of 2021."

My knees nearly gave out after a moment of stunned silence, and I had to stagger over to the nearest wall for support. "Holy fuck..." I muttered, sliding down until I was sitting, hunched over, with my hands over my face.

"I'm so sorry, Caldoric," said Celestia. "If you want, we have something that might help..."

"No," I said, frozen. "It wouldn't work. If I were to go back, I would have prior knowledge of future events, and that very fact would change said events, thus altering the timeline, nullifying this one. I have to stay in the present point in time. *sigh* It figures that the Olmak would shift me in time as well as space. They're both dimensions in their own rights. Just my luck... Maybe I'll go back in the present day? Heh, what a surprise. Hey guys, I'm not dead, I was just kicked across time and space to another world! It's only been a few days for me! LOL!"

"Methinks he has cracked under his predicament," suggested Luna.

"Maybe, maybe not. I'd have to say I'm probably in shock," I replied. "Give me a while, I'll get used to it." I sat there for a moment, hugging my knees and thinking. "On a different topic, how many other Toa are there around here?"

"Last time we checked," replied Celestia, sensitive to my fragile state, "several thousand."

"What-- how? Spherus Magna isn't part of this reality... Is it?"

"Did we not tell you? They are the original inhabitants of this world, formerly known by that name. A few years ago, we discovered them far to the south, and they have since incorporated themselves into our society, to a degree. After that, a spell was put into development that would allow travel between dimensions, so Nova and the other humans could return home, but before it was finished, a member of the Second Brotherhood of Makuta stole a copy, and when it was cast, it merged several universes into one, including ours, and yours."

"Wait, really?" I asked, a glimmer of hope appearing on my horizons, a silver lining to the clouds in the sky. "That means... I can go home, at least. But, as long as I'm stuck here like this, and there's a war going on like you say there is, I'd better get some sort of combat training. Any recommendations?"

"Thy attitude has turned around rather quickly, it seems!" said Luna, evidently impressed. "Most of the other humans we've met tended to have longer moody streaks over less portentous subjects than this."

"Oh, trust me, I'm still in 'a right old state' about it, as you'd probably say, but I am feeling marginally better, now that I know I might get to meet some of the original Bionicle characters. Anyways, Cel," I said, turning to Celestia, "recommendations for combat training. Got any?"

"Well," she said, looking up in thought, "my first thought would have been for you to seek out one of the Neue-Toa, such as Nova's brother, Minion, Toa of Magnetism and weapons specialist, or maybe Vapaa, Toa of Light and user of many martial art forms."

"Wait, hold up. Two things. First: ANOTHER Toa of Light? And second: no, thanks, I'd rather not be suddenly thrust into a group of strangers, until I can defend myself. Besides, they'll probably freak out about my unprecedented arrival, and start asking questions. Not to mention, since they're part of Nova's team, they're probably high-profile targets right now, and possibly quite busy."

"Agreed," Celestia responded, nodding enthusiastically, "that's why I said 'would have.' I have a strange feeling it's be best if your presence went unknown by them for the time being. As such, my second thought is to direct you to New Altero, where the greater part of the Spherus Magnan populous currently resides. Specifically, I was thinking you might spend some time with a certain Glatorian named Ackar, with whom I believe you might be framilar?"

"Aw, HELL yes!" I said, punching the air. When do you think I could start?"

"I could have a train ready for you in the morning, if you'd like," she said, kindly.

"Um," I replied, chewing my lip, "I'd rather not take public transportation, if possible. I don't feel ready to mingle with the local folks too much."

"Yes, of course," she said, nodding sagely, "I understand. Perhaps spending time with framilar faces would help. I can teleport you there tonight, then, if you so desire."

"Sister," Luna interjected, "is that wise?"

"I believe that, given the present circumstances, it is the best course of action. I'll have to let Ackar know in advance, though, and arrange somewhere for Caldoric to stay."

"I've got a place to stay already," I interjected. "Where did you think I've been hiding out these last few days? I just need a way to get go and fro. If it helps, I could show you where it is..."

"I believe that might be a good idea," Celestia responded. So, I toggled a setting on my HUD, and the solitary waypoint I had set up appeared as a transparent lime green diamond off in one direction, with it's distance measured in meters. I had set it that way a few days ago as a reminder of certain Minecraft minimap mods I used to use.

"Shall we go, then?" I asked. They nodded, and Celestia's horn was suddenly encased in a wavering envelope of what looked, to me, like gelatinous plasma.

"Brace thyself," said Luna, "the first time is usually the worst." And with that, we vanished, reappearing on the wooden roof of the aboveground portion of my base.

"Welcome, ladies," I said, with a sweeping gesture, "to my humble abode: Drakeheim Keep." I then fell to my hands and knees, lightheaded and blinking furiously, like I'd just stood up too fast, or taken too many consecutive deep breaths at once. My stomach churned dangerously, threatening to revolt. "Man, you weren't kidding, were you?" And with that, we left the roof, and I gave them a tour of the parts I had made habitable so far. However, it was slowed slightly by the fact that I hadn't designed the level exchanges to be equine-friendly. I'd have to fix that later. And something else felt off, as it had been since the dragoness incident, but since I couldn't identify it what it was, I ignored it. As I showed them around, I picked up the last of the stuff I'd left behind before being metaphorically dumped on their doorstep by the Olmak.

After the tour had ended, Luna went back to their castle, Celestia pulled out a quill, some ink, and some parchment, and began to write a letter, which she explained would be delivered (by way of magic) to Ackar as soon as she finished it. We got a reply within a few minutes, giving us the go-ahead, and some bonus news. If I required it, a local maskmaker named Nurhii had a spare room available. I was torn for a moment, but I eventually decided to go with the new option. That settled, we returned to the castle, which I learned was located in a city known as "Canterlot." I wasn't amused.

I asked if I'd be required to register for anything, like citizenship, or the local equivalent of armed (hooved? Ugh, nevermind...) forces was, but she shook her head at the thought. That earlier foreboding had come around to us both again. She argued that it was better if I was kept off the books entirely, for now. I admired how much she trusted her gut instinct on things like this, and so I didn't question it.

She also explained the various types of currency I'd absconded with in the dragoness' cave, pointing out which type belonged to which nation, what their relative worth was, and I sorted them out into separate Hammerspace pockets. Once the most locally used form, "bits," was explained, it was fairly easy to remember. It was, in a way, similar to the US currency system I was used to, with a few tweaks. The Widgets were a bit harder to understand, but I tried. Oh my god, did I try. I tried all the... Yeah, sorry, old Earth joke. I'll stop now.

Anywho, she sent another letter, telling Ackar I'd be coming shortly, which made me wonder...

"Um, Celestia, on the off chance that I have to contact you, how would I do so?"

"You'd just write a letter, seal it with wax using an enchanted ring, and then burn it. It'll go to whomever you addressed it to. I'll have a ring made for you discretely made for you, if you have a design in mind."

"Oh, yeah, I've got a couple. I'll send them to you later. Let's do this thing!"

And with that, I knelt on my right knee, fist on the ground, left arm over my left thigh, head bent. She set off the spell, and suddenly I was somewhere else: a bedroom, it seemed, with a framiliar red, and slightly startled-looking, Glatorian looking down at me.

"Hello, Ackar," I said, standing up slowly, "my name's Caldoric. It's a pleasure to be meeting you in the flesh."

"By the Great Beings, I'm getting too old for this shit," he muttered, covering his face, "I mean, call me old fashioned, but I'll never get used to things whizzing back and forth across time and space on a whim. I'd take a good old Thornatus over magic any day."

"I know what you mean, man," I said, chuckling. "I've pretty much just been shunted a few years into the future, as of a couple days ago."

Ackar blinked. "My condolences, Caldoric. I didn't realize."

"Oh, it's no problem, Ackar. At the very least, it's more interesting here and now than it was back home. If I hadn't come across that Kanohi Mask, I'd probably still be working the Toys department at my local Department store." I then proceeded to sit on the bed, and tell him my story.

When I was done, he nodded. "I admire your determination, Caldoric, and I believe you have a bright future ahead of you. My only regret is that we couldn't have met under better circumstances. The war with the Galactic Conquest Alliance has taken its toll on everyone, despite how little it shows." He stood up, and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Get some sleep. We will start in the morning."

"Um," I said, "where should I sleep?"

"Right where you are," he said, gesturing to the bed. "I'll be right across the hall if you need anything."

"In case you haven't noticed, Ackar, I'm a little old for a nightlight, but thanks for the offer."

He froze for a moment, eyes narrowing slightly in confusion, before he facepalmed with an audible clang. "You humans have a strange sense of humor, I swear. Nova was just as bad as you, I'll have you know."

"Really?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, him and most of his team. I trained them up a bit."

"Ah, makes sense. Um, if you don't mind, could you refrain from telling them or anyone else about me, if at all possible?"

He nodded. "If you wish, Caldoric."

The next morning, I got all kinds of distracted on the way out of the shop. There were so many tools, weapons, and most importantly, Kanohi Masks. I swear, I dropped a few hundred Widgets on Kanohi alone, plus a sword and a couple of knives (just to be safe,) but it was well worth it. I was rather enamored with the workmanship put into them, and so I complimented him on it.

My new host of masks now included: a Kakama (speed,) a Hau (shielding,) a Miru (levitation,) an Akaku, (X-ray vision,) a Huna (concealment,) a Mahiki (illusion/shapeshifting,) a Kiril (regeneration of inanimate objects,) a Kanohi Kadin (flight,) a Volitak (stealth, a 1-up on the Huna,) a Mask of Growth, a Mask of Intangibility, a Mask of Possibilities, Sensory Aptitude, Rebounding, Silence (Shelek,) Repulsion (Crast,) Biomechanics, Diminishment (Pehkui,) and a strangely-shaped Mask of Incomprehension. He gave me a weird look when I chose some of them, because most Toa would consider them "immoral" powers, like Incomprehension, but I waved it away saying "I'm not a Toa, so it doesn't matter. Not yet, anyways."

With my little shopping spree over, I headed out back, to find Ackar leaning on his sword impatiently. "Sorry, Ackar," I said, "I took the opportunity to get some masks, and a couple weapons." I then showed him the sword, which looked somewhat like a cutlass, and the two mismatched knives. He didn't mind the sword, but the knives gave him pause.

"You... You know they're not matched, right?" He asked.

"Yeah," I said, matter-of-factly, "that's the point. One's a hunting knife, the other's a Saxe knife, or Seax. I have my reasons for that combination. Mostly defensive."

"Alright," he said, raising his hands, "well, let's get started, then. I half expected him to start teaching me various parries right then and there, but that didn't happen. Instead, he started me on getting my footwork up to par. You know, balance, firm footing, stance, that kind of thing. It didn't take long, though, and soon he had me starting on parries and other defensive maneuvers. Partway through that, I told him about something called 'The Double Knife Defense,' which was the prime reason for the mismatched knives I had at my hip. He was rather impressed with the idea.

The next day, we had a few visitors. The first was an old friend and ally of Ackar's, from way back, named Gresh. He was a Jungle Glatorian, who was given control over the element of Air by Mata Nui, and wielded twin blades that swept back along his arms. With him came a rookie Glatorian that he was training up. The new guy, named Durath, was a Fire type who favored a type of bladed mace, but was still rather good with other weapons as well. He and I got along like a house on fire. Durath seemed to be about my age, and was rather interested in Earth, which seemed so strange and alien to him.

After the initial meet-n-greet was over, Ackar decided that it might be a good idea (just to switch things up a bit,) for me to learn a bit from Gresh, and have Durath learn from Ackar, which would provide new perspectives on fighting methods. I'll be the first to admit, learning with Gresh was interesting. He was a much more active person than Ackar, and it showed rather exceedingly in his fighting style. For a general idea, Gresh's moves were like Aang's Airbending in "Avatar: the Last Airbender," all spins and jumps and being everywhere at once, and Ackar's were more along the lines of Zuko's Firebending; sturdy, sweeping steps, and focused strikes meant to finish a fight swiftly.

I personally liked them both, and figured it'd be interesting to see how well they meshed together. Durath had the same idea, so in our off time during the next four days, we would occasionally spar, trying out new ideas, usually gaining a new bruise or two in the process. At one point, I had the unique (and frightening) opportunity to demonstrate the Double Knife Defense firsthand. We had both been using swords in a training exercise, and Durath had begun to get a tad overzealous in his attacks. Needless to say, he managed to disarm me, but had gotten so caught up in the pattern that he went to follow through with the next few steps.

I managed to avoid everything up to the final overhead stroke, and got out the knives on instinct. As his sword came crashing down, I crossed both knives in front of me and, using the smaller hunting knife to support the larger Saxe, thrust them both firmly upwards, and stepped forwards. The sword came to a halt with a respectable clang, caught neatly near its crossbar, in the valley formed by the two knives. That was the important part, catching the sword as low on its blade as possible, so that you have less rotational momentum to negate. I didn't take the time to admire the fact that it had actually worked, though.

I shoved the sword to one side with the Saxe, and used the other hand to punch him in the face. He staggered back a few steps, and shook his head. "Whoah... What was that?" Durath asked.

"I believe that was the Double Knife Defense, was it not?" Said Ackar.

I nodded. "Yep. It's all in the application of the knives." I then explained what little I knew about the technique, how it could be used for stopping side slashes/chops, and redirecting straight thrusts. I also told them where I had gotten the information: a series of books titled "The Ranger's Apprentice." Of course, the technique was only good against swords, not maces or axes, for obvious reasons.

We wound up practicing that for most of the rest of our fourth day together. And on the last bout between Durath and I, something very weird happened. I basically repeated what I'd done the first time, except at the point where I'd gone to punch him, I instead thrust my hand at him, palm outwards, with all fingers extended (save my thumb, which had the knife's hilt pinned to the side of my palm.)

As my hand thrust forward, I felt a surge of some kind of energy cascade down along my arm, (accompanied by a pulse of bright green light between the scales etched into my outer armor,) exploding from my palm, and coming to a halt against Durath's chestplate point blank, both firmly and with a vengeance, sending the unfortunate Glatorian flying backwards a few feet and landing flat on his ass.

Post release, I could sense the energy I'd somehow channeled, in a strange way. Meaning both "it was strange that I could sense it's lingering presence," and "the way I sensed it was weird." I could feel it, yes, but... by way of taste, if that makes any sense. Like, those rare times when you catch a scent that (near?) exactly mimics a taste you've previously experienced, or vice versa. Trust me, I've had that happen several times in my life, but this was different.

I "tasted" the smell of ozone, and freshly cut celery and cucumbers and grass, all at once, as well as the normal tastes of copper, Granny Smith apples, and sour limes. There was a sweetness there, too, that I recognized, but had never been able to name the source of. It wasn't a good type of sweetness, either. As I slowly exhaled, I also registered a heat dying down in the back of my throat which I hadn't felt building up.

I heard exclamations off to one side, eerily distorted, and with agonizing slowness I looked over to see Ackar, Gresh, and Nurhii (who had come to watch the new technique,) were surging to their feet in extreme slow motion, and getting even slower. I turned back to see the air within a small radius of my hand distorting wildly, before slowly blossoming into a glob of some tepid flame-shaped plasma, (lime green in color,) like a bubble popping in reverse.

I had no time to recognize the full implication of this, as my viewpoint was suddenly rocketing backwards, the small courtyard narrowing to a mere pinprick, and I faintly felt my now-distant body slowly beginning to sag at the knees. When I came to a stop, I turned around, and was faced with an infinite wall of green fire, stretched as far as the eye could see and more. Nevertheless, I still could tell that it was curved ever so slightly. I knew what this was.

"The Green Sun," I whispered, reverently. And then I was back in the courtyard again.

3: Fyld Trippyng

Time quickly returned to normal, and I reflexively took a step back, blinking. Then I was suddenly jumped by Gresh, who pressed one of his blades to my throat.

"What's the big idea, blasting him like that?" He shouted at me, "you could have killed him!"

"I'm fine, honest!" Durath called calmly, throwing a hand in the air, still laying on his back. "Just startled is all."

"That's nice, Durath," called Gresh, "but I'm more concerned with the fact that Caldoric just blasted you across the courtyard with some sort of green fire!"

"That's not fire," insisted Ackar, pointedly.

"Yeah, well, what IS it then?" Demanded Gresh.

"Looks to me like plasma," I said as I stared at the offending hand, which was still engulfed, "but it's not hot, or even warm, which is not something indicative of plasma."

"It's magic," said Ackar, shrugging. Everyone looked at him with an exasperated "really?"-type look. "Yes, magic. I've occasionally seen Nova's hands do something like that when he used magic. Same with most of his teammates, though its manifestation seemed unique to each individual user..."

"Now that you mention it," I said, thinking, "I have seen something like this stuff in action before, around... the, uh, horn... of one of the locals..."

"You mean Celestia, don't you?" Asked Ackar, with genuine innocent curiosity.

My lips pursed as Nurhii began to freak out a little. "You know the princesses? OH boy..." he fretted.

"Kinda," I said, making a comforting gesture, "I only met them a couple days ago, before Celestia sent me here to train with Ackar. I wasn't going to MENTION it," I looked through my eyebrows at Ackar here, "but, hey, whatever. You got something to hide, Nurhii?"

"Ah, no, just... Y'know, normal shopkeeping stuff. They're like the head bosses of the whole country, and... Yeah..."

I chuckled. "I totally understand, man. I used to work retail like you, until my destiny took a Kanohi Olmak to the knee." Ackar and Gresh chuckled a bit at that. "I mean, seriously, mother glubbing CUSTOMERS, am I right?" Nurhii's mouth quirked up a smidge at the edges. "Like, they'd ask me if a specific type of bike came in a different color, and I'd tell them all we have are the ones on the racks, and they'd be all like 'but does it come in green?' And I'd say no, the ones on the racks are the only ones in the entire store, and there aren't any in the back either. Then they'd ask again, and I swear, that's about the point where you want to start screaming at them, just to try to make the stupid go away, but you can't. You want to gently encourage them to visit the garden supplies area, purchase a shovel, then return home and use it to assist in the indulgence of copious amounts of self-procreation."

Ackar's eyebrows shot up, Durath made a strangled snorting sound, Gresh tried to suppress a laugh and failed spectacularly, and Nurhii just kinda stood there, mouth slowly moving as he worked it out. I said his name, but he just held up a hand for a moment, before he smiled hugely, and began guffawing so hard he fell over... And kept laughing. We all joined in, of course.

Once we were done, Gresh pulled me up. "So," I said casually, "speaking of magic hands and Celestia, think we should message her about this? I mean, I wanna know if I can turn this off, so I don't have to walk around half on fire."

"Sure thing," said Ackar, and went inside. He came back with parchment, a feather quill, and a jar of ink.

"Um, I've never done quill-based writing before, and my handwriting's bad enough as is. Mind if I just... dictate it to you?"

"Sure thing, Caldoric," he said, and sat down, quill poised.

"Just so you know," said Nurhii, "I said the same thing about using paper and ink for the first time, and yet it's very convenient for storage."

"Yeah," I said, "I know, you guys used to carve on stone tablets. I mean, how is that even possible?"

"No idea," Nurhii supplied, shrugging. "More permanent, I guess."

"Let's focus, shall we?" Asked Ackar.

"Yeah, letter. Ok," I said, taking a breath, "here goes.

"Attention, High Princess Celestia. Training goes well with Ackar, and I have befriended another Glatorian named Gresh, along with yet another Glatorian named Durath, whom Gresh is training. In addition, it seems that, like Nova before me, (and possibly others, according to Ackar,) I seem to have developed/acquired the ability to wield magic, of some sort, manifesting as a nebulous shape around my hands, and a glowing between the scales etched into my outer armor, which I can't seem to get to go away. Any ideas? Sincerely, 'Noob-Toa' Caldoric. PS, the nebulous stuff has also shown up behind my ears, for some reason."

With that, Ackar rolled up the parchment, sealed it with... something, it looked like it mighta been wax, and pressed a sort of signet ring that he had on his right hand into the waxy stuff. He then set it ablaze, and the ashes and smoke whisked away northwards. A few moments later, in which I began trying to figure out how to manipulate the thaumic aura around my hands, a scroll appeared in a flash of light, which I caught and opened, before reading it aloud.

"Dear Caldoric, I am glad to hear of your progress, though I would implore you to take heed when you send me a message to me, especially through Ackar. I had just finished speaking with Nova when this last one arrived. As one might assume, a message from the Prime Glatorian himself would be of obvious interest to him. I will be stopping by shortly with some reading material on beginner magic that I believe might be helpful. It's a now-standard set, given to any newly ascended Neu-Toa who shows magical propensity. Sincerely, Princess Celestia."

I looked up, to find Nurhii had hightailed it back inside, and he seemed to be cleaning everything with quite a passion, bordering on a vengeance. I was about to ask why, when there was an abrupt commotion behind me. I turned to see the others kneeling/bowing to Celestia, who was now standing in the courtyard, using her magic to hold up a collection of books, and the odd scroll.

I raised a hand as I returned outside, and said "Yo, Cel!" Her head turned my way. "Drem Yol Lok, eh?" I continued, and she nodded.

"Well met to you, too, Caldoric. Here are the books I mentioned. Mind if I take a look at the focal points you made note of in your message?"

"Sure," I said, as I took the proffered books, dropped them (carefully,) into a Hammerspace pocket, and let Celestia take a closer look at my hands and armor.

"Hmmm..." She said. Being curious myself, I raised an eyebrow. She noticed my look, and extrapolated. "It's... highly unusual magic that you've got, Caldoric. This shouldn't last too long, however. It's just excess power, which had previously continuously collected over your lifetime, being burned off. It's projection, though, is rather unlike Nova's, which took the form of flames. Yours seems to be more like magic when it was young; less bounded, more chaotic, yet powerful all the same. Both creative and destructive. It stems from a source that is, was, and has yet to be, existing beyond our perception of space-time."

"Lemme guess," I said, holding up a hand for dramatic effect. "It's called the Green Sun, isn't it."

The effect was instantaneous. Her eyes opened exceedingly wide, and her jaw dropped a few inches. "H-- how..?"

"Eh, shenanigans," I said. "Long story short, I saw it shortly after I accidentally used the magic to blast Durath flat on his back. And let me tell you, it's huge. I mean, despite having prior warning as to its mass, it still comes as a surprise. No, I tell a lie, it comes across as a giant fucking wall of green plasma that goes on forever in all directions, that's what."

"That's... Quite a colorful description, Caldoric."

"Sorry," I said, hunching my shoulders.

"So, how exactly do you know of the Green Sun?"

"Well... It's shown up in multiple works of fiction back home, an possibly a religion or two. The most notable appearance was in a webcomic called Homestuck, where it is described as having the mass of nearly two universes. This is paralleled in some of the other works, but only Homestuck describes it as the semi-sentient power source of the First Guardians, (long story,) and that its mass actually comes from two preexisting universes, which were 'destroyed' in order to fuel it . That's just the tip of the iceberg, however, and I'm sure I needn't say more."

"Yes," said Celestia, "I believe you are right about that, for now. But I would like to know more about it later, possibly."

There were a few other facts I'd neglected to mention at this point, which I could have just thrown in, but I'd kept them to myself because I had a few sneaking suspicions about... certain things, including my armor.

At this point, I noticed that the list of acquired masks on my HUD had gained a new feature: under each icon, there was a loading bar of some sort. Well, most of them had one. The Olmak just had the word "ERROR" scrolling across it in big, freaky red letters. But of the masks that did have loading bars, the closest to being full was...

{Kanohi Kualsi Status:}

{#Software: Updated}

{#Firmware: Updated}

{#Pigmentation: Initializing Setup}

{#§Primary: Black}

{#§Secondary: LGreen}

{#§Tertiary: N/A}

{#§Glow: LGreen}

{#Pigmentation Settings: Saved}

{#Jumpstart Completed, Internal Power Full}

{All Systems: Go}

{Initiating Preliminary Testing…}

"Oh... Shit..." I thought, looking in the general direction of Nurhii's shop as my mask switched over to the Kualsi. «Zip!» Suddenly, I was bouncing off part of the doorframe, as if I'd just charged at it full tilt, and I landed on my back. "Owwwww.........." I stared, groggily, up at the clouds. «Zip!» Once again, I was abruptly somewhere else. I was up in the sky, and falling fast. "Whoooooaaaah, shit!" I swore, not liking this situation. Down below me, I could see the grand skyscrapers of New Altero, swiftly rising to meet me.

"Well, well, what have we here?" asked a voice next to me, quite clear despite the air rushing past me.

"The hell?" I nearly shouted. To my left, keeping level with me as I fell, was a figure I'd only ever seen images of. He was lying on his back in the air, sipping some sort of drink from a martini glass, complete with a paper umbrella speared through a green olive. He seemed to be a regular Frankenstein' monster type of being, with each part of his body claiming origin from a different species than the rest. My eyes narrowed. "Oh, it's just YOU, Discord."

Yes, I was somewhat familiar with his identity and backstory. It's surprising what you come across when surfing your way across the internet. You find some cool things, and you also find other things you wish you hadn't. Some of the latter are harmless, like stuff from a fandom you're not following, for whatever reason. Others... Well, they SAY there's a dark side to the Internet for a reason, don't they? Definitely cringeworthy. One might even go so far as to call it nightmare fuel. Moving on...

"Yes, I know it's me. The question here is: who are you? And what are you doing here now? You're late!" With that, he was suddenly wearing a "Sherlock Holmes" style outfit, and looking at me through an absurdly large magnifying glass.

"Not important! I'm falling here, can you please do something helpful about it?"

"Oh, SURE," he said snidely, "I CAN, doesn't mean I WILL."

I snorted, and turned my attention back to the ground beneath me, which was fast approaching for a final reunion. I could see the courtyard, in which everyone was looking up at me, panic-stricken. In particular, I was focused on a sheet of corrugated metal leaning against a wall near one corner. "C'mon, Kualsi, don't fail me now..." I muttered. «Zip!»

Not a moment later, I was sent tumbling across the courtyard, and bowling Ackar over, having been "launched" from the sheet of metal. Apparently, momentum is somewhat preserved during transportation...

"See, there you go," said Discord, standing over the two of us, "you totally had it handled."

"Oh, hey Discord," said Ackar, "thanks for the help."

"He didn't help!" I interjected, "He just hovered there next to me, being annoying!"

"Um, excuse me? That's my JOB. y'know, Discord, spirit of Chaos."

"Yeah, Chaotic GOOD, not NEUTRAL!"

"Please stop, you two," said Celestia, stepping between us. "Resolve your differences later. I need to return to Canterlot, lest my absence be noticed." And without further ado, she vanished in a flash of light.

Discord looked to the skies, obviously sensing something we couldn't. "You all might want to head out too, Ackar. Take as many Spherus Magnans as you can to the far side of the city, and get there quick." Then he, too, vanished, with no further explanation. Of course, being himself, he left behind a hot pink mushroom cloud, which began precipitating a brown liquid that I couldn't identify. Trust me, there's nothing more disconcerting than seeing a man-sized, dayglo-pink mushroom cloud form out of nowhere.

As Durath and I looked at each other in confusion, Ackar and Gresh spoke into something on their wrists, probably calling in old favors or something. Nevertheless, I had a distinct feeling things had just gone to shit. And if we were headed to the other side of the city, I figured I might need to leave a HUD marker here, since I'd never been more than a couple blocks from the workshop. I'd seen just how big the place was during my little skydiving incident just now, and I didn't want to get lost if I had to walk back.

Soon enough, Ackar had brought both of us (Gresh had stayed behind to protect Nurhii in the event of something going horribly wrong,) to an literal flying ship of some sort, where many various biomechanical beings were waiting. We boarded, and were off within minutes.

In an effort to conceal my identity to a degree, I had switched to a Kanohi that covered my entire face, tucked my hair down the back of my armor, and became engaged in conversation with Durath. We spent nearly half an hour playing Q&A about our respective homeworlds, before our little session was broken up by a loud BANG, a sudden lurch, and a very annoying alarm going off.

Ackar's voice crackled over the comms: "We've been hit, guys! Buckle up back there, it's going to get bumpy!"

I got really nervous right about then. I mean, my first flight on an alien world, and we get shot down? Bad luck doesn't cover it.

"Shouldn't this thing have had some sort of shielding?!" I yelled. "Seriously!" There were some muttered agreements from the others amongst the clatter of buckles being latched, as gravity's attention to us seemed to wane.

"Normally, yes," said Durath, semi calm, "they might have had it off, expecting---" He didn't have the chance to finish as the ship suddenly impacted with the ground, hard. I was shaken up pretty bad, but made it out in one piece. We all loaded up with what looked to me like some sort of military-grade firearms, with some modifications, and faced the cargo bay door. I was near the back of the group, with Durath.

The door opened and those in front fanned out, only to take heavy fire from unseen sources. Some of the rounds I saw looked a tad familiar, like the pinkish-purple crystals that were embedded in that one unfortunate Toa over to the left... Or the hissing blue sphere that hit the head of Vortixx on the right, and then exploded...

"Shit, we got Covenant..." I said. I'll admit, those who survived the initial onslaught (and there weren't many of us to begin with, being a hastily assembled group at best,) fell back, taking cover where they could, be it in or around the ship. On Ackar's order, they parted momentarily to allow two Equestrians, a Po-Matoran, and a... um, a Lower Steltian, I think, to pass through and take cover near me, under a large metal plate that had come loose in the crash. I was never really sure what species the Dark Hunter known as Krekka had been, but this guy looked like him, give it take a few things, including a recolored set of armor.

Suddenly, the rate of plasma fire increased dramatically, before halting abruptly. A very self-important, slightly tinny voice called out to us: "Spherus Magnans! You have defended yourselves gallantly. But, in case you haven’t noticed, the battle still rages on elsewhere in your city. Soon, all will fall to the might of the Conquest Alliance. But I am a merciful Shipmaster; surrender now, and I will grant you all swift, honourable deaths, and mentions in the history books."

"We will never surrender to the likes of you!" one of the Toa in the group shouted back, with some muttered agreements from the others.

"Very well," the unseen speaker replied, "Prepare to die." This was followed by the sound of something heavy, tall, and presumably bipedal approaching the ship. Of course, I chose this point to have a bit of a panic attack. I was going to die. Plain and simple.

I was shaken from my brief doom and gloom session by the sight of Ackar running after Durath, the latter of which had run out, sword drawn. I didn't remember what happened after that, though... I think I blacked out, or my mind just shut down at whatever horrible thing happened next. That, or I got minor amnesia from being propelled through several walls. The next thing I DO remember, though, is waking up on my back amidst a pile of debris, staring at said series of vaguely me-shaped doorways through said walls, and my chest HURT. Worse than I'd ever felt before... It hurt to breathe... and suddenly Luna was there, her horn glowing, my pain fading away, and I could breathe again.

"Please," she said, her voice full of sadness at seeing me in my present state, "I need thee to stay here once I'm done, I can't stay long. Nova's here, and he's still unaware of thy existence for now. Once we've left, thee must go back to thy base in the woods."

"But... How will I get back there? It's half a continent away..."

"Not nearly that far, Caldoric. But I hear thy Kualsi is working now, so thee could try putting it to use. Alas, I must leave thee now, lest Nova come investigate. And, just so thee knows, we head south, to the ancient home of the Matoran, though I would advise against trying to follow us, and instead head back to Nurhii's shop. Fare thee well, Caldoric, and safe travels." She looked down and to one side. "I am sorry this happened to thee..." And with that, she left, acting for all the world as if our encounter hadn't occurred.

A few moments later, I heard something nearby taking off under fire, which died down. Looking about the place where I was resting, I saw my sword and one of the strange guns lying nearby. I carefully moved myself, wary of the many bruises covering my body, and picked them up, stowing the sord in my Hammerspace.

The way the gun was designed sort of reminded me of a P-90 assault rifle, (which I was only familiar with because of Stargate SG-1,) due to the style of grip, and how it was more forward on the weapon itself than other grips tend to be, though it was definitely a bit behind where a P-90's grip would go. Aside from that, it was almost completely different. It didn't have the unique top-insert style of clip typical of a P-90, opting instead for a more normal "banana clip" plugged in near the back, and slightly to one side. And there were several addons, like a couple scopes, a flashlight, a longer barrel, etc. I noted an inscription on the side, which read "AR150." I heard the crash of something falling over in the cargo bay, (at least, I HOPE it was that,) which shook me out of my inspection of said weapon.

"Enough faffing about," I said to myself, "let's get the hell outta here." I stood up, quickly checking myself over to ensure that all my stuff was still there and undamaged, and then frowned at the nasty gashes in my chest armor. "What the hell HAPPENED to me?" I asked, wondering how I'd get that fixed... "Oh, wait. Dume's mask, the uh... Regeneration or whatever! That might work..." I summoned it, placed my hands over the holes, and concentrated.

{Torso Armor: Damaged, 7.238%}

{Initiate Repair: Y/N?}

I gave the mental equivalent of a nod, and the area around the holes began glowing, then shrinking. I wasn't sure if the Mask's power was bringing back the missing bits from thin air, or if it was just redistributing what was already present in my armor. Either way, it was a bit disturbing.

Once it was fixed, I got up and carefully made my way back to the cargo hold. Whilst there, I took the liberty of stuffing all the ammunition clips I could get my hands on into Hammerspace, as well as about 10-12 more AR150s. Hey, you never know.

"Ok," I told myself, after I'd grabbed what I could, "time to head out, face whatever's out there, and head home." Yeah, I was probably going to get killed out there, judging by the distant weapons fire I could hear. I cautiously summoned the Mask of Shielding, and left the ship. As I made my way back towards Nurhii's shop, I saw the death and destruction left behind by the Covenant's attack, and I got a weird feeling in my gut, and in the back of my mind. I was angry that this could have happened, and scared shitless that it might do so again, with me as the victim.

The thaumic burnoff around my hands and within my armor, which still hadn't stopped, began rapidly giving off purple bubbly bits, and turned burgundy, then a shade of black that was so deep it made the normal black armor around it look merely medium grey. My eyes prickled strangely, my right one more than my left, and I could suddenly see multiple spectrums at once: thermal, x-ray, sonar, etc. I counted about seven or eight, but I couldn't identify them all.

With my now-altered vision, I could see a strange black-and-purple Rahkshi, wielding a shadowy double-ended trident, (or "2x3dent," as I liked to think of it,) and terrorizing a group of Matoran and Equestrians around the corner about a block down. I ran as fast as I could, tore around the corner, and slammed into the Rahkshi, sending staggering back a few meters. "Run!" I shouted at the group, and all but one obliged. In hindsight, the ones who ran were probably more afraid of me at that point. "Go, now!" I yelled at the remaining Matoran, and turned my attention back to the Rahkshi, which opened its head, revealing the ugly yellow face of the Kraata inside the casing, which screeched at me.

"Two heads are better than one," said the crimson Ta-Matoran, who was now standing beside me and holding a short blade. "And one is better than none."

{Great,} I thought, {it's Kapura. Ah, well, he might be helpful nonetheless, or he might get killed.} I opened fire on the Rahkshi, but the strange, glowing rounds merely ricocheted off, leaving nary a scratch. {Useless,} I thought, and put away the gun. This was bad. As I drew my cutlass, black crystals poked up from the ground around me, like plants sprouting. One grew to a rather decent length, before my "magic" took hold of it on its own, and yanked it out.

Neither taking my eyes off the Rahkshi, nor knowing why I was doing what I was, I reached out and grabbed the crystal near its base, even as my rogue "magic" reshaped it into... a sword? Yes, a sword, whose dark blade was between that of a longsword and a katana, with an angular tip. Gazing at the blade itself, you would swear it was a window in time and space, allowing one to look upon a starry expanse filled with strange, unfamiliar constellations... Running up from the base of the blade was a pattern of translucent green flames that moved in an eerily slow manner. Below the blade, another type of crystal, very dark teal in color, was set into the crossbar, which itself was a dark steely grey. The hilt was wrapped in what felt like black petrified stingray leather, which felt both warm and cold at once in my hand. The pommel was identical to those found on old Viking swords.

"Frostbrenne," I said, naming the sword on the spot, and smiled. I turned to Kapura. "I got this. Get somewhere safe." I then turned back to the Rahkshi, in time to dodge a thrust of it's staff.

"What, you think I'm just going to stand here and TAKE a hit like that?" I shook my head, smiling. "It's a beautiful day," I said casually, deftly sidestepping another swing with dark satisfaction. "The birds are singing..." (duck,) "the flowers are blooming," (jump over a low swing,) "and things like YOU..." (stop downward overhead swing with crossed swords,) "SHOULD BE BURNING IN HELL!" I thrust the staff aside with the cutlass, then used the flat of Frostbrenne's blade to whack the Rahkshi upside the faceplate. The kraata opened it to shriek at me again, and I took the opportunity to swiftly reach up, grab it behind its head and start pulling.

It didn't like that one bit. Nope. It tried to close the head around my wrist, to little avail, and then the Rahkshi's arm came up and grabbed ME by the throat, lifting me several feet above the paved road. Its staff came around, ready to turn me into a fresh Toa shish kebab.

"Not today," I choked out, then sent a flood of magic up my arm and into the Rahkshi, via the Kraata controlling it. Tiny black crystals began poking out of the Rahkshi armor, spreading from the head and Kraata chamber outwards. The Rahkshi armor slowly ground to a halt, trying to bring the pointed end of the staff into contact with my chest, as the Kraata I held voiced its vengeful wrath to the world.

Using the mask of Telekinesis, I pried open the claw holding my neck just enough for me to breathe, brought my feet up to brace against the frozen armor's chest, and shoved off as hard as I could, yanking on the Kraata as I did so. With a slithering sound, the Kraata finally parted ways with the armor it had been inhabiting, and I was propelled into a decent backflip, which I landed, still holding the writhing Kraata in one hand. It was mostly a bright yellow, with noticeable reddish-gold accents and spines.

{Weird,} I wondered to myself, {I always thought that the Kraata was supposed to match the color scheme of the Rahkshi armor it piloted...} I filed that info away for later. To be honest, calling a Rahkshi "armor" was a bit of a misnomer. It was more like a humanoid mechsuit, in the respect that there was a cavity for the Kraata to sit in and pilot the Rahkshi, while the rest of it was just made up of robotic parts. Y'know, gears, pistons, wires, servos, that kind of stuff.

I stowed the Kraata in one of my Hammerspace pockets, (not necessarily wise, but I wasn't about to just let it run loose,) and placed a hand on the Rahkshi's chestplate. With a thought, the thousands of tiny crystals vanished, and the Rahkshi ragdolled. Picking up the discarded staff, I stowed it in Hammerspace as well, and swept my cloak over the fallen Rahkshi. Once the cloak's edge had settled, I saw that the armor had vanished, stored inside my Hammerspace. I honestly don't know how I knew to do that then, but hey, I now had something to play around with when I got back hom... Back to base...

Without warning, Kapura hit me in a flying tackle, and we were unexpectedly, (but not unexplainedly,) 300 feet down the street from where we had been. Which... suddenly wasn't a good place to be anymore, because it had just exploded. Violently. Michael Bay would've been proud. And I saw why it had exploded, as two twin giants, armed and armored to the teeth, came round the corner. I didn't know much about Halo, but I recognized these brutes. "Hunters..." I muttered, and then (scooping up Kapura,) I booked it as fast as I could.

I felt something closing fast behind me, so I leaped forward, pirouetted in midair, and made a slashing motion with my free arm. Black energy trailed behind my hand, and the fuel rod round that had been mere feet away suddenly rebounded, returned to its senders. I didn't stay for the resulting explosion. I switched to the Mask of Speed, and sped all the way back to the shop, whizzing past several skirmishes between Covenant forces and the various locals. I could have sworn I saw a beefed-up Brutaka at one point, but I didn't have time to double check.

Soon, I had returned to Nurhii's shop, which seemed lucky enough to have been missed by the Covenant. Nurhii let Kapura and I in the back way, and brought us behind the counter, where he'd been hunkered down with Gresh after the initial Covenant landing party had been reported on the city's emergency radio broadcast system. Speaking of which...

"Attention citizens of New Altero. We are happy to report that the Covenant appear to be pulling back. Repeat, the Covenant appear to be pulling back. Whilst this is a good thing, we encourage you to remain in safe hiding locations until a city-wide sweep has been conducted, and the all clear is given."

The three of us heaved a great sigh, and were then startled by the thaumic burnoff around my hands going out with a loud FWUMP, like a burner on a gas grill that's just been turned off. Between the engraved scales of my armor, the purple bubbling ceased, and the über-blackness faded to maroon, then back to the normal lime green, and finally dissipated entirely. Frostbrenne, which was leaned against the counter next to me, stayed where it was, unaltered. I was glad about that, because it was a cool sword, and perfectly balanced, near as I could tell. Something began niggling at the back of my mind, but I let it be.

"Hey Kapura, you OK?" I asked.

"Yes," he replied, "I am holding up just fine. But I've been wondering, what element do you wield?"

"I'm not sure," I said. "I'm only familiar with a few of the different types available, but not their specific colors. You got any idea, Nurhii?"

"Huh? What? Oh, um..." He blinked, obviously distracted. "Uh, no, can't say I'm familiar with your particular color layout, and the manifestation of your elemental energy is new to me as well. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more assistance."

The feeling that had been growing in my mind peaked. "Um, where's Gresh, by the way?"

A different radio transmitter than before suddenly burst into life, a voice on the other side asking Nurhii for a status report. From the sounds of it, the speaker was Ackar. Nurhii scrambled over and fingered the transmit button. "This is Nurhii speaking. The new guy just showed up a minute ago, with an old friend of mine. They're both just fine."

"Ackar, you OK?" I asked, temporarily commandeering the radio.

"Yeah, I'm fine. The Toa Nova showed up and brought us to a hospital, then headed south. Don't worry, nobody told him about you. I'm just glad we didn't lose you, too."

On that note, I was about to ask about Durath, but Ackar spoke again. "Listen, as good as it is to hear you're doing OK, I gotta go before people ask questions... Go home. I'll talk to you there, later." And the radio cut out.

"Well," I said, "I guess that's it for me. What's the quickest way to get to... Eh... Ponyville? And where's Gresh?"

"He's at the hospital, with Ackar. He left once he heard about Durath being in critical condition, after the ship went down. They're not sure he'll make it..."

"I have a friend who might know a shortcut back to Ponyville" suggested Kapura, effectively taking my mind off Durath. "He's helping the Onu-Matoran build a chute line from here to there."

"Great! Um, is there anywhere I can get some sort of electricity-based generator on the way?"

"Yes, next door," said Nurhii, "I can get the guy to cut you a deal."

So, I got my stuff together, bought an arcane generator or three, and we left for the chute station. On the way, I turned on my phone again. I noticed in the bluetooth menu that there was a device available for pairing named "NTA-C:001.5," which none of us recognized, but I paired to it anyways. When we got to the station, I couldn't help myself: I began singing, but soon stopped, having just run into someone short, wearing a blue hoodie.

"Hey, watch it buddy. Do you wanna have a bad time?" The figure asked, in a slightly deep, yet otherwise friendly voice, and if one judged by the smile on his head, you'd think he had been joking. Suddenly, a jaunty yet somewhat menacing piece of music filled the air...

4: Fryndly Fyre

It took me a minute to realize what had happened. The music was coming from the general area of my shoulderblades, but it stopped after a few seconds.

"Hey, uh..." said the figure before me, "you alright? And what was that bit of music about just now? It was kinda... catchy." I just stared at him with a look of confusion on my face. "Seriously, kid, you OK? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Not sure about a ghost," I replied, "but I think I've definitely just seen a skeleton in a hoodie."

"I believe he's fine, Sans," interjected Kapura, "he probably recognizes you."

"Oh, hey Kapura," said the skeleton, "long time no see, old friend!"

"To be honest," I said, still dumbfounded, "I DO recognize him."

Truth was, I honestly did recognize him. He was a character in a game called "Undertale" that kind of took YouTube by storm in late 2015/early 2016. He was about three or four foot tall, and yes, he was also a walking, talking skeleton. He loved making puns of any type, though preferably bone- or skeleton-related ones, often to the annoyance of his brother, Papyrus. His voice... Well, it was similar in pitch and timber to that of the character of Rocky Balboa, but less gruff and less slurred.

More like your favorite chubby uncle from Brooklyn who loved cracking jokes. Theoretically, I mean, since I don't have one of those, but, yeah, you probably know what I'm talking about from TV. Just for reference, his younger (and much taller,) brother, Papyrus, had a voice that sounded a lot like Skeletor from He-Man: high pitched, slightly nasal, and he had this tendency to say "Nyeh heh heh!" a lot.

They both used to live together in an underground town called "Snowdin," before... Um, a long series of events freed them and the rest of the folks trapped underground.

As to what he was doing HERE, I had no idea. So, I asked...

"Hey, Sans, what exactly are you doing on this world? And how the hell do you know Kapura?"

"Well, here recently, our equipment's been going a bit haywire. We've been detecting a lot of timeline anomalies local to my homeworld, which we eventually figured out."

"Yeah, I know what THAT was about," I said, bemusedly.

"Right, I thought as much. But then, here recently, we noticed there was this massive jump on this world's timeline, the second in such a short timeframe, and, well, I knew Kapura was still here about the time when it happened, so I came to check up on him. Of course, there are bound to be a few differences, the specifics of which I am mostly not at liberty to say. Though I will tell ya this: before the last one, YOU weren't here. At all."

I blinked. "You sure? 'Cause, there's this kinda shield thingy over my base..."

Sans shook his head. "Nah, man, that's new too. We could definitely detect it's presence on this timeline, as well as yours within the shield. I'm pretty sure yer not the cause of this, though, merely a 'symptom,' as it were."

"Well," I said, concerned, "I'm not sure whether I should be glad it's not my fault, or disappointed and bitter that I'm just an unintended side-effect." I was scowling at this point, and kicked a loose stone. It sailed over the heads of the Matoran around us, bounced off the top of the chute, and landed on the other side, startling someone.

"Hey, don't worry too hard, man," said Sans.

"Fucking alpha timelines," I muttered darkly. I felt a bit of an existential crisis coming on.

Sans looked taken aback. "W--what... did ya just say?" The little white sparks floating in his otherwise empty eye sockets (which seemed to serve as his eyes,) changed. The one on his right had vanished entirely, whereas his left had blossomed into a small ball of slowly-burning blue flame that flickered yellow on occasion, with a black spot hovering in the middle.

"Alpha timelines," I repeated, "it's a concept I'm well familiar with, thanks to a certain webcomic. Let's stop talking about them though, I'm getting a headache."

"Alright," he said, and I leaned against a nearby I-beam, which was supporting the ceiling, embedded in both the floor and ceiling to keep it from moving. I was beginning to succumb to the crisis again, with new theories about the world... Er, worlds... rushing through my head. I was in a place inhabited by beings which only existed in stories back home. Had this place's existence resonated in some way with my homeworld, embedding itself in our subconscious?

Or were the folks who originally wrote the stories able to somehow peer into this world on an active basis, merely jot down what they saw, and pass it off as a script, or a pitch for another wave of toys? And what about all the other stories we told ourselves, like the Halo universe? Perhaps, maybe, it was just freak chance? Or the stories we mad somehow became real after being told, through the sheer power of our belief? I mean, I'd heard the mind is a powerful thing.

Supposedly, if you got a decent sized stadium full of people, and had them all focus as hard as they could on a tree planted somewhere on the field in the middle, it would burst into flame. But it would never really happen, because humans, by nature, can't stay work together lime that. They wouldn't take it seriously...

"Whaddaya think, Caldoric?"

"Hmm?" I said, snapping back to reality. "Sorry, I missed that, what?"

"See," said Nurhii, "I TOLD you he was dozing off. He must be tired after fighting off all those baddies earlier."

"Yeah," I replied, sliding down the beam into a sitting position, "I admit, I'm tired. DOG tired," I gave Sans a LOOK, since he'd had the type of expression on his face that meant he was winding up a bad pun, "not BONE tired, not BONE weary, nothing bone related in any way."

I got a saddened look in return. "Aw, yer less fun than Papyrus."

"Only when I'm tired, man. Besides, I had fun once. I didn't like it, though, so I stopped."

He blinked for a moment, then gave me a "did you really just say that?" look.

Of course, at that point, I saw a disgruntled-looking Matoran that I couldn't identify ducking under the chute, holding a familiar stone, and sporting a large, fresh looking scratch on his mask.

"Aaaand, I think that's our cue to leave," I said, getting up and nonchalantly making my way to the chute, as the others followed me. "This goes to... I can't believe I'm saying this... to Ponyville, right?"

"Yep," said Nurhii, handing me a watch-like object. "You can contact me on that, if you need. Feel free to drop in sometime, say hi. Maybe I can teach you something about mask-making, if you're interested."

"Alright, sounds good, little fire-spitter," I said, placing my hand on top of his head and rubbing it in a good-natured manner, "see ya soon, I hope."

And with that, Sans, Kapura and I jumped in. Of course, I'd never been in a chute before, and so was not expecting the sudden lurch of speed. I was holding my breath for a while, before Kapura noticed.

"No need to hold your breath, Caldoric," he said, slightly muffled, immediately causing me to prove his point. I exhaled in surprise, and promptly got what felt like a lungful of the protodermis around us. Don't ask me how, but somehow it was able to carry oxygen just as well as regular air. It felt weird as hell "breathing" the stuff, but hey, it worked. I was breathing a bit faster than normal, too, because I was technically underwater, which I normally wasn't comfortable with.

I'm not a strong swimmer, y'see, so... yeah, I'm a tad afraid of drowning, of sinking down into the crushing black depths, with no hope of help or return... I shook my head to clear the thoughts away. I took the time to begin reading the books I'd gotten on magic. For the most part, I focused on manipulative magic, which was basically a fancy way of saying "telekinesis." Yes, I already had a Mask for that, but it never hurts to have some redundancies and backups. I practiced on the various containers and bits of cargo floating alongside us, pushing and pulling, spinning, causing them to orbit, etc.

Once I felt I'd gotten a decent start on that, I began taking a look at offensive and defensive magics, such as bursts and blasts, shields and deflections. The defensive stuff was relatively easy to pick up, moreso than the telekinesis, especially with Sans using his own version of telekinesis to move the cargo in my direction. I personally knew that he could be quite formidable with his powers when aroused, as evidenced by his final battle scene in Undertale, should the player choose to take the genocide route. As such, I knew that I could always at least try to fall back to the same tactic in a pinch.

I only had enough time to begin on the theory of offensive magic, before we came to the final stop on the chute line. It WAS still under construction, after all. Nevertheless, we'd gotten about ⅔ to ¾ of the way to the town in question in a much shorter amount of time than we would have by train. Not to diss the trains, of course, because they were pretty fast. The preexisting lines had been upgraded drastically over the last few years, I heard...

Hmm... I'd need to buff up on the history of this place, it seems, and the best way to do that would be... I shuddered a bit. The "best" way would be to watch the show, up till around the point where things here began seriously deviating. According to some of the notes Celestia had left with the books, that would be about the end of the fourth season, when some guy calling himself "Tirek" returned and made his presence known. As we walked, being led by Sans to one of his local "shortcuts," I began considering my options.

I wasn't exactly planning on doing anything here in the immediate future, so perhaps I could sorta listen to the show like an audiobook back ho-- at my base (damn, I needed to stop doing that,) whilst I continued my exploration into the world of magic.

"Here we are," Sans announced, gesturing to a small shack.

"Looks a bit small," said Kapura, "how well does it fly?"

"It doesn't," I said, "right Sans?"

"I 'wooden' know," he said, turning to smile coyly at us, and I facepalmed. "The place ain't mine, it's just a means to an end. And no, we're not going inside."

This last was due to the concerned glance I'd given him. He led us around back, then had us each hold one of his hands. On his count of three, we stepped round the corner, and the scenery changed, plain and simple.

"Ok," I said, intensely curious now I'd actually seen it done, and partially to block out the sounds of Kapura being violently ill, "how EXACTLY do you do that?"

"I just kinda look fer areas where the distance between places seems...THINNER, y'know?"

"What, like a... a soft spot in the fabric of space-time?"

"Yeh, that works. It's easier near certain boundaries fer me. Edges, stuff like that."

"That sounds familiar..." I said, thinking of something from a book I'd once read, "hang on, let me find something real quick."

A quick search on the web brought me to the particular passage I was looking for:

“ "We look to ... the edges," said Mistress Weatherwax. "There's a lot of edges, more than people know. Between life and death, this world and the next, night and day, right and wrong ... an' they need watchin'. We watch 'em, we guard the sum of things. And we never ask for any reward. That's important." ” Sans found it rather interesting.

"That was from an author named Terry Pratchett, once upon a time." I said. "Good man, he was. Great writer, too, one of my favorites." As you could probably tell by now, stranger, I was fond of reading. I enjoyed curling up with a good book, be it fiction, or (occasionally,) factual, allowing me to learn new things, like the books I now had on me...

I shook my head. That was Third Thoughts for you. First Thoughts are the kind that you have most everyday. Second Thoughts, and I mean REAL Second Thoughts, are the ones where you're thinking about your First Thoughts. People who like to think about things a lot tend to enjoy these. Third Thoughts, however, are the ones that go off on their own and think about the world around you, often without your consent or notice. When a huge rock is going to land on your head, they're the thoughts that think: "Is that an igneous rock, such as granite, or is it sandstone?" They're rare in most cases, though not so much in folks with attention-based "problems," it seems (I see my attention "issues" as a mixed blessing.)

As all this went through my head, I took a closer look around the corner of the building. It definitely wasn't the same as the one we'd started behind. We were near the edge of a slightly war-torn town, looking in at the central... I don't know what it was, frankly. A plaza? Town square? Whatever it was, it has a fountain, and while not being crowded, there were definitely Equestrians everywhere. And, to top it all off, the marker depicting my hidden base's location was on the side of town directly opposite our location.

I saw a unicorn using his magic off to one side, stacking some pretty good sized crates on the back of a cart, which was hitched to a normal-looking pony. This gave me an idea. Grabbing one of the lower-denomenation "Bits" I had, I placed it between thumb and forefinger, and raised it to about the level of my ear. I explained to Sans and Kapura what I was planning, as I aimed with my elbow. Right as I was about to snap my fingers, thereby putting the plan in motion, I was startled by a voice that sorta grated on the nerves ever so slightly.

"What'cha doin?"

I jumped ever so slightly as I snapped, sending the offending Bit on its merry way.

"Oh, noth--" I began, as I turned to see who had spoken, but stopped immediately upon seeing that the speaker was, in fact, a sky-blue pegasus with a flyaway mane and tail that looked like they'd just been in a dye factory explosion. She was also laying on her belly on top of a small cloud, just about head height. My eyes widened dramatically. "Ehhhhhh.... Goodbye!" I finished hastily, grabbing my companions 'round their waists and turning around.

I was just in time to see the Bit I'd launched hit the stallion hitched to the cart right above his left eye, causing him to rear up as the unicorn was placing the last crate on the absurdly tall pile. The whole thing came crashing down on both of them, which attracted the attention of all the nearby residents, who ran over to help. I took this opportunity to summon my mask of speed and book it for the forest.

"Hey!" I heard the pegasus yell, her voice dopplering extremely as I sped away, and I could only assume she'd give chase here shortly. True to chase logic, a pair of unicorns carrying a large mirror had moved across our path. I didn't hesitate to just smash through it, headfirst, and land in a roll before taking off again. Sans and Kapura were fine after the roll, so no worries there. Had I not been flipping completely the hell out, I probably would have been thinking something along the lines of "Everybody outta the goddamn way! I got arms full o' friends, feet full o' runnin, a pegasus full o' angry, and a goddamn partridge in a freakin pear tree!" Instead, I was thinking more along the lines of: "SHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT!"

I quickly came to, and passed, a small cottage on the way, startling countless small to medium sized creatures and a pastel yellow pegasus as I passed, (possibly giving the latter a heart attack.)

"Sorry!" I called back, not sure if she would hear my apology. We were soon back at the base, and I dropped my two passengers by the front door before turning back around. I was just in time to see the blue pegasus rebound off the shield, face first, landing on the ground heavily. Soon after, the yellow one I'd startled flew into the clearing at a much slower speed, and landed carefully next to her friend.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash, are you OK?" She asked. Her voice was soft, and quiet. She was the shy type, who didn't speak much to those outside of a close-knit circle of friends.

The blue pegasus, who I'd suspected the identity of when I first saw her, sat up. "Yeah," she said, "I'm fine, Fluttershy."

"What happened?"

"I... can't remember. I was chasing... something, and then suddenly I'm here on the ground, and you're asking me if I'm fine."

"We should go talk to Twilight, and see what she thinks we should do about this." She hesitated. "I-if it's OK with you, that is."

"Yeah, but if I see whatever it was again, I'm going to beat it to a fucking pulp. Now let's get the hell outta these creepy woods before we get attacked by Timberwolves or something."

I was a bit shell shocked at that. I'd never expected those words to come out of the mouth of someone from this world, but then again, they'd had humans influencing their culture for a while now, so...

The two of them left in the general direction of their homes, and I turned back to the others, looking a bit concerned.

"Hey, uh, kid?" asked Sans, "I don't think we should stick around here for long."

"Yeah," I replied, "safe as this here base of mine is, they're bound to send out a 'search party' to find us once those two get back, and I don't want to be stuck here whilst they search."

"Can't stop what you can't catch," said Kapura, simply, "and you can't outrun what's already here."

"Pretty much, Kapura," I answered, a little shaken. Those were two lines from my favorite webcomic, said by two totally different characters... who were at odds with each other, and destined to fight each other, now that I think about it. New theories began swirling in my mind, but I had to push them aside.

I went to open the door, but stopped, with my hand on the grip, as I noticed a couple things. It was pitch black inside, and I knew I'd left torches burning inside. And I mean Minecraft-style torches, the kind that never go out on their own. That wasn't too much of a problem, seeing as there were some mods out there that gave the game some more "realistic" physics, but I never liked the kind that made torches burn out.

The second thing I discerned was some movement inside, and a slight susurration (a soft sound, as of whispering, rustling, or murmuring; it's a good word, makes one think of mysteries, and secrets whispered behind closed doors.) After a moment, a face that was similarly structured to that of the nearby ponies, and yet unlike I'd ever seen before, came into the light let through by the door's window.

It had wide, alien eyes, which were a solid, pale milky blue throughout. It's skin was shockingly black, with a strange sheen to it. It had a curved horn poking up from its head, small, funnel-shaped ears, and had something that looked similar to a spinosaurus' sail, only miniaturized, in place of where the pony-types hereabouts had a mane, not to mention two wicked-looking fangs sticking down out of its mouth. Its eyes narrowed upon seeing me, before it turned its head and let out a spine-chilling, warbling, screechy clicking sound. The susurrus immediately became an angry droning, and I turned and ran, grabbing my companions as I did so.

I had NO clue what that thing had been, but I wasn't about to stick around and find out. "Sans, get us out here!" I said, as I heard the door splinter and explode behind us.

"I can't, not like this!" He exclaimed, looking behind us.

I turned to Kapura, who was muttering something about balance, about to ask him the same question I'd asked Sans, when the world around us vanished for the merest moment, and we were suddenly falling in a heap in a new location. As it turned out, we were in somebody's living room, and not on the ground floor, if the windows were anything to judge by. More specifically, on a (now broken) coffee table. What little skyline I could see through said windows suggested we were once again in New Altero. No other place had such unique buildings.

Just then, someone came storming up the stairs, and we soon saw that said figure was...

"Nurhii?!" I exclaimed in surprise.

"Caldoric?" He replied. "H-how...?"

"Courage is the soul of movement," mumbled Kapura. "You must have courage, or you will be frozen. Fear stops all. Courage defeats fear. Balance."

"Wait, you... You did that?" I asked, incredulously.

"Yep," said Sans, getting to his feet. "He's the best there is. I don't know if I've mentioned this, but... He's the one who taught me about those 'shortcuts' I use. I shoulda told ya this earlier, but I kinda got sidetracked with the timeline questions. Sorry."

"Eh, no prob," I said, waving my hand a couple times. Then a thought struck me. "I'm gonna need him to teach me as well, sometime. Um, speaking of which, if he taught you that, then why'd he get sick when you moved us?"

"I'm more concerned with the fact that the lot of you just appeared in my house with no warning," interrupted Nurhii, who'd been waiting impatiently till this point for an explanation. "I mean, I did say 'drop in sometime,' I'll give you that, but I didn't mean it literally! And not this soon after you left!"

"Dunno," I said, wryly, "seems like we're having a 'smashing' good time to me." I eyeballed what little I could see of the table beneath us.

"Heh, nice one," said Sans, chuckling.

"Yeah, this sure was a bone-headed move on our part, eh?" I replied, feigning innocence. Sans covered his mouth, snickering mildly. "OK, OK, all jokes aside, we're sorry for just appearing unexpectedly like this." We all got up off the table, and I took a moment to fix it. "Would you guys believe that this isn't the first time I've dropped on someone's table like this?"

At their curious looks, I explained the incident in the castle, when I'd met the princesses.

"Enough of that," I said, when I was done, "we should get going soon, but first I'll need a shower or something."

"Um, why?" Asked Nurhii.

"Well, for one, I haven't had a proper one since I got here, which poses problems of its own. And second, we got scared by a massive pack of creatures before we came here, and the human body does weird things when startled unexpectedly."

He got the hint, and directed me to the bathroom. Upon entering, I found a variety of different machines, designated the cleansing of armor or clothing, in addition to a conventional shower.

Making sure to lock the door beforehand, I stripped, tossed my armor and clothes in their respective machines, and hopped in the shower. It felt good to have the water cascading over me, caressing and soothing the various bruises and scrapes I had. As I washed, I found that some parts of me had changed since my arrival. The strange circuit-like lines and circles that had previously been contained to my face and head seemed to have spread across my body.

Also, along my spine and down the back of my elbows, strange ridges had appeared. I couldn't tell what color the ones on my back were, but the ones on my elbows seemed to be black, so it was safe to assume that was the case all round. I was concerned, but decided against freaking out just yet. Maybe they were some sort of interface for the armor? I mean, I HAD noticed that "armor status" message on my HUD earlier... Also, they looked sorta draconic, which made them cool in my eyes.

My back basically consisted of two lumpy, swollen masses of bruising, most likely from having been smashed through those airship walls... How the hell had I survived that, anyways? By rights, I should've been a pancake several times over, armor or not. I guessed I'd have to figure that out later... And as to why those bruises were still there after Luna's healing spell, well... Maybe magic couldn't fix everything immediately. The upside was that they weren't TOO sensitive, or sore, just... a little tingly.

I hopped out of the shower, and finished drying off just as the machines completed their cycles. I put the now clean clothes away in my Hammerspace, and switched to some of the spare clothes I'd brought from home... I had to switch mental tracks to keep from getting all mopey. I wasn't going to allow my homesickness to slow me down. Rather, I was going to do my best to turn it into a driving force that would propel me back home, come hell or high water.

Heh. Yeah, right. Like THAT was going to happen. I donned my armor once more, leaving off the helmet long enough to tie back my hair. I left it unbraided so it could air dry, and then looked at my helmet. It had reverted to what seemed to be my "default" mask, the one that Nurhii had kindly identified as a Mask of Adaptation for me a few days ago. He'd called it a Kanohi "Aptare" at the time. It had a few scratches, nicks, and dings, as well as a passable scar over the right eyehole. I don't remember what could've caused it, but I still thought it was cool.

All the while, I wondered what to do since my base'd been invaded. Then I realized... There was an adventure just calling my name down south.

The Great Spirit Robot. There was bound to be some fun stuff left behind in there. Maybe even weapons I could use to clear out my base! I jammed the helmet on, ran downstairs, and immediately exclaimed my plan to the others. Understandably, they were shocked, but in the end, I managed to convince them. We left for the nearest train that was headed south, but it was mid afternoon, and the last one for the day had already left.

I was ready to say "ta heck with it," and try the next day, but Sans wasn't having it.

He came up with a brilliant plan, which I was more than happy to try out myself. It was time to see if I could learn one of his moves. I mean, Kapura had figured it out, why couldn't I do the same?

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"Hold out yer arm," he said, taking a slightly aggressive stance and holding out his left arm as an example, palm down, fingers extended like he was trying to make contact with something. I mirrored his motions with my right arm and leg, and casually stuck my left hand in my left pocket. Yes, my leg armor had pocket slots. Deal with it.

"Ok, good. Now, channel yer energy into yer hand, and let it leak JUST a little." As he demonstrated, his eyes did that thing where one disappeared and the other turned to blue-yellow flame, and this time, a small amount of blue-ish smoke wafted up from his hand. I did as he said, remembering the feeling of the magic that had flowed so freely before, and willing it to come to my aid, to do as Sans had told me. I felt the familiar shift of my magic "awakening." Similar smoke began drifting up and around my palm.

"Very good!" He said, an eyebrow raised. "Ok, next, ya gotta sorta set it off to the side of y'self, give it space to work." And with that, a large skull that was about half as big as Sans himself appeared next to him. "Keep it small, this time. We don't want the locals freakin' out just yet, eh?"

I nodded, still a tad startled at the thing's sudden appearance. It was also looking at me. Like, it actually had glowing blue irises, which were pointed my way. I did my best to ignore them, and concentrate on the task at hand.

Not a moment later, I heard a sound, and turned to see a floating head on my right, slightly bigger than the one Sans had summoned, and it was draconic, covered in black scales. To be honest, it resembled the head of a Night Fury in some ways. Its irises were the same lime color as my magic, whereas the pupils and "whites" of the eyes were black, so it must've been mine.

"Alright, nice!" Exclaimed Sans, punching the air. "Ok, Kapura, summon yers, and we're off!"

Kapura's looked biomechanical when it appeared, and he promptly hopped on top once it was there. Sans did the same with his own, and I followed suit, not sure what we were doing.

"So, these things can move wherever ya want 'em to, at pretty much whatever speed you need 'em to. They only disappear if ya dismiss 'em, fire 'em off, or get KO'd, capiche?"

"Yep," I said, giving him a thumbs up. "So, uh, how do I ride it?"

"On top is usually preferred," he said, smiling.

"Ha, ha," I said, giving him a wry smile. "Seriously, standing, sitting, what?"

"However you feel comfortable," he said, smirking. "I've found it hard to fall of however I tried it. It's like yer practically stuck to it. Now, let's get moving!" And with that, the two of them shot off.

I laid belly down on my... head thing. Ok, to be honest, it's called a "Gaster Blaster," just letting you know, and it has a fun sound when it fires. You definitely don't want to be standing in front of them when that happens.

Anyways, I patted a patch of scales near me, and said, softly, "hey, there, friend, you wanna go for a little ride?"

The head sort of tilted below me, in what felt like an affectionate manner, like a cat rubbing its head on your leg, and a deep-throated purr resonated through it.

"Awrite, buster, let's go then!" I said, and we were off like a shot into the desert, leaving behind nothing but a trail of dust. As we accelerated, clear lenses slammed down over the eyeholes in my mask, keeping out the wind and debris.

We soon caught up to the others, who'd been hanging back slightly in anticipation of my arrival.

I faintly heard Sans' voice over the wind, asking how fast we were going. According to my HUD, we were over 70 MPH already. I then decided to see just how fast I could go, so I mentally opened up the throttle, shouting "last one there's a rotten egg!" as I did so. That seemed to get the others' attention, as they sped up as well, trying to outpace me.

I allowed my blaster to drift sideways enough to bump Sans', sending him a few feet that direction. He seemed surprised at fie, and then got a mischievous grin and rammed me back. Once we'd grown tired of that, I decided to try standing up, which wasn't all that hard, despite the wind shear. I saw something huge, far in the distance, which we were rapidly approaching.

"Now" I muttered behind my mask, "bring me that horizon."

I felt a relaxed purr beneath my feet, and suddenly we were off, faster than ever.

6: Energetic Awakening