A beach. He just stood as the sea’s waves swept the sand of the gently sloping shore. On the other side of the shoreline, there lay a thick, dark and frightening jungle. As he turned eastward to glance at the ocean, he saw waves breaking over a coral reef that extended for a Kio. Beyond that, there was nothing but water stretching to an unbroken horizon.

Where am I? he thought, his mind a haze of memories and dreams. Who am I?

…Tahu…

This word – a name maybe? – floated in his soul. It seemed to fit, to make sense somehow. But little else did. He focused, trying to pressure his memories, maybe he’d recall something.

Blurry images flashed in front of him, but vanished in an instant. A deafening whirlwind, some kind of chaotic battle against an invisible and unknown thing… a swarm of buglike creatures… a dark, evil presence clouding the Sun, the water and the air…

Tahu shook his head in frustration. Why couldn’t he remember more? How had he come to this place – and why? “I must know” he murmured. “Why don’t I know it already?”

Tahu glanced toward the shiny metal cylinder that had brought him here. Near it he saw several red components lying on the sand. Two turned out to be some type of blade – wide, flat pieces of metal serrated every so often with spikes. When he put them together, they formed a sword whose handle sat comfortably in his clawed hand, but otherwise felt heavy and awkward to swing.

He scowled. “Useless hunk of metal,” he muttered, jabbing the blade into the sand.

Then he noticed the last object in the sand. It was a mask. It stared up at him with gaping eyeholes, its surface catching the sunlight so that it appeared to come alive in his hands. Tahu gazed at the object for a long minute. Why does it trigger such forceful feelings in him?

Suddenly, the image of a shining golden mask appeared, floating in front of him in the darkness, along with a temple and a tunnel.

He lifted the mask up, taking a deep breath before placing it on his face. A sudden power surged through him, filling every inch of his steely, flame-colored body with hot, burning energy.

Yes! This is more like it! he thought, grabbing the flame-shaped sword and lifting it. This time, to his surprise, the blade was glowing with crimson fire, waves of heat gleaming around its surface. When he swung the sword, it sizzled through the air, trailing sparks in its wake.

“Yes!” Tahu said with a satisfied grin. The sight of the flames made him warm, and somehow, he felt he was home. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”

But was he? He let the sword fall to his side, overwhelmed by despair. Why was he here? What was he supposed to do now?

… The knowing will come…

Tahu blinked and stared. Did this thought come from him? He wasn’t sure. It felt so firm, as if some force had spoken through him in an infinitely patient voice.

No! he thought, and discarded the thought, no matter where it had come from. I have to remember more! Right now!

He ground his teeth. He really wanted to know the answers to his questions. But nothing – just more deadly brief, uncertain flashes.

This time, he saw icy, life-freezing, cold fields. A trembling, red blot of light in a deep, stuffy cavern. A pair of eyes swam in the nothingness...

“Why am I unable to remember?!” He howled in anger, swinging his sword over his head. A bolt of fiery energy shot forth, erupting into the sky like an erupting volcano. A kahu bird flew lazily in the air, let out a caw and then fluttered away. Sparks showered down onto the beach, but Tahu didn’t feel their heat.

Power… I have such power, he thought with wonder. The power of fire. Of heat and flame. But where does it come from? What is it for?

The questions multiplied, but they had no answers. Not knowing made him frustrated and angry. It made him want to turn his sword against the earth, the sky, the beach – the very world itself. It was tempting – so tempting. To lose himself in chaos, to strike out with no thought for the past, future, or anything else. His arm held his sword high, he was shaking impatiently, the hot energy was already swirling within him. Tahu took a deep breath. No. He can’t give up so easily. Somehow he knew that, just as he’d known his name.

Okay, okay, he told himself. He loosened his grip on the handle, till the burning fire inside him turned to ashes. The knowing will come. At least I hope lost as he was in his own thoughts, he almost missed a flash of many colours, like a rainbow, as it ducked behind a nearby baulder embedded in the sand...almost.

Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but swallow nervously as she hunkered down behind a particularly large baulder. This was not good.

She had been awoken quite suddenly by an almighty explosion, in her half asleep haze she found herself on some tropical beach, much like those pictures of the coasts of Saddle Arabia or Zebrica that she’d seen but never paid much attention to. Her attention had then been drawn to some weird cylinder-like metal object beached on the sand with one end resting some distance in front of it, having plowed down a few trees, like a great force had pushed it away like a cork being forced out of a wine bottle. Rainbow Dash had almost been about to trot on over to explore when she saw movement that made her freeze, her base instincts overriding her curiosity in the face of possible danger.

It appeared to be some strange being of some kind, certainly not equine, of a bipedal form like a minotaur or dragon, with a “skin” of red and orange. Though as her mind processed what she was seeing she realised.

no, not skin, a skeleton! This is a robot! Like the aliens in those comics spike was always reading

The cyan-coated pegasus was left frozen in a mix of awe and morbid fascination as the being appeared to be quite literally pulling itself together, picking up a disembodied limb in one hand and jamming it into its opposite shoulder with an audible snap which actually made Rainbow Dash cringe. As the red-coloured being stood up Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but let out a gasp. This being was huge, maybe as tall as 21 hoofs in height, though Rainbow wasn’t absolutely sure from this distance. And as the being stood tall she couldn’t help but notice what appeared to be muscles growing over the robotic skeleton, flesh of red and orange which rippled with a hidden strength with every movement, though the pegasus noted that a few areas still left the metal skeleton exposed. Armour of some sort perhaps?.

“That’s kind of creepy” Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath, unable to take her eyes off of the tall being as it walked over to some of the few remaining components, muttering under its breath all the while (something about remembering?), and placing them together to make a rather vicious sword which, when the being proceeded to jab the sword into the sand appearing almost disappointed, stood taller than her.

The being then knelt down to pick up a mask of some sort, seeming to stare at it in a daze for a solid minute before placing it on its face and becoming surrounded by an almost blinding aura which faded to reveal the being to have seemingly become more vibrant in colour and its muscles having bulked out noticeably in all of 30 seconds. It was when the being picked up its sword and the blade burst into flames that Rainbow Dash actually began to feel a little bit nervous (not that she’d ever admit this to anyone), that inkling of nervousness turning to definite nervousness when the being thrust the blade into the sky, shooting forth a bolt of flame which burst into a shower of sparks and nearly came close to burning her.

Thinking quickly Rainbow Dash spied a large boulder embedded in the sand and ducked behind it, hoping that the being hadn’t seen her and would go away in time. After a few minutes she risked a peek over the boulder only to quickly duck back down again with a yelp as a bolt of flames shot over her head, going so close as to singe the tips of her mane and leave the top of the boulder scorched with soot before kicking up a cloud of sand as it struck the beach behind her.

“That was your one warning, next time I will not be so lax with my aim” called a voice, strong and authoritative in its tone, and sounding distinctly male “show yourself, now! I do not take kindly to being spied upon”

Rainbow Dash let out a glup, resigning herself to her fate as she cautiously walked out from the boulder, crouched low and having a few false starts of poking her hoof out before retracting it quickly in fear of being caught by the full brunt of a blast from the being’s burning blade.

“Get it together, Dash!” she muttered to herself “You’ve faced tyrants and mad gods...this is nothing!” and with that she forced herself out from behind the boulder, putting on hyer bravest smirk, though to the being it looked more like she stumbled out with a sheepish smile.

Rainbow Dash put on her bravest face as she planted her hooves in the sand, refusing to budge despite the sight of the looming being power walking towards her, sword now held in its left hand with an impassive look in its face.

Rainbow Dash let out a nervous gulp as the being stopped in front of her, blocking out the sun with its sheer height.

“You will tell me your name and why you were skulking about, watching me” the being said, but for one of the few times in Rainbow Dash’s life the words did not come easy, certainly her typical cocky bravado had left her high and dry the moment the being had caught sight of her. She even flinched like a chastised schoolfilly when the being barked out “You will tell me now, rahi!”

“R-rahi?” she asked, feeling insulted. She wasn’t sure what a rahi was, but it didn’t sound too flattering a label, and she wasn’t about to let him get away with insulting her. In an instant she took flight, practically nose to nose with the being, who actually took a step back, taken aback by the sudden change “I don’t know who you think you are but where I come from you don’t just insult people when asking them a question” in hindsight Rainbow Dash felt that maybe this wasn’t the wisest of decisions, coming to the realisation right as she regained her wits flat on her back in the sand with the being’s hand firmly grasped around her neck, almost too tight for her to even breath.

“And where I come from people answer questions asked of them” the being snarled “So I will ask you again; who are you, and why were you watching me”

“Okay! Okay!” she pleaded, feeling genuinely afraid “I’ll tell you...just...let me go...you’re making it hard to breath” she was actually surprised when the being released its grip on her throat, standing back up to his full height.

“M-my name’s Rainbow Dash” she said, getting back on her hooves and looking up at the being “I was only watching you because I’d only just woken up here...I don’t even know where I am...or my friends...shoot, my friends!” as she spoke she became increasingly despondent as her situation sunk in, only to become frantic when she remembered what had happened. She moved to take off like a bullet, only to find a metal foot planted on her tail holding her firmly in place.

“It is unwise to act based on panic” the being said, saying no more as he lifted his foot off of her tail and beginning to make his way towards the treeline, swapping the sword over to his left hand and allowing the flat of the blade to rest upon his shoulder.

“H-hey, where are you going!?” she called after him, rising to follow after

“Well you don’t expect to learn about this place by staying in the same spot, do you?” he asked as he began navigating through the jungle, his gruff voice softening with just a hint of humour “truth be told I’m not entirely sure of where we are either...There’s a volcano to the west, the best option would be to head for it, at least then we can see more of this island. And who knows, maybe we’ll find your friends along the way...so long as you don’t slow me down”

“But I don’t even know your name” she shot back

“Tahu” he said, simply, not even turning back to look at her.

Author's Note

Please note that in this instance I used hands as the unit of measurement that hoofs is based on, seeing as it's the UOM used to measure the height of horses I felt it more fitting that just relabelling feet, as well as going some way to separating Equestria from Earth.

these days a hand is standardised at 4 inches, making 21 hands 7 feet

personally speaking I'm a big subscriber to the theory of the Toa being less clear cut than being more robotic or more organic, certainly in my eye they wouldn't look exactly like the sets.

full credit to Andrakanuva for the art of Tahu