TNTOS

3/5

 

-TNTOS-

Chapter 5: All Out Battle!

The other four Toa and Jokao were sitting quietly. No one had said a thing since Addis and Chimoy went to bury the loot and no one really wanted to talk at the moment anyway.

Nastan was wondering when Addis and Chimoy would get back.

They've been gone too long, The Toa of The Green thought. Maybe they're still trying to find a spot to bury the loot in. Or....

Nastan didn't want to think about that. If there were Dark Hunters in the forest, then Addis and Chimoy were as good as dead.

Suddenly, both the Toa of Iron and the Toa of Plasma ran out from the forest, looking like they had been chased by a Kikanalo herd. The other four Toa instantly shot up. Addis and Chimoy were panting, almost out of breath.

"What happened?" Barilo asked. "You guys look like you've seen a ghost."

"Dark Hunters!" Addis gasped. "They followed us from the hideout and nearly killed me and Chimoy!"

As if on cue, seven Dark Hunters burst out of the forest, all firing off blasts of energy at the Toa. Chimoy tried to bring up a wall of metal to cut themselves off from the attackers, but the Hunters easily destroyed it and began attacking again.

Akuna fired a bolt of electricity at one of the seven Dark Hunters. The Dark Hunter easily dodged the blast and then fired a ball of lava at the Toa of Lightning. It hit Akuna, sending her flying into a nearby rock.

The Hunter who had hit her with a ball of lava ran over to the fallen Toa and aimed his sword at her head.

"Toa," The Dark Hunter began. He wore gold armor that had giant spikes coming off of it. He held a sword that was gold as well. "You're going to be dead soon. And as I believe anyone deserves to know who their killer is before being sent to eternal darkness, I will introduce myself. I am Death. It's not my real name, just a code-name, but it's good enough, I guess."

His sword began to glow.

"And Death will be the last name you'll ever know." Death finished.

Akuna looked around to see her friends fighting off the rest of the Dark Hunters. It was obivous that her friends were going lose.

I've got to do something! She thought. Maybe it's not what most Toa would do, but I've got to act fast or I'll be as good as dead.

Acting quickly, she pulled out her Lightning Staff and, moving even quicker than Death could aim. Akuna whacked the Dark Hunter in the face with her staff, sending him tumbling over. Then she quickly hit him with a bolt of lightning.

Death was surprised by this. Kigin and Tyu had said the Toa were rookies and should have been easily killed, yet this Toa of Lightning was already beating him!

No way will I go down in history as the Dark Hunter who was beaten by a rookie Toa, He thought angrily. A ball of lava to her heartlight should bring her down good!

He got back up before Akuna could attack him again. He realized she was too close to him and if he tried to hit her at this close range, he might end up as dead as the Toa of Lightning.

That was when he got a idea. Death aimed his sword at the ground and fired off a ball of lava, which obscured the Toa's vision. He also couldn't see, so he quickly moved out of the dust cloud and saw her. She was blind from the explosion, so there is no way he could miss!

Good bye, Toa, Death thought as he aimed his sword at Akuna. You might have been destined to be a hero. You might have been destined to save the Great Spirit Mata Nui's life, but whatever your destiny is, it probably won't be fulfiled now.

-

Chimoy found himself in combat with a Dark Hunter, code-named Six Arms. He was not code-named that for no reason. He really did have six arms.

His body was rather short and fat-looking and the Hunter's legs were too short for him to run. His colors were purple and brown("A rather ugly color scheme," Chimoy had thought) and he carried no weapons such as a sword. Instead, he had claws on all six of his arms. Six Arms face was hidious. It looked like a mixture of a Muaka and a Rahkshi with a little bit of a gadunka thrown in for good measure.

Worst of all was the fact that he used his six arms to his advantege. Everytime the Toa of Iron managed to block one or two arms, the other arms would strike him when he left part of his body exposed. Chimoy was already tired and he hadn't been fighting for more than fifteen seconds!

"Are you getting worn out, oh great Toa of Iron?" Six Arms said mockingly. His voice also sounded terrible. "I would take a rest if I were you, but then you wouldn't be able to defend yourself from me, would you? Of course you wouldn't."

Now Chimoy was getting frustrated, but then he had a idea. He summoned a wall of metal to appear in between himself and Six Arms, giving the Toa of Iron some time to rest. Unfortunately, it only kept Six Arms away for about four seconds, then it was torn down by the Dark Hunter's multiple arms.

Chimoy wondered if he could use his mask. He never had tried to before, but he had seen Joha use his before, so maybe Chimoy could do the same? He had studied his mask the day before and figured it was the Kanohi Kadin, the Mask of Flight.

And flight would be very useful at the moment, Chimoy thought.

Chimoy wasn't paying attention to Six Arms, who punched the Toa of Iron with three of his arms, then used his other three arms to pick up Chimoy.

"Now, Toa of Iron," Six Arms said. "I want to finish you off, but I think I will let you choose your fate. Should I tear you apart with my claws or should I maybe drown you in the ocean? Both of them sound very fun, don't you think?"

Chimoy just groaned.

"Well, since you obviously can't chose between the two, I'll say you should drown," The Dark Hunter said, evilly smiling(Which looked quite ugly).

Six Arms, using his other arms to walk, walked over to the beach, ready to drown the defeated Toa.

-

Nastan and Jokao were up against two Dark Hunters. One was a tall, thin, being named Julok and another one who called himself Giho.

Julok was, as said before, tall and thin. He was red and yellow and he was wearing what looked like a Pakari, but Nastan could not be sure. His limbs were long and thin as well and his hands ended in claws. He had some sort of power over telekinesis, since he tried to throw a tree at Nastan, without actually throwing it himself. Julok also didn't really have much armor.

Giho was well armored and was about the size of a average Toa, except a few inches shorter. He was gunmetal and red-ish black. He carried a axe that looked as if it could easily cut threw solid rock. He had a face that wasn't very ugly, nor was it nice-looking. Sort of a mixture of the two.

Toa Nastan knew that Jokao couldn't last more than five minutes in battle, maybe even less. So he used his power over plant life to bind both the Dark Hunters. It held them for about three seconds, then they broke out. But almost as soon as they broke out that even more vines burst out of the bround to bind them.

"Jokao!" Nastan shouted. "Go find some place to hide! I'll take care of the Hunters!"

The Ta-Matoran obliged, taking cover behind a nearby boulder.

Nastan turned back around just in time to see a rock fly right in his mask. Julok had used his telekinesis to throw a rock at the Toa.

"Is that all you Dark Hunters can do?" The Toa shouted. "Throwing rocks at Toa? Geez, I thought you guys were better than this."

"Shut up, Toa," Giho growled. "Or you'll find your head will no longer be connected to your shoulders in a few minutes. Perhaps your head will come off anyway."

Julok manged to rip the vines that had bound him using his claws and he was charging at Nastan. The Toa of The Green tried to fire a arrow at Julok, but the Dark Hunter dodged it and then slammed into Nastan, sending him flying into the water.

"Can you swim, Toa?" Julok said, walking over to the water. "No matter. I'll kill you just the same and-"

He was interrupted by a unknown flying object hitting him in the side, sending him flying into a nearby wall. Julok looked over at what had hit him. It was Six Arms! He had been battered into unconsciousness, apparently. But who did it?

Just then, he saw the Toa of Iron that Six Arms had been battling walking over. He held a giant, steel hammer in his hand. He lifted the hammer up, and then smashed it on the sand, sending a tremor through the beach. Giho, who had gotton out of the vines, fell over because of the tremor.

Julok lifted Six Arms off of himself and then used his telekinetics to lift a nearby boulder off the ground. Behind the boulder was Jokao, who had been hiding. The Dark Hunter moved the giant rock over the Ta-Matoran.

"Toa," Julok said. "You know exactly what I'll do if you try anything. Your Matoran friend here will become squashed Matoran. So why don't you give up peacefully and drop your weapons?"

Chimoy looked over at Jokao, who looked downright afraid. The Toa wasn't sure what to do.

Should I try to save Jokao? Or should I give up, like the Dark Hunter said? Chimoy thought. On one hand, I don't think I'll be able to stop him in time to save Jokao, but on the other, I could possibly defeat him somehow. I don't know how, though.

At that moment, Nastan crawled out of the ocean. He wasn't the biggest fan of swimming, but he managed to get out okay. He noticed Giho getting back up and also noticed that Julok and Chimoy were apparently having a staring contest of some kind. His eyes locked on Jokao, who was standing under a giant boulder.

Oh, no.... Nastan thought angrily. If that Dark Hunter is stooping down to low-level of threatening a innocent Matoran's life, then he's a big coward. I'll teach him.

The Toa of The Green pulled out his bow, then loaded a arrow in it. He aimed at Julok and fired, even as Chimoy called out to him to stop.

Julok saw the arrow coming for him. Instead of dodging it or dropping the rock on Jokao, he simply used his telekinetics to stop it in mid-air. This surprised both Chimoy and Nastan.

"What, did you think I can only focus on one object at a time?" Julok said. "Of course not. I can focus on multiple objects at one time."

Chimoy glared at Nastan, because of how stupid it was to attack the one who holds Jokao's life in his hands. Nastan just looked at the ground, trying not to see Chimoy's expression.

"Now, Toa," The Hunter said. "What matters to you most? This Matoran's life or defeating me? Now do as I said before, if you really care about this Matoran's life, drop your weapons and I might let you live, depending on what Icetraz wants."

Seeing as their was no way to defeat Julok and save Jokao's life, Chimoy and Nastan dropped their weapons. Giho and the revived Six Arms moved in to bind the Toa's hands in energy cuffs. Julok moved the boulder right next to Jokao, then walked over and put the Matoran's hands in energy cuffs as well.

"That was too easy!" Giho laughed.

"'Easy'?" Six Arms repeated. "I got my behind handed to me by this Toa of Iron here."

"Well, whatever," Giho said. "Two Toa are down. Now only four remain."

Nastan wondered how Nonzra, Barilo, Akuna, and Addis were doing.

I hope they don't fall as well, The Toa of The Green thought. Otherwise there's no hope for Shika Nui. No hope at all.

-

Barilo dodged the solar energy beam of the Dark Hunter named Tyu.

Tyu was black and blue and he weilded a metal chain with a spear attached to it's end. He about the same size as Barilo, but far more sinister-looking. He had two wings which he used for flight and he also had spikes jutting out of his armor. And apparently he could absorb energy from the sun and use it to fire a beam of solar energy, which is very devastating, as Barilo noticed when he saw the beam he dodged hit a rock and blow up, causing rock to rain down from the sky.

The Toa of Gravity unleashed his power over gravity, making the Hunter get heavier all of a sudden. Tyu hit the sand hard and found that he could not get up. Barilo walked over to him and raised his axe, ready to finished Tyu off for good.

But before he could land the killing blow, a burst of lava blew up next to the two combatants, blinding them both with sand.

When the sand cleared, Barilo saw Akuna running over to him, with the Dark Hunter code-named Death chasing after her. Somehow she had gottton away from the Hunter and was going to join Barilo. Then Barilo realized something.

"Where'd Tyu go?" Barilo said, looking around. What he didn't know was that the Hunter had burrowed under the sand, so the Toa was quite surprised to feel two hands pop out of the sand and grab his ankles. He was pulled under right as Akuna got over to him.

"Barilo!" Akuna shouted. She tried to grab Barilo's hand, but it went under too quickly. Then a ball of lava blasted her from behind, sending her flying into the water.

"Your friend is most likely dead, Toa," Death said, walking over to the water. He reached out and grabbed Akuna. At first, the Toa of Lightning believed he was helping her out of the water for some reason. Instead, he just hauled her out of the water and dropped her on the beach.

"What are you going to do now, Dark Hunter?" Akuna asked. "Are you going to kill me? Or will you do something worse?"

"I did plan on killing you, but now look over at your other three friends," Death replied, gesturing to the left.

She looked over and saw Nastan, Chimoy, and Jokao being lead by three Dark Hunters. Akuna noticed that the that the two Toa and the Ta-Matoran had energy cuffs over their hands, keeping them from escaping. She turned back to look at Death.

"Is that what you plan to do to me?" Akuna said.

Death nodded. "Of course. Besides, Icetraz will most likely think of some form of punishment. Like maybe you'll be fronzen to death or fed to the Takea sharks."

"Death!" Julok said. "Where did Tyu go?"

"He burrowed under the sand and took that Toa of Gravity with him," Death answered. "Now if you will excuse me, I will be cuffing this Toa of Lightning now."

Moving faster than Akuna's eyes could follow, Death circled behind her and then cuffed her hands. He forced her up and then moved her over to stand with Nastan and the others.

"Tyu should be coming out any time now," Death said. "If we're lucky, the Toa will be the dead one and not Tyu. But if we're even luckier, then they will both be dead somehow"

Everyone waited to see who would come up. They waited what seemed like forever, then there was a slight shift in the sand, and then Tyu broke out, flying up towards the sky, screaming in sheer terror. Barilo scrambled out of the sand and then stood tall.

"Like what I did to your friend?" Barilo said to the other four Dark Hunters. "Pretty soon he will be out of my range and then he will fall to his death. What do you think of that, Hunters?"

The only reply from them was a ball of lava being fired by Death. It hit Barilo, sendind him flying into a nearby boulder. He hit the wall and was knocked unconscious.

Julok looked up at the sky and saw Tyu was falling back down to the ground. The black and blue Dark Hunter was trying to use his wings to fly and land painlessly on the ground. It slowed him down, but he still hit the sand with a loud crash. Tyu got right back up, albeit painfully.

Giho had ran over and cuffed Barilo. The unconscious Toa of Gravity was dragged next to the other Toa and Jokao.

The winged Hunter looked around, angered by almost being killed by a Toa.

"Whatever punishment Icetraz gives them," Tyu said angrily. "I will enjoy watching every minute of it."

"Tyu, no one asked for your thought of the day," Julok snapped. "We should go help Kigin and Yhio defeat the last two Toa. Come on."

-

Yhio clinked weapons with Nonzra. The Toa of Sonics had a average sword, but on such short notice, it was the only thing he could use as a Toa tool.

Yhio was silver and orange. He was a rather bulky sort, but he was good with a sword, which the Hunter was using. Yhio was taller than Nonzra, but the Toa of Sonics was almost a even match in terms of swordplay.

Those sword lessons I had as a Matoran were worth every widget, Nonzra thought as he blocked a blow from the Dark Hunter. And I mean really worth it!

Addis was fighting Kigin, the leader of this small group of Dark Hunters.

Kigin was taller than Addis by about a few feet, but he was definetely a even match in fighting. His colors wer orange and green. He had a horn on his head and also weilded a mace.

The Toa of Plasma fired a ball of plasma at the Dark Hunter, but Kigin simply bashed the plasma ball out of the air with his mace. Then he hit Addis with the mace, knocking the Toa off his feet. Then Kigin wrapped his mace around a tree and pulled, causing it to fall on Addis.

"Toa, you are a novice," Kigin said. "Did you really think you could beat me, a experienced Dark Hunter?"

"Well," Addis said, under the treee. "I beat you before, didn't I?"

"That was because we weren't expecting you, Toa," Kigin snapped. "Now my leader, Icetraz, told me to kill you and take your body to him, to prove that you Toa exist. However, my allies have defeated the rest of your teammates and haven't killed them. They may have other plans for you."

Addis could not see anything, because of the tree on top of him. He could blast the tree into oblivion with his plasma powers, but he might hurt himself by accident if he blew the tree up, so he had to do lift the tree up off himself. He tried to lift the tree, but it was too heavy.

"What do you plan on doing to me then, Dark Hunter?" Addis said, having a little difficulty talking under a big, heavy tree.

"I will do whatever Icetraz wants me to do to you, Toa," Kigin replied. He then wipped his mace and smashed the tree, breaking it into splinters. "Now just get up and let me-"

The Hunter was interrupted by a ball of plasma hitting him in the chest, sending him flying into Viho. Nonzra's keen eyes noticed the Dark Hunter flying and quickly moved out of the way. Viho was confused for a minute untill he saw Kigin flying towards him. He noticed him too late, for Kigin flew right into him, knocking both of them out like two lightstones.

"Yeah!" Addis shouted, doing the traditional Toa fist hit with Nonzra. "We got those two good, didn't we?"

"Yeah, but..." Nonzra pointed at the five Dark Hunters coming, with their prisoners. "Can we possibly defeat five Dark Hunters on our own?"

"Don't worry, Nonzra," Addis said. "If could we beat those two, then we can beat those five!"

-

The six Toa and Jokao were now bound together. Giho and Yhio were standing watch, making sure that the Toa would not get away. It was getting dark, so the Dark Hunters had made a camp for the night and the Toa and Jokao were tied up to a tree.

"'If could we beat those two, then we can beat those five!'" Nonzra said sarcastically. "Nice going, plasma for brains."

"Nonzra, just shut up, okay?" Addis snapped. "We don't have time to argue. We have to escape."

"Shut up, Toa," Yhio said. "I didn't want to have to watch you, especially after that humiliating defeat."

"What will happen to me?" Jokao asked.

"No one cares what will happen to you, Matoran," Barilo growled. "If we hadn't rescued you, we would NEVER have gotton in this situation."

"Hey, I thought Toa always cared about Matoran," Giho said. "What's with you?"

"Not all Toa are the same, Hunter," Barilo snapped. "But I guess they never taught you that in the Dark Hunter schools, but I don't blame'em. You'd probably forget it anyway, considering how dumb you are."

"Shut up, Toa, or you will be going for a midnight swim and won't be coming out to dry off ever again." Giho threatened.

"Fine, fine," Barilo yawned. "I'm getting tired of insulting someone who is lower in intelligence to me anyway."

The Dark Hunter just glared at him.

"Whatever punishment you get, I hope it's long and painful, Toa," Giho said. "Now be quiet."

"Make me," Barilo said defiantly.

Giho smiled. "If that's what you want...."

The Dark Hunter put his hand in front of the Toa of Gravity's face. Nothing happened. Barilo tried to say something insulting to him, but all that came out of his mouth was nothing. His mouth moved, but no words came out. He looked up at Giho, confused.

"It's my silence power," Giho explained. "I can silence anyone at anytime. Pretty handy, don't you think?"

None of the other Toa answered, because none of them could think of any good comebacks. So instead they just tried to sleep, which was a hard thing to do when you are tied up to a tree.

Great, Jokao thought. Just when I thought these Toa were going to save me, they let me down. And now look where we are! I've got to find a way out or else we're all going to end up as dead meat.

Review Topic

Chapter 4: Revelations

The six Toa and Jokao had found a rather isolated area near the beach to sleep for the night. The only one who couldn't sleep was Barilo, who knew that the Dark Hunters could track them down and kill them.

So why not attack first? Why not get to them first, before they knew anything? He certainly thought about it.

After all, The Toa of Gravity thought. I could easily take away their gravity away and make them fly away. Or, I could increase their gravity and crush them on the ground. I never realized all the ways you could kill someone with gravity before.

Barilo sat up. He wasn't used to using his power over gravity yet, so he should practice using it before taking on the Dark Hunters.

He looked over at a nearby rock. It was huge. He could not lift that thing on his own, but with a little gravity taken away, he could make it go up into the air and then toss it in the ocean.

So he concentrated on the rock. Nothing happened. He stuck his hand out, trying to get it to obey. Again, nothing happened. He remembered something about Joha now.

Didn't he use a Toa tool to channel his elemental power? Barilo thought. So maybe I should get my own Toa tool. I'm quite sure we packed a few weapons with us when we left the hideout.

He quietly got up and walked over to one of the many bags that they had brought with them. He opened one of them. It was too dark to see what was inside, so he just stuck his hand in and hoped he would grab something useful.

The Toa of Gravity felt something and grabbed it. He pulled it out. It was a battle axe. Engraved the handle were the words Gravity Axe.

Gravity Axe? Barilo thought as he swung it around. What could that mean? Oh, well. I'm a Toa of Gravity, so maybe this was meant for a Toa of Gravity such as myself.

He dramatically aimed his axe at the rock. Nothing happened at all. The rock didn't sink into the ground, not did it fly up into the sky. Now Barilo was frustrated.

C'mon, stupid gravity powers! Barilo shouted in his mind. Lift the stupid rock already!

He kept trying, again and again and again, over and over, never succeeding. Now he was angry. The Toa ran over and sliced the rock in half with his axe.

Surprisingly, the split rocks flew up into the air. That caught him off guard. He watched as the stones flew up, until they were out of sight.

Barilo looked down at his axe, wondering if it was his own power over gravity that did that, or maybe it was the axe's. Then it hit him like a ton of stones.

This Gravity Axe must have done it, somehow, Barilo thought. Although I'm not too sure why I think that. I didn't feel anything when the rock halves flew into the air. I should test it later, because I'm getting tired.

He put his axe away and them crawled back into his sleeping bag that he had brought along when they had to evacuate the hideout. He fell sleep quickly, dreaming of defeating the Dark Hunters in numerous ways.

-

Tyu expected to see the Toa and Matoran still in their little hideout. Toa, he knew, were brave and fearless and would never run from battle(Especially if they are new and cocky). But instead there was nothing. All the loot that had been there before was gone and there was no sign that anyone had been here.

"Looks like they cleared out before we got here, eh, Tyu?" Kigin said.

"Yeah, looks pretty deserted," Tyu agreed. "They probably figured out we escaped and left, taking everything they got with them so we wouldn't get it."

Tyu and Kigin had arrived with about five other Dark Hunters, ready to kill those Toa. Now those other five Hunters were searching the place, thinking that maybe the Toa were hiding somewhere. When the Dark Hunters came to report back to Tyu and Kigin, they reported that the Toa were nowhere to be found and neither was the Ta-Matoran.

"Then we follow their trail," Kigin commanded.

"Uh, Kigin?" Tyu said. "We don't know where they went. For all we know, they could be heading to the main fortress right now to raid it."

Kigin smiled.

"Oh, Tyu," Kigin began. "If those Toa were smart enough to leave this place behind, then they definitely would have enough brains to not attack the main base. Trust me on this one."

"Whatever," Tyu sighed. He then noticed something. It was a small piece of gold, followed by another, and another. In fact, there was a trail of them, leading from the hideout to the north. He hadn't noticed it before, but he figured he knew who had left that trail of gold.

"Kigin, look," The black and blue Dark Hunter said, pointing at the trail of gold.

Kigin looked at it, and immediately called the over five Dark Hunters over. After showing them the trail, the seven Hunters took off, following the trail and knowing they would find six novice Toa and a rebellious Ta-Matoran at the end.

-

The sun rose and Nastan was up already. He was up early because he wanted to test his powers. The Toa of The Green already knew how to make arrows out of wood, now he was trying out other things, such as causing a tree to split it half. So far, the tree didn't do anything.

"C'mon!" Nastan shouted. He kept trying to make it split, but nothing happened. "Joha made it seem easy."

A ball of plasma went flying in the tree past Nastan, making it explode. The Toa turned to see Addis walking, his plasma blaster smoking.

"Where'd you get that blaster?" Nastan asked, looking at it.

"I took it with us after we left the hideout," Addis replied. "It's pretty cool, don't you think?"

Nastan looked over at the tree (or what was left of it after it had exploded). There was only a smoldering crater left. He felt sad. Nastan was, after all, a Toa of The Green and all Toa, Matoran, and Turaga of The Green felt more at home with trees and plant life than others. Sure, he may have been trying to split it in half, but he still felt different about it than maybe Addis would.

"Well, did you really need to blow the poor tree up?" Nastan said.

"Weren't you trying to do the same thing?" Addis asked.

"No," Nastan replied. "I was just trying to split it in half to see if my elemental powers would work."

"Oh, well, Jokao is ready to explain why the Dark Hunters were chasing him now, if you're interested," Addis said.

"Okay," Nastan said. "It's something I've been wondering about ever since we saved him."

-

All six Toa were sitting cross-legged around Jokao, ready to listen to his tale.

"Okay, I'm feeling better today, thanks to you six," Jokao said. "I was originally the leader of the slaves in the mines. My primary job was to break up arguments among the slaves, since the Dark Hunters were too busy doing 'important' stuff." Jokao coughed, still hurting a little. "At first, it was pretty nice. Nothing too bad happened and we were all pretty content.....until that one Brotherhood of Makuta raid on us that killed dozens of Matoran about 2000 years ago. The Visorak, Rahkshi, and various other beings were either killed or driven off, but instead of helping us repair our huts we lived in or giving us help, they made us work twice as hard to make up for the loss of Matoran."

Chimoy nodded. He had been in the slave village that was attacked at the time, trying to steal a valuable weapon that the Dark Hunters had stashed there. Unfortunately, the weapon was destroyed by a Exo-Toa and Chimoy barely escaped in time. He remembered seeing the dozens of dead Matoran bodies and seeing the Dark Hunters fight off the Rahkshi and Visorak and Exo-Toa. It was a sight he would never forget.

"When I realized that the Hunters cared nothing about us and thought of us only as slaves who would work no matter what," Jokao continued. "I pretended to work for them, but while they thought we were perfectly happy with how things were run, I was convincing as many Matoran as possible that to join a rebellion against the Dark Hunters.

"After I convinced all the Matoran in my village to rebel, one of my friends was sent to another village in secret to convince all the Matoran there to rebel against the Hunters. Unfortunately, the Dark Hunters found him and killed him, because no Matoran is supposed to be outside the village when the slaves are working. When I heard the news, I was angered. I wasn't thinking and then I ran away from the village to hide in the village my friend was heading to, hoping that I could convince the Matoran there to rebel. However, those two Hunters, Tyu and Kigin, spotted me and gave chase. I got hurt by them, but I managed to keep going until you guys found me and saved me."

"That's why they want you?" Addis said. "Are they even aware of the Matoran rebels in your village?"

"No," Jokao replied. "All they know was that I was supposed to be working, not wandering away, so they gave chase. But now that you know my story, what about you six? Who are you and what are you doing here? Are you here to defeat the Dark Hunters?"

Akuna looked over at Addis. She wondered if he'd tell Jokao that they were originally Matoran criminals and now no interest whatsoever in defeating the Dark Hunters. Addis looked just about ready to talk, but Barilo instead told the Matoran.

"We're Toa who were once criminals and we have no interest in saving Shika Nui from the Dark Hunters," Barilo said abruptly.

"Wait...." Jokao said slowly. "So you're not going to save our island, like the legends foretold?"

"Yes," Barilo continued. "In fact, we plan on pulling bigger heists now, since we're Toa and Toa are obviously better at stealing things than any Matoran."

"Barilo!" Addis snapped, annoyed.

"What?" Barilo said. "I was telling this Matoran the truth. The whole truth."

Addis turned to Jokao.

"We're sorry, but he is telling the truth," Addis said. "I'm sorry if you thought we were going to free Shika Nui. To tell you the truth, we really just want to be even greater thieves than we were before becoming Toa. Besides, have you seen all the Dark Hunters on this island? There is no way any of us could defeat them."

"But, isn't that why we have Unity, Duty, and Destiny?" Jokao asked, naming the Three Virtues. "Aren't you unified against the Hunters? Isn't it your duty to protect the Matoran? And, most important of all, maybe it is your destiny to free Shika Nui from the Dark Hunters? What are any Toa without those three virtues?"

"Listen, Matoran," Barilo snapped. "I'm only interested in money and-"

"Barilo!" Nastan shouted. "What did Joha stand for? I'll tell you: Unity, Duty, and Destiny, that's what, and-"

"And he was a failure, even with those virtues to 'back him up,'" Nonzra finished, joining in the debate. "If Joha failed, even with the Three Virtues, what chance do we have against the Dark Hunters? I mean, he is far more experienced than any of us and he failed. So I agree with Barilo about this."

Nastan couldn't think of a reply, but he didn't have to. Jokao did.

"Maybe....Maybe it was his destiny to do something greater than defeat the Dark Hunters?" Jokao said. "I mean, only beings who are destined to do something can do it. Maybe it wasn't his destiny to defeat them at all."

"Then whose destiny is it?" Barilo asked.

There was a pause. A long, silent, pause followed. Nearby trees swayed in the wind and one could hear the sounds of brakas monkeys in the trees. Then Barilo realized something.

"Are you saying that it's our destiny to defeat the Dark Hunters?" The Toa of Gravity said.

*"Turaga Ujah used to say that no one knew what their destiny was exactly unless someone told them," Jokao replied. "Most times, he had said, your destiny would find you."

Nonzra just stared at him.

"That doesn't make any sense to me." Nonzra said.

"Well," Addis said. "If your guys are done talking about destiny and stuff, me and Chimoy will be burying the loot in the forest. C'mon, Chimoy."

Chimoy stood up and helped Addis drag the loot into the forest.

-

Addis and Chimoy dropped the last of the loot in a hole which they had dug out. Now the two Toa were burying it quickly, when Addis heard something. It sounded like a Nui Rama was angrily buzzing, but Addis knew that Nui Rama didn't live naturally on Shika Nui, so something else was making that noise. But what?

He motioned for Chimoy to be quiet(No need for that, since Chimoy was almost always quiet) and he carefully walked in the direction he heard the noise. The Toa of Iron was following behind him, holding a giant hammer of iron that he had created using his power over all metals.

The sound got louder and louder, until they were right next to it. It was only on the other side of these trees. Addis and Chimoy backed up and then the Toa of Plasma fired a ball of plasma at the small group of trees. It hit the trees, causing them to vaporize, but instead of a Nui Rama waiting for them, there was something far worse.

Standing there were seven Dark Hunters, one of which had his mouth open. The one who had his mouth open was tall and green with orange. He closed his mouth, since he was apparently the one causing the Nui Rama-like noise.

"Hello, Toa," The green and orange Hunter snarled. "I am Kigin. No doubt you expected to see a Nui Rama instead of seven Dark Hunters, but that's the beauty of being able to copy any noise just by remembering it."

A black and blue being stepped up.

"I can't wait to hang your Kanohi masks of the wall in my room," The black and blue being said. He pointed at Addis' Kanohi. "That Suletu will look especially good on my wall."

"Be quiet, Tyu," Kigin snapped. "We have Toa to kill."

He turned to the other five Dark Hunters.

"My fellow Dark Hunters," Kigin began. "As you all know, we were put together to kill these Toa and that is exactly what we will do. And as I know most of you are dying to hear me say it, so I will. ATTACK!"

Review Topic

Chapter 3: Jokao

The Ta-Matoran named Jokao awoke, but he was hurting badly and couldn't sit up. His eyes were open, but his vision was blurred, so he couldn't really see anything. He could still hear, however, and what he was hearing were voices of others, but they did not sound anything like the two Dark Hunters who were chasing him.

Who are they? Jokao thought. They don't sound like the Dark Hunters, nor do they sound like my friends.

Jokao could make out six blurry forms standing around him, but he couldn't tell who or what they were. He remembered a being that looked like a Toa and he also remembered hearing the two Hunters shouting at the Toa, but he wasn't sure. Had they killed the Toa? He certainly hoped not, because if they did, then he wouldn't last long for sure.

He tried sitting up, but he was too weak to move. So, he tried to get his eyes to focus on the ceiling. It worked! His eyes were working better now and maybe he could see his who was near him.

The Ta-Matoran turned his head to the left, then to the right. He saw six tall, powerful-looking beings who wore masks. They all looked just like Joha in design, but they were differently colored and had different masks as well.

He decided that these six must be Toa and that they must have saved him from the Dark Hunters! Jokao decided to say something to them.

"Who.....are.....you?" The Ta-Matoran asked. He was still hurt badly and it was a pain to talk, but he needed to know who his saviors were if he were to properly thank them.

"Who are we?" The brown and red Toa said. Jokao knew he must be a Toa of Plasma because of his colors. "Why, we're Toa of course."

"At least," The silver and gray one added. "That's what we think we are."

"Of course we are, Nonzra," The blue-ish green one answered. "We look like Toa, don't we? We have Great Kanohi Masks of Power just like Joha and we each have a Toa tool, right?"

"You know, Nastan," The silver and gray one, which Jokao figured was Nonzra, snapped. "There is more to being a Toa than looking like one. You, Nastan, out of all of us should know that."

"I know, I know," The blue-ish green one, who Jokao believed to be Nastan, replied. "I was just saying that we had all the stuff that normal Toa have."

"Right," Nonzra said. He looked down at Jokao. "Can you tell us who you are?"

"My.....friends.....call....me....Jokao...." He said with a cough.

"Well, Jokao, welcome to the Shika Hideout." The red and brown being said. "I am Addis, leader of our group. As you no doubt know by now, he is Nastan and he is Nonzra." He pointed to the two Toa.

"My name is Akuna and I-I'm sorry." Akuna said quickly.

Jokao looked at her in a confused way.

"Sorry?" He managed to get out. "What.....do....you....have....to...be.....sorry.....for?"

"When we were fighting the Dark Hunters, I accidentally zapped you," Akuna explained. "Will you hold it against me?"

"No," Jokao said. "I....won't......if it.....was a accident, that is....." Those last words were very hard for him to get out so quickly.

"Well, the silent guy here is Chimoy," Addis said, pointing to a completely gunmetal Toa. "And this fellow here is Barilo." He pointed at gray and purple Toa.

Jokao nodded in the direction of the Toa of Iron and the Toa of Gravity. Barilo just gave him a bad look, while Chimoy nodded back at Jokao. The Ta-Matoran assumed that maybe Barilo was just having a bad day or something.

"I think we should leave you alone for a while," Akuna suggested. "So you can rest."

"That's a good idea, Akuna," Addis agreed. He looked down at Jokao. "Well, Jokao, we'll let you sleep for a while, okay?"

Jokao nodded.

"Alright, c'mon, guys." Addis lead the other Toa out of the room.

-

The next morning, Addis found something very, very, bad when he went to look on the prisoners. They had escaped! There were shreds of metal all over the room and the Toa of Plasma knew exactly what they'd do: They'd get their friends and come here to kill himself and the rest of the Toa!

He quickly ran back up to the first floor and yelled: "The prisoners have escaped! We have to evacuate now!"

"What are you talking about?" Nonzra asked.

"The Dark Hunters!" Addis shouted. "They escaped during the night and no doubt they have already contacted their friends! Get Jokao and the others. We leave now!"

-

The six Toa and Jokao left the Shika Hideout quickly, heading north. Nastan had used his power over plant life to make a bed of plants and branches, which Chimoy was carrying.

They had only taken the essentials, which was practically all their loot. If they were going to be gone forever, they wanted to make sure no one would take any of their loot.

"How will we take this stuff with us?" Nastan asked as he pulled a bag of loot along. "What if the Dark Hunters attack us?"

"Well, we keep moving until nightfall," Addis replied. "Then, me and Chimoy will dig a hole and bury the loot in it. That way, the Hunters won't get their hands on it and we won't have to worry about them finding it."

"Sounds like a good plan to me." Barilo agreed.

The six Toa continued on, confident that they could outsmart the Dark Hunters.

-

The two Dark Hunters, one named Tyu and the other named Kigin, had arrived at the Dark Hunter fortress. The fortress was tall and one could see all of Shika Nui if one stood on top. The fortress had at least nine different towers sticking out of it and they all looked exactly like claws.

After showing a identity tablet to the guards around the fortress, the two Dark Hunters quickly made their way to report what had happened.

Who were they reporting to? Why, none other than a Dark Hunter named Icetraz. Icetraz was one of the original twelve who attacked Shika Nui 25,000 years ago. It was because of his power over ice that he and the other Hunters survived Joha's Nova Blast, since the Hunter had used his power to make an extremely thick ice barrior to protect himself and the others.

He was rather big and bulky compared to most Dark Hunters. He was humanoid, except for his face, which resembled a Kikanalo face with razor sharp teeth and a shorter horn. He was almost always seen carrying his twin Cordak revolving blasters.

Today, he was in charge of the Dark Hunters base of operations on Shika Nui. For some days he had lead the Hunters in battle to keep Brotherhood of Makuta minions and servants off the island. He knew the only Toa left on the island was Joha, so it was quite a surprise to hear that six more Toa had defeated Tyu and Kigin.

"What did you say?" Icetraz asked. "That six Toa defeated you two in battle?" He laughed. It was a terrible sound.

"We're telling the truth, boss," Tyu insisted. "I even got zapped by one of them!"

"Oh, really?" Icetraz said. "Did you catch that disobedient Ta-Matoran who didn't do what he was asked?"

"Well....No," Kigin said slowly. "We, uh, got beat by the Toa and then the Toa of Iron bounded us together to make sure we didn't escape. But, as you clearly see, we did escape and we wish to lead a strike force to go and kill those pesky Toa."

"And I will personally deal with the Ta-Matoran." Tyu added.

Icetraz sat there for a bit, pondering whether he should send a strike force or not. For one, he didn't know if these Toa really existed or if they were just fiction. But if there really were Toa, then they would have to be eliminated immediately or else the Dark Hunters would have trouble on their hands.

"Kigin, Tyu," Icetraz said. The two Dark Hunters stood up straight immediately. "I will give you a small strike force to kill these Toa you speak of. If you find them, then kill them and take their bodies to me. I want to make sure I am not being deceived."

"Yes, sir!" Both Dark Hunters said in unison. They ran off, already thinking of all the gruesome ways to kill the Toa.

Review Topic

Epilogue (Party's over. Everyone can go home now)

“You are reading words.”

-TNTOS, after running out of funny/irrelevant quotes to put at the beginning of each chapter

Six months later. . . .

Dear Princess Celestia,

You may be surprised to be receiving this letter from me; after all, now that I am a Princess, I generally record my lessons in the friendship journal I keep with my friends instead of sending you a letter. This isn't even my research paper on the mating rituals of paraspites, either (although that's coming along swiftly, don't worry!).

Instead, I am sending you a report about my adventures in Spherus Magna and what I learned from the experience.

Yes, I know that that was six months ago, but it was such a bizarre experience that I needed some time to digest it fully. Besides, I thought that your interaction with the biomechs in the realm of nothingness had already given you a good glimpse of the sheer, well, oddness of the Spherus Magnans, so I felt a report wasn't necessary right away.

Having said that, I have been working on this particular report on and off ever since I returned. I wrote the first sentence as soon as I returned to my room in the Crystal Castle, but I wrote the second sentence a week later. This is largely because of my new duties as Princess, but also because it's hard to find the words to describe the things I saw and experienced in Spherus Magna. (In addition, I am unsure whether this counts as tipping the balance of the multiverse, although I don't think it does.)

I've talked with my friends about it, although their knowledge is as limited as yours. None of them were of much help. The only two who seemed to understand were Pinkie Pie, who has been depressed on and off ever since we got back (I think she likes Berix, although I'm not sure), and Rarity, who apparently got some fashion tips from the one called Oris. I'm not sure that biomechs have very good fashion taste, seeing as they don't wear clothes, but Rarity tells me she has a new line of clothes in the works that are based on his advice, so what do I know?

Spike is the only other person who has experienced the same things I have. He's been a bit depressed, too, but unlike Pinkie Pie, it has nothing to do with missing anybody. Back in Spherus Magna he was getting rather powerful, but here his power is limited once again. I think that made him sad. (Also, those boulders that magically appeared above your head six months ago? Those were from Spike. It was an accident. We didn't know his magical fire could send objects trans-dimensionally. Spike apologizes.)

I won't bore you with all the details of that other world, Princess. Most of it was largely incomprehensible. There was no coherency or consistency to the laws of physics. The only consistent rule, from my observation and experience, was that anything is possible as long as you either A) do not know it is impossible or B) know, but do not care. I mean, when Spike and I first arrived, we saw Mata Nui punt the sun into the moon. That should give you an idea of the craziness we experienced.

In spite of all that, Spike and I managed to win the trust of four natives of that world: Mata Nui, Kiina, Bucket-head, and Berix. Their goal -- defeating Sunset Shimmer -- was similar to ours, so they agreed to travel with us until we defeated her.

I'll be honest, Princess: I didn't really like any of them at first. Mata Nui had an ego the size of the multiverse, Kiina beat up anyone who dared to criticize Mata Nui, Bucket-head was too cynical, and even Berix, who was probably the nicest one, was still too crazy for my tastes. Mata Nui in particular seemed to think that the universe revolved around him (though to be fair, I think he may not have been entirely inaccurate about that).

Yet, despite their obvious flaws, there was something endearing about them. Mata Nui did save me and Spike several times on our journey. In spite of his incredible selfishness and gigantic ego, I think there is a good pony inside of him. It's really, really, really, REALLY deep down inside, and probably drunk more than half the time, but I think it's there. I just wish he would show it more often, as it makes him a lot more pleasant to be around.

Regardless, I think you were correct to destroy the magic mirror when we got home. We can't risk another pony like Sunset Shimmer using it to become a goddess or destroy the universes again or do something worse. Where did that mirror even come from, anyway? I've checked out all my books in the Golden Oaks Library and not a single one mentions anything about a magic mirror that links two different worlds. I want to go to the Canterlot Library sometime and see if any of the books there talk about the mirror's origin. Or do you happen to know it, Princess? If so, could you tell me in your response?

In addition, everyone on Spherus Magna insisted that they were in a 'comedy' and made several references to some kind 'author.' To this day I still do not know if they were being literal or if everyone there uses the story metaphor as a way to explain life. I think it's the latter, although based on my experiences there I can't say that with any kind of confidence.

Now you probably want to know the friendship lesson I learned while over there, Princess. That was probably the hardest part about this letter to write, seeing as I am not sure I learned anything over there that I hadn't already learned here.

But after much deliberation, I have discovered the lesson I have learned. So here it is:

I learned that you have to dig really deep in someponies in order to find the goodness within. This can be a hard and sometimes even scary process and there's no guarantee you'll always find that inner goodness, even if you try your hardest.

Yet you should always strive for it, because by looking for the best in others, you will ultimately find the best in yourself.

Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle

P. S. I have heard reports of a yellow-armored biped spotted in the Everfree Forest. I'm going in there with Zecora soon to check it out. Do you think it might be him?

-

And that's the end. I hope you all enjoyed reading this bizarre crossover as much as I enjoyed writing it. It is probably the last comedy I will write and post on BZP and I think it's a good way to end my comedy career. (Then again, I said that TLI was going to be the last one, too, and then I wrote this, so what the heck do I know?)

If you are interested in reading more of my works, you can find links to them all in my library here, including links to the original Legend Trilogy, which this comedy takes place after. I hope you find something in there to your liking .

 

See ya,

 

-TNTOS-

Chapter 2: Dark Hunters!

 

 

Nastan looked over at Addis, confused by what he said.

"What'd you say, Addis?" The new Toa of The Green asked.

"I said we are Toa now," Addis replied. Then quickly added. "I think."

Nonzra walked over to a nearby mirror and studied his new form. He was tall, like every other Toa he had seen and he looked similar to Toa Joha, except for his mask and colors. His colors, which were silver and grey, were over his armor and body. The silver was mainly on his armor, while his grey took up his body, mostly.

The new Toa of Sonics turned around to look at his friends, who were still quite confused.

"Why are we Toa anyway?" Akuna, the new Toa of Electricity, asked.

"Better question is how we became Toa, sister." Nonzra said, walking up to the others.

"I think it had something to do with those six strangely glowing stones over there." Nastan said, pointing over at the six stones on the table where they had left them.

The new Toa of The Green reached out to grab a stone with his long arm and grabbed one. He examined the stone, but could see nothing out of the ordinary, except it wasn't glowing anymore. In fact, none of the stones were glowing anymore.

"Uh, why aren't they glowing anymore?" Chimoy asked.

"Don't know," Nastan replied. "It looks like a normal stone now."

Addis had a idea. "Do you think these six stones were.....Toa stones?"

"Toa stones?" Nastan repeated. "What are Toa stones?"

"Well, I don't know too much about them," Addis replied. "All I know is that Toa create them by absorbing a small amount of their Toa energy in to them and give them to destined Matoran, who become Toa.....somehow."

"How'd you know that?" The new Toa of Gravity asked.

"Well, I remember when I was stealing a tablet, I read a little of it and learned a little bit about Toa stones. I didn't think much of it at the time, but now it just came back to me." Addis replied.

"Why didn't you notice the glowing stones were Toa stones, then?" Nonzra asked annoyed.

"I guess I just forgot." Addis said.

Nonzra was about to make some snappy comment about Addis having bad memory when he heard something. It sounded like a Matoran was screaming and then there was a big flash outside. The six new Toa went to the window and saw two Dark Hunters chasing a Matoran.

"Get back here!" One of the Dark Hunters shouted.

"Never!" The Matoran shouted back. The six Toa could tell he was a Ta-Matoran because of his red armor and he looked badly damaged. Addis was surprised that that Matoran was running so fast, especially because of how badly damaged he looked.

Nastan knew the Ta-Matoran would never be able to outrun two Dark Hunters, especially since he was very damaged. He turned to Addis.

"What should we do?" Nastan asked. "We can't let those savage Hunters kill that Matoran."

"But if we try to save him, no doubt they would kill us as well," Addis said. "We just became Toa about a couple hours ago. We stand no chance of defeating two experienced Dark Hunters."

"And if the Hunters escaped, they would surely call up some of their 'friends' and try to kill us again and probably succeed." Nonzra added.

The Toa of The Green turned to Akuna. "What about you? Do you think we should help the Matoran?"

Akuna shrugged. "I think Addis and Nonzra are right about this. We're just novices and those Dark Hunters are surely far more experienced and well-equiped than any of us."

Nastan looked over at Barilo and Chimoy, who were still watching the Hunters chase the Ta-Matoran. "What do you two think?" He asked. "Should we or should we not save that Matoran?"

Barilo wasn't really interested in saving the Matoran, so he simply answered, "No."

Chimoy seemed to agree with all the others, as he nodded in agreement with Barilo after the Toa of Gravity had answered.

"So, it seems we have come to a decision," Addis said. "C'mon, guys. Let's go steal stuff."

All the others turned to follow Addis out of the room, except for Nastan, who had jumped out of the window and landed on the ground. The other five Toa ran back to the window, shocked and surprised he would do this.

Apparently, the Hunters hadn't noticed him, so it was a bit of a surprise to them when Nastan shot two arrows made out of wood at both of them and both the arrows hit their targets.

The two Dark Hunters turned around to find out who hit them and were surprised to see Nastan standing there.

"I must be dreaming," The first Hunter said. "He's a Toa. I thought Triglax said that there was only one Toa left on this island?"

"Well, it doesn't matter," The second replied. "He's going to die just like the rest of 'em."

The second Dark Hunter then threw his spear at Nastan, but the Toa of The Green easily dodged it and then fired another arrow of wood at the Dark Hunter. Nastan had got his bow from a weapons cache which he found in the abandoned Dark Hunter base, but he found no arrows. Now that he is a Toa, he can easily create arrows made of wood, so he has a almost unlimited amount of arrows at his disposal.

The Hunter dodged the arrow and pulled his spear back to him, which was attached to a chain. Nastan realized that too late when he felt the chain of the spear whip his back, stunning him.

The first Dark Hunter then quickly ran over to Nastan and punched the Toa in the mask, knocking him out like a lightstone.

"Looks like he's out," The first Hunter said after inspecting Nastan's body. "Now we can get that-"

A blast of cold metal hit the Dark Hunter in the back, sending him flying into a nearby stone wall. When he turned around, he saw five other Toa, all looking quite angry at him.

"You mess with one of us," Addis began. "You mess with all of us!"

The Dark Hunter was then zapped by lightning, but since Akuna wasn't used to having electrical powers, she accidentally zapped the Ta-Matoran who was nearby, but not nearly as bad as the Hunter had been. The Dark Hunter fell unconscious, but the Ta-Matoran was just damaged even worse than before.

"Looks like he's down." Barilo said, referring to the Dark Hunter.

The second Dark Hunter had been taken by surprise earlier before he first one was defeated. Now he was up and was now using a sword instead of a spear and was charging into Chimoy. None of the Toa were near enough to save Chimoy, but that didn't seem to be a problem, as the new Toa of Iron had turned around and had a sword in his hand, blocking the villain's blow that probably would have killed him.

You see, Chimoy was a Toa of Iron, so he could use his elemental power to make a weapon out of thin air.

Back to the story, the Dark Hunter was surprised by this, letting his guard down. Now Chimoy's brain may have been damaged, but he knew when there was a opening and kneed the Hunter in the gut, bringing the Dark Hunter down for good.

-

After tying the two Hunters up with metal bonds that Chimoy had created, the six Toa put the Matoran in a bed, to let him rest. Akuna was the most concerned about him, since she had electrocuted him by accident.

It was by accident, she thought. I don't think I could take it if he died because of me. But why am I feeling this way? I don't even know him. Why would I care if he died or not? For all I know, the Dark Hunters could have had a justifiable reason for chasing him and we just stopped them from carrying out what they're supposed to do.

Akuna noticed that Barilo was looked concerned, too, even though he didn't really like other Matoran because of how he was disliked as a Matoran himself, so she decided to bring it up.

"You seem to be concerned for him," Akuna said to Barilo. "I don't blame you. I think we're all concerned for-"

"I'm not concerned for him." Barilo cut her off. "I'm more concerned of those two Hunters breaking free and calling their friends to come over and kill us all, including the Matoran."

"That makes me wonder why they were chasing the Matoran," Nonzra said. "Did he wonder away from the other slaves? Or did he try to do something else stupid, like insult the Shadowed One?"

"I don't know," Barilo replied. "And I don't care. We should kill the Dark Hunters and toss their bodies into the ocean. That way, no one will find them."

"No!" Nastan shouted, standing up. "Not only is that unToa-like, but the Dark Hunters are surely going to realize two of their members are missing and will probably send a search party to find them. Remember why the Dark Hunters are at war with the Brotherhood of Makuta in the first place? It's because the Makuta of Metru Nui killed two members of the Hunters!"

"Well, we'll just kill any search party they send our way and we'll keep on killing them until the Shadowed One himself comes," Barilo replied. Then he added, "And we'll kill him, too."

"But, Joha never killed anyone and never will," Nastan said. "If you won't follow his example, then I will."

"Maybe that's the reason Joha hasn't freed our island yet, Nastan," Nonzra said. "Maybe he should have killed them all and be done with it."

"Enough talk about killing!" Akuna shouted. All the others looked at her, surprised that she had raised her voice. "We have a seriously injured Matoran in there and he could die any second. Please, if you're going to talk about something, just talk about something else."

"Okay," Barilo said. "I'll just go to bed now, since it's getting dark out. 'Night, everyone." And he left the room.

For a while, no one said anything, until there was a sound, a sound that came from the Ta-Matoran's room. It sounded like a moan. Addis got up and walked into the Matoran's room. He came back out, looking excited.

"Guys!" Addis exclaimed excitedly. "He's waking up! The Matoran is waking up!"

Review Topic

Chapter 1: We Are.....Toa?

Toa Joha clinked blades with a Dark Hunter who had a chameleon power of sorts, as he was is the form of a giant, yellow, one-eyed Rahi. As he fought the Dark Hunter, he remembered what happened just two hours ago.

A Dark Hunter battle ship had landed in Shika Bay and launched a surprise attack on the nearest village, killing dozens of Matoran and seriously injuring others. Fortunately, Joha and his team had been visiting the village to discuss how to defend the island in case an attack from sea were launched upon the island of Shika Nui.

Unfortunately, they were unprepared for the battle and were losing already. It was obvious that the Hunters were more skilled at combat than he and his friends were, but that wasn't about to stop him from protecting Shika Nui from the Dark Hunters.

He glanced toward his left and saw his friends were laying on the ground dead, unmoving as rocks and the Hunters were moving toward himself.

There was no way he would be able to defeat these fiends by himself. He had no choice. He would have to go Nova to defeat these villains.

He closed his eyes, already feeling his elemental power draining from his body ready to be unleased in one mighty explosion! But before he could go Nova, something-

Joha, Toa of Stone, awoke, startled. He looked around his stone room and sighed with relief.

It was that dream again. The kind of dream you wished wasn't real, but was.

That dream kept replying every week or so, showing everything happening the exact same way he remembered it. The Toa of Stone wished it was just a dream, but it wasn't. It all happened 25,000 years ago, when an elite group of Dark Hunters arrived, killing all his teammates and many Matoran.

After that, the Hunters took complete control of the island and enslaved the Matoran. The only one brave enough to stand up against them was Joha and he knew he couldn't defeat them on his own.

That's why, The Toa thought. I have created these six Toa stones. All I have to do is give them to the six chosen Matoran and they will become Toa who I will lead to free this island.

Joha looked toward the table where he had last saw the Toa stones, but was horrified at what he saw: The six Toa stones were gone!

"Where could they be?" Joha said, sounding more than a little worried. If the stones were stolen, then that must mean that a Dark Hunter stole them. But it made little sense, since any of the Hunters would have killed him while taking the stones. So, perhaps someone else stole them?

"But who?" Joha wondered aloud. "Who would steal the vital items that could free this island from the Dark Hunters' tyranny?"

-

The answer to the Toa of Stone's question was not a Dark Hunter, nor a curious Rahi beast, but a Matoran of Plasma who went by the name of Addis. Addis, who was the leader of a band of Matoran thieves, had snuck into Joha's cave and taken the Toa stones and snuck out undetected.

He was heading toward his hideout where his five friends, Akuna, Chimoy, Nonzra, Nastan and Barilo, were waiting.

While he was walking there, he pulled one of the strangely glowing stones out of his back pack and examined it while he walked. He had never seen anything like this before, but he knew they had some importance or Joha wouldn't have had them in his home.

It's so strange, Addis thought as he put the stone in his pack. I wonder what they do? Obviously, they must be important, so I will bring these to the others and see what they think.

The Matoran of Plasma walked faster, as the sun was setting and, as Addis knew, it was incredibly dangerous to be out after dark, especially if a Dark Hunter was patroling the area.

-

The Matoran hideout, dubbed the Shika Hideout, was a little known Dark Hunter warehouse that was abandoned because of a accident a few years back that involved a group of Dark Hunters, Toa Joha, and a Brotherhood of Makuta expierment that had four legs, six arms, no head and a snake-like body. As you probably imagine, the entire place was wrecked, so it was only logical that Addis and the others would make a base here, since no one would ever even think, let alone conceive, of any Matoran ever making a home here. It sure was home to Addis, as he walked through the wrecked area toward the meeting room, where he would show the others what he had got.

Addis, looking around the room to make sure everyone was here, dumped the contents of his bag out on to the table.

"What are they?" Barilo, a Matoran of Gravity, asked. "I've never seen anything like them."

"They're just rocks," Nonzra, a Matoran of Sonics, said. "I thought Joha had something of way more importance, like maybe a legendary Kanohi mask or something."

"I don't know," Nastan, a Matoran of The Green, said. "Why would a mighty Toa of Stone like him carry unvaluable things like these around if they were not important?"

"'Mighty Toa of Stone'? You've been reading too many legends, Nastan," Nonzra replied. "He got himself beaten to near death and he only escaped because he went Nova. Now thanks to him, the entire island of Shika Nui is under Dark Hunter control! Why would you call him mighhty?"

"It wasn't his fault," Nastan protested. "He was ambushed. He and the others had no idea tha the Hunters were attacking."

Akuna, a Matoran of Lightning, sighed. Nastan and Nonzra argued alot, so much that it seemed as though they actually liked arguing with eachother. She did not like arguing herself, mainly because she wasn't too good at it plus most of the time they argued about pointless things that she never really understood.

"Enough arguing!" Addis said loudly, startling Nastan and Nozra. He waited a moment before speaking again to make sure they weren't going continue arguing again. When they didn't continue, Addis continued on. "Alright, then. We're keeping the stones until we can find someone who would buy these from us at a fair price. We each keep one of the stones until I decide when to sell them and to who. Got it?"

One by one, they nodded their approval. Addis knew at least one of them was going to try to keep the stone they got to keep to his or her self and, when he found someone who was willing to buy all six, would claim they had no idea what happened to it.

Chimoy, a Matoran of Iron, looked down at the stones. He was about to say something, then stopped, as if lost in thought or something. It was normal to see him act like that.

Back about 100 years ago or so, Chimoy had tried to steal a valuable artifact from the Dark Hunters. The mission was going well, with most of the Dark Hunters distracted. Unfortunately, the other Hunters that weren't distracted ganged up on poor Chimoy and beat him senseless. Fortunately, Joha had appeared to fight off the Dark Hunters while Chimoy escaped. The Matoran of Iron had never been the same since.

All six Matoran picked up their stones simultaneously. At first, nothing happened. Then they all felt something inside them blow up, sending each and every one of them flying in different directions of the room they were in, knocking the Matoran criminals unconscious.

-

Barilo awoke. His back hurt. His head hurt. In fact, his entire body was hurting and he wasn't sure what to do about it. He couldn't lift himself up because he hurt so badly, so he just laid there.

It was far to dark for him to see the others, but he could hear them all groaning in pain and agony.

Why.....Why do I feel so strong? Barilo thought. I feel.....Alot stronger than any Matoran. What happened to me and who turned all the lightstones off? Am I dead?

Barilo then felt intense heat coming from where he had seen Addis thrown. Groaning with pain, he slowly lifted himself up to his full height to find out where the heat was coming from.

He was surprised at how tall he was now. He was far taller than he was before, which made him wonder just what it was that happened. He decided to wonder about that later and find out why their was heat coming from where Addis was.

He walked over to the semi-conscious form of Addis and realized that the heat was coming Addis himself! He turned around and saw they others, with the help of Addis' small light he was giving off. What he saw surprised him: Standing in front of him, all the others looked exactly like Toa!

I must be dreaming Barilo thought. Or perhaps I've gone insane. I hope it is the former.

He could hear Addis getting from behind him and the new Toa of Gravity turned around. Addis looked very confused for a moment before finally saying:

"We.......Are Toa?"

Review Topic

Introduction:

 

Dear readers,
 

My name is TNTOS. I'm a fanfic writer and have written and posted over 40 epics, comedies, and short stories over a seven year period on this website. Some were great, some weren't, but nonetheless each has helped me grow as a writer and I wouldn't be where I am today without them.

Among my early works was a trilogy of epics known as the Shika Trilogy, consisting of The Tales of Shika Nui, Tapestry of Evil, and An Unlikely Alliance. Originally posted over a two year period, the Shika Trilogy chronicled the adventures of a Toa team composed of six former thieves on or near the island of Shika Nui (hence the title of the trilogy). It was never a particular popular trilogy, but it was my first ever completed trilogy and laid the foundation for my larger Shikaverse, the universe in which all my fanfiction (sans comedies) is set.

Unfortunately, all three epics of the Shika Trilogy were lost when the BZP Archives were taken down earlier this year. I did not repost them, mostly because I did not believe they are a good representation of my ability as a writer (and they still aren't, by the way). Besides, if I ever wanted to reread them, I had them saved on files on an external hard drive, so nostalgia was not a good reason for reposting them, either.

Recently, however, I have received a few requests from my readers to repost the Shika Trilogy, especially from readers who have not read it but want to. In addition, I am almost finished writing In the End, the epic that will be the finale to the Shikaverse as a whole. That epic does rely on a lot of ideas, concepts, and characters introduced in the Shika Trilogy, which most people would not understand without first reading the Shika Trilogy.

With the arrival of the New Year, I decided that now would be a good time to repost the entire Shika Trilogy here in the Epics forum. Not only that, but I would repost all three epics in one topic so you can conveniently read the entire trilogy in one place (hence the use of "omnibus" in the title of this topic). I also believe the trilogy is more enjoyable when read as a whole, rather than read individually.

Please note that the Shika Trilogy is NOT an example of my current ability as a writer. It is a reflection of who I was as a writer back in my younger days, when I was first learning how to write well. Whatever problems you notice, I am already aware of, so you don't need to write a comprehensive review pointing out every tiny error I have made. (If you want an example of my current ability as a writer, I suggest reading Dimension Hoppers or another of my most recent epics in my library.) I am reposting this solely to make the Shikaverse more understandable for people who haven't read it, although if you have some comments to make you are welcome to share them here in the review topic.
 
Read the omnibus itself here.

-TNTOS-

Introduction:

Dear readers,

My name is TNTOS. I'm a fanfic writer and have written and posted over 40 epics, comedies, and short stories over a seven year period on this website. Some were great, some weren't, but nonetheless each has helped me grow as a writer and I wouldn't be where I am today without them.

Among my early works was a trilogy of epics known as the Shika Trilogy, consisting of The Tales of Shika Nui, Tapestry of Evil, and An Unlikely Alliance. Originally posted over a two year period, the Shika Trilogy chronicled the adventures of a Toa team composed of six former thieves on or near the island of Shika Nui (hence the title of the trilogy). It was never a particular popular trilogy, but it was my first ever completed trilogy and laid the foundation for my larger Shikaverse, the universe in which all my fanfiction (sans comedies) is set.

Unfortunately, all three epics of the Shika Trilogy were lost when the BZP Archives were taken down earlier this year. I did not repost them, mostly because I did not believe they are a good representation of my ability as a writer (and they still aren't, by the way). Besides, if I ever wanted to reread them, I had them saved on files on an external hard drive, so nostalgia was not a good reason for reposting them, either.

Recently, however, I have received a few requests from my readers to repost the Shika Trilogy, especially from readers who have not read it but want to. In addition, I am almost finished writing In the End, the epic that will be the finale to the Shikaverse as a whole. That epic does rely on a lot of ideas, concepts, and characters introduced in the Shika Trilogy, which most people would not understand without first reading the Shika Trilogy.

With the arrival of the New Year, I decided that now would be a good time to repost the entire Shika Trilogy here in the Epics forum. Not only that, but I would repost all three epics in one topic so you can conveniently read the entire trilogy in one place (hence the use of "omnibus" in the title of this topic). I also believe the trilogy is more enjoyable when read as a whole, rather than read individually.

Please note that the Shika Trilogy is NOT an example of my current ability as a writer. It is a reflection of who I was as a writer back in my younger days, when I was first learning how to write well. Whatever problems you notice, I am already aware of, so you don't need to write a comprehensive review pointing out every tiny error I have made. (If you want an example of my current ability as a writer, I suggest reading Dimension Hoppers or another recent epic in my library.) I am reposting this solely to make the Shikaverse more understandable for people who haven't read it, although if you have some comments to make you are welcome to share them in the review topic (link at the bottom of the post).

Table of Contents:

Book One: The Tales of Shika Nui

Prologue
Chapter 1: We Are.....Toa?
Chapter 2: Dark Hunters!
Chapter 3: Jokao
Chapter 4: Revelations
Chapter 5: All Out Battle!
Chapter 6: Infiltration
Chapter 7: Escape From The Fortress
Chapter 8: Into The Mountains
Chapter 9: The Mountains
Chapter 10: Turaga Joha?
Chapter 11: Not A Hero Anymore
Chapter 12: The Secret Village of Shadow
Chapter 13: Dragon in the Dark
Chapter 14: The Return of Barilo
Chapter 15: Chaos!
Chapter 16: What Is Behind The Door?
Epilogue

Book Two: Tapestry of Evil
Book Three: An Unlikely Alliance

Now with that out of the way, let's kick off this omnibus with:

Book One: The Tales of Shika Nui

Prologue

25,000 years ago

A huge battle ship sailed quietly through the sea of Shika Nui. Aboard the ship was a band of thieves, murderers, would-be tyrants and other lunatics, who were all hungry for battle and conquest. They were Dark Hunters.

Under order of their leader, a dark and frightening being known only as the Shadowed One, they were sent to take control of this island, for it had a secret that they all were sure would suit the Dark Hunters cause well.

A Dark Hunter, named Triglax, was standing at the wheel, steering the boat toward their destination. He was considered obnoxious by some and that might be true, though he'd never admit it, mainly because of his ego.

What do any of them know about me anyway? Triglax thought as he steered the gigantic boat toward the mysterious island of Shika Nui. There is a good reason the Shadowed One chose me to lead this operation, because I am the most qualified to lead, of course.

He was being sent, along with at least a dozen other well armed Dark Hunters, to take over this island they were heading. They would land there and kill the local Toa team and the Turaga who lead the island, thus giving them complete control over the entire island of Shika Nui. If all went well, then by nightfall, the island would be Dark Hunter property.

And when we strike, Triglax thought, a smile creeping on his face. They won't know what hit them.

Review Topic

May saw the release of series 10 of the Collectible Minifigures. Not only was this quite a milestone, but LEGO also chose the opportunity for a very special promotion: In addition to the regular set of 16 minifigures, LEGO distributed 5000 mysterious minifigures of Mr. Gold all around the world. Proud finders could mark their country in the map to see where minifigures had been found. There are still little over 3000 minifigures left without a finder or unregistered even now, so if you are lucky, you might still stumble upon one!

Three thousand left? We should totally make a new group of BZP members dedicated solely to locating these remaining three thousand minifigs. It would probably be expensive, difficult to organize, and not at all worth it in the long run, but it would still be awesome. Who's with me?

 

In May, BZPower suffered database issues in which one week of changes in the members database were lost, but the forums were quickly back up and running.

I completely forgot about this until I read this article. Guess I must not have lost anything important or something.

 

Anyway, I think 2013 was a pretty good year overall, at least for me. I eagerly await whatever surprises 2014 has in store for us.

 

-TNTOS-

Chapter Fifteen: Friendship IS Magic! (It is Also Explosive)

“Tahiti. It's a magical place.”

-Agent Phillip Coulson, after no one asked him about Tahiti

With a twirl of her cape, Sunset Shimmer disappeared, only to reappear right behind Twilight and Mata Nui. Twilight, however, had been expecting that, and bucked Sunset in the face with the power of the volcano coursing through her back hooves.

The blow sent Sunset staggering backwards, but Mata Nui gave her no time to recover, running at her and slamming the butt of his gun into her face. That sent Sunset flying, but she immediately righted herself in midair and floated there, looking displeased and angry.

“Your existence displeases me,” said Sunset. “So begone, mortals!”

She waved one hoof through the air and Mata Nui and Twilight were suddenly surrounded by trillions of laser beams. The lasers immediately started flying at the two, but our heroes managed to block every single one using a combination of Mata Nui's gun and Twilight's horn. They moved extremely fast, almost teleporting, not allowing a single laser beam to pass them in their quest to survive.

When the lasers were finally gone, Twilight and Mata Nui stood triumphant, neither of them even panting from the physical exertion of having blocked so many lasers.

Shocked, Sunset said, “How did you block all those lasers? That is impossible. I designed them to be impossible to block or dodge.”

“Nothing is impossible as long as you believe,” said Mata Nui. “And seeing as we believe in your death, there's nothing you can throw at us that we can't take. Eat this!”

Without warning, Mata Nui seized Twilight, stuffed her into his gun's barrel, and fired her at Sunset like a bullet. The goddess pony created a thick magical barrier around her body, which Twilight slammed into with her horn. She immediately charged a powerful energy burst into the barrier, causing it to shatter into billions of pieces as Sunset went flying away screaming.

As Sunset flew through the air, Mata Nui dashed along the ground below her at the speed of light. He leaped into the air until he was above Sunset, then slammed both his feet into her chest, sending her crashing into nothingness with a loud boom. Twilight and Mata Nui landed near the crater together, but before they could act, Sunset flew out of the crater and snarled.

“I will crush you both!” she cried as her horn glowed briefly.

The next moment, a full-sized planet appeared above her head, which she hurled at Mata Nui and Twilight. Twilight tried using her magic to slow it down, but it was ineffective. So Mata Nui launched himself into the air and, channeling just a portion of his might, punched the planet directly in the center, causing it to split in half neatly down the middle. The two planet halves fell through the ground and disappeared into nothingness once more.

Mata Nui, however, was still flying through the air, his fist aiming directly for Sunset's smug mug. But she ducked to avoid it and slammed her head into Mata Nui's abdomen, sending our hero flying away out of control. Twilight jumped into the air, however, and caught Mata Nui before he vanished into nothingness.

“Thanks,” said Mata Nui as Twilight lowered him to the ground.

“No problem,” said Twilight. “Now if you'll excuse me. . . .”

Flapping her wings, Twilight rocketed into the air at the speed of impossible. She went so fast that when she struck Sunset, it was like the goddess had been hit by a supernova, creating a massive explosion that engulfed both ponies before dissipating.

Before Sunset could recover from the supernova, Twilight smashed their skulls together, sending the goddess flying even higher into the sky. Without hesitation, Mata Nui jumped onto Twilight and then jumped off her after Sunset. When he got close enough, Mata Nui started pummeling Sunset with both of his fists, punching her so fast and so hard that it looked like he was hitting her with a cosmic hurricane of fists.

And with a final kick, Mata Nui sent her crashing to the ground once again. This time, however, Sunset was prepared, because she created a springy sponge to catch her fall, thus saving her from a devastating fall.

Rising to her hooves, Sunset fired an energy blast from her horn at Mata Nui, but Twilight intercepted it with a magical blast of her own. Mata Nui, seeing an opportunity, grabbed both magical blasts and absorbed them into his being, causing his armor to turn from yellow to gold in an instant.

“I am gold!” Mata Nui roared, sending shock waves from his body.

The shock waves struck Sunset, sending her tumbling off her sponge. Twilight took advantage of this to rush at the goddess pony, but as soon as she got close, Sunset stood up and bucked Twilight with her back hooves, sending the alicorn spiraling out of control through the air until she crashed hard into the ground.

But Twilight wasn't out just yet. She immediately jumped to her hooves and charged at Sunset. The goddess likewise charged at her even as both of their horns began glowing with repressed energy. And when their horns collided, it created a massive explosion of energy and color that would have destroyed Mata Nui had he not created a massive energy shield around his body that took the brunt of the blast.

When the explosion cleared, it revealed Twilight and Sunset's horns were locked together, the two ponies pushing against each other, growling and snarling more like feral cats than ponies. Twilight wasn't budging even slightly under the pressure of Sunset's goddess powers, like they were equals rather than a goddess and mortal clashing.

“Why do you insist on your own destruction?” Sunset demanded, pushing hard against Twilight. “I am a goddess; in fact, I am the Goddess, the soon-to-be creator of all. As long as you stand against me, you have no hope of survival, neither you nor your friend.”

“Shut up, Sunset,” said Twilight through gritted teeth. “You don't understand. Friendship is greater than any other force in the universe. Even the gods themselves must bow to it . . . and that includes you.”

Sunset laughed. “The Goddess does not need to bow to your silly little abstract concepts. You will fall, you and Mata Nui, and there is nothing either of you can do about it.”

Just then, Mata Nui landed behind Sunset and seized her tail. With a yelp of pain, Sunset stopped pushing against Twilight, causing the alicorn to stumble forward as Mata Nui lifted the goddess above his head. He began spinning her in a circle, slowly picking up speed, until they were going so fast that he and Sunset were nothing more than a blur of red and gold in a sea of nothingness.

Then Mata Nui let go of her, saying as he did so, “So long, Sunset Shimmer!”

The goddess went flying so fast that she couldn't stop herself even if she wanted to. Twilight calculated the exact distance and speed at which Sunset was flying and immediately teleported herself in her path. With a burst of magical energy, Twilight created a brick wall which Sunset crashed into. She crashed into it so hard that a huge shock wave exploded from the impact, knocking Twilight out of the air. She managed to right herself fast enough to land on the ground safely, however.

Sunset ripped her face out of the brick wall and shook her head as Mata Nui and Twilight gathered together underneath her.

“Darn you,” she hissed. “Darn you both to heck. Enough fooling around. This fight has dragged on far enough. It ends NOW!”

With a roar of power, Sunset grew bigger and bigger until she was at least as tall as Canterlot Castle, if not bigger. Twilight and Mata Nui looked up her huge legs at Sunset's face, which was smirking quite evilly.

“Now I will crush you both like insects, just as I promised,” said Sunset. “Welcome to die!”

She raised one hoof and brought it down on them as fast as lightning bolt. In fact, when it struck them, it sounded like a thunderbolt had struck the ground and electricity shot out in every direction. There was no particular reason for that, other than Sunset thought it looked cool.

“Looks like I win,” said Sunset, her smirk now so big that it would have been illegal had there been any legislature to pass laws. “Now nothing can-”

She was rudely interrupted when her hoof began rising of its own accord. In actuality, it was Mata Nui and Twilight underneath her gigantic hoof who were pushing back against it, Mata Nui with his hands, Twilight with her front hooves. They were putting all of their physical strength together to avoid getting crushed to death, pushing up so hard that Sunset could not keep them down.

“You mortals have such spirit,” said Sunset. “It will be a pleasure to crush it like an ant.”

But Sunset's threat was shown to be nothing more than the vain boasting of a cliched villain, because with one last burst of energy Mata Nui and Twilight pushed the giant pony over. This caused Sunset to fall to her side hard, so hard that her body shattered into millions of little pieces, revealing Sunset's smaller form.

Sunset staggered to her feet as Twilight and Mata Nui landed on the ground before her. She looked at them with hate in her eyes as she growled deeply in her throat.

“You will not succeed,” she gasped. “I, Sunset Shimmer, am the Goddess of All. You shall bow before me! Kneel before Sunset!”

“Sorry, but I don't kneel before anyone,” said Mata Nui. “Except myself.”

“The only pony worthy of being knelt before is Princess Celestia,” said Twilight. “And, I'm sorry, but you don't look anything like her.”

“Foolish fools,” said Sunset. “You have both put up a good fight, but you must realize that it is hopeless. Whereas I am eternal, you are both temporal. Eventually, your bodies will give out and then I will strike and win once and for all.”

Twilight bit her lip and said to Mata Nui, “I think she's right. I can already feel myself getting weaker, losing energy. We very well might not be able to beat her after all.”

“In that case,” said Mata Nui, “we need backup.”

“But Mata Nui, we're the only two beings in existence, besides Sunset,” said Twilight, shaking her head sadly. “We are on our own.”

“Not unless we have this!” said Mata Nui, whipping out a very familiar-looking crown from nowhere.

Twilight gasped. “Mata Nui, that's my crown. Where did you get it from?”

“Sunset dropped it when me and Kiina kicked her butt earlier,” said Mata Nui. “I picked it up because I thought I could sell it on eBay to some bronies and make millions of dollars. Since the universe got destroyed, though, I haven't been able to do much with it.”

Without responding to Mata Nui's babbling, Twilight ripped the crown out of his hands and placed it on her head. “Mata Nui, with that single act of greed, you may have just saved the entire multiverse.”

“Really?” said Mata Nui. “Well, I guess that makes sense. After all, I am the awesomest hero who has ever lived.”

“So you have your pretty little crown,” said Sunset with a sneer. “So what? It is useless without the other Elements of Harmony, good only for appearances, if even that, as I have seen prettier crowns in my time.”

The crown on Twilight's head began sparking and glowing with energy. At the same time, Twilight's eyes glowed until they were nothing but twin white lights. She could feel the magic of friendship flowing through her veins even as she tapped deeper and deeper into its essence until she could feel nothing but pure friendship all around her.

“You're wrong, Sunset Shimmer,” said Twilight as energy swirled around her and Mata Nui. “This crown is not useless. As long as the magic of friendship exists, it will always give me power. The magic of friendship dwarfs that of any other power in the universe, even that of a goddess.”

“Impossible,” said Sunset. “Stop speaking such stupid sayings. You are nothing more than a mortal deluded by a placebo.”

“No,” said Twilight, shaking her head. “You are the one who is deluded, Sunset, if you think you can defeat the magic of friendship. Friends! Come to me!”

Twenty bolts of white lightning fired out from her crown. Each white lightning bolt hit the ground and left in its place one being; Spike, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Shining Armor, Cadence, Discord, and Princess Celestia, all of whom looked ready to fight.

But they weren't the only ones brought back by Twilight's crown. The other ten lightning bolts left behind Kiina, Berix, and Bucket-head, in addition to Gresh, Tahu, Oris, Tera, Likus, Ackar, and Takanuva. They looked just as shocked to make an appearance in this story as everyone else did, but due to their unimportance we shall ignore them for now.

“What?” said Sunset, taking a step back as she looked upon all of the assembled friends. “No way. You are all dead. Equestria and Spherus Magna are no more.”

“You still don't understand, do you, Sunset?” said Twilight. “Absolute, raw power is useless without friends. Because Mata Nui and I have such strong bonds with our friends, I was able to bring them all back to help us defeat you once and for all and save both our universes.”

“They must all be illusions,” said Sunset, although she sounded unconvinced in her panicky state. “You're using your magic to make me think you have brought back your friends. I know the truth. You can't fool me.”

“They're all as real as you, Sunset,” said Twilight. “But I understand wanting empirical proof of a phenomenon before you're willing to believe it. So let us give it to you!”

Acting as one, every assembled being -- pony and biomech alike -- raised their hands and front hooves and unleashed a blast of energy. When the ponies' energy beams combined, it created a rainbow of friendship, while the biomechs' combination beam created a stream of protodermis. Both beams combined in midair to create what could only be described as the personification of Friendship itself, an entity who was a perfect blend of biomech and pony, radiating such powerful energy that even Sunset looked wimpy in comparison.

“What . . .?” said Sunset, actually stumbling backwards in a weak attempt to flee. “I don't understand. What is this?”

Friendship looked down at Sunset with disproving eyes. “Sunset Shimmer, you have never been a good friend to anybody. You treated your servants as trash, you consistently harmed anyone who got in your way, and you were rather rude. For these crimes, We, the Spirit of Friendship, the One that Transcends all Bonds and Time, The One Who Gathers Together, The Great Unifying Principle, the Ground of All Being, The One Who Ascends and Yet Exists in All, The One Made from All, the Multiverse Itself, do hereby banish you into the Great Unknown, from which you shall never return!”

Friendship pointed a single finger at Sunset and unleashed a laser beam at her. The goddess tried to fight back, shooting a powerful beam of energy at Friendship that was probably strong enough to destroy an entire universe a hundred times over.

But Friendship's own laser beam cut through Sunset's like butter and struck the unicorn goddess directly in the horn. Sunset had time enough to let out one last scream of agony before she abruptly disappeared, like a chalk drawing that had been erased by a child. And thus Sunset Shimmer was no more.

As soon as Sunset disappeared, Twilight's eyes returned to normal and everyone stopped glowing (they had been glowing because of the magic of Friendship, by the way). She almost collapsed, but before she did, she was mobbed by her pony friends, who gathered around her and gave her a big group hug. Even Discord partook of the group hug, which was kind of awkward but Twilight decided it was okay for now.

Nearby, Mata Nui's friends had gathered around him, giving him high-fives or fist bumps. Only Kiina hugged Mata Nui, but even Bucket-head shook Mata Nui's hand, saying as he did so, “You know, I never realized just how much I missed existence, even though everyone hates me.”

Then the two groups stopped congratulating among themselves and looked at each other. There was a dead silence in the air for what felt like an eternity and Twilight was afraid, for some reason, that things were about to get violent and messy.

But then Friendship floated down to the ground and said, “What are you all waiting for? The only reason we exist is because of the amount of friendship coursing through your veins like giant rubber pants. When we exist, there is no such thing as stranger or enemy.”

The first to heed Friendship's words were Pinkie Pie and Berix. The hyper pony and the hyper biomech hopped over to each other and immediately began hitting it off like old friends.

“Hi, I'm Berix.”

“I'm Pinkie Pie. What kind of pony are you, anyway?”

“Oh, I'm not a pony. My psychiatrist says I am a sociopath, though.”

“What's a sociopath? Is that a fun person?”

“Well, I think so. Are you fun?”

“You bet. I'm the funnest pony in all of Equestria. You know what we should do, now that everyone here is friends and everything?”

“What?”

“Throw a huge, multiverse-wide PAR-TAY!”

“OMG that sounds awesome! I'll get the streamers and lampshades!”

That single conversation broke the ice, causing everyone from both groups to come forward and talk to one another. While their friends mingled, Twilight and Mata Nui walked over to Friendship, who stood watching the intermingling of the two groups with a wide smile on their face.

“It is wonderful to see two different groups of people learning to mingle and appreciate one another's differences,” said Friendship with a sigh. “We have not seen such friendship since the beginning of Time itself.”

“Yeah, that's nice and all,” said Mata Nui as he waved off the entity's words, “but what about our homes? I'm going to miss the next episode of my soaps. How else will I learn if Becky really is Veronica's twice removed stepmother?”

“I, too, would like to return home,” said Twilight. “But is that even possible? Didn't Sunset Shimmer say that the universes have merged or tried to, at least? Do we even have homes to return to?”

“Twilight Sparkle, Mata Nui,” said Friendship gently. “Do you think that we forgot about that? Of course not. Your sense of friendship is so strong that both universes have been resurrected, as well as all of their inhabitants. Go through these doors to return home.”

Friendship waved their hand and two doors appeared. One was labeled 'Equestria.' The other, 'Spherus Magna.'

“Once you and your friends pass through those doors, you will be back in your homes,” said Friendship. “But you will never forgot each other. You will always treasure these memories in your hearts, even after you die. For the magic of friendship can transcend even death.”

“Okay,” said Twilight. “I guess that makes sense.”

“It does,” said Mata Nui in agreement. “So now we just have to get everyone else to come with us. Which means this is pretty much good bye.”

“Oh, yeah, it is,” said Twilight, somewhat awkwardly. “Well, um. . . .”

The two just stood there awkwardly for a while. Friendship's presence didn't really help, especially because they was smiling so wide that they made Pinkie Pie look like a perpetual frowner. Twilight really wanted to hoof them in the face, but as she understood that to be wrong, she refrained from doing so.

“Well, I might as well leave, now that you know what to do,” said Friendship brightly. “Good bye, my friends. Remember that I exist everywhere and am everything and am above everything. So if you ever need me, remember: Friendship is magic!”

And with that, Friendship disappeared. That made the situation slightly less awkward, although it didn't help Twilight figure out what to say to Mata Nui. What was she supposed to say to someone she had never really liked? Yeah, she could just say, “Good bye” and be done with it, but after everything they'd been through together, somehow that didn't seem enough.

Yet it didn't seem like Mata Nui was going to make the first move. For all his bravado and boasting, he certainly didn't seem like an overly-confident hero to her now. He looked just as uncomfortable as anyone else would be in this kind of situation. And it was that realization that gave Twilight the words she needed to say to him.

Twilight sat down, wrapped her tail around her hooves, and looked up at Mata Nui. “Mata Nui, you and I never really got along. I mean, like, ever. We've always gotten on each other's nerves and have never really understood each other. It's led to a lot of conflicts between us.”

“Yeah, I know,” said Mata Nui, folding his arms. “What of it?”

“Well, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry,” said Twilight. “Sorry that I constantly belittled you, that I never sat down to understand you, and that I was never really a good friend. Because that's what we are: Friends. I mean, if we weren't, how could we have summoned the embodiment of Friendship itself?”

“You make . . . a good point,” said Mata Nui reluctantly. “I accept your apology. And . . . I'm sorry for not always being exactly a perfect friend to you, either.”

Twilight gasped. “Did you . . . did you just apologize?”

“Yeah, I did. So?”

“It's just . . .” Twilight shook her head, smiling. “Maybe there is hope for you after all, Mata Nui.”

“I'm already good enough the way I am,” said Mata Nui. “Which is to say, I am pretty much near perfection. I'd say you're the one who has hope; after all, you kicked Sunset's butt just as much as I did. Someday, maybe you will be a kick-butt warrior like me. Not exactly like me, obviously, because no one is, but more like me than you are now.”

Twilight hoped that she would never become like Mata Nui someday, but she nodded politely anyway. “Thanks, I guess.”

Then Mata Nui looked over at Twilight's friends and cocked his head. “So . . . I didn't realize there were so many of you.”

“Well, of course there are,” said Twilight. “There's an entire universe of ponies just like me, in fact. Why does that surprise you?”

“I dunno,” said Mata Nui with a shrug. “'Cause I was hoping there wasn't really a universe full of pansy ponies, I guess.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Well, how's about we get our friends and go home now? Remember, the universes need to be balanced.”

“Wait . . .” said Mata Nui, stroking his chin, as if deep in thought. “If the universes must remain balanced at all times . . . then that means we may never see each other again.”

“Oh, yeah,” said Twilight. “I never thought of that. So this might be the last time we see each other.”

“Yeah,” said Mata Nui, still stroking his chin. “You still have that magic mirror, though, don't you?”

“I think so,” said Twilight. “But I was thinking of smashing it to bits when I got home. 'Cause, you know, of all the craziness that happened and stuff.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Mata Nui. “I don't want any girly ponies coming over to visit me anyway. I'm too manly for that.”

“Are you sure?” said Twilight. “I mean, the magic mirror is, as far as I know, the only link between our worlds. If it's shattered, then it may be impossible for us to see each other ever again.”

“Don't you worry your absurdly large pony head, Twilight,” said Mata Nui, ruffling her mane. “If I ever want a word with you, I can probably find a way to Equestria myself.”

“Because the magic of friendship will lead you back to me?” Twilight said.

“Nope,” said Mata Nui. “Because I'm awesome and can ignore the laws of physics. That's what makes me so awesome.”

Twilight sighed. “Shouldn't have expected anything different from you, I suppose.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” said Twilight. “So . . . I'm just going to gather all of my friends and go home now. Really starting to miss Equestria.”

“Same here,” said Mata Nui. “I'm tired of standing in nothingness. I mean, it's really boring. Seriously, there's not even a pizza place around here. What's up with that?”

Twilight shrugged. “Maybe it's because this is a place of nothingness?”

“Nah,” said Mata Nui, shaking his head. “Doesn't make any sense. Maybe I'll open my own chain of pizza parlors. They'll be called 'Pizza Mask' and I'll open the first one right here. I'll make millions.”

“Sure,” said Twilight with a sigh. “Good luck with that.”

It took them a while to get everyone together, as the two groups had intermingled and had become quite fond of each other in the short time they had gotten to know each other. In particular, Berix and Pinkie Pie seemed to have become inseparable friends who promised to send each other letters to keep up with what was going on in the other's world, although Twilight wasn't sure how trans-dimensional postal services were supposed to work. Perhaps she would ask Derpy about that back in Equestria.

So the two groups waved good bye to each other as they returned to their worlds. The last two to step through the doors that led back home were Mata Nui and Twilight. As Twilight didn't have any hands, she had to use her hoof to 'fist bump' Mata Nui, as he called it, which closely resembled the 'bro hoof' gesture back home, generally made among ponies who were close friends.

“Bye, Mata Nui,” said Twilight, waving at him as she stood before the Equestria door. “May we meet again someday.”

“Bye, Twilight,” said Mata Nui, waving back at her. “May you someday become as awesome as me, although if you don't . . . I suppose that's okay, too.”

And so they both stepped through their doors at exactly the same time, knowing they may never see each other again. Yet they would always remember each other; after all, when you team up with someone to summon the physical embodiment of Friendship itself to defeat a goddess and bring back two universes, it's rather hard to forget about that person.

-TNTOS-

Chapter Fourteen: Nothingness (Deep or Pretentious? You decide!)

“Nothingness . . . is eternal.”

-Xemnas, from Kingdom Hearts II, making a statement that is either profound or stupid, depending on your point of view

Non-existence felt strange to Twilight. It was so different that she couldn't describe it with words. She tried to, but found that every comparison she thought of utterly failed to capture the reality of what she was experiencing.

Am I dead? Twilight thought. Is this what our world is like now? Is there nothing from here to the end of creation? What does that even mean, anyway? How can nothing exist? It makes no sense.

Recreating her memories of what had happened before -- if 'before' was even a plausible concept anymore -- was nigh impossible. She dimly remembered Sunset Shimmer's ascension to godhood, but beyond that everything was a blank. A huge, ugly, colorless blank. And it frustrated Twilight immensely, as she had always prided herself on her great memory.

Wait . . . frustration. That was a genuine emotion. She grasped tightly onto it, her only proof that she still existed. She followed her frustration to its source: Mata Nui.

God that guy was stupid, Twilight thought. Condescending, arrogant, ignorant, stupid, and bigoted in every way. He's like if Rainbow Dash didn't have any friends to curb her vices.

Even now that she knew she existed, even remembered a couple of people, it didn't really help her. As far as she could tell, she was the only thing in existence. She felt lonely. She wished her friends -- most of whom she couldn't even remember -- still existed, but alas, they did not. She was on her own and would likely remain that way for all eternity (although she wondered if the concept of 'eternity' even still made sense in a world of nothingness).

Still, a small part of her insisted on existing. It was the small, defiant part of herself, a part of her personality that showed itself whenever her friends or herself were in danger. It was thanks to this small part of her personality that she ever managed to convince herself to keep going even when logic made it clear that struggling was useless at this point.

And so, with a blink of her eyes, Twilight found herself standing in what appeared to be an endless sea of nothingness. Or maybe it was a room. Either way, Twilight saw nothing but whiteness for miles around in every direction. She glanced at her hooves and flapped her wings; her body was apparently okay.

What do I do now? Twilight thought. I'm completely on my own. No one from either Spherus Magna or Equestria survived Sunset's destruction of all reality. Am I doomed to wander the endlessness of nothingness for as long as I live? Or will I simply cease to exist again at some point? How can I exist in nothingness, anyway?

With a sigh, Twilight lowered her head onto her hooves. No matter how insistent Twilight's defiant half was, her cautious, logical half told her that she had simply came back into existence for no reason. It was not as though there was anything she could do to bring back her friends or either world, after all. She was no goddess.

Just as Twilight closed her eyes -- whether to take a nap or prepare for non-existence again, even she wasn't sure -- a familiar female voice said, “Chin up, Twilight.”

Twilight's eyes snapped open and she was back on her feet in an instant. She whirled around and saw Sunset Shimmer, back in her pony form, standing not far behind her. The unicorn looked different, however, because she wore a black and white robe with an intricate checker design stitched into it.

“I thought you were dead,” said Twilight. “Didn't you destroy Spherus Magna and Equestria?”

Sunset smirked. “I didn't destroy Spherus Magna and Equestria. What happened was that the two universes merged at the same point that I achieved godhood. Or, at least they tried to. I am not sure what went wrong, but when they tried to merge, it resulted in . . . nothing.”

Sunset gestured at their environment with one hoof. “I only managed to survive thanks to my godhood. The real question is, how did you survive, Twilight Sparkle? You're just an ordinary pony. An alicorn, true, but a mortal nonetheless.”

“I don't know,” said Twilight with a shrug. “I think it's because I remembered how frustrated I felt toward Mata Nui. That feeling helped me justify my own existence.”

“Justify? To whom? I certainly didn't bring you back.”

“I can't say for certain,” said Twilight. “But I think that whoever or whatever I was justifying myself to, thought my justification for continuing my existence made sense. So I returned, even though you and me appear to be the only two beings left in existence.”

Sunset Shimmer cocked her head. “Well, it doesn't matter. I am still a god. I can use my immense power to take this nothingness and organize it into a new world, a world I will rule with an iron hoof. It will be greater than Equestria, greater than Spherus Magna, and I will be its god. And you will not be able to stop me.”

Twilight's heart told her that Sunset spoke the truth, but she ignored that. “Oh, yeah? What if I stop you?”

“You can't,” said Sunset simply. “I am a god and you are a simple mortal, as I said before. If you try, I will simply erase you from existence as simply as though you were a word on a blackboard. Besides, what will you gain from defying me? It's not like fighting me will bring back your friends, who are all dead.”

Twilight began pawing the ground. “Maybe they are dead. Maybe I am delusional, thinking I can take on a god. But that doesn't mean I have to give up and let you ruin a new world that hasn't even had the chance to not be ruined. That would be wrong.”

Sunset shook her head. “And here I was thinking of possibly sparing you, perhaps making you my avatar in the new world, who would enforce my rule and punish any dissenters. Alas, I was too naïve to realize the stupidity of that theory. Prepare for non-existence, Twilight Sparkle, for its sweet embrace is the eventual end of all things.”

Sunset's horn began glowing brightly. While Twilight wasn't sure what kind of spell the goddess was going to use, she bet it would be enough to kill her in one hit. She contemplated teleporting out of the way at the last minute, but realized that would accomplish nothing more than putting off her death. She had to face Sunset right here, right now. Running was no longer an option, especially because she had nowhere to run to.

Just as Sunset's horn was about to fire, a refrigerator fell from nowhere and landed next to her. Before either pony could properly react to this new arrival, the door blew open and a fist flew out of it, hitting Sunset directly in the face.

The punch sent Sunset flying far away, crashing into the ground with enough force to cause a small tremor that nearly knocked Twilight off her hooves. Regaining her composure, Twilight looked at the fridge, wondering who was inside it or where it had come from, when a familiar yellow biomechanical being climbed out of it.

Twilight's jaw dropped. “Mata . . . Nui? No way. It can't be you.”

The yellow being dusted off his armor and then looked at Twilight. “Of course it's me, Twilight. Who else could I be? Michael Dorn?”

“I have no idea who that is,” said Twilight. “But how did you survive the merging of Equestria and Spherus Magna? I thought everyone was dead.”

Mata Nui jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the fridge he had climbed out of. “I managed to hide inside that fridge at the last possible minute. I saw it in a movie.”

“How the heck is that even possible?” said Twilight. “I don't think you understand, Mata Nui, but all of reality was destroyed. All of it. We're literally standing in nothingness right now. That fridge should have been destroyed along with everything else.”

“I see you have no appreciation for the wonders of modern technology,” said Mata Nui, folding his arms. “Hmph.”

At this point, Twilight's brain broke. “Okay, you know what? You've done enough insane things over the past few days that I don't think I am going to question them anymore. Nope. Just accept that there are certain things you can do that no ordinary, sane person could ever hope to pull off without dying horribly or completely and utterly annihilating the laws of physics and logic.”

“Well, duh,” said Mata Nui. “I'm the awesomest guy ever. How could I not survive the destruction of reality? Only a wimp would get killed by that.”

“Did anyone else survive?” Twilight asked. “Anyone fit in that fridge with you?”

“Nope,” said Mata Nui, shaking his head. “Wasn't enough time. I just barely managed to find a plot hole big enough to pull this fridge from before everything stopped existing.”

Twilight's ears fell. “So everyone really is gone.”

Mata Nui's fridge had been her last hope. So she let herself cry, tears welling up in her eyes, tears that she no longer had any desire to control. If everyone was truly dead . . . if she, Sunset, and Mata Nui were the only beings left in existence . . . then maybe she had no further reason to continue existing anymore.

A slap to the face brought her back to reality. Blinking hard from the blow, Twilight looked up and realized Mata Nui stood before her. How he had gotten so close to her so quickly, she wasn't sure. Perhaps space and time didn't work the same way in nothingness, if they worked here at all.

“Why did you hit me?” Twilight asked, rubbing the aching spot on her face with one hoof. “That wasn't very nice.”

“'Cause I hate it when people cry,” said Mata Nui. “Liquid pride is okay, but crying is not. You just gotta man up sometimes, Twilight, or maybe pony up for you. I don't know. All I know is that crying never brought anyone back to life.”

Mata Nui had a point, she realized. Though her feelings of sadness were by no means wrong, she couldn't sit here and grieve her friends as long as the one who killed them -- Sunset Shimmer -- was still alive and kicking. She had to act.

“All right, Mata Nui,” said Twilight, standing up straight and wiping the tears out of her eyes with one wing. “I'm ready to save both worlds. We have to stop Sunset Shimmer.”

“Oh, I think I already took care of her with that sexy punch,” said Mata Nui, glancing over at where Sunset had fallen. “She's probably- dang it she's still alive.”

Mata Nui was right. Sunset had staggered back to her hooves, shaking her head and readjusting her cloak. The mere fact that Mata Nui had been able to harm Sunset at all impressed Twilight. And if Mata Nui could do it, then maybe there was hope for their worlds, after all.

“You got a lucky shot,” said Sunset, wiping some blood from the edge of her mouth. “Just one. I wasn't expecting that. But now I am going to destroy you both. You two are the final test standing between me and my new world. And I always ace my tests. Always.”

Mata Nui pulled his 40k MGA out of nowhere and said, “Well what a coincidence, so do I. Since we can't both kill each other, however, that means you're going down, Sunset.”

“I fight for my friends,” said Twilight, taking a battle position. “For Spike, Princess Celestia, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, and everyone else you destroyed. Even if they no longer exist, their friendship will continue to fuel my very soul no matter what you throw at me.”

Sunset smirked. “What a cute, sentimental little speech. Prepare for oblivion.”

-TNTOS-

As of today, Premier Forum Assistant and overall awesome guy GSR turns 22. Let's all wish him a happy birthday today!

 

If I had cake, I would give him some, but unfortunately I don't so I can't .

 

-TNTOS-

Chapter Thirteen: Apotheosis (and Other Big, Pretentious Words)

“Never gonna give you up/Never gonna let you down/Never gonna turn around and desert you.”

-Rick Astley, rickrolling some poor sap

In the blink of an eye, Sunset whirled around and bucked the air with her hind legs. A chunk of solid air went flying toward Mata Nui and Kiina, forcing the two to separate to avoid being hit. The air chunk crashed into the floor and exploded, which Mata Nui grabbed and stuffed into his 40k MGA and fired back at Sunset.

The unicorn, however, easily teleported out of the way of the oncoming explosion. She accidentally ended up in front of Kiina, however, who grabbed the pony by the tail and smashed her against the floor again and again. Kiina did it so ferociously that Twilight was sure Sunset wouldn't survive.

But Sunset, apparently, was far stronger than she looked, because she lashed out with all four of her hooves and struck Kiina. The resulting blow sent Kiina flying through the air, but not before letting go of Sunset, who again teleported away to a safer distance.

It looked like Kiina was going to crash into the barrier, but she did some flips in midair and landed on the shield with both her feet. Then she launched herself through the air toward Sunset, but the unicorn unleashed a burst of electricity that sent Kiina flying backwards again. This time, Mata Nui caught Kiina before she could slam into the shield, did a front-flip in midair, and landed on the floor with a flourish.

After depositing Kiina on the floor, Mata Nui turned to face Sunset and said, “You meanie! How dare you hit my girlfriend! Take this! Triple finish!”

Somehow Mata Nui began firing bullets at the speed of a machine gun, even though his gun was a rifle. With a smirk on her face that would make Loki proud, Sunset teleported several times to avoid the oncoming bullets, which bounced off the barrier and landed harmlessly on the floor.

Mata Nui would have kept shooting, but Sunset activated a spell that locked his gun's trigger. Then her horn flared and the next moment all of the fallen bullets rose up into the air and aimed themselves at Mata Nui and Kiina.

“I think these are yours,” said Sunset. “Since I'm such a nice person, I'll return them to you without expecting anything in return.”

The bullets shot toward Mata Nui and Kiina with the speed of bullets (obviously). The couple swung their weapons, however, and created a massive burst of wind that knocked all of the bullets out of the air, which clattered to the floor. And with a single snap of Mata Nui's fingers, all of the bullets rolled toward Sunset as though remote controlled.

“What's this?” said Sunset, taking a step back from the bullets. “What are you trying to do, trip me up?”

“Nope,” said Mata Nui. “You gonna explode good.”

Sunset's puzzled expression was visible for only a split second before all of the bullets exploded. The resulting explosion was so huge that it cracked the barrier, completely enveloping all three of the combatants in flames. Yet even through the fire, Twilight could see Mata Nui and Kiina standing their ground, apparently not at all bothered by the intensity of the heat.

“No way she could have survived that,” said Spike, pumping his fist. “Mata Nui and Kiina won, right?”

“I wouldn't celebrate too soon,” said Bucket-head. “Bad guys here have a bad habit of recovering from supposedly fatal attacks.”

When the explosion dissipated, Sunset Shimmer looked terrible. Her mane and coat were burnt black, her horn was smoking, and she looked like she was using all of her willpower just to remain standing.

“Ready to give up?” said Mata Nui. “Because if you do, I might think about sparing your life. Might.”

“You are much stronger than I anticipated,” said Sunset, shaking visibly. “Much, much stronger. It looks like I will have to reveal my true form, then. Hi-ya!”

With that, a pillar of green and black fire enveloped Sunset. Tendrils of green energy shot out from it toward Mata Nui and Kiina, but our two heroes just smacked the tendrils away.

“Oh, no!” said Berix. “She's killing herself!”

“Don't be stupid,” said Bucket-head. “Didn't you hear what she said? She's going to reveal her true form.”

“Oh,” said Berix. Then his expression changed to horror. “You mean she's a zombie?”

Bucket-head sighed. “No, Berix, that's not what I-”

A loud screeching sound cut off Bucket-head's (stupid and unnecessary, I might add) explanation. It was coming from the pillar of green and black fire, which immediately dissipated. Now there was no pony standing there at all; instead, it was a tall, humanoid creature, similar to Mata Nui and the others, except it was completely organic rather than biomechanical.

Its hair, dress, and tail were the same colors as Sunset's mane had been, but that was where the similarities ended. The new creature had long, dark, bat-like wings that extended from its back, the insides which were as red as its skin. In addition, it had really long, sharp clawed fingernails, which made it look really ugly and stuff.

“Holy me,” said Mata Nui. “What the Karzahni is that?”

The demon creature looked at its hands and body, as if admiring its new form. “My, I look sexy.”

“Your body makes me want to tear out my eyeballs and eat them,” said Mata Nui. “But I won't because I need my eyeballs. After all, how can I kill you if I can't see you?”

Then the demon looked up and smirked just like Sunset. “Now you see my true form. I am Sunset Shimmer, Queen of the Demons!”

“But I thought you were a pony,” said Mata Nui. “How can that be your true form?”

“It just is,” Sunset insisted. “Now die!”

Sunset unleashed lightning bolts at Mata Nui and Kiina, but Mata Nui just punched them out of the air.

“Lightning bolts are so last year,” said Mata Nui. “Try something original for once.”

Sunset snarled and stomped her foot, sending a tremor through the floor that almost knocked over Mata Nui and Kiina. But the two managed to jump into the air and deliver a devastating flying kick to Sunset, knocking her flat off her feet. Our two heroes back-flipped off of nothing and landed several feet away from the demon just as Sunset scrambled awkwardly back to her feet.

“She's not used to her demon form,” said Twilight in realization. “She's so used to being a pony that she doesn't know how to handle the body of a biped. It makes perfect sense.”

“Biped?” said Berix. “I didn't know she swung both ways.”

“That's not what it means, Berix,” said Bucket-head.

“What does Berix mean?” said Spike. “How can Sunset swing both ways? I don't see a swing set anywhere.”

“It's an expression,” said Bucket-head. “Ask Twilight about it.”

“Twilight, what does 'swings both ways' mean?” Spike asked.

“Ask Bucket-head about it,” said Twilight, her eyes focused solely on the fight.

While Spike was confused, Sunset Shimmer had summoned a sword made of green flames from nowhere and was now sword-fighting with Mata Nui and Kiina. Well, okay, technically it wasn't an actual sword-fight, as Kiina had a trident and Mata Nui a rifle, but they used them like swords and it looked really cool and stuff, so I think it counts. Besides, I'm just the Narrator, so if you want to complain about it, go to the author. He's the one who is writing this stuff, not me.

Mata Nui and Kiina swung their weapons at Sunset at exactly the same time, but Sunset blocked them both with her overly long sword. She pushed back, staggering them both, and attacked with frightful speed. She tried to knock their weapons out of their hands, but Mata Nui and Kiina held onto them tightly.

Kiina spotted an opening in Sunset's defense and stabbed, but the demon managed to dodge her attack. Unfortunately for her, however, she merely ended up putting herself in Mata Nui's way, earning a Falcon Punch from our hero, sending her flying all the way to the other side of the barrier. She crashed into it so hard that she created dozens more cracks in the shield, although it still held despite that.

Sunset leaped to her feet even as Mata Nui and Kiina ran at her. She tossed her fire sword to the side and, doing complicated hand movements that Twilight couldn't follow, created a massive wall of flame whose heat even the people outside the barrier could feel.

“Fry!” Sunset bellowed. “Fry like fish! Mwahahaha!”

But then Mata Nui and Kiina did the unexpected. They leaped straight through the wall of fire, smashing through it as though it were made of solid brick. Surprised, Sunset just barely managed to duck to avoid the two heroes crashing into her. She rolled away and was back on her feet instantly, watching Mata Nui and Kiina prepare their weapons again.

“You will never defeat me,” said Sunset. “Even in this form, I am all-powerful. With but a simple flick of my wrist, I could end all your lives right now.”

“Funny,” said Mata Nui. “With a simple flick of my wrist, I could kill you dead.”

To prove his point, Mata Nui flicked his wrist, sending a powerful gust of wind at Sunset. The gust of wind transformed into a tornado halfway there, striking Sunset so hard in the chest that it sent her bouncing around the barrier like a pinball. Everywhere she hit created another crack until finally the barrier could not take the beating anymore and shattered into trillions of pieces.

Sunset hit the floor hard, but she didn't get a chance to do much else, because Kiina grabbed her and hurled the villain at the ceiling. Mata Nui leaped into the air at the same moment and smashed the butt of his gun into Sunset's face, sending the demon crashing through the floor. She just kept going, crashing through floor after floor after floor until she reached the Coliseum's base with an explosion, from which she was unlikely to ever return.

Mata Nui landed next to Kiina and fist-bumped her as the others ran over to them.

“Man, that was the awesomest thing I've ever seen ever!” said Spike. “First she was like, 'You can't defeat me!' and then you were like 'POW!' and she was like 'I am going to become a demon now!' and-”

“Okay, Spike, we get it,” said Bucket-head, bored. “You were very excited.”

“Barney's right,” said Berix, nodding. “It was so cool. I wish I could have been part of it. Then I could have ripped out Sunset's spleen and eated it like cake!”

“Well, it wasn't that awesome,” said Mata Nui, blushing. “Well, okay, it was, but I already knew that. If you want to keep feeding my ego, however, I'm happy to listen.”

Twilight peered into the hole Mata Nui had punched Sunset into. “I don't think that's the last we've seen of her.”

“Nonsense,” said Mata Nui, shaking his head. “She's dead. There's no way she could have survived that. And even if she did, I'm sure we could take her down. She's probably so weak at this point that even Bucket-head could beat her.”

“Thanks a lot,” Bucket-head grumbled.

Twilight looked over her shoulder at Mata Nui and Kiina with a fearful expression. “Oh, that's right. You guys didn't hear Sunset's plan about apotheosis.”

“I don't see what veterinarians have to do with this, Twilight,” said Mata Nui.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “I mean her ascension into godhood. She mentioned a chamber beneath the Coliseum that would allow her to do that. And I am afraid you may have just hit her into it.”

“But she said it wouldn't active for several more hours,” said Bucket-head. “So we probably have more than enough time to go down there and retrieve her body before-”

The Coliseum shook and a nearby grandfather clock started chiming dramatically, causing everyone to look at it.

“That pony,” said Bucket-head. “Either she lied to us or even abstract concepts like time want to prove me wrong now.”

“What's going to happen?” said Mata Nui. “So what if she becomes a god? We've beaten worse.”

“Problem is, she's going to get her power from both Spherus Magna and Equestria,” said Twilight. “Our universes are going to merge. And when they do. . . .”

“Power shall be mine!”

A voice echoed throughout the room; in fact, echoed throughout the entire universe; no, the entire multiverse. It was as though the very fabric of reality itself had gained the ability to speak, because Twilight could even hear it in her mind as clearly as she could in her ears. It was so powerful that she was nearly brought to her knees because of it.

The worst part of it all, however, was the familiarity of the voice. Though slightly deeper and grander now, there was no mistaking that for the voice of anyone but Sunset Shimmer.

“You fools!” Sunset roared, echoing like a gun shot in a cramped place. “You've given me exactly what I wanted! I win! I WIN!”

And on that depressing note, everything ceased to exist.

-TNTOS-

Hey, did anyone see that iTunes and Google Play have the series' official soundtrack available for download?

 

It only has songs from seasons 1 and 2, but they sound excellent. I've downloaded Becoming Popular and Love is in Bloom and they both sound fabulous.

 

-TNTOS-

Chapter Twelve: The Evil Plan Revealed (Attack on Exposition!)

“My evil plan was better.”

-Makuta Teridax, pouting, after being asked about Sunset Shimmer's evil plan

“Poke, poke, poke, poke. . . .”

“Stop poking her, Ahkmou. I, Sunset Shimmer, Supreme Ruler of the World, demand that you stop.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Then why are you still poking her?”

“It's some kind of psychosomatic disorder, according to my doctor. From the war, you know.”

“You don't have a doctor.”

“Darn it. How'd you know?”

“Plot holes. They're magic.”

It took Twilight's groggy, half-asleep brain a long time to make the connection between the voice of the female and the name Sunset Shimmer. Right now, her head felt like it had been bashed in by a pile driver and she couldn't remember why.

But when Twilight realized just who one of the people talking was, her eyes snapped open and she tried to jump to her hooves, only to realize with horror that she was tied up with Spike and Bucket-head. That by itself wouldn't have been so bad, had they not also been suspended above a tank of green acid by a very flimsy, very old rope that felt like it was about to break any second now.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Twilight saw two beings standing on the floor below. One was a brown Matoran carrying a long stick, which he was using to poke Twilight.

The other was a yellow unicorn with a red mane that had a yellow streak running down it. Though she had never seen her before, Twilight knew who the pony was.

“Sunset Shimmer,” said Twilight. “Am I correct?”

Sunset smirked. “I see you're awake, Twilight Sparkle. Excellent. Having my enemies witness my upcoming glory will make it that much more glorious.”

Beside Twilight, Spike stirred and shook his head. “Whoa . . . Twilight, where are we?”

“You are about to die,” said Sunset. “I am going to lower you three into that pit of acid below. Rather simple, isn't it?”

“I suppose in comparison to ways past villains have tried to kill me, it is,” said Bucket-head, who had also apparently awaken. “Although I don't see why you didn't just shoot us.”

“It's more dramatic this way,” Sunset insisted. “Not that you dirty Skrall would know anything about drama, of course.”

“Hey!” said Spike. “Only we get to insult Bucket-head. Not you.”

“Shut up, dragon lips,” said Sunset, flicking her mane to one side. “Or I'll have Ahkmou here lower you into the acid, ah, 'accidentally' too fast.”

The Matoran, whose name apparently was Ahkmou, had one hand on a lever that was attached to a pulley which held their rope. Considering how weak the rope looked, however, Twilight doubted that Ahkmou would need to lower them in at all.

“Did Celestia send you after me, Twilight?” said Sunset. “Surely she didn't think you could defeat me.”

“Yes, Celestia did send Spike and me to retrieve the crown you stole from the castle treasury,” Twilight said. “I'm also supposed to bring you back to Equestria so you can face justice.”

“Justice? What a joke,” said Sunset with a laugh. “I guess Celestia must be getting senile, that old hag. Not that it matters. Soon enough, not even Celestia will be able to stop me.”

“Hey, I just thought of something,” said Bucket-head. “If Twilight can teleport, what's to stop her from escaping these bindings right now?”

“Magic,” said Sunset. “The magic of this universe . . . if it can indeed be called that, as chaotic as it is . . . works in ways even I, in my amazing power, do not understand. I understand it well enough to know how to block Twilight's magic with it, however, making her as useless as a Skrall.”

“I resent that,” said Bucket-head.

Spike's eyes lit up. “I got an idea, guys! I'll use my fire to burn our rope and-”

“And kill us all,” said Bucket-head, gesturing at the acid below them with his foot. “Yeah, no.”

Ignoring those two, Twilight said to Sunset, “You can't stay here. Neither can I or Spike. The universes are collapsing. Spherus Magna and Equestria will both be no more very soon. If that happens, then even you will die.”

Sunset smirked. “The universes, collapsing? That may be what it looks like in Equestria, but I can assure you that appearances can be quite deceiving, especially on a cosmic scale.”

“What do you mean?”

Sunset's horn glowed and Twilight's crown appeared on her head out of nowhere. “The universes aren't collapsing. Instead . . . they are merging.”

Those three words were enough to silence everyone in the room. It took only a second for the implications of that to sink in for Twilight. And when they did, she was horrified beyond words.

“No way . . .” said Twilight. “You're lying. You're the bad guy. That's what bad guys do.”

“I am being completely honest,” said Sunset, looking at Twilight coldly. “What I speak is the truth. Tell me, haven't you noticed, during your travels, the ways in which this universe and Equestria appear to be overlapping? Have you not met some people who reminded you of your friends back home?”

Twilight remembered seeing Berix as Pinkie Pie, but she had just assumed that was this universe being illogical again, as usual. But if there was an actual reason behind it . . .

“Let me tell you a little story,” said Sunset as she started pacing back and forth in front of the acid pit. “Many years ago, there was a simple unicorn who was discovered to have a great aptitude for magic. In order to train this young one up so she might someday become a great Princess, Princess Celestia took her under her wing -- not literally, mind you, but figuratively -- and trained her. This pony seemed to have a bright future; in fact, there were even rumors that she would one day take over the throne from Celestia herself.”

There was a wistfulness and bitterness in Sunset's tale that captured Twilight's attention. She had an idea where it was going, although she refrained from stating her theories aloud.

“But then this student began experimenting with and studying magic Celestia didn't want her to study,” Sunset continued. “Eventually, Celestia decided her student had gone mad with power and no longer could be in the running for future ruler of Equestria. The student, angered by this, escaped through a certain magic mirror to this world, where Celestia decided to let her be, as the world to which the student had escaped to was unknown, meaning any rescue party was doomed to failure. It was believed by all that the student would never return and so everypony forgot about her.

“The student, however, survived. She found a new world on the other side of the mirror, a world unlike Equestria, yet in some ways very similar. She devoted herself to studying this world, learning how to control its physical laws, so she may one day return to Equestria to get her revenge on Celestia, that old hag who had tried to limit the student's potential.”

“That's a sad story,” said Spike. “I wonder who it was about. Whoever it was must be pretty terrible.”

“I am that student,” said Sunset, stopping and looking up at her prisoners. “I, Sunset Shimmer, was once Celestia's personal student, just as you are, Twilight. I was the one who tried to study magic Celestia did not approve of. And it was I who escaped through the mirror into this world, where I have lived ever since.”

“Why didn't Celestia ever tell me about this?” Twilight wondered.

“Isn't it obvious?” said Sunset. “For being Celestia's top student, you really are quite the dim one. She never told you the story in order to keep you from repeating my actions.”

“Even if your story is true, I don't see how you're going to get revenge on Celestia,” said Twilight, shaking her head. “She's an alicorn and you're still a unicorn. Even if you are a powerful unicorn, you still can't take her in a fight.”

“You're assuming I plan to stay in this puny pony form forever,” said Sunset. “That is a terrible assumption to make. Terribly inaccurate, that is.”

“So you plan to get a power boost?” said Twilight. “How? Gathering the Elements of Harmony and using their power to boost your own? That might work, assuming you can somehow convince my friends to work with you, of course.”

“I don't need the Elements of Harmony for the power I seek,” said Sunset. “Compared to the power I will soon receive, the Elements of Harmony are but children's toys designed for nothing more than to entertain. No, the power I seek is greater than all six of the Elements of Harmony combined. It surpasses the combined powers of Celestia and Luna. It even dwarfs the abilities of the inhabitants of Spherus Magna . . . and I do not say that lightly, considering the feats that these people are capable of.”

“Then tell us,” said Bucket-head, “what your plan is. How do you intend to get that much power? However much it may be, it can't be that more than Teridax's. I mean, he was a freaking planet-sized robot. I'm pretty sure you're going to be smaller than that.”

Again, Sunset smirked (she must like smirking, Twilight thought). “Teridax was cunning, but a fool. He limited his vision to only conquering universes. Even if he had sought more, he would have failed, as he did not have sufficient power to accomplish more. No, I seek power above and beyond his.”

“Above and beyond the power of a planet-sized robot?” said Bucket-head. “Okay, I'm lost.”

“It's simple, the power that I seek,” said Sunset. “It is the combined power of two universes: Spherus Magna and Equestria. When the two universes finish their merge, it will result in a new world, one unlike anything anyone has ever seen before. Ponies and biomechanical beings will exist side-by-side, yet that is but one of the new features of the New World and not even the most important one, either.”

“Even if the universes do merge, I don't see how that is supposed to help you, personally,” said Twilight.

“How silly you are, Twilight,” said Sunset. “And stupid. Has your slow mind really failed to understand my goal? Or, rather, the method by which I intend to get the power of the universes flowing through my beautiful body? Think. Prove yourself as Celestia's protege.”

Twilight frowned. She had always liked pop quizzes (a fact which had horrified Rainbow Dash, who apparently hated them). But this was a question she hadn't hadn't prepared for at all. It required some unknown variables that she couldn't access right now, no matter how hard she thought. And yet at the same time, the answer seemed maddeningly obvious, as if it were floating right there in front of her face and she just couldn't see it.

Finally, something clicked in Twilight's mind and it all made sense. Of course, she had no idea if it was true or not; yet it was the only answer that accounted for all the facts. But if it was true. . . .

“Apotheosis,” Twilight muttered under her breath. “That is your ultimate goal.”

“Apotheo-what?” said Spike. “Why does Sunset want to become a veterinarian?”

“Not an apothecary, you stupid dragon,” said Sunset, shaking her head. “Apotheosis. I am going to ascend to godhood. That is my ultimate goal.”

“You want to become a god?” said Spike. “That's stupid. Nopony can become a god.”

“That's what you think,” said Sunset. “But it is quite possible, I have discovered. You see, when I came to this universe, I too panicked at the thought of the merge when I learned of it via my own research. Who was to say I would survive? What if I died? I almost returned to Equestria, thinking I would rather take my chances with Celestia rather than the merging of two universes, but then it occurred to me what a silly thought that was.”

“You should have gone back,” said Twilight. “What you're doing now is reprehensible. We like our universes just the way they are, thanks. We don't need your interference.”

Ignoring Twilight, Sunset continued, “So I stayed and studied. And I finally learned that I was not the only one who was aware of what happens when beings travel between dimensions. A long time ago in this universe, another civilization discovered the same thing. This discovery allowed them to rise to the height of their power, a global empire that spanned the entire planet, but unfortunately the civilization ended after a certain incident involving milk drank directly from the carton.

“But this people left behind many artifacts built by them. The Coliseum itself is built upon one of these artifacts, a chamber deep beneath the earth, close to Karzahni itself. That chamber -- known as the Apotheosis Chamber -- was designed to allow the civilization's Emperor to rise to godhood on his thirty-fourth birthday.”

“Why thirty-fourth?” Twilight asked.

“No one knows,” said Sunset. “Anyway, after much digging I discovered this chamber, but I have not been able to use it because I am not yet thirty-four-years-old. But in a few hours, the clock will strike midnight, at which point I will become thirty-four-years-old (tomorrow is my birthday, after all), enter the chamber, perform the necessary spell, and then become Goddess of the New World, as that is the hour I have calculated when the universes will complete the merging process.”

“That's impossible,” said Twilight. “Impossible, impossible, impossible. You're bluffing. You're just trying to shake us up.”

“Actually, the mistress is telling the truth,” said Ahkmou. “I have seen with mine eyes the power that lies beneath the Coliseum and it is enormous. Sunset Shimmer promised me dominion over my planet when her plan succeeds, hence why I am her faithful servant who will never betray-”

A bolt of energy from Sunset's horn struck Ahkmou in the back and he exploded, leaving behind nothing but a pile of ash that smelled strangely like orange soda.

“What . . . why did you do that?” said Twilight in alarm. “I thought he was your loyal servant.”

“You mean you really didn't see how traitorous he actually was?” said Sunset. “Ahkmou is a snake. Unlike some villains, I am not going to spare my obviously traitorous minions. Anyone who even jokes about betraying me will immediately find that their life coming to an abrupt end.”

“You truly are a monster,” said Twilight.

Sunset laughed again. “A monster? No. But I will be a god, higher and more powerful than the rest of you puny mortals put together. And then Celestia -- no, the entire multiverse -- shall tremble at my might.”

Twilight struggled to break free of her bonds, but they were too tight. “We'll stop you. Even if you kill us, Mata Nui, Kiina, and Berix are still out there. They'll defeat you.”

Sunset smirked. “I doubt it. Those three buffoons may boast great power, but they have no brains with which to use it. Axonn and my other guardians will slay them long before they ever-”

The chamber door at the other end of the room exploded open, like it had been blown apart with a bomb. Sunset whirled around just in time to see Axonn -- who now more closely resembled a ball of scrap metal than anything -- fly over her head and through the opposite wall into the city below. Axonn's screams of pain lingered in the air just long enough to cause Sunset's expression to change from smugness to fear.

“What . . . who is there?” said Sunset, trying to see through the smoking doorway. “Show yourself.”

From out of the smoke walked Mata Nui, Kiina, and Berix. Mata Nui held his gun on his shoulder, Kiina was spinning her trident around as she walked, and Berix's pistols were spinning in his hands like crazy. None of them looked like they had fought their way through an entire city to get here. They merely looked like they were ready to kick butt and take names, as they were always prepared to do.

“Impossible,” said Sunset. “How did you defeat Axonn? I granted him invulnerability. He should have crushed you beneath his fists.”

“That only works onscreen, Sunset Shimmer,” said Mata Nui as he and the others stopped. “And since that battle took place off-screen, Axonn didn't stand a chance.”

“Darn it,” said Sunset, stomping one of her hooves. “How did I not take that into account? Curse you, fourth wall!”

Then Berix pointed at Twilight and the others and said, “Hey, guys! We didn't know you were here. How'd you get up there? Is it a game? Can I play?”

“No, Berix, it's not a game,” said Bucket-head. “We were kidnapped. Didn't you guys know that?”

“Nope,” said Mata Nui, shaking his head. “We just came here to kick Sunset's butt.”

“Well, at least they're here,” said Twilight. “I thought we were goners for a second.”

Sunset looked up at them with an evil smile. “But you still are.”

She pushed the lever forward and Twilight, Spike, and Bucket-head started dropping toward the lava pit at a million miles an hour. Their friends were not close enough to save them. Was this the end of three of our heroes? Will the bronies get angry if Twilight and Spike die? Will the author get hate mail for killing them off rather lamely?

Wanting to avoid the wrath of the bronies, Mata Nui picked up Berix and hurled him like a spear straight at the falling captives. Berix knocked them out of the way of the lava pit and they landed on the floor in a confused heap. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, even though she was currently being crushed underneath Bucket-head's weight.

“No!” Sunset hissed. “They were supposed to die. That is impossible!”

“I don't even know what the word 'impossible' means,” said Mata Nui. “No, seriously, I don't. What does it mean?”

“It doesn't matter,” said Sunset. “Soon, I will ascend to godhood and crush you mortals beneath my cute little hooves. And then the multiverse itself will be mine.”

“I have no idea what's going on here,” said Mata Nui. “But I do see the butt of a certain stuck-up pony that needs to be kicked. Kiina, let's double-team her.”

“Way ahead of you, Mata Nui,” said Kiina, raising her trident in a battle position. “I'm already thinking of all the ways I'm going to rip her apart.”

“I may not yet be a god,” said Sunset as her horn glowed with energy, “but I understand the physics of this universe well enough to be able to harness the same kind of power you two wield.”

By this time, Berix had untied Twilight and the others, setting them all free. Pushing Bucket-head off her, Twilight immediately got to her hooves and said, “You're gonna have to take on all six of us if you want to ascend to godhood, Sunset.”

“Sorry, Twilight, but I'm not stupid enough to take on all six of you in a fight,” said Sunset. “You stay out of it.”

A gigantic bubble of magical energy erupted around Sunset, Mata Nui, and Kiina, completely cutting off the others from them. Spike, Berix, Bucket-head, and Twilight immediately began attacking the barrier, trying to pierce it, but none of their attacks did any good.

“Now,” said Sunset, returning her attention to Mata Nui and Kiina. “Let's have some fun, shall we?”

“Indeed,” said Mata Nui, “it will be fun kicking your butt straight to the moon and back. Hi-ya!”

-TNTOS-

That explains why some of my longer posts look like huge walls of text (including, unfortunately, some of my fanfics). I've been forced to fix them myself and it's slow-going, but at least no permanent damage seems to have been done to any of my stuff and the BBCodes are completely unaffected. It's just the paragraphs that have suffered for some reason.

 

Anyway, hope y'all fix the problem soon. I had no idea it was a problem until I saw that the forums were down, though.

 

-TNTOS-

Chapter Eleven: Ponynapped! (Puns for everyone!)

“Toes! Why did you betray me?”

-J. K. Rowling, being proved wrong

Twilight shot a burst of lightning at Axonn, but the electricity just bounced off his chest and hit a poor bird, causing it to explode. Which Twilight would have felt bad about if her own safety hadn't been in danger at this particular moment.

“None of your attacks will work on me,” said Axonn, flexing his muscles. “I am so manly that I make the Great Beings look like wimpy nerds!”

“Okay, no,” said Twilight, taking a step back. “I got an idea. You seem like a reasonable guy. Why don't you let me go free?”

“Why?”

“Because it's the right thing to do,” said Twilight. “And if you don't, all of reality will collapse on you, killing everyone you know and love.”

“That's a stupid threat,” said Axonn. “You may be powerful, pony, but you're nowhere near powerful enough to destroy reality itself.”

“I'm not going to destroy reality,” said Twilight. “But Sunset Shimmer -- you know, your boss -- is.”

“You cannot deceive me!” said Axonn, gesturing at his mask. “I wear the Mask of Truth. I can verify whether you spoke the truth or spoke lies!”

“So . . . was I telling the truth?”

“Yes, but that doesn't change the facts,” said Axonn. “Now come quietly, pony, or I will be forced to take you in by force. Forcefully.”

Twilight was far from a coward, but when she saw how big and powerful and unreasonable Axonn was, she felt justified in running away. Or she would have, had a wall of fire not cut off her quickest escape route. She had no idea whether Axonn created that or not, but either way she decided that she didn't like fire at the moment.

Just as Axonn took a step toward her, Spike jumped from out of nowhere and tackled Axonn. Well, perhaps 'tackled' wasn't the right word, but Twilight didn't know a better word to describe the way Spike clutched onto Axonn's head tightly while repeatedly clawing at his eyes.

“Ow!” said Axonn, dropping his ax and waving his arms about wildly. “Get off me, you stupid baby dragon!”

“Never,” said Spike. “Twilight, run! I'll take care of Axonn.”

“But what about you?” said Twilight. “I can't just abandon you.”

“It doesn't matter!” Spike shouted, barely clinging to Axonn's head. “I can take him. Go!”

At that moment, Bucket-head appeared and seized Axonn's fallen ax. He swung the weapon with all of his might at the warrior's body, but succeeded only in breaking the ax against Axonn's mighty abs.

The crack of Axonn's ax caused the warrior to stand still even as Spike continued to claw at his eyes. “Wait . . . did someone break my favorite ax?”

Bucket-head gulped and took a step back. “Well, um, you see. . . .”

In one smooth motion, Axonn seized Bucket-head with one hand and Spike with the other. He lifted the up two in his massive fists, crushing them in his grip like tin cans.

“You two make me sick,” said Axonn. “What kind of freaks are you, breaking a person's favorite ax like that? That's just wrong. Die!”

Axonn slammed their heads together and then dropped Spike and Bucket-head to the ground. He raised his foot, as if to squish them like bugs.

“No, Spike!” Twilight yelled in horror. “And Bucket-head!”

“Why do you show concern for those two when they broke my favorite ax?” Axonn asked, gesturing at the ax pieces scattered around his feet. “It is I who you should be showing concern to.”

Twilight began pawing the ground, snorting loudly.

“Oh, what's this?” said Axonn. “Going to charge me? How stupid. You do realize you'll just end up damaging your horn, right?”

Twilight didn't respond to that. She was so consumed with rage at the sight of the unconscious and possibly dead Spike (oh, and Bucket-head, too, I guess) that she could barely think straight. In her mind's eye, she could see Axonn exploding into billions of pieces as her horn penetrated his armor. The thought gave her a savage pleasure, which prompted her to charge Axonn as fast as she could.

Unfortunately, Twilight, for all of her time spent in this universe, still hadn't quite developed the kind of neigh invulnerability that people like Mata Nui had. So when she launched herself toward Axonn, the warrior just smashed her out of the air with one punch from his massive fist. The blow sent her crashing to the ground, knocking her out cold.

-

In Atero, Mata Nui found himself caught between two ninja dinosaurs. He stood in a dark alley, illuminated solely by the sparks created by chainsaws that the ninja dinosaurs dragged across the pavement. Even if they hadn't, Mata Nui was used to fighting in the dark due to having spent a considerable portion of the great war with a blanket wrapped around his head (long story).

One of the ninja dinosaurs swung its chainsaw at him, which Mata Nui blocked with his 40k MGA. This caused the chainsaw to break down and explode, as it was incapable of cutting through the 40k MGA, which was made out of stupidium, the strongest substance in the whole universe.

The resulting explosion sent the ninja dinosaur flying into a nearby skyscraper, causing the huge building to collapse on him, abruptly cutting off his screeches of agony. There were probably people in that skyscraper, but they knew what they were getting into when they moved to Atero, so they had it coming.

The other ninja dinosaur displayed hesitation for only a fraction of a second before running at Mata Nui with chainsaw swinging. Undaunted, Mata Nui slammed the butt of his gun into the ninja dinosaur's face and then grabbed his enemy and hurled it into the atmosphere, from which it was never seen again.

At that moment, Berix and Kiina jumped down from a nearby building and landed near Mata Nui. They looked quite fine, despite having been directly involved in several violent battles in the last hour alone.

“Mata Nui, you know what I did?” said Berix. “I got bored of fighting the shaman space marines from the future, so I broke open the sewers and unleashed the sewer people upon them. It was awesome.”

“And I threw a tank into another tank,” said Kiina. “The awesomeness happened when the resulting double explosion opened a vortex into another universe that I'm pretty sure is gonna devour the whole city sooner or later.”

“Excellent,” said Mata Nui. “Sounds like I'm really far behind, though. I've only killed two ninja dinosaurs so far, although in my defense I did manage to collapse an entire skyscraper with one of them. That has to count for something, doesn't it?”

“You're doing great, Mata Nui,” said Kiina, giving him the thumbs up. “By the way, have you seen Twilight, Spike, or Bucket-head anywhere?”

“No,” said Mata Nui, shaking his head. “I thought they were with you.”

Berix gasped. “Oh no. You don't think they never really existed and were merely figments of our imagination brought to life to help us deal with the horrors of our own existence, do you?”

“Nah,” said Mata Nui. “I bet they just hung back to let us do all the dirty work. Lazy, good-for-nothings, that's what they are.”

“I thought I saw them following us, though,” said Kiina. “I mean, yeah, I can see Bucket-head lazing around, since he's so stupid and everything, but Twilight and Spike were really starting to get somewhere. Maybe we should look for them.”

“Look for them?” said Mata Nui. “But that would require showing interest in their well-being, which you know I lack. I say we just go to the Coliseum. That's where Sunset Shimmer is, probably, and that's the whole reason we came here in the first place.”

“No idea who Sunset Shimmer is, but I'm willing to beat her up if you guys are,” said Berix. “That's what friends do, isn't it?”

And then Mata Nui had an epiphany. “You're absolutely right, Berix. Killing Sunset Shimmer wouldn't be even half as fun without my friends. It just wouldn't be . . . magical. Is that what Twilight meant when she said 'friendship is magic' back when we first met her?”

“You know, I think you're right,” said Kiina, snapping her fingers. “Maybe even back then Twilight wasn't such a wimp. Maybe she was actually giving us a clue to killing Sunset Shimmer. It's only logical.”

“I wish she was here so I could thank her, but I guess we don't have time to look for her,” said Mata Nui. “The Coliseum is over that way, so we'd better get going.”

“Yeah, we should,” said Berix, nodding. “Only one problem.”

“And what's that?” said Mata Nui.

Berix pointed up. “There's a huge meteor falling down toward us. And there's nowhere we can dodge it.”

Mata Nui and Kiina looked up and saw that Berix was right. A continent-sized meteor was falling down onto Atero. It was so huge that it blocked out the sun. There truly was no way to dodge it, but Mata Nui knew how to deal with it.

“Kiina, give me a lift,” said Mata Nui.

Kiina nodded and got down on one knee. Mata Nui stepped onto her hands and allowed her to launch him into the air toward the meteor at the speed of light.

As Mata Nui drew closer to the meteor, he realized his gun wouldn't help him destroy it. Putting away the 40k MGA, Mata Nui calculated he had only 3.4 seconds before he collided with the gigantic meteor. That gave him more than enough time to come up with a plan of action, as well as order a pizza for later. He was hungry, after all, and with lunch coming up soon, he thought he should have something to eat when this was all over.

Then Mata Nui's fists began charging with energy, so much so that they started shaking. He reared back in midair -- still flying at the speed of stupidity -- and slammed both his fists and his head into the rocky surface of the burning meteor.

The resulting explosion shattered the meteor into a googol amount of pieces, causing it to rain burning rock onto the city of action. The explosion also propelled Mata Nui backward into the streets below, but he was thankfully caught by Kiina, thus saving him from either becoming a pancake or crashing into the earth's core.

“Thanks, Kiina,” said Mata Nui as they landed on the street. “But you know, I could have saved myself easily.”

“I know,” said Kiina, rolling her eyes. “Would it kill you to say 'thanks' for once?”

“It might,” said Mata Nui. “My doctor said so.”

“I didn't know you had a doctor,” said Kiina. “Who is he and how come I've never seen him before?”

“Eh, some British guy with a screwdriver who lives in a police box,” said Mata Nui. “There's a good chance he might have been being sarcastic when he told me that, though.”

“Pop culture references make the world go round,” said Berix, who had literally appeared out of nowhere just then.

“Yes, they do, Berix,” said Mata Nui, nodding in agreement. “Now let us go to the Coliseum. The end is nigh, though it is not night.”

-TNTOS-

Another great chapter! Seeing Twilight starting to act like the others is pretty funny, and actually kind of interesting. Can't wait to see what happens next!

Thanks again .Yeah, I liked dealing with how the Legendverse might affect Twilight and Spike. I thought it would add some humor and even drama to the story if I showed them both -- especially Twilight -- becoming as violent and deranged as everyone else, much to Twilight's horror. Whether they will or not . . . well, as Greg Farshtey always said, "Follow the story and find out."

 

Anyway, it's Sunday, so that means it's new chapter day. Here it is:

 

Chapter Ten: The City of Action ([insert witty comment here])

“Your toes will never betray you.”

 

-J.K. Rowling (may not be an actual quote)

 

After destroying the Rocking Mountains, it took the gang sometime to find the path they had been taking earlier. Mata Nui had invoked his 'infallible sense of direction' again, although that only succeeded in getting them quite lost before they found the pathway once again through sheer luck.

 

“Let's see,” said Twilight, holding the map before her as they walked. “According to the map, Atero should be coming up any minute now.”

 

“Oh, I love Atero,” said Berix. “It's a great place where you can kill people and no one will care.”

 

“That doesn't sound like a very good place to me,” said Twilight.

 

“You're right,” said Berix. “That's why I said it's a great place. Geez, can't you tell the difference?”

 

Twilight sighed heavily. “Oh, forgive me for failing to notice the subtle linguistic differences between 'good' and 'great.'”

 

“Stop making up words,” said Mata Nui. “It's annoying.”

 

“I'm not making up any words,” said Twilight. “I'm just using the ones that already exist. You can find them in any dictionary.”

 

Berix pulled a gigantic book out of nowhere and busily sifted through its pages. “Let's see . . . nope, don't see 'linguistic' there.”

 

“Did you check under 'L'?” Twilight asked.

 

Berix looked up at her in astonishment. “'L'? I thought it was under 'X.'”

 

Twilight wanted to bash her head against a wall, but as there were no walls nearby, she had to settle for rolling her eyes. “Gee. Don't feel so bad. It's a mistake anyone could make.”

 

“Not me,” said Mata Nui, puffing out his chest. “I never make mistakes. Ever.”

 

“Of course you don't,” said Bucket-head. “Because you're just about the most perfect being who has ever walked the face of Spherus Magna, right?”

 

“Yes,” said Mata Nui in a completely serious tone. “And?”

 

Bucket-head sighed. “Oh, never mind. You completely missed the joke.”

 

“On the contrary,” said Mata Nui, “I believe it is you who completely missed the joke.”

 

“Me? How?”

 

“I don't know,” said Mata Nui with a shrug. “But I bet you did.”

 

“I think our interactions are starting to get repetitive,” said Bucket-head. “Seems like all we ever do is react to whatever you say, Mata Nui. You say something stupid and Twilight or I make some sarcastic comment about it.”

 

“But this city is built on repetition,” said Mata Nui. “If the author wasn't so repetitive, he wouldn't have written four comedies about me.”

 

“I still have no idea what you guys are talking about when you mention some 'author' writing a 'comedy,'” said Twilight as she furled the map back up and put it in her bag. “For that matter, I'm not sure I want to know, either.”

 

“It's a magical thing called the fourth wall,” said Mata Nui. “And we break it all the time. In fact, we break it so often that the Fourth Wall Repairman has just given up trying to fix it.”

 

“Yeah,” said Berix, who was eating a sandwich, “he has.”

 

“Where did you get that sandwich?” said Twilight. “We don't have sandwich fixings in our packs.”

 

“Stole it from the author,” Berix replied. “He's probably really angry right now, so if something really bad happens to us later on, it's because he's angry at me and not at anything you guys did.”

 

“Oh,” said Twilight, although in reality she wasn't sure if she believed him. “That's . . . interesting, to say the least.”

 

Soon the gang came upon a large green sign that read as follows:

 

WECLOME TO ATERO, CITY OF ACTION AND AWESOME!Pop. 3,846,234,298,902,193,930.3

 

“Wait a minute,” said Twilight, looking at the sign closely. “How can one city have over three sextillion people living in it? That makes no sense. It would have be as big as a planet -- no, scratch that, several universes -- to come even close to holding that many people.”

 

“Well, it is a pretty big city,” said Mata Nui. “Like, bigger than New York.”

 

“I bet they just inflated the population count in order to make it sound impressive,” said Spike. “I do that all the time whenever Rarity asks me how much I lift. I say, 'Oh, one hundred pounds' and then flex my muscles like this.”

 

Spike began flexing his muscles, but was interrupted by Mata Nui holding a hand up.

 

“You're not doing it right,” said Mata Nui. “Remember the secret guy stuff talk we had back in the oasis? You're only supposed to flex your muscles to impress girls or kill innocents, not to illustrate a point.”

 

“Oh, sorry,” said Spike sheepishly. “I forgot.”

 

“It's okay,” said Mata Nui. “We were all once like you, Spike. Except for Bucket-head, who is stupid.”

 

“And how is my stupidity relevant to that sentence?” said Bucket-head.

 

Mata Nui glared at him. “It's completely relevant. You're just too stupid to understand that.”

 

“Do you keep forgetting about my Harvard degree?” said Bucket-head. “I graduated at the top of the class. At the very top. So calling me stupid just shows how stupid you are.”

 

Mata Nui put his fingers in his non-existent ears and started yelling, “LALALALA, I can't hear you over the sound of my own awesomeness!”

 

“Look, we're getting nowhere with this,” said Twilight. “I bet Atero is just a few miles ahead, so we'd better get going. We don't have much time. I think the universes are getting worse.”

 

As she said that, a nearby cloud fell from the sky like cardboard and a demonic beast of epic proportions came from within the Void. It suddenly died, however, as its body was not adapted to the strange conditions of Spherus Magna. In particular, the air had killed it, as the Void has no air, you see, so how could the demonic beast have survived? That wouldn't have made any sense whatsoever. Stop being so silly.

 

“Twilight is right,” Mata Nui concluded. “Even though Bucket-head is stupid, Sunset Shimmer is currently a bigger priority for me. Gonna teach that pony a lesson for banishing me and Kiina to the moon.”

 

“You know,” said Bucket-head, glancing over his shoulder. “I really have no beef with Sunset Shimmer. I could probably just go home now and-”

 

“But Bucket, Sunset Shimmer destroyed your home,” Berix said. “She slaughtered your people and your mentor, who in his dying breath gave you one last cryptic message to 'follow the Light.'”

 

“I don't remember any of that happening,” said Bucket-head, shaking his head. “Besides, how do you know she attacked my home earlier, anyway? You weren't even there.”

 

“I read the script,” Berix explained. “You see, the Narrator rage-quit his job earlier, so they brought me in to record some lines. I decided I wanted to be part of the action, so I jumped into the manuscript and voila, here I am.”

 

“Berix, you've said a lot of really stupid, really weird things in all the time that I've known you,” said Bucket-head. “But that has to take the cake for absolute insanity. Who would hire you to narrate this story?”

 

“But it's true,” said Berix. “If you don't believe me, though, that's okay. I'm the Supreme Emperor of the Monkey Empire, anyway, so I'm going to be fine.”

 

With that, Berix began hopping away in a manner that reminded Twilight of Pinkie Pie. In fact, unless Twilight's eyes were messing with her again, Berix sometimes faded in and out of reality; at times looking like Pinkie, other times looking like himself.

 

Huh, Twilight thought. Either this universe is just trying to screw with me . . . or something is else going on. If the universes are collapsing, then why do I sometimes see Pinkie Pie and other times see Berix?

 

“Spike,” Twilight muttered, “does Berix sometimes look like Pinkie Pie to you?”

 

“No,” said Spike, shaking his head. “Why would you say that, Twilight? The two are clearly different people. Berix is hyper, often makes no sense, and is fun to be around. So is Pinkie, but she's a pony, so she's different.”

 

“Hmmm . . .” Twilight scratched her chin. “I wonder if the destruction of the universes is causing the multiverse to misplace people. Not sure why it hasn't happened before, though.”

 

“Maybe as the universes collapse, things just keep getting worse and worse,” said Spike. “Do you think we'll see someone explode twice?”

 

“In this universe, I'm pretty sure anything is possible,” said Twilight. “Including someone exploding twice.”

 

-

 

Sunset Shimmer sat upon her throne in the city at the top of the tallest building, which was known as the Coliseum. This view allowed her to see the entirety of Atero -- and beyond -- and thus to see all of the fighting and explosions that were occurring below. Those did not disturb her, as she had been informed that Atero was well-known as a city of action, so it was considered unusual for a day to go by without terrorists kidnapping the President or aliens invading to destroy/assimilate anyone who got in their way. Not that Sunset minded; after all, this universe was so much more interesting than Equestria. After she had deposed the last mayor, a cranky old geezer named Dume, Sunset had seen no reason to change the city's basic form of governance. The only change now was that she got first dibs on Subway sandwiches at lunch. Other than that, it was the same as before.

 

She was perfectly aware of the arrival of Twilight Sparkle and her dragon slave, Spike, into this world. No one had told her; the knowledge had simply found its way into her mind. According to the inhabitants of Spherus Magna, that was called a 'plot hole,' a rather inappropriate term in her opinion, but one she took advantage of just the same to give her almost unlimited knowledge about her enemies and their whereabouts.

 

I wonder if this is what being a god feels like, Sunset thought. Knowing where your enemies are at all times, what they're doing, thinking, planning, and feeling. It is . . . irresistible. Like chocolate ice cream.

 

Then she frowned and clapped her front hooves together.

 

A moment later, a brown Po-Matoran wearing a tuxedo and sunglasses entered the room. Despite the cool getup, he came over to her throne with a subdued, docile step, probably because she kept beating him every time he spoke up when she didn't give him permission to.

 

“Ahkmou,” said Sunset, sounding bored. “Tell me, what do you think of my rule? Am I a good ruler of Atero?”

 

Ahkmou nodded. “Yes, Your Majesty. Of course you are. Why wouldn't you be?”

 

“My sarcasm senses are tingling,” said Sunset as her eyes narrowed. “And you remember what happened to Tiribomba when my sarcasm senses tingled.”

 

Ahkmou gulped and glanced over his shoulder at the duct-taped hole in the window. “Yes, ma'am, I do remember. We're still trying to find all his parts and his house still hasn't recovered from the nuclear fallout.”

 

“So don't be sarcastic,” said Sunset. “Get straight to the point. Am I a good ruler or not?”

 

Ahkmou took a deep breath, as if steeling himself for Sunset's reaction. “. . . Yes.”

 

“Good,” said Sunset. “Anyway, have you seen any unusual visitors to Atero recently? Any reports of purple alicorns entering the city limits or anything?”

 

“No, ma'am,” said Ahkmou, shaking his head. “There was a zombie pirate ninja from the future, but that's about as interesting as it gets around here.”

 

Sunset sighed. “This is a rather useless scene, in my opinion. The author just doesn't know what to do, so he's showing the villain talking with her evil servant who will inevitably betray her when the time comes.”

 

“You are absolutely correct,” said Ahkmou. “Writer's block strikes again, it appears.”

 

“Amazing how it strikes two times in one story,” Sunset marveled. “Perhaps this is a sign of things to come. Maybe the author is losing his touch.”

 

“That is a very astute observation, ma'am,” said Ahkmou. “Indeed, I'd say it's the most astute observation I have ever heard ever.”

 

“Anyway, time to get onto my evil plans,” said Sunset. “Come with me, Ahkmou. I am bored.”

 

-

 

Berix looked up at the sky. “Huh? What happened?”

 

“What are you talking about?” said Twilight. “We've just been walking on the road for a few minutes. What's so strange about that?”

 

“I thought a scene break just happened,” said Berix. “Could be wrong, of course, but I doubt that.”

 

Twilight didn't bother respond to that at all. It seemed like everyone was convinced they were in a story. That was silly, obviously, as this was real life. If this was a story, well, Twilight thought she'd know, seeing as she had read so many novels that she could analyze life itself from a literary point of view quite well if she had to.

 

There was nothing to analyze in this adventure, so Twilight doubted it was a story. Besides, how could characters in a story be aware of their fictional nature, anyway? It didn't make any sense. Unless this was a meta story, but as she had seen no evidence of that, she decided to file that theory under 'Theories that are interesting but unprovable,' alongside other theories like 'The universe is actually a pimple on the face of some filly somewhere' and 'Chocolate rain is the foundational substance of everything in existence' (a theory promoted by Pinkie Pie).

 

After climbing a large hill, Twilight's mouth dropped open when she saw the huge city of Atero for the first time.Gigantic, towering skyscrapers -- so huge they made Canterlot Castle look like a rundown hut -- loomed before them, with bridges and chains connecting them that had no practical use she could see. The city seemed to sprawl in every direction for miles around, so long that she thought she saw some of the buildings floating in the sky. Perhaps that was just a trick of the eyes, but ever since landing in this universe, Twilight had learned to stop second-guessing whatever she saw, as it didn't make things any simpler or easier to understand.

 

Huge factories belched out black smoke from gigantic smokestacks, although Twilight had no idea what these factories might produce (aside from pollution, obviously). Most of them looked rundown and abandoned, yet they still produced smoke, as if someone were still using them. At least one of the factories blew up, sending debris crashing into some nearby buildings, although no one seemed to notice.

 

She saw strange airships flying across the sky, apparently in combat with what appeared to be flying disks. Sometimes the airships, using their superior mobility, would get the upper hand; other times, it was the flying disks with their superiority in firepower. Once she saw an airship collide with a disk, creating a massive fireball that fell into the city and took out an entire city block when it hit the street.

 

On the tops of the buildings, she saw tiny figures doing battle with each other. From her current vantage point it was impossible to tell exactly who was fighting who, but none of them appeared to be soldiers or even police ponies. Maybe it was a turf war between rival gangs. She had heard about that happening in some places in Equestria, even though it was rather rare.

 

Disturbingly enough, large, metal vehicles with treads and cannons attached to the cockpit were making their way into the city. One Matoran jumped down in front of one the vehicles only to get blasted into a billion pieces by a blast, but that turned out to be a distraction, because the next moment his companion fell out of nowhere onto the top of the tank, kicked open its cockpit, threw something into it, and then bailed almost immediately. The next moment, the tank exploded, its debris getting caught in the treads of its allies, causing them to screech to a halt as a result.

 

“Is Atero under attack?” said Twilight, looking up at Mata Nui. “'Cause it looks like we just walked into the middle of a full-on war.”

 

“Nah,” said Mata Nui, waving off her concerns. “This is what Atero is always like.”

 

“But how does the city survive such intense fighting all the time?” Twilight questioned. “The infrastructure must need constant repair. I doubt any business would want to set up there; after all, if your business is going to be destroyed every day, why bother?”

 

“Actually,” said Kiina, “Atero is basically the center of the economic world. It boosts at least three million different types of businesses. Admittedly, they all sell weapons or ammunition for weapons, but there's this really nice shwarma place on Fifth Street. We should check it out after we kick Sunset's butt.”

 

Twilight blinked. “Maybe business works differently in this world, as does everything else. It's the only reason I can think of why a city that is under constant attack would manage to have any businesses at all operating within its limits.”

 

“You can actually make good money in Atero if you know what you're doing,” said Mata Nui. “This guy named Nuparu started out selling broken, abandoned tanks and eventually rose to be the most successful used tank salesman in the history of everything. He is so powerful that his money can influence elections, as used tanks are a very important industry in Atero.”

 

“There was a big scandal about that years ago,” said Kiina thoughtfully. “Mayor Dume had to leave office when it was revealed he had been taking trillions of dollars in bribes from Nuparu's used tank company. No one knows what he did with the money, but I always thought he wasted it on video games and root beer.”

 

At this point, Twilight didn't even think that that deserved a sarcastic reply. Considering all of the other crazy stuff this world had, learning about a mayoral scandal involving bribery was perhaps the most normal thing she had heard about yet.

 

“I think Sunset Shimmer is probably in the largest building right there in the center of the city,” said Mata Nui, pointing at Atero. “The Coliseum.”

 

Even from a distance, the Coliseum looked huge. It towered over all the other skyscrapers -- which was saying something, as they were all quite large in their own right -- and was tall enough to go above the clouds. Oddly enough, the Coliseum appeared completely calm, as if the web of violence that snared the rest of the city somehow avoided that building.

 

“I get it,” said Twilight with a satisfied smile. “You think Sunset Shimmer is hiding there because it lacks violence. I bet Sunset doesn't want to be drawn into some conflict that has nothing to do with her, so she had obviously set up guards around the Coliseum's perimeter to keep the fighting away. Or maybe she cast a spell that did that. Either way, a good deduction, Mata Nui.”

 

“What?” said Mata Nui. “No, I just said that because it's the biggest building in Atero and we all know that villains choose the biggest buildings as their bases. I think it's to compensate for something.”

 

Twilight just sighed. “Well, either way, it's worth checking out. How do we get into the city without getting drawn into some unnecessary conflict?”

 

Mata Nui pulled his 40k MGA out of nowhere, pumped it, and said, “What a naïve thought. What we do is charge directly into the city's limits, beat back anyone stupid enough to stand in our way, and then break into the Coliseum guns blazing and stuff. There's no entrance for wimps like you into Atero.”

 

“Hey, I'm not a wimp,” said Twilight. “Just because I think there are better ways to solve one's problems than through mindless, primitive violence does not mean I am a wimp.”

 

“Yeah, Mata Nui,” said Berix, rolling his eyes. “Twilight's a pony, not a wimp. How could you forget that?”

 

“Oh, excuse me, Berix,” said Mata Nui. “I did not notice that. Silly me. Bucket-head is the wimp, not Twilight.”

 

“Yeah, I- hey!” said Bucket-head. “I'm standing right here, you know.”

 

“When has that ever stopped me before?” asked Mata Nui.

 

“Good point,” said Bucket-head with a sigh. “Carry on, then.”

 

Twilight looked around in confusion for a moment before saying, “Hey, Mata Nui, didn't you have a motorcycle?”

 

“Yeah? So?”

 

“Well, what happened to it?” said Twilight. “It can't have just up and disappeared.”

 

“I dunno,” said Mata Nui. “Maybe it did just up and disappeared, Twilight. Or is that not 'logical' enough for your oh-so-smart pony brain?”

 

“No need for the tone,” said Twilight. “I was just saying that your motorcycle might be useful for helping us get into the city. That's all.”

 

“But it's bad for the environment,” said Mata Nui. “Not that I care about the environment, obviously, but I'm just pulling excuses out of my butt to avoid having to acknowledge the validity of your point.”

 

This time, Twilight didn't roll her eyes. She just said, “At least you're being honest.”

 

Then she turned her attention back to the city below and said, “All right, we'll have to carefully think through our entry method into Atero. We're going to need to study the major roads leading in and out the city, figure out how many fighters there, where the major conflicts are, and then proceed to make our way as quickly, quietly, and carefully into the city as we can, avoiding any unnecessary confrontations or conflicts. As long as no one does anything stupid, we should-”

 

“LEEEEEEEROY JENKINS!”

 

The loud shout made Twilight jump. She looked and saw Mata Nui had started running down the hill toward Atero, with Berix and Kiina at his heels. They were all yelling and swinging their weapons and generally looking like morons. They didn't look quite as idiotic, however, when they utterly smashed a tank that unwisely got in their way into pieces.

 

Twilight sighed. “How did I know that Mata Nui would do that?”

 

As planning would be useless at this point, Twilight, Spike, and Bucket-head ran through the battlefield after their friends, avoiding trenches, destroyed tanks, and corpses, but due to the flames and explosions it was hard to tell where Mata Nui, Kiina, and Berix were. Still, Twilight wasn't worried. As long as they faced no unexpected delays, she knew they would all meet up at the Coliseum eventually.

 

Without warning, a tall, powerful being burst out of the flames with the screech of an eagle. Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight saw a huge flaming ax come flying toward them, prompting her to teleport her, Bucket-head, and Spike out of the way of the oncoming blade. They reappeared only a few feet away from the giant and paused to look at him as he ripped his ax out of the ground.

 

Upon closer inspection, the giant wasn't actually that big. Though incredibly bulky, his size appeared to be an optical illusion created by the thick silver and red armor he wore. In height, he was somewhere between Bucket-head and Mata Nui, although the gigantic ax he swung and the huge fists that gripped that ax made him look far larger than either of them.

 

“My name is Axonn,” said the warrior, raising his ax above his head. “And you are Twilight Sparkle, are you not?”

 

Ducking to avoid a flaming piece of rock that came out of nowhere, Twilight gasped. “How do you know my name? I've never met you before.”

 

“I am a servant of the beautiful and amazing Sunset Shimmer,” said Axonn. “She tasked me with capturing a purple alicorn princess and her traveling companions.”

 

“She's not my friend,” said Bucket-head immediately. “It's just a coincidence that we happened to be traveling together. Really. You can take her and her dragon friend and I'll just go home and not bother anyone ever again, especially Sunset Shimmer.”

 

“Bucket-head!” said Twilight, looking at him in disbelief. “You know, I'm now starting to understand why everyone hates you.”

 

“I do not care if you are her friend or not,” said Axonn as he placed the head of his ax into the nearby flames. “What matters is following the dictates of my leader. So prepare to eat the flames and taste the steel edge of the blade!”

 

Axonn pulled his ax out of the flames and slammed it into the ground, sending a fiery line through the earth toward them. Our three heroes tried to dodge it, but when the fire hit the gas line that was not-so-conveniently placed under their feet, it created a massive explosion that sent all three of them flying in different directions.

 

Twilight crashed into the ground, but somehow managed to recover and get to her hooves. Her mane was covered in dirt, her fur was slightly singed by the flames, and she was starting to feel overheated again, but at least she appeared to have been blown far away from Axonn.

 

The next moment, however, Axonn jumped out of the fire yet again and landed in front of her. A wicked grin crossed his face as he held his ax in front of his chest.

 

“You cannot escape me now, my little pony,” said Axonn. “Give up and I might take you to Mistress Shimmer with only one broken leg, rather than four.”

 

Twilight's horn glowed. “Sorry, but I like my legs just the way they are, thank you very much.”

 

“Then prepare for breakage,” said Axonn, taking a battle stance. “I will make it quick and to the point.”

 

-TNTOS-

 

Season 4 starts tomorrow. Hard to believe, but it's true. Unfortunately, I don't have the Hub so I won't be able to watch the season premiere immediately. I'll be able to watch them online somewhere, though, I'm sure. -TNTOS-

There are actually several groups that plan to livestream the episode when it airs, I suggest checking out EqD later today, they'll be putting up a compilation post with links to all the livestreams people will be running.Protip: If you've got a decent internet connection, I highly recommend trying Xyro's stream, which is full glorious 1080p HD.~ (^{A V}_T^O_A^H_M^K_E^A_R^H)

 

Yes, I noticed that. I'll be sure to check 'em out.

 

-TNTOS-

Season 4 starts tomorrow. Hard to believe, but it's true.

 

Unfortunately, I don't have the Hub so I won't be able to watch the season premiere immediately. I'll be able to watch them online somewhere, though, I'm sure.

 

-TNTOS-

For the love of Mata Nui, how has nobody commented on this yet? This comedy is hilarious! I feel like this is what Equestria Girls should have been, and even though I found that movie decent enough, this is where it's at! Seriously, man, keep up the good work!

Thank you . Glad you enjoy it so far.Anyway, it's Sunday, so that means another new chapter:

 

Chapter Nine: Continuity Attacks! (AKA Confusing the new readers)

“Follow the story and find out.”

 

-Greg Farshtey, deciding to troll Bionicle fans one day after being asked the same unanswerable question for the millionth time

 

After Twilight filled her water bottle to the brim with the cool oasis water (and making sure it wasn't within Mata Nui or Kiina's reach), the party of six continued their journey into the desert.For some reason, the sun didn't seem quite as hot as before. Perhaps it was because the sun was setting or maybe Twilight's body was just adapting to the heat. Either way, she appreciated it greatly, as she had a feeling she was going to need her wits about her the further they traveled into the desert. Especially with Berix around, who she decided was probably some sort of demigod of chaos, as he seemed even crazier than Mata Nui and Kiina combined. And that was saying something.

 

Thankfully, their trip through the dunes was mostly uneventful. Aside from the destruction of the city of the rat people, the gang saw nothing else while in the desert. Soon they came upon a mountain that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Twilight had to check their map twice to make sure they hadn't made a wrong turn, but they hadn't. It was strange because she hadn't seen the mountains until they actually reached them. It was either the natural weirdness of this universe at work once again or it was a result of the lack of balance between the universes. Either way it was weird.

 

According to the map, they would have to travel over or around the mountain in order to reach Atero. Because this mountain range -- called the Rocking Mountains, an odd name, although not as strange some names Twilight had heard -- appeared to stretch all the way around the planet, the gang agreed to go through it. There was a good possibility of being ambushed in the Mountains, but Twilight felt confident that they could handle whatever these Mountains had to throw at them.

 

Climbing the Mountains was the most difficult part. The clouds rained fire (almost hitting Twilight once), the grass seemed sentient (it tried to eat Bucket-head more than once), and the wind felt as cold as ice. The mountainside itself occasionally opened a hole beneath their feet, as if trying to eat them. It was like Mother Nature herself had designed this place solely to torture anyone who came there, including unfortunate ponies.

 

For once, Twilight was thankful for Mata Nui's ability to break physics. He would hit the fire back into the clouds with a simple punch, stomped on the grass like it was an insect, and would beat up the wind whenever it got too cold. As for the mountain's holes, he would force them close again with something he called 'duck tape,' a substance Twilight had never seen before but found intriguing, as it apparently was a tool that could be used to fix literally anything. She made a note to learn how it was made so she could duplicate it back home.

 

“Hey, Mata Nui,” said Spike as they emerged onto a plateau on the mountains. “I got a question.”

 

“Yeah?” said Mata Nui, looking down at the little dragon. “What is it?”

 

“Are there dragons in Spherus Magna?” Spike asked. “Because so far I haven't seen any besides myself, obviously, so I was wondering if there were.”

 

“Oh, sure,” said Mata Nui. “Two of my friends fought a dragon once, actually.”

 

“Really? What happened to it?”

 

“It exploded,” said a slow, measured voice somewhere above them. “And that hurt me. A lot.”

 

The entire gang stopped and looked around. Berix peered underneath a pebble, Bucket-head looked among a nearby group of rocks, Kiina looked underneath her feet, Spike looked in a crack in the ground, and Mata Nui peered into another dimension (or he was just standing there staring into nothingness). Only Twilight appeared to have enough sense to look up a nearby cliff, where she saw yet another strange being in a world that was full of them.

 

This one was tall and lanky, perhaps a head shorter than Mata Nui. He had a shiny silver skull, with a big, white grin that reminded Twilight far too much of Pinkie Pie, and not in a good way, either. The being wore black and silver armor, as well as a long, dark cape with tattered edges running down his back. His right hand carried a spear, while his left hand had been replaced entirely with what looked like a fusion of a shield and battle ax.

 

“Who the Karzahni are you?” Mata Nui said. “You're ugly.”

 

“How mean,” said the newcomer, sounding genuinely hurt. “My name is Vezon. Your friends killed my pet dragon, Kardas, and I have now come to avenge his death, as any good friend would.”

 

“But we had nothing to do with it,” said Kiina. “Well, sure, I bet any of us would have killed your dragon if we'd been in that situation, but seriously, why not go hunt Tera and Likus? They're the ones who did that.”

 

Vezon shook his head sadly. “Maybe I should explain. You see, when Tera and Likus defeated Kardas, I was sent flying all the way out here. I have been stewing in my rage ever since, but have been too frightened to leave these mountains until recently.”

 

“I still don't get it,” said Twilight. “Why attack us if-”

 

“Shut up,” said Vezon. “Anyway, I have a new employer now. She asked me to ambush you six if you ended up coming through my home. So when I saw you, I saw an opportunity to fulfill my duty. She said if I bring your heads on a silver platter to her, then she will bring Kardas back to life.”

 

“You can't bring someone back to life when they're dead,” said Mata Nui. “When someone dies, they're dead. In order to gain something, something of equal value must be given in return and there is nothing equivalent to life. It's called the Law of Equivalent Exchange. Learn it.”

 

“You have no idea if that is true or not,” said Vezon. “Besides, if I recall correctly, you yourself died and came back to life, Mata Nui. So you are in no position to be telling me what is or isn't possible.”

 

“That was different,” said Mata Nui, folding his arms. “I'm the main character. So I never die and when I do the author always provides a way for me to come back.”

 

“Author?” said Twilight. “What author?”

 

Ignoring Twilight, Vezon shook his head and said, “Whatever the case may be, I have a job to do and you guys are the targets of that job. If you would please stand still and let me ruthlessly murder you, then that will make everything much easier for me.”

 

“Easy this!” said Mata Nui, whipping out his 40k MGA and firing off a hundred shots.

 

Vezon disappeared immediately, causing the bullets to fly past him and strike the rock wall behind where he had been standing, creating an exact portrait of Mata Nui's face.

 

“Where'd he go?” said Mata Nui as he and the others looked around in alarm. “He could be anywhere. But he isn't going to get the drop on Mata Nui, the biggest bad-”

 

Without warning, a miniature explosion erupted in the middle of the group. The explosion sent them all flying through the air in different directions, Twilight and Spike screaming in shock from the blow. Twilight crashed into a boulder and fell to the ground with a thump. She recovered quickly, however, and was back on her hooves in an instant.

 

Standing right where the gang had previously been was Vezon, his grin wider than before, if that were possible. His cape fluttered in the wind as he slowly looked around at the scattered heroes, hefting his spear in his hand as though trying to decide who to stab first.

 

“That wasn't teleportation, if that's what you were thinking,” said Vezon. “My boss gave me the power to dimension-hop. It also works for moving around in this dimension.”

 

“That doesn't explain the explosion, though,” said Twilight. “Where did that come from?”

 

“Explosions happen all the time in this universe, my little pony,” said Vezon. “Are you really that surprised? Then again, I have heard that where you come from, the land is one of light and color and happiness and candy. Perhaps you don't even know what explosions are.”

 

“Oh, I know what explosions are, all right,” said Twilight as she focused on the ground at Vezon's feet. “Why don't you taste one!”

 

Twilight's horn flashed and the next moment the ground underneath Vezon blew up. The resulting explosion sent Vezon flying high into the sky. Without waiting, Twilight ran over to Bucket-head and said, “Throw me!”

 

Bucket-head, who was lying on the ground still trying to recover from the explosion, looked up at her and said, “What?”

 

“Throw me at Vezon!” said Twilight, pointing up at the flying Skakdi. “Like a spear.”

 

“Will that even work?” said Bucket-head doubtfully.

 

“I saw my brother do it with his wife once,” said Twilight. “And, since my universe is far less crazy than this one, I think it'll work here. So do it.”

 

Bucket-head shrugged, but stood up and hefted Twilight above his head anyway. He took aim as best as he could and then hurled Twilight through the air. She used her wings to glide, flying straight and true toward the hurtling-out-of-control Vezon, her horn glowing brighter than ever.

 

Somehow Vezon got control of himself, however, and pulled his shield in front of his chest before Twilight could impale him. But when Twilight's horn collided with his shield, the barrier weapon cracked and shattered into trillions of pieces, causing Vezon to yell, “No! Not my shield!”

 

Then Twilight did a flip in midair and landed on Vezon's chest even as they continued to fly into the sky. She began beating hard on his chest with all four of her hooves, moving so fast that she was like a jackhammer.

 

Every blow of her hooves created another huge crack in Vezon's armor until his chest armor shattered completely. And with his chest exposed (thankfully it wasn't hairy), Twilight slammed her glowing horn into it and shouted, “Eat this, you big moron!”

 

A huge flash of lightning followed that one-liner, which sent Vezon crashing back into the earth below. He screamed like a little child as he smashed through cloud after cloud on his way down until he crashed into the earth, creating a crater so huge that it actually shook the Mountains.

 

As for Twilight herself, she rolled into a ball and shot toward the ground at the speed of light. She slammed into Vezon's chest, rebounded off it, and landed on her hooves at the edge of the crater. She blew her bangs out of her eyes as she peered into the crater at Vezon's prone form. He did not rise again.

 

“That's what you get for getting in my way,” said Twilight. “I hope you take this time to think very hard about trying to kill me and my friends. You understand me?”

 

Vezon didn't respond, so Twilight took his silence as a yes.

 

She turned around and saw everyone else standing behind her. They wore varying expressions of shock and amazement. Spike in particular looked like his eyes would fall out if they got any bigger.

 

“Oh my gosh, Twilight, did you see what you just-” said Spike as the ground trembled beneath their feet.

 

“What was that?” said Twilight, looking around in alarm. “Another attack?”

 

“How did you guess?” said a familiar voice behind her, although it sounded slightly muffled as though encased in stone.

 

Twilight whirled around just in time to see Vezon's face peering at her from one of the nearby mountain peaks. His eyes glowed with the lava that flowed through the veins of the hills, while two gigantic stone arms with thick rock hands reached out toward her.

 

“What the heck?” said Twilight, backing up in surprise. “What's going on here?”

 

“I suppose I forgot to mention my Spear of Fusion to you,” said Vezon, pebbles spewing out of his mouth every time he opened it. “When you defeated me, I had just enough life left in me to fuse myself with the Rocking Mountains.”

 

“No . . .” said Twilight, shaking her head. “Then that means. . . .”

 

“I and the Mountains are one,” said Vezon. “There is nowhere within the Mountains you can run to now. Where you are, I will be; and where I am, there you are. You shall all die today, despite your most valiant efforts to survive.”

 

As Vezon spoke, more hands grew out of the mountainside. These ones snapped up the rest of Twilight's friends. Twilight herself managed to avoid being captured by flying, but then she was swatted out of the air and snatched by another hand, which held her so tightly she felt like her head was going to explode (which in this universe was a very real possibility).

 

“You cannot escape the Mountains,” said Vezon as he held them all up. “I suggest you cease your struggling. Accept your fate. Accept your death!”

 

The hands' grip on their bodies began tightening. Twilight could barely breathe, because all of the air was being squeezed out of her lungs. She tried to focus her magic, but her body was too busy keeping her head from exploding that she couldn't manage even the simplest of spells.

 

Trying not to panic, Twilight looked over at the others. Was this the end? Were they going to be crushed between the fingers of a giant stone monster? Twilight couldn't believe it. She knew that if they died, the entire multiverse would go with them. And more importantly, her friends would die, both the ones she had made here and the ones back home in Equestria.

 

I must survive, Twilight thought. We all must survive. I . . . will . . . not . . . die!

 

Summoning a kind of strength she had never known before, Twilight forced Vezon's gigantic stone fingers apart. The pressure on her body ceased and she could now breathe normally, taking in the clear mountain air as though it were a wonderful drink.

 

“What's this?” said Vezon, his eyes widening. “How did you break out of my stone grip? I was crushing you with the force of two mountains!”

 

Twilight hovered in the air with her wings, her horn charging with even more magic than before. “Well, I know something that's a bit more powerful than two mountains.”

 

“And what could that be?” said Vezon mockingly. “A bluff by a pretty little pony whose days are numbered?”

 

“Hardly,” said Twilight. “The magic of friendship is stronger than the crushing power of all the mountains in the world! Hi-ya!”

 

Twilight's horn exploded with tendrils of energy that went everywhere. More specifically, the tendrils sliced through the huge hands that held her friends captive. All of them immediately broke out of their bonds and flew to join Twilight, even though none of them could fly besides her and she wasn't using her magic to make it possible for them to fly but if you're still questioning this stuff by now then I ask that you to stop reading this comedy and never come back because you're just a party pooper.

 

“Impossible,” said Vezon in horror. “This cannot be. You cannot destroy the Mountains themselves. It is impossible.”

 

“This whole universe is impossible,” said Twilight. “But I guess that hasn't stopped it from existing and that won't stop you from no longer existing!”

 

As one, Twilight and her friends flew through the air directly toward Vezon's face. Panicking, Vezon summoned thick stone walls to block their progress, but their energy-charged bodies allowed them to smash through the rock walls with ease. Nothing Vezon did could halt them even temporarily. This fact appeared to dawn on Vezon's face, because his eyes contracted in horror and his perpetual grin turned into a grimace.

 

“If stone can't stop you, then eat lava!” Vezon roared.

 

Opening his mouth, Vezon spewed a long stream of lava directly at Twilight and friends. Of course, Vezon was VERY naïve if he thought that would slow down their progress any. He probably hadn't read the last few comedies, where pretty much nothing could kill any of these guys. He will be missed.

 

Mata Nui took the lead and started punching through the oncoming lava stream with his bare fists, the same way you might punch a punching bag. The sight enraged Vezon, who doubled the amount of lava he spewed, but this just inspired Mata Nui to punch harder and faster. Every blow of his fist literally shattered the lava into glass, clearing the way for everyone else.

 

And with the force of a nuclear bomb, Twilight and her friends stuck Vezon's giant rock forehead as one. The blow was so powerful that it shattered the Mountains themselves, causing the entire mountain range (which, may I remind you, wraps around Spherus Magna itself) to crumble into dust. It left Vezon's original form floating in the air, beaten and weakened, barely functioning from the beating it had taken from Twilight earlier.

 

“No . . .” Vezon coughed, hacking like a smoker. “You . . . will not . . . be able to defeat . . . Sunset Shimmer. . . .”

 

“Oh, I don't know about that,” said Twilight. “But I think we will. Good bye.”

 

With that, Twilight fired a blast of energy at Vezon. The blast struck Vezon and caused his molecules to separate. The molecules scattered all over the known universe even as Vezon screamed in agony, his terrible yell echoing throughout the world until it was no more.Twilight and the gang landed on the remains of the Rocking Mountains.

 

As soon as they did so, Spike pumped his fist and said, “That was awesome! Vezon was like, 'I'm gonna crush you to death!' and Twilight was like, 'No way, Jose!' and then he became a mountain and we broke it and Twilight killed him and it was so awesome I think I'm going to pass out now.”

 

With that, Spike did indeed pass out, but Mata Nui slapped him in the face, immediately waking him.

 

“It was indeed awesome, Spike,” said Mata Nui. “Not the awesomest fight I've ever been in, but I would put it up there with some of them. This isn't the first time I've destroyed a mountain range, though, so I take awesomeness points off for repetition.”

 

“Boom!” said Berix, clapping his hands together happily. “The Mountain Man went boom, all thanks to our little pony. The moral of this story is that you should never mess with a pony, no matter how pretty it may be.”

 

“Agreed,” said Mata Nui. “Except if you're me. Then you can mess with whoever you want because you're Mata monkeyfighting Nui!”

 

Twilight shook her head. She looked at her surroundings for a moment in confusion before her eyes widened. “Did I do that?”

 

“No,” said Mata Nui, patting her on the head. “We did that. Together. As a team.”

 

“I . . . “ Twilight looked down at her hooves again. “I killed another person.”

 

“I'm so proud of you right now,” said Mata Nui. “You know, when we first met, I thought maybe you were just a socially awkward bookworm with no friends. But now I know that you can be every bit as vicious and bloodthirsty as me. Maybe this 'magic of friendship' you keep blabbing on about really does exist.”

 

“Mercilessly killing people isn't what the magic of friendship is about,” said Twilight, shaking her head wildly. “This is the magic of your messed-up universe. This has nothing to do with friendship of any sort.”

 

“I dunno,” said Mata Nui. “And I don't care. The fact is we destroyed an entire mountain range, which is pretty impressive. Not as impressive as shattering a planet, but it's a good start.”

 

“A good start?” said Twilight. “You assume I'm going to be doing crazier things before this is all over.”

 

“Well, yeah,” said Mata Nui. “This is how all legendary badbutts got their start. First they were breaking mountains, then continents, then planets, and eventually anything else they didn't like, up to and including the universe itself.”

 

“I don't want to destroy the universe, though,” said Twilight. “I want to save it. That's what my mission is all about.”

 

“Excuse me, Princess,” said Mata Nui. “I was just saying that's what you could do. For the record, I'm pretty sure I haven't destroyed a universe yet, although it's only a matter of time before I do so.”

 

Twilight took a few steps back. “You're insane. All of you. Completely insane.”

 

“We are not insane,” said Berix, clearly offended. “Only I can see Alfred the Blue Monkey, so that means I'm crazy, not the rest of you.”

 

“I . . . I need some time by myself,” said Twilight, her voice trembling. “Just gotta think, okay? I'll be back. Sometime. Maybe. Eventually.”

 

Before any of them could respond, Twilight turned tail and ran down the huge pile of pebbles they stood upon. Right now, she didn't want to be around anyone, not even Spike.

 

-

 

It took her a while to find some place where she could be alone, as the lack of a mountain made it difficult to hide anywhere. She eventually found a particularly large pile of shattered rock that the others couldn't see around, allowing her to sit down and take in a deep breath for a moment before tears welled in her eyes, tears she tried to fight but couldn't.

 

I'm becoming just like Mata Nui, Kiina, Berix, and yes, even like Bucket-head, Twilight thought. Maybe it's the fact that the universes are collapsing or maybe there's just something about this universe, but it seems like I'm getting closer and closer to the edge of no return with every passing day.

 

She tried to remind herself that she was different from Mata Nui. After all, unlike Mata Nui, she saw her friends as people, not either as punching bags or as reflections of his own awesomeness or objects to be destroyed if she didn't like them. Still, when she saw how ruthlessly she treated Vezon and how snarky she had been with Mata Nui and the others so far, it made her doubt her own goodness.

 

More than ever, Twilight wished that her friends back home had come with her. She knew, of course, that Equestria needed them, but she still wished her friends were here to support her. Right now, it felt like the entire weight of two universes was on her shoulders and she was just about to collapse from the weight.

 

With a sigh, Twilight rested her head on her hooves. She knew she still had a job to do. She still had to go to Atero and confront Sunset Shimmer. She really shouldn't have run off like that, even if she did need the alone time. Still, she couldn't help but wonder just how different she was going to be by the end of this journey. Would her friends even recognize her as the same pony who left Equestria when she returned?

 

In particular, Twilight was afraid she'd grow to love the fighting and chaos that seemed to be woven into the fabric of this universe. That fight with Vezon had awakened a vicious pleasure in her that she had never noticed before. If she liked fighting enough, she might bring this attitude back with her to Equestria, which would be problematic as Equestria was a fairly peaceful land, at least in comparison to Spherus Magna.

 

I could harm my friends, Twilight thought. I could become like Mata Nui, seeing my friends as nothing more than meat shields or reflections to be discarded at will. And if I became arrogant enough, what's to stop me from trying to overthrow Celestia and Luna?

 

All of these thoughts seemed to chase themselves around in her head and there was no answer, at least no answer Twilight could see. Maybe there was no answer at all. Maybe the answer was that she was going to end up exactly like Mata Nui: egotistical, arrogant, unkind, cruel, and very rude.

 

“Twilight?”Twilight looked around and saw Spike walking around the pebble pile toward her. He looked concerned.

 

“What are you doing here, Spike?” said Twilight, somewhat more harshly than she intended. “I said I wanted to be alone.”

 

“I know,” said Spike. “It's just, well, I wanted to make sure you were okay. Besides, Mata Nui was getting bored and wanted to use me as a bat to beat up Bucket-head with, so I had to bail. Think Berix volunteered to take my place.”

 

“Okay,” said Twilight, putting her head down on her hooves again. “Whatever. Those guys are freaks.”

 

She expected Spike to argue with her, but instead he said, “Yeah, they are.”

 

Puzzled, Twilight looked over her shoulder at him and asked, “Wait, I thought you thought they were awesome.”

 

“It's kind of complicated,” said Spike, scraping his foot across the ground. “On one hand, they do all kinds of awesome things all the time. I mean, Mata Nui punted the sun into the moon. How can that not be awesome? They're like the personification of all my daydreams where I save Rarity from bad guys. And I really want to be like that.”

 

“What's so complicated about-”

 

“On the other hand,” Spike continued, “they're all colossal meanies. Mata Nui only cares about himself, Kiina is just as cruel, Bucket-head is pretty cynical, and Berix . . . well, okay, he can be nice, but he's still pretty freaky and doesn't seem to care that his friends are all mean. And I definitely don't want to be mean.”

 

“Yeah, I get that,” said Twilight. “They've been useful allies so far, but they're so different from us in just about every way. And what's worse, I think they're rubbing off on us. At least on me, if my killing Vezon means anything.”

 

“Nuh uh, Twilight,” said Spike, shaking his head. “You're not anything like them. You're smart; Mata Nui flunked preschool. You're nice; Kiina kicked a puppy. You're optimistic; Bucket-head thinks everything is out to get him. You're sane; Berix can't distinguish between reality and fiction. You're nothing like them at all.”

 

“Thanks, Spike, but I don't know,” said Twilight. “I feel like I am starting to like viciously killing my enemies. If I take this attitude back with me to Equestria, what kind of chaos do you think that will create?”

 

“Then maybe you should leave your violent attitude here when you go home,” said Spike. “Tell it to take a hike. I mean, in this universe, pretty much anything is possible, so. . . .”

 

Twilight stared at Spike. “Are you being literal? As in, I literally leave behind a part of myself here?”

 

Spike shrugged. “Um, yes?”

 

Twilight actually chuckled. “Okay, that was pretty funny, but I don't think leaving behind a part of myself is possible even in this universe. Thanks for the suggestion, though.”

 

“Well, I got nothing,” said Spike. “I'm going back to the others to see if they're done beating up Bucket-head.”

 

Twilight rose to her hooves. “I'm coming with you. My mind is just running in circles now. Until I can figure out an answer to it, I'm going to try not to think about it.”

 

So Spike and Twilight returned to the rest of the gang. Twilight tried her best to hide her own fears and doubts, but as they saw Bucket-head lying on the ground in a fetal position with Mata Nui, Kiina, and Berix kicking him over and over again, it was hard to ignore them truly. It was even harder to deny the desire to join the beating, which she only managed to do with great effort.

 

There is no telling what will happen to me from this point on, Twilight thought. The only way to know is to go forward. And right now, I'm too afraid to do that.

 

-TNTOS-

Chapter 34: I think We’re done Now. No stupid Cliffhangers That the Author can Take Advantage of to make Unnecessary Sequels . . . Right?

“That was short,” Ackar observed.

“Yeah,” said Kiina, nodding in agreement. “I feel strangely . . . well, empty. Like I’d been expecting a real final battle that would have put all other epic final battles to shame.”

“Eh, this comedy was one big disappointment from the start,” said Ackar with a shrug. “Right, Berix?”

Amazingly, Berix had fallen asleep, but awoke with a start at Ackar’s voice. “Huh, what’s that? Oh, yes, yeah. Cool fight and stuff.”

“Uh, I was asking you if you thought the comedy was a big disappointment,” Ackar said, exasperated. “Not if you thought the battle was cool.”

“Aw, no, man,” said Berix, carelessly waving him off. “Your expectations were too high. It’s not a bad comedy; it’s a good comedy that is far above things like character development and plot coherency. That stuff is archaic, man.”

“Archaic?” Ackar repeated in surprise. “I didn’t know you knew what archaic means.”

“Yeah, it’s got something to do with arcs, right?” said Berix. “Like, I think the Alabasta arc was soooooo archaic.”

“Uh, that’s not what it means, Berix,” said Kiina.

“Then what does it mean?” Berix asked.

Kiina threw a huge dictionary at him and said, “Read this. It’ll explain everything.”

Ackar turned from the two and watched Mata Nui and Gresh approach that Billy kid, the nephew of the Grand Di-Shogun. He wondered what they were going to do to the kid. Kill him? Nah, Billy hadn’t attacked them nor did anything else other than say “I’m a ninja!”

Perhaps they’ll rough him up a bit so him and his family will know not to come after us, Ackar thought. Then the author can write a bad sequel where Billy tries to avenge his uncle’s death or some crud like that. I know that’s what he’s planning.

To Ackar’s surprise, however, Mata Nui helped Billy to his feet and said to the young ninja, “Billy, I am certain you can see the problems your father caused here.”

Billy nodded, although based on the expression in his face it was clear he wasn’t taking in anything Mata Nui was saying.

“He caused death and chaos and carnage and was probably planning to take over the world and replace our government with a New Ninja World Order,” Mata Nui said. “Because of this, he sacrificed the lives of many innocent ninjas in his quest to kill us. It was clear he was a foolish leader and probably would have lead you all into destruction had we not stopped him before he got far.”

“Yeah,” said Billy.

“However, I think we can set aside our differences and work together,” said Mata Nui as he put one hand on Billy’s shoulder. “As your mother said, you are in line to become the next Grand Di-Shogun. Thus, if you will take the mantle of Grand Di-Shogun, you might be able to lead your people to a more peaceful future.”

“No,” said Billy, shaking his head.“No?” Mata Nui repeated. “What do you mean by, ‘no’?”

“I mean, I do not want to be the next Grand Di-Shogun,” said Billy, crossing his arms. “Allow me to explain. You see, I have known since I was a baby what my destiny was. My destiny is far grander than leading the ninjas. It is of cosmic importance, in fact.”

“Well, okay,” said Mata Nui, skeptical of these claims. “Then what is your destiny? Tell me that.”

Before Billy could respond, the ceiling evaporated above them without warning. Mata Nui and the others looked up in time to see a familiar giant face that they had not thought they would ever see again.

“Super Planet!” Mata Nui gasped. “What are you doing here?”

“I have come to take Billy away,” Super Planet’s voice echoed, causing a nearby mountain to shatter into a million pieces. “It is his destiny to work as my apprentice, so that when I pass away he shall take my place as the Super Planet of the universe.”

“That is your destiny?” Mata Nui asked Billy, completely disbelieving. “You are going to be Super Planet’s apprentice?”

“And eventually I shall succeed him, yes,” said Billy, nodding. “Now good bye, my friends. I shall ascend to a higher plane of existence now. Perhaps we will see each other again in the future.”

“But wait, Billy, before you go, I need to ask you a question,” said Mata Nui.

“What is your question?”

“Where’s Old Man Raanu?” said Mata Nui, looking around the place. “Since, you know, that is kind of the whole reason we went on this adventure in the first place.”

“Oh, my late uncle stuffed him in the broom closet over there,” said Billy, carelessly gesturing over his shoulder at a normal, unimpressive-looking door. “He’s probably okay.“Now good bye, my friends. Super Planet and I shall leave this world, but perhaps someday we will return. When we next see each other, however, I am sure I will be better than you all. Good bye.”

With that, Billy quickly ascended into the heavens until he disappeared in the clouds. Then Super Planet waved good bye at them and flew away to go battle unknown evils in the farthest reaches of the universe.

Mata Nui, completely ignoring what had just happened, walked over to the closet door and opened it. Inside was a small, red-armored Agori tied to a stool with a sock in his mouth. Mata Nui ripped the sock from the Agori’s mouth, allowing the prisoner to breathe freely once again.

“You are Raanu, correct?” asked Mata Nui as he shot the ropes off of Raanu’s body.

“Indeed I am, my young chap,” said Raanu as he rubbed his wrists. “And who might you be, my friend?”

Mata Nui reached out with a hand and said, “I’m your savior.”

-

The trip back to Vulcanus was generally uneventful. Old Man Raanu kept rattling on about how the ninjas mistreated him and how badly written this comedy, but everyone stopped paying attention to him when he started complaining about his lack of prunes.

Once they reached the fire village, Raanu was reunited with his son Tarix. Tarix thanked them and rewarded them with over 80 trillion dollars (Raanu, as it turned out, was the richest Agori in the whole universe and thus could spare to give them a few trillion dollars for all of the trouble they went through).

So, now 80 trillion dollars richer, our heroes turned their journey homeward. Along the way, they split up. Ackar was the first to go, heading directly for his house once it was within sight. Berix went next, although since they did not see a house anywhere they did not know where he was going. And finally Gresh returned to his home, a humble little hut painted neon green and pink for some reason.

Eventually, Mata Nui and Kiina finally reached their own house. When they entered the place they discovered that it was in the same shape as it had been when Mata Nui had left it, except for one tiny detail that lay across the table:

“Oh, Mata Nui!” Kiina gasped, standing in the doorway and staring at the table. “Is that a . . . cybernetic demon wolf?”

“Indeed it is, Kiina,” said Mata Nui as he put an arm around her shoulders. “I killed it myself before I figured out you were kidnapped. I thought you’d like it.”

“Oh, I love it!” Kiina said as she walked over and examined the wolf’s corpse. “I could do all kinds of things with this.” She looked up at Mata Nui with tearful eyes and said, “You are the sweetest action hero I ever knew.”

“Aw, I already knew that,” said Mata Nui, blushing, before Kiina hit him on the head. “Ow! What was that for?”

“But apparently not the humblest,” Kiina sighed, exasperated.

-

That night, after dinner, Mata Nui sat outside on the porch, polishing his 40k Mighty Grandma Assault rifle. He was just minding his own business when a paper airplane flew into his eye.

“Ow!” Mata Nui cried as he put one hand on his injured eye. “Who was the moron that threw that piece of-?”

He looked down and saw that there were words written on the airplane. Unfolding it, he read the note:

Mata Nui,

We, Dah Element Lords, have kidnapped your two friends, Double Barrel Berix and Gresh. They have unfinished business with us that has caused us to have to take matters into our own hands. If you wish to see them alive again, please deliver 80 trillion dollars to us by the end of the week.

Sincerely, Dah Element Lords.

Kiina walked outside just then and, noticing the note Mata Nui was holding, asked, “What’s that you got there, Mata Nui?”

Mata Nui turned to her and said dramatically, “Gresh and Berix have been kidnapped by Dah Element Lords. They want 80 trillion dollars by the end of the week or else we won’t see them alive ever again.”

Kiina gasped. “What’re you going to do, Mata Nui?”

Mata Nui lifted his gun, cocked it, and said, “I’m going to kick butt. Coming?”

“Of course!” said Kiina as she drew a long rifle out of nowhere. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Then all we need is Ackar and we’ll be set,” said Mata Nui. “As much as I hate sequels, I am afraid we’ll have to be drawn into this bad plot whether we like it or not.”

So the two heroes leaped onto their steeds and headed for Ackar’s house as the moon above them shone brightly and stupidly.

THE ABRUPT END.

Want to read find out what happens next? Then check out the sequel, BIONICLE: The Legend Exploded. And after that, you can read the final installment in the trilogy, BIONICLE: The Legend Imploded!

What's this? Already read the entire trilogy, you say?

Then check out My Little BIONICLE: Friendship is Explosive, a crossover between the Legend Trilogy and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic taking place shortly after the end of the Legend Trilogy. Rest assured that it has all the same awesome action sequences and wacky humor that the Legend Trilogy does, plus ponies! What's not to like about that?

-TNTOS-

Chapter 33: Anticlimactic Climax is Anticlimactic

Over a billion ninjas descended on our heroes at once. Any mortal being would have died with fear at the sight of so many killer assassins descending upon them. It would have been too much for a normal person’s mind to handle. Indeed, a normal person would probably have died of a heart attack due to sheer fright.

But Mata Nui, Ackar, Kiina, Gresh, and Double Barrel Berix weren’t any normal people.

“Battle Strategy Alpha Beta Gamma Omega and whatever other Greek letters we forgot!” Mata Nui ordered his friends. “Get into position!”

With amazing speed and agility, our friends quickly formed an octagon around the billion ninjas. Exactly how they accomplished that is uncertain considering how crowded the room was. Still, they managed to form an octagon anyway and then aimed their weapons directly at the middle of the factory fortress, where through some reality warping all one billion ninjas happened to be gathered.

“For unity!” Mata Nui roared.

“For unity!” the others chanted in unison.

Beams of color-coded energy erupted from their weapons at the exact same time. The energy beams collided in the exact center of the factory and actually absorbed into a lone ninja who happened to be in their way. The ninja could not take such powerful power, however, and imploded and exploded and imploded and exploded again with such force that he created an explosion that would have definitely left a mark on the galaxy’s surface had Mata Nui not grabbed it and threw it into the sky. The explosion blew up in the sky, safely harming nothing.

So what did that accomplish? Well, there were no longer any ninjas left except for the Shogun and his nephew, Billy, for one. It also allowed them to be awesome, but since that is an established fact there’s no reason to harp on about it.

“So you have destroyed my army of a billion ninjas,” the Shogun observed. “I did not think it was possible, but I suppose even I can be mistaken at times.”

“Darn right you are,” said Mata Nui. “Anyway, we’ll spare you if you will only give us Raanu.”

“Never!” the Shogun shouted. “Die!”

With incredible speed such as never before seen, the Shogun erupted into a blur of motion. He was moving so fast that even Mata Nui had a hard time seeing him. Our heroes also couldn’t hear him, for he was moving so fast that his sound was not able to catch up with his movements.

“Keep your guard up!” Mata Nui ordered his friends. “We can’t allow ourselves to be distracted by this technique!”

“Iba got himba covered!” Gresh said. “Iba going toba use awesomeness movementba!”

With a flash, Gresh, too, disappeared.

-

It is difficult to describe exactly how things look when one is moving at super speed. The best way we can describe it is that everything appears to be moving super, super slow, to the point where already slow people appear to not be moving at all.

It was in this condition that Gresh found himself. His orange eyes scanned the area for the Shogun, but he could not spot the ninja leader anywhere.

Could heba really beba moving thaba fast? Gresh thought in horror. Is heba moving so fast thab heba is impossible to seeba even whenba yuba are moving atba his speedba?

Translation: Is he really moving so fast that he is impossible to see even when you are moving as fast as him?

Gresh thought he heard something behind him and, turning around, saw the Shogun in the air, his sword raised.

“Eat Ramen noodles, insolent fool!” the Shogun roared as he brought his blade down on Gresh’s head.

Gresh raised his shield just in time and blocked the Shogun’s sword. He then seized the Shogun’s arm and shouted, “Speed downba!”

The world appeared to shake and immediately everything went back to normal. The others gasped at what they saw, but Mata Nui knew exactly what to do.

Swiftly reloading his 40k Mighty Grandma Assault rifle, Mata Nui took aim and said, “Hold him down, Gresh! I’ve got him!”

“No!” the Shogun snarled as he tried to break free of Gresh’s iron grip. “You can’t do this! Do you know who I am?”

“Yuba definitely noba theba Juggernaut,” Gresh said.

With that, Mata Nui pulled the trigger and unleashed a bullet that drew energy from the environment as it flew through the air. Gresh knew he would have to let go of the Shogun soon, but not just yet, for he if did now the Shogun would simply teleport away and they would not be able to defeat him.

On theba count of threeba, Gresh thought as he watched the bullet draw ever closer. Oneba . . . twoba . . . threeba!

The bullet was merely a split second from colliding with the Shogun. Moving so fast that he almost broke reality, Gresh activated his awesomeness speed and disappeared to safety.

The Grand Di-Shogun was not so lucky.

The bullet hit the Shogun straight in the chest and once it had entered his heart, exploded. The resulting explosion was so huge that it would have literally torn the universe in half had Mata Nui not kicked it back with such force that he created a barrier it around it somehow, containing the explosion in one small area until it finally dissipated on its own.

And the Shogun – the grand leader of the ninjas, the most powerful and dangerous of them all - was no more.

-TNTOS-

Chapter 32: Sieges Are Never Awesome Unless You Use Trains

Normally, watching a train dashing across the desert sands of Bara Magna was not an odd sight. The only difference between this train and the others was that it looked like it had been patched together rather hastily. That and the fact that it was moving freely of the railways was a bit odd, but its patched together look was worth commenting on more in my opinion.

“See?” Mata Nui said to Ackar as their train chugged along loudly. “Screw drivers and chainsaws can always fix anything!”

“I never doubted it,” Ackar replied with a smile. “Although I remember that one time you tried to fix my car with your screw driver and chainsaw. I still don’t know what happened to the carburetor.”

“Oh, that’s, er, a long and complicated story involving flying purple dinosaurs, the ghost of Elvis Presley, and the power of rock,” Mata Nui said hastily, turning away from Ackar to avoid having to make eye contact with his mentor. “Anyway, we shouldn’t be worrying about missing carburetors. What we should be thinking of is Fort Ninja. We should see it any minute now.”

They rode on in silence for several more minutes, before Kiina hesitantly said, “Er, Mata Nui?”

“Yeah?” said Mata Nui, looking up at her. “What’s the problem, Kiina?”

“Well, we’re fighting ninjas, right?” she said.“Right,” said Mata Nui, nodding vigorously. “And?”

“Well, ninjas are known for their stealth,” Kiina continued as she looked out the train. “So doesn’t it make some sense that maybe the ninjas concealed their fortress? What if we can’t find it because we can’t see it? We might have already passed it if I’m right.”

“Yeah, Kiina, that’s if you’re right,” said Ackar sharply. “Besides, how could you possibly conceal an entire fortress? It just doesn’t make any sense, Kiina. It’s like blowing up an explosion. It just doesn’t- wait, bad example. Well, it’s like a flying kitchen. You just don’t see flying kitchens in real life.”

“So your theory just got whipped, Kiina!” Berix said. “Whipped like cream!”

“Uh, no it didn’t,” Kiina pointed out. “We’ve seen far weirder things during our journey than invisible fortresses. It’s not that weird once you think about it.”

“Well, I say-“ said Ackar, before their train crashed through reality.

Or at least, that’s what it seemed like. They had actually crashed through a thick stone wall and were chugging through what looked like a gigantic factory. As their train raced through the factory-like place, ninjas working at conveyor belts looked up in surprise. There appeared to be hundreds of ninjas all over the place, but the train was going so fast that the ninjas couldn’t stop it.

A large sign that read ‘HIGH TEMPLE FORT NINJA’ passed by overhead, which caused Kiina to smirk and say to Ackar, “See, Ackar? I was right. The ninjas really did conceal their fortress and we somehow managed to find it. So there.”

Ackar didn’t respond to her. He pointed directly ahead and yelled, “Look out!”

The others looked in the direction he indicated and saw that they were rapidly approaching a gigantic furnace bigger than anything they’d ever seen before. Mata Nui doubted any of them would survive if their train crashed into it, so he shouted, “Everyone! Leap to safety or else we’ll all die in a fiery explosion of doom!”

They didn’t need to be told twice. Mata Nui, Kiina, and Gresh leapt out of the right side, while Ackar and Berix made for the left. Everyone made it to safety and their old train – which Berix had earlier christened ‘Thomas’ – crashed headfirst into the huge furnace.

As soon as the train collided with the furnace, a huge explosion erupted from the collision. Fiery debris went flying through the air, striking the walls, ceiling, floor, and even some of the ninjas who were not fast enough to dodge. Mata Nui and Ackar created a shield of energy to protect their friends from the explosion, however, so they were okay.

Once the explosion had passed, they let the shield down and examined their surroundings. Everywhere they looked there was destruction. Ninjas lay wounded or dead; dozens of conveyor belts were ripped to shreds or on fire; most of the things the ninjas had been working on where utterly destroyed; and there was a huge hole in the wall where the furnace had once stood. In general, the place looked pretty destroyed.

“It looks like that explosion did most of the work for us,” Ackar observed.

“Yeah, but we still have to rescue Raanu,” said Mata Nui. He then looked at the screen and said to the readers, “Bet you forgot about that didn’t you?”

“Mata Nui, who are you talking to?” asked Kiina, puzzled.

“The people reading this comedy at this very moment,” said Mata Nui, pointing at the screen. “Can’t you see them?”

Everyone turned as one and looked at the screen. For a moment, there was an awkward silence as our heroes looked at the readers.

Then Ackar turned away and said, “Well, anyway, let’s go find-“

Without warning, a billion ninjas burst from the shadows. They did not attack, but merely surrounded our heroes until there was literally nowhere for Mata Nui and the crew to run. Every conceivable exit – including the mouse holes – was blocked off in some way, shape, or form. Not that our heroes would ever think of running, but that option was pretty much closed off to them now.

“Ninjas,” said Mata Nui, stating the obvious.Then they heard a deep, great laugh that drew their attention to the ceiling. Hanging from a very thin though sturdy rope was a large, old man in classical Japanese samurai armor (even though he was a ninja). He was sitting cross-legged in midair and stared at them in amusement with dark eyes that reflected the evils of his soul or some crud like that. I’m just trying to sound poetic here, okay?

“I see you have finally made your way here,” said the old man, stroking his long, silvery beard. “My ninjas have been keeping track of your progress. I must say I am impressed that you made it here in one piece. I had thought you would have died at some point.”

“Yeah, well, we’re awesome like that,” said Mata Nui defiantly. “We even beat Death’s prediction! Anyway, what is your name, old man?”

“My name?” said the old man, chuckling. “I have no proper name, young one. But I will tell you my title. I am the Grand Di-Shogun of this land, the leader of ninjas all over the world, although you may call me Shogun for short if you wish.”

“All I wish for is that you give us Old Man Raanu or we’ll kick your butt into outer space,” said Mata Nui.

“And don’t tempt us,” Ackar added, “we’ve kicked people into space before, so we know what we’re talking about here.”

The Shogun laughed. “Kick me into space? You must be delusional. My power and skill is insurmountable. Why, if I wanted, I could kill all five of you right now.”

“Really?” said Mata Nui in surprise. “Then why don’t you?”

“Because I don’t feel like it,” said the Shogun, crossing his arms. “Besides, your weak mind cannot even begin to understand the complex and contradictory thoughts of my supreme ninja mind. It is time to kill you, unless you wish to leave this place.”

Mata Nui shot a nearby ninja and snapped, “Never. We’re not leaving until we get what we came for. Got it?”

“But I will never relinquish Old Man Raanu to you,” said the Shogun as he drew a long sword. “If I did, I would have to kill myself right now and make my nephew Billy the new Grand Di-Shogun.”

He pointed at a kid hanging from the ceiling next to him, a young teenager with brown hair and a t-shirt that read, ‘My uncle’s a Shogun!’

“I’m a ninja!” Billy said brightly.

“Does he look anything like a proper Shogun to you?” said the Shogun. “Of course he doesn’t. Thus, I will eliminate you if you will not leave here.”

The Shogun gestured to his ninjas and yelled, “Ninjas, attack these intruders! Let them feel the wrath of the ninja so they may be a testament to those foolish enough to stand in our way!”

-TNTOS-