> Bionicle: Takanuva's Quest
>  by Marneon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: Arrival
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Takanuva crept through the corridor as quietly as he was able, although it wasn’t hard to avoid notice because of all the noise from the Protodermis processing facility he was currently trying to infiltrate. This wasn’t one of the more bizarre alternate universes that he had visited during his travels with the Kanohi Olmak, the mask of dimensional gates; the only major difference between this universe and his own ‘Alpha Universe’ as he called it, was that the Toa here didn’t have Kanohi masks, but weapons that contained the powers of the Kanohi.

When he came to an open doorway, he risked a look inside to see what he was up against, but what he saw was not what he had been expecting. Before he set out to Karda Nui, the Turaga had told him that they suspected the Makuta to be making new weapons out of harvested Protodermis at their processing facility to equip their forces. However, that was not at all what Takanuva found himself looking at when he peered around the door.

He found himself face to face with an army, hundreds of rows of Makuta, each near identical save for a single ‘mutation’ on each one’s face, like the masks of his original universe. At the rear end of the room was a large production line, which was pumping protodermis into moulds of a dozen different parts, then directed them to a final assembly line, where all the pieces were put together. The constructed husks were then infused with life by what appeared to be the Kanohi Ignika, Kanohi of life, of the universe, which had taken the form of an elaborate spear, mounted on a frame which harnessed and directed the energy.

The bodies were currently in an apparent state of stasis, which meant that Takanuva was able to move freely within the room without detection. He realised with a shock that if they were to be activated, then they would easily overwhelm the forces of the Toa; and if Takanuva wasn’t able to escape the area, or even the dimension, in time to avoid them, he himself would be defeated, allowing them to use the Olmak. This would then endanger every dimension in existence. The importance of his mission suddenly skyrocketed.

Takanuva walked in between the rows of bodies, trying to find some way to disable the production. He was taking one more look at the machine which was steadily churning out shells and positioning them at the back of the army, when he noticed that the Ignika wasn’t completely fastened into the machine. It was merely resting in a support frame, and Takanuva thought that it might be possible to remove it, given enough time.

Before he could convince himself against it, he broke into a run towards the machine and leaped up onto the frame holding the staff. Upon closer inspection, the frame that held the staff was more awkward than it had looked, with clasps on both sides of the haft. In order to remove it, he would need to forcibly remove the latches, which he was certain would activate some form of alarm. However, he knew the dangers of letting the machine carry on greatly outweighed those of removing it. He grasped the haft of the spear and pulled on it, with all the strength he could muster.

It took a while of tugging to finally break the frame holding the spear. When it came off in his hands, the room was filled with a loud siren. The door slammed shut, and the army of shells suddenly lit up and turned to face him. The army had awoken.

Takanuva grasped the spear firmly in both hands and prepared to fight for his life. There was only one door into the room and there was an army of angry Makuta robots between him and it. He lunged forwards towards the nearest enemy and brought the butt of the spear down on its head, shattering it and rendering the robot lifeless. He then swung it around and stabbed another through the face with the blade. He continued this pattern many times as he slowly made his way across the room towards the door. After what seemed like hours of intense fighting, Takanuva finally came to the doorway and leapt through, slamming the door shut behind him.

He turned to leave the facility, as the robots would instantly follow him through if he tried to open a portal, and warn the Toa to set up defenses, coming face to face with yet another group of robots. He knew that the only viable option available to him would be to run, and so he did, wanting to get far enough away from them so he could open a gate to the Toa camp with the Olmak. The drones, however, were not so willing to let an intruder escape, and were a lot faster than Takanuva had thought, barely managing to stay ahead of them.

The featureless grey walls seemed to go on forever, occasionally there was a junction where he would have to quickly try to remember which way he had come in, so he could try to lose them in the open. All the time this was happening, the mass of robots behind him were slowly closing the gap, bringing them ever closer to catching him. When the exit finally came into view, the drones were only a few yards away from him.

He came out into a large courtyard, with a treeline on the other side, about 150 metres away. Since he didn’t need to worry about corners, he could really open up, pulling away very slightly from the army chasing after him. As soon as he reached the treeline,he focused on his mask, trying to create a doorway to the Toa camp. However, just as he was about to open it, one of the true Makuta, Teridax,burst through the doorway, and launched a blast from his Kanohi, which took the form of a handheld cannon. 

It caught up with Takanuva in seconds, and just as he was about to manifest the doorway he had created, it struck him in the back of the head. The Olmak soared clear of him, and landed in the brush just the other side of the incomplete gateway. Takanuva didn’t have time to go and get it, as he could feel the effects of the Kanohi blast already, so he leapt into the doorway just as it collapsed, hoping it took him where he wanted to go, and dreading what the future would bring.
______________________________________________________________________________

Rainbow Dash soared downwards, wings flat against her back as she dove towards the ground, clouds whizzing past her face as she got closer and closer to the ground. Faster and faster, closer and closer, as she felt the air ahead of her tighten, fighting against her, threatening to push her back and send her spiralling off course.
She could just start to make out the beginnings of a cone, forming around her head and hooves, and pushed harder, urging her body to go faster, anything to break the barrier that was forming around her. The force of her speed was so strong, that the front of her mane was being pushed into her eyes, obscuring her vision slightly, yet not deterring the determined athlete.

Rainbow felt that she was nearing the apex of her speed, about to perform the ‘impossible’ for the third time ever, when in the corner of her eye, she saw a bright light, not glaring, but just enough to catch her attention. She turned her head, ever so slightly, to try and get a better view, but what she saw was beyond her ability to explain.

High above her, even above the top of the cloudiseum, was a glowing light, about twice the size of a regular pegasus. It took just a moment for Rainbow Dash to notice that there was something in front of the light. At first, she just thought that it was some amateur pegasus trying to show off, but then she noticed that it was moving, falling towards the ground. She kept watching to see if the figure would do anything, but there was no movement from the falling body. There was no-one else around to help, so Rainbow Dash sighed to herself as she understood what needed to be done.

She opened her right wing slightly, using the slight drag on one side to help her turn around to face the falling figure. Now, rather than fighting the pressure in her way before, she just relaxed a bit, and let it push her, and propel her, faster than she could have ever achieved by herself, fast enough to catch the falling figure. As she got closer and closer, she could start to make out the features of the falling pegasus.

Despite being able to, Rainbow Dash didn’t have time to study the features of them, other than the fact that it was a seemingly middle aged stallion, with dark grey fur, and a nearly black mane. She didn’t get much of a look, but his cutie mark seemed to be a strange type of face, which Dash didn’t have a clue about.With the unconscious stallion supported in her front legs, she began her descent towards the ground. It took longer than usual to reach ground level, as she couldn’t fly too steep without the stallions body slipping out of her already shaky grip.

After several minutes of flying, she reached the ground, and set the stallion down just outside the giant tree that made up Twilight’s library. Rainbow Dash knocked loudly on the door, several times, until a bleary-eyed Twilight opened the door.
“What is it Rainbow?” Twilight asked with yawn, as it was quite early in the morning, even for the studious unicorn.
“I found this guy just falling out the sky, and thought you could help.” Dash replied.
“You should take him to Nurse Redheart, she’s more qualified for this than I am. Besides, who is this guy anyway? I don’t recognise him.”
“I have no idea myself, but, yeah, I probably should’ve taken him straight to the nurse. Sorry ‘bout waking ya Twilight.”

With that, Rainbow Dash scooped up the stallion and flew off in search of the nurse, so she could get back to practicing her skills. Looking around, she spotted the familiar blue tent of Ponyville Urgent Care, where Nurse Redheart could often be found. She swooped down through the front flaps of the tent, to find both of the Nurses, tending to a group of ponies who looked like they had eaten some bad food at a party.
“Uh, Nurses, sorry if this is a bad time, but I think I’ve got another patient for you.”

______________________________________________________________________________

Takanuva woke slowly as he regained consciousness, and then suddenly jolted fully awake as he remembered what had just happened. Looking around him, he saw that he was in a blue tent, lined with beds along either side, almost like a hospital ward. A couple of the beds were occupied, but he couldn’t see much more of them than a lump in a bedsheet.

He heard sounds from outside the tent, and since he didn’t know if the people of this universe would take kindly to a toa appearing out of nowhere or not, he thought it best to lie there and pretend to be asleep. He laid his head back on the soft pillow which someone had placed under it. As he lay there, he saw the flap at the front of the tent swing open and a set of hooves enter.

Takanuva had to prevent himself from gasping, as that would surely have given him away. This universe was full of equines? It truly was one of the stranger universes had travelled to.

“Has he woken up at all?” he heard one of them ask, in a soft voice.

“No, he has not stirred since he arrived.” the other replied.

He risked a brief glance upwards to get a better look at the ‘ponies’, as he felt that no other word truly fit what he was seeing. One was a very clean white, with a light pink mane, and a small cylindrical hat, with a red cross on it. The other however, was more confusing, it had a lavender coat, a mane of dark blue, with a purple and pink streak through it. The really strange part however, was that this one had a horn sticking up through its head.

The second one turned in his direction, making Takanuva’s heart lurch. Had she seen him? The horn on its head started to glow, as he felt a tingling sensation caress his body, like it was searching through it. He had to focus really hard, to stop himself from shivering and giving himself away.

“It’s alright, I know you’re awake, you can stop pretending.” the lavender one said, directly to him, with only the slightest hint of animosity in her voice, and he guessed that even that was just impatience. Takanuva slowly sat up, and got his first good look at himself. Somehow, either because of the faulty gateway, or something else, he had become a pony himself. He had a silvery grey coat, with a dark grey mane, and tail just like his mask after he was attacked by that shadow leech. He also no longer had any hands, and in their place, were hooves.

“How are you feeling? Are you alright?” the white one asked him, with genuine concern in her voice.
“I...I think so.” Takanuva replied, still dazed by the realization that he was a pony, and that his voice still worked normally.
“Thank Celestia” the lavender one said, with a noticeable exhalation, “You gave us quite a scare there.”
“Where am I? How did I get here?” he asked, with slight hints of unease creeping into his voice.
“You’re in Ponyville, you just fell out of the sky. If it hadn’t been for Rainbow Dash catching you, I don’t think there’s much anyone could have done for you.” Takanuva was quite intrigued by this. The Olmak must have really failed if it created the exit gate that high above the ground, as it usually made sure they were formed either on or slightly above ground level.
“And you are...?” he asked the unicorn.
“I’m Twilight Sparkle, and I run the library here in Ponyville. Rainbow Dash brought you to me when she first found you, so I thought I’d drop in and see how you’re doing.” He was surprised, she came to check up on a complete stranger?
“Tha..Thank you. Can I meet this Rainbow Dash? I’d like to thank her for saving me.” he asked.
“Physically you’re fine, we were just waiting for you to wake up. You can leave if you want” the white pony cut in.
“Thank you nurse redheart.” Twilight said to the nurse, “Come on, I’ll take you to Rainbow Dash.” Takanuva shakily got to his feet, and stumbled a few steps after the unicorn. After several shaky steps, he got used to the way his new body worked, and managed to keep up with Twilight. They walked through what Twilight had called ‘Ponyville’, with quaint little cottages on either side of a cobblestone road.

Every so often, they would see ponies flying through the sky, and moving or getting rid of clouds. So, there are pegasi here as well. How many other types of pony are there Takanuva thought to himself. The sight of the pegasi caused Takanuva to turn and look at his own back. He realised, with a bit of a shock, that he had a pair of feathered wings, laid flat against his back. He also spotted that, where his hind legs met his body, he had a small image, which looked surprisingly like the Kanohi Avohkii (the mask of light).

After a very quiet walk through town, they reached a large orchard, with rows and rows of apple trees, all of them laden with bright shiny red apples.
“Rainbow Dash likes to come her to practise her flying skills.” Twilight casually remarked, breaking the awkwardly long silence between them. “Her and Applejack are really good friends.” And with that they settled back into silence as they made their way between two rows of trees.

They were about halfway to the bright red barn at the centre of the orchard, when a bright rainbow streak appeared over their heads, accompanied by a gust of wind that almost blew Takanuva over. Just as he had recovered himself, the streak turned sharply and came back towards them. He got down into a firm posture, determined not to get blown over again, but instead of flying past again, it just slowed down and came to a stop just in front of him.
Now that it wasn’t moving so fast, Takanuva could see that it wasn’t just a streak, but in fact a bright blue pegasus, with a rainbow coloured mane that must have been what caused the rainbow streak effect.
“Heya Twilight, how’s it hangin’!” The pegasus called out, seemingly oblivious to Takanuva’s presence. 
“Fine, Rainbow, I’ve brought someone to see you.” Twilight replied.
“Hey, it’s you!” Rainbow said, noticing Takanuva for the first time, “How you feeling? Sorry I couldn’t come by earlier, I’ve been practising some tricks for the Wonderbolts.”
“I’m...fine, Rainbow Dash. Besides, I only just woke up a few minutes ago myself.”
“Glad I could help. And by the way, what exactly is your name?” This gave Takanuva pause, sure they had seemed friendly so far, but for all he knew it could be an act. But at the same time, they seemed like they genuinely wanted to get to know him.
“My name... is Takanuva.”He said hesitantly.
“Hmm, that’s not a type of name I’ve ever heard of” Twilight cut in, with curiosity in her voice. “Where are you from?”
“It will be hard to believe, but... I am from another dimension entirely.” This caused both Twilight and Rainbow Dash to step backwards in shock.
“Anoth...Another dimension? How is that possible? I’ve never read about any spells on dimensional travel.” Twilight stammered, clearly shaken by this news.
“It is no spell Twilight, where I come from, we have masks that grant us special powers. I used the mask of dimensional gateways to get here, but I lost it just before I entered the portal, which must have been why I ended up here.” Takanuva replied.
“So, Takanuva, you used a magic mask to make a doorway here, but just happened to lose it before you went through. Sounds fishy if you ask me.” Rainbow Dash said accusingly.
“I was being chased by people who would do harm to me and anyone else in their way, and now they have the mask. Because of that, I am stuck here, unless of course there is some ‘spell’ to get me back.”
“Now that could be difficult, I’ve read a large portion of the books at Canterlots library, but I’ve never seen any reference to there even being any other dimensions, let alone how to travel between them. However, if I could get into Celestia’s private library, then... ” Twilight replied, with a look in her eye that, if allowed to, she would keep on talking for hours. Before Twilight could continue on about how she could research this, a voice came from up towards the barn.
“Hey, Rainbow! Yah gonna get back here or what?” The voice was soon followed by a bright orange pony, wearing a form of hat that Takanuva didn’t recognise. “ Oh, howdy Twi’, when did you get here?”
“Just now Applejack, I was just bringing Takanuva here to see Rainbow Dash, to say thanks after saving his life.” Twilight answered to Applejack.
“Ah, howdy.” Applejack said turning to Takanuva, “So, where ya from? I can tell you’re not from around here, with a name like Takanuva.” Twilight cut in before Takanuva could say anything.
“It’s...complicated.” she said sheepishly to her friend.
“Well, yah got a place to stay while you’re here?” Applejack asked to him, with genuine concern in her voice.
“Um... well, not really” Takanuva started before he was cut off by Rainbow Dash butting in.
“He can stay with me, I’ve got plenty of space. And besides, how can he repay me for saving him if I don’t know where he is?”
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight shouted, startling Takanuva with the fieceness of her voice, which was extremely different to the way she normally spoke.
“I was joking! Sheesh Twilight, learn to take a joke.” Rainbow Dash replied, backing away slightly from Twilight’s sudden outburst.
“It is alright Twilight, I would be honored to accept Rainbow Dash’s offer, assuming that wasn’t part of the joke as well.” Takanuva cut in, jokingly raising an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash.
“No, I meant it. Since you’re a pegasus it should be no problem at all, that is, if you can actually use those wings.”
“Why wouldn’t he? Surely he knows how to use those wings of his?” Applejack interrupted, with a confusion both in her voice and on her face.
“Long Story” Twilight and Rainbow Dash both said to Applejack together. Just as Takanuva was about to explain that it’s alright and tell Applejack how he got there, when he felt a deep pain in his stomach, accompanied by a loud rumble.
“Whoa Takanuva, that’s one helluva belly rumble there. Why don’t yah come on up to the farm and we’ll get yah a good ol’ Apple family spread.” Applejack offered warmly, gesturing up the the big barn at the centre of the orchard.
“That’s very nice of you Applejack.” Twilight cut in, before Takanuva had a chance to say anything, ”But I think I’ll just take him down to sugarcube corner, because you know what Pinkie Pie’s like, may as well get it over with, I mean, the sooner we introduce him, the sooner the party; and we all know how great those parties are.” Twilight then turned to Takanuva and quietly said “Believe me, after an Apple family spread, you won’t need to eat for weeks.”
With that, they bid Applejack and Rainbow Dash goodbye, turned around and made their way out of Sweet Apple Acres and back into town. This time, the walk was a bit more conversational, although Twilight did most of the talking, about things like the history of equestria, the different towns and cities, and basic information about Equestria that Takanuva would need in order to pass himself off  as a regular pegasus passing through town.
Twilight was just explaining the reasoning behind the names of the major towns and cities as they came up to a brightly coloured building, designed to look like it was assembled out of confectionary. It certainly didn’t leave much doubt as to what it sold.
“Now, when we go in, try not to excite Pinkie too much. Emphasis on try. Also, don’t let her freak you out at all, she’s just being Pinkie Pie.” Twilight said warningly to him, though in a friendly way.
They walked through the door of the building, and Takanuva almost instantly found himself surrounded by pink. It wasn’t that the room had an overabundance of the colour, rather that he had just walked into mass of pink hair. When he had backed up a few steps, he could see that he had accidentally walked into someone leaving the shop. That someone was a yellow pegasus with a pink mane, that had now backed away from him and was looking quite nervously at him, glancing repeatedly at Twilight, as if for reassurance.
“Sorry about that Fluttershy, I didn’t realise you were here. This is Takanuva, I was just taking him for a bit of a tour.” Twilight said reassuringly to the nervous pegasus. Fluttershy relaxed a little at this, but was still a bit stiff.
“No no Twilight, it’s quite alright. I was just helping Pinkie Pie bake some cupcakes. She said she had a feeling that she would be needing them, and we know about Pinkie’s feelings don’t we.” Fluttershy said quietly to Twilight, loosening up in the presence of her friend, despite the lingering unease of a stranger. “Besides, I probably should have been looking where I was going more.”
“It was my fault Fluttershy, don’t worry about it. I should have been more careful.” Takanuva apologised, trying to look as unintimidating as possible, but only causing Fluttershy to back away from him more and whisper something so quietly that he couldn’t make it out. He realised that he may have been a bit too upfront, so he backed off a few steps and tried to look apologetic. 
“I..I’m sorry Twilight, I’ve really got to get back to the little animals back at the cottage.” Fluttershy whispered, audibly this time, and got up and left quite quickly. The void in conversation this left between Twilight and Takanuva was nearly instantly filled by a wall of bright pinkness, that filled Takanuva’s entire vision. The mass then backed away a very little bit, so he could make out the features of a pony, a regular wingless, hornless pony, with a air of energy around her that just told you that she was hyper, sugar-induced or not.
“A new pony! I know you must be new because I know literally every pony in ponyville, so if I don’t recognise you, you must be new, so...” The pony began, only to be very quickly cut off by Twilight.
“Pinkie Pie, I’d like you to meet Takanuva, he’s new around these parts.”
“Well DUH! Of course he is! I’m going to need streamers! Balloons! Candy! Good thing I made those cupcakes! GUUAAHH I know what’ll make this great!” Pinkie nearly shouted, with an enthusiasm that was extremely contagious. She then ran up the stairs, making noises that sounds strangely like a hammer and nails.
The space vacated by the hyperactive pony was soon occupied by a blue pony with a mane that was two shades of pink, who seemed very motherly in her actions.
“Hello dearie, don’t mind Pinkie, she just loves meeting new friends.” the pony began, “Anyway, welcome to Sugarcube corner, can we help you with anything?”
“Hi Mrs Cake, I was just taking Takanuva for a snack. He’s new in town, as you could probably guess from Pinkie.” Twilight replied.
“Oh, hello Twilight, I didn’t see you there. What would you like?”
Twilight walked over to the counter and began perusing through the selection of things on offer. Takanuva remembered how hungry he was, and went over there himself. The glass cabinet set into the counter was full of various types of cake and confectionary. They all looked equally appetising to Takanuva, but he found himself drawn to a particular slice of cake. It was dark brown, with a cream filling, white icing on top and covered in little shards of chocolate.
“I would very much like a slice of that cake there, but unfortunately I have no money with which to use to pay for it.” Takanuva said over the counter to Mrs Cake, who was waiting patiently for them.
“Don’t worry about it Takanuva, I’ll pay for this one, but you won’t be able to live off freebies forever” Twilight cut in “You’ll need to get a job if you’re going to stay in town.”
Mrs Cake took out the plates with the things that Twilight and Takanuva had asked for. She took a single slice of each off their plates, and wrapped them up surprisingly delicately considering that she didn’t have fingers. They both picked up their bundles in their teeth, said farewell through gritted teeth and made their way to the door.
As they stepped out the doorway, they heard wingbeats closing in on them. They looked up to see Rainbow Dash flying towards them, an urgent expression on her face. She glided to a halt just in front of them and began to speak.
“Twilight! I just saw Princess Celestia’s carriage on it’s way here, along with a whole bunch of royal guards!”
“What! Princess Celestia? Here?” Twilight echoed, concern easily noticeable in her voice “Why didn’t she tell me, we need to prepare!”
As Twilight looked around rapidly, trying to find things that need sorting out before the Princess arrived, several pairs of wings could be heard, followed by half a dozen very serious looking pegasi, wearing identical suits of golden armour. The pegasi, which Takanuva assumed were the royal guard, were soon followed by a bright white pony, with an air of majesty around her. Instead of having just a horn, or just wings, this pony had both, setting her apart from anypony he’d seen before. The pony’s appearance gave Takanuva the sense that he should be bowing before her, so he did so, while Twilight simply ran up to her like a parent.
“Princess, why didn’t you tell me you were coming? I would have set something up.”
“Sorry, my dear student, but even I did not know that I was coming until recently, when I felt a shift in the magical balance.” the Princess said to Twilight, like they had known each other for years, “A shift that I traced back here, to Ponyville, specifically to this pony right in front of me. He does not belong here.”
______________________________________________________________________________

	
> Chapter 2: Acclimatisation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Of course not princess, he told us what happened, but there isn’t much we can do at the moment” Twilight said to the princess, using a more informal tone than Takanuva had expected when talking to royalty.

“I know that we can’t do anything yet, my student, but I must tell you, whenever the magical balance has shifted before, great calamity has usually followed.” the princess replied, “Besides, I have a good idea where he is from, and he is not the first to have ventured here.”

“What do you mean? Has one of my kind been here before?” Takanuva cut in, getting up from his bow.

“Yes, once before, many years ago. He called himself Brutaka, but he did not look as you do, he appeared quite mechanical, as if he was not actually alive. Whether by accident or on purpose, he was followed into our land. I did not understand at first, but it was soon revealed that what had followed him was what your kind call ‘Antidermis’.” she said, talking directly to Takanuva this time, “It caused a lot of havoc in equestria for a long time, possessing many a pony with no way to track it, until we finally found and contained it. Now you understand why I am apprehensive about our new guest.”

“I understand your concerns, for I have received a similar reception on many occasions. But I assure you, I mean you and your people no harm. Although, the people that now have my only means of leaving this land might do.” Takanuva explained. 

“All the same, I feel it necessary to make sure of such things, as much can be achieved by a little deception, but I trust in Twilight's judgement.” the princess then turned to Twilight and simply said “Goodbye my student.”
The princess then turned and stepped onto her carriage, and the pegasus guards pulling it took off and pulled it up into the sky towards Canterlot. 

“I guess I’ll leave you two to it then, as my education obviously doesn’t extend to flying. Good luck both of you.” Twilight called to them as Takanuva walked over to where Rainbow Dash was hovering impatiently.

“Now then Takanuva, flying is a very easy thing to do, so I won’t spend too long trying to explain it,” Rainbow Dash said as Takanuva arrived on the hilltop, with a surprisingly authoritative voice, “Flying is more of an instinct than a learned skill, it is to feel the wind in your wings, let it guide you and help you, rather than fighting it, and trying to manipulate it.”

“I believe I am acquainted with the basics Rainbow Dash, I am no stranger to flight myself,” Takanuva cut in, stopping Rainbow Dash mid-speech, “It should not be too different to what I am used to.”

“Alright then, give it a try.” Rainbow Dash said to him, in a tone of voice that just screamed of a challenge. Takanuva tried to open his wings, unfamiliar with the appendages he now possessed. With a bit of trial and error, he worked out how to open and close his wings, as well as to tilt them. At the moment he was a bit clumsy with them, but he felt that he was good enough to try a test flight. He ran across the hill, building momentum, and when the slope downwards began to steepen, he opened his wings and leaped.

As he reached the apex of his leap, he felt the wind catch underneath his wings, slowing his descent into more of a glide. As a test, he pushed his wings downwards, against the gathering air. He rose further above the hill, as he fell into a rhythm, rising higher and higher until he was high above the hilltop, higher even than where Rainbow Dash was watching.

He then relaxed his wings a bit, letting himself fall towards the ground, while still keeping them open enough so he had control of his descent. On landing he staggered a bit, adjusting the his legs supporting his weight again, but he still managed to keep on him hooves.

“Nice one,” Rainbow called from above, where she was still hovering, “it usually takes somepony at least a dozen attempts to maintain a flight, let alone land again without falling flat on their faces.” With this encouragement, Takanuva tried taking off and landing again. After several short hops of flight, he felt sure enough of his basics to try slightly more complex things. Firstly, he tried to actually tilt himself in flight, so he was actually flying upwards, rather than being dragged up by his wings.

His first attempts were fairly clumsy, due mostly to inexperience, but after what seemed like an hour of flying and landing, and occasionally crashing, Takanuva was flying around like he had been born with wings, banking and dipping, rolling and diving. Rainbow Dash had even taken to flying alongside him, offering tips and hints on techniques.

“Wow Takanuva, you’re getting good,” Rainbow Dash praised, as they landed for the final time, “But nowhere near as good as me. Although, with considerable practice, you could come close.”

“Thank you Rainbow Dash. Like I said, I am no stranger to flying, but never before have my means of flight been literally part of me. It is, strange, to say the least.”

“No problem, ‘nuva, I guess we should get going, it’s starting to get dark. Come on, I’ll show you the way.” Rainbow Dash said to Takanuva, flying off back towards town, now with Takanuva following her in flight as well, “And by the way, you can just call me Dash, or Rainbow, whichever you want really, no need to be formal. I mean, we’re friends, right?” This caused Takanuva to stop in his tracks, hovering in the air. “Takanuva, you alright?” Dash called to him.

“Of course Rainbow,” Takanuva said as he shook his head, “It’s just, I’ve never really had a friend, I’ve had team-mates, and we’ve got along fine, but I’ve only ever had one friend who didn’t need to be around me, and I’ve barely seen him for ages.”

“Gee, Takanuva, that sounds, well, dull really. But hey, you’ve got friends now. You’ve got me, I’m sure Twilight would agree with me, and Pinkie, who I gather you met at sugarcube corner earlier, well, she just likes anypony.”

“Thank you Rainbow, this means a lot to me. Now, where in fact is it we’re heading, we just seem to be getting higher and higher.”

“Oh, you’ll see.” Rainbow  Dash said mysteriously to Takanuva, as she turned and flew off towards what, at that distance, looked like just a gathering of clouds. Takanuva flew after her, until the clouds that they were headed towards started looking less like a random gathering of clouds, but a deliberate sculpting of them into a grand looking structure. As they reached the edge of the clouds, Rainbow Dash descended to the surface of the clouds, and as her hooves made contact with them, they merely depressed slightly, and Dash just walked along up to the door.

When Takanuva reached them, he landed more hesistantly, not used to being able to walk on clouds, and his first steps were shaky, until his body got used to it and was able to walk properly. The inside looked just as lavish as the exterior, and was currently decorated with all manner of decorations, banners and streamers, balloons and confetti. The room was currently occupied by five ponies, two unicorns, two earth ponies and a pegasus.

He recognised four of them, but he hadn’t met the fifth, a unicorn mare with a luxurious purple mane and tail.

“SURPRISE!!” they all called out as he entered the room, startling both him and Rainbow Dash with the sudden appearance of these ponies.

“Hey there! Sorry about having to leave you earlier, but I had this absolutely great idea for the party, which I just had to do, before I forgot! Anyway, I set up this party just for you, because when I saw you, I knew you were new in town, so that meant you hadn’t met anyone yet, besides Twilight, and that meant you didn’t have any friends, so I threw you this party, but since Rainbow lives in the clouds, Twilight had to use her cloud-walking spell, and she couldn’t use it all the ponies I wanted to invite so it’s just us five, and Dashie and you, of course!” the hyper pink party pony said to Takanuva, so quickly that he couldn’t believe it was all in one breath and he was unable to keep up fully.

“What she means to say is, we set up this party for you, to help you get settled in better.” Twilight said as she walked up to Takanuva, “It’s sort of a tradition in Ponyville. Well, for Pinkie at least.”

“Hey! You could have let me in on it.” Rainbow said indignantly, before softening up moments after, “You guys scared the hay out of me.”

“That’s the point you silly filly! It can’t be a surprise party if nopony’s surprised. Duh.” said the hyperactive party-pony now bouncing all over the room. Takanuva took another look around, taking in all of the lush decorations around the room. There were several tables in the room, all piled high with many different types of food, cake and sweets, punch and soda, and many more. It all looked delicious and then Takanuva remembered that with the arrival of the princess, he hadn’t had the chance to have his slice of cake, which was now most likely sitting on the floor outside the bakery. Thankfully, there was no shortage of choice about what to eat, so he more than made up for the slice of cake he had missed earlier. 

Throughout the rest of the afternoon, the seven of them ate, played games, and generally had fun. The yellow pegasus that he had met earlier, Fluttershy, gradually became more open and confident around him, being particularly vocal when he mentioned Pewku, getting him to tell her about all the other wildlife back on Mata Nui. The white unicorn that Takanuva hadn't met introduced herself to Takanuva as Rarity, and soon mentioned the tussled state of his mane, scolding him for not taking better care of it.

"Sorry about being so forceful darling, I just can't help trying to intervene when I see somepony not taking proper care of their appearance. Anyway, just come down to my boutique sometime soon and I'll make sure to come up with something to make you look magnifique. On the house of course, just think of it as my welcome gift to you." Rarity said after introducing herself.

The party wound on late into the night, until Twilight and the other non-pegasi had to leave, as the cloud-walking spell seemed to be wearing off. Fluttershy had to get back to her cottage to check up on all her animals, and make sure they were all OK. Rainbow Dash led him over to a room near the back of the house, with a reasonably sized bed, and a small chest of drawers off to the side. The bed was made out of pure cloud, separated from the floor by a small frame of some unsure material.

"OK Takanuva, this is your room. Feel free to use it as you want, but try not to disturb me, I'm just across the hall and I've got to get some rest if I'm going to get good enough for the Wonderbolts." Rainbow Dash said to him, as he looked around the room, and took in the view from out the window.

Rainbow turned and left the room, leaving Takanuva by himself. He settled down on the bed, marvelling at how soft, yet supportive it was, and closed his eyes. As he started to fall asleep, he couldn't help but feel he had forgotten something...
> Chapter 3: Acceptance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Takanuva groaned as he surfaced from the depths of his fitful sleep. He could not help worrying about the construction plant, and what the Makuta had been constructing. He knew there he was little he could do about it, without the Olmak to return to that universe, but he still felt responsible for it.

He had to look around the small room to reaffirm where he was, that it wasn't some hallucination from the Olmak malfunctioning or some other accident. Indeed, he was still a pony, and he was still lying down on a bed made of clouds, in a house also made of clouds. Easing himself out of the bed, he could hear footsteps in one of the other rooms, presumably belonging to Rainbow Dash, whose house he had been sleeping in.

Rainbow Dash turned as Takanuva entered the main living space of her house, the signs of his restless sleep easy to see  on his rustled mane and bleary-eyed expression. She had waited for him to wake up before heading off to weather patrol, to make sure that he was alright. She would be late, but her supervisors had come to expect that from her, with her habit of oversleeping, so they would likely understand.

"Welcome back to the land of the living Takanuva, and I thought I slept in late. Anyway, I've got to head off to weather patrol, so you've got the day to yourself. You can find something to do, right? Well, see ya." With that she spread her wings and flew out the door.

Now on his own, Takanuva wondered about what he was going to do to fill the time. He knew he would need to get a job, but there was plenty of time for that. Then he remembered the offer that the white unicorn had made last night at the party. He decided that he would go visit her, see what sort of thing she would come up with. He flew out the door and headed down to ponyville, to find someone to ask for directions.

The main street was fairly empty, as it was late enough that most ponies were at work. The only pony that Takanuva could see was a brown earth pony stallion, with an image of an hourglass on his flank. Seeing as there was no-one else around, he decided to him for directions.

"Excuse me, but would you happen to know where I might find Rarity?" Takanuva asked as he drew close.

"Ah, yes, Rarity, let me see, she lives at Carousel Boutique, which is just down that way on the left. It's quite unique, so I'm sure you'll be able to tell which it is." he replied, and as he started walking off, Takanuva could just make out him muttering, "Now, where did I leave that blasted blue box?"

He turned to where the stallion had pointed and started walking down the road. He soon saw what he was looking for, as, like the pony had said, the building was very unique. It was shaped like some form of kids ride, with a circular shape, and statues of ponies outside the windows on the upper level. As he reached the door he lifted his hoof and rapped it against the door twice. He waited for a moment, until the door was surrounded in a blue glow, and opened to reveal the white unicorn.Her mane was slightly unkempt, with a measuring tape around her neck, and a pair of glasses on her face.

"Ah, Takanuva, I was just hoping you would stop by, I've got some designs to show you for your new outfit. If you would just step inside." Rarity said as she greeted him. He stepped inside and admired the way the room was decorated. The inside was decorated in a similar style to the outside, with hues of blue and pink, and mannequins along the walls with a variety of outfits on them, which seemed mostly for mares.

"Now darling, I'm most used to designing for Mares, but I've always found the classic suit and tie to be so drab, so I always enjoy any chance I get to experiment with outfits for stallions as well." she said as brought over a sheet of paper on a stand, with an intricate drawing on it, "Right, here is what I was thinking for your outfit. I tried to make it classy, but suitable for more informal occasions, as well as comfortable enough for casual wear. I chose a colour scheme to compliment your coat and mane, with a choice selection of gems for that glamour factor. If you want to see them, the gems are just over here."

Rarity walked over to a large chest at the edge of the room, opened it up, and instead of pulling something out with her magic, like he expected, just looked inside with a slightly puzzled expression.

"Hmm, I could have sworn I had more in here, that last dress must have used more than I thought. Oh well, I guess I'll have to ask Twilight if I can get Spike to come with me collect some more."

Hearing this, Takanuva realised an opportunity to explore some of the surrounding landscape of the town.

"I could go with you, I'm not concerned with getting my han...hooves dirty, and I'd love to see some of the surrounding area" he offered to her.

"Really, that would be wonderful, that is, so long as you don't mind having to dig up the gems. I usually have Spike with me to help me with that." 

"That should be no problem, physical labour isn't exactly alien to me." he replied, "So, do you want to go now, or do you have anything else you need to do beforehand."

Only a few minutes later, they were both out at the gem fields, on the outskirts of Ponyville. Takanuva was pulling a wagon already partly full of gemstones, while Rarity had her head lowered with an expression of feverish concentration on her face as her horn glowed with blue magic. Their search for gems lead them to a large cave, that stretched deep underground. Rarity used her horn to light the way, and they advanced down into the tunnel.

The tunnel was rich with gems, and the wagon was soon filled up with stones of all shapes, colours and sizes. They were on their way back out of the tunnel and back to town when Rarity detected a particularly large gem embedded deep in the wall of the tunnel, with a strange formation of rocks around it, as if it was being grasped by a set of large claws. Upon seeing this, Takanuva realised something was wrong, and leapt towards Rarity as she reached the gem, preparing her magic to extract it from the rock surrounding it.

He was too slow however, and before he could stop her, Rarity had pulled the jewel from the cave wall, and with it came a large bipedal creature, fur covering its entire body, with a crude vest covering its torso and a cunning sly grin on its canine face. As soon as the white unicorn had realised that she wasn't just pulling a beautiful black gem from the wall, she released her magic and started to back away, but the creature was much faster, grabbing Rarity with the arm that wasn't grasping the gem. The claws on its paw dug into the fur on the unicorns body as it drew her into a full hold, as two more of the creatures burst from the walls and advanced on Takanuva, who had fallen on his face after his failed dive.

"This pony thought it could cheat us out of our gems," the first of the creatures said, with a growl to its voice, "But  diamond dogs not so easily beaten. Little white pony won't steal any more from us, and whining and crying won't work this time. Even big black flying pony can't help you."

With that, the diamond dogs, as they called themselves, edged around Takanuva and started to make their way down the tunnel, keeping themselves facing towards him, with Rarity held in front of them, one paw around her horn, the other across her throat. Seeing them take her away, Takanuva was reminded of the matoran of home, and how he was sworn to protect them. Adrenaline surged through his body, and he instinctively reached for the familiar power that had helped him through many situations. 

Although his mind was telling him that he no longer had the mask, and therefore wasn't able to use the power that usually resided within him, he grasped for it anyway, and surprisingly, it reacted to him and he tugged, forming that power into a form he could use. Before he could fully control it, he felt his hooves leave the ground, and pulled up off the floor. As he looked towards the retreating diamond dogs, he saw the tunnel darken around him, with a bright glow from behind him, as if the light was being drawn towards him, creating shadows everywhere else except for a large pair of radiant wings behind him and a long sharp spear of light from his forehead.

As this happened, Takanuva could see the faces of the diamond dogs turn from sneering triumph, to a look of sheer terror in the darkness, as this figure of light and shadow loomed above them, a fire in his gaze equalled only by the glow of his light. 

"You will not take Rarity!" he bellowed, as the familiar, but now strangely different, power started to overcome him, with  a fierce desire to protect her and the other ponies of this land, because even if he couldn't get back to his home dimension, that didn't mean that he couldn't help this dimension in whatever way he could like he was meant to as a toa and as a good person.

The power coalesced within him as he focussed on the lead diamond dog, who was now noticeably scared by Takanuva, and thus had loosened his grip on Rarity. Having seen the opening, the white unicorn managed to slip out of his grasp and run off to the other side of the glowing toa. With nothing to block him, Takanuva released the energy of the mask of light, and a large beam of pure light crashed into the diamond dogs with a physical impact that sent all three of them tumbling down the tunnel with a crash as the hit the ground.

Takanuva felt his legs return to the ground as he heard the scrabbling footsteps of the canines as they retreated back down the tunnel at high speed. He turned around to face Rarity, who was looking at him with an expression of shocked confusion, mixed with a slight hint of fear.

"My, what in Equestria was that? I've never even heard of a pegasus using magic, let alone anything strong enough to defeat three diamond dogs at once." She exclaimed, clearly overwhelmed by this turn of events.

"I believe that was the power of my mask of light, which is strange as I don't appear to have it anymore" Takanuva replied, as he used one of his hooves to check that his head was still just a head, and his mask hadn't appeared during the attack.

"Mask? I'm sure that I've never heard of such a thing, but then again Twilight is the one who knows all about the more obscure magic. Maybe we should check with her, see what she says. We've got enough gems for me to be working with for the time being anyways." The unicorn suggested, and turned to make her way back out of the tunnel.

The journey back to Ponyville was uneventful, with no interruptions to impede their progress back to town. It was even calm enough for Rarity to find another couple of gems for her stash as they walked. The cart of gems was dropped off at Carousel boutique as they passed and then they made their way over to Twilight's distinctive tree house library. Rarity tapped lightly on the door and it was shortly opened by a purple aura of magic, revealing the purple unicorn surrounded by a moderately large pile of books, papers and other documents. As the two ponies stepped into the room, Twilight didn't seem to take note of their presence until, with a slight prompt from Rarity, she turned with a start to face them, and hurriedly levitated several of the books littering the floor onto the shelves.

"Oh hey guys, what's up?" Twilight said, blushing as she regained her composure.

"Well, Takanuva and I have something to ask you about." Rarity replied, "You see, we just had a run in with those horrid Diamond Dogs, and in the process of saving me, Takanuva here seemed to use some form of magic. He said that it had something to do with a 'mask' but I've never heard of anything like that."

"Hmm, I've heard of artefacts that can amplify innate natural magic, but never anything that could grant magic in itself, especially to a pony that wasn't a unicorn. Maybe if I knew some more about where you came from Takanuva, I might be able to come up with a theory."

"If you wish, although it may be quite a long story." Takanuva said, feeling himself slipping back into a familiar feeling from his days as Takua the chronicler, that of telling a story to an eager audience. "In the time before time, the Great Spirit descended from the heavens, carrying those called the Matoran to an island paradise. They were separate, and without purpose, so the great spirit illuminated them with the three virtues, Unity, Duty and Destiny. They embraced these gifts and named their island home Mata Nui, after the Great Spirit who had brought them to it. Their happiness was not to last however, as Mata Nui's brother the Makuta was jealous of these gifts and betrayed him, casting him into a deep slumber. This left the Makuta free to spread shadows, and spread them he did."

Twilight and Rarity stood enthralled by Takanuva's storytelling, as he explained all about the Toa, the Masks and all the struggles between Light and Darkness that had engulfed his home. Several times Rarity had seemed slightly faint when he went into particular details about some of the more brutal encounters between the Toa and the Makuta.

"And then on one particular day, not long after my powers of light had been drained by the shadow leech, I came across a mighty warrior known as Brutaka, who had a message for the other members of my team, now on their way to the core of Mata Nui. He attempted to send me to them using the power of his Kanohi Olmak, the mask of Dimensional Gates. This, however, did not work as well as he had planned, sending me to an alternate version of my own dimension, a Dark Mirror, if you will, which caused a great deal of trouble for myself as I had to procure the Olmak of this dimension in order to leave and return to my home. In the course of doing so however, I uncovered a plan within one of the dimensions I visited that would have the potential to cause great harm to all the multiverse. In my attempt to escape from my pursuers, I opened a gateway with the Olmak I had managed to obtain, and tried to gather support to stop it. This attempt was unsuccessful, as I was struck just as I created the gateway, and lost the mask into the underbrush right as I was about to enter it, making it impossible for me to retrieve it before I fell into the gate which must have led me here. As to why I am now of a similar physiology to you, I myself am uncertain as to its cause, although it may have something to do with the kanohi with which I was struck as I left that universe."

By this point, Rarity was visibly having difficulties staying awake, as it had taken Takanuva several hours to fully explain his story. Twilight, on the other hand, was still wide awake, her face lit up wth intrigue as she learned about this other land, so different to her own.

"This explains so much, and it must be true, there's no way somepony would be able to fabricate such an elaborate story, let alone keep it consistent all the way through." Twilight blurted once Takanuva had finished, "So this Mask of Light of yours, it gives you this power over light, and in coming to this universe it became your cutie mark, am I right in assuming?"

"Indeed you are" Takanuva replied.

"Here in Equestria, the power over Light itself is believed to be intrinsically linked to the alicorns, namely the princesses, so that may explain the horn and wings of light that Rarity mentioned when she elaborated on her account of what happened, as you tapped into the power of the Alicorns."

Before Twilight and Takanuva could continue their conversation, there was a loud rumbling sound from outside, so loud that it cause the library to shake, and several objects to fall off their shelves. This promptly woke Rarity from her dozing, as all three of them darted outside, where ponies where running here, there and everywhere, in a complete panic. Looking for the source of the commotion, Takanuva spotted something off in the distance, like a dark cloud over the Everfree Forest.

"Twilight, you said earlier that weather here is scheduled, right. Is that cloud meant to be there?" Takanuva asked, his voiced tinged with a hint of worry.

"No.... no it's not." Twilight replied, with even more worry in her voice.

"Then we're in more trouble than just a rogue cloud, I think I know what that is, and it's not good."

"Wait, you know what happening? What is it?" Rarity interjected, looking considerably more worried than either of the other two ponies in the group.

"The very thing that led me here." Takanuva sternly responded, "The army of the Makuta has arrived in Ponyville."