//------------------------------// // Act I: Hunger: Peace // Story: Six Shadows // by Vicron //------------------------------// Krika’s body lurched slightly, like something had pushed at it from inside and then retreated.  Twilight blinked, a grin stretching across her face, it might actually work. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Mutran’s eyes flash blue and yellow, the small strip of metal he pulled from his arm healing over in the space of a blink.  She made a mental note to ask him about that later. For now, she had a possible rebirth to witness. The air shifted, the shadow cast across the roof by Krika deepening until not even a trace of the texture beneath it could be seen, like someone had simply erased a part of the floor from the universe.  Twilight took a deep breath and opened herself to what was happening, trying to get a feeling for it. The feeling came easily, Shadow Magics swirled through the air more thickly than she’d ever seen before. Faster and faster the energy swirled, it occurred to her that she’d never asked what exactly Chirox had meant by “feed.”  What was he feeding on? What was powering this? Her horn lit as she cast a gentle spell, just to let her see the flow of energy around her.  Her eyes widened, the sunlight, it was fueled by the sunlight. A sound started, low and dull, it sounded almost like moaning. “It’s working!”  Mutran clapped his hands together, “he’s putting himself back together!” The sound grew louder, his shadow on the ground spreading out and beginning to peel up off the ground, following the swirling energy like tongues of flame.  The Darkness began to spread faster than the sunlight could come in, not blocking the light, but absorbing it, converting the light into more shadows. The darkness let out what almost sounded like a pained wail and arched up to surround Krika completely in a pillar of blackness, swirling like a stormcloud around him.  She could just barely see him begin to rise from his place in the center of them, an even darker outline against the roiling black. The darkness stopped for a moment before beginning to rush inward, like fountains running in reverse it leaped for Krika’s shrouded form in ribbons and flows, swirling in a nexus around him as he was finally revealed, standing tall, the last of the dark sliding into his mouth.  “It worked!” Mutran cheered, throwing his hands up into the air. “About time,” Chirox sneered, a self satisfied edge in his voice. Krika turned around, looking over his brothers first before his gaze landed on her. Twilight was at a loss for words, the casual command with which Krika handled the shadows he conjured had been impressive enough, but what he’d done before that was in another world entirely. To twist light on its head like that, converting it to Dark Energy with hardly any loss and not a trace of Black Magic, faster than it could come, no less.  That was beyond impressive, it was unheard of, almost a mathematic impossibility. Could all of the Makuta do that? He was staring at her, and she supposed his almost featureless face should have been making that uncomfortable, but all she could think about was that if all of them could do something like that then they were masters of Shadow Magic on a level that only Luna could really hope to compete with. He said something in the Makuta’s tongue and she shook herself out of her reverie. “Oh, sorry, where are my manners?”  She babbled, “I memorized a translation spell in case this happened, give me a minute.”  Her horn began to glow and she tried to remember the proper execution for the spell. Before she could fire it off Chirox huffed and his eyes glowed brighter, Krika’s glowing in turn. “Stop wasting your energy, he knows now.”  Twilight grinned sheepishly. “Hello there,” Krika said, his blank faceplate presenting a rather harsh disconnect between it and the soft, almost whispering tone of his voice. “Hello,” Twilight smiled nonetheless, bowing slightly, “I am Princess Twilight Sparkle.  I would like to officially welcome you to Equestria.” “I am Krika,” he bowed in return, his bulbous eyes flicking to Chirox and Mutran in turn before going back to her.  “How long was I trapped?” She may not have been able to study much of an expression, but something had him worried, he was on guard, more so than any of the other Makuta she’d met so far. “Three days,” Mutran said, Chirox having apparently decided his claws needed more attention than Krika.  “Though if it wasn’t for Twilight it would have been much longer.” “Princess,” Krika said before anyone else could say anything.  “She’s royalty, Mutran, show some respect.” Mutran narrowed his eyes at Krika and Twilight cleared her throat. “Just Twilight is fine,” she said, her smile a little bit strained now.  “The title is just for business.” She turned to Mutran, “also you’re being too kind, you know how your bodies work better than I do, you would have figured it out soon enough.”  She heard Krika snort and got the distinct feeling they hadn’t been looking to help Krika because he was one of them. Mutran looked down at her and seemed to puff up a little at her praise, his wings fluttering slightly. “Debatable,” he said, with no small degree of false modesty, “if Chirox or I thought of something as mundane as bad circuitry it would have been out of frustration that nothing else was working.  We are Makuta, after all, mundane physicalities are beneath our concern most of the time.” He let his armour puff out, the green mist of his Antidermis floating out into the air for a moment before he pulled it back. One of Krika’s bladed legs came down next to her and Twilight jumped a bit, looking up to find Krika staring at Mutran now.  Twilight was starting to get the feeling that a lot of her interactions with the Makuta were going to be her playing referee to keep them from getting into conflicts amongst themselves. She glanced up at Krika, if she had to guess by the way he was holding himself, he was trying to steadily put himself between her and the other Makuta.  That didn’t bode well at all. She cleared her throat to get his attention back. “I know his Kanohi is broken, but is there any chance we could get it back to him?”  Krika jolted, his third arm coming around to feel over his face. Twilight didn’t want to say his blank skullplate was beginning to unnerve her now that the rush of seeing him awaken was leaving her, but it was true. “Ah, right,” Mutran took the enormous mask off the ground where he’d tossed it when he’d gotten sick of carrying both Krika and the mask and handed it over to Krika.  Krika took it with his third arm and slid it back over his faceplate. The mask sputtered, its features seeming to slide like disjointed components for a moment before his eyes dimmed to grey, bolts of yellow flicking through them.  The mask’s pieces snapped back into place, letting him emote properly. Mutran grinned a bit impishly, “I’m no maskmaker, but I’m pretty sure that won’t make using it properly any more viable, just so you know.”  Krika’s mask shifted into a distinctly unimpressed grimace. “What’s happened since we got here?”  He asked, “what have you done?”  Chirox stepped forwards, unfurling one of his wings to drape it around Krika’s shoulders in an entirely too friendly gesture if the narrowing of Krika’s eyes was anything to go by. “We’ll get you filled in when we meet back up with the others.”  His grip tightened, “we’ve all just been so worried about you, brother.” Krika glanced down to Twilight, his expression making it much easier to tell now just how much he was studying her, it twisted to worry as he looked back at Mutran. “Promise me no harm will come to the Princess.”  Twilight blinked at that, Mutran’s wings flapped open, his shoulders coming up and his mask beginning to glow around the edges.  Krika opened his mouth again but no sound came out. “I apologize, Twilight, for my brother’s insinuations.”  Mutran chuckled, making some gesture Twilight didn’t recognize at Krika, then offered his other hand to Twilight, “I hope we can work together again soon, this was a pleasure.”  Twilight offered her hoof and he shook it cordially before turning back to Krika, a growl slipped into his voice, “but we must be off, got to let our siblings know the good news.”  He gestured for Krika and Chirox to follow him, his eyes flashing brighter red. Chirox began following first, pulling Krika along with him and leaving Twilight to wonder just what that was about. ______ Mutran and Chirox stormed into the room, Krika in tow, and Gorast couldn’t help the savage snarl that worked its way out of her throat. “Feel like explaining to Antroz the little stunt you just pulled?”  Mutran snapped, lightly smacking him upside the mask. “We wake you up and the first thing you do is try and undermine what we’re doing here?” Gorast rolled her eyes as Antroz approached, what had they been expecting the simpering fool to do?  Thank them? Like Krika would ever show another Makuta any form of decency. Krika’s mask sputtered as Antroz came to stand in front of him. “What, happened?”  He asked low, dangerously.  Gorast rose to stand at Antroz’ side, fighting down a grin as Krika’s eyes flashed with panic as he glanced at her.  He would do well to be afraid of her, his mask might be broken, but hers was perfectly fine. “Well?” “Mutran and Chirox had someone with them, a Princess, I was concerned.”  Krika answered quickly, trying to take a step back but being blocked by Chirox. “He made it sound like we were going to dispose of her as soon as we were done,” Chirox said, rubbing his claws together on the hand not holding Krika forwards.  “Which might actually be prudent,” Antroz’ brow went up. “I don’t think I actually want to know why you’d suggest sabotaging my work right now, but go on.”  Antroz shoved Krika aside. Krika deflated a bit in relief, but Gorast shot him a glare to let him know he wasn’t off the hook yet. “We had to let Twilight take full readings of both Chirox and Krika,” Mutran said, cutting off whatever irritating thing Chirox would likely have said.  “She could learn some... inconvenient things from those.” Antroz sighed and rubbed at the bridge between his eyes. “That was the deal, remember?”  He snapped, “don’t get cold feet now.”  He turned back to where he’d pushed Krika, “and you, I know you don’t like us, but I need you to trust me.” “Trust you?”  Krika spat, drawing himself up slightly.  Gorast growled and he stood down a little, she didn’t hide the smile this time.  It didn’t stop him from continuing, however, “I know you, I know all of us, trust is the last thing I could have for you.  What are you planning?” By the Great Beings, Gorast hated him.  She felt something spark in her and Krika took a step back.  She went to take a step forwards but Antroz put a hand on her shoulder.  The spark flickered and died as she looked up at him. Antroz’ face was set and grim, but there was a control to his bearing, he was thinking. “I intend to get us home, if we have these people’s trust then if Teridax has won, we will be heralded as heroes twofold, first for our service in Karda Nui, then for returning with new allies.  If he’s lost, we will have somewhere to hide and gather our strength until we can avenge him.” He knocked on his mask, “think, Krika, what do we have to gain from turning this place on us? Having two worlds set against us would be nothing but a nuisance.” “So you do intend to use them,” Krika sneered back, “do they even know who they are sheltering?” “To a degree, and it will stay that way,” Antroz released Gorast’s shoulder.  “There will be no infighting, understand?” Gorast almost gaped at him, here was Krika jeopardizing their mission, but that was definitely meant for her.  “Argue, bicker if you want, but if you so much as kick each other in the shins there will be consequences. We need to stay on Celestia’s good side.” “Why?”  Krika cocked his head. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”  Gorast shot back, he scrambled away from her a little and she let out a mirthless chuckle.  He was such a coward without his mask to offer him a safety net. “Because she’s one of the people in charge,” Antroz snapped, his eyes narrowing.  “No harm will come to these people unless someone,” he stepped towards Krika, “does something foolish.  Like what you tried to do with that Ga-Toa.” Krika shrunk in on himself a little. “So you will keep your mouth shut, understood?”  Krika hesitated for a long moment. “Yes,” he finally said. “Good, now I have to run damage control,” Antroz snipped, turning and pulling slightly on Gorast’s shoulder.  Gorast felt a flash of irritation that she had to be his escort when Krika needed looking after, but Antroz had his shoulders set, he meant business right now.  “Chirox, Mutran, how much help was Sparkle? I need some kind of good news.” “Invaluable,” Mutran said quickly. “...She’s the one who cracked it,” Chirox admitted reluctantly.  Antroz nodded before gesturing back to Krika. “He talks to no one without one of us there, understood?” “Aye,” The other three replied, not wanting to break his stride, that was a good way to get a blade in the throat. “We took a big risk to save you, Krika.  We might have been in your debt, but letting you die would have been an easier way to clear it.”  Antroz said as he pulled open the door, “remember that, and have some gratitude.” Gorast and he stepped through the door, slamming it before Krika could get off a reply.  Gorast felt a warmth in her chest, glad to see Krika put in his place. “First stop?”  She asked, pulling ahead to guide Antroz. “Celestia, she should hear the news, and going to Twilight first would only rouse further suspicion.”  He growled beneath his breath, “I swear, if he ruins this for us, I’m reinstating your secondary objective.” Gorast licked her fangs, letting the quiet hope that Krika already had nestle into her being. ______ Celestia had cancelled her daily court for the last few days, as she’d been spending much of her time considering how best to introduce the Makuta to the rest of Equestrian society.  Aliens were one thing, interdimensional aliens who razed a city block to the ground on their entrance were another, and possibly interdimensional criminal aliens who were expecting a fight at all times and entered that way were yet another.  Managing the response would be a matter of utmost delicacy. She needed the announcement to make it clear the Makuta were welcome and not to be feared, but still recognize the danger that could be caused should they be pursued while downplaying it enough that she wasn’t bombarded with questions about why they’d agreed to shelter them in the first place.  It was all quite tedious, so she welcomed the distraction when she heard metallic fingers rapping on her study’s door. “Come in,” she looked up to see the door open, admitting Antroz and Gorast.  The latter of which still seemed quite nervous around her. Gorast left the door open, Celestia recognized the self assuring gesture and chose not to comment.  “Antroz, Gorast of the North,” she nodded to the two of them, using one of Gorast’s titles to try and set her at ease with overt respect. “What can I do for you?” “You’ve done more than we could ask for already,” Antroz said pleasantly, bowing at the waist.  “Thanks to your generosity and Princess Sparkle’s efforts our brother Krika has been revived, something we are most grateful for.”  Gorast made a face like she’d tasted something sour, evidently this was not the boon she would have expected it to be. He stood back to his full height, and here it came, “however, he was disoriented when he awoke.  He may have said something with misleading implications, and Chirox and Mutran aren’t known for their delicate handling of such situations, which might have exacerbated things.  I would like to apologize for that, but given what was said I’m afraid that Princess Sparkle will be in no mood to see me or my siblings at the moment.” Celestia calmed her movements, she did not let her concern show, instead, she kept it to a placid curiosity. “Oh dear, what did he say?” “I don’t have all the details,” he said, pausing to adjust his mask slightly.  She could see the question warring behind his eyes, whether to lie or not, “but apparently something to the effect of not wanting her ‘disposed of’ after he woke.”  Celestia couldn’t help an eyebrow going up, Gorast elbowed him and he put up his hands in a placating motion. “Not that it was ever part of the plan for her to be. Chirox and Mutran may not be paragons of scientific ethics, but they can recognize how foolish it would be to do something so needless.  Especially with how bright your ex student proved to be.” His claws brushed over the back of the chair in front of her desk and he set himself down on it casually, evidently trying to keep the mood light, “in fact, my brothers made specific point to mention she’s the one who figured out what was wrong with Krika.  They were quite impressed.” Celestia’s thoughts softened.  This didn’t change much, she had already been planning to keep close watch of them, and it was entirely possible he was primarily worried that Krika had insulted Twilight so he was hoping to ensure they’d still be able to work together. “I’m flattered.  Is Krika recovering his faculties well?”  Celestia pressed, Gorast’s eyes narrowed slightly, perhaps it had been more than disorientation. “I’m sure he will in time, but for the foreseeable future he will need an escort while he recovers from a case of severe malnutrition.”  Antroz waved a hand casually, but Gorast blinked, her eyes flicking to him. So malnutrition was a lie, but he would be escorted. Probably to prevent him from saying more things like what he said to Twilight. “Antroz,” she said carefully, letting a bit of a sigh slip into her voice.  She needed him to understand his situation, and hers. “We want to make you feel welcome while you are here,” her gaze must have hardened slightly, Gorast’s posture changed, one of her claws beginning to hover around Antroz’ back, ready to snatch him up and bolt.  “But you need to understand, we are taking a considerable gamble on you. So know I mean no insult when I ask this.” She watched him closely, his mask had slipped into the easy grin he seemed to wear whenever he wanted to be charming, but she could tell he had his attention, the mere fact Gorast could grind her teeth the way she was without drawing his attention was proof of that.  “Why would Krika, even disoriented, assume that?” Antroz’ grin didn’t slip, but his claws began to trace along one another. “You have led this place for a long time,” he said, “no one has told me this, I can tell by the way you speak, the way Gorast and Mutran have described you holding yourself.  So you know what I am about to say is true better than most.” The smile slipped away and he leaned forwards slightly. For the space of a blink he looked tired, the kind of tired she felt down in her bones some days, but he consolidated the expression into a grim one quickly.  “No war goes by without someone being used and then thrown away when it’s over.” Celestia’s mind flashed to Sunset Shimmer, who she had pushed to power and ultimately ruin in an attempt to do just that. “And you just emerged from a rather prolonged one.”  She nodded thoughtfully, “no doubt he thought himself still entangled in it, and Twilight another pawn.”  Antroz nodded. “I apologize for the interruption, Princess,” he stood, Gorast relaxed slightly, evidently happy to be leaving her presence soon.  “But it is as important to us as it is to you that both sides feel comfortable around one another, so I decided it would be best to keep you abreast of the situation.”  Celestia kept her eyes from narrowing, she didn’t feel like Antroz had lied, but with that she understood his primary concern with this meeting was to ensure he controlled the narrative. “Perfectly understandable, Antroz,” she said pleasantly.  She would have to ask Twilight about this soon. “And it’s no trouble, papers can wait a few moments.  Though I do wish you had come under less formal circumstances.” She allowed herself a slightly sharp grin, “I’m sure you would make quite the opponent in a game of checkers.” “Another time,” he chuckled, turning to take his leave.  “Until then, I hope things go smoothly.” Celestia dearly hoped so as well. A few hours and some miscellaneous paperwork later, Twilight still hadn’t come to discuss what had happened with the Makuta.  There was a slight flash of worry. Had she misinterpreted what Antroz had meant? Had they made a move against her? She shook her head and squashed the thought.  Antroz would be too smart to lie directly to her face about something she could check up on so easily. Still, she decided to take a break and head over to the lab, just to make sure.  If anything could delay Twilight, it would be research. On the way there, she ran into Spike, his arms full of an almost towering assortment of books. “Careful there,” she chuckled, her horn glowing to take a few of them off of his claws so he was more stable. “Princess!”  He jumped slightly, she was sure he would have just dropped some of the books if she hadn’t taken a few.  “Is something wrong?” Celestia smoothed her expression, Spike had spent more time around her than most, she sometimes forgot that. “No, I simply wished to check in on Twilight.”  She said, looking over the titles of the books she’d picked up, reference materials for alternate spell construction.  She blinked, “I heard she helped to wake Krika, is there something she’s still working on?” “She’s always working on something,” Spike shrugged, beginning to walk towards the lab again.  “I haven’t been able to make heads or tails of what she’s talking about, but she’s really excited about this.”  Celestia let her ears go up with her interest, whenever a project dug its way into Twilight’s head it was always worth paying attention to. Opening the door to the lab Celestia was greeting with a rather familiar sight, Twilight sitting in the middle of a large circle of books, her horn glowing as pieces of paper swirled about her, each coming close and moving back as she needed them, her nose scrunched and her eyes narrowed in her focus, a quill darting out every now and again to jot down a note or adjust an equation.  It brought a smile to Celestia’s lips unbidden. “Spike, did they have Clover’s Tretis on Leyline Variance?”  She asked, not looking up from her work. “Yes Twilight,” Spike said, offering her the book, it was almost immediately snatched up in the violet aura of Twilight’s magic.  Celestia looked down at one of the books surrounding her and blinked. Several of them were for maintenance and possible malfunctions of a Magical Field Documentor. “Good evening, Twilight,” she said pleasantly, not that it stopped Twilight from nearly jumping out of her skin, many of the documents in her magical field only just avoiding being launched across the room. “Princess Celestia!”  She said, smoothing her mane down.  Celestia had to contain a chuckle. “Is it that late already?”  She nodded. “Sorry, did you need me for something?” “It’s no trouble, Twilight.  Makuta Antroz wanted to thank you for waking Krika, and apologize for him implying a threat to you.”  Twilight cocked her head slightly in confusion, “he wants to ensure you, Chirox and Mutran can continue to work together but was worried you might have been offended.” “Oh, that,” Twilight perked back up, “I actually forgot about that.  I was just considering going to get Chirox and Mutran, myself.” Celestia moved closer, setting herself down so she could get a closer look at what Twilight was working on. It didn’t look like much of anything to Celestia at first glance, but there was certainly a lot of it, two piles of papers almost the size of a pony, several pages off the top of each layed out in front of her.  On closer inspection one looked to be almost detailing the mechanics of a scrying spell, but the other was a jumbled mess of eight letters, repeated over and over again in seemingly random order. “What is this?”  Celestia asked, picking up the more chaotic of the two. “I think, it’s what lets them see,” Twilight responded, sitting down next to Celestia to gesture at the more ordered one.  “While we were working, Mutran revealed to me that their bodies, aren’t actually them.” Celestia blinked and looked down at her, “they’re just machines, casings for their true form, which is a gaseous form of energy they call Antidermis.  Then that got me thinking, how can three of them be blind? Surely they must have attempted to replace the parts, and even if they didn’t, Mutran displayed an ability to almost instantaneously heal damage to his shell, so how are they still blind?” She gestured first to the jumbled message in Celestia’s grip, then to the other, “the readout you’re holding came from Chirox, who is blind, and this one came from Krika, who can see.  If I’m correct, something tampered with them, down at a base level. And if I can figure out how to cast these two spells, I can figure out how to fix it.” “That’s quite impressive, Twilight,” Celestia nodded, but a moment later she felt her brow crease.  “Though, are you sure that would be advisable? Krika may have been disoriented, but the fact he would still jump to his brothers attempting to dispose of you does not speak well of them.” “That’s exactly why it needs to be done,” Twilight nodded firmly, her expression becoming slightly grim.  “They’re trying to get our trust, but we need theirs, too, and this could be how we get it. Celestia, I saw Krika do something that’s hardly even been theory.”  Celestia blinked, “the problem with Shadow Magic is that it gets much weaker during the day, the sunlight being out full force can push it away, the same way Light magic is harder to use at night, because there’s less of it.  But these Makuta, they can eat it.  I don’t mean like photosynthesis, or Light Magic, I mean they can directly convert sunlight into Shadow Energy.” Celestia’s brow went up, “without even a trace of Chaos or Black Magic like you would expect from a conversion like that, just Darkness, and they can do it so quickly, so much at once, that it exceeds the amount of sunlight coming in.  It’s perfectly stable in their hooves, too, no loss of control, no struggling against it. Krika was on death’s door and he was able to do this almost casually.” Twilight put a hoof down on the pile she said was from Krika.  “If they really are a form of life closer to magical construct than anything else like I believe they are, and like every line of this that I’ve looked through so far has told me, then the formula for that is somewhere in here.  The key to magic in forms and on levels we’ve hardly even imagined is sitting, right here.” She patted the stack again and looked up at Celestia, her eyes practically shining with wonder, “every spell they know, every power they have, is right here, if we can just figure out how to properly translate it.” Her ears went back a little sheepishly, “even if I hadn’t forgotten about what Krika said when I started going through these, I would still invite them back, I’m going to need their help, and I can tell that they’ll be just as excited as I am to really see their workings layed out in front of them.” Her expression softened slightly, “and maybe, if we can share a project like this, we’ll be able to get through their caution and make friends.” Celestia allowed herself a bit of pride at Twilight’s intent, reaching out a wing to pull Twilight in close against her side. “I’m sure you’ll do wonderfully.  If anyone can get through to them, it’s you.”  Celestia paused for a moment, a bit put out that she would need to consider this.  “However, it may not be wise to mention you could return their sight.” “Why?”  Twilight looked up at her. “They do not trust us yet, they may see this project as you holding it hostage if they know you’re working towards restoring their eyes.  Better to surprise them with a gift than force them to wait for a treatment.” Twilight’s expression turned to one of deep consideration as she looked over the two piles, holding up the different scrying portions.  Her horn flashed brighter a moment, the two texts detached from the rest and she folded them up. “Making friends out of strangers is so much harder when only one side is having a crisis,” she huffed, “politics.”  Celestia couldn’t help but chuckle in agreement. ______ “You’ve seen the level of technology they have here, do you think you could do it?”  Antroz asked, his blind eyes locked on Mutran. Mutran found his ability to do that unsettling. “Maybe…” he responded, he probably could get out a message across the dimensions, but the risks could be problematic.  “Are you sure this is our best option? I won’t be able to encode it or direct it, anyone could pick it up, anywhere.” “If we want to get home, it’s our only option,” Antroz growled back.  Mutran closed his eyes and mimed a deep breath, his thoughts felt clearer here for some reason.  It wasn’t that Dark Princess, it some something different, some pressure had been lifted from his mind in this place. “If this goes wrong, we could lose more than just a way home, and we might not be the only ones to suffer the consequences.” “That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”