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// Your Training Begins... Now 
// Story: Bionicle: Of The Shadows 
// by One of Nine 
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“I CAN’T! I JUST CAN’T!” Screamed the newest Makuta, her freshly painted armor gaining more scratch marks with each blast I threw. Twilight’s limbs were instinctively covering her head and torso, an unnecessary attempt to protect her core. “What you ask is impossible!”
“No, it isn’t.” I countered, halting my barrage of lightning and acid. “You were bound by the laws of your former self, now you are more. Stretch out with your feelings! Embrace what you have become!”
The violet Makuta steadied herself against the wall behind her, a single slab of metal among an army that dotted the elliptical arena. While Twilight had asked only for her armor’s color to be changed from white and gold to violet and bronze, Applejack had asked for a body closer to her original one. The only things that separated the earth pony’s old body from the new one were the orange protosteel, being a creature of living energy, and the knives along her elbows and knees. Twilight had asked to truly experience what it was like to be a Makuta and seeing as she was a scholar at heart and endlessly curious, we’d obliged.
“I’ve-I’ve never done this! How can I? I’ve never had to use my hands for magic, only my horn. WHICH IS GONE!!” The young Makuta complained, finally getting her balance. “Could you at least give me a few pointers like Rahaa does?”
“I believe in learning on the job.” My back suddenly released a legion of hissing tentacles, all grasping something in the area and suspending me above her. My four eyes narrowed down at her, I then allowed a small chuckle to roll off my figurative tongue. “Let’s play a game, I’m sure you’re familiar with it.”
One of my free tentacles slowly poked her between the eyes. “Tag.”
With that said, I rushed away from my momentarily stunned predator, tentacles lashing around me with barbs tearing through everything I passed. I paused for a second, worried that my student was still shocked, but guessing from the five-inch-thick spear that impaled the pillar beside me; I had nothing to fear. Twilight came racing atop the slabs and ‘ruins’, another spear in hand. I watched as she launched the weapon at me, the spear whistling as it sped toward me. Two seconds before it could impale me, my body elongated and curved around the impact zone, five of my tentacles were reduced to stumps. I wanted her to be proud that she’d at least hit me.
Thirty of my tentacles suddenly fused and became three two-foot-thick limbs, each with a four fingered claw at the end. Landing on my feet among the pillar’s base, I gave her the supposed advantage of higher ground. But from the ground, traps could be sprung. As she leapt over the last slab, intent on tackling me, all tree of my large tentacles burst into view and grasped her upper arms and legs. Twilight struggled for a moment, but seeing that she couldn’t break the arms’ hold, she decided to teleport out. The young Makuta popped back into existence five feet away, giving me a frown as I dismembered my larger tentacles.
“What kind of tag is this? The pony who’s IT does the attacking, not the players.” The indigo Makuta huffed, awkwardly crossing all of her arms.
I smiled down at her, lifting myself into the air via magnetism. “This isn’t your regular game of tag.”
Her reply was stalled by me discharging acid at her, she just barely dodged the shot, scuttling away on all six. I watched her curiously, seeing at she was too familiar with her former self and not to the powers she now possessed. I shook my head at the display.
“You were a protector of your people, were you not?” I asked, calming her down with a gesture. She nodded in response. “Have you ever had to work with something outside your usual skillset?”
She took a moment to think, recalling many adventures, but none where she had to deal with things such as this. “Not really. My brother taught me a few moves in case a stallion ever tried to hurt me, but that’s about it. I’m not a warrior.”
“Yet you faced Nightmare Moon and Discord without any trouble.” I offered, coming to stand next to her. “If anything, you have a knack for being a nuisance to stronger enemies. Perhaps this can be utilized into our current matter.”
“A nuisance?” Was her annoyed response as she glared.
“Don’t even think for a moment that you can be replaced. Your position in the Elements of Harmony is vital, any attempt to try and fill your role would be suicidal.” I looked into her thoughts, finding a large force of self-doubt and anxiety building. I placed a claw on her shoulder, doing what I could to calm her. “While you are weaker in this point in time, you will gain strength in the future. And when that time comes, I couldn’t be prouder to have passed my knowledge to any other. You have been given a chance to bring a peaceful beginning to our two people; the Makuta and Equestria. Whether as a Makuta, pony, or otherwise, you will do great deeds. They shall be spoken about through the generations, the grand feats of Twilight Sparkle shall ring through all ears, future and beyond.”
I then crouched down next to her, whispering. “And I shall be a witness to them, from now and forever.”
Twilight stared at me, struck by awe and embarrassment, her eyes turning a rosy red. I took this as an achievement, seeing her in such a state. I stood, focusing back on the task. “Now, it seems you require a demonstration. Come, I shall guide you in shapeshifting.”
With a slow nod, the young Makuta stood, ready to continue. Three hours went by and Twilight progressed, slightly hesitant at first, but soon came to grips with her new ability. When the three Princesses returned from their daily duties (however they managed to raise and lower the celestial bodies, I could never say), Twilight was shifting into her unicorn self. The now lavender unicorn bowed to the Princesses as they approached, wide eyed at the former mare’s progress.
“Twilight, you’re ok!” Cheered Cadence, previously worried that I’d harm her old charge and friend.
“Of course she is. And despite your doubts, your former charge is safe and in no pain.” I nodded to the three alicorns, casting a slightly longer look at Celestia, she and I still needed to have that talk. The one about using children as pawns.
Luna smiled and bowed her head, silently respecting my ability to train her sister’s pupil. “I thank you for taking the time to assist Twilight and Applejack in their current states, I would be fraught with grief if they lost control. Even for a moment… as I once did.”
I slowly nodded in understanding, knowing it was hard not to let the power go to one’s head. “I see your plight, and I hold no ill will toward you.” I then turned to the elder sister. “However… using another’s child is no way to achieve victory. Even when you yourself had trouble with the same foe, she was still no match for him, however many years ago it was for you. You essentially sent her in alone, hoping that she would rise to the occasion. If he was so powerful, wouldn’t it been wise to at least send an army to assist?
“Especially if there isn’t a BACKUP plan. Just because a weapon hasn’t failed in the past doesn’t mean it wouldn’t now. Sending in a band of children, without reinforcements, without a secondary plan of attack, nor warning her of the true dangers of her failure! That is careless, exceedingly careless.” I narrowed my two sets of eyes at her. “You should’ve listened to her Celestia, your sister was right. There was room for a backup plan, yet you had your supposed faith in your student. Who had no battle experience and hardly any training, blindly plunging headfirst into battle is a death sentence. And by the looks of how it went, even you O-mighty-Princess couldn’t stop him without an army. And yet, as it was all those years ago, you didn’t listen to your sibling when it mattered. Isn’t that what drove her away to begin with?”
Everyone was stock-still. Celestia hung her head low, looking to be in tears. Luna’s thoughts ranged from anger, sorrow, pity, and back to anger, most of the anger was directed at Celestia. It seemed her older sister had a habit of shutting down whatever she didn’t want to hear, deciding to bat away any thoughts that didn’t appeal to her. Cadence was confused and worried, looking between the three of us from the sidelines as the rest of the ponies and dragon gathered around. Sombra was escorted into the room via a pair of hovering shackles, four Rahkshi flanking him with spears in hand.
“True dangers?” Twilight looked to her mentor with tears in her eyes, also confused and concerned at my words. “Wh-What does he mean, Princess? Y-You wouldn’t send me into a fight witho-without a plan-B would you?!”
The Solar Princess lifted her head to speak, but ultimately hung her head again with a sniff. Twilight gasped as she stepped away, covering her slack mouth with her hands. In a sudden shift, the purple unicorn was replaced by the indigo Makuta, her red eyes narrowing down at the cowering Princesses. She loomed over the Two Sisters, glaring at the eldest.
“Y-You sent us to the Crystal Empire… knowing at we’d fail?!” Shouted Twilight, eyes now a light shade of blue and then flaring red, acid tears slipping into view.
“Twi-Twilight, that’s n-not—” The Solar Princess stuttered, only to be cut off by the young Makuta.
“YOU SENT US AFTER SOMBRA, KNOWING THAT WE COULD’VE DIED?! I TRUSTED YOU FOR THE BETTER PART OF MY LIFE!! AND NOW LOOK AT ME, AFTER A FREAK ACCIDENT, I’M A MAKUTA!! I LOOKED UP TO YOU! I’D HOPED TO MAYBE BE JUST AS GREAT, I WANTED TO LEARN FROM THE GREATEST MARE I KNEW! But now… I don’t know any more…”
The violet Makuta stepped back to sit on a broken slab, bent in half enough that it constructed a seat. Her tears soon passed through the protosteel floor, a choking sound in her metallic throat.
Fantastic, I’d now  just severed an old friendship. But what was done was done. From diving into Celestia’s thoughts, I knew that she’d hoped against hope that Twilight and her friends would succeed, but in the end, they’d failed and nearly died. She brought no army, no special forces, and no ‘magical’ artifact to save them. Just her sister, armor, and weapons. Not a very good plan, I’d have to say.
I looked over to Twilight to find her calming down, but still agitated. With no small amount of courage, I decided to put this anger to use. “Ready to continued our training? We still have another hour. But if not, then it is alright.”
The violet Makuta nodded before standing, awkwardly cracking her knuckles, working to push her troubles away to focus on her training. “Sure, what about more shapeshifting? I’d like to learn everything I can.”
“Very well. To start; use that piece of scrap as a spear and throw it at me.” I motioned toward the long slab of protosteel on the arena floor, watching with one eye as the others exited the arena for their own safety.
“Are- are you sure? I’m not going to hurt you, am I?” Twilight positioned herself to throw, but stopped short when she asked, looking at me with worry.
I chuckled at her concern, not to mock her, but at the warmth in my organic heart for her concern. “I’ve faced worse things than a spear made of scrap.”
The former mare then thrust her makeshift spear at me, arcing for my chest. The spear reached my chest. An inch ahead of the spear’s point, I spread my armor and flesh, mentally carving a path for the weapon. The spear continued, and with each passing Milla-second, a tunnel was dug through my torso. 1.6.3 seconds after the spear entered my body’s space, it exited and impaled the wall behind me. I left the two inch hole in my chest open for all to see. I looked to the ponies behind the glass, all stood with hanging jaws and wide eyes. All Makuta present either had impressed smiles or jealous glares. I then turned to Twilight to see her with a similar reaction to the ponies; eyes wide and mandibles slack.
“H-How did yo—” She asked, dumbly pointing at the closing hole in my chest, the armor and organics slipping back into place. “How did you DO THAT?!”
“Many years of practice.” I smirked behind my bestial mask before a thought accrued to me. “Speaking of practice; have you been working on your Density Shifting like I’d asked you to?”
Twilight beamed with an almost wicked smile, her mandibles clicking in her excitement. “Oh, yes! It was just a simple matter of concentration and will power. Much like my old magic, mastering all my new powers takes the ponie— or in this case, the Makuta’s… sorry.”
At the young Makuta’s sudden fear that I’d be angry for old habits not dying easily, I waved it off and nodded for her to continue.
“Ahem… the Makuta’s strong will and intent are the key factors. The intent of the ability and a strong enough will behind it to back the power up. I’d first thought it was like a unicorn’s or alicorn’s magic, where the will was the only component. But upon further insight from Rahaa and Havuuk, I found that a third factor was in place. A strong factor that was the last key for success; emotion.” She seemed to take a breath, but then remembered that it wasn’t necessary. She was now a green and black cloud stuffed inside a protosteel shell, there was no need to breath air. “Illusions, Heat Control, or Accuracy for example, don’t need to ‘feed’ off emotions like Heat Vision, Vacuum, or Electricity. These powers require a small amount of emotion to work, but only a little bit. I honestly dread to think about what could happen if even more emotion was poured into our powers.”
“I once did that; loosing control and lashing out at everything in sight. Nearly reduced an entire island to rubble like that. My brothers were able to calm me down, but I still left the island in bad shape.”
“Oh,” Twilight felt a little hesitant to comment, but spoke anyway. “I hope no-one get hurt.”
I breathed out a tired sigh, partly relishing the feel of my organic lungs pumping air. “I wish I could say no one did, but in my anger, I injured many.”
“D-did anypony…” She trailed off with a shattered look in her eyes.
“Only five.” I closed my eyes at the memory, remembering their screams of agony and horror, as well as their last breaths. “Thankfully, only five. And I regret every life taken.”
My student solemnly nodded, but suddenly flicked her eyes toward the reinforced glass that everyone else observed from, their minds buzzing with activity. The Makuta were currently monitoring Twilight’s vitals, making sure all was well and that their were no defects. The Equestrians however, many of them were ‘freaking out’ as it were.
Shining and the three Princesses were conversing and arguing over how to explain the situation to Twilight’s parents. Cadence did what she could in soothing her new husband, trying to get him to calm enough to think rationally. Prince Armor paced with a scowl on his muzzle, hands clenched behind his back. He soon aimed that look at his younger sister.
“Twily, how are we going to explain THIS?!” He all but blurted over the active speakers, now rubbing his hands together in apprehension. “How do we explain that you’ve been turned into… THIS?!! An alien monster, by the way, who the VERY SAME aliens are trying to ‘cure’! How do we even know if they’re even going to keep their word? How do we know that this ‘cure’ can even be made? What if it’s all a hoax?! What if they’re only saying that they can cure you and then don’t?!!”
Kahkor stepped next to the white stallion and looked him in the eye. “I can assure you; we are doing all that we can to find a solution. But it will take time.”
Shining Armor rolled his eyes, following it up with a glare at the large alabaster Makuta. “Yeah right. I’ll believe it when I see it.”
With that, the Prince stormed out of the room, shoving past a startled Krika as he entered. Krika looked between the fleeing unicorn and the Brotherhood Leader. “Dare I ask?”
“Only if you want to hear the concerned brother ‘watching out’ for his blood relative.” Grunted Chirox in an annoyed tone as he folded his winged arms, dull red eyes narrowing.
I looked back to Twilight, her eyes flashing an array of colors and her mind alight with fear and sorrow. Her broken voice flexed through her shell’s vocal cords, reminding me of a weeping Matoran. “I-I’m sorry… BBBFF.”
A loud beep sounded over the speakers, grasping everyone’s attention. “Will Makuta Rahaa remove her Cryo-Hounds from the bridge? They’re freezing the controls and I don’t want to send Deltaax back down to the third power core for repairs like last week.”
Deltaax grumbled something about stupid Rahi as he exited the room, Rahaa not far behind.
Kahkor lumbered over to the arena’s control console and pressed the intercom switch. “Not to worry, I’m sending a group of Rahkshi to inspect the cores for damage. Anything else?”
All Makuta didn’t have to guess, knowing that lay before Ulvehk’s eyes; the Equestrian capital city of Canterlot. But the Equestrians didn’t know that, thus the Makuta elaborated.
“Yes, we’ve arrived just outside Canterlot’s borders.” Said the crimson armored Makuta, adding a chuckle. “The natives seem to be in a panic though… should we send out a legion of Rahkshi to scare them even more?”
Our leader chuckled, motioning for the Makuta and ponies to follow. “While that last part would be fun, no. We must remain in their favor and return their leaders without hesitation. Lest we want to be branded enemies of their world, and I believe we’ve all had enough of that.”
The other Makuta chuckled over the intercom. “No, we don’t.”