//------------------------------//
// Banishment from the Universe 
// Story: The New Brotherhood of Darkness 
// by JeckParadox 
//------------------------------//

	"We should kill him while we have him here!" cried an unseen voice.
"No, that would be another variable," Said another voice, this one was deep, reasonable, and somehow held a ring of truth no matter what. "we have him in our captivity, he cannot escape because he knows there is no better alternative for him here, and the only thing that increase his will to escape would be threat of death."
"Then we should freeze him in Protodermis again."
"No, all it would take are a few rogue or confused toa falling for some future evil's trick." The reasonable voice said the word 'trick' with a hatred. "We must imprison him in a place impossible to escape from."
He would have smiled, but that would have ruined the effect. No place was impossible to escape from, not even your own body, not even your own soul. He had done it. No prison could ever hold him forever.
The reasonable voice stood closer, in his view. He had silver and red armor, incredibly bulky and strong, with a deep green glow in his eyes. His hands were around an ax that had been polished by millenia of sliced mountains and evil blood. He was Axonn, bearer of the Kanohi of Truth. And he hated him. But what drew his eyes were what was in Axonn's hand. "Do you recognize this mask, fiend?"
He did. "No."
"Lies. It belonged to my brother. A wise being, a loyal and proud soldier. But he allowed himself to believe the lie that Mata Nui would not return." That name sent shivers down his spine... if he even had one anymore. He couldn't tell. "And you used that lie to corrupt him. You filled his mouth with your blood and drowned him, and when his body got back up it was a savage, twisted, lying version of my brother. This is his mask."
"I destroyed that mask."
"And the Great Beings re-forged it." He leaned in closer, the blazing truthfulness, goodness, and light in Axonn's eyes burned him. But he did not look away. "For this sole purpose, and then I will break it again. And Kanohi Olmak, the soul of my brother, will never be used by or against evil ever again. And perhaps Brutaka's spirit will someday be able to go to rest."
"What do you plan on doing?"
"I am going to throw you into the multiverse, to a place filled with light, where you will not die, but cannot stand and cannot escape." Axonn let out a sigh that betrayed his true age. "And I pray the people of that universe forgive me."
"And you leave me in the body of an unarmed Rahkshi?"
"A Rahkshi of Darkness, a Terahk, a last mercy to you." He growled. "The last mercy."
His eyes widened as Axonn took off his mask for the first time... well, since before time had begun. Axonn peeled it off painfully, the organic parts inside struggling painfully to keep the mask that was his face from being removed. After an excruciating moment he had removed the silver mask and placed the large golden one in it's place. "You have been declared guilty of treason, murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, cloning, illegal weapons manufacturing, and... this could go on for hours actually. So I'll shorten it. You have been declared guilty of being evil and doing evil to everything and everyone around you. Your punishment is exile and banishment, this will continue on for all time and space. You may never return to this universe, under any circumstance. Makuta Teridax, you killed my brother and defiled his still-living corpse, and you did it to kill your own brother. And now I use his mask to banish you forever."
Makuta Teridax looked down, his glowing red eyes  quivering, and another figure walked toward him, he immediately recognized the slender, feminine, deadly form. "Roodaka?" 
She got down on one knee to bring her elegant narrow head to his level, and she kissed his forehead. "You are the only one I never betrayed." She whispered, and she got up, Axonn narrowed his eyes as she walked.
"You know what the Matoran say now?" Axonn said. "They use her name instead of the word 'traitor'." 
"You are cruel." Teridax said.
"The truth is cruel." 
Then a matoran brought forward a dark shape Teridax recognized, "Kanohi Kraahkan?! It was destroyed with Icarax, was it not?"
"it's atoms were painstakingly brought together and reforged, you will be taking it with you."
"Why would you let me have my greatest weapon?!"
"Because it's too dangerous to destroy, or allow to exist in our universe, so you're taking it with you." Axonn's mask glowed a bright yellow, and the air in front of Teridax opened, revealing a blue sky. Axonn tossed in Kanohi Kraahkan, and turned back to Teridax. "Are you ready Makuta?"
"I..." What was this? Fear? Teridax was the master of fear, he commanded it, fear itself feared him! He can't be afraid, he wasn't in danger, he was being let free in a new universe! But... Roodaka... his empire... his body... the Plan... it was all here. In this universe. Mara Nui is here as well. He reminded himself. And Axonn, and billions who worship the light. It was better that he would leave. He had failed, the Plan had failed. And it was his brother's foolish mercy that had saved him. "I am ready, I will go." He lifted his head against the gravity lock. Meeting eyes with the great golden figure on the throne. "And I swear on my life, on my ambition. My ambition brother, I swear I will never return."
His brother, Mata Nui, being of light, life, wisdom, mercy, duty, loyalty... a being of pure virtue, who had accepted Makuta as his brother. And who granted Makuta mercy when he could have killed him. "I believe you." Mata Nui said.
Axonn growled. "I do not."
"You are not currently wearing the mask of truth. And I am the judge of the universe. I say that he is telling the truth, and that he will forever abide that word until he dies, and even then, he will still continue keeping his oath." Mata Nui raised his golden hand and made a gesture that signified to continue. "Throw him in, close the portal, and destroy the Olmak."
Axonn nodded immediately, a loyal servant of Mata Nui. He picked up Makuta Teridax without breaking the gravity lock, and Makuta cried out in pain. But Axonn didn't stop, and he threw Makuta through it faster than he had ever thrown anything before. And he had thrown mountains into orbit.
Makuta screamed and spinned through the air, and he saw the ground coming up toward him. He swung his spirit in every direction, trying to find a way to escape, but the portal to his universe was closed, no more than closed, it already never could exist again. And he was spiraling toward the ground.
He was going to die.  

Or was he?
Makuta was free of the impossible gravity of the Kanoka disks, and after that, this planet's gravity was nothing. He quickly took control of the unfamiliar Rahkshi body, and maneuvered his legs forward and put his feet together in front of him, and the machinery of the body recognized the form and immediately began flying. He had designed some of the first Rahkshi himself after all, and he had perfected the most powerful.
He came close to the ground, and finding he had sufficiently slowed down, freed himself from the pose and began scraping the dirt and grass beneath his feet. He broke into a run, and crossed miles of distance in his mechanical body. It almost was more fluid than his original body. 
He stopped when his eyes caught a large purple mountain in the distance, and on it's side was a tiny city that looked like a collection of castles. Civilization? That was where Makuta would head, that's where his new empire would begin. He jumped into the air and assumed flight position, taking off toward the city.

From her balcony she surveyed her country. Everything the light touched was hers. Even the light was hers. Princess Celestia sipped some wine and watched the ponies moving through the gardens. It was beautiful. Even after thousands of years she hadn't stopped enjoying the simplicity of Equestria. The ponies in her care were gentle, kind, intelligent beings. And their society had become the same. But after a moment she felt something change. She had a momentary shiver, as if the temperature has changed slightly and  suddenly. Or perhaps a shadow had momentarily covered the sun? No, it wasn't either. It was like something very dark and cold had entered the world. 
"Luna, did you feel that?" Celestia asked. The shivers slowly disappearing. 
"...We did feel something..." Luna said slowly. "But We are currently not sure what."
"Something... alive... but very dark... almost like Sombra or..."
"Nightmare Moon." Luna finished. "We need to find it. If those two are the closest thing to whatever we're sensing... then it's dangerous as the very least. Shall We take the royal guards and search for it?"
"No... perhaps it would be better if I were to take it on alone."
"Sister-"
"It's a being of darkness, like those two...  but it's not just that... I feel that it and I are opposites. It is the opposite of the sun."
"The moon?"
"No... not the opposite of the sun... whatever that thing is, it's an enemy to the light. Only I can face it. If something happens to me you're in charge." And Celestia took off into the distance without giving Luna a chance to respond.
"Why do I have to always stay behind..." Luna asked sadly. 

Celestia quickly rounded up a group of her best Pegasi guards, and a few unicorns, and took off with her Pegasi pulling carriages to carry the unicorns.
She merely followed the sense in her belly to find the dark-thing. She came, unsurprisingly, to the Everfree Forest. And after only a few more minutes of searching, found a small crater in the ground. Celestia took a few careful steps up to the crater and investigated. Inside it was a piece of strange metal, unlike any kind she had seen before. 



"My Lady... what is this?"
"I'm not sure..." Celestia tried lifting it up with her magic, but when the yellow aura enveloped it the mask quivered, and the magic became a deep purple-red, and Celestia screamed in pain as her magic was consumed in gigantic droves by the mask. She cut off her magic from it in time to let her fly back to the city on her own. But when she spoke again to her concerned soldiers her breath was ragged. "I'm... I'm fine." She moved back to the object and hesitantly touched it with her hoof, it sent chills through her, but she was able to touch it. She picked it up and moved it to one of the carriages. "Guard that... make sure it doesn't fall, but try not to touch it."
"Yes Princess."

Empress Cadence stood over her beloved Crystal Empire, and for some reason began feeling uneasy. Without thinking she made her way down countless stairways, eventually coming to a large prison cell. Her breath became clouds as she realized how cold it was. Cold, the Crystal Heart, and pure love were the only things known to stop Him after all. In a block of ice was a single horn, blood-red tipped and made of darkness. The last remaining essence of King Sombra. "Why did you bring me here?" Asked the Princess. But the horn didn't react. Cadence put a hoof to her head and shook it. "I'm working too hard. I'm talking to a frozen horn."
"oR Are YOu?" Cadence spun around, her gaze locking on the horn... and the melting ice. "YoU mIght bE TaLKing to a GreAt aND DaRK KINg!"
"You're dead! The crystal heart blew you to pieces... We burned the pieces we could and froze the rest!"
"YoU TaLK aS If I caN bE KillED."
"Guards!" Cadence shrieked, and two crystal ponies in refitted jousting armor came in running, but they skidded to a stop before the melting ice. 
"Oh? YoU tHInk MorTAls cAN stOP mE NoW? BuT Why BOtHER? i Am nO LoNGEr tHe GreATesT foRce of DarkNesS iN EquEsTRIa." The ice had almost completely melted now, and the horn was glowing with new-found strength. 
"What are you saying?!" Cadence growled. "A greater darkness? The only one who was ever more 'dark' than you is Nightmare Moon. Are you saying she returned?" She gestured to a guard. "Alert Princess Celestia."
"No... NoT NiGHTmaRe MoOn. EveN SHe iS LEss thAn iT."
"Less than what?!"
"I Don'T KnOW." The horn had begun growing, the darkness moving like an octopus and eventually revealing the inky silhouette of a large unicorn stallion. "BuT ThaT'S WHaT MakEs IT EXCitiNg!"

Makuta Teridax had been following the ground for a while now, and the mountain was definitely closer... how confining it is, being locked in a physical body. But soon he came to a small town. The houses were made of plaster and wood and nails and clay. And the roofs were made up of thatch. He decided to take things safely. He wasn't an all-powerful immortal able to kill almost anything whenever he wanted any more, he was only an indestructible killer robot able to control shadows and overcome gravity. He had to take things safe. 
He sneaked into the little town in the form of shadow, and hopped from one to the next, moving along with the inhabitants within their own shadows. They were four-legged beings with no armor, just flesh, like weak rahi, but they were intelligent, and carried objects with them in their teeth, their wings, and with telekinesis. He didn't understand what powers these rahi... no, beings, they were definitely beings, could do. So he made his way to the largest building and shadowed his way in. Eventually he came to a room with a desk where a single being sat in a chair, despite being quadrupedal, and marked documents with it's hooves. He decided that this must be some individual of importance, and he decided it was worth revealing himself to it.
He moved into the shadow of the door frame, and rose out of it as if he were entering the room in an ordinary fashion. But when the being screamed he had the irrational thought that he hadn't entered the room right.
He moved faster than the creature's eyes could track, and he moved his hand over its muzzle, holding it shut. "Please don't scream." He said, almost purring. It immediately quieted, but its eyes showed pure fear. "I am a regal visitor from another land, and I would like to make an appointment with your nation's leader." He still spoke in the charismatic voice. 
He slowly released its muzzle, not that he was gripping it tightly, and took a step back. 
"W-well i-i-if you're a guest of the Princess's..." 
"Princess? Yes. I have plans on meeting her,  could you arrange something like that for me?"
"It's not as if I'm on speaking terms with our monarch..." It let out with a whimper of fear, but it put on a smile and tried to keep the twitches from showing in it's face. "But Celestia's student lives at the local library...."
"Then I will head there." Makuta turned away, walking to the door, and remembered he had to build a trustworthy image with the locals. "Thank you for your time." And he faded back into the shadows, making his way out of the building and back across the street, he spent almost an hour in that form in the little town, and eventually concluded that the library must be the gigantic tree with a door.