//------------------------------// // Great Spirit // Story: The New Brotherhood of Darkness // by JeckParadox //------------------------------// "Brutaka, my friend, welcome back into the Universe." "It is good to be back, Great Spirit. We have been told of the trial a few weeks ago, it's a shame we couldn't see the look on the monster's face when you tossed him into the void." "The Void?" Axonn asked cautiously. "You were the one who executed him, correct?" "I didn't execute him. I simply threw him into another world." Brutaka stopped and turned toward Axonn. It had been a while since Axonn had seen his brother, reliving Brutaka's fall at Voya Nui at the trial a few weeks ago had put him on edge, and even after Brutaka rejoined the order, their meetings have been... tense. He couldn't read him any more. Brutaka had apparently inherited the will of the Makuta, (as a species, not Teridax) and begun referring to himself as 'we'. Brutaka's personality changed, he had become depressed in Voya Nui, and falling into the antidermis had filled him with evil. But now his personality had changed once again. Axonn had come to terms that he would never have the jovial warrior he grew up with at his side again. But he took comfort in that at least they were on the same path again. "Axonn, you've made a grave mistake." "What do you mean? I banished him, not executed him, if we were going to kill him he would have escaped." "What are you talking about?! We have seen the will of the Makuta, all that they are and existed to be! Makuta had no way to escape Mata Nui's prison, you could have killed him and have been done with it!" "We should not dwell on the past. He has no way to come back, he's gone forever from our universe- no, our realm even." "Fool." Brutaka growled. "He could come back, there could be another Olmak in that universe! And what of the inhabitants of that universe?! You left the greatest monster to ever exist in a prison that has a back door, and without a warden! He is likely slaughtering and conquering the poor beings of another world at this moment. And once he's done, he'll have the resources of an open universe to use in his revenge against us." "Brother, I think you're over thinking this-" "You choose now to underestimate it?!" The great golden being drew back slowly, regaining his composure. "We apologize for our outburst. We need to speak to Mata Nui immediately, he must know this, we must reforge the Olmak!" Without warning Mata Nui's avatar rose from the ground with a golden light. "I heard. What would you suggest?" Sombra had managed to once again pry away the Elements of Harmony, and successfully put the bearers to sleep. As he made his way through the experiment hall he heard an incessant screeching coming from the top shelf. "What is it?! I don't have time for you right now, I have the spirit of chaos to deal wi-" He was interrupted by a burst of darkness striking his forehead. "Oh Celestia I'm blind!" He screeched, stomping around, making all the candles in the room go to their brightest. "Stop it you little monstrosity!!" He roared, grabbing the cage with his telepathy and beginning to crush it. "Stop it!!" ~~~~ Makuta winced as the bars began push into him. A few more seconds would be all it needed. A Great Spirit! Of course there was a Great Spirit, this universe had too much energy to not have a spirit. All he would have to do was make contact, somehow show the spirit his intelligence, and gain favor with it. In a few short millennia of hard work and loyalty he would rise among the Spirit's ranks, become trusted... And in that time he would locate the Spirit's weakness, and eventually find a way to steal his body. But that was going to be a long way off. His first priority was revealing his existence and obtaining a body. He saw the hinge crack and tackled the bars out of his way. He landed on the crystal floor and began sliding. He gripped the floor with his many tiny feet and found purchase. He began running for the stairway, he needed to avoid Sombra for now. He didn't know any way to reveal himself to the unicorn, he couldn't possess him, and it was possible considering Sombra's fear of the Great Spirit that he wasn't held in much favor. Being associated with King Sombra might not be good for Teridax. He began the work of climbing the crystal stairway, it was slippery, and Makuta wasn't making much progress. It wasn't until a screaming Sombra barreled past him that Makuta decided to risk it and grabbed his tail as the blind Unicorn stampeded up the stairway screaming. As Sombra turned a corner Makuta lost his grip and flew through the air. At least he was out of the dungeon. He could navigate the palace- his eyes widened slightly as he realized he wasn't going to fall on the palace floor. He was flying toward one of the towers many windows. He prayed it was closed, but as he was greeted by open skies and the tower wall getting farther away behind him. He looked down to greet his fate. Even naked and small he would not cower before death. His eyes stayed open even as he came a few feet from the ground, but fate smiled on him that day. Or rather, a Great Spirit. The gray equine face looked at him with mismatched eyes as he dangled Makuta between his claws. "And what are you my creepy little worm?" ~~~~ Discord teleported into the Crystal Empire carrying the now polka dotted unicorn over his shoulder. He spooked some guards and quickly decided that it was not time for fun and games, what with Fluttershy on the line. So he set the still unconscious captain on the ground and readied a little chaos magic that would turn the great palace into rock candy. After that all it would take would be the threat of a downpour to make them release Fluttershy. Or he could just teleport everypony to safety and clear a way for Celestia in the smoke, but what fun would that be? He was about to snap his claws and do the tasty deed, but was interrupted by a demonic howling quickly rising through the palace. He blinked as a tiny screeching object fell from a third story window. He teleported forward and caught it a foot above the ground. He turned it over and gave a crooked smile at how weird it was. "And what are you my creepy little worm?" His smile grew wider as it actually tried to answer. "Silly worm, only ponies, draconequus, dragons, griffons, minotaurs, cows, diamond dogs and... Wow, this could go on for a while.. But you clearly don't talk." The creature then began slowly trying to construct a pattern of sounds to show it was capable of intelligence. But Discord merely chuckled and gave it a tiny trumpet. ~~~~ Makuta looked down at the metal object that had come into existence in the beast's paw next to him. He attempted to question the beast, but he still hadn't found any way to construct sounds beside his hissing and screeching. "No no no!" The beast said, pushing the instrument closer to Teridax. "You're supposed to blow on it!" He summoned his own trumpet and preceded to play a few notes, alerting the guards to his presence. "Oops." With a snap of his eagle claw they were at the bottom of Sombra's dungeon again. Makuta turned around to observe the new surroundings, and realized that the mares before him included the Archivist he had met when he first arrived. He could also feel the link between the six and the necklaces on the wall across from them. He could also sense the power inside each of the jewels. Oh no. These were the toa of this world, the six necklaces on the opposite wall might as well be their kanoha. And while some of them weren't color coded to their masters they all shared the same design as one of the mares marks. "Fluttershy! It's so good to see you!" The beast cried, jumping at the cream and pink mare. But as he came close to the bars he was violently rejected, spazzing slightly as he was flung back across the room, into the necklaces, which also flashed him and shot him into the floor. Teridax and his instrument were launched toward the cieling, hitting it and coming to a crash on top of the Archivist's cage. The beast waited for another burst of pain, but none came. "Urrghh.... why is everything Discord-proof?!" Cried the beast. He jumped up and slowly stretched a paw back toward the mare's cage, the mare telling him to be careful. The beast frowned as the cage rejected his claw once again. "Well, this is problematic. Hey, sergeant Polkadot, get up." He snapped his claw and the Equestrian Captain that- Teridax looked closer at the slowly waking Unicorn and saw that it was the same captain who had destroyed his Tehrahk body. He hissed at the Unicorn and slowly climbed down from Archivist Sparkle's cage. ~~~~ Shield Wax got up and noted with horror that his body and armor had been completely covered in neon pink polkadots. He took in the sight of the Bearers of Harmony captured and Discord standing before him and almost fainted again. But Discord caught him before he could. "Polkadot, I need you to carry Fluttershy's cage to the palace entrance, then come back for the others. Celestia will find a way to free them." He looked at the necklaces for a second. "Oh yeah, and carry those too." "Wh-" He tried to get out. "Nope! Go, carry, now." Discord pushed him toward the crystal cage and forced him underneath Fluttershy's prison. Discord felt something on his foot. "Oh hello my little wormy! And I see you've lost your trumpet." Makuta screeched once. Discord patted him on what he assumed was the head and summoned the tiny trumpet yet again. "Now come on, I've already told you that you can't talk. How about this, if you give me a little toot on the horn I'll give you the power to speak full sentences." The creature stared at him for a second and turned to immediately begin making noise on the tiny instrument. It stopped after a few seconds and stared expectantly at Discord. "Fine, fine, you may now speak!" ~~~~ What kind of power did this animal possess? "My name... is... Dume." Makuta decided. He had gone by the title for long enough, why not return to something he was familiar with? "Oh your voice is adorable!" The beast cheered, he bowed down toward the Archivist and gave a sly "I designed it myself after all." Teridax coughed and began quietly experimenting with his voice. It was quite high. But he didn't think that mattered. Perhaps a deeper voice would be more intimidating? But at the moment he was a mere Kraata. With a bronze head and bright red tail he was the farthest thing from threatening any of these creatures have likely seen. "I'm... well, I was captured by King Sombra, but I managed to escape. However I was quickly knocked out the window by him, leaving me like this. It was horrible. I've been stripped of my original form, merely a tiny portion of my original size, without a full mouth to speak with. I'm a shadow of the creature I was before. Um... my saviour, who caught me before I fell to my death, you were able to give me a voice, could you... possibly... give me back my original body?" Fluttershy's eyes were wide with pity. But Twilight was more interested in what could have happened. "Are all of Sombra's experiments like this?" "I don't know. But please.. er, what's your name?" "I am Discord, the great spirit of-" the Draconequus began proudly. But Makuta merely jumped toward him and tried to make a motion of bowing. A Great Spirit! Incredible, so soon, this is... could this be destiny? Teridax's thoughts immediately turned to his Plan. It would start sooner than he thought. "Great Spirit! I am honored to be in the presence of the avatar of the universe. And I humbly offer my eternal service and gratitude in exchange for you returning my original body." "But you're so cute how you are right now." Fluttershy offered. Makuta was quiet for minute, before deciding that the Pegasus had no ulterior motives. "But this isn't my natural body. I want mine back." Discord frowned. "Maybe later, right now I need to figure out how to open these cages without using my Chaos Magic." Makuta gave a devious smile, even without much of a mouth. "My original form is quite strong, it would be able to simply force open the cages." Discord raised an eyebrow at that, but Twilight struck at Teridax's hopes; "No, that wouldn't do much. There's an extremely powerful magical forcefield holding us in. It only works with a sufficiently powerful Unicorn's magic- and even then it has to be dark magic." "Capitan Polkadot, can you open it?" "I know nothing about dark magic." Shield Wax said, trying to remain calm before the Spirit of Chaos and a talking slug. "Then we need to find King Sombra." Rarity said with some dread. "Don't worry guys, Discord can totally take on Sombra. Right Discord?" Rainbow said confidently. Discord shrugged. "Sure, why not. But I always have had problems with dark magic..." Makuta decided to give it one last shot before he would lay off for a while. "If you give me my original form I promise you, Great Spirit, that I will capture Sombra in no less than ten seconds." "Ten seconds flat?" Rainbow asked, impressed. "That's what I just said, isn't it?" Rainbow smiled at him. "I like his guts, come on Discord, what harm could it do?" Makuta managed not to laugh maniacally at Dash's words. "Fine, but I'll be timing you." He summoned a stopwatch in his lion paw and readied to snap his eagle claw. "Three, two... one!" He snapped the claw and pressed the button at the same instant. Makuta roared as his powers returned to him in an instant. His body swelled and then became nonexistant. His Antidermis soul expanded to fill his new body, and the power that coursed through his veins improved his mood considerably. Discord was not impressed. Shield Wax managed to not faint. Fluttershy and Rarity did not. Makuta grinned, but found that something was still missing. His Kraahkan had not returned. Oh well, he didn't need it for now. He teleported upstairs to find a Sombra desperately trying to remove the tiny patch of blackness. "Get off, get off, get off! Okay, I know I'm not blind, but this isn't magic... it's like some kind of... antilight has been glued to my head..." he mumbled. Makuta smiled and dispersed the darkness. "Oh thank Luna tha-" His pupils shrunk before the giant black mechanical titan standing a few meters away from him. "Mummy." Makuta simply paralyzed him with a look, then extended his arm to grab the unicorn before teleporting back. "And that's ten seconds!" Discord cheered. Rainbow gaped. Makuta dropped Sombra, who was as stiff as a board, upside down on the floor. "Done. Now then, Great Spirit, what do you wish of your servant?" "Oh that'll be it for now. You're free to go." Makuta's eyes widened. "You don't want me? But I've shown how powerful I am-" "I honestly don't need or want a servant. So... thanks for the help, have fun with your life, you're free to go." Makuta stood there for a few seconds. "If you ever need assistance with anything, Great Spirit, know that I'll be loyal and willing to serve." Teridax sighed inwardly. This was going to be more difficult. He had no idea how the bureaucracy of the Great Beings worked in this universe. And if the Great Spirit's name and... 'magic' had anything to do with it, maybe there wasn't one. Maybe the Great Spirit simply allowed the inhabitants of the universe to do as they pleased inside his body. Have it be pure chaos. He considered whether that would make his job of taking over the universe harder or easier. "Should I unparalyze Sombra so you can question him? If you want I could remove his magic." "So can I!" Discord said triumphantly, snapping his fingers. Sombra's horn disappeared, but the was still frozen. "Huh. what do you know? What kind of magic did you use on him?" "I don't know. I don't think it is magic. It's simply one of my powers." He lifted the paralysis from Sombra. "What's going on?!" He growled. "I have half a mind to obliterate-" He noticed that he was in his dungeon. With both the giant mechanical monster, and Discord. "....crap." He finally stated. "Well, that doesn't matter! I'm the most powerful Unicorn in the world! I can take you Discord!" "Look up." Sombra did, "What? It's just the cieliiii- oh sweet sun and moon, where in Tartarus is my horn?!" "Sombra, I'll give it back once you let Fluttershy go." This was answered by five 'ahem's. "Oh, and uh, everypony here?" Discord tried. "Never. Even without my horn, I am in possession of the dark arts!" He stomped the ground, roaring. But nothing happened. "Fine... but I'll need my horn, and an oath that you'll release me right after!" "Done and done." With a snap of the Draconequus' claws Sombra's horn returned. Sombra placed his horn near each of the cages and gave an annoyed grunt as they all opened. "I did what you asked, now get out of my Empire!" Discord reclined back on thin air. "Nah, I don't feel like it." "Sombra! We are here to stop you... and this time, we have the Elements of Harmony on our side!" Twilight shouted, putting effort into levitating the necklaces around her friend's necks and placing the crown on her own head. Makuta eyed the necklaces and frowned at the gathering energy he could feel in the air. Sombra was beginning to get scared. Makuta watched as Sombra slowly melted into shadowy smoke, and began flying backward, the process happened in less that a second for the ponies there, but they all stopped in surprise as a metallic claw held the gray unicorn. Makuta gave a wide smile, very horribly visible to the ponies without his mask hiding it. He was so fast! He was one of the fastest creatures from his old universe, being able to outrun a Toa of air with a mask of speed with no effort, his powers were godly. "Sorry, Sombra. I am an ally of the Great Spirit." Sombra's eyes widened. "Makuta?" He whispered. "Help me! Please, just let me go, we're partners right? You said that I was your son! I'm Makuta Sombra!" Makuta stopped, his grip was still solid enough to hold something a hundred times Sombra's strength, but it lessened slightly. "Yes... that's right... I killed all the Makuta from my universe... so that none could stand against me like I stood against my Spirit..." he whispered, too quiet for anything there to hear. "But... you and Nightmare..." He looked down at the writhing Unicorn in his grip, "Are so... so weak. And Sombra, you at least respect me..." Makuta looked at the bored Draconequus, and then at the...'toa'... they were just as weak as Sombra, weaker even. Makuta gave a grin. A very simple Plan. But one that would work none the less. He set down Sombra, and then, faster than anyone there could see, moved behind Fluttershy, the one the Great Spirit treasured the most. "Great Spirit." Makuta said in a deep, resounding voice. "You will transfer all your power to me." "What? Why would I do that?" "Or I will obliterate this one. I can kill her in over a million ways this given moment, over sixty percent of them will cause her pain," Discord raised a paw, but stopped as black metal shot toward Fluttershy, bending around her body, but threateningly close. "Try anything, anything at all Spirit, Toa, and I'll kill her, know I will. Now then, where was I? Oh yes, pain. Thousands of ways to kill this mare painfully. But that's not all, I can do even more, I can erase her. I can make her into a thought, and then forget her. I can turn her to electricity, trap her in a nightmare, force her to kill you herself." He lifted her into the air in a swift moment. "But... I can ensure her eternal safety in exchange for your powers. Or your body, if you wish, we can even switch." "Bodies?" Discord asked. He wanted to crack a smile, but Fluttershy's look stopped anything resembling a smile from happening. "Sure," he snapped his claw and suddenly Makuta set down Fluttershy. "Well?" Makuta asked with Discord's voice. "NO!" Makuta roared from Discord's body. "I mean your real body! The Universe! Not this stupid unsymmetrical avatar!" "That is my body." Discord said pointedly. "I'm not the universe or anything." "You... you said you were the Great Spirit! You could bend the laws of physics!" "I am a great Spirit, the Spirit of Disharmony." Makuta frowned, and watched with interest as a shadow formed around his paw. "At least I still have my spiritual powers..." He reached forward and grabbed what used to be his own face, and spurned a tornado of darkness and red energy. Discord screamed with Makuta's mouth as Makuta absorbed his own body, with Discord's soul attached. Soon there stood a more serpentine Makuta, his body longer, one arm slightly longer than the other. And behind him there were two great black wings, one bat-like, the other a metal frame with blue feathers sticking out of it. "D-discord?" Fluttershy finally asked. Makuta winced. "His will is strong..." he reached behind him and ripped out a Kraata with a tiny antler and a tiny horn. He bent down and handed it to Fluttershy. "There's Discord, take care of him, I'll keep my promise, fly away right now and I won't hurt you." Sombra had a slowly growing grin as his Partner stood above the six mares, a majestic hellish monster. His 'Father'. "Elements of Harmony," Makuta began, "surrender your necklaces right now and I'll-" with a stomp of Twilight's hoof the six necklaces lit up, a force field surrounding the six mares. "ugh.. well, you've forced my hand, everyone but the yellow pegasus dies." Makuta said with a shrug. He blinked as he did it again, he's never had the exact muscles to do that before. He pointed a finger at Twilight and grinned as a thousand lightning bolts fired forward at the field, before he began dodging them as they were reflected by the field. He looked to his sides, a double helix of rainbow was trying to circle around him, trapping him. That wouldn't work. He pumped his powerful wings and flew backward, he scooped Sombra into his hand as he fired a laser at the ceiling, flying through the new hole in the ground below the castle. "My castle!" Sombra shouted. "I'll build you a new one." He snapped his claw as they teleported several thousand miles to a faraway island. "Discord has some interesting powers... I don't think I'll regret this form." "That doesn't matter! What about my empire?! I finally won! I won a war with Equestria, and now..." He glared up at Makuta. "Take us back! We can take the Elements together!" "No. I didn't get to test their forcefield... and the combined beams of six united Toa are enough to seal me in protodermis indefinitely... one of my only weaknesses. One you will never take advantage of course, correct?" "O-of course..." "Good. So..." Makuta's mind was racing ahead, those six toa were his only real enemies in this world now that he had his full strength (and more). His Discord-integrated body wanted to do a facepalm. "I need my Kanohi. Sombra, where-" Makuta stopped speaking and snapped his claws again, summoning his mask onto his face. "This power is incredibly convenient... he may not be the universe... but he had all the power of a Great Spirit, though not the perception... I'm not omniscient yet, but I suppose we can work on that." "So... does this mean you've met your goal?" "Not yet." Makuta made as if to sit and a chair formed for him. "I'm as powerful as I ever was... but I still need more. I need to be uncontested, I need a way to break through that forcefield." He turned to the gray unicorn. "Sombra... you had their Kanohi in your grasp, what do you know of their Elements of Harmony?" "I... was too busy with the war effort to properly examine the elements..." "Hmph. Oh well, looks like we'll have to go straight to the source. Perhaps I should've kept Discord in here longer, tried going into his memories. Ah well, Sombra, hang on, I'm teleporting us into an enemy camp. Be prepared." "What?! Why?!" but he didn't get to say anything else before the black mechanical hybrid snapped his claws one more time. ~~~~ Outside the town of Ponyville, inside the Everfree Forest a portal opened. And two titans stepped out, followed by six.... heroes.