'This could have gone better.' Matau thought to himself as the creatures in front of him all pointed things that could be weapons at him.
"Sooo." He began, smiling crookedly at the group, "does..."
"He was cut off by a blue blur as one of the winged creatures flew into his chest, knocking him to the ground. Matau quickly threw the creature off and was immediately pushed back to the ground when he found a blade at his neck.
"Don't move creature." The bat pony hissed, pushing the blade closer.
"I could say the same thing for you." Came another voice from behind the pony.
Not taking his blade away from Matau, the pony whirled around, searching for the voice, which was all the time Matau needed to kick the creatures legs out from under it, sending it flying.
"Nice of you guys to join me." Matau said, brushing some dust off his arms as he got to his feet.
Emerging from the undergrowth of the forest stepped four of the Toa, while Vakama came back into view next to Matau.
"So much for your genius plan brother." Whenua laughed, slapping Matau on the back.
"Hey." Matau said indignantly.
"Foul creatures. Explain thy presence in my land, or face my wrath." Shouted the largest of the strange creatures, its voice physically hitting the Toa.
"Ouch. Someone's good at anger-shouting." Matau smiled.
"Matau." Nokama began sweetly. "Be quite please."
Stepping forward, Vakama advanced towards the creatures in front of him, causing the bat-winged ones to bristle and ready the blades they wore on their wings.
"I will ask you one more time creatures. Explain your presence in this land willingly, or we will force you to tell us." The large one said, advancing forward.
"I'm sure we'd all love for some answerfinding, but right now we've got our own duty, so why don't..." Matau started, but was cut off by a sudden burst light from the horn of the large one, propelling the Toa of air back into a tree.
"Wrong answer. Wardens. Subdue and restrain the creatures. We will take them back to my sister for judgment."
"Oh no. You did not just attack Matau." Whenua grunted, raising his fists. "That's my job."
With that, Whenua slammed his fists into the ground, causing it to erupt in spikes between the Toa and the creatures, surrounding them with stone.
"We don't want to fight you." Vakama shouted, banging on the stone.
"Well it looks like they do." Onewa said stubbornly.
Before the Toa could do anything else, the rock spikes exploded outwards, peppering the Toa with small shards of stone. Inside, the large one was panting, the horn on its head still faintly glowing from whatever it just did. The other creatures did not look so out of breath though, and as one sprang at the Toa.
The first of the creatures to hit home were the warrior looking ones, the blades attached to their wings raking across the Toas’ own armour as they hastily drew their own weapons to fend off the attack.
"Stop! We are not your enemies." Nokama shouted, blocking a strike with her own weapons.
"Funny. I don't believe you." The creature grunted, before Nokama threw the creature away from her. "Vakama, what should we do?"
"Do not hurt them. They are just doing their duty." He grunted as he fended off attacks directed at him.
"Easy said than done fire-spitter." Matau groaned, getting up from where he had been thrown into the tree.
***
"Castelian! Take two ponies and handle the red and blue one." Luna shouted, getting up from where she had been crouching after she performed her spell.
Whatever the creatures were, they had their own form of magic. At least three of them had shown different powers. The green one could change its shape, the red one seemed to be able to turn invisible at will, and the black one seemed to be able to control the very earth beneath their hooves.
Luna herself began to move into action, closing in on the green creature that had just gotten up from where she had thrown him. Running full tilt at him, she lowered her horn, catching its leg and tripping it up again, causing it to land on the floor with a thud.
"Don't." It groaned, standing up and drawing two blades from its back. "Scratch. My. Armour."
The creature stood up at its full height, coming to the eye level of Luna. The creature stared at her for a second, before breaking down into laughter.
"Mata Nui. These creatures think that they're intimidating to Toa heroes."
The creature was cut off in its laughter by another blast from Lunas horn, which once again was thrown back into the tree. Even Luna had to admit that the green creature was amusing at the very least.
"Castelian. How are you handling the red and blue ones?" She asked, walking over to the unmoving form of the creature.
***
The six elements of harmony faced off against three more of the creatures, in this case, the black, brown and white ones.
"We don't want to fight you...whatever you are." Twilight said, her tiara beginning to glow slightly.
"It sure looks that way." The brown one quipped, drawing what looked like a strange hammer from its back.
"It does appear that your comrades think differently." The white one agreed, drawing its own weapons.
"It was y'all who didn't listen to the princess and attacked us." Applejack reasoned
"One of you attacked Matau first." The black one reasoned. "Now I'm not sayin' that he didn't deserve it, but we didn't throw the first..."
He was cut off by a sudden blow to his chest, which knocked him to the ground.
"Don't try it buddy. You can't talk your way out of this." Rainbow Dash said.
"Alright, that's it." The black one shouted, standing up and throwing Rainbow Dash across the clearing.
The three creatures ran forwards, closing the gap between themselves and the Elements of Harmony. Twilight’s horn began to glow, and a magenta shield formed between them and the oncoming creatures. The three beasts barely even slowed, as the black one took the lead, smashing its weapons against the shield and causing Twilight to cry out in pain.
Twilight screamed as the shield shattered around her, her horn was burning now, and felt like it was driving a nail into her brain. She collapsed to the floor as the rest of her friends crowded round her.
"Twi? What's wrong?" Applejack said, kneeling down next to her friends.
"You meanies. What did you do to Twilight? Or for that matter, what did Twilight ever do to you?" Pinkie shouted.
"Oh you're in for it now." Rainbow Dash growled.
Leaping forward, four of the five remaining elements leaped forwards, landing on the unprepared Toa and striking them with their hooves. Only Fluttershy remained by Twilights side, gently holding her head as she groaned in pain.
***
Vakama blocked an attack from one of the bat-like creatures, before leaping at the largest one, who he guessed from how they acted was their leader.
"We do not want to fight you." He shouted, grappling with her hooves as she tried to lash out at him.
"Then command your kin to stop and to lay down their weapons." The tall one shouted back.
"Will you allow us to leave and continue in our duty if we do?" Vakama grunted, pushing the tall one away from him for a split second.
"You will be taken to my sister whether you like it." The tall one shouted, charging at Vakama. "Or not."
Vakama braced himself for the impact, but still found himself bowled head over heels, landing in the mud a few meters away. The tall one stood over him, planting a foot on his chest.
"I have won creature. Surrender now."
***
Onewa threw the Rainbow coloured creature away from him, only to find the orange one already back on his back. Spinning around, he watched as Nuju pushed the pink one away from him. Somehow, she suddenly appeared behind him, brandishing a plate of something, which she proceeded to smash into his brothers’ face.
Looking around again, he saw that the rest of the Toa were up to their eyes in trouble. Whenua was desperately trying to avoid blasts from the white creatures’ horn, while Nuju was still struggling to wipe the substance from his mask. Looking around, he watched as Nokama fended off an attack from one of the oddly winged creatures, only for three more to come at her. Matau was unconscious from the impact with the tree still, while Vakama was fighting the largest of the creatures.
As he watched, the creature lunged at Vakama, knocking him to the floor and standing victoriously over him.
With a roar, Onewa threw the orange creature off his back, sending it crashing into the white one who was trying to pin down Whenua. Instantly, he ran forwards, his mask beginning to glow as he ran towards the talk creature. His shout drew her attention and she looked directly at him, which was all Onewa needed.
"Call off your soldiers." He said firmly, his voice resonating around the clearing. The tall creature attempted to move towards him, but Onewa simply pushed harder with his mask power.
"Call them off. Call them off, now!" He all but shouted.
The creature continued to fight his command, but Onewa simply pushed harder, forcing it to submit his will.
***
Fluttershy watched in horror as the brown creature threw Applejack from its back, throwing her into Rarity, before turning and charging at Luna. She watched its mask begin to glow, and heard it speak, its voice reverberating around her head.
Instantly, almost subconsciously, she got up and began to move towards the pair, slowly at first, but gradually picking up speed until she was running towards the pair.
"STOP!" She yelled, jumping between the pair and fixing her gaze on the creature. Opening her eyes wide, she used the only thing that she could think of at a time like this.
The creature stared into her eyes, she stared into its eyes, and two immovable objects clashed against each other, in a battle purely of the mind.