//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 Canisters // Story: Six Ways, Book 1: Unity // by the_bioXpony_guy //------------------------------// As the pony ran further and further from danger, she felt as the grip of Makuta lost its hold on her. Before too long, she completely escaped from the dark forest, finding herself standing on a calm beach. The squawks of seagulls and the rush of salty water brushing in her ears calmed Lyra down. “This is nice,” she thought, taking a seat on the sand. After all, I could use some time to think about what the heck just happened to me. Lyra stared up at the dark purple sky, witnessing as six little canisters started falling closer and closer to the shore. What is that? she thought with squinted eyes. Part of her wanted to believe the pellet-shaped objects were raindrops—but she knew better. Are they shooting stars? Such a thought almost made her want to make a wish. Even the closest one to her must have been a whole mile away. With a splash, the pellet nearest to her collided with the water. Lyra flinched upon witnessing this unusual occurrence. It was almost enough to pick her off her rear and make her swim toward the capsule. Such an idea became no more when she saw the capsule pop up through the water’s surface and start floating. Using her sensitive pony ears, she detected the sound of grinding and machine whirring. What is it doing? she wondered, growing more and more anxious by the second. With a little examination, she realized the capsule was coming right for the beach. She was a pony of many experiences, but never before had she seen anything like this. Is that thing alive? she felt like asking somepony. What’s it made out of? Why is it here? She repeated these words in her head as the little capsule continued coming closer. Like the patient, can-do pony she was, Lyra sat in wait for what was to come. She had nothing else to do, after all. All she could do was sit down and watch the capsule—all the while hoping the mess she had just interfered with back in the jungle wouldn't become any real issue heading her way. She had the capsule to watch, the orange sky to gaze upon, the crashing waves to listen to, the beachy breeze to smell. I've never seen anything like this in Equestria! she realized. It's so beautiful here! Just like that, Lyra could feel her worries melting away. It was as if she had found the perfect place to go whenever she had a rough day. At long last, the capsule approached the sandy shore and anchored itself to the ground. It was as if an alien had just come to invade the beach; the futuristic, modern gloss on its metal skin was enough to convince Lyra of that. Six yellow lights blinked on and off as Lyra finally picked herself up, struggling slightly in the process. Now on all fours, she walked over to the side of the capsule. While curious, she was also more confused now than she had ever been in her entire life. Nervously, she raised a hoof and knocked on the capsule, asking, “Hello?” all the while—but to no avail. In the midst of her confusion, a strange, hissing sound suddenly vibrated within her ears. Uh oh, she thought, I think it’s gonna—! Boom! cried the capsule, literally blowing its own top off. Altogether, thirty-three red, orange, and black pieces came flying out of the capsule’s maw. Without any time to cover her ears, Lyra heard as the sound of ringing swam into her ears. In an attempt to find out if she could still hear, Lyra let out a scream—only to hear as it drowned out with the ringing in her ears. This has got to be the worst day of my life. She felt like whining to somepony—as if that would have helped—but she had nobody to run to. She felt infuriated, red, hot, horrified by what was to happen; each emotion she let out through a grunt. She came here for something different. Lyra never really expected to run into Mata Nui, but anywhere different—at the time—seemed better than Ponyville. But after getting pulled through swamps, grassy fields, and hellish forests, Lyra wished nothing more than to run back home, to fall right into Equestria's warm, open arms. Ringing ears folding over her head, she opened her eyes just a crack—then flicked them wide open and witnessed something unbelievable. Without her help, without her intention, the little pieces started moving toward each other—as if attracted by a magnetic force. A robotic hand—the likes of which appeared very similar to Kapura’s—started crawling through the sand. Lyra may as well have had a spider crawling down her back. All the stress from her day seemed to bottle up to that one moment. As a result, she lost control of her tongue and screeched, “Can somebody tell me what in Celestia's name is going on?” The urge to run away slowly crawled up into her mind as she stood by, a victim of creation. Almost as if the pieces were magically attracted to each other, they started shifting over to a single spot on the beach. A pair of feet, hands, and even the hilt of a sword travelled over to this spot. Each piece left behind its own track in the sand. Once all the gears, rods, and body parts moved over to one designated location, they stopped moving. Scratching her head, Lyra asked out loud, “Am I supposed to do something here?” She half-expected an answer—but received nothing in response to her question. Sighing through her nose, she sauntered over to the little pile of pieces. It was then when she witnessed two red feet sticking out from the pile—as if calling out to her. This thing has hands and feet, she realized. Does that mean this thing is a person who has been sliced up into a bunch of pieces? As these thoughts bounced around and about in her head, Lyra looked back down at the feet. Help us! they seemed to say. You know what? thought Lyra. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna fix you with my own elbow grease! Starting with the feet, Lyra led herself up to what looked like limbs. Simply peering at these legs made her notice a ball-and-joint connection between the legs and feet. Using her hooves to keep the leg steady, Lyra slowly and carefully lowered an orange leg into one of the feet. With time and patience, both appendages came together with a sharp, Click! Perfect! she thought. But where do I go after I get the other leg in place? Is there a torso I’m supposed to connect this to? It seemed like a logical question to ask—but where in this pile of thirty-three pieces would she possibly find a torso? Was the torso small? Did it look like her own? Or was it the biggest piece of the bunch? In the end, the torso was the biggest and heaviest out of all the pieces; it gave Lyra back pain just carrying it! While struggling to herald the massive brick over to the legs, the creative unicorn wondered, If I can barely hold this thing up on my hooves, how is—whatever this thing is going to be—supposed to hold it up on those two legs? Four legs were more than two; Lyra was certain of that. Maybe I’m just really weak, she thought with a sigh. Maybe I need Bon Bon to help me. Even the silent utterance of that pony’s name made Lyra feel desperately homesick. Maybe if Bon Bon were here, I wouldn’t be having such a rough day. Why in Equestria had she not let Bon Bon come with her? Why won’t these legs go in? she wondered whilst tinkering with the balls on the tips of the legs. Her ear twitched as her eye suddenly drifted over to an almost square-shaped piece within the pile. It was then when she noticed a plus-shaped hole near the top of the piece—the likes of which matched the shape of a hole on the bottom of the torso. A gasp escaped her when she thought, That’s it! And with that, she set the torso piece on the ground, picked up two of the square pieces, and stuck them on the sides of the bottom of the torso. Whew, she thought. Now for the torso. Though she didn't look forward to having to pick up, she managed to pull the hunk of metal off the ground and set it on top of the two legs—which both clicked flawlessly with the square pieces. "Success!" “Could you not yell so loud?” a mystery voice growled. At that, Lyra flinched, growing suddenly afraid. Unsure of the source of such a voice, Lyra froze before doing anything else. “Who said that?” asked she, her eyes wide open in surprise. “Who’s there?” After a small pause, the same voice responded, “I’m down here. I think I’m buried.” “Buried?” I don’t remember seeing anybody buried, she noted. Are they buried underneath all those pieces? Hoping to find out, the cyan pony cautiously turned over to the pile of pieces and started brushing them out of the way. “Tell me when I find you!” “You already have.” The words echoing within her ears, Lyra flinched and caught sight of a head-shaped piece. How she hadn't noticed it earlier was beyond her understanding. The pink eyes of this head blinked, making Lyra shiver. “Do you know what this is all about?” she said, a hint of impatience sitting behind her words. “Why are there a bunch of pieces everywhere? Who are you? Where did that—that capsule come from?” "Well, uh—" The head wanted to give the pony a legitimate answer, but—in all honesty—he hadn’t any idea what to tell Lyra. He truly had no idea who he was, where he came from, or what his purpose in life was. “I—I don’t know,” he admitted. “I just don’t know.” “What do you mean you don’t know?” wondered Lyra, baffled by the head’s response. Taking her anger out on the head, she continued, “Do you at least know your name?” The head needed a moment to think the question through. What was his name? For some reason, the word Tahu seemed to flare within his mind. Silently did he repeat the name to himself before responding, “I think my name is Tahu.” Wrinkling her nose, Lyra asked, “You think or you know?” Glowing slightly red, Tahu responded, “I don’t know. Just—” He let out a sigh. “Can you just help me? I’m trying to figure out how to assemble myself.” “Assemble yourself?” Lyra looked back at the mess of rods and body parts she had just been trying to piece together. “Am I doing it right?” Standing up on her rear legs, she used her free hooves to grip Tahu's head and align his eye with the few pieces she had earlier tried to put together. After giving a moment’s thought, Tahu put a smile on his face and confirmed, “Yes!” She may not have made a lot of progress, but Lyra was at least on the right track. “Whew!” sighed Lyra, feeling as a bead of sweat rolled down her face. “But what should I do now?” As Lyra set him down in the sand, Tahu began giving her instructions. “There should be a tiny, black rod somewhere in the pile of pieces,” he informed. “Once you find it, put it in the plus-shaped hole at the top of my torso.” “Can do.” Although she didn’t appear so, Lyra was truly amazed how Tahu seemed to know himself inside and out. He came out of the capsule as a newborn—or so it felt to Lyra—yet he already held extensive knowledge of his own anatomy. As these thoughts drifted within her head, Lyra clutched a tiny rod with her hoof. “I found it!” she announced, trotting up to the torso. “Good,” sighed Tahu. “Now just stick it in the hole at the top.” Lyra did as she was told—loving every second of it. Simply being able to touch this biomechanical creature’s body—whilst fitting his pieces in the proper area—made Lyra feel special. With a guide, she loved it; without a guide—she felt like ragequitting. At last she felt like she had a purpose in life. And there were five other canisters! she realized with glee. That means more things for me to fix! She paused before noticing, But they’re scattered out. Where am I supposed to find them, now?