//------------------------------//
// Chapter 12 Crab Races 
// Story: Six Ways, Book 1: Unity 
// by the_bioXpony_guy 
//------------------------------//

Was it an hour? Half an hour? Regardless of how long she had just slept, it comforted the pony to know she at least got a bit more rest. Her eyes didn't seem to burn as much as they had last time she awoke, but they stung enough to draw her to rubbing them furiously.

Seeing the pony opening her pinkish eyes, an ussal crab—the very crab she had spoken to before falling asleep—threw a pebble at Lyra. To such a rude action, she responded with a hasty, "Ouch! What did you do that for?"

"Wake up!" he replied. "The master wants us to get outside."

Those words alone brought a twinkle to Lyra's eye. Outside? she wondered, resisting the urge to smile. I haven't been to that place in ages! It was an exaggeration, but an exaggeration which made her feel a bit fuzzy on the inside. A large part of her felt like asking exactly where they were going, but an even larger part of her feared asking such questions would only result in disappointment.

Feeling the uncontrollable need to breathe in fresh air, Lyra started running toward the exit—only to remember she was tied to a pole. "Ack!" she choked. "I think I gave myself whiplash!"

All the other crabs had to cover their faces with their large claws just to keep the unicorn from seeing their humored expressions, from hearing their snickering.

Struggling to speak—almost as if he had just struggled to hold back a laugh, as well—Onepu told her, "You still have a leash on, you know."

I know, the pony silently growled, trying to rub her neck—only to feel her rope restraint holding her back. Don't chuckle; just take it off!

As if the Matoran had read her thoughts, Onepu reached an arm out to the pony and started untying the rope. "Oh, what am I doing?" he laughed, releasing his grip. Upon doing so, he picked up Lyra's muzzle—the likes of which sat atop a wooden crate by Lyra's tail.

To such a realization, the pony nearly facehoofed herself. It was there the whole time? She had to puff out her rosy cheeks just to keep from screaming.

"Knock that off!" Onepu demanded, referring to the unicorn's cheeks. As he slipped the noise reducer onto Lyra's snout, he continued, "You've gotta be grown up, at the least—so act like it!" And with that, he strapped the restraint over Lyra's mouth and nose. After which he pulled Lyra's head through the leash's lasso-like opening.

Lyra took only a few steps into freedom when her Matoran rival landed a firm smack atop her flank. The very sensation made Lyra freeze.

Not seeing her panicked state, Onepu murmured, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, now!" With little warning, the little man jumped upon the pony's back.

Still frozen, Lyra silently wondered, D-did you just smack my butt? The simple thought of somebody touching her like that made her feel small—like she had just shrunk down to half her size.

Knowing nothing about the thoughts in the pony's head, Onepu landed a hand on Lyra's neck and asked, "Are we going to get moving, now?"

Her ears twitching and her eyes flaring just a little bit, Lyra replied, "R-right—moving!" The pony did as she was told, but felt confused as to where exactly the Matoran wanted her to go. Upon stepping through the exit of this little mud house, she noticed all the crabs following behind her, their many stumpy legs pitter-pattering along the dirt.

Once again, Lyra—her eyes very weak compared to the rest of the villagers'—found herself blinded by the shadows. Every step she took made her fear tripping—and the fear only built upon itself with a Matoran sitting peacefully on her back.

Despite all her seeing difficulties, the pony witnessed a familiar figure wandering around the shady ecosystem. Something about this figure—this character, more like—just made her want to squint her eyes and wonder, Who is that? A small amount of color came to the figure's body—telling her this person clearly wasn't from here.

"Oh, jeez!" the nearly-completely-silhouetted man moaned.

The sound of his voice made Lyra's ears twitch. He sounds—so familiar! she noted, her teeth lightly grinding together.

Hardly able to see, the little man reached into his bag and pulled out a lightstone—much like the ones Lyra earlier witnessed on her way down this village.

A great sphere of light exposed itself before the pony's eyes. Such a sudden difference in brightness nearly blinded her. The light held amazing power, but most stunning of all to Lyra was what it revealed: the colors red and blue.

With a gasp, Lyra took a step back and pointed at the figure in question. "It's you!" she screamed. "You tried to kill me!"

Onepu didn't ask any questions. "Oh, please!" he retorted. "Like there's anything dangerous about the Chronicler!"

"Chronicler?" the blue-and-red Matoran wondered. "Is that what I am?"

"Don't give us that!" Lyra hissed. "You're not fooling anyone; I know—!"

"Excuse me, sir!" an Onu-Matoran guard called out to Onepu from the end of the tunnel. "Is your rahi talking?"

Had he the ability, he would have started sweating. "Talking?" Onepu snorted, trying hard to hide his nervousness. "What are you talking about? Rahi can't talk!" He then bent down to Lyra's ear and muttered, "Talk and I'll have my crabs give you the business!"

A gulp sliding down her throat, Lyra decided to keep her lips sealed. I'm not even allowed to help myself. What am I gonna do? Keeping quiet seemed the best option.

"Yeah—it was talking!" the oddly-colored Matoran answered.

"Oh, would you just cut that out?" Onepu scoffed. "I mean, really!" He then turned and faced toward the colorful man and explained, "All this adventuring is giving you hallucinations, Takua. And you!" Facing the guard, he stated, "You're clearly overworked! You should take a break."

Hearing those words made Lyra want to nod her head in agreement—but she was wise enough to realize doing so would prove the Matoran's suspicions. Instead of nodding, she let a bead of sweat roll down her neck—as if to say, Please fall for it—oh please fall for it!

The guard looked at Lyra for a moment and then shook his head. "I've never seen that type of rahi before. It makes me wonder if it really does talk!"

Impatient, Onepu insisted, "No—it is not!" As those words blasted through the underground village, the small army of ussal crabs stirred uneasily.

Almost afraid of Onepu and his crabs, the guard took a step back. "Alright, alright—" he muttered. "I'm going to take a break and see if that creature of yours really does talk. Till then, stay out of trouble." And with that, the guard walked away—leaving Takua all by his lonesome.

Ignoring the Matoran atop her back, Takua sped up to Lyra—making sure she could see him. "I know I saw you talking!" But at the same time he couldn't help but wonder, Where have I seen her before?

In response to his snootiness, Lyra blew a raspberry right in Takua's blue face.

Shocked by such a rude display, Takua stepped back, wiping his face all the while. After getting her spit out of his eyes, he looked up and glared at Onepu.

"What?" asked Onepu, playing the innocent act. "That stuff happens when you're mean to animals."

"Oh, whatever!" Takua groaned. Without hesitation, the Matoran turned tail and walked away.

That'll teach him! thought Lyra. As the pony felt a small sense of pride well up within her thoughts, she felt Onepu pulling on her ear.

"Hey!" he shouted. "No time for dilly-dallying. Get moving!"

Feeling the small pinch at the tip of her ear go away, Lyra inhaled sharply and told herself, It'll be over soon enough. She crossed her imaginary fingers in the hope that people just would stop physically assaulting her. Despite these thoughts, she only managed to mutter, "Okay."

That one word flying off her tongue, Lyra started blindly walking through the village of Onu-Koro. She had no idea where she was supposed to go, so she devised one strategy: unless Onepu said otherwise, she would travel in the direction she believed he wanted her to go. And that direction was straight.

But first stood the issue of simply navigating through this never-ending shadowy landscape. Lyra could see a good three meters past her own nose, but that was about it. Because of this crippling factor, any sense of depth she wanted to see in this village held no place in her mind. She could not tell if this place was tiny and confined or large and open. The thought of it all made her bite the inside of her cheek.

"Hey."

His voice made Lyra flinch. It's that guard! she realized. But where is he?

"Oh, hello there," Onepu replied. "Are you feeling any better now?"

"I guess," he sighed. "Your animal hasn't been talking right?"

To such a question, Onepu merely chuckled, "No—no she hasn't, thanks."

"Okay," the guard confirmed, his voice—at least from Lyra's perspective—seeming to come from the blackness. "At least I can be sure that this world hasn't gone totally insane just yet."

That last statement nearly pulled a laugh out of Lyra. Puh-lease! This whole world went insane long before I set hoof in it! You think talking ponies is the beginning? How about red men who like to kill animals? Even with these thoughts in mind, Lyra still managed to keep quiet like a butterfly.

"Carry on, then," the guard mumbled and pointed toward a tunnel. "Po-Wahi is just that way."

What in the heck is a Po-Wahi? thought Lyra, confused, but feeling like the guard had just given her a huge helping hand. 

That's where we're going? At that moment—once again, her thoughts were interrupted when Onepu pulled her ear, as if to say, "Get moving."

In response, Lyra walked off to the tunnel. Above it she saw what looked like a circle-based language; its presence made her want to scratch her head. The words—carved onto a stone banner—sat there under a small row of lightstones.

As she walked up to the tunnel's mouth, unsure what to think of this great cave, Lyra noticed one of the crabs walking up right beside her. Feeling like the crustaceous creature would snip off a bit of her tail at any second, she kept the crab occupied by whispering, "What does that say?"

The crab blinked. "What does what say?" Clearly it wasn't the same crab she had slept by earlier.

However, that didn't stop Lyra's temper from escalating. With a hiss, she explained, "Those circles up there!" As she uttered those words, she pointed up at the text with her eyeballs.

Just barely seeing the minute motion of her eyes, the ussal crab looked up and suddenly realized what the pony was referring to. "Oh," he murmured, feeling dumb. "I'm a bit rusty at reading, but I think it says,: Po-wahi left and Dig-site right."

Relieved, Lyra replied, "Thank you," and increased her pace. The longer she stayed in this blindfold of a village, the more she worried about tripping over something in the dark. But before she could find some good lighting, she first had to trudge through yet another tunnel.

Please have more lightstones! she hoped, her teeth grinding with the thought. I don't care how good the villagers or crabs here can see in the dark; I can't see worth squat! Oh, if only Onepu knew!

If Onepu hadn't been such a close-minded, bossy tyrant this entire time, he would have known the pony's limitations. He would have known she came not of this world, but from a world that—quite frankly—wasn't in some kind of mysterious disarray. Indeed, Onepu was nothing like Kapura. Hopefully Lyra wasn't mistaken by meeting Kapura first and thinking all the inhabitants on this island were nice. In which case, she had no one to blame for all these horrors but herself.

Before too long, the crabs—who held no fear of treading into the darkness—started making their way ahead of Lyra. You should have hopped on one of the crabs' backs, she silently suggested to Onepu. You should have smacked one of their rear ends—not mine! The thought made her slowly blow out some steam as she moved forward.

"Hey—talking rahi," grouched Onepu. "If we could move faster—"

"First of all—" Lyra interrupted, keeping her gaze forward. "I am a pony and my name is Lyra. Secondly, I can't move that much faster because—at least compared to everybody else here—my vision is terrible. If you wanted an animal—or rahi, or whatever—who could quickly get you through the darkness, you've chosen the wrong one."

"Don't backtalk me!" His words echoing through the tunnel, the angry Onu-Matoran squeezed the pony's two ears and gave a great yank.

Lyra started grinding her teeth, feeling like her ears would rip right out of their seams at any moment. Before this day, nobody had ever grabbed her ears—and never before did they pull them up to the point where tears wanted to fall from the unicorn's eyes. By the time it was all over, Lyra felt as if her ears had grown to twice as long as before.

Bending down to Lyra's sore ears, Onepu whiseer, "Going to try that again?"

"N-no!"

He pinched her ears. "No—what?"

Again feeling the need to start crying, Lyra corrected herself. "No, sir!" As if by voice command, the pinches in her ears ceased. Thank Celestia! She now knew Onepu's biggest expectation from his animals: loyalty. Too bad I'm not Rainbow Dash.

It looked like simply walking wasn't going to do it; Lyra needed to pick up the pace. Even with her eyes serving as a crippling factor to her existence in this place, she had no other option.

From what seemed like out of nowhere, she saw a light at the end of the tunnel—quite literally. However, with further inspection, Lyra realized out she had merely made it to an intersection between two tunnels, both of which had foreign text above them.

Once there, Onepu directed, "Go left."

At least now I'm getting some directions. Maybe Onepu's cryptic commands would finally end. Perhaps the end of this tunnel would lead her to her destination.

It all came down to hoping. She hoped she wouldn't trip over a rock. She hoped she actually had gone down the left path. She hoped Onepu didn't find any reason to tug her ears again. Lyra could only cross her invisible fingers for so long—for soon she took in the sight of a golden desert.

A beach with no water, a plain with no grass; it must have been her destination. She could not imagine having to go even further, and certainly wished to stay as far away from the darkness as possible. Thankfully, two words confirmed the answers to the cyan pony's questions.

"We're here," announced her master.

"Whew!" Lyra sighed. "I actually kind of like it here."

But if Onu-Koro was too dark, then this place was too bright. Onepu and a few of his crabs had to shield their eyes from the sun just to keep from going blind. Lyra saw this and scoffed.

Now without any real tasks in front of her face, she could really appreciate the soothing feeling of sand beneath her hooves. Her feet made round imprints in the ground, while the crabs left behind skinny holes.

"Alright, then!" Onepu announced. "I believe we have enough space out here as it is."

Enough space for what? thought Lyra.

Not even considering her question, Onepu shouted, "Everybody get in a line. Now!"

Almost immediately, the cluster of crabs scrambled. Such an unorganized mess of creatures running this way and that proved enough to make the pony's head spin. She could only ask, Where am I supposed to go? Just as that thought crossed her mind, all the crabs seemed to have already set themselves in an orderly line. Such a realization made Lyra's pupils shrink and her skin crawl.

"Pony!" Onepu growled. "Get in line."

Without hesitation, she trotted over to one of the lines ends. At least he's trying to get to know me better, she noted. But he still hasn't learned my name. The thought made her grunt.

The Matoran took one last look at his line before giving a nod of approval. "Excellent," he muttered. "Now then. Let's see who's best at racing."

Racing? Lyra silently shouted. Already?

"On your marks—"

No! Not those words!

"Get set—"

I guess there's no avoiding it now. She worried too much—rather than prepare for the inevitable.

"Go!"

And off they went. As if they all worked under one mind, the crabs moved as fast as they could, their individual paces not holding much variety. However, just seeing those crabs rushing out into the desert—with no fear of what lie ahead—set Lyra into a momentary trance.

"Pony!" shrieked Onepu, noticing as she seemed to freeze in place. He had to stomp his foot just to pull her out of hypnosis.

Violently shaking her head, Lyra knocked herself back into reality and started running. A flame sprouted beneath her hooves as she dashed forward.

Relative to a pony, she moved at a snail's pace; relative to a crab, she bolted through like lightning.

Even with the desert sun burning her eyes, she managed to see clearer than either of the ussals around her. Even with the ussals' natural colors blending in with those of the desert's, she easily picked the crabs apart from their surroundings. At the same time, she stuck out of the desert like a sore, green thumb.

Lyra looked back at the crabs. Wow, she thought with a giggle. Doesn't Onepu put these guys in racing competitions? What's so great about seeing slow things move? That's like when Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash put a turtle against all those other animals in a race.

Onepu found himself both stunned at Lyra's speed and ashamed that he hadn't seen this coming—so ashamed he was drawn to hitting himself atop his head. I should have guessed the pony would have done better than the crabs, he mused. Her legs kinda give that away. The thought in mind, Onepu called out, "Hey, pony!"

In response to those words, Lyra—having already escaped from the crabs' cluster—flinched and turned around immediately. With speed unimaginably slow for a pony, she returned to the Matoran. "Yes?" she asked, already feeling partially out of breath.

Bluntly, Onepu told Lyra the truth. "You're not fit."

Lyra nodded her head as she bit her lip. "I have been letting myself go," she admitted. "I think it's because Bon Bon's candies are really—"

"That's not what I meant," the impatient Onu-Matoran cut in. "I mean to say that putting you in the races would be unfair." Paused in between sentences, he looked down at his feet and thought about it for a moment. "How would you like to compete in the Muaka races, instead?"

One ear raised over the other, Lyra wondered, "What's a Muaka?"

Unsurprised by her ignorance toward the many rahi beasts looming around Mata-Nui, Onepu explained, "Muaka are tigers who chase—" Little did he know, he’d already screwed up.

"Tigers?" shrieked Lyra, not seeing how anybody could feasibly suggest such a thing. Is his mask on right—or has he just lost his mind? Either idea seemed to make sense. What kind of person would think a pony had anything against a tiger? "No way, Jose!"

His temper flared—and Onepu reached for Lyra's ear, but missed as the pony took a step back. Had he any teeth, he likely would have been grinding them.

"Ah ah ah," Lyra chided. "I think you've tortured me enough with that today."

"What are you talking about, pony?" growled the Matoran.

"My name is Lyra! L-Y-R-A! Get it right. Seriously—there are old people who remember my name better than you do. Old people!"

That whole time she had spent yelling at, correcting the Matoran, Lyra felt a small sense of bravado rising in her heart. Against her fears and her worries, the pony managed to stand up to the very creature who had imprisoned her in his home for what felt like a week.

At this, Onepu merely walked behind the pony. "What're you doing back there?" asked Lyra. Already feeling the fear coming back, already feeling the sweat dripping off the back of her neck, the unicorn bit her bottom lip and silently asked, If you slap my butt again, I swear—

Sure enough, the pony's sensitive ears noted the sound of Onepu's hand drawing back, ready to do something. That something simply made Lyra lose it. No! With that one silent word, she squeezed her eyes tight and gave a great kick of her hind legs. They are all the same, she thought while kicking the man behind her. Once they get on my nerves—

Wham! Like Takua, he went flying straight back. However, with nothing for him to crash into, he merely skyrocketed before losing altitude. Mere seconds passed after this loss of elevation when he face-planted into the sand. That may have stunned him, but Lyra realized she had to get out of there as fast as she could.

In spite of her slowness, Lyra ran straight out of there—out into the wild, dry desert.

The sound of hooves stomping against the ground caught the crabs' attention. "Hey," one of them uttered to the rest. "That other rahi is getting away!" All the other crabs flinched at those words.

Had she not been trying to get away from all those suddenly-alerted crabs, Lyra would have frozen in place. I hope those guys don't have enough energy to catch up to me! The thought in mind, Lyra let a grin cross her face. Phooey! They'll never catch me—even when I am slow for a pony.


By the end of it all—the end of the race, the war, the day—Lyra found herself panting like a hyperventilating dog. It felt like an hour since she had started running; she could feel it in her hooves. As the sun started its gradual descent from the sky, the broken-down unicorn decided to take a seat next to some desert rocks. I'm so glad I get a break and have some time to get away from everybody else.

Those thoughts playing over and over in her head, Lyra took a look around at the desert around her. Just that made her feel a culture shock.

What is with this place? she wondered. Six statuette masks—each one holding completely different features—surrounded her in a circle. One of them reminded her of Tahu. This whole land is just—just oozing with multiple cultures. Lyra felt that if she had to tell the multiple villages apart, regardless of their geological features, she could decipher each one apart easily.

Sitting in the midst of these stone monuments, the pony could hear something clicking from behind. Such a sound nearly caused her heart to stop. Oh no, she thought. They're still here! The pony ground her teeth in impatience.

Just when she felt like the crab would pop out at her at any moment, Lyra swallowed her pride and turned her head over her shoulder. As expected, a huge crab sat on the other side of her. "Gah!" she cried.

"Ack!" the crab screamed through a feminine voice. "Ah—uh—sorry!"

"I'm not going back!" Lyra declared. "You can’t make me!"

Had the crab any eyebrows, she would have raised them. "Going back where?"

Part of the pony wanted to believe this crustacean was telling the truth, but rather than show some sympathy, she retorted, "Back to Onepu—that's where!"

"Oh—I remember Onepu," the crab recalled. "He was always the best at racing crabs. I can remember all those things he taught us." The crab paused for a moment. "But I thought he was a bit too harsh on us."

"What do you mean you remember Onepu?" wondered Lyra, letting her guard down slightly, her voice calming down all the while.

"I'm retired," the crab admitted. "I was a crab racer for Onepu for many years. I already know how he works. And besides—"

The crab paused, looking at Lyra suspiciously.

"How would you know anything about Onepu?"

"Because," Lyra growled. "He tried to put me in his squad of racers. I got out, though."

"I'd hope so," the crab replied. "My name is Pewku."

In response to this, Lyra snorted. "We're not friends, you know."

"I—I know that!" the baffled crab replied. "I just wanted you to tell me your name."

"Lyra," the pony muttered. "But you may as well just call me the one-dumb-enough-to-leave-home-and-put-herself-through-this-punishment." She sighed, looking down at the ground and fighting back tears. "I just—I can't believe I lost so much in one day. And here I am now."

As those last few words ricocheted around the sculptures, Lyra took a look up at the strange masks. "It's like everywhere I go is different. I fear and I hope—with Princess Celestia as my witness—that I can remember where I've been and how to get back."

As Pewku stood by, listening to her pony acquaintance's every last word, she caught sight of a Po-Matoran wandering within the background. He seemed to be coming closer as every second ticked on by.

Her rant dying off, Lyra noticed the Matoran, as well. "Who is that?" Oh no! Did I speak too loud?