//------------------------------// // Equestrian Day // Story: My Little Bionicle: Quest for the masks // by Toa Coy //------------------------------// My Little Bionicle: Quest for the Masks By Toa Coy, Co-author Blazikenking (To be) Edited by Cade the Sharkbear So time to get back to equestria and back to paperwork for Mazeka ~Toa Coy~ Chapter Thirteen: Equestrian Day Mazeka was enjoying his tour of the place he now knew was called the Crystal Empire. Again, he was surprised to see that most of the inhabitants were walking about and happy, even after an attack and clean up underway. He was surprised since two days ago, he watched as they were moved to a safe zone while guards defend against several waves of the follower’s army. His thoughts were interrupted by Shining Armor saying. “Hey Mazeka are you okay?” The stallion asked noticing the diamond eyed stallion looking perplexed about something. “What is on your mind?” “I’m a little confused, Prince Armor, but why are your subjects acting like nothing happend when it has yet to be cleaned up?” Mazeka said pointing a hoof at at what he learned was called a family having a nice day out even if they just passed a hole in the ground. “Why are they like this and not still scared of another attack?” Shining thought about this and knew what the unicorn was getting at since he thought the same thing from time to time, but knowing what the empire’s civilians had to deal with even with all the good that has happen since he and Cadence became the rulers. “I think it is because since Sombra’s rule over them, they look for the joy each day and treasure it.” The prince stated. “They do have fear of trouble coming our way but they trust the rulers to defend and protect them.” Mazeka understood what he was saying. Mazeka’s order looked to Helryx for guidance since she was the eldest and once served as Mata Nui’s lead tracker. In addition he knew that she used several teleportation kanoka to move the library of information from the library on the original land. With that the Ko-pony put on a happy face to relax the ruler that was leading him around. ---- Helryx was silenced by what Mazeka had written, if not for his code name she would have disregarded this as a fake and yet it was his, this meant they need to make a direct connections with both of the countries now. She had just finished picking the group to do so and was about to send them off when this arrived. She chose Jerbarz, an invisible being, to be the leader for this task along with him she was sending; Johmak, a bipedal female red kitsune in ebon metal armor that covered her from head to toe with the power to shatter herself into a cloud of black crystalline shards and reforming herself at will and a shield that did the same[refernce here], she would be helpfully if Jerbarz starts talking about how hansome he was; then there was the order’s Toa team that they had gathered over the years: The leader, Orde, a male Ce-pony that had a sky blue coat with golden armor hiding his yellow marking along with his fully golden mane hidden by a noble blue huna shaped helm but his power was that of adapation and his weapon of choice was an axe [refernce here], while he is easily angered he is one of the bravest and strongest willed beings that Helryx had ever met; Zaria, a Fe-pony that was rust orange with a two tone mane of neon orange and neon grey covered by a helm shaped like a noble orange kakama but held the power of biomechanics aslo his armor was more rounded then other members of his team and had a long sword and a elemental sphere launcher [refernce [url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpXfFR0_U-g]here], he sees himself as an outcast since he killed an enemy that was about to destroy a city because of the Toa code that stated never kill an enemy; Chiara, a vo-pony that has white coat and blue mane and is covered in white armor that was painted blue that slow began to fade with a blue helmet shaped like a great faxon but has the power of stealth armed with a broadsword and combination of shield and elemental sphere launcher [reference here], she is normally a loner and not one to stick around crowds but she has been known to follow things that catch her intrest; finally Krakua, a De-pony that was pearl grey with a darker mane and lighter armor compared to the others in silvers and coaldust with a coaldust hau shaped that had the power of telepathy as well as a sonic vibration sword [reference here], he was a newer toa that Mazeka rescued as a matoran and trained by the order to be a liaison for them to toa teams that did not agree with the methods of the order. Helryx placed the parchment in between her breast plate and went back to the group as they were getting supplies ready for the trip. They were going to get there from the base by an airship that they had for the long travel. Information from Mazeka still weighed heavily on the Toa of water’s mind but that would be dealt with after she consulted the library that held all the information she needed. Just as the mare was about to enter the hangar there was a crashing sound heard, Helryx reacted with pulling her spiked mace and shield off her back with water streams that appeared out of the air. The shield had a dull edge on it and she had it so that she could hit someone with it, but she was a bit laxed when she saw that only a crate fell off of the ship, that was standard build from Metru Nui when it was active. “Johmak.” Helryx called up to the ship that floated a story and half off of the ground. The leader of the order did not have to wait for a response from the kitsune. “I pushed the invisible narcissist being off after he spoke about how the native girls would swone over him if they could see him.” Johmak replied. “I think that he is just being a child about it.” “I was not,” A rather deep voice said from near the crate. “Trying to behead me for saying that you need to get over your appearance, you should remember not to do that to those that can reconstruct themselves.” Johmak replied. “Enough,” Helryx said tired of hearing the reason for this. “You both are mature beings start acting like it or I’ll just send the Toa there if neither of you can get along.” Helryx was annoyed by how the pair acted, beyond having checked where the had been with her mask Helryx did not know of there personal past. Unlike most of her people, Helryx knew for intimacy between male and female for population replacement. The reason for this lack of knowledge was because of isolation of her people, not out of hate but from fear of the followers. It was also due to the length of life for the matoran, to her knowledge less than thousand matoran have died since the fall of Metru Nui. “So Helryx, think you can hold down the fort while we’re gone?” the voice asked. “I’ve have been doing this since you were learning to walk, Jerbraz.” Helryx said since she wanted them to just get going. “As you wish m'lady.” Jerbarz said as the sounds of walking then jumping happen soon after. “Why do we have a womanizing narcissistic invisible man in this organization?” Johmak asked before they departed. “Because he is the only one that can be a distraction for any mission as well as an assassin when he shuts up.” Helryx replied as they left. ---- Blue and the other Vahki rolled on the ground as gears, springs, circuits, and pistons fought against each other. Being of the same type of machine would normally cause a stalemate, but since Blue was clean in comparison to his fellow robot and his parts weren’t assembled incorrectly, he slowly pushed the other bot off of him. With a swift kick Blue sent the mixed up Vahki away from him and the ponies. As the mixed robot flew in the air it crashed into a tree causing the torso of the bot to burst open from the mismatched screws not holding the loose joint together, the still moving robot to slowly dim it’s eyes and turn dark as it tried to reach for something. The fight had only taken a few minutes if that, and if Blue could show emotions then he would have a sad face on, not because he thought it causing trouble was a good thing but the way it ceased function. If this was organic then it would look like somepony was disemboweled by an animal of some kind, but there it was: the circuits, gears, springs, pistons, and skeleton that held all the vahki together. It seemed like hours to Blue, even if his internal clock was right in a few second since he stopped, before both Trixie and Lesovikk came to him. “I wonder why it attacked us?” Trixie asked still with her home on her back. “Function one: Attack and capture any law breakers, Subsection: Should there be no order, restore it by any means necessary.” Blue replied. “That is the function that is dominant in any order of my kind, the one that we were created for.” “That would explain the stories I heard from Metru Nui years ago when it was left abandoned and only a few things were left there. None of them members of my kind.” Lesovikk said recalling news from long ago. “Unlike those left in the city of legends, myself, this one, along with the others here on this content were shipped out before that.” Blue replied as he began to collect the parts of the Vahki. “What are you going to do with it?” Trixie asked Blue as he picked it up. “To learn more about it since it only used one function and not all of them.” Blue said as he carried the remains of the mixed vahki. ---- Celestia was having a normal day in court; nobles trying to gain power, rumors about how Luna got Artemis was a very recent topic that some tried to bring up as the press were still wondering where this strange filly was, and finally it was reports from the guards of the remaining forces in the fortress that was once controlled by Sombra and Icarax. This whole month was going to be hard, normal treats were taken care of within a day to a week but this one seem much longer. It was at that time that a guard came in to inform her of several sightings of metallic beings in the south. Inwards, Celestia was worried that her kingdom was slowly being surrounded by a force with greater numbers, Icarax had robots that could be reproduced at a pace that she and her nation could not match. Several options came to mind when this information came to to her, several dark and shady means that would turn her into the monster that she was leading her kingdom against a force that could recover quicker than they could. During this she heard something that made her block out all non relevant information. The guard said that a liaison from a group aligned to Mata Nui showed up in the Crystal Empire hoping to forge an alliance against Icarax’s forces. This made Celestia happy to know that there are allies that were still out there. With this information in hoof she called for her secretary to take notes for Luna after she returned from visiting Artemis. ---- Luna, once more casting the optical illusion spell and was about to look for Artemis, since it was late afternoon it would not affect her nightly duties. Just as she was about to leave, Spike came through the front door. Spike was about to run into her since he was carrying a few sacks of groceries that he got after finishing caring for Fluttershy’s critters, before he stopped and turned to the kitchen, noticing the princes of the Night. “Oh hey Princess Luna.” Spike said shifting to keep the sacks from falling. “Artemis should be here soon, and a good thing you’re here.” He finished as he entered the kitchen. “Why is that Spike?” Luna asked knowing that she must have missed something. “Artemis is planning on telling the CMC about how she has shadow powers as well as her past if it came down to it.” Spike said as he began to put away the things that he, Artemis, and Owlowiscious would be eating in the next few weeks. Luna was a bit apprehensive of this since knowing the truth may cause Artemis to be an outcast like before. In the back of her mind Luna remembered the first flashback she got when this whole thing started. ‘We are not alone.’ Those word were once directed to lord of shadows would now used to show Artemis that like her mother before her that there was those that would not leave her side. Once again the mother in Luna felt as if she should just take Artemis away and protect her from any harm, but would just cause more trouble. So Luna decided to browse the shelves to see what may catch her fancy. Meanwhile Artemis was glad to have spent the day learning, it kept her mind off the after school matter. While she knew most of this, due to the fact that she knew what her mother did even if it was out of date, however math had not changed and that was something she could focus work on. Once the bell rang she knew that it was going to be a rough time for all of her friends, which was rough given that she had just met Babs. Speaking of Applebloom’s cousin, Artemis had wondered if she would be in school after she had settled in. From what Scootaloo said during recess, since there were three fillies working at Sweet Apple Acres in place of Applejack they would have to split the chores that she did as well as Applebloom’s. “Artemis?” Scootaloo asked seeing the young alicorn zoned out for some reason. “You feeling okay? Since anytime we had work time you zone out on us for some reason.” “You remember last night after Icarax left?” Artemis asked as her, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were leaving the school yard. “And what I did.” “We do,” Applebloom said patting a hoof on the alicorn’s shoulder. “We also talked about it before heading home.” “Ya, I’m sorry for being angry at you.” Scootaloo said with a bit of slump in her shoulders. “I was judging you, but that worthless pegasus coming after you means that he must have some connection to you.” That last part was another thing that Artemis was upset about the most. In the last week there had been attacks because whatever it was, it her that they were after. Artemis accepted Scootaloo’s apology but most of the walk back to the library was just the CMC talking about their sisters/role models and hopes that they were okay. By the time they got to library Artemis was feeling a bit calmer since all she had to do was take a single step and it would be over and done with. Just before she open the door it opened for her and saw a strange sight. Her mother, somepony that faces the horrors of the night, was having a giant giggle fit as a book levitated in front of her. The four fillies were confused at what they were seeing. Luna was normally the more reserved of the princess and mostly only interacts with ponies it is in dreams which was where she is the most serious and this was a side that almost nopony seen of the night princess. Artemis had seen something like this before but it was from Celestia and not her mother. “I must say this Toei group knows how to pick their writers. It is as if I can see the Masked ponies in my mind and the fight sections so detailed. I can not believe that such a series of book never came to my attention.” Luna said with a giant grin on her face. “Is Princess Luna…” Sweetie started. “Fangirling?” Scootaloo finished with the four still in shock of this. “Artemis are you sure we aint all dreaming rit’ now.” Applebloom asked with Scootaloo poking the air for ripples. “No this is real because there are nothing that is out of the normal.” Artemis said with a slight glance for Goldrax or his dragon shade since they were among the things that she normal talked to in her dreams. It was then that Princess Luna noticed the four fillies at the door, with a bit of an embarrassed chuckle she composed herself. “Daughter,” Luna said as she tried to hide the book. “How long have you and your friends been there?” “Long enough.” Artemis replied as she shook off the strangeness. “Not the worst thing ever seen by either of our eyes.” A sadden tone was added to the end of that statement. “I understand, Spike told me about it when I got here.” Luna said walking up and wrapping a wing around Artemis. “I guess me wanting to spend more time with you was well planned out.” “Sure was.” Artemis said nuzzling her mother. This act did not go unnoticed by the CMC, but while one of them had an awe moment the other two felt a bit of pain from not having that pony. Artemis did notice this and felt worse for rubbing something that both of them felt better not talking about. The two alicorns broke the hug and Artemis began to speak. “Last night when you three asked for an explanation for my shadow powers I was scared of what you would think of me when I’d say this. But my beginning is much different than yours.” Artemis said as she looked to her mother, who smiled and stood by her just as Spike came into the room.