Even an entire handful of magical crystals could absorb only so much light before finally giving in to its limits—before finally bursting, letting lose the sleeping soldiers locked inside.
Inconceivable amounts of light stretched out from the crystals as they hatched and shattered like giant eggs. Spike shielded his eyes, half-expecting to get jabbed by the shards, but his metallic skin served as a naturally-grown armor for the dragon. One bright, shining moment flashed by as the seven standersby stood back in awe, some of them going as far as to face away.
And just as with Spike’s, the six capsules’ light died out within a matter of seconds. Little pieces of the rocks tumbled as the light subsided—and at last, the witnesses to the incredible phenomenon could see whom they would now meet. It took a small amount of courage for Spike to uncover his face and witness the metallic creatures—one of which he recognized as his best friend.
“Twilight!” Without hesitation, he rushed toward his friend—but found himself suddenly stopping right where he was. He should have seen it coming—he even wanted to smack himself for not seeing it coming, but Spike found himself at a loss for words.
“T-Twilight?” he repeated. For a minute, it seemed as though the dragon-boys eyes were locked on his best friend—that was, until he took a moment to look down at his hands, examining the red metal coating over them. She’s changed—just like me, he realized.
But unlike him, Twilight seemed as though she didn’t want to wake up. She didn’t seem to be breathing, either.
“Twilight?” he said one more time. “Are you—?”
He couldn’t bear to say the next word, yet it sat on the back of his tongue. He knew that the longer he thought of that inevitable word, the closer to the tip it traveled. Yet Spike wouldn’t take it!
The thoughts floating within his head drove the dragon to his knees—where he found himself coming face-to-face with a motionless Twilight. His once beloved friend lied there with closed eyes and a blue mask covering much of her face. In spite of how awkward it felt to see her friend with a mask on, he felt the mask suited her perfectly, wrapped and tightened around her face as if it were nothing more than a thin layer of metal. But even such familiarity could not alleviate Spike’s pain—for even now, she still failed to completely resemble what she once was in Equestria. Whereas he would have felt nostalgia for his unarmored friend, this creature was nothing more than a disfigured shell of what it once was.
Spike could already tell that the same held true for all his former friends. Each one of them now had armor covering their bodies almost completely. Green armor covered Pinkie Pie’s skin, brown armor protected Applejack, black armor contrasted with Rarity’s natural white pelt, white armor shined upon Fluttershy, and a sheet of aqua wrapped around Twilight. The ocean had made animals of the former Equestrians—as if to mock them for having ever stepped into this world.
Yet all the armor in the world couldn’t protect Twilight now. Any magic this world had to offer would not release her from the shackles of reality. A magical creature such as herself knew that when it came to the end, there was no turning back.
Nearly in tears, Spike came closer to the purple-and-blue figure and took a moment to breathe. He felt as though deep breaths would calm him down a little bit—but the teary vision, thumping heart, and lump in his throat overpowered his efforts.
At last, the boy broke down. Beyond his control, his legs started him on a short run toward Twilight—at the end of which he found himself grabbing the pony’s limp forelegs as she remained motionless.
Heartbroken, the standingby Rahaga exchanged concerned, yet sympathetic glances among one another. Not a single one of them knew what they could say to cheer the boy up—and some of them didn’t even want to try.
The Ta-Matoran dragon found himself in agony for only a little while longer. His weeping grew quieter and quitter until only little murmurs could be heard along with the sound of the crashing ocean—but just then, Spike felt as the mass beside him began shifting awake, prompting him to jump back and stand straight on his feet.
The Matoran’s eyes glowed and his jaw dropped. She’s still alive? he wondered, almost thinking himself stupid for believing she and the others had died upon being crystallized. The more he saw her rise, the truer this notion became. “Oh, thank Celestia. She is alive!”
Norik, who had stood close behind Spike for the longest time, took note of those words and replied, “But of course, Spike!” He set a hand on the dragon’s shoulder. “She was crystallized just like you were earlier. I see no reason why any of your Toa friends would be dead—or even injured, for that matter.”
In the time it took for those words to hit Spike’s ears, Twilight had almost completely picked herself up on her hooves—though, like Spike before her, she had trouble standing up straight for a good few seconds. She still had yet to find out where she was or what had even happened to her—but given a moment, her balance returned. With balance came eyesight—and with eyesight came what, to her, looked like nothing more than images of a masked reality.
Startled, the unicorn witnessed the seven creatures and shattered crystals before her and let out a gasp. What is going on? she wondered. The robotic animals before her were unlike anything she had ever seen—yet they stood still like statues, as if waiting for her to make the first move.
Maybe they won’t see me if I just don’t move! The stress of simply not running away weighed down on her chest, made sweat drops appear along the side of her face. Don’t move—don’t make a sound! As an extra precaution, Twilight limited her breathing—but within a matter of seconds, she found herself struggling just to hold her breath. Oh, come on! She felt like letting out an irritated grunt; why now—of all times—did she have trouble holding her breath for more than a few seconds?
Her red face, thumping heart, and puffing cheeks indicated nothing but anxiety to the Rahaga—who started taking baby steps toward her. Oh no! she realized. I messed up! Without a doubt, she would now become a meal for these animals—or so she thought.
Glancing down at her hoof, Twilight realized a little reptilian creature standing no more than an inch from her. Could she not see through the layer of blue metal covering her eyes, through her own masked perception, she would not have recognized the little red-and-purple boy at her hooves. Seeing this, Twilight was shocked to examine the unfamiliar within the familiar.
“S-Spike?!” she gasped. “What happened to you?” Just as she said that, she took a look down at her hoof and saw the blue metal covering it. “What happened to me?”
Thinking about and simply looking at her friend’s changes sent a shiver up Twilight’s spine. The longer she stared back at her mutated dragon friend, the shorter her breath became.
“Oh, hello—Toa of Water, hello!” said Gaaki, cautious as she moved forward. “It is an honor to—”
But before Gaaki could even begin to introduce herself, a loud scream sounded behind her. Quickly turning her head around, she realized it was Rarity who had let forth such an ear-shattering noise.
The closest to the ocean, the distressed mare rushed over and peered down at her own silver reflection, too distracted by her own physical changes to notice anyone or anything else. "Wh-what am I?" she sobbed, each of her four legs trembling with the weight of her black armor and her shock to being suddenly transformed into what she now was.
From well behind her friend, Applejack raised an eyebrow, but managed to hold her tongue. Looks like Rarity fell in a mud puddle. That’s gotta be a rough way to start the day. She shrugged. May as well help clean it off.
And with that, the pony took a step forward—but quickly realized she could not move her hooves. Frustrated, she looked down at her hooves; thick, heavy horseshoes appeared around her hooves and made her ask, "What in the hay?!"
A horrified squeal sounded from Fluttershy as she witnessed the Rahaga—and an even louder squeal went loose when she noticed how she herself had changed. "D-did Teridax—no, he couldn't have!" Yet even as those words sounded through the air, she couldn't stop her entire body from shaking.
Of them all, easily the most optimistic of her transformation was Pinkie—whose green armor flashed back into her eyes with a glossy shine. "Oh...wow!" Excitement began coursing through her veins. “I’ve never felt so—so bouncy before.” The thought in mind, the pink pony bent her legs, preparing for a jump. “I feel like I could just—”
But before she could even finish her sentence, Pinkie Pie let herself go flying upward. Had she springs tied to her hooves, this sort of feat wouldn’t have surprised anypony—yet she still continued climbing upward! Even for Pinkie, such a leap proved one of the highest jumps any of the other ponies had ever seen; they could hardly believe that an earth pony, of all races, managed to jump so high. Whenever the others expected her to come crashing back down, she only kept rising higher and higher.
“Uh—Twilight?” asked Spike. “Do you think she’s gonna come back?”
Even as he asked this, Pinkie continued to climb upward. Nervous, Twilight looked down at her dragon companion and put a smile on her face that read, I really, really hope so, buddy.
“Of course she’ll come back!” replied Iruni from out of the blue. “Haven’t you ever heard the story of the rahi that went too close to the suns?”
Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a screaming Rarity. “S-six snake-headed animals? Oh no!” She could just barely cover he words when she murmured, “I think they’re trying to turn us to stone!” She cast a foreleg over her line of sight. “Don’t look them in the eye!”
Yet in the midst of her panic, Rarity managed to peak out from her under her hoof and look over at two out-of-place characters standing by the Rahaga’s side. It took her a moment, but she soon identified the two figures. “Twilight? Spike?”
Applejack—who had just found out that the black splotches on Rarity’s skin were, in fact, not splotches of mud—stepped by her side. “So I’m not the only one seeing all this, then?”
With a flinch, Rarity turned her head over her shoulder to face Applejack—and immediately recognized her through a cocoa-brown mask.
And it was at that moment when Rarity noticed something horribly wrong—something missing. “Um,” she began, biting her lip. “Applejack, dear—would you mind turning ninety degrees for me, please?”
Normally Applejack would have just rolled her eyes and carried on, but instead now she did as Rarity said.
Rarity gasped. I knew it! She could easily see a huge omission in what made Applejack so special. Just to be sure her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her, the unicorn turned her head to get a good look at her flank—and found it bare, covered only in black armor.
“Apple—jack?” murmured Rarity. “Our cutie marks are gone!”
But along came Bomonga, completely ignoring Rarity’s aforementioned attitude toward the Rahaga as snake-like beasts. His weak voice barely hit her ears when he answered, “Sometimes I wish we did not lose things—that I had not lost my Toa powers and that the Great Spirit had not lost his consciousness; but after a while, you learn to accept things as they are.”
Unfortunately for him, his words did nothing but draw Rarity’s blood to a boil, whip her heart up into a beating frenzy. She felt like twisting the elder’s neck as she stepped up to him, pressing her nose up against his, and shouted, “I am not going to accept things in the absolutely horrid way they are!”
“It’s not that bad, Toa of Earth,” assured Norik. “You must understand both the negatives and the positives before coming to a conclusion.”
“Don’t call me that!” snapped Rarity, having tuned out halfway through Norik’s explanation. “I am not a mower of earth! I wouldn’t dream of touching dirt with my bare hooves!”
Bomonga chuckled. “On the contrary, your—I think you called them bare hooves—are covered up in armor. You needn’t worry about them getting dirty.”
One more time, Rarity screamed—this time in sheer frustration. “A-armor? I’m not a—! You can’t—!” But before she could finish either of her questions, the Toa of Earth fainted, falling backwards before making a great thud against the sandy ground behind her.
“Oh great,” moaned Twilight. “First Pinkie launches herself into space, then Rarity faints—what’s next?”
Twilight gasped. Wait a minute, she realized. Pinkie launched herself into the sky, Rarity fainted, Spike is here with me, Applejack is right in front of me, Fluttershy just got up, and Rainbow Dash—
Just as she said that, she realized Rainbow Dash had not awoken from sleep. “Rainbow Dash?” she called, trying to look for her friend—but to no avail. She didn’t seem to be anywhere.
But then she noticed a large rock in the ground—one still completely intact. Twilight gasped once more and rushed toward the remaining gemstone.