“Wee!” shouted Pinkie. “Finally here! Finally here! Finally here at last!”
“Yeah!” added Iruni. “We’re here—except…the Rahaga and I have to go back. Shoot.” Simply realizing such a horrible truth made him close his eyes and bow tip his head down to his feet. “I was expecting to make sand castles while we still had the time.”
“Iruni,” sighed Norik. “You know we have some responsibilities to uphold. And besides—” The fire-spitter took a good look at his surroundings and shuddered. “This place feels uncomfortably different from what I’m used to.”
Twilight, while she found herself wholehartedly comfortable with her environment, understood where the Rahaga was coming from. Having laid witness to the towers of Ko-Metru and the sea of protodermis, she understood how an organic ecosystem could destroy the psyche of a biomechanical creature like him.
I've been there," she said with a nod. "We've all been there. It's just not like home to you.” She raised a sympathetic gaze up to the elder. Her purple eyes showed the resilience and wisdom of a young spirit who had accomplished so much in so little time. She learned so much from books, but so much more from experience.
Norik wondered how much more he would see with just a closer look—but rather than waste time, he smiled and said, "Thank you."
“So,” began Rainbow Dash, "what do we do now?”
With that, the six Rahaga exchanged nervous glances. They don't have a plan, thought Twilight. They looked more as if they were trying—and right in front of the Toa—to cook up a new list of directions.
After an awkward pause, Norik sighed and confessed, “All of you need to go to your respective villages and tell the Matoran there that you are there to help them.”
The bluntness of his plan surprised the newcoming Equestrians. They'd all expected something much more complicated—something only a man of his caliber could think up.
Applejack, struggling to keep the Rahaga from noticing her pitifully-stifled laughter, placed a hoof in front of her mouth and asked, “Uh—are y'all sure that's a good idea there?”
“Yeah!” added Rainbow Dash. “It’s like you're asking us to surrender.”
Without hesitation, Norik responded, “That's exactly what I am asking you to do.”
At that, the Toa and Matoran stood back and stared at Norik in disbelief. But before any further questioning could commence, he continued, “Right now the Matoran are in a state of war and will take any help they can. All they'll have to do is look at the masks on your faces and realize that you are on their side.”
His plan seemed logical, but it relied heavily on luck. Could the Toa be lucky enough to run into their respective villages without facing dire consequences? Furthermore, did any one of them had what it took to squeeze out of said consequences?
Gaaki—who had stood to Norik's side closer than any of the other Rahaga—could not decide whether or not she should have agreed with him. A troubled village would want all the help it could get, but it would also do everything in its power to avoid negotiating with potential traitors.
“What if this plan doesn’t work?” challenged Rainbow Dash, throwing out the question on everybody's minds.
“Then they’ll likely cast you all off as foreign rahi.”
As Norik went on, Twilight found herself astonished at his blatant honesty. I can't tell if he trusts us that much or if he's just stupid. But as much of a bad idea it seemed, she understood that there really wasn’t any other feasible way to get on the villages' side.
Eventually, the Rahaga of Fire was interrupted by a rude Toa of Fire. “I’m not doing it!” Dash claimed. “Who do you even think I am? I'll tell you who: I'm a pony who doesn't surrender to a bunch of defenseless villagers just so she can get on their good side!”
Twilight had to suppress a gasp just to distance herself from the two fire-spitters' argument. Don't say that, Rainbow! she silently begged.
Betrayed as he felt on the inside, Norik maintained his temper and asked, “What other choice do you have, Toa? If you don't surrender, the Matoran most definitely will cast you off as a rahi beast. That I can assure you without a doubt in my mind."
Frustrated, the Pegasus grunted and protested, “But what about our duty—you know, the thing you talked about on our way here! How are we supposed to stop Makuta if the Matoran attack us?”
“You make a good point,” said Norik, nodding his head. “But do you know why unity comes before duty in the three virtues?” He took a few steps to his left, then to his right, before he finally halted and said, “Because one cannot fulfill his duty without a united group of friends by his side. And you will not find unity if cannot show the Matoran that you are on their side. Your safest path toward success in this regard is to completely give yourself up to the villages.
The more he spoke, the more logical his argument grew. Twilight—knowing she could help Rainbow Dash as both a friend and a team-member—pushed past the fears in her mind and said, “I agree with Norik. We have to think about our unity before anything else—and right now, the only way to maintain our unity is to show the villages that we're not a threat.”
Rarity, admiring the way Twilight had stepped in, pleaded, “Rainbow, darling—you must understand. There's no other way.”
At that point, all eyes were on Dashie: the stubborn filly of the bunch. The weight of twelve others' argument weighed down on her worse than the weight that came with the final race. Were she in a race, she would have felt the thrill of competition run through her veins. Instead she could do no more than sigh and mumble, “Fine—I'll go along with the plan.”
“Wonderful!” exclaimed Rarity, her eyes twinkling. “Where to first, then?”
That was a good question; it was something Norik had hardly considered. In an attempt to find the nearest village, he noticed a dense jungle in the distance. “Perhaps there,” he said, pointing toward the plantlife. “I believe you’ll be able to find the Toa of Air fairly easily if you can manage to get through some of the dangers of the jungle.”
Ignoring the notion of danger, Twilight nodded and said with a smile, “Shouldn’t be a problem at all.”
“In that case,” Norik began, taking a few steps up to the Toa Equestrian. “I wish you all the best of luck. May Mata Nui be with you.”
For the first time since their arrival on this strange world, the Equestrians had to find their own way around. Like in Equestria, they were expected to be responsible for themselves and determine their own destinies—but unlike in Equestria, they had almost no idea where to go next. Instinct could only get them so far.
Once they had made it to the jungle, the visitors quickly found that they couldn’t figure out where on Mata Nui this native Toa of Air resided. Every time a nearby animal chirped, croaked, or woofed, Twilight scanned her surroundings just to make sure the strange Toa hadn’t slipped under her nose.
Simply searching for the Toa was one thing, but getting bitten by hundreds of little bugs nearly drove the Toa of Water to insanity. The more they bit, the more she itched—and the more she itched, the more she began to feel as if she had contracted some horrible foreign disease. However, she knew to push past such fears, as now was not the time to worry about petty little viruses; in any case, her chances of contracting anything serious were slim at worst.
“Where is this guy?” asked Rainbow Dash, tired of walking. “Cause I'm starting to think he might be in the trees.” The thought in mind, the pegasus readied herself for liftoff and proceeded with a giant leap in the air—only to remember that she’d lost her wings in the process of becoming a Toa. She came crashing to the dirty ground, mud staining her eyes and tainting her tongue.
“Blech!” she spat, dirt in her mouth. “What the—oh, that’s right.” She moaned and rolled her eyes. “I can’t fly anymore."
“Don’t feel too bad, Dashie!” called a voice from above.
Rainbow Dash pushed herself off the muddy ground as the voice clamored in her ears. “Pinkie?” the she asked, her gaze pointing upward as she struggled to find her friend. “Where’d you go?” A million and one jungle leaves blocked her field of view—but how hard could it be to find a pony whose parents named her after the color of her pelt, even when she was covered in green armor?
“Pinkie!” cried Dashie. “Where the heck are you?”
“I’m up here, you silly goose!”
Surprised to hear her voice coming down from up above once again, Spike and the five ponies below pointed their gazes upward, but found nothing. Upon realizing nopony in the trees, the sound of bubbly laughter started echoing through the forest; Twilight thought she could even hear a snort.
“Pinkie, come on!” shouted Twilight, sharing Dash's impatience. “This isn’t funny. We need to find your Toa companion and get him to understand—”
Another giggle cut her off mid-sentence.
Twilight could feel a snarl starting to curl up from under her lip, but suddenly she heard what sounded like whispers coming from the trees above. Is she up there with somebody? she wondered, tuning her ears to listen in, but failing to understand the conversation over her head.
Applejack, who stood beside Twilight, felt a nudge against her torso when the unicorn asked, “There's somebody up there with her. Am I the only one noticing this?”
“No,” replied AJ. “I think I can hear what you're talking about. Celestia only knows what in the hay it actually is.”
Now it was Rarity's turn. “Pinkie, dear?” She took a step forward, hiding herself from the shade of the trees. “We’re in a bit of a rush, you know. Could you please come down?”
Rarity expected Pinkie’s voice to call down from the trees—but instead she heard an unfamiliar, more masculine one:
“Maybe I’ll scurryspeed down one day, but neverso at this instantmoment.”
At that, each of the Equestrians below flinched and turned their heads toward the source of the voice: a green figure camouflaged by a horde of leaves. Beside him, a few splotches of pink could be seen.
“There you are!” shouted Rainbow Dash. “Get down here, already!”
Twilight, noticing the clusters of leaves surrounding the two figures, raised an eyebrow and asked, “Pinkie, who’s that up there with you?”
She could hear the pink pony chortling. “I dunno—but I like him; he’s very friendly! You should come and talk to him.”
Did she really just say that? Rolling her eyes, struggling not to facehoof, she grunted, “I would if I could, Pinkie.”
“Oh!” Pinkie Pie took a moment to laugh at herself; just as well, the friend she’d met up in the trees joined her little bout of laughter. “Sorry—hang on a minute.”
Once more, she exchanged a few whispers with her newfound friend before raising her voice and saying, “Okay! We’re coming down right now.”
And with that, the Equestrians watched as the tree-dwellers leapt from the branches and came down to the ground, careful not to tackle the grounded Equestrians. Pinkie came first, her mask glowing as she safely touched down on all fours; her friend, on the other hand, landed on two feet—and shortly thereafter came tumbling forward on his hands. He then continued rolling forward without any sign of stopping, but shortly thereafter, he hit a nearby tree; the impact seemed to cause a good amount of fuss to the little animals living within the tree.
Twilight gasped. Is he alright? she asked herself, wondering how any creature could go through such a blow without feeling some sort of pain. To her surprise, the stranger almost immediately picked himself up on two feet and brushed himself off, as if almost nothing had happened at all.
“Ah—this is nice!” exclaimed Pinkie. “It feels like forever since I’ve been on solid ground.”
“Uh, Sugarcube,” began Applejack. “Y’know you were only up there for a couple minutes, right?”
At that, Pinkie Pie’s ears twitched. “Really?” she gasped. “Wow—the forest is weird!” She paused for a moment, then flinched and shot a glance toward her new friend. “Oh—everyone, this is my new friend! Introduce yourself, buddy!”
The Equestrians turned themselves toward the green figure and stared in awe. The being before them stood tall on only two feet and seemed to be made almost entirely out of metal, just like the Rahaga. Beneath the metal exterior was a decent amount of muscle; this, coupled with the chopping weapon hanging on his back, gave him an intimidating profile. In contrast, the way he stood gave him the impression of an impatient child, for he struggled to stand still on his feet for more than a few seconds.
“Hello there!” he said through a gruff voice. “I like to call myself the Guardian of the Jungle, but you may call me Lewa. I am the Toa of Air.”
A red flag went up in Twilight's head. “The Toa of Air, you say?”
“That's right!” exclaimed Lewa with a smile. “Just watch my leafwind trick.”
Without hesitation, the Toa turned his gaze toward a few dried-up, grounded leaves and inhaled. His hand, as if the wind around it controlled its very motion, lifted upward, allowing him to whip the decayed particles of wildlife into a mini-vortex. They worked under the aid of air—pushed and pulled as Lewa's hand did the same. Within seconds, the leaves moved and behaved like individual animal units under the guise of one powerful trainer.
In their vortex, the leaves orbited Pinkie Pie. She saw them circle around her for just a second, then ascend to the skies above—where they would migrate and disappear into never-ending space.
Pinkie found herself in shock, but soon she snapped out of her trance and began applauding. “That was great, Lewa!”
Twilight almost felt like chuckling and applauding, herself—but instead cleared her throat as she stepped toward the Toa and asked, “So—Lewa? Have you already acquainted yourself with your village?”
“Have I acquainted them?” the Toa laughed. “They practically worshiptreat me as if I’m a god! Why do you ToaRahi want to know that, though?”
The Toa of Water sighed and took a moment to explain the weight of their situation—how Roodaka had left them for dead, how the Rahaga helped them get to Mata Nui, how the Elements of Harmony needed to bond together with the elements of life—the likes of which were yielded by the mysterious Toa of the island.
After almost forgetting her original intention for coming to the island of Mata Nui, Twilight mentioned how Equestria and the Matoran universe were bound together through a relationship between the Great Spirit and Celestia herself. In telling him this, she noticed how rude she seemed to behave in the face of this stranger; she may as well have told him that he and his team were not strong enough to save their world. But she couldn't take the risk; the balance of light and darkness would spread over every plane of existence once Makuta took over the Matoran universe.
“The fact that our worlds are linked means that perpetual darkness could very easily get cast over.” Twilight concluded her explanation through a lowered voice: “And that’s why I need to ask that you please take Pinkie with you to your village. We need to unite if we have any hope of standing a chance against Makuta.”
Despite having heard the same sort of pep-talk over and over again from, Matau, Kongu, and the like, Lewa nodded his head and smiled. “I understand the problemconflict—and I’m sure my village will accept pink rahi into their midst as long as their masks aren’t infected.” Just for good measure, the Toa abruptly examined Pinkie’s mask, but found nothing out of the ordinary.
A little perturbed by whatever it was she had just witnessed Lewa do, Twilight let a little smile cross her face when she came up to Pinkie and said, “Well, Pinkie—good luck with Lewa. Remember that we need to be at the Kini after at least a week, okay?”
Pinkie winked. “Okie dokie lokie!”