Dreaming of Home
The sound of bubbling magma and the smell of sulfur and volcanic rocks assaulted Takanuva's senses, soon followed by an intense wave of searing heat. Most beings would have found this unique combination unbearable, but to the Toa, it only spoke of one place.
Home.
He slowly opened his eyes to take in a sight he'd never expected to see again. Dark stone huts surrounded him, flickering torches lighting everything. A decently-sized temple sat directly in front of him, writing barely visible withing. Surrounding everything was a large wall, slightly distorted by the heat waves emanating from the very ground. It should not have been possible, but he was standing in the lost village of Ta-Koro. Everything looked a solid as the day he remembered first walking in. But this time, there were no Matoran bustling around with freshly-solidified rocks or lava boards. No Ussal crabs hauling goods. No Toa or Turaga to guide and protect the desolate Koro. The scene quickly began to loose its nostalgia and take on an eerie sensation. He tightened his grip on his light staff and began scanning the buildings.
Something moved in the corner of his eye, but when he tuned his head, all he could see were flickering shadows made by the torchlight. Takanuva frowned and began making his way towards the looming temple. After checking each residence he passed, the Toa's eye caught something gleaming among the blackened rock. He rushed forward, praying to the Great Beings that is was something that would indicate something else lived in the desolate village. His hopes were dashed as he approached what was simply a polished piece of protodermis. The Toa sighed before picking up the metallic substance. He tilted the smooth metal until he could see his own image reflected back at him. A golden Kanohi Avohkii gleamed back at him, along with a dark amorphous creature.
Takanuva dropped the protodermis and spun around to face the smokey being, mentally preparing himself to fire a powerful burst of light should the being prove dangerous. However, it made no move to attack him, just simply stare at him with unseeing eyes. It was impossible to make out any details on the constantly shifting surface, but it was undeniably taking the form of a Toa.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
The creature replied only with a knowing chuckle, one that sounded excited yet horrific. The Toa of Light pointed his staff at its 'face', starting to feel annoyed with the whole situation.
“You will tell me who you are, or I will through you clear out of the universe.”
The creature seemed to hesitate for a moment, as if sizing the Toa up and considering the threat he made. The dark laughter, however, failed to cease. After a few tense seconds, the cloud that composed the being began to solidify from the ground up. Armor that strongly resembled that of the Toa Nuva took shape, until the only unidentifiable part was the mask, which was still a swirling cloud of smoke. It could have been Onua Nuva, but the coloration of the armor was far darker, more closely resembling shadows untouched by light. Takanuva slowly lifted his eyes, only to look into a pitch black Mask of Light.
“Who are you?” he repeated, this time with far more hesitation, his heartlight flashing rapidly.
The being stopped its incessant laughing and looked directly into the Toa's eyes. They were filled with a madness Takanuva had only seen in the eyes of one other being.
“Makuta,” he whispered.
The being shook its head, a maniacal grin that didn't belong on the Avohkii spreading across the mask's surface.
“You couldn't be further from the truth, poor Matoran.”
It grabbed the Toa's staff and yanked it from his hands, throwing it out of reach. Takanuva was to stunned to react. As much as he tried to deny it to himself, he found the correct answer to his question within his own mind.
“I see it in your eyes,” the being growled, “You know exactly who I am.”
It stepped back and held its arms out to present itself to Takanuva.
“How do you like your new look?”
The Toa shook his head stepping back from his darkened copy.
“No. I'm the Toa of Light. Not some...shadow.”
“Really? Last I checked, half of that light was sucked out by a shadow leach. Not to mention that it's slowly overwhelming you, destroying what you have left.”
“That's not true...”
“So you're saying that your thoughts haven't been getting darker? Or that the very armor you wear has been losing what little luster it has left? You can't run from yourself, little Matoran.”
Takanuva looked down at his golden chestplate, his darker half mirrored in the surface of the armor. What was he really? A hero that used his elemental control over light to protect others? Something evil that was just waiting to drop the golden facade and blacken the world? Or maybe just a scared Matoran in armor that was too big for him?
“No...” he whispered, defeat swelling up inside of him. His legs lost the will to stand, and he fell to his knees. “No...I'm...I'm a Toa...”
The Dark Takanuva just laughed in response, increasing in intensity until it was the only thing the Toa of Light could perceive. There was always a darker side to him. The part that made him go lava surfing instead of his job, only to let down his friends and Turaga. The side that expressed little remorse when Makuta was destroyed. The side that had increased tenfold since being exposed to the shadow leach. There was nothing he could do. Even if he fought it off now, it would just come back stronger then before. He would always be fearful of...
“ENOUGH!”
Takanuva sat up, looking around for the source of the booming sound, the voice clearing his mind. His shadow copy snarled, also searching for the disturbance. It glanced up at the sky, and quickly fired a stream of shadow energy at something flying above their heads. The figure dodged the blast with little effort and followed up with one of it's own. The Toa of Shadow could do very little as energy coursed through its frame, quickly disintegrating the being. Takanuva sat still in shock, staring at the empty space previously occupied by his worst nightmare. The sound of something landing on the ground made the Toa leap to his feet and turn to face the new creature. But what now stood in front of him wasn't Makuta, an infected Matoran, a hungry Rahi, or anything else his stressed mind could conjure up.
It was a pony.
And yet...it was different. It certainly looked similar to Twilight Sparkle and the other inhabitants of Ponyville. The fist thing he noticed was that its horn was level with the Toa's eyes, standing several feet taller then any other pony he'd seen. The second oddity was the creature’s mane. It flowed like the calm waters of the Ga-Metru protodermis pools, seemingly unaffected by the hot breeze that blew through Ta-Koro. Takanuva looked down at the dark blue creature, unsure of himself. He glanced across its back, noticing the wings that nestled along its sides. The combination of those appendages and the long horn reminded Takanuva of something Twilight has spoken of earlier.
“Princess Celestia,” he stated, bowing his head in respect to the Mata Nui of Equestria.
“While we find it disappointing, it is understandable that an Outsider would mistake us for our sister.”
Takanuva lifted his head, giving at the princess a confused look.
“Thou may refer to us as Luna. By what name shall we call thee?”
Luna! That's right, the Princess of the Night. He held himself up a little bit straighter before addressing her.
“I am Takanuva, Toa of Light.”
“Well then, Takanuva Toa of Light, would though be so kind as to tell us what that dark beast was.”
The Toa looked away, refusing to meet Luna's eyes.
“It was me. I'd rather no talk about it right now.”
He turned away from the Princess and began walking into the temple.
“There are darker sides to everypony, you know.”
Takanuva paused, Luna's words striking a chord inside of him.
“No one has a 'darker side' as destructive as mine,” he retorted, continuing through the door way of the sacred hall. The pony princess was keeping pace with him, passing into the building not long after.
“That is not true,” she replied, he voice softening, “There are those who have done much worse things then you ever could have.”
Takanuva lent against the wall, his fingers brushing against chronicles about the Toa and Matoran of Mata Nui. He looked at the carvings he'd made himself, back when he was a Matoran. “Makuta”, “Bahrag”, and “Ahkmou” all stood out to him, and he knew the princess was right. But he still couldn't accept it.
“There are those who have done bad things, that's true. But I'm constantly fighting to stop myself from doing anything wrong. Isn't that just as bad?”
Luna silently turned to look at the Wall of History, her face marred by a saddened frown. The two stood in silence gazing at the island's past.
“No,” she replied after a while, “That's what makes you a true hero. You are fighting your own darkness. That is far more difficult that facing down an enemy many times more powerful then you. You can't partake in hoof-to-hoof combat with yourself.”
Takanuva turned to the pony, her words starting to sink in.
“Why are you telling me this?'
Luna sighed before facing the Toa.
“Have you heard the tale of Nightmare Moon?”
He shook his head.
“I think Twilight Sparkle mentioned it, but she never went into detail.”
Princess Luna returned her gaze to the Matoran writing on the walls before continuing.
“A long time ago, I believed that nopony loved me or the beautiful nights I brought them. They all seemed happy basking in the light of my sister's day, while ignoring the stars and the moon I worked to hard on. This made me jealous of Celestia, my sister. So I turned against her, becoming Nightmare Moon.
“We fought for a long time. Despite Celestia's best efforts, I was blinded by the darkness of my own creation. I never saw that ponies wanted to help me, most of all my sister.”
Luna hung her head low.
“In the end she was forced to banish me, sealing me away on the moon for a thousand years. Even after coming back, it took a blast of concentrated harmony made by six powerful friends to make me see what I had done wrong. Believe me when I say that you are strong. You strive to uphold your position as a guardian of light, despite the darkness within you. Many beings aren’t successful.”
Takanuva didn't know how to reply. So he chose to remain silent, instead. Luna refrained from saying anything as well. She just kept her eyes glued to the walls. After several minutes, the princess looked over towards the Toa.
“So, where is this place?” she asked.
“It's my old home,” replied Takanuva sullenly, “I lived here before I became a Toa. They were the days I traveled the island, chronicling the events and stories. It sunk into the volcano just before I was transformed.”
He turned to the wall that had captured the princess' attention.
“This is the Wall of History. I carved almost all you see it. It chronicles to adventures of the Toa Nuva and the Matoran of Mata-Nui.”
Princess Luna looked up to the Toa. “You took great pride in your work, didn't you?”
A ghost of a smile formed on his mask. She was correct in every way. While his enthusiasm for his job might not have been as apparent as someone like Jaller, a large part of him enjoyed his time as a chronicler more then when he was a Toa.
“Our dreams allow us to enjoy the memories of events past. They help us move onto the future.”
Takanuva couldn't help but give a small snort of laughter.
“You sound like the impossible event of Turaga Nuju and Whenua agreeing.”
Luna shook her head.
“I know not of who you speak, but I'll take it as a complement,” she replied with a small smile, “I suppose that's as good a closing point as any.”
“What do you mean?” asked Takanuva, looking at her questioningly.
“Everypony has to wake up sometime...”
He watched as the princess faded from sight, soon followed by the surrounding Koro, leaving him alone in the darkness of sleep.
Far to the north, a lone gryphon flew as hard as he could. There was no rational thought behind his actions, just the instinct to survive. He barely registered the rock jutting out of the snow before swerving to avoid it. What would the others say?
They'd call him crazy. Say he went nuts and saw things in the blizzard.
But he knew better. Many said that studying the Shadow Caves was a fools errand, but he hadn't experienced anything worse then a lightly twisted claw in his explorations.
Today was different. All he could think about were the moving shadows. The sounds of metal scraping against rock. And that scream. The scream that chilled him to the core.
He thought he saw a flash of something tall and red out the corner of his eye before suddenly becoming overwhelmed with irrational fear. Had he been in his right mind, he would have berated himself for dishonoring his name with such a feminine scream. But the fear pushed everything else away.
So he flew deeper into the blizzard, not caring about where he was going.
No thoughts.
Only fear.
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it lives
very cool dude
yippee-ki-ya
I for one am glad that your continuing this fanfic. A few things I think you should take note of though 
. Spelling typos, spelling typos everywhere 
I wish lego was still making bionicle toys 
It didn't take me out of the experience but they were a bit annoying at times. That aside though your doing a great job.
P.S. I'm a Bionicle fan
OH CRAP TURAHK
this needs to update like fuck me....
6578310 just as planned
Hey, buddy, you uh.. gonna update this?
Well, this was interesting. I hope to see more of it as time goes on.
And u never continued.... :(