The Mata Nui War

by Suukorak

1: Camouflage

The Timberwolf stared silently at its prey. The armored crystal pony, pinned underneath the living mass of wood, looked away. The pony could tell by the shadow that the beast had leaned close; he was all the more frightened to notice that it had no breath. Suddenly, the wooden wolf leapt back, and another armored pony stood above him, holding a torch in one hoof. She reached out the other hoof and helped him up, without looking at him at all. He shook the snow off his armor, too relieved to be embarrassed. “Captain! Uh… thank you.”

The Captain of the Crystal Guard nodded, her eyes fixed on the wolf. “Sergeant Stalwart.” The Captain never spoke much. Here her two words served as a greeting, a response to his thanks, and a reminder to pay attention to the matter at hand. The Sergeant wasn’t sure, but there might have been a hint of reprimand in there as well.

He fumbled in the snow and found his glaive. “Blast these ceremonial weapons,” he commented, more to quiet his mind than anything else. “They’re only effective at saluting.” In response, Captain Ironheart simply stared at the wolf.

The beast pulled back a few paces through the muffling snow, then charged again. It stopped short as Ironheart waved her torch in its face, and started to walk backwards again. The Captain followed it closely, keeping the same distance between her torch and the wolf’s flammable body. She gestured with her head for the Sergeant to follow. He made a few probing lunges with his glaive, and the Captain waved her torch again; the wolf had finally had enough and turned away. Captain Ironheart held up a leg to stop Sergeant Stalwart from pursuing it further, but the two stood and watched it silently until it had disappeared behind a mound of snow.

The Captain extinguished her torch in the snow and dropped it in her pack. “Rearm the Guard with torches,” she ordered, “and double the external sentries. Use their leisure shift if you have to.”

Stalwart looked down at the snow, just beginning to clear as they approached the Crystal City’s boundary. “Is it that bad?”

“There are many more out there.” Ironheart hadn’t answered the question directly, but it was clear that the guard was stretched. The Crystal City was large, with no walls, and the Crystal Heart didn’t seem to dissuade these Timberwolves. She paused for a moment, and looked up at the Sergeant. “Go,” she finally said. “And thank the Sun that those Ursae haven’t joined in.”

Stalwart was about to turn away when a question occurred to him. “Well… where are you going, Captain?”

“I have to report to the Princess,” she answered. “And… I’m going to recommend an evacuation.”

“A what?” called a voice from behind them.

The Captain turned around, and immediately bowed. “Prince Shining Armor! An – evacuation, your Highness.”

“It’s that serious…” the Prince said darkly. “All right, come with me. We’ll talk to Cadence together.”

The Sergeant began to walk back towards the barracks, but when the Captain was out of sight, he stopped. He slid stealthily into a shadowed corner of a back alley, and in a swirling flash of green, he reverted to his usual form. His body was black, pitted and sometimes pierced completely through at the ends of his legs. He had a twisted and pockmarked horn, and worn, insect-like wings. He hunched slightly as his horn began to glow. Under the strain of the magic flowing through it, the horn also seemed to warp and twist. An image shimmered into focus in front of the changeling, and he bowed to it. “Queen Chrysalis…”

“Nergaz,” she responded.

“Forgive the intrusion, but it is important –”

“or you would not have broken cover,” she said grimly. “Speak.”

“I… the beasts are gathered, but – they’re attacking.”

“Already?”

“I could find no signs of your trappers, Majesty. And the attacks are too intense. Even now, Armor and Cadenza are considering evacuation.”

“What? Evacuation? No!” There was a long pause before she spoke again. “I will send tamers and scouts to deal with the animals. Discourage the evacuation, but don’t break cover… stay with them. Find out what’s going on.”

“Yes, Majesty.” Nergaz let the spell dissipate and shifted again into the shape of Sergeant Stalwart. “If I can.”

“Evacuate?” Cadence shouted. “You slept for a thousand years; we fought, every one of us, harder than we’d ever fought before; we lived here two years so we could evacuate?”

Shining Armor backed up a few paces. Even through her pink fur, he could tell his wife was livid. He could also tell why: she was afraid. She knew Captain Ironheart was right. He cleared his throat and tried to be gentle in the face of the Princess’ anger. “Cadence… we have to think of the safety of the Crystal Ponies. They have always been our first priority. And if we let our pride in the terrain of this city overshadow our care for its people – we will have failed.”

Sergeant Stalwart burst into the room, bowing as he did so. “Your Highness, I must protest. The Crystal Heart is our best line of defense, and it only works in combination with the Crystal Tower. If we leave, we may never be able to return; and we’d be even more vulnerable than now while en route to Canterlot, or… Trottingham.”

“I understand, Sergeant,” Cadence responded darkly, “but my husband is right. We have to get the population to safety.” She turned to Captain Ironheart. “At whatever cost to the Guard. Not a single Timberwolf can be allowed through. And there can be no retreat. If need be,” she explained, “you fight to the death.”

Sergeant Stalwart raised a hoof, objecting again. “But – we may all die! We’d be – ghk!”

Captain Ironheart cut him off by grabbing him by the neck and leading him out of the throne room.

“Sergeant!” Cadence called, then bowed her head. “I know what I’m asking. But there’s no other way.”

“Now do your duty, soldier!” Shining Armor added. “You took an oath.” With that he closed the door behind the guards and turned towards his wife. She slumped in the throne and he came up to her, crouching down to look her in the eyes. “It’s hard, I know. But we need you. The whole Crystal Empire does. And they need you to be confident, to have courage. They need you to believe that things will be all right.”

Cadence nodded as tears began to trace a path down her cheeks. “I know… but I don’t believe that.” She curled up, sobbing, as her Prince embraced her. “I don’t, I don’t…”

The Keelerak severed the strand of web it had spun with a click of its mandibles. The Oohnorak next to it rolled the cocoon over, gluing the strand to its surface. It climbed to the ceiling of the cave and hung the cocoon there, next to two smaller ones of similar construction.

Zarsorak, a white-shelled Suukorak and leader of the surveying squad, entered the cave. He glanced around, pleased with the visible progress. The cave, once filled with old, dying vines, had been stripped bare. Some of the larger vines still sat outside the cave entrance. In their place, the cave had been covered in Visorak webbing. The floor was covered in strands weaving a symbolic map of the area. Inspired by the webs themselves, Visorak maps were point-to-point, marking features of interest, but also high points as good candidates for the nexus of a web network. On the walls, web strands led to traps set around the forest for wild creatures. If nothing else, this world was teeming with food. On the ceiling, then, were the first captures. One was a large predator that seemed to be made of the same material as the local plant life. It was mostly inedible, but valuable as a specimen for analysis. Two smaller, fleshy creatures had also been captured, and they hung in the cocoons, dissolving for consumption later.

The Keelerak and Oohnorak turned and bowed before their squad leader, clicking a greeting. The Keelerak stepped forward and delivered its report. Zarsorak. The maps have been updated, as ordered. The Vohtarak and your Roporak are hunting to the west. The scout Roporak is leading the Boggarak to a body of water it saw for mapping.

Zarsorak clicked his mandibles, climbing up to the cave ceiling to check on the food. Nelerak, why won’t you use their names? It’s much simpler.

You have earned your name, Zarsorak, the Keelerak replied sternly. But I will not disgrace the horde by taking a meritless one.

There is no disgrace in it, Zarsorak replied. But now is not the time to debate this. I need to examine the map. Has anyone found the forest’s edge yet?

No, but a few more caves have been found. They haven’t been completely explored yet.

Have you memorized the map, Nelerak?

Yes.

Then go. Report to Sidorak.

The Keelerak bowed and walked off towards the portal. Zarsorak turned to the Oohnorak. Andorak, I’d like you to explore those caves. He gestured with his mandibles to one of the points on the map. Start with this one, please.

The Oohnorak bowed and left, but was nearly trampled at the cave entrance by a Boggarak and the Roporak who had discovered this world. The two rushed up to Zarsorak, the Boggarak chattering excitedly. We’ve found a village, Zarsorak. The Roporak infiltrated and –

Slow down, Zarsorak interrupted. Roporak, you were there. You will report. Where is this village?

A short way up the river, the scout answered. The river leads quickly to the edge of the forest, and the village is visible from there. I camouflaged and walked the circumference.

And who are the inhabitants?

More fleshy things. Quadrupedal, but they can fly, and have some telekinetic powers. There are about a hundred of them. But there may be more villages elsewhere.

Did you map the village?

Yes. The scout clicked its mandibles together in laughter. It is defenseless.

Comments

[Kamen Rider Hyrule]

I enjoy how you portray the visorak and show their personalities and diolouge.

[Suukorak]

4984547 Well, I'll try to update as often as I can. I'm in college, though, so no promises.

4984894 Yes, I thought this would be a chance to explore Visorak culture some more. I put in some parallels to the Skrall with the name-earning and stuff.

[Suukorak]

4994624 Thanks!

[Metroid Prime]

4985881

Well, I'll try to update as often as I can. I'm in college, though, so no promises.

23 weeks later

[Suukorak]

5645922
...Yeah.
Like I said, no promises.
But hey! We've been waiting for Season 5 for longer.
And for BIONICLE's return even longer than that!
All that aside, my apologies for falling so silent. I'll try to write some more.
But no promises.

[Metroid Prime]

5646438 yeah... I don't watch the show anymore

And you can blame a certain purple alicorn for that

[Suukorak]

5646997
You know... that's a shame. I don't know if you watched Season 4, but it had some amazing episodes (in my opinion). Season 5 is looking pretty amazing as well. And to stop watching because of a pair of wings...
I don't understand, I guess. But Twilight seems to me less changed than you might fear. I suppose I can't order you to do anything, but I will encourage you to give Twi a chance. Honestly? It's not so bad.

[Metroid Prime]

5648523 it's not personality

It's that I don't like her being a princess in genreal

That giant eye sore of a castle did not help