Six Ways, Book 2: Duty

by the_bioXpony_guy

Chapter 10: Follow the Light

For Twilight and Fluttershy especially, the next few hours felt like a study session for those who forgot to do their homework. Norik went on and on about the issues keeping the Matoran from peace, the threat Makuta imposed on every living thing in their world—most of it information the Toa already knew, yet the two well-read ponies could not help but shiver in response to Norik’s astonishing presentation.

The abundant amount of information—of terms such as kanohi and kini and rahi—gave them all a culture shock. Even Twilight found it difficult to organize these facts as the Rahaga guided the Equestrians to the Great Barrier.

As she followed the Rahaga and carried Spike down this path to the mysterious island of Mata Nui, Twilight thought to herself, This world is so dark and dead compared to our own. This abandoned city of protodermis gave her a feeling of dread the further she walked forward—but the more she absorbed her surroundings, the more detail she picked up.

To her left rested the endless silver sea, but to her right a herd of monolithic towers stretched upward into the sky. Snow began drifting downward as Twilight pointed her gaze up, marveling at the ice-crystal skyscrapers, wondering what sort of magic was used to create such beautiful works of architecture.

Upon further inspection, Twilight just barely caught a glimpse of the dying green webs cluttering the towers’ bases. Some spots of the webs formed little bridges that would connect one building to the other. Nobody’s been in these towers in a long time, she realized. At this point, they’re just a reminder of what once was. She sighed.

The Toa of Water wished she had come to this beautiful city years ago—or whenever the city was in its prime. She could only imagine how busy, how fantastic, how majestic the towers were before the city was abandoned and left behind for the spiders (she believed the Rahaga called these Visorak) to pick up the remaining pieces.

As the Toa continued walking forward, Twilight found herself walking side-by-side with Gaaki. Seeing the Rahaga, no longer ignorant of the knowledge she possessed, the unicorn tapped Gaaki on the shoulder.

“Yes, Toa of Water?” asked Gaaki.

“Gaaki,” Twilight began. “I’m sorry if what I’m about to ask sounds silly, but—where in Metru Nui are we?”

“Ah. There’s nothing silly about that.” The elder explained, “Right now we’re in the city of ice: Ko-Metru. This is where your friend, Fluttershy, and Kualus would live, if it were not for Makuta.”

“And what of the towers?” asked Twilight, still unable to keep her eyes off them; the way they reflected their surroundings left a lot to be desired back home. Even the Crystal Empire’s buildings had their limits; the towers of Ko-Metru, on the other hand, limited themselves only to the architects' imaginations.

“Ah yes,” chuckled Gaaki. “Back when this city still thrived, the citizens of Ko-Metru were astronomers who looked to the stars to find answers to the future.” She looked up toward one of the skyscrapers and extended her index finger. “I believe that tower was where Toa Nuju spent day and night trying to find the answers to the many questions the stars posed.”

“Nuju?” asked Twilight.

Gaaki smiled. “You’ll most likely meet him when we get to Mata Nui—though I think you’ll find yourself more familiar with Nokama. She was the Toa of Water last time I saw her.”

Just thinking about the Toa throughout history, Twilight could feel her head practically expanding with even more questions—questions she didn’t think could be answered. As much as she already understood the importance of unity and duty and destiny, as much as she reminisced of the talk she and Fluttershy had had with Celestia all those days before, as much as she took in what the Rahaga had told her up to that point, the unicorn found herself swept under a veil of ignorance.

As much as she’d learned, Twilight barely knew anything of this world’s history—and there was so much she would likely never know so long as she lived. On top of that, Twilight was the most insightful pony in her group. What would somebody like Spike—who even now was soaking in Gaaki’s words—carry with him when he once again roamed about in Equestria?

Yet still thirsty for knowledge, Twilight asked, “How many Toa are there, Gaaki?”

Immediately, the question seemed to stump the Rahaga. “Oh dear—I’m not sure myself, Toa Twilight. Toa aren’t as numerous as Matoran, but they’ve been around long enough that it’s hard to keep track. Though I will admit, there are far fewer Toa now than there were back when the others and I were Toa.”

At that, Twilight’s eyes widened. “You were all Toa at one point?” Even Spike couldn’t contain his astonishment.

“Oh yes,” replied Gaaki. “We called ourselves the Toa Hagah, and we did all we could to serve Makuta Teridax. This was, of course, before we discovered the Makuta’s true intentions for the Matoran. Pouks, Kualus, Bomonga, and I tried to stop Makuta’s plans. At some point, we were captured—and just as Iruni and Norik were about to rescue us, we were all transformed by a dark hunter named Roodaka.”

Just hearing that name nearly drove Twilight to a freeze. It resonated in her mind like the back of her hoof. Images of she and her friends plummeting toward that silver ocean began clouding her mind, obscuring her thoughts, almost completely closing her eyes and ears from the rest of the world.

“Twilight?” came Gaaki’s voice, breaking through Twilight’s barrier.

The Toa of Water flinched and warped alongside the Rahaga once again. It took her a moment to regain her composure; when she finally did, Twilight sighed, “Sorry, Gaaki—it’s just—I guess I still get nervous whenever I hear Roodaka’s name.”

“It’s understandable.” Gaaki nodded her head, gaze pointed toward the snow-covered ground. “But you should consider yourself lucky, Toa. While Roodaka turned us into what we are now, she later went and turned six helpless visitors into Toa Equestrian.”

Twilight felt a little more confident, but not enough for her to keep the questions from coming. “You do have a point,” the pony agreed. Her voice dropped to a level barely above a whisper. “But what about Rainbow Dash?” she realized, seeing how questionably poor of a condition their Toa of Fire was in. Are you sure she’ll be alright, being that she was struck directly by Roodaka’s dark energy?”

“I can’t say for sure,” admitted Gaaki. “All we can do now is make sure you Toa remember the virtues Norik taught you.”

“Unity, duty, and…destiny?” Spike murmured, counting each virtue with his fingers.

“Right,” chuckled Gaaki, pleased to know that the youngest of the group had stuck these virtues in his memory. “And it is unity that you will have to start with; nothing can change that.” The Rahaga’s voice dropped when she continued, “I stress this because Toa teams always seem to struggle with the unity above duty and destiny.”

“Oh really, now?” Twilight asked, a smile crossing her face as a huge wave of elation blanketed over her. “Cause back at home, I’d say we had the best unity anybody could ever ask for. The Elements of Harmony only work when they’re together—and we all know that. And being that we’re already friends, I don’t feel too worried about keeping a strong unity.”

Her words caught Gaaki by surprise. “You’re not even worried about Toa Rainbow Dash?”

“Maybe a little,” admitted Twilight. “But in spite of that, I think we’ll be a fantastic Toa team! In the time I’ve spent with my friends, I’ve learned that we never turn our backs on each other.”

The closer the travelers came to the light at the end of the tunnel, the stronger this trial seemed to become. Ironically, the Rahaga trudged onward without a problem, but the ponies’ hooves began to ache and—for some of them—go numb as they all pushed through the snow. Even Spike—who was asked to get off Twilight’s back—noticed as his dragon toes lost all sensation.

Oh jeeze, thought Rainbow Dash, unused to walking with—as opposed to hovering around—her friends for so long. If these old guys are already doing better than us at walking, I dunno if we can be the heroes they want us to be. But even in such a doubtful state, the flightless pegasus pushed onward.

My hooves really are hurting, realized Fluttershy. She wanted to sit down and have somebody rub her feet—but rather than worry about her aching hooves, she continued on and distracted herself with the ruins of this great city. Like Twilight, the towers caught her curiosity, made her want to explore all this city had to offer—to know what things were like when Metru Nui thrived.

Yet even with these ruins before her, even with this serendipitous curiosity in her head, the Toa of Ice felt something bothering her.

She wanted to say it was the webs were bothering her—but in reality, she admired what they added to the ruins, how they gave off the impression that this city was made by creatures of nature and habit, rather than humanoid workers with a hundred tools at their disposal.

She knew it wasn’t her hooves; she’d already gotten over that.

Though she couldn’t see it, Fluttershy could feel the presence of something nearby—something with a taste for invasion. Something that spread over anything it touched. Unlike ice, which stood still, this little something sought the need to take over everything it caught a glimpse of.

It’s not Makuta. But even by deducing such a large variable, she couldn’t help but grunt in frustration. What else could it possibly be—?

When it hit her at last, the Toa of Ice immediately froze, letting all the others go past her.

As Fluttershy knew, a creature like him desired power above all else. Makuta had already touched the strongest and fiercest Toa in their group—yet she knew he was not with them. Their Toa of Fire may as well have been Teridax’s reincarnation.

“Uh—Fluttershy?”

Hearing her name called along the road by which she had traveled, Fluttershy flinched and noticed Rainbow Dash facing her direction.

“Are you coming?” asked the Toa of Fire. “C’mon, Fluttershy! It’s not that much further!” She said this, yet still couldn’t help but let out a little moan over her aching hooves.

Fluttershy blinked and noticed how far behind she had fallen from the others. “S-sorry!” she exclaimed. Not wanting to drag her friends back any further, she ran up to the others.