Trial by Sound

by Agrith

Chapter 1: Arrival

Chapter 1: Arrival

The chirping of birds awoke him from his slumber. He had no idea where he was, or even who he was. Sounds, people, sensations, and memories all fought for dominance. Nothing made sense. In some memories, he could remember everything clearly except for what he was. In others, he remembered what he was but nothing he did. To say he was confused would be an understatement.

He slowly opened his eyes, taking in the sights around him. He was in a small clearing in a forest. It was early morning as the dew hadn’t evaporated yet. He tried sitting up but found his body wouldn’t respond to commands. He began to panic, fearing he would lay there, unable to move, until he died. The fear of death seemed to rouse some sort of response from his body, as something literally clicked and he was able to move his arms. They were green, completely made of some type of metal, and surprisingly he was able to feel with his hands.

He pulled up some grass, observing how the morning dew ran down the blades onto his hands. That’s when he noticed the gurgling of a stream some distance away. As he got up to investigate, he noticed a glint of silver in the grass. Moving closer, he saw it was a metal staff slightly taller than he was. The ends looked like large tuning forks, but were sharpened to deadly points. He picked it up and twirled it around. It felt right, as if the staff was meant for him and him only.

He walked over the stream and looked at his reflection. While his arms were a deep green, his body was bright yellow. There were six spikes on his back, ranging from 2 feet to six inches long, getting shorter towards the back. His jaw appeared to be split in three parts, with two opening to the sides and a large piece opening down. His head was completely covered in armor, leaving very little skin exposed. Combined with a height of eight feet, minus the spikes, he looked very intimidating. But who was he?

...Derahk…

Derahk. It sounded right and it seemed it fit him quite well. He continued observing his reflection, taking note that the only organic parts seemed to be his head; the rest of his body looked like an imitation of life made of cold metal. A branch snapping in the distance drove him back to reality. It sounded far off and it was unlikely whatever made that noise was aware of his presence. Derahk could here muffled noises, most likely voices, but couldn’t tell what they were saying. He tried looking for whatever was making those noises, but the thick forest and low light prevented him from seeing more than a few feet into the forest. The voices were getting louder but he still couldn’t make them out. He decided the best course of action would be to hide in the trees until he could determine the source of the voices.

He leapt into the nearest suitable tree, taking care to hide the yellow on his body and making sure his staff was accessible. He didn’t have to wait long until the source of the voices emerged into the clearing. While he didn’t have any idea on what the locals looked like and was expecting anything, he was surprised when two small quadrupeds stepped out the brush. He shifted through his memories in an attempt to identify what those things were, but he came up with nothing. They were small, covered in fur, and their short legs compared to their bodies seemed to indicate they were children.

One was brown with a tan mane and tail. The other was white with a blue mane and tail and appeared to have a small growth on its head. What the purpose of that growth was, Derahk didn’t know. They were talking to each other, but there was something wrong with what he was hearing. They seemed to be talking about how beautiful the morning was, but they weren’t using words Derahk could recognize. He understand what they were saying, even if they were speaking a language he didn’t know.

“It’s nice being able to go out in the morning without bundling up,” the brown one said.

“Yeah, I prefer dew to frost any day,” the white one said.

“Know if the pegasi are planning any storms soon?” the brown one asked.

“Stone, just because my dad is a pegasus doesn’t mean he tells me the weather report every day,” the white one snapped.

“Sorry for asking,” Stone said, “I just didn’t want to get rained on in a few days.”

“Why? What are you planning? You know what happened last time you tired something stupid.”

“It’s nothing like that Crystal. Just a few outdoor activities that I don’t want getting wet.”

“Whatever you say,” Crystal said with a wink.

“What was that?” Stone asked.

“What was what?”

“That wink.”

“What wink?”

“Never mind.”

Crystal giggled softly and they walked over to the stream. Derahk had stopped listening to the conversation halfway through. He was still trying to figure out what these things were and the mention of pegasi seemed to spark something in his mind. Memories began to surface, vague at best, but they gave him names. These things were ponies; not dumb animals, but intelligent creatures. The brown one, Stone, was an earth pony and a colt, indicated by his somewhat deep voice. The white one, Crystal, the one with the growth on its head, was a unicorn and a filly, having a somewhat higher voice than Stone. All of this came to Derahk in the span of three seconds and during those three seconds he heard a faint creak beneath him. And another. He looked down to see the branch he was standing on was beginning to sag under his weight.

The branch began producing cracking noises and the two foals turned away from the stream and looked towards the source of the sound.

“Hello? Is somepony there?” Crystal called out.

“Come out now and I won’t buck you for spying on us,” Stone threatened.

“Stone, that’s not very nice,” Crystal scolded.

“Whoever it is shouldn’t be-“

The branch finally gave and sent Derahk crashing into the ground. His staff followed him, imbedding itself next to his head. Surprisingly, he didn’t feel any pain, but that might be due to the lack of an organic body. He shook his head and sat up, making sure his body was in one piece. Some mud was smeared on his arms and a few leaves were caught in his armor, but otherwise he was completely fine. He looked over to where to the two foals were and saw they hadn’t moved. They were too shocked at seeing an eight foot tall metal being falling out of a tree to do anything.

Derahk attempted to say hello, but all the foals heard were a series of clicking noises. When they didn’t respond, Derahk stood up and busied himself with getting the leaves out of his armor.

“What is that thing?” Crystal whispered, though Derahk could hear them perfectly.

“I have no idea,” Stone whispered back, “Do you think it wants to eat us?”

“If it wanted to get us, it could have gotten us when our backs were turned.”

“So what do we do?”

“Talk to it?”

“Are you crazy?” Stone said, voice no longer a whisper, “We have no idea what it wants.”

“Better than nothing,” Crystal said.

Finished with removing the leaves, Derahk pulled his staff out of the ground and examined it for damages. Finding none, he walked over to the stream, causing the foals to back away from him. He paused for a moment before washing his arms and staff in the water. After he finished removing all he mud, Derahk turned towards the two foals still hadn’t moved.

“Say something,” Stone said, nudging Crystal forward.

“Me? Why do I have to be the one to say hello?” Crystal said, digging her hooves in the ground.

“You’re the one who suggested it.”

“You’re the braver one.”

The exchange continued for some time before Derahk made a few clicking noises to get them to stop. He split his staff in two, causing the two foals to flinch, and placed the halves on back, out of the way. He then crossed his arms, as if to say, “I’m waiting.” Stone, tired of waiting, pushed Crystal harder than he was before and senther several feet forward, tumbling head over hooves.

“Coward,” Crystal muttered under her breath, “Oh, h-hello Mister Whatever-You-Are. I’m Crystal Lightning and this is my friend Stone Shatter. We-we were wondering what exactly you are. I’ve never seen something like you before.”

“Nice to meet you. My name is Derahk and I’m a rahkshi,” Derahk said, though it came out as a series of clicks.

Crystal stood there confused, wondering if those clicks were this thing’s way of talking. Derahk mentally faceplammed, remembering how they didn’t respond when he said hello.

“Um, can you talk?” Crystal asked.

Derahk nodded, but pointed at her and shook his head.

“You can speak but we can’t understand you?” Crystal said.

He nodded.

“Well how are we gonna learn more about you?”

“I know, let’s take it to Magic Knowledge,” Stone said excitedly, “She’s smart and knows loads of stuff. Maybe a way we can understand him.”

“That’s actually a good idea,” Crystal said, “for once. Does that sound like a good idea, Mister?”

Derahk shrugged and made a few clicks, translating into “Meh, what the hell.”

“Alright Mister, follow me,” Crystal said, charging towards the trees before stopping, “You are a mister, right?”

He nodded, motioning with his hands to get her to go.

“Alright, to Magic Knowledge’s we go!”

Comments

[ZenithStar]

Hmm, giant spiked metal monstrosity with a deadly looking weapon, acting quite dapper and well-natured in a land of innocent pastel ponies.

Seems Legit.
I'll admit, I'm curious as to where it goes from here; my interest is piqued!

[MrTarven]

bionicle?

[Sakuhatsu]

Ohhh yes. We need more Bionicle crossovers, those are awesome. Not even mentioning that the Rahkshi are quite possibly the coolest bamfs of Bionicle.

The only thing that irks me is that fully organic entities like ponies should be pants-wettingly fucking TERRIFYING to the Rahkshi (or at least freak him out greatly)... I remember reading that some Makuta (who, iirc are actually already very powerful beings) went completely INSANE at the sight of Tren Krom, the only fully organic being of the Bionicle universe...

[Caldoric]

Nice. I was recently thinking of doing a Rahkshi-based Displaced story myself, and then I suddenly find this story. Awesome.