I awoke to a refreshed feeling. I think I had a dream, but it was foggy. Wait, that was yesterday! All at once, yesterday's final occurences hit me.

Two toa have came to Equestria, courtesy of the Mask, although they have yet to make a physical appearance. Toa Hahli, Guardian of the Tides, and Toa Kongu, Master of the Winds. Two of the Toa Mahri here, the other three surviving ones remained, likely confused about their friend's disappearances. But it can't be helped, as the Mask of Life had a reason to bring them here. I sat up, and rolled over to my feet.

"Eh, I need breakfast," I said to no one in particular, and stood up. I walked over to the table I placed my armor, and noticed it was a bit dusty from the past couple days. 'I should probably clean these.' I picked up my armor in my arms, and walked out of my back door. I remember a river near here...

I was surprised when I felt the ground shaking, almost like an earthquake, and looked up. I noticed several Rahi-creatures, who resembled Kane-Ra bulls, streaking towards me, and the town. I didn't think about my next action. I began sprinting towards the town placing my armor on, I willed my legs to move even faster, just to outrun the beings.

I arrived in town square long before the stampede, and noticed rainbow. She saw me and flew down to me. "Hey Mata Nui, what's up? Why are you breathing so hard?" Rainbow's next comment confused me profusely, as she narrowed her eyes slyly and gave me a crooked grin, whilst saying, "Ya been doing something?" I narrowed my eyes, still panting, and tried to speak.

"Rainbow... seriously... I need... to tell... the town-" I suddenly felt the familiar ground shaking. "No, I'm too late!"

Rainbow floated up, and looked on the horizon for a moment. she must have seen the creatures, as she shouted, "Stampede!" At this, the town went into pure blitzing chaos, everyone running to their houses. I suddenly remembered, My house was in the way of the stampede! 'I don't have time to think about that!' I rushed towards the edge of town, ready to fend off the rahi, if I must. I found the others.

Pinkie was allowing herself to be bounced rapidly by the stampede's earthquaking. "H-e-e-y! Th-is m-akes m-y vo-ice so-und si-illy-y!" She said, her voice sounding like a jackhammer.

Twilight spoke up, "Pinkie are you crazy? Run!" I looked up towards the cattle(I learned they were called this) and drew my sword, assuming a defensive stance. I was gonna defend them with my life, although I severely hoped this wouldn't be the case. As I readied a "Bovine Intervention" of sorts, the Mayor Mare was attempting to calm everyone down, to no avail.

"Calm down, everypony! There is no need to panic!" She said, as all of Ponyville merely ran around screaming.

"Oh, but Mayor," Said Rarity, rather dramatically, "What ever shall we do?" The Mayor didn't have a clue what to say. Then, Rainbow Dash interrupted them, and drew my attention.

"Look there!" She hollered, and I followed her gaze, into the cow crowd, and noticed an orange blur, running beside them. AppleJack!

"It's Applejack! She must be trying to stop them!" I shouted over the noise to the others, who began to cheer randomly, Pinkie holding a flag with Applejack's cutie mark. I noticed Applejack using a certain contingency plan matoran Kane-Ra herders used, except instead of her furred animal, they'd use trained Kavinika as mounts, and "Put up" the lead bull, which involved one distracting it, and another throwing a chain, or rope in this case, around its neck, and pulling hard. As they began to perform the strategy, everyone else was a bit nervous at the fact of how close the stampede was now. Minus Pinkie.

"This is the best rodeo show I've ever seen!" She said, and shoved her head into a bowl of some food. 'great beings, Pinkie Pie.' I muttered within my brain, and began to pray Applejack succeeded. I noticed Applejack spring upon one of the cows, and grab a rope. She threw it around the lead cow's neck, and jumped off, pulling right as hard as she could. I put my blade away, and began running to catch up, as she finally brought the herd to a stop.

As I ran up, Applelack spat out the rope, and said, "Hoo Whee! Now what was that all about?" I didn't understand why she said this. Surely, this was a plain old animal, like her... Dog, was it?

Apparently I was wrong. The creature belted out its ever-familiar "Moo" sound once, before clearing its throat. "Oh, my," It said to my surprise, "Begging your pardon, Applejack, but Moo-rietta here" I inwardly chuckled at the pronounciation "Saw one of them nasty snakes!" With this, all the cows jumped up, and Applejack's dog double-took, and I instantly had my hand on my sword pommel. "And it just gave us all the willies, don'tcha know?" The "cow" finished.

Applejack, while I wasn't expecting this response, said, "I completely understand. Just next time, try an' steer clear of Ponyville."

"We certainly will, Applejack. So long winona!" Said the cow, and walked away with the rest of the herd. Applejack turned, and, as she apparently hadn't see me earlier, was surprised.

"Howdy, Mata Nui. What's up?" She said, I was surprised, myself, at the fact that she wasn't out of breath. I smiled, and replied:

"Watching an amazing scene. That was incredible, just now! Where'd you learn to do that?" I said.

"Aw, shucks," She said, blushing, "It was nothing. Just doing my duty." She looked towards ponyville, where she noticed everyone cheering for her.

"I'll leave you to your adoring fans," I said, and walked back towards Ponyville, meeting up with the others. As I approached the others, I could hear their speech about Applejack.

"YeeHAW!" said Pinkie, as she began to bounce around, "Ride 'em, cowpony!" I inwardly chuckled, seeing her crazy displays.

The mayor came over to talk to us. "Applejack was just... just..."

"Apple-tastic?" I said, taking a guess on what Pinkie was about to say.

"YEAH!" She said, as she randomly appeared upside down beside the mayor, then fell to the ground. I actually laughed this time, she's always so random.

"Exactly. We must do something to thank Applejack, for single-hoofedly saving the town," said the Mayor. I immediately knew what would be said.

"You thinking what I'm thinking, Pinkie Pie?" I said, mischieviously. She smiled brightly and began bouncing around again. "A Party!" we said, in unison. I figured, I may as well be upbeat about being here. Theres no need to worry about my Universe If I can't help it at the moment...

My brain began to swirl around the dark thoughts again. Makuta... The matoran, at his mercy... No, I must not be troubled by this right now! I will find a way to pull this off, so help me.

"That sounds like a plan!" Said the Mayor, As I shook my head to clear my thoughts, "Now we need to assign jobs, to care for the party."

Rarity spoke up, "I'll do the decorating. I already have some ideas." Not gonna argue there, she's the best of any of us for that.

"I'll cater! There'll be cookies, cupcakes, cake, waffles, bagels, ice cream, yogurt, (If anyone wants it) fudge-" I put a hand to Pinkie's muzzle, to stop her.

"You've made your point, Pinkie," I said. She giggled through my hand, and I released her muzzle gently.

Fluttershy calmly made her way forward."U-uh, I-I could do the m-music, miss m-Mayor," she quietly stuttered out, and I couldn't help but think how cute she was-

'Here my brain goes again,' I thought, 'Off on another tangent. Get it together, Mata Nui, for Angonce' sake!'

As I wondered why my brains were so strange now, Twilight spoke up, "I could ready a seminar for the party, to thank Applejack for her service!"

"I wonder what I could do..." I inquired out loud to myself. "I don't think I have another special doing." I was beginning to ponder it more, when I let out a loud gasp, as I had remembered: 'My house was in the stampede's way!'

Before I could say anymore, Twilight and the others turned to me, and she asked, "Is something wrong, Mata Nui?"

"My house!" I said as I bolted, moving as fast as I could towards my house. 'For the sake of the Great Beings, let me be wrong...!' I didn't let up the whole way, meanwhile with Twilight and Rarity followed me on the ground, and Rainbow easily kept up with me in midair.

As I reached the top of the hill, I gasped in horror. My house, the little welcoming hut I had recieved not even three days ago... was nothing more than smitherenes. I collapsed to my knees, and let out a sigh.

"Son of a Muaka, why?" I said, as the others looked on in shock to my house. I remembered that my shoulder armor was still in there somewhere. I stood up quickly, and moved towards it. At least that's all that was here.

I began to sift through the wreckage, and I shortly caught a glimpse of golden metal. Two Pieces of my armor, my Shoulder Blades, had been buried under the southern wall, which had remained in one piece, until I got there. I grabbed the top part, and lifted it with some effort, raising it vertical. As I pushed it further, it teetered, and fell over, crumbling into pieces. I raised my left armor piece, dusted it off, and placed it on.

"Well," I said to no one, in particular, "At least these survived."

A day later, I entered into ponyville. I had told the others to leave me to clean my house-wreckage, and start on the party. I spent three and a half hours, give or take, moving the stone and wood my house had previously consisted of. I piled it up, in an organized manner. During that night, I had stayed with Twilight, sleeping on her couch out front. As I arrived, I noticed things going smoothly with the decorations. Rarity had just finished putting up some sort of banner, bearing several apples, for an obvious purpose.

As I walked up, I heard Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, and Rainbow talking. "I actually haven't seen her all day," Said Rainbow to the others.

"Not since the stampede," Pinkie added, smiling like usual.

"But she'll be here for sure," Rainbow threw out, "Applejack is never late!"

30 minutes or so later, just about the entire town was gathered around the town hall. Twilight made her way to the podium set up for the speech, shuffling several papers as she went. 'Every day she's shuffling,' I thought, chuckling inwardly at my own joke. I congradulate those who know what that means. She gave them a final stacking, and removed the top paper, and brought it to her line of sight.

"Welcome, everypony," she spoke, reading the page, "Today, we are here to honor a pony we can always count on, in matters great, and small!" she flipped to the next page. "A pony whose contributions to-" She was suddenly interrupted by rainbow dashing her head into Twilight's paper, and speaking through the microphone.

"Did you see Applejack's slick moves out there?! What an athlete!" she dropped over the podium, as Twilight rolled her eyes, earning a chuckle from me. "This week, she's gonna help me with my new flying trick," She said, adding a wing flap for emphasis, "And I know it's gonna be SO AWESOME!" The last part of her sentence, her voice raised an entire octave, earning my laughter once again.

Twilight gave her a rather forceful shove, and said, "Exactly!" She "grabbed" her stack of papers, rearranged them, and began to talk again. "And-"

Once again, she was interrupted , by the omnipresent Pinkie Pie, jutting up suddenly from the podium, popping out in front of her. "This week, I get to run Sugarcube Corner for the first time." I, like many other citizens, was lost immediately.

"What does that have to do with Applejack?" Twilight said, springing out diagonally from behind Pinkie, hoof on her... could one say, "hip"?

Pinkie looked at her, as if she were a deer staring at light, and blinked twice. She must have suddenly remembered, as she spoke up, "Oh! Applejack, one of the best bakers EVER " she pushed her face forward, to emphasize herself "Is gonna help me!" she stopped for a VERY short moment(In Pinkie Pie) standards) to smile, and resumed, "Applejack makes everything great, so FREE SAMPLES FOR EVERYPONY!" At this, most of the crowd cheered shortly.

Twilight walked up casually to Pinkie Pie, and gave her a light shove with her hoof. "That's great. Now if I could just make a point without being inter-" Ironically enough, she didn't get to finish.

I saw Fluttershy's head pop out from the base, but even being reletively close, and raising my "ear" sensors' abilities, I couldn't hear her. She was obviously talking to Twilight, that's all I knew.

"Rupted." Twilight finished, before Fluttershy shortly took her place at the podium.

"I'm soo sorry," Fluttershy directed mostly to Twilight, "But I just wanted to mention that Applejack is also helping me this week with the official Bunny Census, where we count up all the new baby bunnies that were born this season. She's gonna help gather them with her wonderful herding skills." The look Twilight gave her made me glare. She must have sensed my eyes, because her's locked with mine, and she smiled sheepishly, then returned to a slight frown.

"Anyone else?" She asked in an irritated tone. Fluttershy sank down away from her, and out of sight. "Anyone?" As we momentarily heard a short cough in the audience, she must have taken this for a "No". "No? Well then, as I was trying to say-" She looked down, and saw the mayor, smiling a very large grin, and Twilight merely stared for a moment, before groaning out of frustration and anger, and letting her papers basically explode everywhere. "Nevermind!" Acting immediately, on a slight whim, the Mask triggered the Kanohi Matatu's power to telekinetically grab the papers, order them, stack them up, and place them down.

As she stepped off the stage, the Mayor Mare took her place. "And so, with no further adeu, It is my privilege to give the Prized Pony of Ponyville award" She waved a hoof towards a rather impressive trophy "To our beloved guest of honor, a pony of the utmost trustworthiness, reliability, and intergrety, Ponyville's most capable and dependable friend, Applejack!" Everyone began to cheer as the mayor pointed to a curtain. However, when the curtains opened, much to everyone's surprise, there was nothing there!

I had distinctively remembered the last time I made the mistake of waiting too long, and I immediately drew my sword. "What magic is this?!" I called out. Spike hadn't noticed yet.

"Way to go Applejack that was awesom-" he stopped when he noticed everyone staring at him. As everyone, including the Mayor, looked around for a sign of the farm pony, I heard Spike say, "A~awkward." 'Gotta agree with you there, spike.' The mayor cleared her throat, and everyone looked around again.

"I'm here!" We all heard Applejack's voice from behind the crowd. "I'm here!" She yawned loudly after this, and continued, "Sorry I'm late, I was just-" she must have bumped into someone, and made a funny noise, then said, "-Did I get your tail?" just as she got to the steps, she tripped, and got back up, climbing up to the podium. "Miss Mayor, thank ya kindly-" She accidently pushed the Mayor off of the podium "for this here award, thingy." she dropped down, yawning, and walked over to the trophy. "It's so bright and shiny." She started to laugh as she looked at what I'm guessing is her reflection in the trophy.

"I sure do look funny, hehe," she said, staring at the trophy. She proceeded to make a "Woo" noise over and over again, looking at her shifting reflection. Pinkie magically joined her seconds later, doing the same thing and giggling.

"O-kay," Said Twilight, smiling at her friends' silliness. "Well," she added, "thank you, Applejack, for saving us from that scary stampede. And always being there for everypony." I returned my gaze to Applejack, who yawned loudly, and I'm guessing the puffy eyes are telltale signs of no sleep?

"Yeah, I like helping the pony folks... and stuff," She said, yawning again. She actually fell asleep standing up for a second, before startling herself awake. "Yeah, thanks." She grabbed the trophy's handle with her teeth, and began pulling it away, with it grinding and dragging with her.

I walked up towards the other. I spoke up as I reached them. "Am I the only one who noticed she looked rather..." I couldn't find a word at that time.

"Tired?" inquired Rainbow Dash.

"Dizzy?" muttered Fluttershy.

'Messy?" Of course, that was Rarity. Everyone stopped to look at her for a moment. "Well, did you see her mane?"

Pinkie bounced up to Twilight. "She seemed fine to me! Woo! Woo!" She made the noises she and Applejack had been making whilst staring at the trophy. I chuckled at her crazyness. Twilight looked over towards me.

"Should we check up on her?" I asked tha group. Fluttershy was the first to respond.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mata Nui, but I really need to go get the Bunny Census ready. I promise I'll help next time." She said softly, and she then floated over and hugged me. I blushed slightly under my helmet.

"Ok, I understand. Anyone busy today?" I said to the others as Fluttershy flew off.

"I got a stunt of awesomeness that I need to set up, so I can't come help yet." As she began to fly away, she fluttered over to me, and whispered, "P.S., I saw you blush." Angonce-damn it. Well, that's going to be a pain for a while. I must have blushed a second time, as she said, "I saw that, too...," With a cheeky smile. With a poke on what would be considered my "nose", she flew away rather rapidly.

"well, son of a Muaka," I muttered under my breath, startling myself at the return of that language again. Damnable Mask of Translation. I regained my composure, and looked back towards the others. "Any other takers?" I remembered something. "Pinkie, don't you have to run Sugarcuz... Sugarcow... ugh, that place you work at, today?"

"Oh yeah! Gotta go!" At this, she shot off like a cannon, tearing towards her workplace. I looked towards Rarity.

"I'd come, but I'd rather not muddy my hooves in those fields," She said, looking anxiously at her hooves.

"Then don't worry, I'm sure Twilight and I can handle her, ourselves," I said to her, smiling. She said "Thank you," hugged me, and began walking home. "Ok, let's see if we can wrangle us up a pony," I said to Twilight.

The walk to Sweet Apple Acres was fairly undetailed, just, well, walking. As we approached, I saw Big Macintosh, I think his name was, resting on the porch. he had a bandage around his body, so I'm guessing he'd been injured. "Howdy, there, big fella." He said towards me.

"Can you direct me to where Applejack is, I kinda need to talk to her." He pointed towards their western field. "Thank you."

"Eeyup." He said, as I walked off with Twilight.

A short walk later, we found an area where lots of apples had been picked, or bucked, I think. It wasn't long until we found Applejack hard at work, although looking very tired. She'd just bucked two trees, and she then attempted to buck a nonexistant tree. "I think we should intervene, don't you, Twilight?... Twilight?" I looked to my right, but she had suddenly disappeared!

She had teleported her way over to Applejack, and was trying to reason with her. For a short time, I watched her attempt to get Applejack to listen to reason, which failed when she accidentally said AJ couldn't do it, "alone" being the key word Applejack missed. After a moment of Applejack having a spaz-out over this, she walked away."Any headway?" I asked, wondering if my pony friend had gotten anything out of that.

"Nope, nothing," She said, looking rather disappointed. I furrowed my brow at this. "She won't listen to reason at all." She added, as I reached down to stroke her mane.

"Take it easy, Twilight," I told her, "You need to rest some. Why don't you go home, and take a break, and I'll brainstorm a bit?"

She closed her eyes in thought, and finally said, "Ok." She opened her eyes, and looked up at me. I smiled, and she smiled as well.

"Come on, let me walk you home." I said, and we started towards her house.

As we walked towards the town, I felt a faint presence, and my eyes darted to the left. I swear, before it went behind a tree, I swear I saw a toa, with a black body, long, lanky arms, and a bright white face looking towards me. I shook my head, and looked around from the tree, and it just wasn't there.

'What in the world was that? That didn't look like anything I've ever seen...' I thought to myself, wondering, deeply wondering. This is when I proceeded to run into a tree.

After I'd hit it, I stepped back. Twilight jumped and looked up at me. "Mata Nui! are you ok?" she asked me.

"Yeah, just thinking too hard," I said, and with that, we kept walking.

As we walked into town, I thought of something. "Hey, Twilight? do you have any books on, per se, urban legends?"

She looked up at me. "Oh, sure! I probably have a ton of books on such things. Why do you ask?"

I quickly thought of a cover-up for the REAL reason. "Uh, just wanting to read something" was the first thing that came to mind.

"Ok, when we get there, we'll look for one, ok?" I nodded, and thanked her.

Upon arrival to the Treebrary (as I had started calling it), We walked in to find Spike hard at work, rearranging books and the like. "Hey, Spike, think you can get a book for Mata Nui here?" Twilight asked Spike.

"Oh sure, What're you looking for, Mata Nui?" he asked towards me, hopping off of a ladder.

"I want a book based around common Equestrian urban legends," I said, "particularly a recently published one."

"Coming right up!" he said, and hopped back up the ladder cheerfully. Twilight sat down and looked up at me.

"So, how come you decided to get a book on such a mysterious thing, Mata Nui?" Twilight said to me.

"I figure," I began, "Since the Great Beings' presence here on Equestrus Magna was linked to a, well, not-so-urban legend. Perhaps more legend pertain such secrets." I said, making a white little lie, to cover my real reason.

"Well, give me a moment, then, and I shall help Spike look," said my star-flanked friend, and made her way over to a bookshelf labeled "U", for "urban", I suppose. I sat lightly on a stool, and began thinking over my whole day so far.

'I really have no clue as to what that slender creature was, but maybe that book can forwarn me. It seemed to be making an attempt to avoid me.' Before I could think much further, Twilight came trotting over to me, levitating a book.

"Here, Spike found this, it may help. It's titled 'The Many, Many Legends of Equestria: Old and New.' This is sure to give you some ideas towards this, well, research of yours." She said, smiling. I gently pulled the book from her "grasp", and looked it over.

"Thank you twilight, I hope that this can truly assist me." I said, nodding and smiling back. She gave another playful grin, and trotted into her kitchen, presumably getting food of some sort for herself.

I noticed the book was similar to an encyclopedia, so I started near the first page. Certain pages had various pictures, and I began skimming through, paying more attention to pictures. For maybe 30 minutes, I bounced from page to page, coming across a small, green pony-like creature which legendarily fed on love, to a large, multi-creature mashup known to be a symbol of pure chaos. I was flipping through the "S" section, when a certain picture made me double-take. It was, and only could have been, that thing from Sweet Apple Acres! I noticed a caption, stating to flip the page, and I did so, where I began reading aloud softly.

"The SlenderMan, a legend based off of another legend, the Human race, which supposedly existed before Equestrian times. The SlenderMan is allegedly the cause of many deaths in humanoid youths, known to be a trafficker of souls to Tartarus." I took a guess, and figured Tartarus was their equivelent of Karzahni. "It is depicted as an incredibly tall male human, wearing a suit, or so it appears. Very few have a true picture of it, for those who have ever witnessed it first-hand were never seen or heard of again..." This began to worry me, not so much for myself, but more-so towards the girls. I fear what may happen if I'm not there to protect them.

"'If you have ever, EVER seen it,' Said a book from what is believes to been human times, 'Say your goodbyes to your loved ones, and run. If it has allowed you to see you, it wants you to know you're its prey, and will stop at nothing to take your sou...'" I didn't have the guts to finish reading. I was silently hoping this was false.

Twilight came back into the room at this time. She was carrying a sandwich of some sort. When she saw me she asked, "Mata Nui, Are you sure nothing's wrong?"

I looked up at her, and smiled nervously and shakily. "I assure you, nothing's wrong, Twilight. I just had a dark thought cross my mind." Indeed, something was wrong, but I simply couldn't tell her, well, this!

She looked at me, as if debating with herself towards her next words, and finally said, "Well, if you're sure, then OK."

'I'm not, but it'll be fine' "Don't worry, I'm sure." She smiled, and walked over, nuzzling me playfully. I laughed and petted her mane, feeling how soft and light it was. "Ok, then, I'm going to take my leave. Perhaps I may yet be able to help Applejack with her harvesting problems."

Twilight looked up at me, "Good luck, she's being more stubborn than a mule. I'll see you later, Mata Nui." I waved as I walked out the door.

As soon as she shut the door, I closed my eyes in thought. I wonder, is it true? could it be? well, perhaps.

I began to formulate a plan, and I considered the various options I had. Like the book said, pack my boat and head north. Or perhaps, maybe I have a fighting chance... I was the Great Spirit at one time. I figured this would be my strategy: simply bring the fight to it!

I soon heard a high-pitched scream, with a sound similar to Pinkie's voice. I immediately perked up, looking around. 'That tone had an elegant air to it. Wait... could it be...' I didn't finish my train of thought as another scream ripped the air. My eyes went wide. "...Fluttershy!"

To the townsfolk, something like me tearing through town at top speed had to be quite a sight, but I was in a rush. As I topped the bridge near Fluttershy's house, I felt a presence. It was dark, almost darker than Teridax', but it was... strange. I noticed a slight movement from the back edge of Fluttershy's cottage. I ran towards it, and what I saw nearly stopped my heart.

It. That... thing, could only be It. The SlenderMan had Fluttershy in its clutches. Tendrils seemingly made of shadows developed from its back, supporting her in midair. It appeared to be trying to interrogate her.

"YOU." said a voice that came from everywhere, from all of time and space, it lacked emotions, it lacked gender. It was simply there, and it was mind-boggling even to me, and mind-bending to any who heard it. "YOU KNOW OF ITS WHEREABOUTS. WHERE IS IT?"

She trembled visibly, knowing she was scared out of her wits. "W-w-w-w-w-wha-ha-ha-hat?" She was crying, solid streams of moisture flowing from her eyes. It suddenly hit me: what else what is looking for... than me? And I was going to give it what it wanted, just not how it wanted it.

"'It' is right here!" I shouted, somehow catching it off-guard and pulling my sword jumping high up in the air. It turned, and for a split second, I froze in midair. It's face was... what. what could describe it. blank. nonexistant, maybe. But I looked past it, and saw Fluttershy, and I could see the hope in her eyes. I forced myself back into combat mode, and in a split second made the decision to attempt to drive my sword into its chest.

This seemed to work, as I landed, with my sword rammed through its skinny ribcage, the blade extending a full two and a half feet from its back. Blood, jet-black blood, ran freely from the wound. It stopped, and released Fluttershy. Two tenticles from its back came towards me, and wrapped around my neck. I must have caught it off guard when I pulled the tendrils from my neck effortlessly, as if "He" was expecting weakness. It was now I decided to test the Mask's limits.

I pulled hard on the tendrils, bringing the creature close to me, and headbutting it. I then grabbed its shoulders to prevent it from escaping, and forced its forehead to contact the mask. As I began charging my power, It began to roar mentally in furious anger. "NO. I WILL NOT FALL TO YOU. NOO-" I cut it off.

"Don't be so melodramatic." I said, and let the energy burst loose. When the light that followed had faded, I could now see the creature clearly, as I had turned it to stone. I couldn't risk it, and even if it broke toa code, I had to.

I ripped my sword out of it, and summoned forth Click from my breastplate, and requested him to turn into shield forme. I then distanced myself from the "statue". I knew that the Scarabax Shield(I had decided to call it that) was if not completely, nearly indestructible. And, by the Mask, I could sense the presence of that creature still within stone. So, I held my shield, braced myself, and charged the statue. Right before I rammed it, I grabbed the shield handle with both hands, and, with a grunt, and all my power, extended my arms. I felt the stone shatter violently beneath the ProtoSteel of the shield, and the statue fell to pieces, the life-force going with it, as I ended the first of another being's life.

However, the noise it had made was nearly unbearable. The spirit, as it was forced into their Karzahni, Tartarus, let loose an ear-and-head-splitting noise, that I could only hear. This was the last thing I heard before blacking out.

As I came to, I could hear voices, faintly.

"...Utter..y...at...hap...ed"

"I...do...no...it...ju.. ...d"

I attempted to move, and found my head to be in extreme, EXTREME pain. As I lifted my head, the pain became unbearable! I ripped a bellowing yell, and clutched my head with enough force to shatter stone, which only added to the pain.

"Mata Nui!" I heard the voice of Twilight Sparkle, as she apparently rushed to my side(my eyes were clenched shut) and attempted to stop the pain. After a grueling 25-second period of magic, it stopped altogether.

I was breathing heavily, and I was in mental pain now, no longer physical. I rammed the wall on accident, putting my arm up to half-way up my upper arm through the wall. I was fading between halucinations and reality. I came back to my senses when Fluttershy grasped my shoulders and forcefully hugged me. "Please, calm down, Mata Nui!" She called, in what seemed like a loud whisper. I felt reality gain a foothold, and collapsed onto the seat I was previously on, exhausted.

"Mata Nui, can you tell me what in THE hay happened over there?! What was that statue?!" Twilight belted out, as knowledge-hungry as ever. I looked up at her, pointed at the book(ironically, where I had dropped it) and made the handsigns for "page 49". She stared at me for about 3 seconds before it came together, and then suddenly, her eyes shined a bit, and she levitated the book over and found the page.

"SlenderMan... based off the Human race... known to be a trafficker of souls to Tartarus.. incredibly tall male human, wearing a suit... those who witnessed it first-hand were never seen or heard of again...'Say your goodbyes to your loved ones, and run. If it has allowed you to see you, it wants you to know you're its prey, and will stop at nothing to take your soul...'" Twilight recapped from the book. She looked at me, mortified. "Is THIS what attacked you?" I could only nod, as I was to tired, I had not the energy to speak.

Fluttershy spoke up, softly, "Wait, I'd seen it before, and it didn't look harmful. But... that may explain why it came after me... Mata Nui, thank you..." She grabbed me again and hugged me prompting a light blush from her and I both.

I forced myself to speak, "Anyone would have done it, Fluttershy. I was merely doing my duty." My voice was raspy, but I still said with a smile.

She then looked at me with the widest, and, dare I say, cutest eyes I had EVER seen. "Then why did you alone help me?" This prompted the blush from beneath my mask to grow redder.

"Mata Nui, considering what I just read," Twilight put in, as I was ever-so-slightly thankful, "you are the bravest stallion I've ever met. This thing is notorious for stealing souls by LOOKING at beings, and you fought it in hoof-to -er, I mean, hand-to-hand combat. THAT ALONE, you should earn a reward." and then, very, VERY much to my surprise, she kissed my cheek... or more specifically, the Mask's cheek. Ironically, the mask triggered a nearly instantaneous curse that caused Twilight to turn pink for a fraction of a second. I Guess the Mask is still picky about being touched.

Neither of the other two noticed, so I left it out of context. I, then having my energy back slightly, questioned where Applejack was. It was time to get back to fixing a friend. I was informed by Twilight that she was supposed to help Rainbow Dash with her stunt in about an hour, and she STILL refused to accept help. "Mask," I said, looking up in no general direction, "Do you possess the powers of a mask of Translation?" This prompted a laugh from the two girls.

After walking Fluttershy home, ensuring her the "SlenderMan" was gone, and looking around town for 10 minutes, I found applejack. I pulled another mask power from the far reaches of my mind, and the mask triggered the abilities of the Kanohi Volitak, Mask of Stealth. I was merely walking, avoiding ponies, and being COMPLETELY undetected. I could have pulled some pranks, but I decided this was more important.

A moment later, Applejack had reached what looked like an inverted catapult with a high-rise over it. Applejack began to talk to Rainbow Dash, as I went into the shadows, released the mask power, and walked forward as if coming haphazardly from town. Rainbow had been standing on a fencepost, tapping her hoof impatiently. "There you are!" She said in Applejack's direction.

"I'm a might sorry, Rainbow," Applejack said to her with a yawn, "I was applebucking, and I guess I closed my eyes for a second and, when I re-opened them, I was late. So, what's this here stunt of yours, anyway?" Rainbow got excited and began to explain it all.

"Well, I'm going to stand down here, on this platform." She pointed her hoof towards it. "You're going to jump from there" she pointed to the high-rise "Onto here, launching me into the air faster than I can take off normally." she directed towards the other platform. "Once I'm in the air, I'm going to pull some a-MAZ-ing stunts, rolls, and flips that are sure to impress the Wonderbolts!"

Applejack looked back at her with a slightly nervous face. "Don't ya think that's a might dangerous?" I walked forward, adding to that of what Applejack said.

"Yes, Rainbow Dash, that DOES seem a bit dangerous. This is coming from someone with a 4-extra-foot-stature over most of you ponies." I said as I walked forward. Rainbow looked up immediately, and Applejack looked up a second and a half later, obviously lagging behind with the comversation.

"Oh..." Applejack said, dozing off slightly, and re-awakening, "uh- What's up, big fella?" She asked me. I nodded at her, and turned back to rainbow. "You realize not all beings have wings, right?" I asked towards Rainbow Dash.

She looked over her shoulders, at her wings, and looked back up, smiling sheepishly and blushing a bit. "Well, it's not that big of a drop, is it?" I looked up, and ran a few calculations (By that, meaning several thousand. Being an android with a small moon-sized brain had its advantages), concluding that an earth pony, possibly I, could survive the jump relatively unscathed. "Well, I suppose not, I guess Applejack, being used to impacts, albeit backwards, is truly the best pony for the job." I said, and Rainbow smiled beamingly, to which I interjected, "HOWever, I WILL be staying here to supervise, just in case." She nodded, and hopped up on the ramp.

As Rainbow tested her little contraption, I experimented slightly with another power. I tapped into the first of what is considered an "Immoral" mask power, and tested the slight use of the Kanohi Crast, Great Mask of Repulsion, known for being worn by the makuta Krika, who died in the Makuta Invasion of Karda Nui, my chest cavity. I used it to see what it could do. I mentally targeted the ground, and pulsed it, and I went roughly two inches off the ground. However, I could feel the power it used. Until I studied it more, certain masks will probably require precision energy control training.

Applejack's first attempt to land the platform and supercharge Rainbow Dash's liftoff failed miserably, as she missed and slammed face-first into the ground. I jumped up, and rushed over, "Applejack, are you okay?!" I said as tried I hoisted her to her feet.

"I'm fine, just slipped a bit." She said, her responce muffled by the ground her face was stuck on. Rainbow trotted over, "Uh... Maybe I wasn't clear. You're supposed to land ON the platform."

Applejack literally pulled her face from the ground, with my help, and said, while still dazed, "Got it."

After a few attempts of Applejack jumping from the top of the basic machine to the bottom, Rainbow asked, "Applejack, what the HAY is going on?! I mean, I thought I was working with ponyville's best athlete!" Applejack's eyes were facing in opposite directions, and I assumed she was horribly dazed yet. "You ARE!" She sighed, and continued, "I'm okay, really. And I have an idea. Watch this!" She slowly rose up, placed her front hooves on the platform, and forced it down slowly, with Rainbow still on one end, simply raising her in the air. "Tada!" she exclaimed afterwards. Rainbow Dash looked at her, highly unamused. "Oh. Ok, we'll give it one more try," Applejack said, and released the platform, causing Rainbow Dash to flop down on the ramp, dazed herself. Applejack, already at the top of the platform, called out. "Here I go!" She backed off and jumped, this time accurately.

"Wait!" Rainbow said, flailing her front hooves, right when Applejack slammed into the platform at the machine's base. Rainbow was fired up, at easily 80 miles per hour. I looked up, and shouted, "Rainbow!" In the process, I kickstarted the same mask power I had been experimenting with, and blasted the ground, using the Crast to blast me straight up at nearly the speed of sound. Being used to flight, I torpedoed through the air, and attempted to intercept her. However, she was moving far faster than I thought, and slammed me backwards enough to force me to fly with her and break my concentrations. All I could do was tell her to hang on, and wrap myself around her as much as I could. I looked over my shoulder, and the Treebrary was fast approaching. I had no time to react as I slammed into the rail, and completely and utterly destroyed the part of it I hit, and Rainbow was flung up at a high angle, landing on an adjacent rail. I, however, had gone partway through the deck, and finally slid through, and slammed into the ground, and, for the second time today, I was knocked unconscious by pain.

As I slept, I dreamt, lucidly. I was in a white expansive plane, and The Mask spoke to me as I was in this plane. "The others We have brought here have been waiting to make an appearance, and We wish to show you Our most recent work." I was pulled into a vision, showing the mask bringing another of the toa, this time, a member of the Toa Hagah, from their homeworld. I witnessed the sudden disappearence of him, as his team fed themselves through a small rock crevace. On the other side, they'd found he'd disappeared. "This being is Toa Pouks, the toa of stone belonging to the Toa Hagah. He will be joining you shortly in Ponyville, where he may or may not stay with you..."

As I awoke, on the ground this time, I faintly remembered the dream I had. 'Toa Pouks? I wonder when and where.' As I sat up, gasps sounded off all around me. I saw a small crowd of ponies, including Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle, surrounding me. Twilight and Rainbow both looked on the verge of breakdowns. "M...Mata N-Nui?" Twilight stammered. "Yes, Twilight? May I ask why all these ponies are around here?"

"Because," Said a voice near my head, "A moment ago, you had no vital signs, and yet, here you sit, conversing with me." I could hear the eccentricity, and the intelligence, in his voice. I turned to a Earth pony, tan in color, with dark-brown mane and tail, smiling strangely brightly at me. "Before you ask, call me The Doctor, and I am, indeed, a real doctor." I then looked back to Twilight, only to get a face-and-arm-full of purple pony. I was forced to sprawl back as Twilight landed on me.

"Don't ever do that again! Please!" Twilight said, crying into my chestplate. I looked up at the "Doctor", and he merely smiled and stepped back. As other ponies from the crowd left, I wrapped my arms around Twilight and sat up. "I'm sorry, Twilight, I'll try not to." She leaned back, and looked up at me caringly, and then... front-hoof-bucked me in the chest, which DID hurt, may I add. "You'd better not." She said, while smiling at me mischeviously. I smirked back, and set her down, and rolled to my feet. I then promptly stumbled down to one knee.

"Easy, cowcolt, You shouldn't even be standing. I mean, did you SEE what you did to that rail?" I looked up when she said this, and noticed what she mean. I recoiled when I looked at the deck. The front rail had COMPLETELY shattered, and there was a 7-foot groove the width of my middle torso in the deck itself. "...well, that, uh, that's a first." I said. They began to chuckle. "No, I take it back, that's a second. I've slammed headfirst into a planet, back when I was still in my android form. THAT left a groove." This warrented further laughter. "That reminds me," Rainbow said, "I, uh, I have to thank you for absorbing most of that blow." I nodded, and forced myself to my feet anyway, and began looking at any other damage I had caused. Luckily, I hadn't done any.

"So, care to explain the new, um, emergency escape in my balcony?" Twilight said seriously, with a little bit of humor in her voice. I smiled embarrassedly, and said, "A combo of 'Rainbow's new plan', a tired Applejack, and a new mask power I was experimenting with. That's how I got into the air in the first place."

Twilight looked intrigued, "And what power was that?" I smiled a bit, and said, "Its actually been considered an 'immoral' mask power, because, Its the Kanohi Crast, Mask of Repulsion."

Rainbow looked straight at me. "How exactly is it considered 'immoral'? It doesn't sound bad. Just, repulsion," She said, questioningly.

"The only reason, I'm guessing here, is that perhaps it repels, like, nature or somthing?" Twilight said to Rainbow, asked to me. "Very perceptive, Twi. Yes, that's why, but it has its uses." As I said this, I repeled the ground again, and flew about 6 feet off the ground, warrenting a few "ooh's" and "Aah's" from the nearby ponies. "Well, now that I'm up again, no pun intended, shall we check on Applejack again?"

Twilight looked at me, trying to hold a straight face at my accidental pun, and said "Yes, let's."

I was getting further practice with my flight, as I headed towards Sweet Apple Acres for the 3rd time today with Twilight. The whole way there, I levitated using that mask, until I fell on my face from lack of energy, where I walked the rest of the way. Since she alone was limited in her abilities to stop Applejack, I was dead set on intervening and stopping her. If this didn't work, I was considering the use of the Kanohi Olisi, Mask of Alternate Futures, granted I could use it properly, and show her a darker possibility to her future, if she continues her actions. Hopefully it won't come to that, but I will if I must. As we approached her current location, I noticed her buck a tree. She leaned down to pick an apple up, and when she bent back up, she knocked her head against a low-lying branch of the tree, and stunned herself. Twilight, when we walked up, said, "Applejack, can we talk?" Applejack rubbed her ears and leaned forward. I'm assuming when that when she hit her head, she temporarily disabled her ability to hear. Twilight repeated what she said.

Applejack replied loudly, "Can bees squawk?! I don't think so!" Her abstractly loud and wrong response was more than enough to examplify my theory. "No, can we TALK?" Twilight responded back.

"Twenty stalks?! Bean, or celery?!" I merely responded with a questioning look towards her, with one eye brow raised. "No! I need to TALK to you!" Twilight responded even louder.

I couldn't understand the next phrase Applejack said either, but the word "Zoo" does sound familiar. "You need to walk to the zoo?! Well, who's stopping ya?!" I decided to use this time to intervene. "NO!" I responded at the top of my lungs, "SHE WISHES TO TALK WITH YOU!" I prodded her gently with a finger as I said this.

"Oh! Well, why didn'tcha say so?!" She said with a smile and looked at Twilight. "What'chu want to talk about?!"

"Rainbow Dash and Mata Nui dropped in to see me today!" Twilight said, still using the same loud tone. 'Thank Angonce we're away from town. All this shouting would be drawing attention for sure.'

"That's quite neighborly of them!" Applejack said, not understanding what she meant. "Except about the part where you launched Rainbow and I tried to intercept her, and went 7 feet into a balcony!" I said, and she looked up at me, obviously disappointed in herself.

I sighed, "Sorry, I didn't mean to sound angry." I'm assuming she didn't hear me, as she didn't respond to me, rather to Twilight, moreso.

"Oh... yeah. I wasn't feeling quite myself this morning," Applejack said, still sounding like she wasn't proud at all of her actions.

"Because," Twilight said, walking around to face her, "You're working too hard and you need help!" Applejack looked at her oddly.

"What? Kelp?!" Again, Applejack said a word I wasn't familiar with. "I don't need kelp. I don't even like seaweed." I still didn't understand.

"HELP!" Twilight screamed in her face now, "You need HELP!"

Applejack immediately went on the defensive again. "Nothing doing, Twilight. I'm gonna prove to you, to Everypony, that I can do this on, my, OWN!" She then turned after she had began walking, and promptly ran into that treebranch again. "Now, if you'll excuse me, "She said, teetering off, "I gotta go help Pinkie Pie!"

I pieced everything together, and realized something. "Twilight, if she attempts to help Pinkie Pie, do you think she runs the risk of causing something dangerous?"

Twilight looked up at me, and said, "That's true, but if we try, she may do something worse on accident, you know." That is true. I couldn't lie to myself there.

"Ok, true. Should we just stand by, and attempt to assist if we can?" I said to Twilight, who nodded, and said that we should go back to the library. As such, we did, where I picked up a recent encyclopedia, took my place seated in what was now Twilight's room, and began reading.

It had been roughly an hour when a knock came at the door. While I couldn't hear what they said, I heard voices, and figured Twilight was conversing with her visitor. I took a nearby scrap of paper, and placed it in my page, where I had gotten to the definitions of "Minx" and "Mitochondrion", as I heard hooves rapidly approaching up the stairs. Twilight rounded the corner. "Mata Nui, we gotta go. Nurse Redheart needs our help." I nodded, bounced up to my feet, and hopped out the window, much to Twilight's surprise, and landed on my feet right beside the pony Twilight had mentioned before, Nurse Redheart, scaring the living Great Beings out of her. We waited for Twilight and Spike to come downstairs, and as soon as they ran out the door, we all took off running after the nurse pony, following her to the Ponyville Confidential Hospital.

Upon arrival, I could see many makeshift tents, more likely from the mass outbreak of whatever had happened to the ponies of Ponyville. We soon found the doctor pony, not the male from before, and she led us to a tent. "We came as soon as we heard!" Twilight said, as she, Spike and I waited by. The doctor, whose name was Medical Miracle, ironically enough, sighed, like she'd been severely overworked.

"Thank you, Twilight, we need all the help we can get." She pulled the curtains back, and I slightly grimaced at the sight. Ponies were all over the place, most green from their necks up, all of them moaning loudly. I remember distinctly thinking, 'It's like the after effects of a large battle!'

"Oh, no," Twilight said, "What happened?" As she said this, Spike leaned over, and picked up a horridly rancid-looking muffin, that already had bite marks in it, and sniffed it. A small, tubular creature poked out of the muffin when he did this. "It was a mishap with some of the baked goods," The doctor pony said.

"No," came a weak reply, from a bed, where I saw a very sickly looking Pinkie Pie, with a green neck/face, like most the others, "Not baked goods... Baked bads!" She exclaimed, before her face expanded, like she was attempting to hold something back. Shortly after, she leaned over, and... What in Angonce' name did she just do?! That, was truly horrifying. Some foul mixture just came from her mouth. And I suddenly feel my abdominal muscles contracting. I forced myself to look away and hold my breath. I heard from my left, "Applejack!" Twilight was finally ready to end this. I was, too. and I had a plan to do so.

Shortly before we left, I noticed Spike had picked up some of the "baked bads". "Spike, what are you doing with those?" I said, as I looked down at him.

He looked back up at me, "Snacking! want one?" I shook my head no, and grimaced again.

As we walked for a fourth time to the Apples' Farm, We arrived to see Applejack hanging upside-down from a cart, the base of the cart jammed in a basket of apples between two hills. I chuckled under my breath, seeing how silly she was right now. "Applejack," Twilight said as she walked up, "We NEED to talk." Applejack snapped awake with a start, and calmed down when she was what awoke her.

"Oh, its you, Twilight," She said, yawning, "I know, what you're gonna say, but the answer is still no."

"Not to upset your applecart," Twilight said, most likely inserting the pun, intentionally, "But you NEED help!" Applejack looked around slightly.

"oh, hardy-har," She said, and flailed for a second. "And no, I don't," she added to her previous statement.

Twilight spoke softly, "Here, let me help." Applejack jumped the gun slightly. "Help?! No, thanks!" she said, quite rapidly, and flailed some more in midair. She spent a few moments writhing, wiggling, and squirming, along with slamming the cart back and forth a few times, before I gently nudged the cart slightly with a foot so as to her not noticing. She didn't happen to notice, and looked quite triumphant when she made it. Twilight smacked a hoof to her face, which honestly made a rather entertaining sound.

"I'll prove," Applejack said, after moving her cart near a dead tree, unknowingly, "That this apple, can handle THESE apples." She began to buck the tree a few times, with one back hoof, saying, "Come on, apples," before growing frustrated and slamming it with both a few times, and shouting, "Fall off!"

Twilight spoke up before she could continue to beat the tree. "A.J., I think you're beating a dead... tree." Applejack looked up, towards the tree, to see it completely leave-less and fruit-less.

"I knew that," she said, and walked away from her, in another general direction, and Twilight followed. I waited a bit, before following behind her and Applejack. As I walked up, A.J. was walking away, and Twilight was rather annoyed-looking. "Oh, that pony is as stubborn as a mule!" I heard a strange braying noise, and looked to my right to see another equine-like creature, which I assumed was a "mule". "No offense," Twilight said to the "mule".

"None, taken," He responded slowly and nasally. I walked over to Twilight. "So, how went the attempted assistance?" I asked her as I walked up.

"well, she completely refused our help, and is on her way to Fluttershy's house to help her with the bunny census or whatever." I immediately suggested going there to keep an eye on them, and Twilight eventually agreed on doing so.

As we arrived on her property, Twilight looked up and said, "Mata Nui, do you want to stay here yourself? Not to be rude, but I'm expecting a package of spellbooks to arrive from Canterlot, and I need to be there for them."

I looked down at her, "Oh, its no trouble at all, Twilight. I'll do my best to see what I can do." I bid Twilight farewell, and found a nice comfy spot to rest for a moment. I only had to wait for 5 minutes before my sensors, mostly being a triggered Mask of Sonar, to detect a massive disturbance around me. As I ran out of the clearing, I was met with Applejack running straight at me, after some small creatures. She attempted to jump over me, and her back hooves hit me in the head lightly, and the second they left my head, I assume some reflex of hers went off, and she bucked me in the side of the head at full power as she passed over. I dropped like a rock, for the 3rd time that day.

This time, I awoke in a bed, at the hospital's makeshift tents, where it appeared most ponies had been cured and went home. As I sat up, I could feel a sharp pain in my head, and I recalled what happened.

"Ouch," I said to no one in particular. It appeared there was no one around me, so I slowly got up, and walked outside. I noticed most the townsfolk... lying on the ground for some reason. I saw Twilight, and tried to run over to her, but fell on my face. She must have noticed, as she ran over to help me up.

"Mata Nui, what happened? Are you ok?!" She hoisted me to my feet with her magic as she said this. I brushed myself off, and looked around again.

"Why's everyone- er, everypony on the ground? Something happen? Aside from me being double-kicked by the worse possible pony in ponyville." I said, severely worried something happened. One of the ponies on the ground stirred.

"The horror..." The first pony lying on the ground said, "The Horror!" I had a feeling it wasn't necessarily as bad as she said.

The second mare, lying on her stomach, leaned her head back. "It was Awful!" She called out, then flopped back down.

The third female, stuck on her back this time, looked over, and said,"A disaster! A horrible, Horrible Disaster!" Twilight looked around, and said, "I don't get it." I couldn't remember, but I felt I knew the reason of what had happened.

The first pony ran over to her garden. "Our gardens... Destroyed!" She proclaimed. A sign of rodent rahi...

The second ran to a flowerbed, rather, what was left of one, in front of her house. "Every last flower, devoured!" A sign of herbivorous behavior.

The last pony, still laying on her back dramatically, affixed my belief. "By... B-by... Them!" She pointed towards the Town Square, and what a sight it was.

The baby animals called "rabbits" were everywhere. From what I had gathered, they were herbivorous by nature, classified as "rodents", technically, and were prone to being scared easily. It was obvious Applejack, when she went to help Fluttershy, had set them off, and it had basically been a tuned-down version of the Cow Stampede a day before, only Applejack wasn't there to stop it.

"That's it!" I said, "This is where I draw the line!" I turned to Twilight, and continued, "Her insomniac Rampancy has to be stopped, before she severely hurts someone!"

Twilight looked back up at me. "I agree! Enough, is Enough." She looked back into town. "But, uh, perhaps we should help Fluttershy first?" I nodded, and I jogged while she trotted into town.

"Oh, my! Oh, please stop, little bunnies," Fluttershy quietly exclaimed to the "bunnies" everywhere, "No, No! Please, let's go home- nu-no! Oh, my goodness!" I decided on a plan of action, that was safe enough for the rahi, and effective enough for the town. I searched in the mask for a few seconds, and found the Kanohi Matatu, Great Mask of Telekinesis, and spread a telekinetic field over the whole town. I pinpointed towards the small creatures with the mask power, and, much to everyone's surprise, the "bunnies" began to float. A few were nervous at first, but most seemed to find it fun, pointing their forelegs forward in a sort of humanoid flying pose.

I walked over to Fluttershy, straining to keep the rahi all in the air, as the mask power was worse than usual due to the number of targets it was being used on. "Fluttershy, where should I take the bunnies to?" She looked shocked, at first, most likely due to the obvious fact that I was causing it, and after a second, she told me to follow her.

We walked all the way to Fluttershy's cottage, I carrying the rabbits the whole time, and eventually, we arrived, crossing the bridge over the stream near her house. "Ok, well, you can, uh, put them in this pen over here," Fluttershy said, walking near a rather large pen. I walked slowly over, and gently let down all the creatures. Once the last one was on the ground, I released the mask power and collapsed backwards, landing on my backside. "Oh, Mata Nui, are you ok?!"

I nodded, and said, "Yes, Flutters, I'm fine," I unintentionally used a pet name, to which she smiled ever-so-slightly, and blushed a bit, "I just need a moment's rest." After I had sat for about 10 minutes, making idle conversation with Fluttershy, Twilight came over. She looked at me, and smiled with a slight sly look to her, and said, "Am I interrupting anything?" I may have slightly blushed, getting what she was aiming at.

Fluttershy must not have caught on, "Oh no, Mata Nui and I were just talking while he rested. Why, something up?" I suddenly remembered I was supposed to go with Twilight to confront Applejack. I also remembered my plan to use the Olisi's power.

"Actually," I said, "Yes, Twilight and I are going to confront Applejack, about the damage she's caused today." Fluttershy nodded at me.

"Ok, then, please set her straight. She needs some rest, and probably help. Just come see me if you need help." She said to me.

"I most certainly will, my dear," I said, "Let us speak later." I pushed myself to my feet, and Twilight and I began our last journey to Sweet Apple Acres.

As Twilight and I walked into Sweet Apple Acres, we could see Applejack, walking up a small hill in the distance, with a lone apple tree atop it. We made our way over there, only to find Applejack just about forcibly asleep, lightly kicking a tree with her back hoof. "Must... Keep... Bucking..." She said, as she repetitively kicked the tree. "Just... A few... More..."

"Applejack!" I shouted as we topped the hill, and she snapped fully awake for a second.

"Alright, Applejack," Twilight said, "Your Applebucking hasn't just caused you problems, it's over-propelled Pegasus, practically poisoned plenty of ponies, and terrorized bushels of brand-new bouncing baby bunnies. I don't care what you say, You. Need. Help." As she finished, Applejack finally hit the tree once, good and hard, and the apples of it fell into the baskets at her sides.

"Ha!" She said, "No, I don't! Look, I did it!" Twilight and I turned to observe the whole of Sweet Apple Acres, and what we could see had been completely harvested. However, I noticed the one detail that may allow the Olisi to take Maximum effect. "I harvested the entire Sweet Apple Acres, all, by, my, self!" She turned back to us, and said, "How'd ya like them apples?"

As Big Mac walked up, I put my plan into action, "Well, you're going to hate me for this, Applejack, but I like them about as much as Those apples." I pointed behind me, to a near one-fourth of the acre still requiring applebucking.

Big Mac must have read my mind, as he said to Applejack, "How do You like them apples?" I nodded. Applejack began to babble tiredly and crazily, but I grabbed her head and shook it, preventing her from passing out or the like.

"Applejack, please, forgive me for this." I pressed my forehead to hers, and triggered the Kanohi Olisi's power, and began to show her a possible future, one in which all of her friends disowned her, and the whole town shunned her. It was sad for even me to see, so I can imagine it had the correct effect on Applejack. Eventually, the mask's vision deteriorated, and Applejack and I were moved back to the real world, where she screamed "No!", and promptly passed out. Big Mac rushed to her side.

"What'd'ya do to her?!" He shouted at me, obviously upset at this.

"I'm sorry, I had no idea she'd pass out!" I threw out, apologetically, "I used a mask power to show her a possible future that could occur if she kept her actions up. I had to wait until her mind was in a weakened state, and I knew when she discovered that there was a field left, that would be the case. So, I triggered it before she could pass out, and it turns out she passed out anyways..."

Big Mac nodded, and began walking back to their house, entrusting me with her. I waited, along with Twilight, until she reawoke. "Applejack? Applejack!" Twilight said. I looked over Applejack with her, and Applejack finally opened her eyes fully, making an odd face. She moaned slightly as she awoke. "Oh, good, you're ok," Twilight said, "Now, Applejack, I completely respect the Apple Family ways, you're always there to help anypony in need, so maybe you can put a bit of your stubborn pride aside, and allow your friends to help you." Applejack kept looking out over the fields as she said that.

Applejack sat there, in thought from the look of things, before she finally, FINALLY gave, "Ok, Twilight."

Twilight herself hadn't noticed Applejack had gave. "I'm not taking no for an answer-what?" She said, obviously caught off guard.

Applejack put her front hooves together, in a prayer-like motion, and said, "Yes, Twilight. Yes, please, I could really use your help.

Twilight giggled a bit, before finally sighing, and I could almost feel a great weight lifted from both her and My shoulders.

After taking about 45 minutes to gather the whole gang, of Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and even Rarity, we all began to applebuck, where I surprised everyone with a show of strength. I triggered a Great Mask of Strength, the Kanohi Pakari. I then flipped back, landed on one hand, with the power still active, and double-kicked an apple tree, only for it to be snapped in half and land on me. I heard all the others stop and gasp, and, further still sustaining the mask power, I lifted the entire tree off of me, and placed it back on its stump. Then, I thought for a second, before snapping my fingers in successful thought. I triggered the Kanohi Kuponya*, Great mask of Healing, and put my hands to the trunk of the tree. In a few seconds, the trunk had reattached itself to the stump, effectively saving the tree. Rainbow Dash almost died laughing, and congratulated me on the show of random strength.

We had all spent about two hours, give or take, applebucking and relocating baskets. Applejack, herself, as requested by all of us, had rested in the house for the most of the time. As we walked back up to the house, Rainbow was talking to me about my "Mighty Kick". "Dude! That was still so awesome! You kicked that tree a new one!" She exclaimed, laughing. I chuckled as well, and said, "I also fixed its new one, keep in mind." She laughed. We arrived at the house, where Applejack was waiting, along with who I could see was Spike walking towards us down the road.

"Hey girls," She said, "I got some fiine applejuice for you all." She had set out a table wth 7 Bottles of this Applejuice, which I found quite delicious.

"So," I said, casually, "I'm a girl, am I?" I was simply referencing the fact that she'd said "Girls" alone. She grinned sheepishly, and added, "And Mata Nui." I nodded.

"Well," She said, "I can't thank you girls" I cleared my throat. "And Mata Nui," She added with a chuckle, "Enough for all the help. I was acting a... bit, stubborn."

I spoke up, "A bit stubborn my backside." Everyone laughed at this.

"Ok, a might stubborn. And I'm awful sorry. I know the town gave me the "Prized Pony" award, but..." She trailed off, as if not knowing what to say.

"But, what?" I asked, trying to edge her towards answering just barely.

"But the real Reward, is having the six of you as friends." I smiled brightly, as did the other six. Afterwards, we all started on our drinks.

Spike had just walked up, and while he was carrying something, I couldn't see what. Rainbow spoke up, "Man, that applebucking sure made me hungry."

it was now Spike's turn to speak, "And I've got the perfect treat!" He held up an armful of those muffins from before, the kind that made an epidemic out of the town. I had a plan, and I was already attempting to create something using the Mask of Creation.

Pinkie Spoke up, "EW! I thought I threw all those away!" She recoiled a bit. "Where'd you get them?"

Spike's answer was straightforward. "From the Trash!" All the girls, even I, recoiled a bit, and they all exclaimed some varying form of "Ew!" Spike spoke up again, "Just a little nibble?"

I answered him, "You know, getting them from the trash may not have been good, but I do know where they're going," I aimed my new object at him.

He, along with all the girls, looked back, and he said, "Wher- Hey, Mata Nui, what's that?" He noticed the object I was holding.

"It is called a Nyhrah Ghost Blaster," I informed him, "And it does this." I held the trigger, charging the shot, and let go, and the bolt of Light/Spiritual energy struck the muffins. Using the abilities that come with a Ghost Blaster, I shaped the energy into a sphere around the muffins, and launched them into the air at Uncomprehendable speeds, sending them completely out of the atmosphere. All the girls jaws dropped, as did Spike's.

"What, in the Fiddly-i-o-buck was that?!" Applejack exclaimed, and for some reason, I felt the reason to absolutely die of laughter at her response. I proceeded to roll on the ground for the next five minutes, laughing my backside off at that. I must admit, being a god-like being to some, that had to look odd to see me flailing about on the ground. I finally dried my laughing tears, and tried to reply.

"ha ha ha, that, was the best, response, I've ever heard, to anything!" I said, before breaking down laughing again, this time all the girls did so too. We all laughed for a good 15 minutes, before I stood up, slowing my laughter a bit.

"Oh, my thorax. Ha ha, that was entertaining. Anywho, you asked what this was?" I said, picking my Nyhrah Blaster off the ground, where it had fallen during my laughter seizure.

"Yeah, its weird-looking. Like a cannon, but small enough to hold by hand, and firing some kind of weird energy? Do explain." Twilight said. I held it up, looking at the mechanism for a moment, before replying:

"As I said before, this is a Nyhrah Ghost Blaster. They were used by three powerful Toa, known as the Toa Nuva, or rather, one half of them, back in the Matoran Universe. These blasters take in light energy from the nearby area, and combine it with a built-in source of Spiritual energy. The resulting ammunition is a dart-like object" I formed one on the barrel of the gun "which explodes into a puff of energy, and, in this case, the energy is linked to your mind, and it becomes moldable. When I shot the muffins, I molded it around them, and then catapulted them out of the atmosphere." I said, relatively fast, and it seemed that all of them, but Spike, got the idea.

"So the what, does a who, and the when... what-now?" Spike said, and we all broke down again.

We were approaching the town when we noticed a commotion outside of town. It seemed many ponies had gathered around something. I tried to get a closer look, and was shocked by what I was.

It was a brown Toa, whose Mask, chestplate, shoulder armor, thigh armor, and feet were silver. I instantly recognized this as the calling card of a Toa Hagah, and walked over. All at once, he snapped awake, to find a pony standing on his chest. When he moved, the pony freaked out, and jumped off and back from him. The toa stood up, and looked around, and as soon as he saw me, he must have seen me as a threat, since I didn't look like normal toa. He launched himself at me, and I, being caught completely caught off-guard, was slammed by a roundhouse kick from the toa, and sent flying a good 15 feet. As I landed, I rolled to my feet, drew my sword, and summoned forth Click in shield forme. "Please, I don't wish to fight you!" I called to the toa, who ignored me. He pulled out a shield, with some kind of launcher built in, and a 8-foot spear, with a two-pointed needle-thin blade at the end. He charged, as the ponies in front of him split to the sides and ran, and I bore in for a fight. As he got close, he grabbed his spear closer to the base, and thrust it at me while still a distance away, and I raised the shield. The spear bounced off, and went right, leaving him open. I charged and swung my sword, striking his chest armor, cutting a thin groove, and tearing out some protodermis from it.

I rolled back, but as I stood back up, I could see a circular pattern on his shield spinning up. I recalled this as a Rhotuka Spinner, known to have many random effects, as well as being based off their elements, so I had to do my best to dodge this, in case it was some mutative spinner. He released the attack, and a brown-silver rotating energy disk came flying at me. I quickly rolled left, the spinner just missing my shoulder, and as it hit a tree behind me, I watched it become wrapped in a solid stone binding. 'Ok, I know what he can do with the silver spinner, and I'm assuming his brown spinner just channels his powers further.' I resolved for a slow battle style, waiting for the right moment. The toa charged a second spinner, and let it rip at me, which I bashed with my sword. This must have been his normal, elemental spinner, as it merely bounced off, and exploded with a burst of light. He charged me again, this time closing in. He grabbed his spear higher up this time, and struck me in the chest with the non-bladed end of his spear, knocking me back. His weapon lit up, signifying he was triggering his element. I watched as the stone-bound tree behind me was ripped loose, stone, tree and all, and launched at me. I hit the deck, and the tree passed over me, a single twig breaking off, and landing on my head.

The tree had been flying at him, too, and he had to take time to dodge it. I immediately took advantage of this moment, and dropped my sword, pulled my Nyhrah Blaster off of my back, quickly charging it, and firing two shots off. The first one missed, as he ducked backwards, but upon coming up, he was struck with the second. I then used my mind to form the energy into bands on his wrists and ankles, and suspend him in midair. I picked up my sword, and sheathed it, and returned Click to insect form, but instead of crawling under my chestplate, he hopped up on my shoulder; I assume he apparently wanted to learn what this was about.

I walked forward to the toa, and began speaking, "Ok, from here on out, we settle this calmly, and civilly. Now, I want to know, first, what is your name?"

He looked at me, apparently studying me, and spoke in an accent Twilight said sounded "British", "I am Toa Pouks, Toa of Stone, and member of the Toa Hagah. And you are?"

"Now," I said, chuckling slightly, "I can't do that yet. You'll change your tune too quickly, if I do." His eyes went wide.

"Miserix? Is that you?! I'll kill you if it-" I created an energy bind over his mouth for a moment out of residual energy. "Ease yourself, I am not a makuta. I'm... a friend. So, then, any recollection as to how you got here?" I said, releasing the bind from his mouth, and he seemed to play nice.

"Well, I was travelling with my Toa team, through this tunnel, when my team was attacked by Miserix, the maku-" I heard a low-level energy pulse, and suddenly, Pouks had somehow spontaneously formed a Nyhrah Blaster round, and I leaned back, just in time to dodge it. When I noticed his mask was glowing, I jumped up, grabbed it by the back, and tore it off. He gasped loudly, and finally fully relinquished himself. When I noticed this, I released the Nyhrah power, and he fell to his knees as I placed the blaster back on my back.

"Now," I said, still holding his mask, "Be nice for five more minutes, and I'll give you your mask, tell you my name, and let you be on your way." He nodded. "Ok, here." I handed him his mask. He placed it back on, and sighed in relief. He started for his weapon, and I said, "You'd better be sheathing that." He picked it up, held it to his back, and the typical Toa storage system took it in. He did, however, keep his shield out.

"So, what is your name then?" Pouks said with a hint of anger in his voice. I held out my hand in a formal greeting motion, and, with a smirk, said, "Hello, my name is Mata Nui." The second I said this his eyes snapped open.

"Y-...You mean, the Mata Nui? Ruler of the Matoran Universe?" He asked, his voice shaky. I nodded, and almost instantly, he dropped to his knee. "Forgive me, Great Spirit, we haven't been able to trust anyone since Teridax took the universe," He said, quickly. I put a hand on his shoulders.

"Don't worry, I haven't been able to get much battle practice since I got here, anyways. You certainlyhelped there," I said, with a smile, and he looked at me.

"How exactly did you get here?" Pouks asked me, and I replied with, "When Makuta Teridax finally conquered me, he placed my conscience into the mask of life, and fired it out of the universe. My old body."

Pouks' mind appeared to have been blown, and as such, I figured he's a more simple type, not a major thinker. He looked down for a moment, then back up. "Do you know where we are, exactly?" He asked me, this being another expected question.

"Well, I can tell you this:" I said, " We are on the planet of Equestrus Magna, and this is Ponyville of Equestria. That's basically all I know."

He looked up. "So, this sun, this is the same sun we viewed inside... You?" I shrugged, honestly not knowing that fact, and I could see the pieces coming together. "Well, I have one more question. What, in, well, your name, are we supposed to do?" I shrugged and shook my head, as I didn't know yet. Without that experimental body, I'd stand no chance against teridax.

"Well, I can tell you, your appearance has been foretold, by the Mask of Life, which resides upon my head at this moment. The mask itself brought you, and so far, 2 others to this world. We may be the only chance this world stands," I said, and Pouks nodded. I then turned to the girls, "Well, considering we don't have anywhere to place him, are any of you willing to bunk Pouks for the night?"

Twilight walked up to him, "Well, I will, I'm always willing to learn new things, but first things first, introductions. My name is Twilight Sparkle." She held up her hoof, and He, still kneeling down, grabbed her hoof and shook it.

Next was Pinkie Pie, and I felt sorry for Pouks at this point. "Himyname'sPinkiePieyou'reanothermetalmanIneedtoth rowyouAPARTYWHOOHOO!" And like that, Pinkie was gone. Pouks' jaw hung limp, and I merely said, "Yes, she's like that all the time, and no, it isn't that bad."

Then, Rarity walked over. "*ahem* Hello, my name's Rarity, and I'd merely like to state, your, uh, armor, its color is so... Drab." Pouks recoiled slightly at this proclamation towards him.

"Hey!" He said loudly, "I happen to like and treasure my armor! This silverplate states me higher than the average toa, and I have the power to prove so." He backed his claim with a self-inflicted chest thump. Rarity didn't seem to like this outburst, and picked him up with magic, and dropped him. As he fell, I could already see his mask at work, and I came to the conclusion he has a Kanohi Hansvask, Great Mask of Emulation, capable of copying friendly or foe powers, as He had just copied Rarity's magic, and proceeded to use it against her.

"Whoa! Twilight! A-are you picking me up?!" Rarity shouted, as she was lifted into the air. Pouks Spoke up, "Actually," He let her go, and she dropped on her flank, "That'd be me." He finished with a smirk.

"How DARE you, to disgrace a lady like tha-" He somehow managed to cut Rarity off with a glare that, if looks could kill, she would have simply exploded into red mist. It was kind of funny, as his glare was matched by a smirk.

"Silence." He said, and she began to speak again. His face changed to a much more serious one. "I said SILENCE!" This stopped everyone. "Don't start again," Pouks finished, his voice dangerously low. I walked over, and banged him on the back of the head.

"Ouch! What was that for?!" He shouted at me, obviously over the fact that I was his previous god-figure. I didn't really care, but I did demand respect for my friends.

"I may be accepting to the fact that you aren't treating me like a god in the flesh and Protodermis, but I will request that you respect my friends, otherwise I might just turn you into a pony, hmm?" I said, knowing very well that the Mask of Life could give me the power to transform Pouks. He stopped, eyes widened slightly, but looked down, and said, "Fine." He turned back to Rarity. "I'm sorry for treating you that way, we started off on the wrong foot... rather the wrong hoof. Either way, I'm sorry." He knelt down, and held out his hand. Rarity looked at me hesitantly, and I nodded at her.

She gently placed her hoof in his hand. "Ok, I'm sorry as well, it was very unladylike of me to say something so rude about your armor." She looked truly apologetic, so I took her words, as did Pouks, in truth.

Rainbow Dash flew over next, as Pouks stood up. "The name's Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in Equestria! Nopony is faster than me!" Pouks seemed to observe her shortly.

"Well, then, tell me," He said, "What's the fastest rate of speed you've ever flown at?" Even I had no idea where he was going with this one.

She thought for a moment, and replied, "Well, I've broken the sound barrier, does that say anything?"

Pouks smiled, "It does: you aren't the fastest flyer in the universe, it appears." Rainbow's jaw dropped at this point. Pouks continued, "I say this for a legendary hero, Toa Lewa Nuva. He has gone mach 5 before to save his friend, Gali, from falling to her death."

Rainbow seemed to not understand. "What does 'mach' mean?" Pouks shook his head.

"I was expecting a self-proclaimed speed demon to understand a speed term." Rainbow crossed her forelegs in an irritated fashion. "Mach 5 means he was travelling at 5 times the speed of sound, which means he has you beat 4-fold." She seemed really, really shocked at this, as she almost fainted at this acknoledgement. She fluttered to the ground, incredulously surprised.

"Wow." Was the only word she could find for now. "Just, wow." Pouks smirked triumphantly.

I noticed Fluttershy had ran off, not wanting to introduce herself to Pouks, it appeared. Timid, as always, albeit cute- 'Watch your chain of Thought, Mata Nui,' I thought immediately afterwards. Applejack walked up, "I swear the girl's afraid of her own shadow. Come to think of it, how come she responded nicely to ya, and not so nicely to... pokes, is it?"

"Pouks," He said, "Its more throaty than that. Any who, nice to meet you. You seem to be a nice, down-to-earth being." He knelt down, grabbed her hoof and shook it. He wasn't, however, expecting her to be so strong, and, as she had to Twilight on day one of my Equestrian adventure, she shook the very thought processor out of him.

He shook his head afterwards. "Great Beings, you're strong. You may have knocked my brain loose." He rapped on his head a couple of times with his palm. Applejack giggled a little at this, and apologized. I chuckled and looked over, noticing everyone had introduced themselves.

"Well, with that taken care of, does anyone want to volunteer to give Pouks a temporary home?" I said to our group of friends. Twilight's front hoof shot up.

"I will! I want to ask him so many questions right now, this'll give me the perfect chance to study him!" She bounced over to him, almost in a Pinkie Pie-like manner. "Like, how exactly did you use magic?" She berated him with the big, soft eyes the females on this planet could so easily pull off. He looked at her almost nonchalantly, and it seemed he didn't care about said "soft eyes".

He did, however, answer her question. "That would be my Kanohi Nakala**, Great Mask of Emulation. It allows me to copy another beings' ability, and temporarily use it like a mask power. Hence" Still having the power active, he picked Twilight up, flew her around his head 3 times, and set her back down, as an example. She was a bit dizzy from having been thrown around like a ragdoll, but shook her head, and stared in wonder at Pouks' mask. She grabbed his hand with magic, and began to drag him away, questioning him on something to do wih synthesizing the magical cortex field, or something like that. I cannot grasp the concept of Unicorn Magic yet.

"Well then," I said to the remaining 3 girls, "This has been quite the day, hasn't it? I mean, I fought a deadly urban legend, I flew to save a friend, and in the process, carved a groove in Twilight's tree, tried to help the town from a peril of poisonous pastries, fought and made friends with another toa, and sent him to what can be compared as an interrogative hell. What can possibly happen next?" Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity all laughed at this.

The remainder of the day was spent like any other, I simply returned to the Treebrary with Twilight and Pouks, who had been tallying up the number of questions she had asked him(He was at 367, so far), and took my place at the couch, gladly falling into the warm, tender embrace of sleep.

*Kuponya - Translation for "Heal" in Swahili

**Nakala - Translation for "Copy" in Swahili

Note: Any unnamed mask powers, such as these two, shall be translated, by a root word (healing - heal) into Swahili, as it sounds close to the typical maori-based bionicle names for objects/people.