*POV 1st person Nova*

The dropship flew through the skies towards a nearby hospital, I glanced behind me towards the two ponies and I felt a pang of sympathy towards the Pegasus. Perhaps I’d been too harsh on her, probably best if I apologised to her when we touched down. Luna trotted over.

“I think you might have been just a little too brash with your actions” she said.

“I know” I said, sighing.

“I asked their Matoran friend, and it turns out that the pegasi’s parents were explorers who were exploring the southern continent” Luna said “they were ambushed by Bone Hunters and she was the only one to survive, apparently this Da’alrega was like a father-figure to her” I immediately took back everything I’d said to her.

“Dammit” I muttered “Now I feel guilty for being too harsh on her”

“However” Luna said “I spoke with the two of them and the pegasi apologised for her actions” she then chuckled.

“What?” I asked.

“Seems they are inadvertently following in your footsteps” she said.

“What do you mean?” I asked in confusion.

“They are planning to explore the southern lands” she said, a knowing smile on her face.

“I should probably give them a heads up” I said. The dropship banked and began to slow into a hover above the Hospital courtyard before descending. As soon as the rear door opened paramedics rushed in with stretchers before carrying out the injured Spherus Magnans and travellers fallen friend out. I noticed the two ponies and the Po-Matoran walking out and I walked after them “Hey, wait up a sec!” the Unicorn stopped and turned.

“Yes?” He asked in a Trottingham accent.

“Just…tell your friend I’m sorry” I said “and for what it’s worth, I know exactly what she’s going through”

“Sure” he said. I then grabbed four books out of my hammerspace and passed them to him.

“three of those are accounts of my adventures, the first one you should pay close attention to as it follows my journey down south” I said “the fourth book is a guide book I wrote, it’s just tips to do with traveling and if you were to get into a fight, I originally wrote it for Neu-Toa like myself but you should find it an interesting read none the less. Consider it my apology gift, anyway, I have to get back, your friend has my condolences and I wish you all luck on your travels”

“Thank you” he said, I then walked back towards the Dropship.

“Done?” Autumn asked, I nodded.

“The Spherus Magnans should be able to sort the city out in due time” I said as the rear door closed and we took off “We have more pressing matters to attend to”

“Indeed” Luna said “Our first order of business is a trip to the Pit, then Tartarus”

“Might I ask why we would need to go there?” I asked. "We should be getting ready to go after the Covenant"

"the Democratic Alliance forces and the rest of the Wolfpack can handle them" she said, "meanwhile there is something that we feel your team would be best suited to handle. There has been an...incident with several of this planet's containment facilities, several powerful and dangerous entities escaped and have fled to the desert south of New Altero, I will elaborate when we have convinced Sombra and Tirek to aid us" the entire dropship went dead quiet

“Sister” I said after sometime “Are you sure it’s the best idea letting them loose?”

“Why do you think Teridax and Discord will be joining us?” she asked.

"You called?" Discord said, poking his head out from behind Scar.

"Piss off" Scar growled.

My, such bad manners" Discord said, before snapping his fingers and turning Scar into a Timberwolf pup "Honestly Nova, I thought you trained your pets better than that" I sighed in frustration

"Discord, enough!" I ordered.

"Urgh, killjoy" he said, frowning before snapping his fingers, reverting Scar back to how he was and teleporting away from the Timberwolf-turned-Neu-Toa

“This could turn into a battle between gods very quickly” Minion muttered as we returned to the ship and was greeted by the sight of Brutaka stood looking down on Teridax with his arms crossed.

“I must have been gone a long time, if you are now no taller than a mere Toa” he taunted, smirking at the Makuta, who simply growled before stomping past the titan with enough force to dent the floor, whilst his Hellhound bitch skulked behind him.

“Do you mind damaging the floor on my new ship‽” I asked as he stomped past, I sighed in exasperation once they were out of sight “I swear, one minute he’s the wisest being on the planet, the next he’s like a moody teenager”

“It comes with immortality” Luna said “It tends to make you…moody at times” soon the ship left and we only had a few minutes journey to the Pit, located in a coastal bay to the east of Spherus Magna. Soon myself, Luna and Teridax, plus Brutaka and Hecate for that extra protection, began to enter the Pit. We were stopped at a security check, where metal constructs similar to Promethean knights stood guard, they soon let us through and we began to descend through the corridors. I noted the sign on one of the doors and shivered; Seth and Gabe. Those two were nasty pieces of work. I heard a voice chuckle, one I would rather not hear anytime soon.

“Hello, Vuur Koning” Seth sneered, looking through the window on the door. I gestured for the rest to go on ahead.

“It’s Nova now” I said, crossing my arms “Prince Nova”

“What brings you down here to this wonderful place” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Sombra’s getting reformed” I said “not that it matters to you, you’re never seeing the light of day ever again”

“Incorrect” Gabe said, I noticed he was chucking a tennis ball at the wall and waiting for it to rebound before repeating the process “they let us up into the courtyard on weekends, the other inmates are such wonderful guests. Tell Vapaa we said ‘hello’ when you get the chance” I then left them to whatever it is they do and sprinted to catch up with the others.

“Friends of yours?” Brutaka asked.

“They were hardly obeying my command when we I was waging war against the princesses” Terdax said.

“Which is why they have an eternal sentence, Sombra on the other hand” I said, as we came to Sombra’s cell. I walked up to the door of his cell and called out “Sombra!”

“Why have you summoned me?” he asked, materialising out of shadow.

“We have a mission for you” I said “Do as I say, and prove that you can be reformed, and you walk away a free stallion”

“Anything else?” he asked.

“Those our only conditions” I said “we are to leave this planet soon, in search of new allies to rally to our cause, we want you to come with us”

“What happens if I refuse?” he asked.

“You stay here” I said “those are your options; take it or leave it”

“Tempting” He mused, tapping his chin in thought “on the one hand, I spend all of eternity in this cell, on the other hand it’s not like I have anything to lose” I then stepped aside and he sauntered past

“Gain my trust, and I may come to call you my ally” I added before stepping outside.

“Don’t even think of trying anything” Luna threatened, walking beside Sombra as we led him out of the Pit.

“I don’t believe you’ve introduced me to your companions” Sombra queried.

“You’ve already met Teridax” I replied, gesturing to the diminished Makuta “Brutaka is a member of the Order of Mata Nui, and you don’t want to piss him off” I noticed Sombra went decidedly quiet until we reached the ship.

“I see you have a different ship” Sombra noted.

“My personal ship” I corrected “So don’t even think of pulling any stunts” soon we entered the ship and after sometime we reached Tartarus, myself, Luna, Sombra, Teridax and Brutaka began to make our way to the gates. The heat seemed to be affecting Luna somewhat, where as I used it as an opportunity to absorb more power, soon my armour began to glow and the temperature dropped by 20 degrees.

“Thank you, brother” she said, sighing in relief.

“Brother?” Sombra asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Turns out Fantasia is my mother” I replied, Sombra went pale. “I’m also part Alicorn” I shifted into my Alicorn form to prove the point.

“How do I know you aren’t just using a mask of illusions?” he challenged.

“Clever” I chuckled “but no, if it was a Mahiki my head would be glowing like a lamp” I promptly shifted back to my Neu-Toa form without breaking stride.

“So you now have three forms?” he asked.

“Technically, yes” I responded, before frowning “though I don’t use my Human form unless I’m around my birth parents or on Earth”

“Might I ask why?” he pushed, twirling a hoof to tell me to continue.

“in short” I answered “because Humans will accept any help they can get without question, then the moment the danger’s passed they will turn on their allies, don’t believe me? We save a town from Hordika Dragons and the moment they fled all the town’s people formed a mob around us saying we were too dangerous”

“Calm yourself, brother” Luna warned, glancing down and behind me, I turned and noticed I was leaving small pools of lava in my wake.

“You powers are emotionally driven” Sombra noted.

“Sort of, they also affect my emotions, ever since I became a Neu-Toa I’ve been quick-tempered and I’ve been more…” I trailed off, trying to find the words.

“Rude? Confrontational? Moody? Hot-headed?” Teridax supplied.

“The last three work” I agreed, shrugging. Soon we reached the gates where Cerberus was stood on guard and I noticed Sombra was grinning nervously as we approached the three-headed dog “Feel free to hang back”

“No thanks” he replied as Cerberus stepped aside to let us passed. Soon we reached the cage Tirek was imprisoned in and I smirked at his frail form.

“How the mighty do fall” I chuckled, crossing my arms “remember what I told you? ‘Arrogance can topple giants’ now look at you”

“What do you want?” he growled, turning and walking towards us before grabbing the bars.

“A proposal” I offered “We need your help"

“And if I refuse?” he asked.

“Well, you stay in this cage for the rest of eternity, or you help us and gain a chance at reformation” I concluded, crossing my arms “those are your choices; take it or leave it”

“Fine” he conceded “but I won’t be your errand boy, and I want all my power restored to me as soon as possible”

“Fine by me” I agreed, opening the cell door “and before you even think of planning some kind of mutiny later on, my mother; Fantasia, will be joining us on this quest” both Tirek and Sombra went white as a sheet.

“Please tell me you’re joking” Sombra gulped.

“Buck up, Sombra” I shot back.

“Sombra‽” Tirek exclaimed “you're alive‽”

“Yes” Sombra replied, as we began to leave Tartarus “I’m not so stupid as to plan the annexation of a country without coming up with multiple contingency plans, unlike you, it seems”

“Exactly how many of these ‘contingency’ plans did you concoct, Sombra?” Luna asked, raising an eyebrow.

“128” he answered, smirking. Ok, credit where it’s due; he knows his stuff when it can to tactics and planning “I can give Teridax a run for his money in terms of backup plans”

“I think not!” Teridax exclaimed.

"You can argue about that later" I said as we re-entered the ship "in the meantime we can discuss why you two are going to assist us en-route"

"En route to where?" Tirek asked.

"We have been wondering that also" Brutaka said.

"we will be headed to the desert south of New Altero" Luna said "to the resting place of the Great Spirit Robot"

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