Kingdom Hearts of Harmony

Kingdom Hearts of Harmony

By Steel Soul

Friendship and Siblings

Green to start music and red to stop music

The void stretched endlessly before Sora, engulfing him in a suffocating darkness he could not escape. The stallion tried to move, testing his limbs, but he couldn’t help but find they were stuck in place, as if bound by invisible chains.

“W-What is this…?” His gaze fell to his lift. "Where am I?" And then to his right.

So this is where you ran to?

“What?!” Sora’s eyes widened at the voice that spoke to him from everywhere at once. “W-Who’s there? Show yourself!"

You thought you could slither away from me and I wouldn’t find you? Thought you would have learned by now Ventus.

“W-what?” Sora frowned as he looked around, trying to ascertain where the voice was emanating from. “Ventus? What are you talking about? Who are you? Who’s there?” Sora growled. “Stop playing games with me!”

Games? Hahah…I’m not playing games here you know. The voice dripped with venom. You’re not even worth the effort. I’m just here to reclaim what’s inside your heart.

Sora felt his chest tighten. “M-my heart?”

See…you have a little something I need. The one I’m addressing knows it. I know he can hear me. Can’t you…Ventus?

Sora shook his head. “What are you even talking about?”

You wouldn’t remember? The voice spoke. And why would I tell you anyway? I can’t find you now. But I will…You’re hate…your anger…your self loathing…There’s no way I can’t find you.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Sora snapped, his frustration mingling with his growing fear.

The Keyblade Wielder froze, almost as if the voice was fully addressing him now

Oh Sora. You can play dumb all you want but I know you…maybe better then you know yourself. I know you feel hate for those that left you. So much anger directed toward yourself for being so weak, so much despair filling every fiber of your being. And jealousy for the one who always came out on top no matter what. All of these things you try to cover up with pretty words and self-assurances, but I can see right through you. And if I can, just think of what your friends think of you. You can ever escape your heart afterall.

Sora shut his eyes, not liking what he was hearing. He wanted to deny it. To tell the being in front of him that he was wrong, but some part of him, in the back of his mind, couldn't help but feel that there was some sort of truth behind what the voice was saying. Still he couldn’t give up, not so easily. “You’re wrong. I’m not like that. I trust my friends!”

Oh but I’m never wrong when it comes to stuff like this kid. And I know you know it.

Sora stayed quiet as the being spoke. He wanted to shut it off; all of it.

You can refuse to listen all you want, but I know that your heart is drinking it all it. You can’t escape from the truth no matter how hard you try. It would be better if you just let me clear it all away and give yourself over to the dark-UGAH!

Sora felt something force the tight feeling that enveloped him off of his chest, freeing his body from its hold. As the taint slipped away his being the hero could feel himself fall back into the void of the darkness of sleep. The last thing he saw just before his eyes closed was a ball of pure light floating gently towards his chest, filling his being with a warmth that was all too familiar to him and yet he could not recall from where.

Sora...Don’t ever give up.

A name crossed Sora’s mind, one that was so old and yet it felt so new.

“I...I know you...you are...are...”

~~~

Train Heading for the Crystal Empire
Sora’s Cabin

Sora awoke with a start to a pair of soft blue eyes staring straight into his own, a look of genuine concern etched into the face that they were attached to.

“Um…” Fluttershy spoke in a loud whisper. “Are you ok? you...Seemed to have been having a frightful dream.”

The stallion blinked, his mind still disoriented as the remnants from his dream faded from his mind. “F-Fluttershy?” he croaked, his voice shaky as he tried to gather himself. He pushed himself up slightly, realizing he was lying down in a train cabin, not in the endless void that had suffocated him moments ago. His eyes darted around for a moment, grounding himself in the sight of the familiar surroundings—the gentle swaying of the train, the soft clinking of the wheels on the tracks.

The train... to the Crystal Empire.

His attention turned back to that of Fluttershy, her aqua blue orbs looking upon him with worry, waiting for an answer. Running a hoof through his mane, he gave the mare a soft smile. “No…I’m fine Fluttershy.” He allowed his hind legs to swing off the side of the cot before yawning and stretching, working the kinks out of his system. It was then his gaze fell to the window, noticing the time of day. “Is something going on? It doesn't even look like it's morning yet.”

Fluttershy looked off to the side as she spoke. “Well, um…Yes…W-We have a few…um…extra passengers on board…”

“Passengers?” Sora’s mind instantly grew alert as he jumped to his hooves. “Is it the Heartless!?”

Fluttershy cringed at the sudden loud volume of the stallion, but answered all the same. “W-Well no...But...Maybe it's best if you come and see for yourself...If thats ok with you."

He stepped down from the cot, “Alright,” he said, a little more cautiously. “Lead the way.”

~~~

“What the hey were ya’ll thinking?! Sneaking onto the train! A train, mind you, going to one of the most dangerous places on Equestria right now! Did ya’ll have stupid oats for breakfast?!”

Sora exchanged a glance with Fluttershy as they hurried toward the source of the commotion. They turned a corner, and there, sitting at the train’s bar table, were none other than the Cutie Mark Crusaders—Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo—all looking thoroughly guilty as Applejack berated them.

“What the? Scoots? Sweetie? Applebloom?” At all three names the fillies would turn to face the Sora. “Where the heck did you three...I mean. How did you three get on this train?”

“Sora!” Applebloom was the first to rush towards the colt, wrapping her hooves around his foreleg tight and giving the stallion the most hopeful of smiles. “Thank goodness ya’ll are here! Tell ’em we ain’t meant no harm by it! Honest!”

“Yeah!” Scootaloo added as she ran up to him, her wings buzzing. “We just…We just wanted to go with you guys, that’s all.”

“What they said!” Sweetie Bell squeaked for good measure, taking refuge under Sora.

Applejack stomped her hoof in agitation as all three fillies ran to their would be savior. “He ain’t got nothing to do with this!”

“That’s right girls.” Rarity added, the mare, though appearing to be calm couldn’t have been more livid with how icy her tone was. “He has enough to worry about and you three just added to that.”

“B-But he's just gonna go and beat up the bad guys anyway, right?” Sweetie Belle stammered, her ears folding back against her head.

“Yeah! There's no way that we are in danger with you guys and him around.” Scootaloo boasted. “I bet even between Rainbow and him, they will have it all covered before breakfast starts!”

Rainbow tried to keep her look of annoyance at the girl’s antics but the boast did give the cyan mare a bit of an ego boost. A kick from Twilight caused the pegasus mare to bright back down from her high however. “Y-Yeah-Even if that is true, what you kids did isn’t cool, ya know?”

Twilight stepped forward, her expression serious but not unkind. “That’s not the point, Scootaloo. It’s not about how strong we are or how many bad guys we’ve beaten. This mission could be more dangerous than anything we’ve faced before.”

All three fillies flinched at that.

“Sora…W-We just wanted to support you…” Applebloom said in a low tone of voice as she turned to face the young hero. “I just wanted to help ya and...”

“I...I mean…” Sora sturred softly as he looked away from them. What could he even say to the three of them. If he was being honest with himself they reminded him of he and his own friends. He tried his best to come up with something to say but this wasn’t something he was well equipped with dealing with at all. Before he could allow himself to falter any further in his inner musings, Fluttershy stepped in front of him, giving the three fillies a rather stern look.

“Girls, I want you three to come here in front of me.” All three fillies looked at each other worriedly before complying with the yellow mare’s words, the fillies shuffling their hooves in front of the usually shy mare.

“Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo,” she began, “we know you wanted to help. But sometimes, helping means staying safe and trusting your friends to handle things.” Fluttershy’s expression softened as she knelt down to their level. “I understand how you feel. You wanted to support your friend and I’m sure Sora is happy to know you count him as one…but…” Her eyes closed. “Really think about what you did here today. What are your poor parents saying right now?”

The fillies’ ears flattened as Fluttershy’s words sank in, their guilt now etched clearly on their faces.

The yellow mare continued despite that. “I know I would be worried sick if one of my animal friends went missing without warning.” She opened her eyes to see tears starting to flow down the little fillies cheeks. Fluttershy wrapped her hooves around them, pulling them in as she cooed them softly. “Now now…Don’t cry. Despite what you have done, I know in my heart that you had good intentions. You didn’t mean to hurt anypony, but what you did here today was wrong. Do you understand?”

The three fillies sniffled as they pressed against Fluttershy, nodding slowly in unison.

Fluttershy nodded before she looked up to the rest of her friends, smiling sadly. “Would it be okay If I keep them by my side…at least until we return to Ponyville?”

Applejack sighed softly, stepping forward to gently pat Apple Bloom on the head. "That sounds like a good idea, Fluttershy. I reckon these three need to stay where we can keep an eye on 'em, and there ain't no better pony for the job than you."

Rarity nodded, her icy tone from earlier completely thawed. "I agree. I trust you to make sure they stay out of trouble, Fluttershy." The white mare huffed, "Though I must say, we’ll have a long talk about this when we’re back in Ponyville, Sweetie."

Fluttershy smiled and ushered the three fillies to the next cart with a gentle push of her wing, neither of the fillies making any rebuttal to stop her.

When she left, Sora instantly turned to the first mare that was in the vicinity, which was Pinkie Pie for some reason. “Wow...that was…”

Pinkie smiled and booped his nose. “Pretty intense? I know right. Nothing can stop her when Fluttershy is in Mommy Flutters mode.”

Sora blinked as Pinkie booped his nose, his surprise quickly giving way to a chuckle. "Yeah, pretty intense," he agreed, rubbing his snout. "I didn't know Fluttershy could be that... firm."

“Yes…Well that would be our Fluttershy.” Rarity spoke, “She will shame you with her kindness if you let her.”

Twilight nodded as she handed over a rolled up scroll over to her number one assistant, the dragon burning it up with a flick of his flames. “The Princess will inform everyone back in Ponyville that the three fillies are with us thanks to the letter I just sent. So we don’t need to worry too much on that issue at least. On another note, It shouldn’t be too much longer before we reach our destination. Everypony should get their things in order now. Wanna make sure we don’t leave anything behind after all. Rainbow, can you do a sweep of the train, make sure that there are no other small surprises around.”

The rainbow maned mare saluted. "Can do Twi. Got it covered."

"Thanks." Twilight sighed deeply, making her way back towards her own cabin. "Today is already starting off bad..."

Everyone would follow Twilight's example, each one tuning back to go to their respective cabins. As Sora began to head toward his own, Rainbow Dash quickly swooped in front of him, blocking his path.

"Hey, ah…Spiky," Her tone was…soft? Well as soft as Rainbow’s could be.

Sora blinked. "Something wrong, Rainbow?"

The cyan mare huffed. as she looked away from him, “So, uh…Thanks and stuff.”

Sora raised an eyebrow, slightly confused. “Err…For what?”

“Geez do I have to spell it out for you? This is hard enough as it is!” She poked his chest. “Thanks for saving Twilight. Thanks for saving Ponyville. I never got a chance to tell you...so...there...”

“Oh.” Sora blinked before looking away, rubbing the back of his head as he smiled at her, “Well, I couldn’t have done it without all of you. You and the girls really saved me and Rarity back there as well.”

“Yeah, I was pretty amazing wasn’t I?” the cyan braggart would muse, though her smile would become one that was actually genuine, at least in Sora's eyes. “But…Can’t say you don’t deserve any props. I mean, the way you took on that giant plant was...okay.”

Sora smirked at the mare. “Ha! Just okay?”

“That's pretty high praise coming from the one pony who’s gonna upstage you. Anyway, you better keep it up, Hero, or else I might just have to step up and take over all the work.” She told the stallion, causing both Sora and herself to release a mirthful laugh between the two of them.

When the two had finally calmed down, the mare gave the young stallion a gentle smile as he did the same for her, both ponies looking into each other’s eyes before a noticeable blushed began to appear on the cyan mare’s cheeks, causing her to look away. “Anyway gotta go do that thing Twilight wanted me to do. Later, Hero!" She quickly excused herself, leaving Sora alone within the cart.

The young stallion couldn’t help but smile as he rubbed the back of his head, the spot that Rainbow had playfully struck, and mused softly to himself. Today may have started off rocky, but…

“I best get ready. Twilight would properly kill me if I'm late...or maybe make me learn something. Both likely.”

~~~

Rainbow quickly closed the door to her cabin, her back leaning heavily against the door as she did so. She raised a hoof to her pounding heart, trying her best to calm herself down. “Geeze...What's wrong with me? When did I start getting buddy buddy with him anyway?” She let the back of her head hit the door with a soft thud. “Is it because...he reminds me of...him...”

~~~

Sora was barely down the hall towards his room when he was stopped by the sound of a nearby door opening, the sight of a surprised Fluttershy greeting him.

“Oh! Sora I...Um…” She rubbed her foreleg before turning to face the dry eyed fillies in her cabin room.. “You girls be good. I need to...To talk to Sora for a little while..” She closed the door after all three nodded silently, the mare turning to face the young stallion, biting her bottom lip in apprehension. “I...Um...I mean…”

Sora titled his head at the mare. “Something wrong Shy? The girls are doing okay. Right?”

“Oh! No they are fine.” Fluttershy reassured him. “A little...well...depressed about everything but I think they will be back to themselves in no time. They are strong fillies after all. It more about me...I just wanted to say that...well...I’m so sorry you had to see me yell at the girls before. They really did make a terrible mistake this time and I was just so...Disappointed with them.”

Sora couldn’t stop his eyebrow from raising at the yellow mare’s admission. That was yelling?

He shook his head before weaving a hoof in front of his face. “Hey don’t mention it Shy. I do feel sorry for them but can’t say that any of you girls shouldn’t be angry with them. Just kinda reminded me of some of the things me and my friends back at home use to get into. I think I can kinda see why mom and dad always got mad.”

The shy nodded slowly before lowering her head. “And that's not all...Um...I...I wanted to say I was sorry about something else but with everything that was going on I couldn’t at the time. I know I shouldn’t have and you might hate me for this, but…that is to say, I heard you mumbling in your sleep.” She waved her hooves in front of him when the boy’s eyes began to widen. “D-Don’t worry. You didn’t say anything coherent, but you…you really seemed afraid of something. You looked so...I mean...Are you okay?””

Sora’s heart sank as remnants of the dark voice from his dreams began to fill his mind with what it had said. He shook words and the feelings from his mind before answering the shy mare. “It was just a nightmare, don’t worry about it.” He didn’t need to have her worry over him. Not when he is the one who is supposed to be the protector. “I’ll be fine, Shy. I’ve had plenty of them after all”

“I...Understand.” Fluttershy told him but she knew it was far from the truth. Though she had underplayed what she had seen, she knew that it was something a lot more then just a simple nightmare. Despite the small amount of time she had known him, she had always felt that that young stallion wore his emotions on his back.

And this time was no different.

Sora always seemed like an open book and the fact that he was trying to close himself off was little more than disheartening. Still, despite that, the shy mare would move to hug the stallion, surprising both him and herself at such an action. When she had pulled away, she couldn’t help but catch the red blush that had formed on the stallion’s cheeks, something she was somehow proud of.

She smiled softly at the now fidgeting stallion, which was just an adorable sight to see if she was being honest. “Don’t...Overwork yourself. Okay Sora? I know I’m not the strongest...or the bravest...But If nothing else I promise to be there for you if you need me.”

At Sora’s nod the mare would return to her cabin, the stallion once again left on his own.

~~~

The wind blew relentlessly around the small group of ponies as they exited the train, and despite the warmth of the fur on his back, the cold air chilled Sora to his very core. Geeze...Not even Mulan’s world was this cold.

Rarity held her head up high and bore a smug smile as she stepped out into the snow, fully dressed in a winter coat and scarf, topped off with a very fashionable hat. “Ha! And you all made fun of me for packing so many scarves.”

Spike, who took it upon himself to carry all of Rarity’s bags despite Sora’s offer to help, stood behind the mare, struggling to hold on to his charge. “I didn’t say a wo-” the poor drake was cut off as three over eager fillies bowled the little dragon over, bouncing into the snow.

“Wow!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “There’s so much snow!”

Sweetie Bell shivered slightly. “Yeah, too much snow if you ask me.”

Applebloom bounced out in front of the girls. “Hey! Maybe we can get our cutie mark by snow shoveling.”

A soft spoken ‘ahem’ from Fluttershy caused all three fillies to stand at attention. “Now girls, no wandering off and no crusading. I don’t mind watching you but you must stay by me at all times.” The girls sighed dejectedly but agreed with the older mare nonetheless.

Applejack smiled as she placed a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “Mighty nice of ya to do this for us Shy.”

“I agree.” Rarity added. “Once this is done, we will gladly take them off your hooves.” She turned to the girls. “It will also give us time to think of a fitting punishment for when they get home.” The Cutie Mark Crusaders all looked away from the rest of the group, each one having a look of innocent worry.

Sora raised a hoof to block against the wind as he ventured further out into the snow, checking the surrounding area. It didn’t take long for the young stallion to notice, off in the distance, a lone figure making its way toward them. He quickly moved in front of them all, summoning his Keyblade as he did so. “I think we have company everyone.”

As the figure became more visible, Sora could see that he, unless it was a very muscular female, had a pure white coat, maybe even purer than the snow. The ponies two tone blue mane flapped in the wind, along with the black scarf he had wrapped around his neck. The picture that was on his flank seemed very reminiscent of Twilight’s for some reason, a fact that was proven correct when the stallion raised the goggles upon his head and called out a name that was very unfamiliar, but at the same time he knew exactly who he was talking to without question.

“Twily!”

“Shining Armor!”

The lavender mare wrapped her hooves around the white stallion, further proving Sora’s suspicions. He couldn’t stop the smile that formed on his face as he made his way to the brother and sister duo. “So, you must be Twilight's brother, right?”

The stallion in question turned to look toward the younger caramel one, his eyes narrowing as he looked Sora up and down. “And you must be the Hero of Light Princess Celestia told me about.” Shining rubbed his chin as he tilted his head at the younger stallion. “You look a lot younger than I thought you would be.”

“Yeah I know right!” Pinkie said, bouncing in front of them. “Hard to believe, right, but he’s him. The Hero of Light! Or the Knight of Light I like to call him. Knight Light for short!”

The ponies just stared at Pinkie for the longest of times before renewing the conversation.

“Don’t worry Shiny. I know that he doesn’t look like much-”

“Hey!”

“-But he did save my life, me and my friends all vouch for him.

Shining’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. “What do you mean he saved your life. What happened?!”

Twilight’s eyes widened as well. “The Princess didn’t tell you!?”

~~~

Celestia's Study Within Canterlot

Celestia busily worked through some paperwork that she had been given detailing all of the tactical positions that she had set to guard against any and all Heartless attacks when a sudden realization struck the pony princess. She turned to Luna and her ears sprayed back against the top of her head, her hooves slamming against her work table. “I Just remembered that I forgot to tell Shining Armor about what happened to Twilight!”

The princess of the night, despite all of her steadfast princess training, could not help but smack a hoof against her forehead at her own sister’s words. “For the love of Faust…”

~~~

Back at the outskirts of the Crystal Empire…

Shining closed his eyes as he drug a hoof down his face in annoyance. “Okay...Okay...You and I are going to have a long talk about this later Twily.” He turned toward the direction that he came from. ”We better get moving. There are things out here that we really don’t want to run into after dark.”

Fluttershy gulped, pulling Applebloom and the rest close to her. “What kind of things?”

Shining Armor looked toward the raging snow storm in front of him, frowning. “Let’s just say…the Empire is not the only thing that’s returned.” The Prince made his way to Sora, a hard expression on his face. “I want you to be our rear guard. If you’re as good as Twilight claims you to be then that should not be a problem for you…right?”

“Yeah…I can handle it, don't worry.” Sora smiled as she pounded his chest.

Shining nodded and turned to lead the way. “Alright everypony. Follow me and keep close. Keep the children in the middle as we trek. Let’s move out”

~~~

The black coated pony stood beside the crystal pool as it showed the image of Sora and the others making their way to the Crystal Empire. She touched the glass, more so towards Sora than anypony else. “You…You made me look like an utter foal…” She cursed under her breath. “You will pay little Hero…All of you will pay…”

“And pay they shall…” A cloud of smoke snaked its way around her lifting her chin as a chilling voice filled the crystal like room.

She pulled away from it and gave it a dark glare. “Keep your hooves to yourself King. It was your Heartless that cost me the battle.”

The cloud chuckled. “Heh…so you say, but I was still weak then. Now…” The cloud began to take shape, morphing into that of a pony’s head. Deep red eyes focused hard on the cloaked mare. “This time…They will be dealing with my full power. I will show them the fear of Darkness!”