Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep: Kingdom of Harmony

Chapters

Terra
Aqua
Ventus

Terra

After leaving Radiant Garden, Terra was riding his Keyblade Glider through the Lanes Between, clad in his Keyblade Armour. Master Xehanort’s words were still ringing in his head. There was still a lot that he didn’t know about, but did know what he had to do next: He had to find Vanitas and destroy him; to end the threat of the Unversed, and to save his friends.

As Terra was travelling along, a new world was coming into view. This world’s icon, which was the representation of a new world when viewed from the Lanes Between, contained a small town, a forest, an old castle, with clouds in the sky.

As he got closer to this new world, he felt a warm, radiant light emanating from it. With this world being so close to Radiant Garden, he was certain that Vanitas had infected this world with Unversed as well. That also meant that Vanitas might be there as well, but even if he wasn’t, he still had to destroy the Unversed there.

Gripping the handles of his Keyblade Glider tightly, he put on a sudden burst of speed and zoomed straight into this new world.

A big, shimmering portal opened up inside of a clearing, on the edge of a forest. Terra walked out of the portal, and his Keyblade Armor started to disappear. The portal then closed behind him.

After Terra had walked out into the centre of the clearing, he then suddenly felt strangely different. He first noticed that he now appeared to be walking on four legs. He looked down at his feet, and his eyes widened when he noticed that he now had hooves. With a confused look on his face, he then began inspecting the rest of his body.

Terra looked confused, as he now seemed to be horse for some reason, with a dark brown coat. His mane was the same as his usual brown, spiky hairstyle. What he also found peculiar was that the Wayfinder that Aqua had given him was now emblazoned on his flank.

After inspecting his new body, he then pulled his head back in front of him to think. He seemed to be small for a horse and deduced that he was actually a pony. “This must be one of the worlds the Master told us about, that changes your form to match.”

“Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!”

Terra was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by a loud scream from close by. He immediately turned in the direction of the scream. To his right, over by a nearby cottage, he saw a small, butter-yellow pegasus surrounded by several Flood Unversed. They were still appearing from the ground and were slowly advancing on the pegasus. The pegasus, a female from the looks of it, was terrified at their appearance and was frozen in place.

Terra gasped when he saw the Unversed appear. “Unversed.” He said to himself. He then hardened his face into an expression of resolve and moved to summon his Keyblade. He was slightly taken aback when his Keyblade appeared in his mouth, but the pegasus’ screams, and the fact that he couldn’t hold it any other way, quickly snapped him out of it.

He then ran over towards the pegasus and threw himself between her and the Unversed. “Don’t worry, I’ll handle this.” Terra said to the pegasus, as he turned his head halfway between her and the Unversed. The pegasus was surprised to him suddenly appear, so she didn’t respond to him, with her hoof still raised slightly off the ground.

He then turned back around fully to face the Unversed, as they finished appearing and prepared to attack him.

The battle begun.

One of the Flood’s quickly lunged at Terra, but he simply moved his head and slammed his Keyblade into it, destroying it on contact. As the rest of the Unversed came towards him, he then reared back and easily jumped over the tiny Unversed, landing behind them. Luckily, the Unversed all turned around and stayed focused on him like he wanted, ignoring the little pony.

One of the Flood’s came at him again, but he simply stepped to the side to avoid it; he was still getting used to moving in this new body, and that was all he could do at the moment. As soon as he had dodged, he simply brought his Keyblade down on the tiny Unversed, destroying it.

Terra then simply repeated this process on the rest of the Unversed, dodging when he had to and attacked when they were caught off guard. After two minutes, he had destroyed all of them.

Once all of the Unversed had been defeated, he banished his Keyblade and walked back over to the frightened pegasus pony. The poor pony had been terrified during the whole fight, even though she had not participated. She was reared back on her hind hooves and hid behind her front hooves, peaking out every so often.

When she saw that he had defeated all of the monsters, and was walking towards her, she emerged from out behind her hooves and slowly stood back up again.

“Are you alright?” Terra asked her calmly when he had reached her.

Fluttershy was still a bit scared and struggled to find the courage to speak. Even though he had saved her, she seemed to find this pony very intimidating. “Uhhmm… yes, I’m okay.” She spoke slowly and quietly. “But…” She spoke up again, louder this time.

“Hmmm?” Terra added.

Fluttershy now a stern look on her face. “But you shouldn’t have jumped right into a fight, without trying to reason with them first.”

Terra was taken aback by what she had just said. He certainly wasn’t expecting that kind of reaction. After regaining himself, he spoke again. “I’m sorry you feel that way, but you can’t reason with the Unversed.”

Fluttershy, however, didn’t change her expression. “Well, have you tried?”

Terra was now even more confused. Why was she acting this way? Unversed were unintelligent monsters of negativity that attacked everything on instinct. Fighting them was the natural response.

“Well no, but…” He stammered, trying to find some way to explain it to her. “That wouldn’t work. I just know.” He then scratched at the back of his head and looked away slightly, embarrassed.

Fluttershy just continued giving him a stern look. A few moments later, she softened her gaze. “Well, okay. You don’t seem to be a bad pony; and you did rescue me.” Terra looked back up to face her. Fluttershy then smiled slightly, though it was a bit of an uncomfortable smile. “So… what’s your name?” She asked him.

Terra smiled back at her warmly again. “I’m Terra. And you?” He asked, gesturing towards her.

“My name’s Fluttershy.” She responded. She then turned away from him again, looking slightly to the side, hiding behind her mane.

Terra could tell that she felt uncomfortable around him. He quickly glanced around at the surrounding area before facing her again. “So, have you dealt with those monsters before?” He asked her as gently as he could.

When he was finished speaking, she turned back to face him again. While this pony seemed intimidating and resorted to violence first, he generally seemed to want to help. Lightening up a bit, she peaked out from behind her mane again.

“Not for long, no. They only appeared a few days ago. At first, they kept to the Everfree Forest, just like all of the other scary creatures.” She pointed at the forest behind them as she spoke. Terra turned to look at it before turning back to her. “But then they suddenly got more aggressive and more organised and started attacking Ponyville.” She then looked the other way, at a small town in the distance. Terra also turned to look at it. “Right now, we’re evacuating the town, since they seem to be focused here at the moment. We’re trying everything we can think of to try and find some way to deal with them, but it’s not going so well.”

Terra took in everything that Fluttershy told him. “I see.” He said, as he brought a hoof to his mouth, in thought. They then both turned back around to face each other, but Terra almost immediately looked over towards the Everfree Forest.

“The Unversed are normally unintelligent. They keep to where they spawned and move on instinct, attacking anything that’s not one of their own. Fluttershy said they first kept to the forest, but then suddenly got more organized. If their behaviour suddenly changed, then it must be because of someone or something.” Terra then narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “Vanitas.”

Terra then lowered his hoof to the ground again and turned fully around, towards the Everfree Forest. He then started galloping towards it.

Fluttershy saw him move towards the Everfree Forest and her eyes immediately widened in fear. “Wait, don’t go in there!” She called out to him, much louder than before. She took one step forward and held a hoof out towards him. “The Everfree Forest is incredibly dangerous.” She spoke in a scared and worried tone.

Terra just turned his back head back towards her while he kept running forward. “Don’t worry. I can take care of myself.” He then turned back around and continued galloping quickly towards the forest.

After he had disappeared into the thick foliage of the Everfree Forest, Fluttershy slowly lowered her outstretched hoof again. Tears then started forming in her eyes and she fell back down again and started crying into her hooves.

When Terra entered the Everfree Forest, he simply followed the path in front of him, deeper into the forest. As he continued on, he encountered more Unversed. He simply dealt with them the same way that dealt with the Unversed in all the other worlds that he visited: He simply ran up to them and bashed them with his Keyblade. As he fought against more of them, he became more accustomed to moving and fighting in this form.

When Terra had gone deeper into the forest, as he made his way along, he spotted another pony up ahead, facing away from him. She was much taller than Fluttershy, standing at least twice as tall as the yellow pegasus. She had a midnight black coat, and her mane waved about in a non-existent breeze and shone with the stars of the night sky. She had a pair of large, feathered wings, folded in against her torso. She also had an image of a crescent moon on her flank.

As Terra approached her, the pony became aware of his presence and turned around to face him. Now that he could see her more clearly, he noted that she also had a horn on her forehead and that she wore silver armour around her legs, face and chest. Her chest plate had a crescent moon on it that matched the symbol on her flank.

She studied Terra intently as he walked closer to her, scanning him up and down, in a contemptuous fashion. When there was only a few feet between them, he stopped and addressed her. “Who are you?” He asked.

After taking in his presence, she finally spoke to him. “You would address me so simply?” She asked in a condescending tone.

Terra now had an even more confused look on his face. “Is there a reason why I shouldn’t?” He asked her back.

Nightmare Moon simply placed her hoof to her lips, as she continued staring back at him with a blank, unreadable expression on her face. After a moment of silence between them, she finally spoke again. “You’re not from this world, are you?” She spoke casually.

Terra suddenly lifted his head in surprise. “How did you know?” He asked in a worried tone.

The tall alicorn simply placed her hoof back on the ground and ‘hmmm’ed’ as she tilted her head to the side. “Did you really think that no one else knew about the other worlds?” She spoke like she was talking down to him.

Terra quickly steeled himself back into a stronger expression. “But they’re supposed to be a secret.”

Nightmare Moon just brushed him off arrogantly and turned on her side. “Only to those who aren’t capable of travelling between them.” She spoke just as arrogantly. She then turned completely away from him again.

“I see.” Terra said, bring his hoof to his mouth. He then lowered it again and turned back to face her. “Well, my name is Terra. So, do you know anything about the Unversed as well? Is there anything I can do to help?”

Nightmare Moon’s eyes slowly drifted back towards him while he was speaking. She then started tapping her hoof to her mouth, while she thought. Her eyes then widened as she came up with a plan, and she grinned devilishly, exposing her sharp fangs.

Then suddenly, she raised her hoof up to her forehead in a dramatic fashion. “Oh, it’s awful, just awful.” She said in an obviously exaggerated tone.

Terra, however, didn’t notice anything off about the way she spoke, and just stared back at her in surprise. “What is it?” He asked her.

She then turned back around again and walked towards him. “You see, I’m the Queen of this world. My name is Nightmare Moon.” She now sounded much nicer than she was a moment ago. “However, sadly, I don’t feel like much of a ruler, as I’m unable to protect my subjects.” She said with her eyes closed and her hoof across her chest.

“You mean the Unversed?” Terra looked at her worriedly.

Nightmare Moon opened her eyes again and looked back at Terra. “I’m afraid that it’s much worse than that. My own sister, Celestia, has been corrupted by the light, and has taken control of these monsters to attack my subjects.”

Terra’s eyes widened at this. “Corrupted by the light? That’s just like what Master Xehanort said.” He then faced Nightmare Moon again. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Nightmare Moon inwardly grinned in satisfaction. Outwardly, however, she gave him a bright and happy smile. “Yes, I believe that there is.” She then turned back around and pointed ahead. “At the far end of the Everfree Forest, there is an old castle. That is where the Elements of Harmony are kept. They are the only things that can save us now, and sadly, my sister is on her way there to destroy them so that nothing can stop her.”

She then turned back to face Terra again. “I want to go there and stop her. I cannot do it myself, for I simply cannot even think about fighting my own sister, even the way she is now.” She was even able to squeeze out a few fake tears. She then gave Terra the most sympathetic look that she could. “Oh brave stallion, would you kindly stop my sister?”

Terra stood to attention, put on a strong look of determination and nodded in affirmation. “Of course.”

Nightmare Moon breathed a sigh of relief at his answer. “Oh, thank you so much.” She spoke gently. Inwardly, she was raving about how easy it was to manipulate this pony. She had to fight back the urge to laugh out loud. “You must hurry and get there before she does.” She continued.

“Right,” Terra replied. He then quickly galloped past her.

Once he had passed by and she could no longer see him, she grinned devilishly. Once she was sure that he was far enough away, Nightmare Moon started laughing evilly to herself. “Oh, that was just too easy.”

Terra continued along the path through the Everfree Forest. He encountered more Unversed as he continued on, and the deeper into the forest he went, he encountered newer and stronger Unversed and in bigger groups. He had to adjust his tactics a bit and use magic as well. However, he mostly crushed them with his overwhelming strength.

In addition to the Unversed, he also encountered timberwolves. The timberwolves only spawned one or two at a time and never alongside the Unversed. They weren’t very difficult to defeat; however, whenever they were defeated, they would simply collapsed into pieces and then reform again after a while. The only way to destroy them for good was to hit them with fire.

After Terra reached the end of the long, winding, forest path, he then entered a large clearing in the forest. The clearing had a large number of Unversed and timberwolves that spawned in groups when he got close. He decided to take his time and take out all of the Unversed, in order to gain experience and get stronger. He was going to have to fight Celestia, and she likely wouldn’t go down easily, so he had to be as strong as possible. He also wanted to destroy as many Unversed as he could.

When he had defeated all of the Unversed in the clearing, he continued on and made it out of the forest.

After Terra had stepped out of the forest, he was now in a small area, with a rope bridge right in front of him and the ruins of a dilapidated castle on the other side. Terra figured that that was where he was supposed to go, so he quickly galloped across the rope bridge. There weren’t any Unversed in this area, so he was able to move quickly. When he crossed the bridged, he then opened the door and stepped inside.

As Terra entered the dilapidated castle, the first room that he stepped into was a large foyer. Most of the ceiling was gone, exposing the castle to the outside air. There were large, stone, barred windows and broken columns running along the side of the room, with vines wrapped around them. The walls and floor were cracked in places and falling apart. The entire castle was deathly silent.

In the centre of the room was a large, stone dais, with six pedestals sticking out at the sides and one larger pedestal in the centre. On each pedestal rested a gold necklace and one tiara, each with colourful jewels embedded in them.

Terra quietly walked towards the dais in the centre of the room. He regarded the necklaces and tiara strangely as he walked. “I wonder if these are the Elements of Harmony.” He thought. He was then suddenly snapped out of his thoughts as he heard the sound of hoofsteps approaching. Thinking quickly, he ducked behind the stone dais.

The front doors of the old castle opened up again and another alicorn entered. Terra peaked out from behind the dais a bit to look at her. She looked a bit similar to Nightmare Moon, except her coat was pure white instead of midnight black, and her mane, while it also waved about independent of the wind, was rainbow-coloured instead star-like. Her cutie mark, in contrast to Nightmare Moon’s Moon, was a Sun. She looked like the opposite of Nightmare Moon.

Terra narrowed his eyes as he observed her. “She certainly looks like she’s deeply connected to the light.” He thought.

Celestia walked towards the dais in the centre of the room. Suddenly, she stopped where she was and sighed to herself, with a pained expression on her face. “Sister… I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I have no other choice.” She then started walking towards the dais again.

As she got closer to the Elements, Terra then suddenly leapt out from behind the dais, in full view of Celestia. As soon as Celestia noticed him, she stopped again and simply stared back at him in shock.

“Are you Celestia?” Terra asked her, bearing down towards her.

“Uhhmm… yes. That’s me.” Celestia stuttered, not expecting to find another pony here.

When she had confirmed his suspicions, Terra then got into a battle position. “The light is not yours to take.” He then summoned his Keyblade in his mouth and charged at her.

Celestia was surprised by this and simply stepped to the side to avoid the attack. Terra missed the attack and went sailing past her. Once he landed, he then quickly turned back around to face her again.

Celestia looked back at him, worriedly. “Wait, hold on a minute.” Terra, however, just hardened his glare at her. Celestia then breathed a sigh to herself. “Alright then, if I must.” Her horn then started glowing and she summoned a sword made of pure light for herself.

The battle begun.

The battle between Terra and Celestia commenced. Terra gripped his Keyblade in his mouth, tightly. He had a strong look on his face that showed that he was determined to defeat her.

Celestia had a slightly worried look on her face. She was still confused about who this pony was and why he was attacking her, but seeing as how he had come at her so aggressively right away, she had no other choice, so she was resolved to fighting him.

Once the battle began, Terra quickly leapt forward, attacking Celestia with a Keyblade combo. Celestia raised her sword up in front of her to block the attack. She still took some damage, but her block lessoned the blow.

Once Terra’s combo had ended, Celestia’s horn started glowing and she disappeared in a flash of light. She then quickly reappeared in another flash of light, right behind him.

Terra spun around quickly to see where she had appeared. He then did an air slide to move around her quickly, landing just to her side. Celestia was still tired from teleporting and the damage she just took. Terra then launched into another Keyblade combo while she was off guard and struck her in the side. She wasn’t able to block this attack, so she took more damage than last time.

When Terra’s combo had ended again, her horn started glowing and she disappeared again. She then reappeared all the way on the other side of the room this time.

Terra looked around to see where she would appear this time; however, before he could move, Celestia closed her eyes and her horn lit up again. She then summoned three small orbs of light that slowly moved around each other. She then gestured her head towards Terra, and the three orbs of light began moving towards him at a fast pace.

Terra had a bad feeling about those orbs of light and he quickly did several air slides in the opposite direction to avoid them. The orbs just continued following after him wherever he went. Celestia meanwhile was standing completely still so that she could control the orbs.

While air sliding around to avoid the orbs of light, Terra looked over to Celestia, and deduced that she wasn’t moving so that she could control the orbs. He at first thought about attacking her now that she was open, but decided against it since that would give her time for the orbs to catch him. After another air slide, he then decided on another plan.

Terra slid ahead and then turned around to see the three orbs of light coming at him. He then faced towards them and channelled magic into his Keyblade. “Fire.” He shouted out. A small flame then shot out of his Keyblade, right at the three orbs of light, destroying one of them.

Terra felt a small wave of satisfaction for accurately figuring out how to safely dispose of the orbs of light and that his plan had worked. However, seeing the two remaining orbs still coming towards him, he quickly did an air slide to the side to avoid them.

He then repeated the same process on the other two orbs, moving around the room to avoid them while his spells recharged. When they were gone, he then quickly slid over to Celestia and caught her in another Keyblade combo while she was off guard.

“Aaaaaahhhh.” Celestia screamed out after being hit.

When the combo had ended, she then quickly teleported away again.

Celestia reappeared again on the far side of the room, in front of the door. She then fell down slightly on her knee and started panting from exhaustion.

Terra quickly spun around to see where she was this time. Once he spotted her and saw that she was weak, he quickly galloped towards her, ready to attack.

“STOP!”

Terra’s eyes suddenly widened as he was caught off guard; even more so because he recognised that voice. He then stopped where he was and saw Fluttershy standing in the doorframe, behind Celestia.

The yellow pegasus then unfurled her wings, flew into the air and landed down between Celestia and Terra. She then stared back at Terra, with a scolding and disapproving look on her face.

“Fluttershy?” Terra uttered, through the Keyblade in his mouth, surprised to see her here.

“Stop this right now.” She spoke in a tone of voice, like she was scolding a disrespectful child. “Princess Celestia is not your enemy.” She then furrowed her eyebrows. “And you would have known that if you hadn’t jumped right into a fight.”

Terra was taken aback by her outburst. Confused, his gaze drifted over to Princess Celestia, who was down on one knee, panting hard. She then looked up at Terra, with an understanding look on her face. She then slowly stood back up straight and banished her sword. “I’m willing to yield if you are.”

Terra was now really confused. Just now, Celestia didn’t sound like she was trying to trick him, but like she honestly didn’t want to fight. He also noticed that she didn’t act in any way corrupt, like Nightmare Moon had said. He also realised that he had attacked her first, and she had tried to reason with him.

With a guilty look on his face, he banished his Keyblade and looked back at Celestia, with regret in his eyes. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have attacked you like that without trying to talk to you first.”

Looking back at him, Celestia could see that he truly was sorry and that he hadn’t meant to attack her for no reason. Standing back up straight, she regarded him with a warm smile. “It’s alright. I also should have explained myself better.”

Terra stared back at her in awe. He couldn’t believe that she was being so understanding. He had attacked her without provocation and she had forgiven him just like that. There was now no doubt in his mind that she was good. However, that still left something unclear: Why had Nightmare Moon told him otherwise?

“Well,” Fluttershy chimed in again. “That’s all well and done, but you still shouldn’t have just attacked her like that.”

Terra then turned to face Fluttershy. He could see the hurt in her eyes. He tried to think of someway that he could explain himself that she would find acceptable. “I’m really sorry, but Queen Nightmare Moon told me that Celestia had been corrupted by the light and that she was on her way here to destroy the Elements of Harmony.” Terra explained.

Mid-way through his explanation, Celestia and Fluttershy both changed their expressions. “Nightmare Moon?” Celestia stuttered.

Terra looked back at them strangely. “Uhhmm, yes. She said that…” He was suddenly cut off by a maniacal laughter from behind them.

“MWA HA HA HA HA HA AH!”

The three of them all turned around to see Nightmare Moon rise up from behind the dais holding the Elements of Harmony. She then stopped, hovering in the air just above the Elements. She stared down at the three of them staring back at her in shock, with a wicked grin on her face, as her eyes moved over the three of them. She then focused on Terra. “Well done, Terra. You gave me just the time I needed.” She spoke to him in a mocking tone.

Terra gritted his teeth in irritation towards her. He was so angry at her for being used like that.

“Sister!” Celestia suddenly called out to her, taking a step forward and wincing from the pain. She was still hurt from her fight earlier. Terra and Fluttershy both turned to face her. “Why are you doing this? I thought that the Elements of Harmony had returned you to normal.” There was obvious pain in her voice as she spoke.

Looking down at her sister, Nightmare Moon just smiled devilishly and laughed evilly. “It’s simple sister. These creatures… these… Unversed are the embodiments of the negative feelings that dwell in a person’s heart. When they first arrived in this world, it was their mere presence that reawakened me.

“At first they seemed so primitive and stupid; hardly a threat at all. However, that was not the case. They were simply masterless; so lost… so desperate for direction, that all it took was a little push to bend them to my will and turn them into a real army. With them at my command, soon all of Equestria will be mine.

I knew that once you took notice of them, you would know that they were not of this world and that you would come here to retrieve the Elements of Harmony so that your little ponies could defeat them.

So, I needed something to distract you long enough so that I could reach them first.” She then glanced over at Terra. “And it seems that the worlds answered my call.” Nightmare Moon ended. Terra simply glared back at her, grinding his teeth in anger.

Celestia gritted her teeth in annoyance. She then closed her eyes briefly and let out a sigh to try and calm herself. She then opened her eyes and faced Nightmare Moon again, with a much stronger expression on her face than before. “I’m sorry, but I cannot let you do that.” She then quickly shot a beam out of her horn at Nightmare Moon.

However, when the beam came within inches of hitting her, it suddenly reflected off of an invisible barrier around her. Celestia’s face went blank when she saw this, as she had no idea what was going on.

Nightmare Moon then started laughing maniacally again. “Sorry sister, but I’m afraid that there’s nothing you can do to stop me now. You see, I didn’t come here to destroy the Elements of Harmony. No, that would be a waste. I learned my lesson from last time. Instead, I came here to absorb their power. And with the power that I have absorbed from the Elements, I now cannot be defeated by the light.”

As she was speaking, a trail of energy was flowing from the six Elements, into her. She then began laughing triumphantly again, as a dark aura appeared around her. “You can’t touch me now!” She spat at her sister.

She then released the darkness in a wave out towards the three of them in an attack. Fluttershy was thrown back immediately. Celestia, in her weakened state, couldn’t hold on and was pushed back as well. Terra managed to stay standing where he was, and raised his hoof up to his face to shield himself.

After the wave of darkness had passed, Terra lowered his hoof again and looked around the room. Nightmare Moon was laughing in victory. He then looked behind him and saw Fluttershy and Celestia sprawled out on the ground, struggling in vain to stand up.

Terra then looked back at Nightmare Moon, with a furious look on his face and grounded his teeth together hard. He was just so angry that she had used him like that and that she had hurt them. Terra was now blinded by his anger. Suddenly, a dark aura, similar to the one surrounding Nightmare Moon, now surrounded Terra as well.

Nightmare Moon suddenly noticed that Terra was channelling the darkness as well and looked down at him, curiously. “What?” She uttered.

Terra then summoned his Keyblade in his mouth, and using it to channel his magic as usual, shot a blast of dark energy right at Nightmare Moon. The dark energy blast struck her right in the chest and knocked her out of the air, down to the ground.

After she had been knocked down, Terra’s eyes suddenly snapped open and he realised that he had just channelled darkness again. He then unknowingly took a step backwards. “The darkness? I channelled it again. It’s still there.” He thought, with an unsure look on his face.

He was then snapped out of his thoughts by a combination of remembering what Master Xehanort had told him and Nightmare Moon getting back to her hooves and hissing at him. Once she was standing back up again, she glared angrily back at Terra and got into a fighting position, ready to attack him.

“Terra...” Celestia called out to him. Terra turned back to face her, seeing her badly beaten down from Nightmare Moon’s dark energy wave, covered in injuries, barely being able to lift herself up on her two front hooves. “Please… save my sister.” She begged him. She then collapsed again.

Looking back at her with a sorrowful expression on his face, he suddenly hardened his gaze into a stronger expression. “Right.” He nodded at her. He then turned back towards Nightmare Moon and lowered his head down to the ground. “Use the light… and the darkness.” He whispered to himself. He then looked back up towards Nightmare Moon again, with a new determination and summoned his Keyblade.

The battle begun.

The battle between Terra and Nightmare Moon commenced. Terra stared down Nightmare Moon, with his Keyblade gripped tightly in his mouth, from his anger. He was still radiating a thin dark aura around his body; however, he was now fully in control of himself.

Nightmare Moon stood on the other side of the room, with the stone dais in between them. She stared back at Terra with intent to kill; annoyed that he had interfered with her plan. She was also radiating a much larger dark aura around her; however, the link between her and the Elements had been severed, so she was now vulnerable to attack.

As soon as the battle had begun, Nightmare Moon immediately engulfed herself in darkness and used the darkness to teleport over to Terra, just like Celestia had used the light, though she was much faster. She reappeared in front of him only one second later and immediately moved to attack him.

Terra was caught off guard by how quickly she was able to move, however, he still managed to raise his Keyblade in front of him in time and blocked the attack. After she had been knocked back slightly by the block, Terra immediately followed up with a three-strike Keyblade combo.

After the combo had ended, Nightmare teleported away again, over to the far side of the room. Terra turned to face her and saw her fire a quick beam from her horn. Terra wasn’t able to react fast enough and took a direct hit.

As soon as she had hit him, Nightmare Moon then teleported again, slightly to the side and fired another fast beam of energy at him.

However, he was ready this time and quickly did an air slide to the right to avoid it. Once he had dodged, and since he had access to his shotlock, he quickly targeted Nightmare Moon and fired Dark Volley at her. The dark aura around him intensified, and he quickly spun around in the air and hovered slightly above the ground, firing dark projectiles at her.

All of the dark projectiles hit against her; each attack knocked her back slightly and kept her in place, ensuring that the following projectiles would hit her as well.

Once Terra had exited his shotlock, the dark aura was still surrounding him; though it had thinned to how thick it was before he activated it. When he was touching the ground again, he then used his air slide to quickly move towards Nightmare Moon; the darkness making him even faster.

However, before he could reach her, Nightmare Moon quickly teleported again, appearing just behind. She then launched into her own combo, striking at Terra several times, severely damaging him.

Once the combo was over, Terra quickly performed several air slides past her, in order to get a safe distance away from her. When he felt that he had put enough space between the two of them, he raised his Keyblade up above his head. “Heal.” The Cura spell then appeared above his head, shining down on him, restoring some of his health.

Once he was healed, he turned to face Nightmare Moon, who used the darkness that she was wrapped in to move faster, towards him, instead of teleporting, to catch him off guard.

Terra and Nightmare Moon both launched their attacks at the exact same time and they cancelled each other out. Terra then quickly struck again first and pulled off another three-hit combo, damaging her even more.

Once the combo was over, Nightmare Moon teleported away again and reappeared above the dais. She then positioned herself straight up, closed her eyes and crossed her two front hooves over her chest, and began charging up energy. Suddenly, several small, dark tornadoes began forming all over the room, and they quickly started getting bigger and building up power. After three seconds, Nightmare Moon then opened her eyes again and spread her hooves out wide. “Experience the nightmare.”

All of the dark tornadoes in the room then all grew and released their dark energy. Terra was unable to dodge the attack and took a lot of damage. Nightmare Moon then started lowering herself down again and teleported to the other side of the room.

Terra was feeling very weak after taking the full brunt of that last attack. He couldn’t use his Cura spell again yet, so instead, he grabbed a hi-potion from his inventory and used it to restore some of his health.

Once he was feeling a bit better, he quickly performed an air slide to the side to avoid Nightmare Moon’s next attack. Turning back towards her, he pointed his Keyblade at her and shot a Fire spell at her.

Nightmare Moon was slightly burned by the attack. When she recovered, she teleported away again. She reappeared above the dais in the centre of the room, and began crossing her hooves over her chest and started charging up energy again.

However, this time, instead of just standing around, waiting for her attack, Terra reared back and jumped up towards her. When he was in the air and coming close to her, he pulled his head back and struck her with a single strike of his Keyblade.

As soon as she was hit, the dark tornadoes forming all around the room disappeared as he interrupted during her attack. “Aaaahhh.” She grunted at being hit.

Terra was then suddenly engulfed in a bright light, and when it faded, he was standing in a completely different space. Everything around him was a black, formless void, and there wasn’t any sign of anything else at all. There was just a thin white path directly in front of him, with Nightmare Moon at the other end.

As soon as she saw him, she lowered her head and fired a huge magic blast from her horn, that covered the entire path. The blast hit Terra straight on, though he didn’t feel like he lost as much health as he was expecting.

One second later, Nightmare Moon then fired another blast at him; however, he managed to jump up to avoid it. When he landed, he then started running towards her. Nightmare Moon simply kept shooting huge beams of energy at him, but Terra simply jumped up to dodge them and continued running towards her.

When he finally reached her, there was another, smaller bright light, and another pony appeared beside him. She looked a bit like Nightmare Moon, except she was a bit smaller, her coat was a light azure colour instead of midnight black, her mane also shone with the stars, but it also had an outline along the side that was a lighter than the rest of it, making it easy to distinguish between the two. Strangely, she also had Nightmare Moon’s cutie mark. However, despite the similarities that this pony had to Nightmare Moon, when she turned her head to face him, she gave him a smile that was so caring, that it warmed his heart and he instantly knew that she was alright.

Smiling back at her, the two of them then combined their powers and called down a beam of darkness, with an outline of a glorious light, right down on top of Nightmare Moon.

“Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!” The evil alicorn screamed out in pain as the attack connected with her. There was then another bright flash of light that engulfed his vision. When it dissipated, he was back in the castle.

Nightmare Moon was knocked back and fell over on the ground. Before he fell down, Terra quickly did an air slide over to her and hit her with another Keyblade combo.

“Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!” Nightmare Moon screamed out after she was hit.

After she had been hit by Terra’s last Keyblade combo, Nightmare Moon started slowly falling towards the ground. As she fell, her whole body was engulfed in a bright light.

As Terra watched, he banished his Keyblade and took a step back.

When the light had faded, Nightmare Moon was now much smaller, and she looked just like the pony that Terra had seen during his battle with her. She then hit the ground with a thud.

After a moment, Terra decided to take a step closer to the unconscious pony. Then, she started to rustle a little and she slowly opened her eyes. Terra stopped where he was; this time, he decided to see what she would do first, before he decided whether or not to attack.

“Luna.” Terra suddenly heard Celestia call out from behind him. He turned back around to see her and Fluttershy standing back up and making their way over to him. When they reached where he was, they stopped, turned towards him and gave him a comforting smile, and the three of them then turned to face Luna, who was slowly getting back to her hooves.

When she had managed to stand back up again, she placed her hoof to her head to try and steady herself. Turning her head to the side, her eyes widened when she saw her sister, one of Twilight Sparkle’s friends, and the pony that she remembered saving her from the darkness.

“Sister…” She spoke slowly. “Is it really you, or are my eyes playing tricks on me?”

Celestia walked up beside her and draped a wing over her sister to comfort her. “It is me, Luna.” She said in a soft voice. “You’re back.” She then snuggled her close. “You’re safe now.”

Luna simply cuddled in closer to her big sister. Terra and Fluttershy both stayed quiet and let the two sisters have their moment. Watching the two of them now warmed Terra’s heart, and the dark aura surrounding him disappeared.

After about ten seconds of hugging her sister close, Luna then looked out again and saw the tall earth pony stallion that had rescued her. She then moved to address him. “And… who might you be, brave stallion?”

Terra simply smiled brightly back at her when he realised that she was addressing him. “I’m Terra.”

Luna simply smiled and nodded back to him. “Well, Terra, I am Luna. Thank you for saving me from myself. I am eternally grateful.”

Terra simply smiled back at her in response, however, a few seconds later, he shifted his expression again and brought his hoof to his mouth, in thought, trying to analyse the situation. “I think I understand what happened now. You let the darkness into your heart and were consumed by it, becoming Nightmare Moon; no longer in control of your actions.” He then frowned. “And you hurt those close to you.” He then put his hoof back down and looked down at the ground, disheartened. “Is that what’s going to happen to me?” He whispered to himself.

Luna could see that he was feeling upset and afraid of the darkness in his heart. It was a feeling that she was all too familiar with herself. She didn’t want anyone else to go through what she went through. She wanted to help him.

Righting herself up, she pushed out from beneath her sister and stepped towards him. “I don’t think so.” She stated simply. This caused Terra to look up at her. She had a strong expression on her face, like she was certain of what she was saying. “You are very strong, Terra. You dove into the darkness to rescue me, and you were able to use the darkness without being corrupted by it. I think that that was incredible, and I know that you will be just fine. I will always remember what you did for me.”

After hearing what Luna had to say to him, he just smiled back at her, warmly. “Thank you, Luna.” He then turned to his side to see Fluttershy, who also smiled warmly back at him. “I’ve also learned an important lesson from you about not jumping right into a fight.” Fluttershy beamed in response, happy that she had managed to help somebody.

When they were all done talking, Celestia stepped forward again. “Thank you very much, Terra, for saving my sister.” She said, stepping back up beside Luna. The two of them shared a look before she continued speaking. “Now that she’s back, we just need to worry about these ’Unversed’ creatures.”

Still facing her sister, Luna spoke up again. “Do not worry, Celestia. When the Unversed first arrived in our world, they kept to the Everfree Forest and only attacked those that came by. They only became organised under Nightmare Moon. Without her, they will be easy to dispose of.” She then turned back to face Terra. “We can handle things from here, Terra. You have done more than enough for us already. Again, thank you.” The Princess of the Night beamed.

Terra simply nodded back to her. “Alright. I’ll trust your judgement.” He then turned to walk away and summoned his Keyblade. After he had taken several steps, he suddenly stopped. He then turned back around to face Luna. “Luna?” He spoke. There was something he had to know first before he proceeded. “Do you happen to remember what you said to me while you were Nightmare Moon?”

Luna considered the question for a moment before responding. “I don’t recall what I did as Nightmare Moon, but she knows everything that I do, if that’s what you mean.” She responded simply.

After a moment of silence between them, taking in her answer, he then smiled back at her, between the Keyblade in his teeth, and gave her a knowing nod. She returned it, with a playful grin on her face. She didn’t know what it was about, but she was sure that that was the correct response.

Terra then faced forward again, spun his Keyblade around in his mouth and pointed it directly in front of him. A small beam of light then shot out of the Keyblade and created a shimmering portal a few feet away from him.

Once the portal was opened, he gave one last look back at the ponies and his new friends, and then walked into the portal. Once he was through, it closed behind him.

Once Terra was gone, Celestia looked between Luna and Fluttershy. “Alright, now let us get going as well. We still have work to do.” She said in a cheerful tone.

With that, the three ponies all looked between themselves and started walking out of the castle. As they walked along, Luna suddenly figured out what Terra had meant earlier and giggled to herself.

Celestia looked over at Luna giggling and just shook her head at her, playfully. She always thought that Luna looked so cute when she giggled like that. It reminded her of when they were fillies.

When the three of them had reached the castle’s front door, she looked over at Luna again and smiled warmly. She was just so happy to have her sister back.

Forged a D-Link with Luna

OBTAINED

Element of Kindness

A Keyblade with short reach that does little for your Strength, but provides an outstanding boost in Magic. It also provides bonus EXP from defeated enemies.

Aqua

Leaving Radiant Garden behind, Aqua entered the Lanes Between and set off for another world. She had to find Terra. She still didn’t know exactly what was going on with him, but from what she’s heard about what he has done in other worlds, it didn’t sound good and she was worried.

As she was making her way through the Lanes Between, a new world was coming into view. This world’s icon included a small town, a forest, and an old castle, with clouds in the sky. As she got closer to this world, she also felt a warm light, the likes of which she has never felt before.

Thinking that Terra might be in this world, since it was so close to Radiant Garden, she gripped her Keyblade Glider tightly, and charged straight into this new world.

A shimmering portal opened up in the middle of a town and Aqua walked out, her Keyblade Armor disappearing as she walked. As soon as she had entered this new world, she suddenly felt different. She looked down to inspect her body and she was surprised to see that she looked like a pony. She had a light blue coat, and her mane was the same style and colour that her hair always was; a darker blue than her coat.

As she examined more of her new form, she also saw that her Wayfinder was now emblazoned on her flank. As she tried to think and make sense of her new form, she placed her hoof to her head and she felt something on her forehead. She felt her way along the surface of it, and it felt like a horn. Was she a unicorn?

“This must be a world that changes your physical appearance, like the Master told us about.” She thought to herself.

However, before she could think more about her current situation, she was suddenly interrupted by a loud scream nearby.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Quickly looking over in the direction that she had heard the scream, she saw a white unicorn, with a stylish purple mane, surrounded by several Flood Unversed. The unicorn was backed up against the wall of a building, with a frantic look on her face, as the Unversed closed in on her.

Seeing this unicorn in front of her, Aqua now knew for certain that she was a unicorn. Putting on her battle face, she immediately moved to summon her Keyblade and it suddenly appeared next to her, wrapped in a light blue aura. Looking at her Keyblade floating next to her, strangely, she made a thought and then saw her Keyblade move, and concluded that she controlled it mentally.

Turning back towards the unicorn being surrounded by a horde of Unversed again, she quickly galloped over to them and threw herself between them.

“Don’t worry,” she said, addressing the unicorn behind her. “I’ll take care of them.” She then turned back around to face the Unversed and got ready for battle. Rarity didn’t know who this pony was, but she was just so thankful that she was helping her.

The battle begun

As soon as the battle started, one of the Flood’s ran straight for Aqua. Aqua simply levitated her Keyblade between them and knocked it back, into another one; however, the strike wasn’t strong enough to destroy either of them.

As more Unversed advanced on her, she performed a cartwheel to the side to avoid them. She didn’t seem to have any problem moving in her new form. Once she was a safe distance away, she then aimed her Keyblade at them and shot a Fira spell into a large group. The spell destroyed three of the Floods, and Aqua quickly followed up her attack by bashing one of the surviving ones with her Keyblade, destroying it.

While she was focused on them, one of the two remaining Unversed quickly came charging up to her and knocked her back. She grunted from the force of the attack, but it didn’t hurt her that much.

The last two Unversed then started moving towards her again. When they came in close, Aqua then raised her Keyblade up into the air and shouted, “Thunder!” A small beam of light then shot out of her Keyblade and two lightning bolts came down on the Unversed, destroying them.

Once all of the Unversed had been defeated, Aqua banished her Keyblade and turned back around to face the unicorn from before. “Are you alright?” Aqua asked her.

The unicorn stepped closer to her, holding a hoof to her chest and panting hard, from fear. “Yes, thank you so much for saving me from those monsters.” She then lowered her hoof again and smiled back at Aqua, thankfully. “My name is Rarity.”

Aqua smiled back at her in response. “I’m Aqua; and it’s no problem at all. It’s what I’m here for.” Once formalities were out of the way, Aqua proceeded to ask her about the current situation. “So, Rarity, have you been dealing with those monsters for a while now?” Aqua asked her. While she was looking for Terra, she also had to destroy the Unversed.

Rarity nodded her head gently from side to side. “Actually no. They only showed up here a while ago, but they stayed close to the Everfree Forest, so we didn’t have to deal with them often. However, a short while ago, they suddenly became a lot more organised and violent, and they started attacking the town. We’ve managed to evacuate Ponyville, so everypony is safe for now, but we’re having a hard time dealing with them, I’m sad to say.”

Aqua took in everything that Rarity said to here. “Well don’t worry. I’m here to help defeat them. Is there anything specific that I can do to help?”

Rarity looked Aqua up and down for a moment before continuing. “Well, you do seem to be able to handle them quite well. I suppose if you really want to help, the best thing that you could do, would be to just to search all over Ponyville and deal with any you find.”

Aqua simply nodded back to her. “Alright, I’ll do that.” She then turned back around and started running away, to search the rest of the town.

As Aqua was leaving, Rarity called out to her again. “Oh, and while you’re out dealing with those monsters, keep a look out for my friend, Twilight. She’s also engaging with these ‘disgusting’ things.” She put extra emphasis on the word ‘disgusting’, showing her distain for these monsters.

Aqua stopped and turned her head back around to face her. “Alright, I’ll keep an eye out for her.” She then turned back around and continued on.

Aqua headed off to find and defeat all of the Unversed in Ponyville. She was currently in the middle of a large courtyard, with a statue of Princess Celestia in the centre. To her right was a path that led to a clearing on the outskirts of the town. To her left, there was an open field, with what appeared to be a city made of clouds directly above it. In front of her and behind her, there were several buildings. Between the buildings on both sides, there were three long and narrow alleyways, that looked like they converged at the back. Since there weren’t any Unversed left in the courtyard, she walked straight ahead, into the alleyway on her left.

The alleyway that she entered was about five ponies wide. It looked like it stretched on for quite a bit. As she proceeded further in, several Unversed appeared. Aqua simply defeated them by using a combination of her Keyblade and her magic.

After she had defeated the Unversed, she proceeded on. After a few more steps, more Unversed appeared and she did battle with them again. She simply repeated the same process as before and used her magic and her Keyblade to defeat them. After she had defeated them all, she continued on down the alleyway again.

After she took a few more steps, more Unversed appeared. The same thing happened two more times on her way through the alleyway. When she reached the end of the alleyway, she stepped out into the next area.

The next area she entered was another courtyard, but it was smaller than the last one and it was completely empty, of Unversed or landmarks. Being fully aware of the Unversed spawning patterns by now, Aqua walked into the middle of the courtyard and a huge wave of different kinds of Unversed appeared.

The amount of Unversed that appeared in the courtyard was much larger than the groups that appeared in the alleyway. She had to slightly change up her tactics against this group. She first used her Aerora spell to gather the smaller Unversed together in the air, and then jumped up and bashed them with her Keyblade. She then used her second tier spells on the large groups, instead of attacking them one at a time.

About one minute later, she had defeated all of the Unversed in the courtyard. After checking the courtyard one last time for any Unversed, she then headed back to the main courtyard, through the middle alleyway this time.

The middle alleyway was exactly like the first. After she had taken a few steps forward, several Unversed appeared. She simply defeated them with her magic and directly with her Keyblade.

After she had defeated this group of Unversed, she continued on. She encountered four more groups of Unversed as she made her way to the other end of the alleyway. She managed to defeat them all easily.

When she stepped back into the main courtyard, she decided that she should check every part of Ponyville for any Unversed. She then turned and went down the third and last alleyway that led to the smaller courtyard.

The trek through the third alleyway was exactly the same as the previous two. She took a few steps, Unversed appeared, she defeated all of them, she continued on, and she encountered another four groups of Unversed. When she was finished with all of the Unversed in this alleyway, she stepped into the smaller courtyard at the end again.

Once Aqua had stepped back into the small courtyard, she first walked into the centre again, but no Unversed spawned. She then decided to check the rest of the courtyard, but there no Unversed anywhere. When she was confident that there were no more Unversed here, she then headed back through the middle alleyway again.

When Aqua had entered the middle alleyway again, she took a few steps forward, but no Unversed appeared. Considering that no more Unversed had appeared in the courtyard either, she deduced that she had cleared out all of the Unversed in this part of Ponyville. She then broke into a gallop and ran forward, towards the main courtyard.

When Aqua was back in the main courtyard, she first walked back over to Rarity, over by the statue of Princess Celestia, in the centre of the courtyard. When Rarity saw her coming, and she stopped in front of her, she simply asked her, “Have you found my friend, Twilight, yet?”

Aqua simply replied, “No.”

She then backed away from Rarity again and proceeded towards the three alleyways at the other end of the courtyard.

When she reached them, she chose the first alleyway on her left.

These alleyways were exactly the same as the three on the other side of the main courtyard. She took a few steps forward and a small group of Unversed appeared. She took care of them easily and continued on.

She encountered four more groups of Unversed as she made her way along. She then made it to the end of the alleyway and proceeded ahead.

Aqua stepped out of the alleyway, into another small courtyard, exactly the same as the one on the other side of the town. She immediately ran towards the centre of the courtyard, but she was confused when no Unversed appeared. She then checked the rest of the area, but none appeared.

Aqua was confused at this for a moment, since she knew that she hadn’t been to this part of the town yet. However, she then remembered that Rarity had told her that her friend, Twilight, was also around town, fighting the Unversed.

Guessing that Twilight had probably cleared out this area already, she then turned back around and headed back through the middle alleyway.

The middle alleyway was exactly the same as the one she was just in. She took a few steps forward and a small group of Unversed appeared, just like clockwork. Aqua simply summoned her Keyblade and charged towards them, defeating them with key and magic.

When she was finished with that group, she continued on and dealt with the other four groups ahead. After she had dealt with all of the Unversed in this alleyway, she stepped out into the main courtyard again.

When Aqua had entered the main courtyard again, she immediately turned to her left, towards the last alleyway. Right before she stepped into it, she quickly looked back at Rarity, over by the statue. She still hadn’t found her friend, Twilight, but she’d worry about that after she dealt with the Unversed.

She then turned back around again and ran into the last alleyway.

When Aqua had entered the alleyway, she took a few steps forward; however, she was confused when no Unversed appeared. Again, she was certain that she hadn’t been in this area before. She then took another step forward, but no Unversed appeared.

She then broke into a gallop and ran through the alleyway quickly. As she made her way along, no Unversed appeared at all. When she reached the end of the alleyway, she stepped into the smaller courtyard again.

Aqua ran into the smaller courtyard, but then stopped when she a purple unicorn ahead of her. She was in the centre of the courtyard, staring down a huge horde of Unversed. She was slumped down on one knee and was panting hard. She was obviously tired.

With a worried look on her face, Aqua quickly galloped over to her. The unicorn heard something approaching behind her and turned around to see Aqua. When Aqua reached her, she stopped beside her and looked at the purple unicorn, worriedly. “Are you Twilight?” Aqua asked her.

Pausing for only a brief moment, trying to figure out who this pony was, Twilight nodded back to her. “I am. Who are you?” She asked, wincing a little in pain.

“I’m Aqua. Don’t worry, I’m here to help.” Aqua then summoned her Keyblade and held it over Twilight’s head. “Heal.” She called out. Twilight looked at Aqua strangely when she saw her Keyblade appear out of thin air.

The Curaga spell then appeared above Twilight, healing her. All of a sudden, Twilight felt her injuries disappear and she had the strength to stand up straight. After briefly inspecting herself, she turned back to face Aqua and smiled. “Thank you.”

“It’s no problem,” Aqua nodded back at her. She then turned her attention to the horde of Unversed. “Now come on. We need to deal with these things.”

Twilight put on a fierce look of determination and nodded. “Right.” She then also turned towards the horde of Unversed and got into a battle position.

The battle begun.

Aqua and Twilight both spread out on their front hooves, staring down at the large group of Unversed in front of them.

The horde consisted of a wide variety of Unversed, including, five Flood’s, three Bruiser’s, two Thornbite’s, and two Archraven’s. They all simply flitted about, getting ready to attack them.

Aqua began the fight by immediately casting an Aerora spell, pulling all of the smaller Unversed together. She then jumped up and started bashing them with her Keyblade. When her Keyblade combo had ended, she then cast a Fira spell on them. “Fire.” She shouted out. The spell had completely incinerated the enemies that had already been weakened by her prior attack. Aqua had destroyed four of the Flood’s and one of the Thornbite’s with this combo.

Twilight, however, quickly jumped to the side as soon as the battle started. Her horn then started glowing in a purple aura and she shot a small, magic beam out of her horn, at one of the Flood’s. The attack was strong enough to destroy the weak Unversed, and it disappeared into nothingness.

As soon as they had destroyed those Unversed, two more Thornbite’s quickly spawned to take their place. One of the Bruiser’s then started charging and crashed right into Aqua, knocking her back.

Aqua recovered quickly from the attack and then cartwheeled to her left to get away from it. She then turned to face the Bruiser that hit her, and shot a Bizzara spell at it, freezing it solid. She then took her Keyblade and started bashing against it, destroying it after several hits.

One of the Bruiser’s then charged at Twilight, but she simply jumped to the side to avoid it. After the Bruiser kept going after it past her, she then charged energy into her horn again and shot another magic beam at it. The attack hit, but it didn’t seem to do much damage. The Bruiser then turned back around and charged at the purple unicorn again.

Aqua jumped up into the air and started hitting one of the Thornbite’s with her Keyblade. She defeated it with just a few hits and it disappeared. When she landed on the ground again, she looked over at Twilight and saw her get charged by a Bruiser and knocked back.

An Archraven came down to attack Aqua, but she saw it coming and simply cartwheeled to the right to avoid it. She was amazed that she was still able to cartwheel so well while in this form. Snapping back to the fight, she turned back towards Twilight and cartwheeled over to her. When she was right behind the Bruiser that had hit Twilight, Aqua launched into a Keyblade combo and then finished it off with a Fire spell.

“Thanks.” Twilight said to Aqua as she got back to her hooves. She then started walking towards the now-smaller horde of Unversed. She then shot another magic beam at the Archraven, destroying it.

When the two of them turned back towards the group of Unversed, two more Archraven’s and three more Flood’s spawned. One of the Flood’s spawned near Twilight, and she simply struck at it with her hoof and then shot a magic beam at it and destroyed it.

Aqua, meanwhile, cartwheeled into the centre of the group of Unversed. She then raised her Keyblade and used a Thundara spell on the whole group. She then quickly started striking at the last Bruiser and destroyed it after several hits from her Keyblade.

A Thornbite then flew down and hit Aqua while she was distracted. The Keyblade Master was knocked back slightly, but she recovered quickly and just shot a Fire spell back at it, destroying it. She then jumped up and started hitting another Thornbite with her Keyblade and destroyed it after a single three-hit combo.

One of the Flood’s moved to attack Twilight, but she quickly jumped back to avoid it. She then fired another beam from her horn and destroyed the Unversed. An Archraven then swooped down to strike at Twilight, but she simply jumped back again to avoid it.

After Aqua had destroyed another Archraven with her Keyblade, she then quickly did several cartwheels away from them in order to get to a safe distance away. Once she was far enough away, she decided that this fight was taking too long. She then activated her shotlock and began targeting all of the remaining Unversed.

While the Unversed were either moving towards Aqua, or focusing on Twilight, Aqua finished charging up her shotlock. She then fired her Bubble Blaster, shooting several high speed bubbles at the two Archraven’s, two Thornbite’s, and one of the Flood’s, and destroyed them.

Twilight then fired another magic beam at the one remaining Flood, and the fight was over.

After the battle had ended, Aqua banished her Keyblade and turned to face Twilight, who was trying to catch her breath. She was clearly not used to fighting, and was worn out after that battle. The purple unicorn then lifted her head back up to see Aqua walking towards her, with a warm smile on her face. Seeing her, Twilight returned the smile with one of her own. “Thanks for your help back there. I really appreciate it.”

“Don’t mention it.” Aqua responded. “It’s what I’m here for.” Twilight then held her hoof out in front of her, and Aqua shook it, while smiling kindly back at her. Suddenly, they both heard a voice calling out to them.

“Yoooohoooo!”

Both unicorns turned in the direction of the voice, and they saw Rarity, who had just entered the courtyard, waving at them. She then lowered her hoof and ran over to them. When she reached them, she let out a sigh of relief. “Oh Twilight, thank Celestia you’re alright.” She said, placing a hoof over her chest, in worry.

Twilight simply gave a comforting smile back at her. “I’m fine, Rarity.” She then faced Aqua. “Thanks to Aqua here. She saved me.”

“She did more than that, darling.” Rarity continued. “I’ve just received word that Ponyville has now been completely cleared of monsters; and we have Aqua to thank for that.”

Aqua blushed in embarrassment. “That’s nice of you to say, but I really just helped out. This was because of all of us.”

Twilight nodded at Aqua, with a smile on her face and then turned back to face Rarity again. “That’s good to hear, Rarity. Getting rid of these things is really important, but we also need to stop them for good. Has anypony found out who’s responsible for these strange creatures attacking us, yet?”

“Yes,” Rarity responded immediately. “We finally know who’s responsible. Pinkie Pie said that earlier she saw a scary looking pony over by Fluttershy’s cottage. According to her, he made Fluttershy cry and then walked off into the Everfree Forest.”

Twilight gasped. “That sounds awful. I can’t believe someone would do that?” She then started scowling. “Who is it? Do we know exactly who it is?”

Rarity put her hoof to her lips. “According to Pinkie Pie, he was a scary looking earth pony, with a spiky brown mane, and he had a strange key-shaped sword, like Aqua has.”

Aqua’s eyes suddenly shot open in realization. “That’s Terra!” She shouted out.

Twilight and Rarity both suddenly turned and looked at her with confused looks on their faces. “You know the pony who’s behind this attack?” Twilight asked her, unbelievably.

Aqua just shook her head furiously from side to side. “No! There’s no way that Terra’s behind this. Where is this ‘Everfree Forest’? Where can I find Terra?” She asked frantically.

Twilight looked back at Aqua and could see that she was really worried. After a moment of hesitation, she then pointed away towards the centre of town. “Uhhmm, it’s just to the south of Ponyville, just past Fluttershy’s cottage.” She then turned back to face her.

Aqua looked at where Twilight had pointed and then nodded back at her. “Thank you.” She said, still with the angry look on her face. She then quickly galloped away, through the middle alleyway. Twilight and Rarity both simply watched her in silence as she left.

“What do you think that was about?” Rarity asked, finally speaking up.

“I’m not sure.” Twilight responded, looking at her unicorn friend, with an unsure look on her face. She then turned back towards the alleyway that Aqua had disappeared into, and she smiled again. “But I’m sure that whatever it is, everything will be just fine.”

She then mentally wished her new friend luck with whatever problem she was facing.

Aqua galloped through the alleyway quickly. The whole area had been cleared of Unversed, so there was nothing to slow her down. She made it back out the other side in no time at all.

When Aqua had reached the main courtyard, she looked to her right and saw the path leading out of Ponyville, and a cottage and a forest in the distance. She then quickly ran off towards the forest.

After she had left Ponyville, Aqua found herself in a small clearing, with a cottage just to her right and the forest entrance straight ahead. Aqua simply continued galloping towards the forest.

When she got closer to the forest entrance, several Unversed suddenly spawned in front of her. However, Aqua didn’t even slow down. As she continued galloping, she summoned her Keyblade and pointed it at the Unversed in front of her. “I don’t have time for this!” She shouted out. She then shot a Fire spell at the Unversed and incinerated them all instantly.

With the Unversed destroyed, she continued on, into the forest.

When Aqua had entered the Everfree Forest, there was a dirt path in front of her to follow, with the thick foliage of the forest on either side. The path twisted and turned as she made her way along, and it went on for quite a while.

The Everfree Forest had much more Unversed than in Ponyville, and they appeared in larger groups as well. However, Aqua still managed to defeat them easily, with her magic and her Keyblade.

In addition to the Unversed, she was also attacked by timberwolves. The timberwolves only spawned one or two at a time and never alongside the Unversed. While they weren’t very difficult to defeat on their own, whenever they were defeated, they simply collapsed into pieces and would then reform after a while. The only way to stop them completely was to hit them with fire.

As Aqua continued running through the Everfree Forest, she eventually reached the end of the dirt path and reached a large clearing. She then slowed down and looked around carefully for anything that might jump out at her.

When she reached the centre of the clearing, she suddenly heard a loud roar, that shook the nearby area. “Rrrrrrrraaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwrrrrrrrr!”

Aqua stopped in her tracks, with a worried look on her face, looking around for whatever made that roar. There was then a rustling in the foliage nearby and giant timberwolf leapt out and landed in front of Aqua, shaking the ground on contact. This timberwolf was at least ten times the size of the lesser timberwolves that she had already come across.

Aqua instinctively took a few steps back when the giant timberwolf landed in front of her. She had a look on her face like she couldn’t believe her eyes.

The giant timberwolf then roared at her again. “Rrrrrraaaaawwwwwwwwrrrrr!” The force of its shout pushed back the grass and plants in the area. Aqua had to dig into the ground with her hooves to anchor herself, to keep herself from being blown back. She then also placed her hoof to her nose as the stench of its breath hit her.

Putting her hoof back down on the ground, she faced back at the giant timberwolf that towered above her, with a strong look of determination. She then summoned her Keyblade and got ready to fight it.

The battle begun.

As the battle commenced, Aqua stared back at the Alpha Timber, with her Keyblade hovering next to her in her levitation field. She had to defeat this thing in order to continue on, and that was exactly what she was going to do.

The Alpha Timber simply stared down at her with the look of a feral creature, just like the Unversed. It then furrowed the two branches on its head that served as its eyebrows, and growled through its teeth at her, with its eyes flashing green.

As soon as the battle started, the Alpha Timber immediately raised its head up and howled. “Awooooooooooooooooooooo!” After it howled, several smaller timberwolves immediately appeared around it.

Aqua quickly ran forward and jumped over the smaller timberwolves and started hitting the Alpha Timber with her Keyblade. Once her Keyblade combo had ended, she then immediately shot a Fira spell at it. “Fire.” She shouted out. The Alpha Timber was knocked back slightly from the force of the attack.

After Aqua had used her Fira spell, she fell straight back down to the ground and was immediately scratched by one of the smaller timberwolves and knocked back. She managed to recover quickly, however, and cartwheeled away from them, before they could attack her again.

After she had put a good bit of distance between herself and the timberwolves, Aqua turned back around to face them. The Alpha Timber was still recovering from the Fira spell she used against it, and the lesser timberwolves started to run towards her. Remembering the timberwolves weakness to fire, Aqua then quickly activated her shotlock and started targeting all of the timberwolves in front of her.

Just as the timberwolves were about to reach her, Aqua finished charging up her shotlock and shot her Flame Salvo at them. The flames hit all of the small timberwolves in front of her, destroying them instantly, and hitting the Alpha Timber as well, dealing more damage to it.

As soon as her shotlock was finished, Aqua then started running towards the Alpha Timber; however, once it had recovered from the attack, it raised his head up and howled again, and more timberwolves appeared. “Awooooooooooooooooooooo!”

Aqua grew frustrated seeing that more smaller timberwolves had appeared after she had just gotten rid of them. Charging towards them, she took her Keyblade and started bashing one of the smaller timberwolves, shattering it into pieces.

As her Keyblade combo ended, one of the other timberwolves bit her, knocking back a little. Before she could be attacked again, she quickly cartwheeled to the side. She then turned back around to face them and cast a Fira spell and destroyed all of the timberwolves. Because the timberwolf that she had smashed to pieces was still there, the Alpha Timber didn’t howl to summon more timberwolves.

The Alpha Timber then charged towards Aqua to attack her. However, Aqua quickly jumped up to avoid the giant timberwolf swiping at her with its wooden paw. She then started striking at it with her Keyblade, and then immediately followed that up with a Firaga spell; the third tier Fire spell dealing massive damage against the wooden beast.

After Aqua had cast her spell, she fell back down towards the ground again. The Firaga spell had kept the Alpha Timber knocked off balance, so it didn’t immediately hit her when she stopped. As she got back to her hooves, the smaller timberwolf that she had defeated earlier had reformed itself, and ran towards her.

Aqua saw the timberwolf coming towards her, and simply jumped over it to avoid it. She wanted to avoid destroying the smaller timberwolf so that the Alpha Timber wouldn’t summon more.

The Alpha Timber the regained itself, and used its giant size to bite at Aqua from far away. The force of the attack knocked her back and she yelled out in pain. “Aaahhh.”

After she had recovered from the attack, she quickly cartwheeled away in the opposite direction, to put some distance between her and the Alpha Timber, and to avoid the oncoming attack from the smaller timberwolf. After she had gotten further away, the Alpha Timber then coughed up and shot a big ball of concentrated stink at Aqua. As the attack came towards her, Aqua raised her Keyblade up to block it. The ball of stink hit Aqua, damaging her a bit, but didn’t cause as much damage because she blocked it.

The smaller timberwolf then charged towards her to attack her; however, Aqua simply jumped over it and continued on, towards the Alpha Timber. When she came in close to it, she started bashing it in the face with her Keyblade. When her Keyblade combo had ended, she then hit it with a Fire spell.

When Aqua fell back down to the ground after her Fire spell, the smaller timberwolf came up behind her and scratched at her. The attacked pushed her back slightly, towards the Alpha Timber, who then bit at her itself, dealing even more damage to her.

After Aqua had recovered from the attack, she quickly ran away from the two timberwolves. When she had put a good bit of distance between them and her, she raised her Keyblade above her head and said, “Heal.” The Curaga spell opened up, above her, restoring her health.

After she was healed, she turned back towards the timberwolves, both of which were running towards her. She then jumped over the smaller timberwolf, and hit the Alpha Timber with a Firaga spell. She then immediately launched into another Keyblade combo.

The Alpha Timber let out an annoyed grunt after being hit. “Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.”

Aqua jumped back after that last attack, tired from the battle, panting to herself. The Alpha Timber then suddenly started clutching at its throat, in pain. The smaller timberwolf stopped its advance on Aqua and turned around to look at it. The Alpha Timber then leaned forward on one leg, and the next moment, it exploded into pieces. The smaller timberwolf was also caught in the blast.

Aqua raised her Keyblade up in front of her face, to shield her from incoming debris. After everything had past, Aqua looked around the clearing, to see pieces of wood everywhere. Letting out a sigh of relief, she was about to continue onward, but then all of a sudden, all of the pieces of wood around her became enveloped in a thin, yellow, magical aura, and started all floating towards each other.

Aqua stared back wide eyed, as the Alpha Timber started to reform itself. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me.” Aqua sighed in annoyance. She was feeling completely worn out from that last battle, but she still needed to get past this thing. Hesitating for a moment, she got back into a battle position, as the Alpha Timber finished putting itself back together, now bigger than ever.

When its eyes started glowing yellow again, the Alpha Timber took a step forward and bore down, towards her. Aqua then telekinetically gripped her Keyblade tight and prepared for the attack; however, a large, golden beam of magical energy then suddenly came out of nowhere, shot right at the Alpha Timber and blew it to pieces again, scattering all of the pieces even further away from each other.

Aqua again raised her Keyblade up to protect herself from incoming debris. After everything had past, she looked up again, confused, and started looking around for the source of the blast. Her eyes then landed on a tall, winged unicorn, over by the forest exit. She had a pure white coat, and a regally flowing, rainbow-coloured mane, that gently blew about in a non-existent breeze. She was currently bearing down at where the Alpha Timber had stood just moments, with her horn glowing in the same golden aura as the magic beam that had just destroyed the Alpha Timber.

Aqua then noticed two other ponies behind her. One was a small, butter-yellow pegasus, with a beautiful, pink mane. The other pony was another winged unicorn, and her size was between the other two. She had a light azure coat, and her mane also flowed independent of the wind, and shone with the stars of the night sky.

When the first pony finally saw Aqua, she lifted her head up again, and all three of them walked over to her. “Are you alright?” Celestia asked her when she reached her.

Seeing that she was not hostile to her, Aqua breathed a sigh of relief. “Yes, I am. Thank you.” She said in a grateful manner.

Celestia simply smiled back at her in response, but then she suddenly started staring back at Aqua for a moment when she responded and started thinking. She then smiled again. “You’re probably not from around here. I am Princess Celestia.”

Aqua’s eyes then suddenly snapped open. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Your Majesty.” She said, practically begging for her forgiveness, for her informal attitude towards her. She then took a knee and bowed to her.

Celestia simply laughed gently before responding. “Oh, that’s alright. There’s no need to be so formal.”

Aqua then stood back up again, looking slightly embarrassed and rubbed at the back of her head with her hoof.

While Aqua was recovering from her embarrassment, Celestia then suddenly noticed the Keyblade in Aqua’s levitation field, and regarded it closely, knowing that it looked just like the weapon that Terra used. “That’s certainly an interesting weapon you have there.” She finally spoke up.

Aqua snapped back to attention, and she brought her Keyblade in closer to her. “Oh, yes. It’s called a Keyblade.” She said, holding the Keyblade between her and Celestia, so that the Princess could get a closer look at it.

After studying Aqua’s Keyblade with her eyes, she then looked back towards the Keyblade Master. Guessing that there was a connection between her and Terra, she then said, “Yes, I’ve seen one before. Terra wielded one as well.”

Aqua’s eyes then widened again and she suddenly looked up at Celestia in surprise. “You know Terra?” She almost screamed at her.

“Yes, I do.” Celestia replied calmly, with a smile on her face. “I met him earlier. Although, it wasn’t exactly under the best of circumstances. We actually fought briefly.”

Aqua gasped in shock when she heard this. She then took a step closer to the Princess of the Sun, with a frantic expression on her face. “Princess, please, I know that that sounds bad, but please believe me when I say that Terra is not a bad person; and he isn’t the one behind the Unversed attack,” she added, remembering the theory that the ponies had come up with about him.

However, in response to Aqua’s worried plea, Celestia simply smiled warmly back at her, and raised her hoof up in front of her, as if to tell her to stop worrying. “I know he is.” Aqua then backed away a little, in surprise. “He was just being manipulated and didn’t know who the real enemy was. Fortunately, he learned his lesson quickly.” Her smiled then brightened and she turned to face Luna. “He was even the one who saved my sister Luna from the darkness.”

Aqua then turned her head to the side to face Luna.

“It’s true.” Luna confirmed. “I was swallowed by the darkness and became Nightmare Moon, and I even started hurting those close to me.” She now had a sorrowful look on her face, and she raised her hoof over her heart and looked away. “My heart had grown so dark, that the light couldn’t reach it anymore.” She then suddenly started smiling again and turned back to face her. “But Terra managed to dive into the darkness to save me. He used the darkness to rescue me, and he used it without succumbing to it himself.” She thought back on the moment like it was a fond memory. “He really is amazing.”

A smile started creeping on to Aqua’s face after hearing Luna’s story, and she held her hoof over her heart. “I see.” She then raised her head up towards the sky, through the hole in the trees, to see the Sun shining down on all of them. “Then there’s still hope, Terra.”

After another moment, her eyes then suddenly snapped open again, and she turned back to face Celestia, Luna and Fluttershy. “Oh, right. The Unversed in Ponyville have all been taken care of.”

“Thank you very much for all of your help.” Celestia responded, with a warm smile on her face. “You and Terra have both been a big help to us; but we’ll be able to handle things from here.”

Aqua simply nodded back to her in response. When she was finished, she then turned to the side and started walking away. As she walked along, she pointed her Keyblade out in front of her, and a small beam shot out of it and created a shimmering portal, just a few feet away.

Turning back to look at the ponies one more time, and gave them one final, friendly smile, which they reciprocated, she then turned back around towards the portal and walked through it. The portal then closed behind her.

After Aqua had left, the three ponies left in the clearing, all looked between themselves for a moment, and then continued on their way, walking towards Ponyville.

Forged a D-Link with Twilight Sparkle

OBTAINED

Element of Magic

A Keyblade with short reach that does little for your Strength, but provides an outstanding boost in Magic. Hastens the Command Gauge when equipped.

Ventus

Ventus was currently riding his Keyblade Glider through the Lanes Between, after leaving Radiant Garden. Even after all this time, he kept thinking about what that boy in the mask said about Terra being a different person. Terra was like a big brother to him and he didn’t want to lose him, but when he asked him to take him along, he refused and just said that when he really needs him, he knows he’ll be there.

What did that even mean? Why couldn’t he take him along, or just tell him what everything was about? Why did Terra and Aqua and everyone else always treat him like a helpless, little kid? He wasn’t just a kid; he could take care of himself. He wanted to prove it to everyone. He wanted to get stronger. Then he could fight alongside his friends again.

Then, there was suddenly a bright light up ahead as a new world came into view. This world’s icon showed a small town, a forest, an old castle, and clouds in the sky. As he drifted in closer, he also felt a warm light coming from this world.

Deciding that he needed to get stronger and see more worlds, he headed straight for this new world.

A shimmering portal opened up on top of a cloud, high in the sky, and Ventus walked out. His Keyblade Armour disappeared as he stepped out of the portal, and as soon as he did, he felt strangely different.

He looked down at himself to see that his whole body had changed. He now looked like a pony, with a bright, aquamarine coat, and a blonde, spiky mane that matched his usual hairstyle. As he examined his new body, he looked over his shoulder to see that he also had a pair of wings on his back, and even more strangely, his Wayfinder was now stamped on his flank like a tattoo.

As he examined his new body all over, he suddenly started breaking out into a huge smile. “Wow.” He said in a manner of childhood wonder. “This is so cool.”

He lifted up his front and back hooves one at a time, getting used to how his new body moved. He also looked back at his wings and flapped them a little. When he was done with that, he looked down and saw that he seemed to be standing on a cloud. His beaming smile never dropping for a second, he then started hopping up and down in place on the soft cloud, enjoying its fluffiness beneath his hooves.

When he was done with that, he then walked over to the side, to look over the edge. Directly beneath him was a small town, and there was a large forest further to the south. When he was finished enjoying the view, he stepped back from the edge to look around at his current surroundings. His eyes then widened and his mouth open even more, though he still stayed smiling, when he saw that he was not just standing on a single cloud; there was an entire city made of clouds in the sky.

“This is amazing!” He shouted out. “This is definitely, by far, the coolest world I’ve been to yet.”

His moment of jubilation was cut short however, when he suddenly heard a sound that he had become very familiar with recently. He turned to his left to see several Flood Unversed suddenly appear on a cloud next to him.

Ventus gasped. “It’s more of those monsters.” He then put on a serious expression and moved to summon his Keyblade. His expression briefly slipped when he saw that his Keyblade appeared in his mouth, but he didn’t dwell on it for long.

He then started running towards them and jumped when he reached the edge of the cloud. The other cloud was right next to him, so there wasn’t any chance of him falling down. When he was in mid-jump, his wings opened up and he glided down to the adjacent cloud.

When he landed, all of the Unversed noticed him appear and got ready to fight him.

The battle begun.

Ventus made the first move and quickly charged the Unversed in front of him, striking it before it could move. He hit two Unversed with the attack, though neither of them were defeated by it.

After he had landed the attack, one of the other Unversed rushed to attack him. Because Ventus was too focused on the other Unversed, and his inexperience fighting on four legs, the Flood’s attack hit him and knocked him back. “Aaahh.” He cried out.

After the Flood had hit him and knocked him back, he recovered quickly and then moved back to strike it. He reared his head back and delivered several consecutive hits with his Keyblade, and the Flood was destroyed.

He allowed himself a brief moment of satisfaction for doing that, but it cost him dearly as two more Unversed advanced on him and each hit him once. “Aaaahhhh. Aaaahhhh.” Ventus grunted.

He was now starting to get irritated because of these creatures. Firstly, he had to put some space between them and him, so he turned in the opposite direction and quickly rolled away. However, he couldn’t roll right in this form and just ended up falling on his back.

While he was lying down on the cloud, the remaining Unversed advanced on him. When they were all ready to pounce on him, he quickly thrust his Keyblade into the sky and yelled, “Thunder!” Several small lightning bolts than appeared above him and knocked all of the Unversed down.

Getting back to his feet, he breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that it was over; however, all of the Flood’s were still alive. Letting out a different kind of sigh, he then gripped his Keyblade tightly in his mouth and attacked them all very fast, while they were down and took them all out.

After he had defeated all of the Unversed, Ventus banished his Keyblade and sat down on the cloud, with a disappointed look on his face. “I can’t believe how weak I am.” He said quietly to himself. “If that were Terra or Aqua back there, they would have been able handle those things no problem.” He then sighed in frustration. “I really am weak.”

After just sitting there for a few seconds, feeling sorry for himself, he then pulled his face into a more serious expression. “I have to get stronger. It’s the only way I’ll be able to keep up with my friends.”

“Hey, are you okay?” Ventus’ ears suddenly snapped up when he heard someone call out to him. He turned around to see a pegasus mare, with a long, lime green mane tied back in a ponytail, flying down towards him. She then landed on the cloud, next to him.

Ventus looked surprise that someone had called him, but then quickly put on a smile before responding. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine.”

The pegasus mare brightened up. “Yeah, I should have known. You managed to handle those monsters just fine. Sorry about them, by the way. They used to be a big problem around here, but now they’re just a small nuisance. Still annoying, though.” She concluded.

Ventus then looked away a bit so that he was barely looking at her. “Thank you for your kind words, but I really didn’t handle those things so well. I’m really not all that strong.” He said, sounding dejected.

The pegasus, however, just looked back at him strangely, and then with a big smile on her face. “Huh? What are you talking about? You did a great job against them. In fact, I was pretty sure that you came here to take part in the tournament because you’re so strong.”

“Huh?” Ventus looked back at her, looking intrigued. “What sort of tournament?”

Now it was the pegasus mare’s turn to look confused. “Oh, you mean you haven’t heard? They’re holding the Best Young Fighters Tournament here in Cloudsdale. My guess is that they’re trying to find some strong ponies in case we’re ever attacked by monsters again. They’re even using the monsters as enemies in the tournament.”

Ventus now stood up fully. “A fighting tournament?” He whispered to himself. “That would be a great way for me to get stronger.”

When he was finished with that thought, he then turned back to face the pegasus mare in front of him. “Hey, where is this tournament being held?” He asked her.

The pegasus just turned to the side and pointed to a large cloud structure in the distance. “The tournament is being held at the Cloudeseum.” She then lowered her hoof again. “But you should hurry. The sign up for the tournament is ending soon.”

Ventus then snapped to attention, and his wings flared up at his side. “Okay, then I better hurry up.” He then ran off in the direction of the Cloudeseum. “Thanks for your help!” He shouted to the pegasus mare that helped him, as he was running away.

Lightning Dust scowled angrily as she walked out of the registration office for the Cloudsdale’s Best Young Fighters Tournament. “I can’t believe they refused to let me enter the tournament.” She said to herself. She then rolled her eyes lazily. “Geez, you cause one tornado that ends up endangering ponies that you didn’t even know would be there and you’re marked for life. Now how am I supposed to one-up Rainbow Dash and prove to everyone that I’m better than her?”

As she was walking along, talking to herself, she wasn’t looking where she was going and she suddenly bumped into somepony. When she looked at him, she saw that it was a pegasus, with an aquamarine coat, even lighter than hers, and a blonde, spiky mane. “Oh, sorry about that. I didn’t see you there.” He apologized.

Lightning Dust, however, just spat back, “Well, why don’t you watch where you’re going then?” She then stormed past him and continued walking away, in the direction that he came.

Ventus watched as the pony left. She was obviously being rude, but decided not to dwell on it. He just faced forward again and continued running along, into the registration office.

When he entered the registration office, he simply walked up to the front desk and spoke with the pony there. “Uhhmm, excuse me. I’m here to sign up for the tournament. Is there still time?”

The pony behind the desk simply grabbed a piece of paper from a pile on her desk and handed it to him. “Sure thing. Just answer the questions on this form and hand it in.”

Ventus took the piece of paper with a smile and slid it towards him. He then tried to pick up the nearby pen, but he just couldn’t pick it up with his hooves.

After a few seconds of seeing him trying and failing to pick up the pen, the pony behind the desk facehooved. “Look, if you can’t hoof write, then just used your mouth.”

Ventus looked up at her in response, but she just turned away again and started reading a magazine. Taking her advice, he picked up the pen in his mouth and went through the questions.

Name:

He wrote down ‘Ventus’.

Height and Weight:

He then put down the appropriate measurements.

When he reached the third question, he looked at it strangely. “What’s this? Favourite Princess?” After thinking about it for a moment, he put down ‘Aurora’.

When he was finished with the application, he handed it back to the pony behind the desk. Without turning away from her magazine, she took his application and then handed him a piece of paper with the number twelve on it. “Here, put this on your flank and wait until your turn is called.” She also said without looking at him.

Ventus just took the piece of paper, put it over his flank and then walked away. As he was walking, he saw a large group of pegasi that all numbers on their flanks, who he deduced were the other competitors, and walked over to them.

Twenty minutes later, after all of the other competitors had had their go, Ventus’ number was called out. When he was sure he was ready, he then stepped out into the Cloudeseum.

Ventus stepped out into the arena area of the Cloudeseum, ready for his first match. The arena consisted of a huge flat surface area of clouds. At the edge of the arena, spread all around at every side, was a wall that marked the boundary of the arena. Just above the wall was the audience area. The audience area was composed of several large clouds, large enough to hold several ponies each. There were three columns of clouds, each one just above the other, spread evenly around the arena. On one side of the arena there was a much larger seating cloud that was currently empty.

After Ventus was done looking around the arena, he then faced forward to see his opponent. For the first round, he was up against five Flood Unversed. In each round, he had to defeat all of his opponents within the given time limit.

When the signal was given, Ventus summoned his Keyblade and the round began.

Round 1. Time: 30 seconds.

Ventus started this round by charging right at the group of Unversed and immediately fired an Aero spell to group all of the Flood’s together in the air. He then jumped into the air and started bashing them all with his Keyblade, using his wings to stay in the air as he hit them repeatedly.

After nine seconds, they were all defeated.

Round 2. Time: 45 seconds.

This time, he was up against three Flood’s and two Archraven’s. When the match began, he charged forward quickly and started bashing the Flood’s with his Keyblade, and quickly defeated the three of them.

One of the Archraven’s then fired an attack at him, but he dodged out of the way before it could hit him. After he had successfully dodged the attack, he then jumped up and shot a Fire spell at it, destroying it immediately.

When there was only one Unversed left, he just jumped up and beat it with his Keyblade.

He defeated this round after eighteen seconds.

Round 3. Time 30 seconds.

For this round, he was facing three Flood’s and a Bruiser. When the round started, he ran towards them quickly and used a Thundara spell. The lightning bolts called forth immediately destroyed all of the Flood’s and damaged the Bruiser.

The Bruiser then started charging at Ventus, but he was slow and Ventus got behind him quickly and started whacking him with his Keyblade. After several hits, the bruiser was destroyed.

He defeated this round in seven seconds.

Round 4. Time: 30 seconds.

Round four had him face off against four Flood’s and two Scrappers. As soon as the match started, he charged forward and quickly used his Thundara spell to destroy the four Flood’s.

One of the Scrappers then jumped away from him and the other jumped forward and attacked him. Ventus was hit by the Scrapper’s attack and was knocked back a bit. However, Ventus recovered quickly and proceeded to bash the Scapper with his Keyblade. After two separate combos, the Scrapper was defeated.

As soon as Ventus had destroyed the first Scrapper, the second one jumped forward and attacked him again. Then the exact same thing happened again. Ventus recovered quickly and defeated the Scrapper by bashing it with his Keyblade.

He defeated this round in fourteen seconds.

Round 5. Time: 30 seconds.

For round four, he was up against two Bruiser’s. When the matched started, he quickly ran to the side and started hitting one of the Bruiser’s with his Keyblade. As soon as the first combo was finished, he then hit it with a Fire spell and finished it off.

The second Bruiser began charging at Ventus before the first one was defeated, so he didn’t have enough time to dodge and he got hit. He managed to recover quickly, however, and jumped to the side so that he could get a better shot at the Bruiser. He then simply started hitting it with his Keyblade until it was defeated.

He defeated this round in seventeen seconds.

Round 6. Time: 40 seconds.

For this round, he was pitted against three Spiderchest’s. When the matched began, he charged towards the Spiderchest on his left and proceeded to hit it with his Keyblade, but it quickly jumped away to avoid being hit. Then when Ventus missed the attack, the middle Spiderchest attacked him on his side. The force of the blow knocked him back a little. “Aaaaahhhh.” He let out a screech.

Ventus quickly turned back around to attack the Spiderchest that just attacked him, but before he could move, he was attacked again by the first Spiderchest that had dodged him. This attack again knocked him towards the middle Spiderchest; however, before it could attack him again, Ventus quickly jumped up into the air to avoid the attack.

Once he was in the air, he used his wings to stay up for as long as possible. He then raised his Keyblade up into the air and said, “Heal.” The Cura spell opened up on top of him, restoring a bit of his health.

As he was slowly drifting back down to the cloud floor, he looked down and saw all three Spiderchest’s trying to bite at him. Ventus was now starting to worry. He was running out of time and he still had all of his opponents left. Putting on a strong look of determination, he gripped his Keyblade tightly in his mouth and fired a Blizzara spell down at all three of the Unversed, freezing all of them.

Once they were all frozen, he then glided down to clouds, directly in front of them. As time was running out, he quickly shot a Fira spell at them and they were all destroyed.

He defeated this round in thirty three seconds.

Round 7. Time: 25 seconds.

For round seven, he was up against two Shoegazer’s and a Spiderchest. Once the matched started, he began by shooting a Fire spell at the Spiderchest. It found its mark, and the hit was enough to keep it in place until Ventus ran up to it and started bashing it with his Keyblade.

After Ventus had defeated the Spiderchest, both of the Shoegazer’s had activated their impenetrable defence. When he saw this, Ventus simply walked to the side and waited for them to become vulnerable again. Five seconds later, their defences dropped and Ventus just cast a Fira spell and destroyed both of them instantly.

He defeated this round in thirteen seconds.

Round 8. Time: 15 seconds.

This round was against one Flood and four Jellyshade’s. Ventus started by immediately running up to the Flood and hitting it with his Keyblade, destroying it with just a single combo.

As soon as he was finished with that, he then immediately followed up with a Thundara spell. The lightning came down and destroyed three of the Jellyshade’s immediately, and Ventus simply jumped up and hit the last one with his Keyblade. He only needed one hit.

He defeated this round in seven seconds.

Round 9. Time: 5 seconds.

This round was just against a single Flood. However, time was still of the issue. As soon as the round began, Ventus charged towards it as fast as he could and defeated it with just a few swings of his Keyblade.

He defeated this round in three seconds.

Round 10. Time: 50 seconds.

The final round was Ventus versus three Bruiser’s. Even though he had plenty of time, Ventus didn’t want to take any chances now that he was this close to winning. As soon as the round started, he got in close and used a Blizzara spell on all three of them. He then followed that up with a Fira spell for extra damage, and then immediately followed that with a Thundara spell.

He defeated this round in nine seconds.

After the three consecutive spells had subsided, all three of the Bruiser’s had been defeated. Ventus then banished his Keyblade and let out a sigh of relief and tiredness at using three high level spells in succession. After he was finished catching his breath, he turned around and walked back into the Cloudeseum.

Up in the stands, another green-coated pegasus regarded Ventus closely. After he had exited the arena, she then shifted her expression to a devious smile. “Oh yeah, he’ll do just fine.” She then turned around and walked back inside.

After Ventus had re-entered the Cloudeseum, he was told that he was advancing to the finals, and to be back in ten minutes. He decided to just hang out in the registration office until the finals began.

“Yo! Champ in making!” Ventus’ ears twitched when he heard someone calling out to him. He suspected that that pony was addressing him because the ‘Champ in making’ would refer to him getting through to the finals, and also because the voice sounded familiar.

He turned his head in the direction that he had heard the voice coming from, and he saw a pegasus mare, with a light turquoise coat and an amber coloured mane walking towards him. Ventus stayed where he was and she caught up to him in no time.

“So, hey, congratulations on making it to the finals.” She now sounded much chipper and happier than before.

Ventus took note of her sudden change in attitude and scrunched up his nose at her slightly. “Aren’t you the one who bumped into me earlier and then tried to pass the blame off on me?” He asked in a straight forward tone.

Lightning Dust immediately changed her tone again, as if she were giving in, and she scratched the side of her cheek. “Yeah, that was me, and I’m really sorry about that. Honest, I am. But I really do want to wish you luck in the finals.” She then lowered her hoof again.

Ventus could see that she meant it from the look on her face and how she sounded. He then smiled back at her. “Well, thanks for that. I’m Ventus; my friends call me Ven.”

“Lightning Dust,” she responded with a smile. However, she then frowned when she moved to continue. “Although, while I wanted to wish you luck in the finals, I also wanted to warn you about your opponent.”

Ventus now looked confused. “Huh? What do you mean?”

Lightning Dust inwardly smirked; however, outside she still looked like she was worried for him. “You see, the other pony who made it to the finals is a really mean pony. She’s also extremely competitive and will do anything to win. I should know. She got me kicked out of the Wonderbolts Academy just because I was doing better than her. You need to be careful in your next match and you can’t hold anything back, because she won’t either.”

“Is she really that bad?” Ventus asked her, looking a bit unnerved.

“Absolutely,” Lightning Dust responded immediately. “You need to take her down hard so that she learns her lesson and pays for what she did. You’re the only one here strong enough to put her in her place. Will you do it?”

After listening to everything that Lightning Dust told him, he quickly played everything out in his head before coming out with an answer. He then put a strong expression on his face and looked back at her. “I’ll do it.” He nodded.

Lightning Dust just smiled back at him. Then there was an announcement over the intercom. “Attention. The final round is about to begin. Will both competitors please make their way to the arena? Thank you.”

Once the announcement was over, Ventus turned to face Lightning Dust again. “I have to go now.” He then turned back around and ran towards the arena entrance. After he took a few steps forward, however, he then stopped and turned back towards her. “Oh, by the way, what’s this pony’s name?”

Lightning Dust turned to face him and simply said, “Rainbow Dash.” She said in a scowl.

With that bit of information, Ventus then turned back around and continued towards the arena entrance.

Lightning Dust just waved back at him as he left, with a smile on her face. However, as soon as he was gone, she then snarled evilly. “All too easy.”

Ventus stepped back out into the arena. The crowd was cheering loudly. On the other side of the arena was his opponent. She was a cyan pegasus, with a rainbow coloured mane. Ventus figured she must be Rainbow Dash.

The two of them walked a bit out from their gates and then stopped a few feet away from each other. “Hey kid, good luck out there,” Rainbow Dash said to him. She then added, with a sly smirk on her face, “But try not to lose too early, okay? These ponies here are expecting a show, so let’s give ‘em a good one.”

Ventus, however, just bore down and sneered at her after seeing how arrogant she really was. “Don’t underestimate me.”

Rainbow Dash just bore down as well and smirked back at him in response. “Bring it.”

As the two pegasi stared each other down, the announcer stepped up on his cloud, to address the crowd. “Fillies and gentlecolts! Welcome to the final round of the Cloudsdale Best Young Fighters Tournament. Please rise and join me in welcoming our beloved Princess Celestia!”

There was then a huge cheer from the crowd, and Ventus turned his head in the direction of the commotion to see a huge, winged unicorn fly down on to the large seating cloud, alongside two armoured pegasi. “So that’s their Princess, huh?” Ventus thought to himself, remembering the three other princesses that he met; Aurora, Cinderella and Snow White.

After Princess Celestia had landed down, the announcer then moved to speak again. “And now, let the final round… begin!”

Ventus then turned back to face Rainbow Dash, and the two pegasi got into their fighting positions and Ventus summoned his Keyblade. Celestia seemed to notice this and looked at Ventus, intently.

The battle begun.

As the battle was commencing, Ventus gripped his Keyblade tightly in his mouth and stared down at his opponent across from him, with a strong look of determination on his face. He was not going to lose this battle. He was determined to defeat this pony and make her pay for what she did.

Rainbow Dash bore down on all four hooves, in a fighting stance, and also stared down her opponent, trying to unnerve him. Her wings twitched slightly in anticipation.

As soon as the battle had begun, both pegasi suddenly put on a burst of speed and charged towards the other one, intending to make the first attack. Ventus was surprised by how fast this pony was; however, when he saw her coming at him quickly, he managed to stop and raise his Keyblade up just in time to block. Rainbow Dash was knocked back a little from the block, and Ventus immediately followed up with a Keyblade combo.

After Ventus’ Keyblade combo had ended, Rainbow Dash quickly sped off to the side to put some space between the two of them. Ventus turned back around to see where she had sped off to, but as soon as he had turned around, she had moved away again, out of sight. The cyan pegasus was moving too fast for Ventus to keep up with.

After speeding around the arena for several seconds, Rainbow Dash then suddenly charged towards Ventus to attack him. The Keyblade Wielder wasn’t able to react in time and got hit. Rainbow Dash released a flurry of hoof punches into the light green pegasus.

As soon as Rainbow Dash’s combo ended, Ventus immediately leapt into one of his own. Rainbow Dash was unable to dodge in time, getting hit several times with his Keyblade. When his combo ended, Rainbow Dash then quickly jumped back and then started dashing around the edge of the arena again.

As Ventus watched the cyan pegasus speed around the arena, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to hit her, so he decided to use one his shotlocks. Concentrating hard, he kept his eyes locked on the cyan pegasus as she moved all around him, quickly spinning around to make sure that he didn’t lose sight of her. When he successfully charged up his shotlock, he then released it and shot his Flame Salvo at her.

At the same time that Ventus was ready to release his shotlock, Rainbow Dash decided to come in and attack him. Unfortunately for her, as soon as she dashed towards him, Ventus released his Flame Salvo, and launched several fireballs at her. The first fireball hit her straight on and knocked her back, out of her charge. When she was stopped, she was then immediately hit by all of the other fireballs, dealing a lot of damage.

As soon as his shotlock had ended, before Rainbow Dash could recover, he quickly ran over to her and got her in another Keyblade combo. When his combo ended, Rainbow Dash then quickly moved to dash away again, but just as she passed him, Ventus quickly shot a Fire spell at her, hitting her as she passed him.

After she had been knocked out of her dash once again, Ventus quickly took his Keyblade and proceeded to hit her in another combo again. “Aaaaaahhhhh.” Rainbow Dash screamed out as she was struck.

Rainbow Dash wearily took a step back after that last attack. She was feeling very weak and could barely stand. Looking back over at Ventus, who was still going strong, she started panting heavily. One of her injuries was suddenly aggravated and she lifted her hoof to her chest. She then tipped over on one side and shut her eyes. She then collapsed on to the cloud floor, defeated.

After Rainbow Dash had gone down, Ventus banished his Keyblade and picked his head up again. There was then a huge cheer from the crowd. Ventus dropped his battle face and looked around the cheering crowd.

A moment later, he then looked back over at Rainbow Dash, who was starting to open her eyes and picked her head up slightly to look at him. When she looked back at Ventus, she winced a little in pain, but then she faced him again and she said, “Good game.” She then gave him a friendly smile.

Ventus at first looked confused at this. From what Lightning Dust had told him about her, he was certainly not expecting her to compliment him like that. Looking back at her now, he could tell that she meant it. He also thought back to their fight, and he didn’t think that she was that bad. She also didn’t seem to be that competitive; at least no more so than him. She had been a good sport. Maybe Lightning Dust was wrong about her.

Putting on a warm smile, he nodded his head back to her. “Yeah.” Rainbow Dash just closed her eyes and grinned widely back at him in respect, showing her teeth.

Ventus then looked back around at the crowd cheering for him. It felt good and he started to smile and wave back at them. He then suddenly heard a thump against the cloud behind him and turned to see Lightning Dust, with an angry look on her face. “Well, what are you waiting for? Finish her off!” She scowled.

Ventus regarded her strangely. “But the fight’s already over.” He reasoned.

Lightning Dust just brushed off his concerns and took a step forward, with a devilish smile on her face. “Exactly, and she’s weak. This is the perfect moment to get revenge on her for what she did to me.”

Ventus stared at Lightning Dust carefully and then briefly looked back over his shoulder at Rainbow Dash lying there helpless. She strained to move and she still couldn’t pick herself up. With a sorrowful look on his face, Ventus turned back to face Lightning Dust. “No.” He stated thusly.

Lightning Dust looked surprised. “No?” She questioned.

Ventus then turned fully around to face her. “While I was fighting her, she didn’t seem like a bad person, or as competitive as you said. And when she lost, she was friendly and accepted it and congratulated me.” He gave her a reasonable look. “Is it possible that maybe you projected your own illusions on to what happened and it was all just a misunderstanding?” He tried to reason with her.

Lightning Dust just gritted her teeth in anger. “No!” She shouted out. “It’s all her fault! Everything that happened was her fault! She was just jealous that I was better than her and went behind my back and sabotaged me!” She ranted. All this did was convince Ventus that she had lied to him about Rainbow Dash.

Lightning Dust then suddenly started radiating a dark aura. Ventus took a step backwards in shock. He then looked to the side and saw several Unversed appear. As the dark aura surrounding Lightning Dust grew, the nearby Unversed then started melting away and were absorbed into her.

Lightning Dust gripped her chest with her hoof, in pain, as the Unversed flowed into her. Her eyes then went wide and she threw her head up towards the sky. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

She was then engulfed in a huge pillar of dark energy, which shot into the sky. She then released a huge wave of dark energy across the entire arena. Ventus raised his hoof up to his face to try and shield himself. Rainbow Dash had been knocked unconscious by the force of the dark energy that Lightning Dust was exuding and was blown back against the wall of the arena.

All of the pegasi in the seating areas became scared and flew away. Princess Celestia looked around at her little ponies fleeing, worriedly. She then looked down towards the arena, at the large pillar of dark energy forming. She unfurled her wings and was about to race down there, when suddenly, one of the cloud pillars next to her collapsed on top of her. She was alright, but she was completely pinned down. Her two guard escorts then tried desperately to get it off her.

Lowering his hoof from his face, Ventus then looked around at the state of the arena. All of the audience had fled, and parts of the arena and the audience area had been damaged. There was also a big pillar of dark energy shooting into the sky, creating several dark clouds above the arena, darkening the sky.

Ventus then followed the pillar down, right in front of him to a small whirlwind of darkness. A few seconds later, the whirlwind subsided, revealing Lightning Dust, but she now looked different. Her coat was now a much darker shade of green, and she stood almost twice as tall as before. Her mane now waved about on her head, like flames, and her eyes were blood red. Her face was completely blank and devoid of all emotion. When the wave of darkness dissipated, she then spread her wings out wide at her sides, threateningly.

Ventus took a step back from her in fear, but then he stopped where he was. He looked down at the ground hesitantly. After a second in thought, he then hardened his gaze. “I have to be brave.” He said to himself. “I have to be strong.” He added. He then looked back up at the demon pegasus in front of him, put on a strong look of determination and summoned his Keyblade.

The battle begun.

As the battle was beginning, Lightning Dust stared back at Ventus, with a cold and empty look on her face. She was being eerily quiet as she stared back at him, like she was completely different from the raving pegasus a minute ago. She didn’t even blink.

Ventus, however, bit down on the Keyblade in his mouth hard, in frustration, for everything she did. He stared back at her with a fierce look that said that he was going to win this battle and stop her.

As soon as the battle started, Lightning Dust immediately hopped up into the air. “This is the power of darkness.” She said. Her whole body was then surrounded in a thin, dark aura, and she touched back down on the clouds again.

As soon as Ventus stepped closer to her, he was immediately blasted back a little by a sudden wave of darkness. Ventus managed to recover quickly, however, and jumped towards her again and bashed her with his Keyblade. Once the combo ended, Lightning Dust released another wave of dark energy and knocked him back again.

When Ventus landed down on the cloud floor, the dark aura surrounding Lightning Dust suddenly got bigger for a second and she charged towards him, faster than he could follow. Ventus managed to raise his Keyblade up to block in time, to avoid the damage, however, Lightning Dust was moving so quickly that she still knocked him back, and she kept going and stopped on the other end of the arena.

Ventus turned back around to face her again and started running towards her. However, as soon as got close to her, he was knocked back again by another wave of darkness that she released. Once he had got back to his hooves, he raised his Keyblade above his head and said, “Heal.” The Cura spell then appeared above his head and restored some of his health.

While Ventus was healing himself, the dark aura surrounding Lightning Dust got bigger again, and she closed her eyes to concentrate. She then spread her wings out at her sides and she released two spheres of dark energy. They then started moving around the corners of the arena, in opposite directions.

Once Ventus was healed, he then started focusing on Lightning Dust again. Remembering that every time he tried to get close to her, he was knocked back by a wave of dark energy, he decided to try and keep his distance from her from now on and attack her at a range. Once he had come up with his strategy, he then pointed his Keyblade at her and yelled, “Fire.” He shot a Fire spell at her, that hit her and did some damage.

After Lightning Dust had recovered from the Fire spell, she then unfurled her wings far out at her side. Her total wingspan was now greater than she was tall. She began flapping her wings hard and began pushing Ventus back. Ventus couldn’t resist against the force of her wings and was blown back against the wall of the arena.

After he had been pushed back against the wall, the two dark spheres that she had released earlier, both hit him, causing damage. As soon as both spheres had disappeared, Lightning Dust’s dark aura grew bigger again and she created two more dark spheres. They appeared behind her and started moving against the wall, in opposite directions.

While Lightning Dust was busy creating more dark spheres, Ventus raised his Keyblade up again and said, “Heal.” He used a Cure spell this time, so it restored less health than last time.

As soon as he was healed, he started running towards Lightning Dust again. Once she saw him running towards her, she again started flapping her wings and tried to push him back. However, Ventus was ready this time and quickly jumped into the air, out of her range, before the force of the gust could hit him. He then unfurled his wings and started gliding towards her.

When he was right in front of her again, but not so close that her dark wave could push him back, he pointed his Keyblade towards her and used a Blizzara spell. The spell made contact and froze her in place. Ventus touched down on the cloud floor again and ran up to Lightning Dust. The ice kept her from releasing a dark wave, so he raised his Keyblade and started bashing her with a combo attack.

The Keyblade shattered the ice after the last attack and a dark wave immediately pushed him back. However, he managed to recover quickly and shot a Fira spell at her. The spell hit her before she could move and she was burned for more damage.

Ventus then approached her again and started hitting her with his Keyblade. He got in another three-hit combo before he was pushed back by another dark wave. He then immediately followed up with a Thundara spell that hit her before she could move. It was a good thing that he had gotten used to casting several high level spells in succession.

After she was hit by the Thundara spell, the dark aura surrounding her got bigger again and she quickly charged forward. Ventus was in the middle of trying to attack her again when she charged, so he was hit by her attack and knocked back slightly.

Recovering from her last attack, Ventus then looked over to the other side of the arena, where she had stopped. She then unfurled her wings again and started flapping hard, but Ventus managed to jump up in time and glided over to the side, to avoid the attack, staying away from the wall.

When he was on the ground again, he then turned to face Lightning Dust, who was still flapping her wings at where he had just been. Deciding to make a move before she noticed that he had dodged, Ventus quickly activated his shotlock and started targeting her.

Lightning Dust then folded her wings back in and turned to face Ventus again. She then unfurled her wings again; however, before she could attack him, Ventus finished targeting her and shot his Flame Salvo at her.

Lightning Dust was unable to dodge and was hit by every fireball that he had fired at her. When the shotlock ended, Ventus then started quickly running towards Lightning Dust while she was recovering. When he reached her, he swung his head back to hit her with his Keyblade, but he was interrupted by another dark wave that pushed him back.

Lightning Dust then proceeded to move into another attack; however, before she could, Ventus quickly ran at her again, immediately after being knocked back. It had been too soon since she had released the last dark wave, so Ventus was able to get close to her and whacked her with his Keyblade.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!” Lightning Dust screamed out after being hit.

Lightning Dust raised her head up towards the sky and started screaming. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” She was then suddenly engulfed in a darkness so dark, that she couldn’t be seen inside it. A few seconds later, the darkness disappeared around her, shattering away like glass. She was then returned to her normal form and her eyes were closed. She wavered on her hooves for a split second and then collapsed straight down on the ground.

Ventus was panting hard after the battle ended. When he saw her go down and return to normal, he banished his Keyblade and breathed a sigh of relief. He then winced on his left foreleg and started falling over, but he managed catch himself in time and stayed standing up.

When everything was over, he looked up and around the arena to check for anything. Behind him, at the back of the arena, Rainbow Dash had managed to pull herself up on to her hooves. Once she was standing back up again, she looked over towards Ventus and smirked at him.

Ventus happily returned the smile, now knowing that Rainbow Dash wasn’t as bad as Lightning Dust had led him to believe. He even considered her a friend. He then looked up at the sky, seeing that the dark clouds had disappeared and the Sun was shining down brightly on them again. His smile then brightened as he felt the Sun’s warmth pour down on him.

His ears then suddenly twitched when he heard the sound of a pair of wings flapping. He turned around in the direction that he had heard it and he saw the same winged unicorn from earlier, fly down towards him, with the guards that had managed to get the column off of her, behind her.

As she touched down on the cloud floor and approached him, Ventus remembered that she was a Princess and bowed to her, respectfully. Celestia simply stared down at him and then laughed, playfully. “There’s no need for that, Ventus.” She spoke in a caring tone of voice, like a doting mother. He then looked back up to look her in the eye. “You have saved all of us. If anything, we should be the ones bowing to you.” She then took a knee and bowed to him. The two guards behind her immediately followed suit.

Ventus simply stared back at the ponies bowing to him, feeling a bit uncomfortable. He then turned to the side and Rainbow Dash next to him. She just gave him a sly grin and then she bowed to him as well. After seeing this, Ventus now felt more comfortable and smiled. He then turned back to face Celestia. “Thank you, Your Highness.”

Celestia picked herself back up and looked down at Ventus, warmly. “There’s no need to be so formal. You can just call me, Celestia.” She then suddenly remembered something from earlier. “Ventus, that weapon that you used… That was a Keyblade, wasn’t it?” She asked him.

Ventus suddenly looked surprised. “You know about the Keyblade?”

Celestia smiled again. “Yes, I do.” She replied softly. “Terra and Aqua both wielded one as well.”

Ventus was now even more surprised and his eyes snapped open at the mention of his friend’s names, and he gasped. “Terra and Aqua? They were here?” He asked her frantically, taking a step forward.

Celestia could see that he sounded worried at the mention of Terra and Aqua, and realised now that the three of them were definitely connected. With a warm smile on her face, she raised her hoof in front of him, as if to tell him not to worry, and continued speaking. “Yes they were, and they were both a big help to us, just like you were. The three of you are very strong, indeed.”

Ventus took a step back and lowered his worried expression, but it was then replaced by a look of uncertainty. He briefly looked to the side before facing Celestia again. He then asked her, “Do you really think that I’m strong?”

Celestia’s expression didn’t change one iota from before when she responded. “Of course I do, Ventus; but also remember that there are many different kinds of strength. What matters most of all is having faith in yourself, and the bonds of friendship between you and your friends. I’m sure that you will find what you’re looking for eventually and that everything will be alright.”

After hearing everything that Celestia told him, he simply smiled in response.

“Yeah.” Rainbow Dash chimed in, next to him. He then turned to the side to face her. “And come back soon, okay? That way we can hang out some more; and we can have a rematch too. What d’ya say, Ventus?” She then held her front hoof out to him.

Ventus just looked at her outstretched hoof strangely for a moment, but then he realised what she meant and gave her a hoof bump. “Yeah. You got it.” He smiled and nodded back at her. “And you can call me, Ven. All my friends do.”

After his brief exchange with Rainbow Dash, he then briefly turned to face Celestia, but then he quickly looked away from her again and turned around to his other side and saw Lightning Dust still lying there unconscious, breathing gently.

Looking back at her now and remembering their earlier conversation, he knew that she wasn’t all bad and deserved another chance. Gathering up the courage to voice his concerns, he then turned towards Celestia again and said, “What about here?” He gestured to Lightning Dust. “You won’t go too hard on her, will you? I know what she did was wrong, but I think that she’s just lost and confused, and I really think that she can do better if she’s just given the chance.” He spoke with worry in his voice.

Looking down at Ventus’ worried face, Celestia then looked over at Lightning Dust. She still had that caring smile on her face. “Don’t worry. I know all too well what the Unversed can do to a pony, so I won’t hold anything she did while she was like that against her.” She then frowned slightly, but quickly returned to her smile again.

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash chimed in again. She then also frowned. “Although, she was already pretty brash beforehoof. Whether or not she’ll change and become a better pony will ultimately be up to her. But I’m sure that she’ll come around eventually, and when she does, we’ll be right there to embrace her.” She then turned back towards Ventus, smirking again. “She can be a pretty awesome pony when she wants to be. I’m sure we could become friends someday, just like the two of us are friends.”

After hearing the verdict, Ventus smiled back at Celestia as well. “Thank you.” He then turned back to face Rainbow Dash, who gave him a friendly grin. After returning it with one of his own, he then turned back around and started walking away.

After he had taken a few steps, he summoned his Keyblade and pointed it out in front of him. A small beam then shot out of his Keyblade and created a shimmering portal just a few feet away.

Ventus took a few steps closer to the portal and then turned back one last time to see his new friends off. They all smiled and waved back at him as he left, and with that, he turned back towards the portal again and walked through. The portal then closed behind him.

Rainbow Dash’s smile changed to an awkward one as soon as she saw him create a magic portal out of nowhere. She then stayed frozen in place, mid-wave, until after Ventus had left. Her eyes then suddenly shot open and she started waving her hooves all over the place. “Whoa, whoa, what? What just happened?” She started freaking out, flying all over the place, frantically.

Celestia looked over at Rainbow Dash, with a blank expression for a few seconds. She then suddenly started laughing to herself, gleefully. When Rainbow Dash noticed her laughing, she stopped in mid-air and looked over at Celestia, confused.

“Come on, Rainbow Dash.” Celestia spoke up. “Let’s go.” She then unfurled her wings and started flying away, with her two guards in tow.

Rainbow Dash simply watched as Celestia and her guards left, still confused. “Wait, what did you mean by that?” She asked Celestia, flying off after them. “What do you know about what just happened? Where did Ventus go? How did he do that? What’s going on?” She continued raving at her.

Celestia, however, didn’t respond and just giggled to herself, as Rainbow Dash continued asking her questions as they flew. This had certainly been an interesting day.

Forged a D-Link with Rainbow Dash

OBTAINED

Element of Loyalty

A Keyblade with long reach that provides a balanced boost in Strength and Magic. It also makes it easier to land critical hits, and deals higher damage when you do.