Green is to play music, Red is to stop music.

Kingdom Hearts: Harmony of Hearts
Chapter 12
Spirits and Nightmares (Part 1)

Equestria: Canterlot Castle Throne Room

Luna hated Night Court. Simple as that. The nobles of her day requested aid for reasonable things, but nobles of now seemed to ask for help with really petty things. She could have sworn to have denied nearly 20 requests to finance the construction of random statues of nobles in conspicuous places for varying boastful reasons in that evening alone.

“Jet Set!” Luna shouted without her Royal Canterlot Voice. “I don’t care if Fancy Pants is your most hated rival, my sister and I will not allow such a statue to be built!”

“Your majesty,” he began to complain, but Luna cut him off.

“Enough, you are dismissed.” Jet Set left the room with a disappointed scowl. Rubbing her hoof to her temple, she called to the guard. “Tell the remaining nobles and other ponies that the Night Court is on break until I say so.” The two Thestral Guards that were posted at the door nodded and left the room to carry out their commands.

“Why do they think that I would allow such abominations to be built when Tia refuses?” She asked to nopony in particular. Throwing her hooves in the air, she shouted briefly in frustration. “They don’t understand that if I was to approve what my sister refused, it would set us against each other.”

The Thestral Guards reentered the room, one of them approached Luna with a bow. “Your Majesty, Princess Twilight Sparkle has requested to speak with you and has refused to leave until she has spoken with you.” Luna thought for a moment.

“Allow her in and dismiss the rest. Night Court is officially over for tonight.” The Thestral bowed and went to carry out her orders. A few minutes later, Twilight and the Thestral entered. “You wished to see me?”

Twilight nodded. “It’s about my brother, Silver, or Sora.” She sat down on her haunches and teared up slightly. “I said something about his friend, Riku and he got upset as if I didn’t know the whole story.” Sniffing, she continued. “He may be right, so I was hoping that we could view the rest of the dream, as it may have some details we may have missed.”

Luna seemed intrigued at her request. “To be honest, I had a feeling that the dream we saw those weeks ago was incomplete.” She rose from the throne. “I’m also curious as to how the dream will play out.”

Luna walked to the hidden entrance to the throne room, with a slightly fuming Twilight following. “You mean you knew that what we saw wasn’t all of the dream?”

Without missing a beat, Luna responded, “Yes. If we saw the whole of the dream or I ended the dream, you would have awoken peacefully rather than to what happened to Spike and Lieutenant Colonel Flash Sentry when we last tried.”

They were approaching the guest wing as Twilight asked, “So, we’re jumping right into it?”

“Verily.” Luna led Twilight into one of the guest bedrooms. Twilight jumped onto the bed on top of the covers. No ceremony, no ‘Good Night’ or ‘Sweet dreams’. Luna ignited her horn and cast the dreamwalking spell.

********************

Equestria: Dreamscape

Twilight and Luna reentered the Dreamscape and found the dream’s memory. Upon entering the dream, the found themselves in a different great hall. On the walls of the hall, there were six capsules, three to each wall. In the capsules were five women and one girl. They seemed to be sleeping but there wasn’t any indication of life either.

Before they could question anything more of their current questions, the Dream Sora/Silver, accompanied with Donald and Goofy, ran through the great hall and up some stairs at the end of the hall. Both alicorns followed the trio by flying up to the elevated platform the stairs led to. Silver and Donald managed to get onto the platform, but Goofy hit his head on an invisible magic barrier that wasn’t there a second earlier, and he was knocked back down the stairs as a result. Donald noticed instantly, but Silver wasn’t paying attention to them. His attention was riveted on a prone figure on the floor.

“Kairi!” He ran to the unconscious girl and began shaking her, hoping to wake her up. “Kairi! Kairi! Open your eyes!” The only response from Kairi was to remain limp in his arms, as if she was dead.

“It’s no use.” The suddenness of the voice caught Silver’s attention to above a heart shaped portal of swirling color. There, in the bodysuit, like in the last dream, sat Riku on some pipes that were sticking out of the wall. Twilight scowled at him in disapproval, but couldn’t seem to hold that scowl. She had noticed that his voice seemed different, as if it was a blend of his original voice and a dark sounding adult voice. She also noticed that he held an evil, twisted version of the keyblade, black shaft and teeth and red hand guard.

“That girl has lost her heart. She cannot wake up.” Twilight looked at Luna briefly, only to notice that Luna had a look of terror on her face.

“Luna, are you okay?” She asked out of concern. Luna turned her attention to Twilight and whispered so quietly she barely was audible.

“It’s just like the Nightmare!” Twilight was shocked at what she said, even more so when Silver spoke.

"What? You...You’re not Riku.” At his words there, Twilight understood. Riku was possessed by a dark entity that he allowed in by his jealousy. From there, he may have been purged of the entity and he felt remorse for his actions when he was possessed. Much like Luna.

“The Keyhole cannot be completed so long as the last Princess of Heart still sleeps.” As Nightmare Riku jumped from the pipe and floated to the ground, Twilight jerked a bit in surprise when he said that. Looking at Kairi, she didn’t see much of how she could be a Princess, but she wasn’t the only one surprised.

“The Princess…? Kairi’s a Princess?!” Silver shouted.

“Yes, and without her power, the Keyhole will remain incomplete. It is time she awakened.”

Silver stood his ground, standing between Kairi and the Nightmare. “Whoever you are, let Riku go! Give him back his heart!”

“But first, you must give the Princess back her heart.” Twilight was confused until the Nightmare pointed the dark keyblade at Silver. Silver’s chest then flashed in light briefly, before he seemed to fall forward in pain, his hand to where the light emitted.

“Sora!” Donald shouted, having taken notice of the exchange. He rushed to Silver’s side, trying to help support his weight.

“What’s--”

“Don’t you see yet?” The Nightmare said. “The Princess’s heart is responding. It has been there all along. Kairi’s heart rests within you!”

Silver strained with the pain he was in. “Kairi...Kairi’s inside me?”

“I know all that there is to know.”

“Tell me. Who are you?”

The Nightmare spread his arms wide. “It is I, Ansem, The Seeker of Darkness!” Lowering his arms, he began to approach Donald and Silver. Donald seemed to have had enough, as he had summoned his staff with an angry squawk and charged Ansem. He paid Donald no mind, as he easily knocked him through the barrier and off the platform.

Ansem then pointed his keyblade at Silver. “So, I shall release you now, Princess. Complete the Keyhole with your power. Open the door, lead me into Everlasting Darkness!” He then raised the keyblade to strike him. Twilight began to panic, forgetting that this was a dream.

Time seemed to slow as the twisted, dark weapon neared its mark. Twilight shouted out to her brother. “SILVER!!!”

*********************

Meanwhile, back at the Sparkle Residence

Sora/Silver was recounting to his gathered family of his adventures with Captain Jack Sparrow when he felt a strange tugging in his heart. He paused in his story and placed a hoof on his chest, feeling his heart beating a little harder.

“Silver, are you okay?” His mother asked.

“I’m okay, but I have this feeling that Twilight is feeling distressed,” he said carefully. He looked up to his family. “It’s as if she is seeing something painful and needs a friend to help her through it.” He then closed his eyes in concentration.

******************

Back in the Dreamscape

‘Twilight. I’m here. Don’t worry. You’re safe.’ Those words, wherever they came from, calmed Twilight down as she watched the scene unfold. Barely a second passed when Dream Silver’s head looked up at his attacker in defiance. He summoned his Keyblade and the two blades locked together.

Silver began to push back against his attacker. “Forget it! There’s no way you’re taking Kairi’s heart!” He pushed Ansem off of him and a fight ensued. Ansem rushed forward, taking the offensive while Silver pushed for the defensive. This proved to be to Silver’s advantage, as for every attack Ansem made, Silver would block the attack and counter with at least three strikes, before having to move to avoid a retaliation. Every so often, Ansem charged some Dark Magic into his hand and it seemed to make him stronger and faster, allowing him to get a few strikes under Silver’s defenses. However, with those speed and strength boosts, came arrogance and carelessness. Any time Silver attacked while Ansem had the boosts up, he didn’t react or react in time. After a while of the melee, Ansem stopped and began to shoot small bursts of Dark Lightning.

Ansem then dropped his dark key and began to fall forward, as if Death was claiming him. “Riku!” Silver ran forward to catch his friend, but Riku-Ansem vanished.

Donald began squawking loudly. “Sora! Sora, look!”

“The...The Keyhole!” Goofy urged.

Silver looked to the strange portal. He summoned his keyblade and pointed it to it. After a few seconds of nothing happening, Goofy seemed to realise something. “It won’t work! The Keyhole’s not finished yet!”

Dismissing his keyblade, he asked, “What can we do?”

Goofy pointed to where Kairi laid. “Maybe we’ve gotta go wake Kairi up.”

Turning to Kairi, Silver confirmed, “I think you’re right. If we can free her heart...but...but how?” He threw his arms up in frustration before turning to the dark keyblade. “A keyblade that unlocks people’s hearts...I wonder.” He then walked forward to the twisted weapon.

“Sora? Goofy asked. Silver ignored him and picked up the keyblade. Suddenly, Twilight understood what he was going to do.

Not hearing Donald’s and Goofy’s pleas to stop, Twilight added her own, again forgetting that this was a dream. “Silver! No!”

Silver turned to his friends and flashed them a quick apologetic smile. He then turned the blade around and stabbed himself in the chest.

“SILVER!!! NOOO!!!”

**********************

Sparkle Residence

Silver had continued on with the story of his adventures. He had just finished telling of Master Xehanort’s ultimate defeat when he doubled over in pain. His family rushed to him as he started to breath heavily, trying to deal with the pain.

“What’s wrong?” Shining asked, in concern. “Is Twily in pain? Is she hurt?”

Silver seemed to have another bout of pain, as he fell out of his seat, writhing and grunting/yelling in pain. Cadence lit her horn in an attempt to relieve his pain, but as soon as the spell hit, she felt the pain too. Recoiling, she canceled the spell and looked to Shining. “The pain he is feeling is emotional, but it’s translating into physical pain.” She looked to Flash. “I’m not completely sure, but it may be related to Twilight.”

Shining and Flash managed to get past Night and Velvet, both of whom were trying to comfort Silver. Shining lifted Silver onto the table so he could try to get eye level with him, with Flash just behind him. “Silver, look at me.” Silver continued to writhe in pain. “Look at me!” He turned to Shining and Flash. “What’s wrong with Twily?” Silver winced and stifled a shout. “Is she okay?!”

In response, two elongated flashes of light came from Silver’s hooves, before the light vanished, revealing two keyblades. Flash recognised the one in his right hoof, being the one he saw him fight with most. The other one was more exotic looking, the handle a little offset from the blade, making it look like it was built for speed rather than strength.

Lifting his right hoof, he offered that keyblade to Shining Armor. “Take it! Find her! Save her!” He winced again, then lifted his left hoof and offered the other keyblade to Flash. “Hurry! Time is short! A trap is sprung!” After they took their respective keyblades, Silver suddenly began to writhe about more jerkingly. His constant movement knocked him off the table. He looked back at Shining and Flash with wide, pained eyes. “Save Twilight! Save Xion!”

Without having to ask twice, Shining and Flash bolted to try and reach the castle before it was too late.

********************

Dreamscape

Where the blade entered Silver’s chest, a light flashed. Silver let go of the blade and it automatically pulled itself out of him. The blade then darkened and vanished, leaving six orbs of pure light. The orbs then flew to the capsules and went into the five women and the girl.

The light from Silver’s chest intensified and then faded, an orb of pure light coming from his chest that flew to Kairi. When the orb entered her, her eyes opened instantly. Silver then began to glow golden and slowly fall backwards.

Donald began shouting and running to Sora. Kairi looked up when she heard Donald shouting. Her gaze fell upon Silver’s falling figure. Upon seeing him, she got up and rushed to him. She made to catch him, but his body dissolved into a bunch of golden lights and began floating away. Donald began calling for his friend to come back.

Kairi seemed more distraught by Silver’s sacrifice. “Sora, are you really--” She stopped herself and steeled her expression. “No. He can’t be! I won’t let him go!”

Then Kairi, Donald, and Goofy suddenly faded out of Twilight’s vision. She was confused with this, because she remembered enough to know that nobody really fades from the image. “Luna, what’s…” She looked to where Luna was and noticed that she was staring wide eyed in fear at was behind them. Twilight followed her line of sight and saw what was causing her to freeze in fear and it seemed to cause her to feel off.

Standing at full height was a man with a deep tan, amber eyes, and silvery-white hair. He wore a strange assortment of clothes that seemed to shout, ‘I’m from the deepest and darkest pit of Tartarus.’ After a few minutes of staring at him, he spoke.

“It seems that I’ve caught more in my web than anticipated. The Master’s Ex-wife, and his sister-in-law’s pitiful princess protege.” Luna tensed up and took a few steps back, Twilight half mirroring her movements. “You both will provide wonderful assets to the Organization.”

Luna couldn’t hold herself back. “Who are you?” She asked, shakily.

“It is I, Ansem, The Seeker of Darkness!"

Author's Note

There you have it. Sorry for the long wait. I've had some issues with writing and getting things published. Just felt a bit overworked and burned out. However, after replacing the burned out car parts, I'm back on the road.
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