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

Kingdom Hearts: Harmony of Hearts
Chapter 16
Trouble in Ponyville

Equestria: Canterlot Castle Throne Room

After a long night’s rest, Silver and his family (minus Twilight) were gathered just outside of the throne room, waiting for Princess Celestia and Luna to call them in. The past few days had been rather hectic. Discovering family, learning of the Third Organization’s existence and plans, and many other crazy things. Not much of a difference with the past few years.

The doors to the throne room opened a slight bit and a guard peeked his head out. “Night Light. Twilight Velvet. You and your family may enter.” Silver got up and following Shining and his parents into the throne room.

The doors opened and Silver saw that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were on their respective thrones. Additional chairs were added to accommodate Cadence and Twilight to their sides. Twilight’s friends from Ponyville and her bodyguard were also there, sitting to Twilight’s side. Shining walked to where his wife was sitting, gave her a peck on the cheek and sat next to her.

Princess Celestia, despite the new scar on her face, had a look that rivaled Kairi’s beauty...at least, according to Silver. She smiled as the family walked in. “Night Light, Twilight Velvet, Silver Crown. It is nice to see you all again.” Silver bowed with the rest of his family. “Rise, we have much to discuss. Guards! Leave us.”

The guards, except for Flash, left the throne room at the Princess’s command. As soon as the last of them left, Celestia’s horn lit up, placing sound proofing spells and drawing the curtains. Suddenly, in a flash of light, a keyblade appeared in her hooves and she used it to lock the throne room door.

Luna gave her sister a slight disapproving look. “You always go for the flashy effects, sister,” She muttered. Celestia responded with a playful shove.

“Be quiet.” She straightened up and addressed the three ponies in front of her. “I heard from Twilight and Luna what had happened last night concerning an attempt on Twilight’s life in the dreamscape. While I’m happy that she’s safe and well, I can’t condone the actions of this Organization, nor what they plan on doing to this or other worlds.” She turned to Silver. “Silver Crown. Please step forward.”

Silver took a few scared steps forward. “I would like to thank you for what you had done to save Twilight. Now, before I ask a favor of you, I would like to know of how much you told your family of your adventures and if you could tell us.”

“I told them everything,” Silver replied. “Of course, I asked them to keep what I said secret.” Celestia gave him an approving smile. “Now, it’s a bit too of a long story to tell about ALL of my otherworldly accomplishments. I want to shorten it up to keep some of you from falling asleep.”

“What makes you think any of us would fall asleep?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I’m up for a good story.”

“The entire, unshortened version takes several hours,” Silver deadpanned.

“...Unless it takes too long,” Rainbow corrected herself.

Silver took a deep breath and began, “So, everything that I’ve went through started on the island world I’ve called home for most of my life…”

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

Roughly an Hour Later

After having told the abridged version of the story he told most of his family, Silver looked at the gathered “audience” before him. All four of the alicorns seemed to believe his story. His brother, his parents, and Flash had heard the longer story, so he wasn’t too concerned about them believing him. His concern, for the time being, were in the mares next to his sister.

Rainbow Dash had fallen asleep within the first twenty minutes of the story, missing the brief explanation of the Cave of Wonders in Agrabah. Fluttershy seemed to perk up every mention of an animal of some sort, and seemed ready to get into his face to question him about Donald and Goofy. Rarity seemed fascinated about the three good fairies that had given Silver his first set of enchanted clothes. Pinkie seemed rather excited, hearing about Wonderland and the brief jaunt through a tea party garden (though, she was rather put down when she heard about the party crashers).

Applejack, on the other hoof, seemed rather skeptical on most, if not all, of the story. Once he had finished, nopony said a word until she spoke. “That’s one heck of a tale, but I don’t think it’s the truth.”

“Applejack!” Twilight shouted, accidentally waking Rainbow in the process. “Do you really think that Silver is lying, or at the least, joking?”

“All I’m trying to say, Twi, is that he has told us this tale with no real proof, other than the freaky key he has and his word,” she countered. “I’m sure some powerful unicorn could easily enchant a weapon to act like that, but the rest sounds like a bunch of hooey. Ya’know, like all this about talking animals.”

“I may have a friend that can debunk your claims,” Silver called out. Applejack snorted a bit.

“Well, where is your friend? I don’t see him.”

“I’m not easily seen. Then again, that’s not surprising, considering my size,” a voice said, startling everypony except Silver, Twilight, and Flash. Applejack in particular was searching hard for the owner of the voice, but found no one. Nothing out of the ordinary, except the cricket in a top hat and dress coat.

Wait.

Top hat?

Dress coat?

Applejack did a double take at the jumping cricket in front of her. It stopped jumping for a moment and gave her a bow, briefly removing the hat in the process. “Cricket’s the name. Jiminy Cricket at your service.”

While everypony was practically stunned by the cricket being able to talk, but Applejack was more so. The idea of talking animals was proven to her in plain sight and sound. The only thing she could do was stutter out, “A...talking...cricket?”

Once Fluttershy had gotten her senses back, she perked up. “A Talking Cricket!” She unintentionally knocked Applejack across the room in her haste to more clearly see Jiminy. “I didn’t know that a cricket could talk! It’s just...I don’t know what to say!” She cried out in elation.

“All I can say is that I feel stupid,” Applejack mumbled through the wall she was imbedded in.

“Don’t feel too bad,” Silver said. “My adoptive mother didn’t believe a word I said about any of that same story until I actually performed a few unnatural feats.” He shook his head in amazement. “She felt so stupid that she banged her head on the kitchen table so many times that it broke.”

“That’s all good and *yawn* everything, but was there a reason to hear all that?” Rainbow asked.

Pinkie suddenly popped up behind her. “It’s actually quite clear, Dashie! The Princess wanted us to hear what he had done so that we can trust him, as he will be training Twilight, Flash, and Shining on how to be keyblade wielders.”

Everypony in the room was silent for a few seconds. “Well, Pinkie,” Rarity said. “I’m sure that is a wonderful theory, but…”

“Rarity,” Celestia called out. “She is actually correct (amazingly enough).” Silence prevailed for a few minutes before she spoke again. “That is not the only reason for us to hear the story. Seeing as how he was trusted to save all of known and unknown existence, I believe we can trust him to help us save Equestria.”

“How in the hay can he do that?” Applejack asked.

“Yeah!” Rainbow agreed. “We have the magic of the Elements of Harmony in us. What else do we need?”

“We need the power returned.” Twilight’s statement caused Rainbow and Applejack to stare at her questioningly. “If you remember about what I told you guys about what happened at the Friendship Castle the night Silver arrived and what you told me about what that unicorn did to you when I ran here, I feel that the power of the Elements of Harmony has been stolen.”

“Say what, now?” Rainbow stammered. “How can that be possible?”

“Exactly how she said it!” Night Light almost shouted. “We’re dealing with magic that isn’t native to this world. While the magic of this world can’t match the power of the Elements, that doesn’t mean that magic from other worlds can’t exceed it or nullify it.”

“That, actually, makes sense, in some way,” Shining said.

“It makes perfect sense!” Silver exclaimed. “Remember what I told you about that Cursed Aztec Gold?” Shining, Cadence, Flash, and Silver’s parents nodded. “Donald, Goofy, and I could easily pick up one of the 882 pieces and not be affected. In the same way, the pirates that touched the gold couldn’t be harmed UNLESS they were in moonlight and otherworldly magic was laced into our weapons.”

“That is true. Now, let us get back on topic,” Celestia said. “Master Silver Crown, as a Lost Master’s Apprentice and now Master, I confer…” A banging on the throne room door interrupted her, causing her to pause and shake her head in disapproval. “This meeting must have gone for a while if the door must be knocked on for something, be it urgent or trivial. Remember, my little ponies, nopony is to know of what happened here.” Her horn lit, canceling the sound proofing spells and opening the door for the guard that was knocking.

Once the door was open, the guard rushed in, holding a scroll. “Your Majesties, and Council, we received an urgent message from the detachment of Royal Guard in Ponyville.”

Shining looked concerned about this. “Why didn’t it get directly to me? The Captain of the Ponyville Guard should have used the dragonfire message system!”

“Well, Sir. According to the message, the bottle of dragonfire was either lost or damaged in the surprise attack on Ponyville.”

“WHAT!!!” Almost everypony shouted.

“Is everypony alright?” Twilight asked.

“The message has stated that they are doing what they can to hold back the attackers and evacuate the civilians, but the more stubborn ones have formed a small militia to aid in the town defense.” The guard scrolled through a bit more of the scroll before continuing. “While there is a general amount of fighting against the strange creatures that invaded, there seems to be larger concentrations of them in the general areas of the homes of the Element Bearers.”

“Then we shouldn’t hesitate!” Shining shouted. “We need to get reinforcements down there!”

“And we all should come, too,” Silver said, gesturing to Twilight, Flash, and their friends. “With what has happened in the past week, we need all the help we can get.”

“I agree,” Cadence said. “And I’ll come as well.” Shining was about to object, but Cadence cut him off with a glare. “I’m sorry, but if you’re involved, I should be as well.” Once again, Shining was about to object, but this time, Celestia cut him off.

“We have no time to argue, the lives of my little ponies may depend on this battle!”

“Make haste to the chariots!” Luna commanded. At that, everypony ran to prepare themselves for the upcoming trip and fight.

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

Equestria: Canterlot Chariot Court

The Royal Guard was preparing as fast as they could to move out and aid in the defense of Ponyville. Everypony running back and forth to get supplies, weapons, and troops loaded into the chariots. However, even during the rush to get everything ready, when Princess Celestia and Luna entered the Chariot Court, almost all activity ceased.

“Continue thy preparations,” Luna calmly ordered. The activity resumed, but the troops gave both of the Princesses a bit of room to move. They moved towards the pair of chariots that would take Twilight and her party on to Ponyville with the reinforcements.

Twilight took notice of the approaching diarchs and quickly made her way to them. Giving Celestia a hug, she asked, “Are you coming with us?”

“Nay,” Luna answered. “We have come to see thee and thy friends off.”

“And I have come to speak with Silver before you leave,” Celestia said. She walked past Twilight and towards the chariot that Silver was helping prepare. “Silver.” He turned to the princess. “I wish to speak with you, privately.”

Silver left the chariot and followed the Princess to a secluded corner of the court. “I must impress upon you the seriousness of the tasks I have given you.”

“Locating the Elements and training my siblings?”

“Yes. The Elements may have been taken off world and may necessitate bringing your ‘students’ with you.” She looked him in the eyes. “Do you think you can handle having them along with you?”

Silver laughed a bit. “Your Majesty, if I can handle Donald’s impatience and temper (and he does have a temper), then a few extra keys on hoof won’t be a problem.”

“I’m glad for that. I also wish to issue another assignment for you and your ‘students’ to accomplish.” Her horn lit up and a file had appeared out of nowhere. “This file used to contain the notes I had taken in observation of you and Twilight growing up. I had checked on them shortly after you had left to prepare for this trip and I had found that the notes have been stolen or scattered. Only the first page is there.”

“I take it that you wish for us to find the other pages.”

“You are correct, but don’t find them for me, find them for both you and your sister.” She looked past him to the chariots. “Now, my little pony, go and save the worlds.” Silver nodded and ran to the now prepared chariots.

“Let’s move out!” Shining bellowed. The chariots began to move and take off, headed towards Ponyville.

Author's Note

That last bit in the chapter is based off of the various journals and reports in the game series. I'll use Celestia's reports as intermission chapters. They don't need to be read, but they can be.

Also, I want to ask an opinion from the readers. I've read some of the manga and there is a scene where Cid makes a meal using Yuffie's cheese cake as the secret ingredient and she attacks him for that. If done correctly, do you think Silver/Sora could make a similar mistake with something Pinkie hid in the kitchen? We can only wonder...