Chapter 2: A Whole New World

He was surrounded by a dull, gray void that never seemed to end. No sound existed in this place save for his slow breathing that came from sleeping. The only colors here that stood out were his yellow T-Shirt and blue pants. What made things stranger was that he was floating on his back as if he was in a pool that was drifting him slowly away.

His gasped as if reaching the ending of a nightmare and opened his light blue eyes, finally awakening in this void.

“Where am I?” he wondered aloud, panting slightly.

Whatever the area was surrounding was causing him to feel peaceful and relaxed, something he hadn’t felt in a long time. His eyes began to shut once more.

“Sleep.”

Like a flick off a switch, the teenager was up in a standing position…sort of. He was still floating while standing, but he was on his guard.

“Who’s there!?” he demanded harshly, looking around for the source of the noise.

“Sleep, my child,” the deep voice soothed. “Sleep in the area between light and darkness.”

“Am I in Purgatory?” he questioned, chills going down his spine from the voice. “Is this the time when I will be judged?”

“You are not dead, Richard,” it explained. “But it would be quite interesting to see what your fate would be should you have died! Just relax and fall back into slumber. The darkness that blankets you protects you. Soothes you. Forever. You will never know fear or hurt again.”

Richard snorted. “Like I’m going to keep listening to your poisonous words, Ansem!”

Ansem chuckled. “You have not forgotten me.”

He gave withering glare in a random direction, hoping that it was directed towards the monster that ruined his life. “Who else talks cryptically and speaks of how amazing darkness is and how light will only bring pain and misery in my life?”

“So defensive,” he observed. “Are you so cruel to the one who gave your life meaning, gave you purpose?”

“You gave me hell!” Richard snarled, clenching his fists. “You destroyed Earth! You turned me against my best friend and my sister! You made me your puppet! You almost destroyed the universe with your darkness!”

“You invited me in, remember?”

Richard froze, turning pale at those simple, but horrible, words.

“But we shouldn’t dwell on the past,” Ansem advised. “You should return to your slumber, Richard. I can end your agony, your pain, your fears, if you would just let me in. I can help you.”

Richard was not buying a single word of his. “You must really think I am stupid, don’t you? I will never succumb to your ways ever again! Now, get out of my head!”

For a moment, there was silence, but Ansem broke it seconds later. “The light will reject you, Richard. Darkness cannot exist where there is light! It will bring you such misery!”

“If it shuts you up, I’ll take my chances,” he sneered.

The void began to rumble and Richard found himself falling. He didn’t scream, but he started to feel uncomfortable as the area began to glow.

“So you choose the path of pain,” Ansem stated, sounding disappointed. “You are stubborn in your ways, Richard. When the light rejects your presence, and it will, I will be waiting for your arrival.

Richard shielded his eyes as the light grew brighter and heard the final words of Ansem, Seeker of Darkness.

“The prodigal son will return home once more!”

Richard shot up into a sitting position with a shout. Panting like someone just ran several miles without stopping, he was able to realize that it was nothing more than a dream. He knew this due to the fact that instead of the gray void he was in, a dense forest surrounded him with sunlight barely able to crack through the trees.

“It was just a dream,” Richard told himself. “Ansem is dead. Kingdom Hearts killed him.”

“You sound so hopeful.”

Instead of searching for someone that wasn’t taking physical form at the moment, Richard just groaned. “Can’t blame me for wanting that, can you?”

“I suppose not,” Ansem conceded. “Why don’t you take a minute to think of the good things darkness has done for you. It has given you power and strength that no mere mortal could ever hope to achieve. You turned Maleficent the Witch into a Heartless through my power and made her submit to you!”

“Huh?” Richard asked as if snapping out of a daze. “Oh, sorry. I was busy tuning out some demon that keeps spouting nonsense every time he opens his mouth. Can I take a message?”

“Amusing,” he replied in a tone that clearly wasn’t. “It is clear that you will not listen to me now, but you will in due time. Enjoy the path less traveled by.”

Richard would be lying if he said he wasn’t unnerved by the whole experience. The fact that a fragment of Ansem still remained inside his body was enough to cause concern. For a brief moment, he considered ending his life to make sure that Ansem couldn’t use his body again, but he knew that the demon was powerful enough to just search for another hopeless fool. Since he knew the dangers, Richard would have to keep Ansem in until he could find a way to destroy him for good and free himself from his poisonous presence.

Once he rose to his feet, he reached behind him and pulled out a slightly-curved sword that was strapped to his back. Rightfully named the Soul Eater, this purple and red weapon could make short work of most objects. The creepy part about it was the blue, eyeball-like gem near the hilt. Whenever Richard would use the darkness, the gem would change to purple, echoing the purple mist that surrounded a darkness user. Or, if it detected another darkness user, it would glow red instead. Quite useful if he didn’t want to get ambushed by the Heartless or a sorcerer.

“This is the only thing I’ll ever thank Maleficent for,” he said, staring at the blade.

Instead of returning it to his back, he kept it out as he progressed through the forest. He wasn’t about to get eaten by a predator because he was foolish enough to let his guard down for even a minute. Even if using the powers of darkness was out of the question, he was still a heck of a swordsman.

Another thing that bothered him was the fact that King Mickey was nowhere to be found. The last thing he remembered was the two of them sealing the Door to Darkness and fighting Heartless after Heartless. After that…nothing. He doubted Mickey would have been defeated by those things, but he hoped that he wasn’t still trapped there. Once he got away from this world, he would find Mickey and then go from there.

As he progressed further, Richard made sure to listen to the sounds of the creatures. Several birds cawed throughout the area and occasionally he heard the growls of predators, but none were indicating they would be attempting to feast on him. He began to consider jumping on top of the trees to see if he could spot a town or a city, but he decided against it. To anyone else, this would sound crazy, but he wanted to soak in the peace and quiet of this place as much as he could. He had no idea what would happen the moment he left the forest, so he decided to remain ignorant of the future this one time and not seek it too quickly. He felt content and at peace more so here than he did when he was in that void. Yet again, Ansem lost this round.

CRUNCH!!

Richard winced as he felt bones being crushed under his foot. One look at the ground told him all he needed to know: he stepped on and killed a snake.

“Ugh!” he groaned, scraping the dead snake off his shoe. “You ruined my shoe, you idiot…and I’m talking to a corpse. You are completely sane, Richard.”

All of sudden, he heard low growls coming from behind him. Quick as a flash, Richard whirled around in a guarded position. At first he saw nothing and only heard the growls growing louder by the second. They were attempting to intimidate him, which really wasn’t working.

Then, he saw them...and started to laugh.

These creatures were wolves, four of them, but unlike any he had ever seen before. These wolves had glowing, green eyes which would have been creepy were it not for the fact that the canines were made of wood. Wood! And that’s why Richard was laughing. These wood wolves actually thought they had a chance to remotely hurt him.

“I have no idea if you wood-wolves can actually think,” Richard began, “but I can destroy each and every one of you with little to no effort. Why don’t you go find a different meal to have?”

As expected, the wolves didn’t back down and drew closer to him.

“Fine by me,” Richard replied, motioning them to go first. “After you.”

Taking the bait, the first wolf lunged at his neck and soon found its head quickly separated from its body. The “corpse” shattered into several pieces of wood, but the three wolves did not retreat. The remaining three charged with the intent to kill, but a quick few slashes sent each of them to their deaths. Like the first wolf, they broke apart into lifeless wood.

“Wow, I didn’t even break a sweat,” Richard stated sounding bored and disappointed.

He turned to walk away, but he detected the sound of movement behind him. The pieces of wood were shaking rapidly and gathering together. In an instant, the wood formed into a wood-wolf that was twice as big as Richard, growling with fury.

“Okay, that’s a little bit better,” he admitted.

The giant wolf took a snap at him which he easily sidestepped. He went for the neck, but the wolf anticipated the attack and knocked him aside with its head. Richard crashed against a tree, causing birds to fly out of it in fear.

“Okay,” he grunted, getting back up while the wolf stalked towards him. “That hurt. One problem, though: you’re made of wood.”

Richard launched a small fireball at the creature, which looked mortified of the attack.

KABOOM!!

The impact of the flame caused it to explode into several pieces of wood, completely removing its ability to regenerate. Where the body used to be was now a smoking crater in the middle of the field.

“Weakest. Bad guy. Ever,” Richard said, brushing off the debris from his body. “At least I didn’t burn the forest down with that move.”

The only thing that he was concerned about was the commotion he caused. He sincerely doubted that the wood-wolves were the worst things this world had to offer. If they happened to be the worst, he had nothing to worry about. If not, then whoever or whatever else lived on this planet would be coming for him very soon.

Golden Oak Library

My dearest Twilight,

Less than twenty minutes ago, Luna and I detected a strong magical surge originating from the Everfree Forest. It is unlike any magic I have ever felt, but Luna believes the surge to be familiar in a way. She is still trying to understand why as I write this letter. Don’t panic, Twilight. I need you to remain calm. I would not ask this of you if you were not capable of doing so, but please discover the source of the surge. Bring your friends as well. The Elements of Harmony may be needed in this endeavor. Take all the necessary precautions and be prepared for anything. If you believe that you cannot handle this by yourselves, there is no shame in asking for our help.

I wish you all the best of luck.

Sincerely,
Celestia

P.S.: Don’t panic.

It took several tries to read the letter before Twilight Sparkle, the student of Princess Celestia, the Bearer of the Element of Magic, the one who faced down horrible monsters in the past year, stopped panicking. The purple unicorn had a good reason for it, though.

A magical surge that concerned the Princesses of the Sun and Moon would be enough to worry the country. And the fact that Luna believed it to be familiar drew up several theories revolving around when Luna was Nightmare Moon. It could be ponies trying to bring back Nightmare Moon through forbidden rituals, Nightmare Moon actually returning in a different body, and other such theories regarding Nightmare Moon. No doubt Luna had these same exact worries.

Whatever the cause of the surge was, Twilight had to investigate, and she was not going to mess this task up like she did in the Crystal Empire when it came to the Equestria Games. She had no idea how things managed to work out the way they did, but she knew that it was by pure, dumb luck.

In less than five minutes, she managed round up all of her friends for a debriefing in the library. Pinkie Pie, the Bearer of the Element of Laughter, actually showed up moments after Twilight received the letter from Celestia. Her Pinkie Sense was going haywire, saying that there was a major doozy located in the Everfree Forest. Fluttershy, the Bearer of the Element of Kindness, came shortly after in a state of fear. She revealed that there was an explosion in the Everfree Forest not too long ago, and flew over to Twilight’s house to tell her. Twilight stayed behind to calm Fluttershy down while Pinkie was tasked to get the other three. Naturally, the pink pony got the job done and the other half of their group arrived: Rainbow Dash, the Bearer of the Element of Loyalty, Applejack, the Bearer of the Element of Honesty, and Rarity, the Bearer of the Element of Generosity. All three of them were ready for whatever came next.

“Our reinforcements have arrived!” Pinkie announced, giving Twilight a salute.

“Thank you, Pinkie,” Twilight replied, feeling a little bit better about the situation.

“What’s going on, Twilight?” Rainbow questioned, sounding concerned instead of annoyed for a change. “All Pinkie told us was that there was a doozy, and we needed to come to your house right away to talk about it.”

Twilight levitated the letter to her friends as she explained what was going on. “Princess Celestia detected a magical surge coming from the Everfree Forest. She has no idea what caused it, but Luna believes it to be familiar.”

“Nightmare Moon isn’t returning, is she?” Rarity gasped, horrified at the prospect.

Fluttershy gave an “Eeep!” before hiding her face in her hooves, not wanting to have to face the dark alicorn again. Once was more than enough.

“Anything’s possible,” Twilight admitted. “It could be Nightmare Moon manifesting in another pony, or it could something else entirely. Either way, it’s up to us to investigate.”

“Say no more, Twilight!” Rainbow assured with a grin on her face, the Pegasus pony flying up in the air. “If there’s something out there that needs a good flank-kicking, then we’ll be there to kick it.”

“Thank you, Rainbow,” she replied, levitating the Elements to their respective owners. “Girls, we need to be prepared for anything that could happen. That means we have to stick together the entire time. Don’t give me that look, Rainbow. I’m not taking any chances. Because if this thing is evil and powerful and we get separated, we might not be able to stop it. And if we don’t stop it, it could go after Ponyville. And if it goes after Ponyville--!”

“Simmer down, Twi!” Applejack stated firmly to the panic-filled unicorn. “Ah understand you’re scared. We all are.”

“I’m not.”

“Hush, Rainbow. But you need ta keep a cool head or you’re gonna fall apart when we find what we’re lookin’ for.”

“Darling, Celestia offered to help us if we need it,” Rarity pointed out, levitating the letter back to her friend. “If you think that this is too risky for us, just say so.”

Twilight took a deep breath, relieving herself of her panicked emotions for the moment. She felt the tiniest bit of doubt that this was something over their heads, and she came close to acting on it, but in the end, she decided to trust her instincts. It took a few seconds, but she did respond to that statement. “I think we’re capable of doing this.”

“Great!” Pinkie exclaimed, pulling a picnic basket out of nowhere. “I didn’t prepare these snacks for nothing after all.”

“Pinkie, we aren’t gonna be gone that long,” Applejack said.

“You don’t know!” she responded, swallowing a cupcake whole.

It was then that Rarity noticed someone missing in their group. “Twilight, where is Spike?”

“I sent him to the mayor’s office,” Twilight answered, putting on her own Element. “The mayor needs to be in the know in case something bad happens and Ponyville ends up in danger. I also told him if we didn’t come back in an hour to send an S.O.S. to the princesses.”

“You’ve pulled out all the stops today, Twilight,” Rainbow pointed out, impressed at how prepared she was.

“If our recent visit at the Crystal Empire taught me anything, it’s to use my head.” Twilight walked up to Fluttershy, who hadn’t spoken during the debriefing. “Fluttershy, are you going to be okay?”

“I’m…I’m scared, Twilight,” the shy Pegasus said softly. “Whatever’s in the Forest caused an explosion. What if it’s a horrible monster that eats ponies?”

“Then we do what we always do: put a stop it to it,” Twilight answered, determined. “I wouldn’t have asked you to come under other circumstances, but the Elements can’t be used without all of us together, and you’ve been in the Everfree Forest more times than we have. We need you, Fluttershy.”

Feeling encouraged by those words, Fluttershy rose to her hooves with a bit more confidence than she did earlier. “You can count me to help you, Twilight.”

Satisfied at how this was turning out, Twilight turned to the rest of her friends. “Are you girls ready?”

The ponies gave a collective cheer in response.

“Elements, roll out!!” Pinkie shouted in a war cry tone.

Author's Note

Okay, does anyone know how to do the letter thing the way other fics do it, with the author's note box surrounding it, because I have no idea.

Originally, I was going to add the meeting scene in this chapter, but I decided against it. As much as I like writing longer chapters, there’s gonna be a lot of information that happens during them, and I don’t want to dump too much into one chapter. There’s a chance I will go back to writing longer chapters in the future, but don’t hold me to that, please.

Thanks to ten likes, guys, and all the people who favorited and are following this story. Five dislikes is discouraging, especially when they won’t say why, but I won’t let it get me down.

Let me know if there are any grammatical errors in this chapter and I’ll fix them right away. I’ve been writing for almost three years and I still miss things.

Next chapter: Richard meets the Mane Six. This should be interesting.

EDIT: Added the Golden Oak Library as a location.