Kingdom Hearts: The Fragorian

Chapters

Star Light, Star Bright
Jacked Up
The Start of Something Big
Apogee Street
Sorrowbration

Star Light, Star Bright

“You have failed the Mark of Mastery Exam,” the man across the table said with a sadistic grin.

“What.”

I slammed my hand on the table, rattling the glasses and silverware. “You change it every time! And only because it is me!”

He leaned back in his seat. “Ah, that I do. Do you know why?”

I shook my head angrily.

“In real life, you must adapt to any situation.”

“Then why the hell do you not apply that to your other students?!”

“That is their training, Rendynn Spire. I expect more from you than any other. I would know.”

He gestured to the oddly shaped weapon on his back. It was curved like a scimitar, with a wickedly jagged axe-like head on the end. A tiny charm shaped like a broken shield (though I seriously thought it should have been a troll face) dangled off the pommel.

“But here’s the thing, ‘master’. I don’t have a Keyblade. Even worse, I don’t even have a stable job! The longer I go without that Mark of Mastery, the longer I go on a low budget and... and... mooching!”

Let me explain myself, here. This had been my sixth attempt at the Electroknight Mark of Mastery exam. The man who I called ‘Master’ was named Keng. He changed the exam up every time I took it, one time challenging me to a duel. Needless to say, I lost or failed every single time. Add onto that the waiting time of thirty days and you’ve got one angry teenager.

Did I also mention that a Mark of Mastery to an Apprentice Electroknight is a High School/College Diploma to a regular student? Jobwise, that was very accurate. I had to rely on odd jobs and unstable pay to keep my home warm and my food cold.

You’d see why I was pretty miffed.

“Rendynn, my faith in you remains. It is up to you whether to believe in yourself, too.”

I got up from the seat with a snarl. Keng was irritating. His praise would be sound, even uplifting, if it weren’t for the fact that I lived alone on a tight budget.

I stomped out of the diner, slapping a few orbs of Munny for the waitress, who’d kindly put up with my behavior that evening.

Outside was the city of Praetor, a technological marvel of a mountain city. Nighttime would approach soon, which would change the cityscape to a sea of lights when the sun set. I leaned on the railing of the steps. There was only one problem with the whole ‘nighttime’ business.

Heartless roam at night.

The sunset was an orange-tinted warning for the citizens: The Darkness is coming.

I could see small groups of people picking up the pace, some even full-on running to their homes. I was in no rush. I had been in training for six years, landing me at the healthy pre-adult age of nineteen. In that time, I had learned how to handle a blade (or two, if a situation like that ever came up), as well as properly utilize my Fragorian traits.

Our world is called Fragor. It, as well as its people, are highly affiliated with Thunder and Thunder accessories... I mean, magic. The thunderstorms which provided most of our power clustered at the peaks of mountains, and cities naturally sprung up in their shadow. The Praetor Ridge was blustery, chilly, and uninviting to newcomers - the people who lived there, slightly less so.

The Fragorian race, though human, took some traits from the world as a side effect from being born here. A small child can perform a Thunder spell. A young man can survive a bolt of lightning. Twice. Within seconds of each strike. And that was when he was unprepared.

I decided that all I wanted to do tonight was go home and rest. No use moping now, as the next exam would be in another thirty days. Dammit, Keng.

I began a light jog on the short route home. The Heartless would be out and about soon, and I wanted sleep, not injury.

But, of course, that would be boring.

A second set of footsteps joined mine. They were metallic. Looking behind me, I saw a short, armored figure with soulless yellow eyes tracking my movement behind its helmet. I spun, fired a quick Thunder spell, and promptly started running again. The whole ‘speak the word, cast the spell’ thing was bogus. All you need is the energy and the will to use it. Not some magic word. Proclaiming your attack is foolish and makes you come across as a complete dolt.

It was not long before I had more pursuers after my heart, and not in the good way. I stopped, once again turning to face my (external) demons. There were too many to ignore.

On my back was my custom short sword. It was a Boltstrike model, with an added twist. I drew the blade and flicked a switch on the hilt.

SHK-ZZZZT

The stainless steel blade extended a good foot, segmenting as it went. Between the sections flickered angry arcs of lightning magic. Occasionally a stripped wire would throw off a spark or two. I was going to get that fixed eventually. I totally wasn’t leaving it in for aesthetic purposes. Honest.

True to my training, I dove into a mix of ranged and up-close-and-personal attacks against my foes. A Soldier delivered a spinning kick only to get tripped up, stabbed, and then fired into his fellows, knocking them over like a deck of cards. Smaller creatures, called Shadows, rose from the ground and tried to make my shins suffer for what I did to their brethren.

I’m happy to say I still have my shins. As well as a higher body count.

The wait for nighttime means a large number of Heartless. I was only getting started.

Two Large Bodies had showed up on the scene. True to the name, the Heartless were... well, fat. Seriously. The guys were spheres on tree-trunk legs with equally beefy arms. A large stitched-heart symbol emblazoned on their chests as a staple of the term, ‘Emblem Heartless’.

One flexed. The other hit its belly threateningly.

“Oh, joy.”

The ‘fatso’ on the right charged first, without considering the fact I had a very sharp, electrically charged weapon in my hand. Hell, I didn’t even need to swing. I just lifted the blade, angled it correctly, and-

Whump

My blade was impaled right into its emblem, with the thing just staring at me as if I were some sort of wizard. I flicked the switch, bringing the creature in closer. I then flicked it again.

Never had I seen something so fat fly so quickly in my life. At the same time, I haven't ever laughed like a hyena, either. There’s a first for everything.

Its buddy was watching the entire event unfold. Then things changed for the worse.

‘Is... is that thing glowing?!’

The Large Body was now covered in a purplish-pinkish aura, and it was moving much faster than its flying brother.

I couldn’t react in time.

I was slammed into the wall of the alley, and I heard some very unnecessary cracking noises from my chest.

It raised an arm to punch. I raised an arm to block, closing my eyes and hoping to God that my parents would not hear about this.

…

It was taking an awful long time for the punch to come.

I looked back at the offender.

“What the hell.”

It was asleep. It was honest-to-God asleep. I slipped out of its grip, which slackened. I crept away and picked up my blade, which was dropped in the fight. Looking back, I could see the impression of a man doing a jumping jack on the wall.

I decided to let sleeping dogs lie. After all, tempting fate didn’t seem to be a good idea with the taste of blood on my breath.

***

I had reached my home, slightly hunched from the exertion and sudden impact to the chest. My breathing was irregular. I hobbled over to the kitchen. From the top cabinet, I grabbed a bottle with stars on the design. The liquid was an acid green, appearing more harmful than good. I ignored the color scheme and took a swig.

Having the bones in your body pop back into place without any pain is very, very unsettling. On top of that, the restorative effects of the ‘Hi-Potion’ took form in a green glow surrounding my wounds. They closed, numbed, then returned to normal. All in the span of a few seconds.

“I’ll never get used to that,” I shuddered.

I unstrapped the Boltstrike and set it on a stand in my room. From there, I stepped onto the balcony. I looked to the sky.

If there was anything the Heartless couldn’t take away, it was the night sky.

Unfortunately, that did not apply to the stars.

Every night, someone in my prospective line of work — namely, ensuring the continued existence of all living things — makes it a habit of scanning the night sky. The stars, we knew, were other worlds. Each one had hundreds of thousands of living beings on it. Each one had a Keyhole leading to its heart. And each one had Heartless on it, searching for that Keyhole. When they found it, the world died. No further prevention possible. No refunds.

And when the world died, its star went out.

Take tonight, for instance.

The star peeked over the summit of the next mountain over, between two thunderheads. It was bright, to begin with, which made it all the more noticeable when it started to dim.

It flickered on and off, occasionally letting out a multi-colored sparkle as something very big disappeared.

I knew what was happening. People were falling into crevasses, or being crushed by collapsing mountains. The sun in the sky was dimming. Animals and plants withered up and died without their connection to the heart of the world.

It wasn’t pretty.

I prayed to whatever gods there were that it never happened to my world. In a silent, guilty part of my mind, I thanked them that it still wasn’t our turn.

Detached grief turned into anger, as irrational as that was. I was supposed to be an Electroknight, or even a Keyblade Wielder. I was supposed to be out there, in the Lanes Between, watching for and preventing stuff just like this. Damn Keng and his pretzel logic. Damn his “tests.” I should be out there. I shouldn’t be swatting away scouting parties because I got caught out at night. I should have been there.

I should have been there.

I turned away from the sight. That part of the sky was now woefully dark. I entered my room and closed the door. I shut the blinds.

I crawled into my bed, and shut my eyes.

***

WHUMPH

And then I woke right the hell back up.

“The hell was that?” I muttered under my breath.

Shortly after that sound came another, but much more subdued.

“Robbers? The hell they doing at night?” You see, because most robberies happened during the day. The hassle of dealing with the legions of evil was usually enough to ensure at least a quiet night’s sleep.

So, either it was a particularly stupid criminal or a really dim Heartless. Either way, it was on my balcony, and either way, I had my sword so it would cease to be a problem shortly.

I crept up to the door of my balcony and pinched open the blinds. I then closed them again. Then I opened them back up to make sure what I saw was indeed not some sleep-addled figment of my mind.

Judging from the little coloring books I dabbled in as a small child, I could only assume that there was a purple unicorn sitting on my balcony, crying its eyes out.

This was very possibly a new trick of the Heartless. Although, if that were true, it would probably have the heart emblem tattooed on its rear end rather than whatever that star thing was supposed to be.

Opening the balcony door was probably a bad idea.

Alright.

crk-vvvvvvsh

I looked out from the sliding glass door at the tiny supposed-to-be-a-fairy-tale. “Hello?”

It — scratch that, she — looked up at me. Her purple eyes were bloodshot. She looked incredibly tired. And she was scared of me.

I was probably not the most welcoming visage on the planet. At the moment, I was tired, recently wounded, and firmly frustrated by Keng the Master Troll. I probably looked like I was about to throw her off the side of the building.

“I-I-I’m sorry,” she stammered. “I didn’t mean... I mean, I wasn’t going to... I didn’t...!”

“Shh, shh,” I hushed, reaching out to her as a placating gesture. “I’m not going to hurt you. I promise.” Okay, that was a lie if she was up to anything funny, but the chances of that were dropping by the second. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

“My name is...” she started, before interrupting herself with a sob. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. I... my home is gone. All my family, my friends... everything’s been destroyed.”

Son of a bitch.

“I may be the last Equestrian in existence,” she croaked. “And I don’t have any idea what I’m going to do next.”

I should have been there.

“I don’t have any money, I don’t have any food, I don’t even know where I am! I’m completely lost, and I don’t know what I’m going to do...!”

“Shush.”

I should have been there.

“Twilight,” I began, slowly. “I don’t know you very well. But I know what happened. I know exactly what happened. And let me be the first to tell you, you are incredibly lucky.”

She sniffed. “I don’t feel very lucky.”

I should have been there.

“I know. But you survived the unsurvivable. And you do not deserve this. Do you hear me?” I put a hand on her shoulder. “No living thing deserves to go through what you have tonight.” I looked her in the eyes. “I promise you, Twilight Sparkle, I’m going to help you to the best of my ability. I’m going to help you survive here. I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you’re alright from here on. Do you understand?”

She nodded.

“Good. And for what it’s worth... I’m sorry.”

She embraced me, bursting into tears again. I returned the hug as softly as I could.

“I’m sorry.”

I should have been there.

***

I had given her my spare bedroom. Even through the hall and closed doors, I could still hear her sobs. Not once did I get up to quiet her down. She needed to get those emotions out, otherwise it would do more harm to herself (and me, for my heart was not exactly iron) if she felt she had to repress those emotions.

Since sleep wasn’t an option, at least for now, I instead chose to plan out my course of action.

I had a new person in the house. A new mouth to feed. On my budget, I could feed myself and leave about... a week’s worth of food in advance. Assuming she ate just as much as I did, which may be a stretch due to her size, the budget would need a good increase in Munny in order to keep living stable. That meant more job-hunting. It also meant that Keng had better know what the hell was coming his way the next time I attempted to get my Mark of Mastery. Failure was no longer an option.

With a grin at the thought of a jaw-dropped Keng, rest finally came.

Jacked Up

I kept my eyes clamped shut when the rays of the sun hit my face. I turned over and felt the melanoma-inducing heat on my back and neck, instead.

Well, we can’t have that, Mr. Blue Sky.

Grumbling, I slipped out of bed, walked right up to the window, and shut the blinds. Then my thoughts finally caught up with my movement.

“Damn.”

Well, I was awake. Might as well get something to eat. My stomach led my march to the kitchen, which was stocked with little food. I would have to visit the market today, especially with-

“Morning,” Twilight said as she stepped (trotted?) into the living room, mane all disheveled and a face like death warmed over twice. Which would be death warmed over... warmed over. Eeyuck.

“Good morning,” I said. “Can you sit over there for a second?” I gestured towards the small table in the living room. I had few guests.

She nodded, then sat at the table (with some difficulty).

My first sign that I was going to have to work at this whole “I promise to help you” business was the moth that flew out of the pantry when I cracked it open.

I was pretty sure that moth balls aren’t edible. I stepped out of the kitchen and sat myself down at a chair opposite my guest.

“Alright,” I started. “Looks like we’re gonna have to either go to the market or start a moth breeding facility.”

Heh. She was not expecting that one.

“Wait, what.”

“We’re gonna have to pay a visit to the market district, today. This is a good opportunity for you to tell me what you need.”

“Oh, right.”

A dreadful silence passed for the next few moments, before a thought struck me.

“Oh, uh. My name is Rendynn Spire, by the way. I sort of forgot to tell you last night.... Would make no sense to stay with someone you don’t even know. Heh.”

Right, another thing. I’m not exactly ‘social’. I have been more focused on getting the bills paid over the last few months instead of friendly conversations with my neighbors.

“That is an odd name,” she replied, lifting her gaze.

“Yeah...” I relented. “But so is ‘Twilight Sparkle’.” She blinked. I could hear the joke whoosh as it went over her head and off into the horizon. Apparently I wasn’t the only one unversed in the art of cross-species communication.

“So, let me tell you what our situation is here.”

“Nothing before this morning, please.”

“Granted. This world is Fragor, my home. We’re in the capitol, the mountain-city of Praetor.”

“I used to live in one of those.”

“Really!” I chuckled. “Small universe, isn’t it. Anyway, we’re in what passes for suburbs around here. Downtown is the market, which we’ll have to get to sooner or later. The other way is Castle Town, where the king and queen live-”

“We had princesses!” She was playing the My-Homeworld-Is-Just-As-Good-As-Yours game. Challenge accepted.

“Yes, well, I take it the princesses couldn’t corral thunderstorms and shoot lightning at people they didn’t like, eh?”

“Oh no, they could do that.”

Ouch.

“And they could fly.”

Double ouch.

“And they controlled the rising and setting of the sun and moon.”

Come on!

“Right then,” I said, hoping to interrupt her chain one-up before it could gain momentum. “I’m an Electroknight in training. We’re trained to combat Heartless — the same beings that I assume ate your world. You’ve probably seen them. Black. Nasty. Soulless eyes, usually yellow.”

She nodded, pondering something.

“They’re born from people’s negative emotions. When someone with darkness in their heart loses that heart, it flies who-knows-where and manifests into one of these monsters.”

“They sound a lot like Changelings.”

“I’m sorry?”

“They were a race of giant bugs back home. They could change their shape and ate love.”

“For a moment last night, I thought you were something similar.”

Her unimpressed stare could freeze lakes over.

“...Okay. So, we’ve established that you’re not one of these whatevers. So what are you?”

“A student of magic, sort of like you,” she said.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I was taught by the princesses. Does your king teach the knights here?”

I barked out a laugh.

“I wish! No, I get an asshole like Keng.”

She winced. “Why do you call him...?”

“Because he changes the test to get my Mark of Mastery every time I take it.” Seeing her perplexed expression, I continued. “It’s sort of like a degree in beating things up. With it, I could get a steady job, or at least stop having to beg for loans or makework. Instead, here I am, still living off my parents’ eternal generosity.”

“At least you have parents,” she noted bitterly.

I sighed. Things were going so well, too.

I got up from the table and slid the chair back into its spot.

“Alright, Twilight Sparkle. Breakfast is going to be served fresh from the Market today.” I motioned for her to follow.

I sincerely hoped that our conversations wouldn’t be ended by that card every time.

I placed a hand on the door’s faint blue symbol. A slight hiss came from the machinery in the wall, before sliding it into the ground.

“Glyph Tech. It’s currently what keeps our nightmarish ‘friends’ out.”

“How does it work?”

“The glyph is a virtual representation of the door’s lock. The machines are imbued with protective light magic. The more old-fashioned folks just have a glyph and a knob.”

She looked thoughtful. Magic, as I remembered, was her topic of study. Maybe it was a route for good conversation?

“As an Electroknight, I don’t just know how to swing my sword. I have learned how to manipulate electricity and Thunder magic with relative ease.”

Oh, there we go! A light smile on her face, good!

“... Which reminds me, hold on.”

I left her temporarily to get the Boltstrike out of my room. I returned with the blade in hand.

“This blade,” I started, “is able to concentrate my own brand of Thunder magic into the extensions.” I flicked the switch, revealing the blade’s inner workings.

“When I focus Thunder into my hand, the blade picks it up and uses the energy to inflict a bit more damage on those Heartless buggers.”

“It’s sort of like Electromancy!”

“Whatnow?”

“Electromancy. The ability to control lightning and electricity at will. It’s a trick Pegasi could do, back home.”

“So, your world didn’t just have unicorns?”

‘Oh, dammit. There I go again.’

Thankfully, her face didn’t make as bad as a reaction at the broached topic.

“Yes. There ar- were three kinds of ponies, excluding the princesses. I am a unicorn. The pegasi are winged ponies that can walk on clouds and manipulate weather. Earth Ponies are able to farm the land and are generally stronger than the other two tribes.”

“What about the princesses? How are they different?”

Aww. Why did it have to be a sad smile?

“The princesses were Alicorns. Alicorns are ponies with the best traits from all three tribes, winged, bearing a horn, and having the strength of ten ponies. At least, that’s what the books say.”

It was my turn to nod thoughtfully.

“Humans, as we are called, don’t have too many subspecies, if being born on Fragor can even denote something as such. Sure, we have sway over electricity, but not much else.”

She looked genuinely surprised.

“Really?”

“Yes. No wings, we use machines to do things we ourselves can't. I’ll show you later.”

My stomach growled at me with the ferocity of a tiger. Twilight giggled before she, too, was betrayed by her own.

“Well, you heard them. Let’s get moving.”

***

I love the Market District. The vitality of Praetor shines through in here, of all places. People talked to friends and family excitedly, or children would play with the tiny mechanized toys that were offered by the merchants. No one paid me or Twilight any mind, as off-worlders were a common sight. Those that did meet our gaze smiled or elicited a greeting, which we returned.

“Alright, we need some bread, eggs, a carton or two of milk, and... Oh, whoops.” I turned to Twilight. “Is there anything you need in particular? What do ponies eat?”

The nature of the Market District must have rubbed off on her, because her mood had drastically improved from this morning.

“Mostly just hay, oats, fruits, and vegetables. And occasionally dairy products.”

Dairy products? Did anyone ask the talking Equestrian cows about this? I would find out much later that the answer was yes, but the thought was good for a chuckle while it lasted.

“Alright, then. Most of what we need is sold over at Filippa’s.”

From the long row of store buildings, I indicated one bearing a greenish-bluish potion emblem. We made our way over, crossing the sea of people that were passing through. It wasn’t too hard to keep track of a unicorn. Why do you ask?

The cool store air hugged our bodies as we pushed our way in. A jolly female voice rang over the shelves, startling the poor girl, while making me brace myself internally.

“Rendynn? Is that you? Come, come!”

“Oh boy.”

“What’s wrong?” Asked Twilight, turning her head.

“Family friend, she’s really nice. Don’t tell her I said that, or I’ll receive a very painful, bone-crushing hu-AAARGH!”

And with that, my spine was bent in three different spots by the very affectionate Filippa.

“Heeeerngh... Twilight - gah! - Sparkle, meet Filippa. Items shop - agh! - owner.”

The hulking store-owner dropped her death grip on me and slapped me on the back, further disfiguring me. At this rate, I’d be a hunchback before I got out of here.

“Boy, you must eat more! You’re all bones!” bellowed Filippa, giving a hearty laugh to then injure my eardrums.

“Hello... Filippa. I might need a potion just for that one.” I cracked my back into place, wincing as...

“One!” Click.

“Two!” Crack.

“And... three.” Chk.

That didn’t sound good. None of it.

At least Twilight seemed to be enjoying the whole spectacle. She was trying very hard not to laugh.

“And who are you, little pony?” She asked, smiling that warm smile that could burn my house down.

I mouthed to her to run while she still could.

“Uh... I’m Twilight Sparkle. Nice to meet you, Filippa.”

“Dohohoho! She’s so adorable! Rendynn, isn’t she adorable?”

Oh Lord. Why me.

“Uh...”

“No matter, you need something from my little shop?” She vaulted over the counter and rustled up various items and produce. Somehow, she always knew exactly what I came for, without gaining prior knowledge of what I originally set out to buy.

I paused. What if her hugs probed my mind?! The world will never know.

“Alright, then. We have five potions, some bread rolls, milk, butter, carrots, potatoes, celery, aaaaand one freebie potion for the crybaby!”

“Grr..”

She laughed. “That will be 2304 munny, please.”

I opened up my pouch and counted out the currency. I slapped the orbs down onto the counter and she handed the items to us, bagged and ready for home.

“Before you two go, I really suggest you buy some fruit elsewhere. My shipment hasn’t arrived, today, and there are some good stands out right now!”

“Thanks,” I said, nodding my head in farewell.

“One last thing. Grow some meat on those bones, grow up strong like your father!”

“Duly noted.”

We stepped outside with our cargo.

“... Adorable?”

I groaned.

We visited other shops in addition to Filippa’s. One was the Item Synthesis shop, run by a few little guys called “Moogles”. They had been established a few years back. There were Curio shops, electronics stands, and toy shops.

Hey. I had never gotten the Gyro 3000 in my life. I still don’t have it, but... one day.

“Uh... Rendynn?”

“Huh, what.”

Why are you... posing?

“Oh, uh, ahem. Sorry.” I coughed into a shoulder and put my hands in my pockets. “We still haven’t bought any fruit. I don’t feel like eating celery for lunch.”

“‘Scuse me, sir,” asked an unfamiliar, rather twangy voice. “But could Ah interest you in some apples?”

***

Earlier that day, Applejack was walking.

She was walking and contemplating how to market apples to complete strangers and not thinking about armageddon. No sir.

She hiked up the mountain trail towards a city that reminded her an awful lot of a city back in the home that she was definitely not thinking about. There’d probably be a market there, and where there was a market, there would be hungry folks. And there was nothing better for hungry folks than good old Sweet Apple Acres apples.

As she toted the cart which was the last remnant of something she wasn’t thinking about into the town, she was struck by how... well, how nice everyone was. You’d think ponies were a common sight around here.

It reminded her so much of home that she most certainly did not have to take a moment in an alleyway to collect herself and make sure she didn’t break down in front of a crowd full of potential customers.

She set up a ramshackle wooden stand, almost exactly like that one thing. “APPLES - 3 BITS,” it read. And then people started asking what the conversion rate of bits to ‘money’ was, and she just got confused. Bits were money, right?

A kind (yet freakishly tall) gentleman informed her that the average grade-A apple went for a hundred ‘munny.’ She suspected he was lowballing her, but there was nothing wrong with giving customers a good value. And there were certainly a lot of apples to go around.

Word apparently got around - “That tiny orange furry thing sells the most delectable snack apples! And they’re so cheap, too!” That last part grated a bit, but she was too good a businessmare to object. She just changed the sign to 150 munny when no one was looking.

Over the course of a morning, she made a brisk trade. Half the stock sold before lunch, with a grand total of 30,000 munny. If she had any overhead costs, the haul wouldn’t be nearly as impressive. But due to recent events that no one was mentioning, and would not anytime soon, every apple sold was pure profit. It would help quite a bit.

Where her stand’s aesthetics fell short, she had to make up for in sheer showmareship. So it was without any intent to dredge up (day-)old memories that she called a rather lanky boy over to take a look.

“‘Scuse me, sir, but could Ah interest you in some apples?”

***

Oh. Well, this is surprising.

The new voice came from an orange pony wearing a stetson hat. Based on what I could see, she must have been an Equestrian.

“Uh... Hi.” I mumbled. I turned to Twilight, who was still looking at some tiny devices from a stall. I poked her on the shoulder and motioned towards the orange pony.

“Ba-ba-buh! Applejack! You’re alive!”

“Friend of yours?”

My query was left unanswered by the madly dashing purple unicorn, who had wrapped her Southern friend in a bear hug that I estimated at roughly 1.21 GigaFilippas. Trust me, I have an eye for these things.

“Twi, it’s great to see ya again, but - ack - air!”

“Oh, sorry! I’m sorry!” She immediately loosened her choke hold of sisterly love. “I just... I thought you were gone! I thought everypony was gone, and I didn’t have any idea...!”

She rambled a lot when she got flustered.

“It’s alright, sugarcube,” Applejack said, patting Twilight on the shoulder. “I was scared, too. No shame in that, is there?”

Let the record reflect that I was not tearing up at this little reunion.

Not one bit.

Solid as a rock, that’s me.

Twilight, on the other hand...

“Is anypony here with you?”

“Can’t be sure. I woke up alone somewhere down at the bottom of this here mountain...”

“...And you climbed up in a single morning?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said, as though it were no big deal.

“You ponies are insane.”

Twilight finally released her from the hug. She turned to me with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh, really? Who names their currency ‘munny’, anyways?”

“Not us. That’s just inter— no, extraworldly currency. According to our history, we used to use paper money.”

They looked flabbergasted.

“No coins?” Applejack queried.

“Yeah, there were coins. It’s complicated. Oh, and my name is Rendynn, if you were wondering.”

“Aww, horsefeathers! Where’re mah manners?” She then trotted up to me and gave my hand a good shake. Don’t ask how it worked. It just did.

“Ah’m Applejack, one of the farmers of Sweet Apple Acres!”

I had a closer look at her, now. She had a blonde mane and tail, which were both bound by red bands in (heh) ponytails. Her eyes were green, and just as large and expressive as Twilight’s. I could only guess that this applied for most Equestrian races.

… No, I’m not profiling!

“Nice to meet you, Applejack. I’m glad that Twilight isn’t the only one alive.”

She grimaced for just a second, before replacing it with a friendly smile.

“If you’re here, there’s a chance some other ponies have made it, too!” Piped up Twilight.

“Well, that would be good. Especially here in Praetor. Otherworlders are welcome, here. After all, tourism and trade are our most valuable assets since the ‘Era of Gummi’.”

“Wait, what?” They both questioned.

“Gummi blocks. Noted for their bright colors and are used in ships, but this is getting off-topic. We should ask around and see if any other ponies made it.”

“Ya’ll can go ahead an’ do that. I still need to sell the rest of mah apples.”

Looking back, a considerable line of people formed behind her little stand.

“An’ before ya go, here!” She tossed both of us an apple, with Twilight catching it with her magic.

“Thanks!”

I took a bite out of the apple. My face changed to one of sheer bliss.

“Uh..?” Twilight looked at me funny.

“Oh my God. I would’ve paid for this.”

The Start of Something Big

As time went on, we asked anyone and everyone if they had seen ‘anypony’ like Twilight. We always received ‘No, sorry.’, as an answer. The search continued for hours, with the sun in the sky marking our passage through time. Twilight never got rid of that determined expression on her face, though. It practically defied the world around her.

The answer never seemed to change, yet we pressed on. Four hours of walking, talking, and questioning. During that time, I realized that, after the first hour or so, our non-success was affecting her. Her walk changed, then her grin. Eventually, even her eyes seemed to lose the spark they’d gained when she met Applejack. It was at this point, with the sun a small ways away from our neighboring mountain peak that I decided to stop her.

“No, we can keep going, I’ll just-”

“Twilight, I’m sorry. If we keep going, we’ll be jumped.” I gave her a pleading look. My smaller green eyes into her larger amethyst ones.

“O-okay. Alright.” She finally relented, sagging much more than before.

I placed my hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry. We can try again in the morning.”

In related news, I sucked at being reassuring. At least she wasn’t crying.

***

The market’s stalls and shops were closing up when we returned. The sunset’s tinted light was reflecting off of the store windows, splashing the cobbled road with waves of orange. Applejack was closing up, too. She was busy dismantling the wooden structure and waved us over with a hoof.

“Well, howdy there!” She greeted us. “How was yer search?”

“Not so good,” I sighed.

Twilight just hung her head.

“Aww, come on now, sugarcube. Lighten up a bit!” Applejack walked up to her and lifted her chin with a hoof. “That’s no way to be. Hey, at least you found me, right?”

Something told me that was a question Twilight wasn’t up to answering. I quickly stepped in.

“Well, there’s always tomorrow. Speaking of which, if you two want to live to see tomorrow, we need to get home.” I looked up at the skyline. Not too dark yet, but... “Right now.”

“And why is that?” Applejack asked, eyebrow raised.

“The creatures that took your world are the same ones that roam these streets at night. You’re gonna want a roof over your head as soon as possible.”

She let out a low whistle. “Don’t need to tell me twice. Let’s boogity.”

I set the pace, it was a light jog for me, but it seemed to be a Sunday walk for them. They didn’t need to put any extra energy into it! Certainly did not help my ego any.

‘Alright’, I thought to myself. ‘I cannot let myself get careless this time. I’m responsible for two other lives now, and I’ll be damned if that number decreases.’

“Does anyone else hear that... noise?” Twilight murmured.

I stopped thinking and focused on my ears. No sound- what was that?

Bwooom

It sounded like a giant ball, bouncing on the ground.

Bwooom

Was it getting closer?

Bwooom

“Okay, now that’s just starting to get obno-”

I was cut off by one of the strangest sights of my life. A Large Body (hopefully not the one I angered yesterday) was bouncing on its belly with something very, very pink on its back.

Bwooom ”Wheeeeee!”

What the hell.

What are you doing, Large Body. Don’t make that noise. You are not a little girl, you are a Large Body.

Oh, wait, that wasn’t the Large Body. That was the pink thing. A vaguely pony-shaped pink thing. Wait a second....

“Pinkie!” called Twilight, smiling again.

“Hiya, guys!” Bwooom.

A pink pony with the world’s most obvious name was using a Large Body as her own personal hippity hop. I could swear I hadn’t had anything hard to drink that afternoon. But here we were.

“Pinkie, what in tarnation d’you think you’re doing?”

“I thought it was obvious!” Bwooom. “I’m using this giant blue thing as a bouncy ball!” Bwooom. “I mean, duh, what else would I be doing with it?”

“Not antagonizing it?” I offered with a cringe.

“Antaga-what now?”

“Don’t you think...” I stopped to duck and let the jiggly bounding mass fly over our heads. “...that he’s going to be mad when you finally get off of him?”

“Why would he be mad?”

“Because he’s a member of a fierce, demonic race born of negative feelings, who not twenty-four hours ago were eating your world alive!”

This gave her, and by extension her ride, pause. The Large Body didn’t look mad, actually. Just really dizzy.

“Maaaybe you’re right.” She bounced off the heartless and continued bouncing toward us, with apparently no elasticity lost. “Bye, mister Giant Blue Bouncy Man!” she called, waving. “It was fun!”

The Large Body waved back distractedly, stumbling back down the alleyway from whence it came.

I have been living in this city for nineteen years, and that is by far the weirdest thing involving a Heartless that I have ever seen.

She joined our group, and immediately started peppering me with questions.

“What’s your name?”

“Rendynn Spire.”

“What are you?”

“Human.”

“What’s your favorite color?”

“Blue- I mean, red?”

“Do you like cupcakes?”

“What!?”

“How about parties? Do you like parties?”

“Wait, hold on a sec-”

“Ooh! Ooh! Do you like games? I like games, and we can have them at your party and-”

“HOLD YOUR FREAKIN’ HORSES, GIRL!”

The conversation was taking place while we walked to my house, with this sudden outburst of mine halting our progress once again.

“Pardon my French. Just... slow... down.” I spoke in a hushed voice.

“Why are you being quiet?”

“My head hurts. Is that okay? My head is hurting. Please, ask your questions, but do it slowly.”

“Okie dokie Lokie!” She chirped.

“And quietly, too.”

“Okie dokie lokie.”

I sighed. Close enough.

“So...” She seemed to levitate off the ground for just a second as she looked eye-level to me. “...do you like cupcakes?”

“I’d imagine so.”

She smiled sweetly. “How about parties?”

“Ditto.”

“Can we have a party at your house? It’ll be so much fun!”

“No.”

“Aww. Why not?” She changed her expression to puppy dog eyes. I did not concede.

“I don’t have the time or munny for that.”

That led to Applejack’s comment:

“Well, work some more, boy!”

ALRIGHT, BACK THE HELL UP.

I had three ponies as well as myself to take care of. The supplies we were bringing back would last a few days, if that. This ‘Pinkie’ had, against all reason, tamed a Large Body, one of the Heartless, into a bouncing mount. Add all that to the fact that whatever time I had to myself was now gone, sworn to helping Twilight out in the first place...

If this were a cartoon, there would be steam coming out of my ears. You don’t mock a Spire for his work ethic.

I turned to Applejack and fixed her with a glare I usually reserved for Keng.

“I’ll have you know, Miss, that I have been job-hunting for quite some time. I won’t be getting a long-term job for another month, at least. Please excuse me if my current inability to secure a good job and stable pay affects my mood just a little bit.”

She blinked. “Struck a nerve, did I?”

“Ohohoho, you have no idea.”

After that short but satisfying tirade, my mental training kicked in. I took a few deep breaths, closing my eyes and locking up my frustrations. I needed good judgment and a clear head for the issues at hand.

“I’m sorry,” I said, turning around and walking as close to pony-speed as I could. “Let’s just get home.”

The silence that followed was more uncomfortable than a barbwire jacket.

***

After returning home, I placed the food into its proper spots in the kitchen, then walked to my room. I stopped at the door, realizing for a moment that I had two new guests. I turned right the heck back around and told them my room was now theirs, and I would sleep on the couch. There was no argument, probably because of the almost expressionless look on my face.

Once I got some sleep, I would be fine. Then I could seize the day. Carpe the ever-living crap out of that diem. No problems.

I’d get a job, or jobs, and support these poor girls. When that test rolled around, I’d kick Keng’s ass at whatever his twisted, depraved mind concocted, and enjoy a better life. After that, I’d pursue the career of an Electroknight, protecting citizens from the creatures that haunt the night, and other worlds. Like I should have been doing this whole time.

I sighed miserably when I lay on the couch, and set my sword on the floor near it. I stared up at the ceiling for a moment, contemplating the exact events that would have to take place tomorrow. I’d more than certainly have to buy a little more food. I was glad they were herbivorous, because meat was hella expensive.

I then thought about the looks and wordless expressions I had received from my equine guests. After I had snapped at Applejack over the job thing, I’d most likely stopped being the “honorable host.” My parents would kill me if word got out that I was particularly hostile - in any amount - towards them.

“...Well, shit.”

Guilt. The very last thing on my growing list of things I don’t need. A fitful sleep took hold after I worked out a rough apology for the next day.

***

Rendynn awoke in a standing position, a stark contrast to laying on his back only a few minutes previous. He blinked, then looked around.

Darkness reigned, for he could see nothing but the floor, which turned out to be a gorgeously decorated stained-glass, circular platform. It depicted the familiar overhead view of his hometown, Praetor, which he recalled seeing in a few books and magazines.

Now, the question remained - Where was he?

He started patrolling the space, attempting to glean some sort of information as to why he was in this odd, beautiful area. His shoes, he noticed, made a muffled clinking noise as he stepped across the glass surface. Upon inspection, he found that he was also not wearing his regular padded clothing, but his travelling gear, which he had kept in his closet had the need presented itself. It was lightly armored, with padding to allow free mobility. He reached over his back and smiled when he found his favorite custom short sword.

He approached the opposite edge of the platform and peered over the side. Only black, save for the soft glow of what appeared to be windows adorning the side of the column. Well, that proved he wasn’t on a floating glass platform, but an ornate tower instead. Still, what could he do? He was stranded above the ground at an unidentifiable height.

A wondrous sound reverberated through the space, shaking the ground and nearly causing Rend to lose his balance and fall off. He spun around to find that an ornate set of doors had appeared, light red in color and inscribed with writing of unknown origin.

He cautiously crept up to the entryway, then, deeming it safe, peered around it. By all appearances, the doors were useless, as opening them on one side would only grant access to the empty space right behind it.

He decided to humor whatever placed the door there. Rendynn grasped the handles and opened the doors with a grunt. To his (partial) surprise, instead of the empty space that had previously resided behind it, there was now another platform, with a different design.

Choices.

The voice came from nowhere. It sounded out, echoed once, and faded into the distance.

Every action is a choice.

A choice to carry on.

A choice to aid, or to abandon.

A choice between light and darkness.

The floor beneath him was similar to the previous “room.” The outer edge of the picture was ringed with buildings, with a half-sun and half-moon in the center. The sunlit buildings shone a bright silver. The moonlit half of the city was decayed, and yellow eyes peeked out from behind missing windows.

Two towers rose in the distance, one shining white, one glowing a malevolent blue. Platforms made of more stained glass rose from the shadow below, leading to each.

Many have chosen the dark path. It is easy to take, and the powers it grants are great and terrible. Others choose the light path — one of hardship and suffering, and often thankless in the duties it entails.

He had already made this choice, long ago. Why was it being presented to him again now?

Without a second thought, he strode over the light half of the platform and began to ascend.

Some choose light because it is merely “the right thing.” Ideals are lovely things, but they die very easily. The “right thing” is never as easy to do as we assume it to be.

The next stair he stepped on lurched to the side. He slid, but kept his footing.

In our dreams, righteousness is a flawless thing, to uphold at all costs.

Images of a lonely purple mare and her friends - one insulting, one infuriatingly hyper - flashed into his head.

In the harsh light of day, its blemishes are uncovered. And many lose the way afterward.

He shook his head and kept climbing. It didn’t matter what he thought of the ponies. They needed his help, right? So he would help them, consequences be damned. He had no money. So what? He’d find money. He always did. Regardless of what minor annoyances these three had cost him, he’d sworn an oath. What kind of knight would he be if he broke his word like that?

To those who strive for good, difficulty is a constant companion.

The next stair cracked and buckled under his weight. He threw himself to the one after before it shattered completely.

Would you brave hardship, thankless toil, and even death to uphold a mere promise?

He was almost at the top. The tower’s top floor shone even brighter now.

Why?

For some reason, this stopped him in his tracks.

Can you think of an answer?

He thought, contemplating the ivory-colored floor before him. All it would take to finish this climb was a single step. But he had to have an answer first.

Is it because you’ve been told to? Or because you want to?

Well, of course he wanted to.

But why?

His thoughts wandered. He saw a pastoral landscape turn brown and shrivel like burning paper. He saw a moon shatter into thousands of pieces, and a sun flicker and die like a doused candle.

He saw a small purple unicorn cast a spell in desperation, as the ground opened beneath her feet.

She appeared on a balcony in a strange land, alone and frightened.

The door opened.

“Hello?”

I should have been there.

I had my answer.

I thought of a tragedy played out on a hundred worlds, that might one day visit my own if I was not vigilant enough. I thought of innocent lives lost. I thought of the hordes of vile creatures that existed only to destroy.

I thought of three lonely, scared girls, orphaned from everything they knew because of something I could have prevented. Something I would never allow to happen again.

The rest was easy.

I stepped forward.

***

The light was bright, yet it did not blind me. The image on this pillar depicted rolling green hills, a settlement or two, and many familiar beings. I recognized this picture, too. It was based off of the old beliefs, where there was only one world, a world so large and filled with light. When men fought for the light, darkness was born, and the world shattered into many fragments.

The steps behind me fell away. I was resigned to my choice. In the middle of the floor, a pedestal of ornate white stone arose, seemingly without friction. I stepped towards the thing, reaching out for the light the structure held.

To my surprise, the light burst forth from the pedestal and wrapped around my body. Amazing feats of agility and strength flowed into my mind and settled into my muscle memory. I felt the natural magic reserves in my body to increase exponentially, and the sword on my back shook violently.

I was startled, yet warmed from the light. The pedestal sank into the ground. After that, I stole a glance towards the tower of darkness. For the briefest of moments, I thought I saw a figure standing there, looking directly at me. When I blinked, it was gone, along with the tower itself.

Deciding to not worry about what I potentially saw, I gripped the hilt of my sword to find that it was shaped different. Pulling it out, I found that I no longer held my favorite short sword.

The hilt had been replaced with a wraparound guard, made of silvery metal. The blade had lengthened a good foot or two. At the very end was a head in the shape of a lightning bolt. On a whim, I ficked my wrist. The head split lengthwise, segmenting into three separate teeth that sparked and flickered with lightning magic.

My sword was now a Keyblade, and I was just a little giddy.

My good humor turned out to be short-lived. The ground shook, and the platform glowed a brilliant white. When I opened my eyes again, I found that there was no longer one platform, but many across a my entire field of vision.

It wouldn’t have worried me, except that the darkness surrounding the place had suddenly gained a hostile feel to it. That wasn’t the only problem, either. The usually calming, serene designs of the stained glass platforms had changed for the worse. I tried not to stare too much, but... it felt as if the yellow eyes were watching me. I could be right, I guess, as Shadows began to rise from the ground.

I started to work, cleaving the dark creatures into tiny bits and smoke. The longer reach on the weapon I now held was helping greatly, and its weight was well-balanced, despite the teeth on the end. I ensured that no Shadow got any closer than I wanted it to be.

Time passed, and the flow of Shadows never stemmed. I wasn’t anywhere near fatigued, but it felt like I was wasting my energy. I turned and ran, jumping the gaps between platforms. I needed a way out.

In the distance, I could see a blue light, as I got closer, I noticed that the light was lightly threaded to the ground and the... ceiling?

The place had a ceiling. And it was writhing like a snake and spouting darkened mist. I was no longer where I once was, but trapped by Darkness. As if to confirm this, an enormous Heartless the size of a building formed from the ceiling and dropped down to greet me.

I recognized it immediately. A Darkside.

It was one of the stronger breeds of Heartless, one rarely encountered on any world, save for those about to be doomed to oblivion. The creature was bipedal, with a gaping heart-shaped cavity in its chest, large, muscular limbs and a head obscured by hair-like tendrils. Its eyes showed nothing but hunger.

And yet I knew this wasn’t the worst of it. This was the guardian of that blue light.

I reacted first. I boosted off of the ground with my newly granted speed and agility. The Darkside swiped an arm at my advances, prompting me to roll to the side. Its hand was buried into the glass. I rewarded its efforts with heavy swings from the Keyblade. It reared back and its heart-hole-thing began to glow. My eyes widened, and I turned tail.

SCHOOM

I looked back and realized that the beam was... very freaking slow. It was underwhelming, to say the least. And the thing could track my movement, too. Time to enact what had been a proud tradition of Keyblade Wielders for generations...

Laser Tennis. I knocked the beam back with as much effort as swatting a fly. A glowing, volatile, deadly fly. Of evil.

What was even more surprising was that the Darkside had failed to even acknowledge the slow-moving gnat of a beam that had a direct course set for its own head. The moment the small blast was heard, I decided then and there that this battle was ending. This is supposed to be a fight for my life, for God’s sakes.

As I ran towards the gigantic, sluggish monster, I raised my Keyblade in preparation of a quick kill. The Darkside had the same idea, as its depressingly inferior battle tactics took a turn for the better. For itself. Not necessarily me. Between its two claws, a large orange pulsing ball of fire magic appeared, and launched towards me. It was much too big to deflect, and suitably faster.

Did I mention those amazing feats earlier? The next moment was a proud one. I boosted off the ground and over the projectile, and straight towards the Darkside’s face. It was not prepared for that. Or the blade between its eyes. I’m pretty sure that’s something no one could be prepared for.

I twisted the Keyblade. It fell onto its back, and began breaking down into its more basic dark elements. I removed my weapon and leaped off of the rapidly fading pool of darkness. Ahead was the blue light. It looked partially organic in nature, pulsing to a rhythm I could not follow. What I could figure, however, was that its continued existence would only hinder my own, so a quick horizontal slash made short work of it.

Just my luck. The blue light thing was also holding that section of the floor together. It goes without saying that I found myself running for dear life with each step cracking the morbid images of stained glass.

Looking around, there were two similar lights to the one I had just ended. One was red, and was off to my right. The other was an acidic green, to my left. The red light was closer, so I headed off for my new target.

Going over the mental footage in my head, I figured that dousing those lights would make my day much, much better. After all, I still had some candy-colored ponies to assist.

As I went along, I was constantly barraged with growing numbers of pureblood Heartless. Most of them were shadows, but at one point I had the bad luck to run into a rather annoying member of the Heartless species aptly named the ‘Darkball’. It was black, purple, had weird hair-tentacle things, gave you a mean face, and was hyper as hell. And could bite you. Yeah, you’d be pretty annoyed. And they could phase into a cloud of purple mist and float away, only to come back and bite you again.

You get the point, and so did the next Darkball that crossed my path. I flicked the switch right as it opened its maw, and the unexpected happened.

Its chin-growth got stuck in the Keyblade’s mechanism. We stared at each other for a few seconds, both blinking at this new turn of events. I think a little bit of Keng wormed its way into my soul, because the next idea was too good to pass up.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you... the Darkpaddleball. I lifted the Keyblade high above my head... and started shaking the thing violently, smacking the Darkball repeatedly.

Pong Pong Pong Pong Pong Pong Pong Pong Pong

I’ll admit, this was actually a very comedic and entertaining way to relieve stress. I even started counting. I was around 170-something when I noticed that its brethren had finally stepped up to the plate. I whirled around, and promptly introduced a new use for my sadistic toy. It was now a Darkflail, and there was nothing they could do about it.

Sadly, my acquainted Darkball didn’t have the endurance necessary to survive being a weapon, and faded alongside its brothers as I made wide, sweeping strikes with my Keyblade. Now that my distraction was gone, I remembered the reasons behind my proximity to the red light, and set off once again for it.

As I neared, I realized that no boss was in sight. I looked around warily, squinting in the dark to see if I could make out any kind of hostile movement (save the wriggling yuck-inducing darkness above).

When I had incorrectly assumed that all was well, I stepped up to the light and prepared for its end.

Note to self: ‘Assume’ is a dangerous word, right on up there with ‘oops’ and the phrase, ‘What could possibly go wrong.’ It's like there are evil, vindictive beings just waiting for people to say these words, because that’s some unspoken cue to heap ironic misfortune on the unwary.

My ears were assaulted with a loud screech. My eyes were assaulted by the dark form of a gigantic, flying serpent. Its eyes glowed a malevolent reddish-orange. Its fangs were as long as my own Keyblade, and its wings were that of a well-done movie back home.

Scare factor? Oh hell yes. Reality? Debatable, but I’d rather not find out whether or not it would hurt to get hit by it. Speaking of which, it was getting closer rather quick-

I yelped and rolled to the side, feeling almost like a pinball. The serpent’s scales shone even in the dim lighting. It used the spaces between the circular platforms as cover, and I had absolutely no idea where it would strike next. Fortunately for me, it unleashed a screech each time it tried to tear me a new one, allowing me ample time to step out of range and swing in retaliation.

Without warning, its tail was brought into the equation, sweeping across the platform I was on and tripping me up, to land flat on my back. Pain aside, I was a sitting duck if I remained on this disturbingly morbid image of a town being torn apart. I struggled to get up, and I heard the telltale screech of the beast again. I saw its eyes, and raised my keyblade in defense.

KRA-THOOM

Oho! Lookie here! Before me was a bright blue shield barrier, which was currently preventing me from becoming this beast’s next meal. It looked confused. ‘How dare a barrier of unidentified origin obstruct my aim!’ it probably would think, had it the necessary mental faculties to do so. What it lacked in brain power, it more than made up for in anger and frustration, and focused all its power into breaking the shield (which it could have flown around, mind you).

Despite the euphoria of using a new spell, I paid more attention to looking at the creature. It had armored scales everywhere on its body, and a simple facestab might not do the job this time, as immensely satisfying as that might be.

Don’t look at me like that. I only enjoy causing physical pain to Heartless. And Keng. You’d be thinking the same thing in my position.

It finally raged itself through the barrier, and hilarious mental commentary had to be put on hold. It anticipated my dodges by now, so I decided to put my newfound gymnastic abilities to use, once again. Once its fangs were closer than I would have liked, I hopped above the serpent’s head and ran along its spines, dragging the Keyblade as I went along. Judging from pained screeching and splashes of purple liquid, I was doing some sort of damage to the thing.

The tail was coming up quickly, and I hopped off of the being to land on another platform. This one depicted a world split in half. I wouldn’t have been so bothered by it if the pictures weren’t so damn detailed.

I turned around to find that the serpent had given up on flying, and was now coiled around the platform’s tower. It hissed menacingly, and I flared the electricity of my blade in response. It broke its standard horrible screech with a roar, and dove for me. I focused power into the tip of my blade, and jammed it into the creature’s throat. It gagged, and I fired. Most pureblood Heartless were simple in design. Anything more complicated usually had that stitched red heart somewhere on their bodies. If anything surprised me, it was the location of this one’s emblem.

Its eyes.

The creature was fading from existence, and a large, colorful heart floated into the sky, purified and free from the hold the darkness had on it. It was strangely calming.

An emblem Heartless signifies that it was created unnaturally, and within it resides a captured heart. When destroyed through conventional means, the heart was still captive, and reformed elsewhere. When a weapon of light, like the Keyblade, for instance, destroys the Heartless, the darkness is erased and the heart is set free.

My target was now unguarded. I shot a gout of lightning from the tip of the Keyblade, and the light ceased to exist. Due to my range, I had a bit of a head-start on the running exercise the light’s destruction ultimately resulted in.

It was worth noting that I never grew tired or fatigued during the course of... whatever the hell was happening. Besides that, there appeared to be no resistance as I got closer to the final light, which was pulsing faster than the others, appearing appropriately as the last artery in this dying cage.

Naturally, I was wary. I had been attacked by a hulking beast, a flying snake, and bombarded with cannon fodder, all up until now, where the only sounds I could hear were my own breaths and the soft clinking of my boots on stained glass. The ‘calm before the storm’ was so fitting a descriptor that I almost mused it aloud. I jumped over the last gap separating me from the platform with the light. Any moment now. Any moment...

Yyyyep, there it was.

The light vanished. From above me, a thick black spike stabbed downward and embedded itself in the stained glass I had been standing on a second ago. Above the circular platform I was walking on was another, the exact same shape and size. Its floor “window” was pure black, with only a massive Heartless symbol shining down on me like a single cycloptic eye.

Another spike stabbed at me.

I was being attacked by an upside-down tower with spider legs. Stranger things have happened.

Let the onslaught begin.

I kept moving at all times, as those legs were unbelievably quick. The most obvious thing to do would be to attack the legs, right? Wrong. As I moved to different platforms, the tower followed shortly afterwards. The attacks did not let up, and I had to constantly block or weave to prevent myself from getting shish-kabobbed. It then did the unthinkable. The next platform I landed on was its target. As soon as my feet made contact with its surface, all eight legs clamped into the side of the tower, creating a makeshift cage. Its face raised in preparation...

Oh, lord.

I hurled myself off of the platform and grabbed onto the ledge right as it slammed itself into the floor. I had to grudge Keng some respect, though. It was he who taught me how to think and act quickly. That bastard kept me from becoming a Rend-flavored pancake. Son of a-

I leapt as another leg tried to skewer me.

-bitch.

I found myself running once again, possibly exceeding the distance covered by the rigorous mountain trail exercises Keng put me through in my second year of training.

The tower Heartless attempted the same trick again, this time with me grabbing onto one of the legs. Looking up, I realized that not only did the thing aesthetically mimic the towers’ appearance, but it also sported the windows dotting the sides. Time to satiate my curiosity.

Using my Keyblade as a makeshift piton, I clambered up to and through one of the windows, and gasped at what I saw.

The interior had a structure inside. It was a bit hard to describe, but... you know those inflatable arm-waving tube men stores put outside for their grand openings? It looked like one of those, painted black, made out of play dough, twenty feet tall and with dozens of spider-web-like extensions connecting to the wall instead of arms.

That, and the two angry yellow eyes on the bulbous growth on top of it. Not something I’d use to advertise, personally.

I set to work quickly, bounding off of the walls and using certain webs for support whilst cutting down others. The tower did not give me the impression that I was welcome, and was attempting to shake me out. I held on for dear life as the momentum picked up. I grunted as I pulled myself farther up the column, slashing webs when the movement settled enough for me to aim properly.

I was slowly but surely climbing up to the ‘brain’, and its eyes were staring holes into me as I worked. The Heartless made no sound but the rumbling of bricks, mortar, and broken glass at high velocity. It was at the last web cut that the Heartless decided to do something other than stare. It stared harder. I almost laughed, had it not actually forced me down the structure at speeds comparable to an airship. I jabbed the Keyblade into the wall, halting my sudden descent and nearly pulling my arm out of its socket. I grunted from the pain and aimed my hand at the ‘brain’. I didn’t need a weapon for magic.

The mental command went through, and the thaumatic lightning pierced the air between me and the Heartless. The structure began to lose its hold on reality as I jumped down to the waiting platform below. I looked up and observed the tower crumbling, its core fading from existence and sending another multi-colored heart to the ether.

I finally felt tired.

The final light was close by, and all of the threats had been taken care of. Now that adrenaline wasn’t on a 1:1 ratio with my blood, I began to feel the scratches, scrapes, cuts, and bruises from my previous battles. I dragged myself towards the green light, and muttered a bit before crushing it, too.

Hardship is familiar to those who follow the light.

The voice came back. How nice. I was beginning to miss it.

But those who brave it, do so valiantly.

So tired...

And every so often, those who fight for the light receive their just reward...

Apogee Street

“Oww.”

“Hey, he’s awake!” I felt pressure on my chest. Pinkie was tapping me with her hoof.

“Why does my back hurt?”

“You’re using your sword as a bed, silly!” Pinkie chided with a giggle.

“Of course. How could I forget,” I said flatly. I opened my eyes to be assaulted not by the sun, but of the very bright pink pony with equally bright blue eyes. I rolled over and got on my hands and knees.

“You had us worried.” Twilight said, sitting in one of the armchairs.

“Celestia’s sakes, Rendynn! You had us scared half to death when ya wouldn’t wake up!”

How nice. They really did care —

“... ‘Cuz if ya died, you’d never get a job, and then where would we be?”

Oddly enough, that inflammatory statement reminded me of the apology I owed the ponies. I shrugged it off, opting to get up and rub my aching back, which I believed had the imprint of a lightning bolt, as well as the copyright date, serial number, and manufacturer...

Focus, Rend. Time to be the bigger man. ...Okay, so you’re already bigger by like two and a half times, but you know what I mean.

“Right, you guys, can you sit at the table over there? I need to do something real quick.” The ponies filed out of the living room.

I left for my own room, and shut the door. After cleaning myself up and changing clothes, I headed for the kitchen.

When I entered, I spotted Twilight reading one of the few books I had in the house, Applejack messing around with her hat, and Pinkie... being Pinkie? To this day, that waffle iron’s origins remain a mystery.

I cleared my throat, prompting them to look up at me.

“I believe I owe you all an apology.” I started, grabbing their attention as I sat down. I looked to Applejack first. “Applejack, I’m sorry for snapping at you yesterday. I’ve been job-hunting for six months, and it’s been a real pain trying to find one with stable pay.” I turned my head to Pinkie, who was smiling widely. “Pinkie, I’m sorry for getting flustered at your questions. I promise to be more attentive and open in the future.” Finally, I turned my head to Twilight. I thought for a moment. “Uh, actually Twilight, I think we’re cool.”

I addressed them as a whole. “Now, on top of that, due to the circumstances, we’ll be seeing a lot of each other in the coming days.” They nodded, and I continued, “Since that is the case, I figured that I should get to know you all a bit better. No use in quarreling every few minutes over every little thing, eh?”

“Right.” Twilight said with a smile.

“A’course.” Applejack nodded.

“Mmh-hmm!” Pinkie mmh-hmm’d. Heh.

“As you all know, my name is Rendynn Spire. My friends call me me Rend. I have been training for six, almost seven years now to become a full-fledged Electroknight, one of the special military forces that ship out and help other worlds.”

“... Like ours?” Twilight asked.

I winced. “... Yes. That is the reason I’ve been such a grump, recently. I was probably one of the few out and looking to the sky when your world’s star went out.”

“So that’s why ya feel so inclined t’help us?” Applejack inquired.

“Yes and no. I wanted to help you guys not only because of what had happened, but... because I’m unaccomplished. I’m no Electroknight, not yet, anyways. But what if I could help? What if I could save someone?” I looked them all in the eyes. “Don’t think for a moment that I wouldn’t have helped were that not the case. I was raised in a good family and my conscience is a force of nature.”

Applejack chuckled, “Ya sound just like mah brother.”

I chuckled, trying my hardest not to do anything that would remind her that, right now, her brother was either dead or Heartless-ified.

CRASH

That was not a good sound.

I ran out to the balcony, trying to figure out what was going on. The inky black smoke told me all I needed to know.

Speaking of Heartless...

I turned back to the ponies.

“Rend?” Twilight asked. “What’s going on?”

“Emergency,” I said, scrambling to get my gear in order. “Heartless attack down on Apogee Street. I must go, my people need me.”

With my kit in order, I bolted out the door. Or I would have, had Applejack not stopped me.

“Now hang on there, hayseed. This don’t-”

“Applejack,” I hissed, picking her up and swinging her behind me, “Now is not a good time. I can answer all your questions later, but right now, lives are in danger!”

I was halfway out before being interrupted again.

“Then we’re coming, too!”

The three were assembled behind me, far too tiny and far too adorable to look as threatening as they were trying to be.

“Ack— ffff— I —” I sputtered. “Fine! Just, whatever you do, don’t get in between my sword and a Heartless. And for Pete’s sake, hit the dirt if thunderbolts start flying.”

I finally got outside. The trio of candy-colored companions trailing me was an acceptable concession.

***

It was a scene of pure chaos. The crowd was pressing down one direction, desperate to flee whatever had kicked off this fracas. I and the ponies were running up the opposite lane. No one was stopping us, because a guy with a sword running opposite everyone else must logically know what he’s doing, right?

I wish.

“So, why are they out now?”

“I’m sorry?”

Twilight and company were keeping pace with me. Once again, I was running full tilt, but they didn’t seem to be moving much faster than a brisk trot. I had lower body strength envy.

“What would these Heartless be doing at this hour?” Twilight asked. “I thought they only came out at night.”

“Yes, well,” I panted, “That’s not quite it, exactly.” We turned a corner. Apogee Street was a few blocks away, yet. “You see, Heartless don’t like our sun for some reason. Wherever its light hits, they want to be somewhere else. Only—” I was interrupted by a particularly tight turn. “—only the place where these are, Apogee Street, has quite tall buildings on both sides.”

“Is that why they named it after a time of day?”

“Yeah. It only gets sunlight for a couple of hours around noon. Any nasties that got caught there would probably try to find shelter inside one of the buildings. That’s probably why the only shops brave enough to set up down there are the weapons and armor merchants.”

Judging from the smoke, at least one of those merchants hadn’t been armed or armored enough.

***

Apogee Street was empty. The only sign of a bad time was the smoke pouring out of a weapons shop near the back corner.

A very familiar weapons shop...

Oh, God.

The neon lighting had fizzled out. The storefront windows had all been blown inward, like a great gust of wind had hit them. The sign, which had a cartoon picture of a mace on it, had been snapped off. Despite all this, the place was still unmistakable.

The Heartless had ransacked Combo’s Breakers.

I don’t think you understand. I loved Combo’s Breakers.

Something on the highest story made a very large BANG. I barged in.

I was getting tired of running everywhere, but this was important, dammit. No Heartless downstairs. I kept running. Between the weapon racks, up seven flights of stairs. Ponies were yelling at me. Not important.

I slammed the office door open.

“Combo! You in here?”

No noise. Too quiet. There were supposed to be Heartless around, right? What was— OH.

A giant black shape lay crumpled at the far wall, smoking as it slowly dissolved. It looked like a tiny, horned Darkside. It was only after I saw its blue-yellow sword embedded nearby that I realized...

“An Invisible? Holy... Who took this thing out?”

“That’d be me,” a voice behind me coughed.

There, in all his camo-clad glory, was Connor “Combo” Breaker, the weaponsmith, curled up in the corner and clutching his famous armored shotgun for dear life.

“Hey, Rend.”

“Combo!” I cried, walking up to him. “I thought something awful had happened to you!”

He gave a sad smile. “You thought right.”

“What.”

He coughed again. I noticed several dark, purplish patches on his arms and neck.

“Combo, what are these-”

“Ring of fire.”

I froze. It hadn’t... he wasn’t...!

“Got a good shot on me before I could return the favor.” He gestured to the dead monster’s prone form opposite him in the room, chuckling. “At least I can say I killed the thing that killed me.”

“Don’t... don’t talk like that, man,” I stuttered, crouching over him. “I’m gonna get you to a hospital, alright? You’re gonna make it through this.”

“Rend, my pulse has already stopped.” He took the ensuing shocked silence to cough again, this time even harder. “Tell Lionel...” his eyes started to close. “...he can have the shop.”

“No. Hey, Combo, that’s not funny.” I grabbed his shoulders. “Combo, stay awake, come on.” I shook him. “Connor! Wake up!”

I lost my grip on him. Not for lack of trying. He phased through my arms like a ghost, his form fading into nothingness. Eventually, only a small, bright gemlike thing was left — his heart. It fluttered up, aiming itself out of the window to go wherever hearts go.

Unfortunately, that route put it right into the cloud of darkness from the dead Invisible.

It attracted the shadowy leftovers like a magnet. The rest of the monster’s corpse disintegrated and reformed around its new host.

My first thought on the final product was — it looked like a Soldier. Almost too typical to really be the Heartless formed from someone like Combo Breaker. Then I realized that normal Soldiers weren’t usually that green, nor were they as well-armored.

The thing looked at me with its soulless yellow eyes. Without much ado, it held out one hand and pulled Combo’s shotgun from across the room. Weapon in hand, it sunk through the floor.

This could turn out to be a problem.

I heard a scream below. Now it was a problem.

Without a second thought, I dashed madly for the exit, thoughts moving at even higher speeds.

Too late.

Made it, but still couldn’t do a damn thing.

Connor’s dead.

You couldn’t save him.

You can’t save anyone, can you?

I rushed down the flight of stairs to find the Green Soldier’s back to me, raising its shotgun up to-

click-SHOOM

I don’t think so, Tim.

The burst never reached the ponies, instead being halted by my recently rediscovered Barrier spell.

The over-armored Soldier turned to look at me as I fixed it with a glare that could send it six feet under.

“Rend, let us out! We can help!” Twilight shouted from the other side of the barrier.

“You’d be dead right now if I hadn’t gotten here in time,” I growled, not looking away from the Soldier. “And I’m not going to let anyone else die today. Stay out of this.”

She tried to yell something. I willed the barrier to thicken, opaquing its surface and blocked out whatever she was saying.

Even in death, the Invisible managed to get Combo a second time. Under my watch. I was livid. How can I protect these ponies if I couldn’t even save one of my best friends?

The Green Soldier realigned his gun on me.

“Connor,” I said, unsheathing my sword, “I’m sorry.”

I lunged at the monster, bringing my weapon down as hard as I could. I would later tell people I was aiming to separate its left half from its right and end the fight quickly. Really, I was just mad as hell.

CLANG

“Uhh....”

The Green Soldier had brought the shotgun up and deflected my strike with it. Not as surprising as it sounds when you think about it - Combo’s shotgun was purpose-built to be all but indestructible. He proceeded to bring the gun’s butt around and give me a whole faceful of “indestructible”. It was not pleasant.

The double shock from the gun hitting my face and my face hitting the ground broke the barrier spell I was maintaining on Twilight and friends. Just dandy, now he was going to turn around and shoot them just like he was about to-

KPAK

...Aaaand now he was flying over me after something apparently very large punched him. What the hell.

I tried sitting upright to see who had saved the ponies from certain doom. But for some reason, the only things besides me and the Soldier were... the ponies. What the hell?

“Nice hit, Applejack,” Twilight said, nodding at the mare in question, who appeared to be rearing up. “I think you broke it.”

Wait, broke what.

I turned around to see the Green Soldier buried chest-deep in a weapons rack, the supposedly unbreakable shotgun in two pieces on either side of him.

What the hell!?

I heard the audible sound of springs as Pinkie Pie came up and then put her face uncomfortably close to mine.

“Are you okay?” She asked.

I blinked, still trying to process exactly what happened in the last several seconds.

“Y-yeah. Thanks, Pinkie.”

She beamed. I heard the distinct sound of something moving through the air at high speeds.

The adrenaline pumped. My vision cleared. In one quick motion, I got off the ground, picked up my oddly-shaped sword, and blocked the tomahawk aimed for Pinkie’s head.

I addressed the ponies, “Alright, everyone. You can help, but for the love of God, watch yourselves! This thing’s got telekinesis and used to be my weapon nut of a friend, not to mention we are in a room filled with sharp, pointy objects.”

“Right!” I heard from them shout in unison.

The ‘Armsmaster’, as I decided to call the Soldier, shook itself free of the weapons racks and summoned up halberds, throwing knives, a broadsword, and a very mean-looking shuriken or two... thousand.

No sweat, right?

The Armsmaster moved first, sending a large portion of the weapons my way, glinting dangerously in the dim lighting of the store. I couldn’t hope to block them all with just my sword, so I sent smaller Barrier spells at large or numerous targets while dashing towards the armored fiend.

Applejack may have been unarmed, but she had definitely proven that her strength hadn’t toned down her agility. She dodged and weaved blades, stopping for a split second to kick large things at the Armsmaster.

Twilight was literally wielding a shortsword with her mouth, while Pinkie hopped to and fro, attracting attacks from all directions yet not being hit by a single one. Even her ridiculously poofy mane escaped harm.

All the while, I was either using wide sweeps with the Boltstrike or firing respective Barrier and Thunder spells from my unarmed hand when necessary. The Armsmaster always left a good number of weapons around it, either taking electrical hits or blocking my attacks. It was getting frustrating, to say the least.

One knife I failed to acknowledge got a good gash on my chest. Other weapons managed to nick my armor or leave shallow cuts on my arms or legs, prompting grunts of pain or anger from me.

It was slow going, and, at one point, I realized:

We’re not getting through.

Twilight and Pinkie did act as distractions, no doubt, but I and Applejack couldn’t hope to engage the Armsmaster in close quarters, and nothing we did seemed to faze it. My cuts and wounds began to take their toll, and Applejack was slowing down.

The breaking point was during Twilight’s spirited fencing match with a floating tonfa. Unbeknownst to her, a giant mace nearly six feet long was floating over her, ready to plummet down and break something important.

I barely noticed out of the corner of my eye. To this day, I’m convinced I came within half a second of complete and utter failure.

I dived, not having nearly enough time to erect a Barrier spell. I slid beside her as the telekinesis holding the mace up cut out, letting it drop like a ton of bricks. Or a ton of maces. It weighed a lot, is what I’m getting at. The only thing I could do was bring up my sword and hope the ensuing shards of metal didn’t impale me too much.

Instead, something entirely different happened.

A truly indescribable, high-pitched sound erupted from the air around us. The Boltstrike and the mace both began glowing a bright, pure white, melting together and reforming into a shape that condensed their collective mass into something altogether heftier, and much more dangerous.

The light faded, leaving the spitting image of the thunderbolt Keyblade from my dream.

It was real. The weapon, my role in using it, and everything that went along with those first two — they were real. If you’re looking for a second wind, you can’t get much better than that.

My injuries ceased to pressure my mind. The properties I had attained in the dream had returned.

I now had the power to change things.

I took a step towards the Armsmaster, who took a step back in response. I was told that the only thing that could scare the Heartless was the Keyblade itself. The silvery, spark-emitting blade only confirmed that claim.

“Rendynn.” I heard from Twilight behind me.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” I said, trying not to let my grin show in my voice. “Me and Connor need to step outside for a brief... chat.”

With that, I launched myself forward. The Armsmaster raised half a dozen weapons in defense, which I shot away with angry arcs of Thunder. I slammed into the metallic fiend and sent the both of us tumbling out the store’s front window, which, thankfully, already had the glass forcefully removed.

We tumbled in a mass of metal and screaming teenager. You can guess what was what. The Soldier-Combo hybrid kicked me off before summoning one of its greatswords. It assumed what I thought was the dueling stance.

No more games.

I flicked the edge of what used to be the Boltstrike. It entered my mind somewhere that I needed to find a new name for it, but I was sticking with Boltstrike for the time being. It fit better than ever now, in my opinion.

In stature, I had a foot or two over the Heartless in front of me. In armor, however, it had me beat. I was only wearing the padding for my training gear at the time. Combo always made his swords sharp.

Lucky for me that Keyblades came sharper.

I lunged, bringing the Boltstrike down in another beheading move. This time, there was no armor-plated shotgun blocking my path.

Aaaaand he moved.

Well, there’s the downside to that maneuver.

I caught myself before I could fall face-first onto the pavement and humiliate myself. I spun, parrying the greatsword as the Armsmaster attempted to mime me in a situation much more suited to a coup de grace like that one.

I thrust. He parried. I swooped in low, he jumped over me and gave me a goose-egg with his heel. I went on the defensive, and he bullied me into the broken glass with the flat of his sword and a bum rush.

I will have you know that getting pressed into a frame full of broken glass stings like a bitch.

I needed an edge. This thing had all of Combo’s combat expertise, plus it never got tired or discouraged. That was three points it had on me already. I wracked my brain for something, anything that I could do to throw it off.

Ohh.

I sprouted an evil grin. I had no idea if this would work, but darned if I wasn’t going to try.

I waited for the Armsmaster to come down at me again. This time I juked out of the way, catching the greatsword in the Boltstrike’s teeth. With a flick of the wrist, I retracted the Boltstrike, bringing the teeth together. It clamped the sword’s blade off at the hilt like a giant wire cutter.

The Armsmaster blinked at its now-useless weapon in surprise.

In that split second, I pulverized its head.

Game over. Rendynn wins. Fatality.

***

I watched Connor’s heart make its way through the sky and glimmer in the sunlight, before it disappeared to who-knows-where. I found out, to my pleasant surprise, the Keyblade strapped onto my back just as well as the sword it used to be did. I heard the sound of hooves on stone, and turned to meet my friends.

Twilight was the first to speak, “Rend? Are you alright?”

My cuts kind of hurt, why do you ask?

Based on the look on her face, I could only assume I looked worse than shit.

I sighed, “Yeah. Sort of. Just lost my best friend. Got a faceful of broken glass.”

“Best friend?”

“Connor got blindsided by a very powerful Heartless,” I said, wincing as I pulled a shard out of my cheek. “I can’t imagine it was very pleasant. Figures, doesn’t it? The day I get this thing,” I tapped the keyblade strapped to my back, “is the day I’m too late to save him. Guy lived four years on Apogee Street and not once did he have a problem keeping the gremlins out. Now...”

I looked up from the small, sharp fragment of pain in my hand at the three ponies. They were looking at me with enough pity to embarass a stray dog. Venting could wait.

“Anyway,” I said, eager to move on, “Now I’ve got to go over to the Breaker house and give his brothers the news. But hey, look on the bright side.”

“Bright side?” Applejack repeated, as though the words were in Japanese.

“Yeah. Combo always said he wanted to die fighting. Who else can say their last wish was granted twice?”

I don’t know what I expected, but I was sort of thankful they didn’t laugh. It meant we were all still in our right minds.

Sorrowbration

I placed my hand on the glyph seal of my front door. With a hiss, the door slid into the wall, allowing me and my colorful companions entry. I turned to Twilight.

“In the kitchen, I keep all my potions in the top cupboard. Can you grab one for me?”

Twilight nodded with a faint smile.

“I haven’t said this before, but make yourselves at home. I need to clean up a bit.”

“All righty then,” murmured Applejack.

“Okie dokie lokie!” chirped Pinkie.

I headed towards my room, unhooking the Boltstrike and detaching my armor and padded gear. I stepped into the restroom and cringed at the sight.

My face and torso were covered in blood and cuts, like some sort of tornado victim. I spent a little time cleaning the wounds and washing the blood from my body. When that was all said and done, I towelled off. I heard a knock at the door.

“C’mon in. I don’t look look quite like a victim anymore.”

Inside stepped Twilight, the potion hovering near her head. I nodded before taking the bottle and downing it with one swig.

“Ergh.”

With that sound of ‘this is disgusting’, all of my wounds took on a green glow, and sealed up. My wounds weren’t all that bad. Just numerous.

“Thank you.” I said.

“Those potions work a lot like the ones Zecora used to make.” She murmured.

“Who?”

“Oh, she was a Zebra that lived outside of our town. She specialized in making potions of all types.”

I left the room, with Twilight trotting close behind. Applejack was nodding with a slight grin (though rather forced) as Pinkie chatted on and on about something I’d care not to listen to myself.

“Ahem,” I interrupted. They gave me their attention.

I shuffled a bit before proceeding. “As you all know, Combo Breaker has died. His family is very close to mine, the Spires. I need to tell them what happened. Alone.”

“But—”

I cut Pinkie off. “This is something very simple. I won’t be risking my life by telling someone about it.”

“We could be moral support!”

“Trust me, I could not be more motivated to do this if I was mainlining energy drink and had a cheerleading team behind me. This is really important, and while you three are pretty cool, in a situation like this, I can’t help but think your contributions would be...” I struggled for an inoffensive word.

“Inappropriate?” Twilight offered.

“Yes,” I sighed, resisting the urge to reacquaint my forehead and my hand. “Inappropriate. What Connor’s family will need is a sympathetic shoulder to cry on, so to speak. They won’t need down-home bluntness, Applejack—” she huffed and rolled her eyes. “—and they will definitely not need or want a party.” I could hear Pinkie’s smile deflating from across the room. “And while I’m sure none of you are all that happy Connor died, you didn’t know him that well, so...”

“Alright,” Applejack interrupted me. “We get it. Go on n’ do whatcha think ya need t’do. I’ll stay here.”

“And I’ll stay here, throwing a Wow-Our-Host-Is-Super-Emotionally-Mature par—”

“No parties,” I called, halfway out the door. “Please. I don’t think my mind could stand it.”

I discovered that day that if a pony makes a pout strong enough, it makes a noise. This is just one of the many ways ponies are adorable, and one of the ways they are absolutely insidious.

***

The Breakers’ house was not too far away, only a thirty minute jog. I couldn’t wait to get this over with, as horrible as that might’ve sounded.

The sky didn’t reflect my worsening mood, instead choosing to be cloudless and a bright blue. Knowing our weather patterns, that could change in less than two hours.

I passed by many a person, each nodding in my direction or giving a friendly ‘hello’. I tried my best to return the favor, even if my emotions told me not to do so. I could see the modest home coming up. Only a few more streets to pass, and then a small flight of stairs.

Why was this so difficult.

I stopped for a moment to take a deep breath and calm my thoughts, as I have been taught in the past.

Don’t cry. Be a man. They can cry for him.

He was my best friend.

Even so, you have to be strong.

My face contorted for a split second before I regained control. I ran the rest of the way.

The Breaker house was similar to that of their neighbors: Two stories and a small flight of steps to the door. It slightly reminded me of the steps I had to take in the dream. Sadly, it worked perfectly.

I took the stairs two at a time and ended up at their door, a faintly glowing blue glyph meeting my gaze. I pressed my hand against the surface, prompting a ringing chime that resounded through the house.

I heard the sound of footsteps leading up to the door, and then the hiss of it sliding into the wall.

Before me was a young boy, face smudged with oil and ash save for a bright silhouette of goggles around his eyes. Said goggles currently rested on his forehead, pushing up a single singed tuft of hair.

“Hey, Rend!” he said, chipper as ever. “What’re you doing down here?”

“Who is it, Christopher?” called a woman from further inside the house.

“It’s Rend, Mom!” he called back.

“What’s he need?”

“I dunno! Hang on!” he turned back to me. “So...”

“I need to talk to your parents.... well, to you. All of you.”

“Is it about that Keyblade on your back?” he asked, grinning at me.

“No,” I sighed. “Well, sort of. It’s really complicated, and I would really not like to have to repeat it.”

“Should I get Lionel down here?”

“Please and thank you.”

He turned and scampered down the back hall, making the telltale THUMPs that twelve-year-olds make when they climb stairs. At roughly the same time, an older, brown-haired woman — obviously Mrs. Breaker — came from the direction of the kitchen, one of Chris’s famous gadgets in hand. There was a reason his nickname was “Circuit.”

“Ah, Rendynn! What brings you around here?”

“Nothing good, I’m afraid,” I said, grimacing as her genial smile faded... “It’s about Connor.” ...and then disappeared completely. “I’d appreciate it if I was able to deliver this news to your entire family. They deserve to hear it straight from me.”

“I see,” she said, somberly. “Shall I get the tea out?”

“Please.” The last thing I needed was unwelcome nerves.

As she retreated back into the kitchen, I took a seat on the nearby velour chair. It was comfy, soft, and most likely had been sat in this morning by the late Connor Breaker. I squirmed a little.

Mr. Breaker, after a brief muttered conversation out of sight with the Missus, came into the living room and sat down on the loveseat opposite me across the coffee table. He was of roughly the same age as his wife, but his hair was much whiter. Back when making up funny nicknames for them was appropriate, we kids used to call him “Back” Breaker. Now, when we’re older and not stupid, he’s just “Yes sir, Mr. Breaker, it won’t happen again.”

“So,” he said, not looking at me. “This is about Connor?’

“It is.”

“Is he...?”

“Yeah,” I said, looking anywhere but at him, even as he did the same. “I’m afraid so.”

He nodded stoically, and sighed.

Mrs. Breaker came in with her tea set, mouth drawn into a thin, worried line. I took a cup, eager to calm my jitters. After draining it, I set it down to see Circuit and his brother, Lionel (“Line,” for his book-writing obsession) coming downstairs and into the living room.

They sat down expectantly, waiting for me to say something.

Oh god oh god what do I do what do I do.

Might as well come right out and say it, right? At least then I wouldn’t be agonizing over it any longer.

“As of this morning...” I paused, taking a breath. “Your son, Connor Breaker, is dead.”

Mr. Breaker already knew, so his expression didn’t change much. Mrs. Breaker recoiled, tearing up, as her worst fears has been realized. Lionel sighed, much like his dad, and stood up to comfort his mother. Chris just stared at me.

“...What?”

“Dead. As in, a Heartless broke into Combo’s Breakers this morning, seeking shelter from the sun. It made its way upstairs and blindsided Connor. He shot it, of course, and it was dead on my arrival, but not before he was fatally wounded.” Wow, dude, what an obituary. I could do better than this, right? “...If it’s any consolation, he died fighting, just like he always said he wanted to.”

“Did...” Mr. Breaker started. “...did his... heart...?”

“You know, it almost made it just fine,” I sighed. “But the remains of the Invisible latched onto it and turned him into one of them. I, ah...” I tapped the Boltstrike, still strapped in place. “I got it back. Wherever hearts go, he’s there now.”

The silence in the room was oppressive. I was not well-versed in the art of comforting grieving families. The whole point of this was to make sure there weren’t any more of those in the first place!

“It’s my fault, really,” I said for no reason.

Mrs. Breaker looked up. “Oh, no no no, you didn’t—”

“I should have been there,” I insisted. “I had let something distract me from getting to your son’s store for a few seconds. In those seconds I lost, I could have been there in time. I could have made a difference. Instead, I failed to protect your son and now I have to tell you how he died.” I shook my head. “Some Keyblade wielder I am.”

Someone punched my arm.

“Ow.”

“Hey.”

I looked up. Chris “Circuit” Breaker, in all his twelve-year-old fury, was giving me a look. You know the kind I mean.

“Don’t say that,” he said.

“Why not?”

“Because that’s not fair to you. I don’t think you’re the reason Connor’s dead.” He turned to his family. “Do you?” They all shook their heads. He turned back to me, satisfied. “It’s not your fault. Alright?”

“Okay...”

“And, hey.” He grabbed the Boltstrike’s handle, jangling it. “You know what this means, don’t you? It never has to happen again. We’ve got a new Keyblade! You can help look for the Keyhole and then nothing like this will ever have to happen to anyone else!”

“Assuming I can find the thing,” I muttered.

“You can,” Circuit insisted. “Connor always said you never gave up. When that Keyblade master keeps failing your exam, do you give up?”

“No.”

“When you couldn’t fix that crossed circuit in your sword, did you give up?”

“No.”

“When you and Connor accidentally got stuck under a sleeping Large Body—”

“Oh, you had to bring that up, didn’t you?!”

“Did you give up?”

“No.”

“Then I know you’re not going to give up on this until you’re done. You’re Rendynn Spire, the guy who retook the Mark of Mastery Exam more times than most people hear about it! And I have faith in you.”

I blinked. This was Circuit Breaker I was talking to, right? Twelve years old, doesn’t even shave yet, boy tinkerer, Christopher Breaker? Where’d all this depth come from?

“I... don’t...”

He gave me a flat look. “And I won’t forgive you until you do it. Deal?” He held out his hand.

There’s the Circuit I knew. “Deal.” On that day, I shook hands with a god damn twelve year old and made a pact that would catapult me to adventures the likes of which I couldn’t yet imagine. What a way to go.

I stood, feeling something like resolve. I looked at the family, still sad, but proud. Of their youngest, who could rouse a man from a funk that quickly. Of me, surprisingly, in some strange foster-parent surrogate pride that really didn’t make much sense but existed anyway.

I was on my way out when I remembered.

“Oh, right. Lionel...” I turned back as I closed the door behind me. “...Connor said the shop’s all yours.”

As the door clicked, I could swear I heard him say “I knew it.”

***

So concludes a short, short tale of failure, tragedy, and the resolve to overcome both.

But while this tale is over, it is merely the beginning of the beginning of a story.

This story spans worlds. It reaches across the boundaries of normalcy and delves into the downright odd. Things happen in it that no one — neither reader, character, nor author — can predict.

This is the story of the quest to save worlds.

This is the story of three young ponies’ journey homeward.

This is the story of...