SOLDIERs of Night and Day

Pocket Dimension Office

Woah, definitely wasn’t expecting this.

I was sitting in a rather well organized office, with a man wearing a skull hat and a Polka Dot covered business suit, which was weird enough without the snaggletooth and mismatched horns growing on his head. After a few seconds of silence, I decided to see if I could still speak.

“Um, thanks, I guess, for pulling me out of there. But who are you?” I asked.

“Discord, spirit of chaos, though a better question is how did you get out of the realm of darkness?” he said

“Don’t know. One minute the darkness was consuming me, then I heard a voice, then I was in what Umbra called my Dive to the Heart. And I thought it was called the Dark Zone.” I replied.

“Different worlds call it different things, the void between worlds has many names, the dark zone, the darkness, the void, but... It’s been so long since I’ve heard that term, ‘dive to the heart,’ anyway, what did this voice say? Oh, wait, before that, would you care for a beverage?” He asked, snapping his fingers. Suddenly, a glass of a brown liquid appeared in front of me in a glass.

“Thanks.” I said, trying to grip the glass, though it was kinda difficult with hooves. How do they do it? I thought as I repeatedly failed to grasp it several times. Discord noticed my plight, and said flatly, “Straw?”

I nodded, and a silly straw manifested itself in the glass. “Thanks, again.” I said, before slurping the chocolate milk through the straw.

“So then, what did this voice say?”

“It said it wasn’t my time, that I had a reason to stay, though there was a cost. I had to give up my human form, and my sword, meaning I apparently lost the one thing that allowed me to control my powers when I used them. In exchange, I got this weird weapon shaped like a key. Umbra called it a keyblade. Then he ran off, then the voice showed up again and told me I had to find Lumos and Malum before Umbra and Akumu did. That’s when you showed up and brought me here.”

“I see, and then what happened?”

“Then I asked your name, you told me, you gave me some chocolate milk, and it’s awesome by the way, I couldn’t grip it so you gave me a straw, and here we are.” I said.

“Interesting... Anyway, off you go, there are people and ponies waiting.” He said.

“Wait, I have a question.”

He sighed, “Yes?”

“Why? Why did you save me? I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t understand why.” I said.

“I made a deal, if you got out, I got to be free again.”

“I see. So it’s a chance at redemption, if you will.”

“You could see it as that, now, out you go!” He said, snapping his fingers, and the world disappeared around me...
__________________________________________________________________

Canterlot Gardens

My vision was blurry, but I could just make out the familiar sight of the Canterlot Gardens. I only had a second to take it in before I was tackled by two blurs, one black and yellow, the other midnight blue.

I heard a chuckle, followed by a voice saying “No brakes on the rape train.”

“Shut up Ven.” Die said, briefly turning to flip him the bird, before slapping me, then embracing me again. “You idiot. Don’t ever do anything like that again, you hear me?” She said, and I could make out the tears as my vision cleared up, thanks to her slap, as much as I hate to admit it.

“Got it sis.” I said, smiling.

“So, what happened in there? Where is Lumos?” Clare asked.

“Lumos’ darkness won. He became separated into what he called a ‘heartless’ and a ‘Nobody’. The heartless called itself Umbra. I don’t know what the Nobody is called, since Umbra said it was sent to a random place depending on what kind of Nobody he became. The same for Mirum and Malum. Mirum is a heartless now, and Malum is a nobody. Oh, and Akumu’s been separated from me and is with Umbra right now.” I said, completely calm the whole time.

“Wait, wouldn’t that make you a nobody as well?” Asked Ven.

“No. There was a voice, it let me keep my heart, but I had to give up my human form, and my sword, and with them, my control over the powers of the Lunar Orb. In exchange, I got this.” I said, removing myself from Luna and Die’s embrace, summoning my keyblade and levitating it in front of me, thankful that I at least could still use telekinesis safely. Ven’s eyes widened a dramatic amount upon seeing this.

“Do you even know what that is?!?!” He asked, nearly a shout.

“Yes. I do. It’s a keyblade. Umbra told me what it can do, how it’s the only weapon that can defeat a heartless. It’s called Blackout Prizm.” I replied.

“Yeah, that about sums it up. So did the voice say anything notable?”

“Yeah. It said we had to go and find Lumos and Malum’s nobodies before Umbra and Akumu do.”

“Wait,” Clare said, “Why would Umbra and Akumu go after Lumos and Malum, and what about the other one... Mirum, was it?”

“It’s actually very simple Clare. Umbra and Akumu seek to destroy their Nobodies to prevent them from regaining their hearts, and as for Mirum,” I hung my head sadly. “The voice said we probably can’t save him.”

“Well,” Ven said, “As long as Organization 13 doesn’t find them...”

“Yeah, Umbra mentioned them as well.” I said. “He didn’t go into too much detail, just said they were the strongest nobodies around, the only ones who keep their old forms.”

“Yeah, thats one part of it, they are a group of thirteen nobodies, thirteen who didn’t transform, other than number 13, who was a fraction of two different people. I’m getting off track, anyway, the point is that they use keyblade wielders to hunt heartless, so they can use the released hearts to create a thing called ‘Kingdom Hearts.’”

“So, we need to find Lumos and Malum before these ‘Organization 13’ creeps do, and help them get their hearts back.”

“Well, if they joined the organization, then two things could happen that i know of: first, they complete kingdom hearts and both become whole, and leave the ‘world that never was.’ or they become two of the thirteen ‘darknesses.’ That are meant to start a huge war.”

“War?” I asked, the word shocking me a little.

“I don’t really know the details, but for a thing known the ‘keyblade war’ to start, there are meant to be 13 ‘darknesses’ which all hold one soul, the soul of the #1 of the organization, and seven different ‘lights,’ which I think are keyblade wielders, unless that storyline has already happened in this world.”

“I see. So we’ll not only be trying to find and rescue, Lumos, Malum, and Mirum if possible, but we’ll also be trying to prevent a war?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “Sounds good to me.”

“The last part is a maybe on whether or not we have to, as that storyline might have already happened. But yes.” Ven said nonchalantly.

“Wait wait wait, are you saying that you are going to try and stop a war?” Luna asked. “ABSOLUTELY NOT! You’ve almost died three times already, you are not going to tempt fate any further!” She yelled.

“Luna,” Ven said, with an air of seriousness that normally isn’t there, “You don’t understand, this war will affect ALL worlds, and could very well end them. Every last one.”

“But Noctis almost died again. I’ve already lost so many friends through my life. I can’t lose another. I can’t.” She said, wrapping her hooves around me again. I just wrapped my own around her and returned the hug, trying to stay calm despite the situation. Eventually, I managed to assure her that I wouldn’t leave her, and she released me, still sobbing a little.

“Honestly, I don’t know how we would even get off this world...” Ven said, looking deep in thought.

“I think I could help out a bit there.” A familiar voice said from above me.

“Hey, Discord. I was wondering where you went.” I said, smiling despite the bone-crushing hug I had received. “So, why’d you come back?”

“Eh, I was just in the neighbourhood, and happened to overhear.” he said with a shrug.

“So, you can help us out? That would be awesome.” I said.

Clare, who had been silent until this point, spoke up, saying “Why is it I’m the only one who isn’t following what’s happening?”

“Don’t worry, you aren’t.” said Erahaor, who was standing a few feet away.

“Ok, I’ll sum it up for you.” I said. “Discord saved my flank by pulling me out of my DtH into a pocket world, then he sent me here, we talked, got frustrated about being unable to travel to other worlds to find Lumos, Mirum and Malum, and Discord showed up again, offering to help us out. Does that sum it up for you Clare, Era.” I said smugly.

Clare blinked a few times, before saying, “Yeah, it does.”

“Ok then. So, Discord, do you mind if I call you Dizzy?” I asked.

“I mind, yes, but if you want, I can’t stop you from calling me it.”

“Ok. Well, are there any nicknames you do like? I won’t call you one you don’t like going by.” I said.

He looked deep in thought for a moment, before looking up, and saying, “Nnope!”

“Ok then. Well, how can you help us?”

“I pulled you into a side dimension. I think I can handle moving you from one world to another.”

“Good point. So, have you been to any worlds other than this one before?” I asked curiously.

“Lots, I’ve watched tons of worlds, such as the one Lumos, Clare, Ventus, and several other humans were on before, their Equis.”

“Cool. So, how would it work anyway? Do you just snap your fingers and open a portal to another world?”

Discord scoffed, “Oh, please, that's too mainstream, we’re taking the Swagwagon.” He said with a joyful tone.

“Swagwagon?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

Discord snapped his fingers, and a large ship appeared above us, “Yes, the Swagwagon battleship.” He said smugly

“Woah. Cool.” I said, staring at the ship. “Is that a chocolate fountain mast?” I asked, confused.

“Why don’t you see for yourselves?” he asked, obviously proud of the ship.

“Don’t mind if I do!” Ven said, flying to the ship.

“Be careful of the-” discord began before Ven crashed into something, “... force field.” he finished.

Ven slid slowly down the field around the ship, before falling off it and catching himself after falling a few feet. I almost doubled over laughing.

“So... how do we get on then?” Clare asked, curiously.

“Teleportation.” Discord said.

“Thats simple... especially for someone who often speaks in riddles.” Ven said, Discord simply shrugged.

“Oh shut up and go make-out with Die.” I said, receiving a hard punch from my now blushing sister for my trouble.

Ven glared at me, “Shush, nobody needs to know that.”

I stared at him, wide-eyed. “You actually did!? Ha, I knew you two liked each other!” I shouted triumphantly.

Ven blushed, and a small whirlwind appeared around him, followed by him flying off at amazing speeds.

“Wow, I didn’t think he’d be that embarassed.” I said.

“Well you just revealed he had a crush on your sister, from what I’ve seen, he normally doesn’t talk about anything personal really.” Clare said, seemingly bored.

“So, he keeps to himself? How did he end up falling for Die, anyway? Was it a love at first sight thing or what?”

“I honestly don’t know, as you just put it, he keeps to himself about that kind of thing. Although I did notice her sneaking glances at her shortly after the battle with Akumu.”

“I see. I should go apologize, huh?”

“Nah, he’ll get over it,” she lowered her voice, “Besides, now Die knows he has feelings for her as well.”

“Uh, I think she already knew. After all, he did technically admit that he made out with her, though that may just have been male exaggerated bragging.” I replied.

“Hmm... I haven’t really seen much of them for the last couple days, so it’s possible they actually were...” She looked deep in thought, “Also, why did it take Discord 2 days to find you?”

It took a few seconds for me to register this information. “WHAT!? I’VE BEEN GONE FOR TWO DAYS!?” I yelled.

“Yeah, Luna spent most of it staying out here, just waiting.”

“But, I thought it was only a few hours. What the hell!?”

“Well, different worlds should have different passing of time, shouldn’t they? It’s possible you’ve only been gone from your world for less than a second in their time.”

“Hmmm. Hey, Discord, can you travel through time as well as space?” I asked.

“Not at all.”

“Do you have any ideas whose voice it was that I heard? I’ve been wracking my brain but I can’t figure it out.” I said.

“Not a clue.”

“Ok then. One more thing. Of all the worlds you visited, which one would be best for learning to control the power I’ve got. I need somewhere I can train without causing a lot of collateral damage. Plus, I kinda need to figure out how to walk, run, all that stuff.”

“I could answer that,” Clare said, “Olympus Coliseum.”

“Olympus Coliseum?” I asked. “Sounds good. What’s it like there?”

“It’s best if you see it yourself.” She said.

“Splendid. Now, shall we get going before worlds start disappearing?” Discord asked.

“Sure. But who’s going and who’s staying?”

“I’m going,” said Erahaor, “I can’t stand this world anyway.”

“I volunteer,” Said Clare “And I know where we can get more ‘helpers,’ if we take a bit of extra time.”

“I’m going.” said Die.

“If you go, Ven is probably going too, so that makes a total of 6, since the princesses have to stay here.”

“Actually, we shall be accompanying you as well. Discord, we were wondering if you’d be able to create doppelgangers to stand in for us while we’re gone?” Celestia replied with a small smile.

“That wasn’t my reason.” Clare said flatly, “The first world we’re going to is an alternate version of this world, if you see yourself...” she trailed off.

“That’s why we’ll be disguising ourselves. I am not abandoning my friends.” Luna deadpanned.

“You’d better stay on the ship on that world anyway,” Clare said, “So Its 8 crewmembers so far. Noctis, Die, Celestia, Luna, Ven, me, and Era. So on ‘our’ world we could probably get others to help us.”

“Ok,” Discord said, “Die, since you are the... closest to Ven, you should go get him so that he will come with us.”

“Fine.” She said, before switching to her pegasus form and taking off in the direction Ven had gone.

“So, do we get the grand tour?” Clare asked Discord, who gave a grin.

“Yes, come right this way,” he said, and snapped his fingers.
__________________________________________________________________

The good ship Swagwagon [one huge tour later]

“Woah, I am definitely liking the game room.” I said, glad I’d managed to learn how to walk without stumbling every two seconds. “So, how long did it take you to make the ship?”

“About a second.” Discord said.

“Just wish Clare would stop playing the final fantasy games,” Ven said. He and Die had joined us a few minutes after we started, along with Celestia and Luna, who were content to just enjoy the tour in silence.

“I dunno, I thought it was cool seeing Zack’s story, except for, y’know, the ‘incident’ onward.” I said.

“It’s not that, its that I wanted to play some Kingdom Hearts.” He said glumly.

“Well, we can come back to it later. I’d like to see just what a keyblade is really capable of.”

“Easiest way would be to play the game, too bad you have hooves.”

“You forgot about telekinesis.” I said.

“Actually, I solved the whole ‘hooves’ problem by making a VR room.”

Vens eyes widened, “Holy crap, really?”

“Eeyup!” Discord said in a southern accent.

He turned to Die and me, “Don’t. Tell. Clare. She would hog it.”

“My lips are sealed. So, how does it work? Is there a helmet you put on or something, or is it something even cooler?”

“No, its just Illusions, and minor shocks will go through injuries when you’re hit, you could use that for your training as well.” He explained

“So, it is cooler than tech. Color me impressed Discord.” I said.

“So... How long will the actual cross dimensional travel take?” Ven asked.

“Depends on the dimension, if we’re going to an alternate version of the same world, half an hour, to a completely different world, at least a day.”

“So, Ven, what’s your world like?” I asked.

Ven just chuckled “You’ll see soon enough, we ready to go?”

Die shrugged. “Sure, I guess. Hey, Discord, we’re ready when you are.”

“WE GO!” Discord shouted as he slammed a paw onto a big red button that materialised out of nowhere. I tensed up, expecting a sudden movement but when nothing happened, I relaxed.

“That, was surprisingly uneventful.” I said.

“What did you expect?” Ven said.

“I dunno. A sudden drop, or movement, or something.” I replied.

“Exactly.”

“Soooo....wanna get some training in?” I asked.

“Eh, why not? If we come across any heartless it would help for you to be skilled with a keyblade...”

“Plus, I need to learn control over my powers all over again. Without Tsuki no me, I’m a disaster waiting to happen.” I said sadly.

“Well, if you don’t mind me asking, what did the Lunar orb actually look like?”

“It looked like a support materia, except for the crescent moon symbol inside it. It acted like a magic materia with multiple spells available, but it was hard to control without using the blade as a medium.” I explained.

“... and could I look at your keyblade?” He asked with a spark in his eye.

I shrugged. “Sure.” I summoned it and levitated it over to him, but the second he touched it, it disappeared and reappeared next to me. “What the?”

He facepalmed “Yeah, I forgot they did that... Anyway, the coloration is the similar to the orb, and it does have the whole ‘moon’ thing with it... Could the keyblade... be the orb itself?”

“Wait, what? So the orb may have become this? Then does that mean Die’s Orb could do the same?” I asked.

“Possible, though not likely. If her orb does have an alternate form, it would probably be a different kind of item. So about that training?[/green]”

I nodded, and we followed Discord to the ‘VR Room’.

__________________________________________________________________

‘VR’ Room

Ven stood in the middle of the chamber, reading the instructions Discord gave us on how to activate it.

“Virtual Reality, On.” The room instantly lit up. “Run battle simulation: Basic Heartless attack.”

The room grew dark, and the environment changed to a forest in the night, and tons of black creatures came out of the ground. Ven grinned, and said, “Create item: keyblade. Create ‘keychain’: Way to the Dawn.” and a Giant silver key appeared in his hand, and strange symbol, which he attached to the key. A large amount of light came from the keyblade. When the light faded, it had changed.

“Ok, now what? These ones seem a little, tame, to me.”

“One moment, and I’ll start it.” He looked up, “Create enemy: Vanitas.” A ball of darkness appeared, and out of it walked a guy in a strange outfit and a keyblade of his own.

“Wait, Vanitas? Umbra mentioned this guy. He can create these things called Unversed, right?”

“Yeah, thats him, you ready?” He asked, dropping into his ready stance. I nodded.

“Simulation: Start.” he said, and ran forward, shouting “Ability disable: attack magic.”

“Making it harder for us? Fine with me.” I said, levitating Blackout Prizm in front of me and charging towards Vanitas, who summoned several unversed, who divided themselves between attacking me and attacking Ven. The ones who attacked Ven lasted about a second.

“My powers technically aren’t magic,” He said with a grin as he dispatched two more heartless and unversed. He leaped into the air, and dispatched another heartless, “That makes 20 heartless, 23 unversed. Change difficulty: pureblood heartless, level 2”

More of the ‘shadows’ popped out of the ground, as well as taller ones that otherwise looked the same. (These, and these.)

“Hey Ven, can I create an enemy for us to fight? There’s a specific one I want to go up against.” I asked.

“Sure, why not? Pause simulation. Remove enemy: Vanitas.” And with that, the masked figure faded away.

“Ok, my turn. Create enemy: Iron Imprisoner Stage Four!” I said, and the creature I had fought before appeared right in front of me, flaming cage hammer and all.

Ven grinned, “Hm... All right, if we’re going with higher rank enemies. Create enemy: Guard Armor. Create enemy: Number 13: Roxas.” and with that, two more creatures appeared, one was a large suit of purple armor, and the other was a black cloak, and held two keyblades, one Light, the other dark.

“Woah, two keyblades? Where’d he get those? And that armor, sorta looks like the Trinity Armor I fought, if a more simplistic version, that is.”

“Trinity Armor was an unversed, the Guard armor was the original idea’s form, a heartless. As for the two keyblades, its a rare occurrence, anyway, meet Roxas, member number 13 of the organization, he is the Nobody of a boy named Sora.”

“Wait, Sora? Umbra made a fake DtH that he said looked like Sora’s. Does he have brown spiky hair and wield a silver keyblade with a black handle and golden handguards?” I asked.

“Yeah, he is the main character in the Kingdom Hearts games.”

“Huh, this Roxas guy doesn’t look much like him, and from what Umbra said, Nobodies are supposed to look like the person they used to be.”

“Thats because he is based off of someone else’s heart that was fused with Sora, coincidentally also named Ventus, and depending on where we are in the KH story line, you may meet him while he’s awake.”

“Dude, you share a name with a video game character? That’s pretty cool.” I said.

He grinned, “Why do you think I chose it? Unsummon pureblood Heartless and basic unversed. Change location: New York. Unpause Simulation.” He said and all the black creatures and all the unversed but the Imprisoner remained.

I looked around, seeing us in a large open area with tall buildings on all sides.

“Welcome to my old home, New York city.” He said as he blocked an attack from Roxas, “I’ll take this one.”

“Ok then, I guess I get the imprisoner and the armor.” I replied, spreading my wings and flying above the Imrpisoner’s swinging hammer.

Ven then said “Allow ability: Drive forms: anti form and final form.” and darkness flowed around him, making him look like a heartless as his keyblade disappeared.

The now heartless-esque Ventus ran forward on all fours, and attacked Roxas with rapid attacks, moving so fast I couldn’t even see, it wasn’t until I took a hit from the guard armor that I remembered my own fight. I released a breath I hadn’t even realised I had been holding, and I used a technique I’d learned around 3 years after obtaining the Orb.

I held BP to my opposite side and took a deep breath as I faced the Guard Armor. Cherry Blossom leaves started to appear and blow around us Suddenly, I disappeared in a blur of speed as I charged towards and past the Armor, making a single strike before reappearing behind it. “ZANTETSUKEN!” I said, as the strike caught up with the armor, completely bisecting it. It disappeared in a flash of darkness, leaving only the Iron Imprisoner for me to face.

“Not bad.” Ven said, sitting on top of Roxas, who then faded out of existence.

“Thanks. A lot tougher to use as a pony though.” I huffed, exhausted after what usually only used up a fraction of my stamina. “Think it’d be a bad idea to use it again?” I asked as I faced the Imprisoner that was charging towards us.

“Ability activate:synch blade. Summon keychains: Oathkeeper and Oblivion” Ven said whilst dodging a flaming spin attack, and another keyblade appeared in his left hand, as well as two other symbols, he then attached the symbols to his keyblades, and they changed again into the same ones Roxas used.

“Cool. Hey, if Die’s orb ever did become a keyblade, what do you think it would be called?” I asked, trying to imagine my sister with a keyblade.

He shot a beam of light out of both keyblades, instantly destroying it, “Hm.. now thats a good question... Probably something like this... remove ability: synch blade, remove keychains, way to the dawn, oathkeeper, oblivion. create keychain: ignited heart” this time the ‘keychain,’ as he kept calling them appeared on the keyblade, instantly transforming it, and making it catch fire.

“Ok, now that’s awesome.” I said, when suddenly, a random name popped into my head. “Create keychain: Infinity Spectrum.”

A keychain with a sun appeared in front of me, and as I stuck it onto my keyblade, it completely transformed. “Cool, so mine can transform.”

Ven grinned, “All keyblades can change shape based off of the keyblades.”

“So, do you think I can keep the keychain?” I asked with a small grin.

“Probably not, since it’s just virtual reality.” He shrugged, “How long have we been here?”

“Lemme check. Display Time/Date, 12 hour system.” I said. Nothing came up.

“Wrong command if you want to know that. Display ‘play’ time.” a timer appeared, saying 24:13 and went up every second.

“Oh. Then how do I check the time itself then?” I asked, a little embarrassed by my blunder.

“Display calendar.” and a calendar appeared, saying it was the fifteenth of June. “Huh, Lumos was right, the world is on a different clock.”

“Ok. So, who are we going to ask for help when we get there anyway?” I inquired.

“Oh, just the rest of our little human ‘colony.’” Ven said, “I know a few who definitely will join, and one who probably won’t.”

“I see. So, can you tell me about them?”

“Well, I don’t really know much about them personally, but I know what they call themselves, and their powers more so than them. To start, there are the first two, Shade and Aqua, they were sort of in a relationship at last check.”

“Like you and Die? And don’t deny it. You like her, right?” I asked with a grin.

He turned a deep shade of crimson, “Please stop bringing it up...”

“I will when you and Die both admit you like each other.” I said with a small scowl.

“Well you already know I like her, now will you stop pushing it?”

“Did you tell her?” I asked.

“... No, I haven’t... It’s just...” He looked like he was searching for the right words, “I don’t know how... and honestly, I don’t know how she’ll respond immediately to it, which is the part that scares me the most.”

“Look, I know she likes you. We even had a bet before the fight that Era interrupted. If I won, she had to ask you out, and when I said that, she blushed redder than the Solar Orb. The problem is, you’ll never know how she’ll respond until you try, but I have the utmost faith that it will be a good one.” I said.

“Fine, I’ll tell her, just... Not until we reach a specific world.”

“Which one. And before you say ‘wait and see’, know that I’ll keep hounding you until you tell me.”

“I won’t tell you the name because you’ll hound me to go to that world if I do, but I will tell you its the most likely world for us to be separated from the rest on, if I’m right. Anyway, we should be arriving any moment, so lets find the others.”

“I won’t hound you to go. We’ll get there when we get there, and all that. All I want to know is its name. Is that so much to ask?”

“Well, how about this: think of it as... a surprise for you as well as her. Besides, if you knew, you might act a little off when we get there, which could tip her off.”

“I’ll give you that. Ever since that DtH incident, I’ve felt different. If I had to describe myself, I’d say I was more like, well, a pony, in regards to my emotional state. I feel more open than I ever did, and I find it a little easier to be happy about things.”

“Yeah, makes sense. Anyway, lets go to the bridge.”

“Ok.” I said, and we headed through the ship. “Hey Ven, you know I like Luna, right?”

“We all do, dude.”

“Yeah yeah.” I said in mock-irritation. “What I mean is, does she feel the same way?”

“Is it not obvious?”

“Well, she did hug me when I got back....but I thought it was just because she was worried. So she actually li--”

“You two can talk about it later,” Discord said, appearing in front of us, “We’re here. Now, I’m only teleporting Clare and Ventus down. Everyone else has to stay on the ship, including myself, the environment apparently has formed some sort of thing that could harm off worlders since I was last there.”

“Ok Cap’n Discord. I wish I could’ve seen what your Equis is like though Ven.”

“Yeah, and I wish I was the one who owned this ship. Ok, Discord, anything I should know before you send me off?” Discord snapped his fingers, and a device appeared around his wrist.

“That will let you contact me when everyone you can bring is with you, and we only have 4 spare rooms, so choose carefully.” He said.

Ven did an overdone salute, before saying “Ready to go, sir.” Discord just snapped his fingers, and he disappeared.

“Well that’s cool. And only four? Couldn’t you make more if you needed to? I mean, you can do practically anything, right?” I said.

“True, but I don’t like dealing with too large of groups. Too much noise.”

“Good point. Too many and it get’s way too hard to get things done too.”

“Glad to know we see eye to eye on that, my pony friend.”

“Thanks. Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, but there is no guarantee I’ll answer it.”

“Ok, better make it a good question then. Hmmm....do you like Celestia? I mean romantically.”

Without blush or any sign of bashfulness, Discord, just said “Yes, very much so.”

“Ok then. I was gonna ask you about why I feel different, seeing as you tend to know things that not even Celestia could figure out, but I already think I know why, besides not having to worry about Akumu taking over my body anymore.”

“Oh trust me, the trouble Akumu will be is far worse now than before. At Umbra’s side, he can travel to any world much faster than us, and spread heartless easily.” Discord said glumly.

“Then we just have to take him down, don’t we?” I replied with a confident smile.

“I wish it was that easy, there are only... I think 10 living keyblade wielders right now. One is currently in a coma, one is a statue, one is trapped in the world of darkness, three are children with next to no training with it, one just discovered his, one is too old to really fight well enough, one is a humanized mouse, and one is the guy who created the very first heartless, and by connection the nobodies.”

“Ok then. So, do you have anything besides the games I could use to learn more about this Kingdom Hearts stuff, including previous keyblade wielders?” I asked.

“I have a written collection of a group of items in the game called the ‘secret reports,’ and the guides to each game. As well as some of the research that, once stolen, helped create the first heartless.”

“Awesome. So where is it? I wanna learn as much as I can before we get to where we’re going.” I said.

“VR room: library mode.” Discord said, as though bored.

“Not a fan of libraries?” I asked as the room became a huge library with books of all kinds.

“No, I just don’t want people stealing my books.”

“Dude, couldn’t you enchant them to trap any would-be thieves inside until you decide they learned their lesson?”

“Yes, but this is easier. Plus they might like that kind of punishment.”

“Not if they become a blank page or something. Then they’re not in the story, they’re just blank.”

“Still, it’s easier to just make them illusions.”

“I guess. So, is there anything you wanna do?” I asked as I looked through the various sections for information on the Kingdom Hearts games.

“Got nothing to do, really, since simply leaving the ship may kill me. Also, Find related articles: Kingdom hearts.” The library shrunk to just a handful of books.

“Cool. I should really start reading the instructions, huh?” I said.

“It would be better if you just played the Kingdom Hearts games in VR mode.”

“Maybe, but I like to read up on things as well before I experience them. Except instruction manuals. I always dive in without reading them and cause havoc as I try to figure out the controls by myself.” I chuckled remembering when I went with Die and my parents to the Gold Saucer, and getting addicted to all the games.

“Well... In this version there are no real controls, since its true virtual reality, scents, sounds, sight, even emulation of touch.” I could hear the pride from his voice.

“Dude, that is definitely awesome. Wish I could make something like that.” I said, more than a little jealous.

“It’s magic. I don’t have to explain shit!”

I chuckled. “I never said you had to explain it. I was just wishing I could make something as awesome as what you made, dude.”

“Well you can’t cause you don’t have as large magic supplies.”

I sighed. “Technically it’s because I can’t use chaos magic. The Orbs that gave Celestia and Luna their power reside within me and Die. Well, technically, my Orb may have become a keyblade. And I have to learn to control that power all over again. Hey, any ideas just how powerful the Orbs really are? I’m asking a lot of questions, aren’t I?” I said, giving myself a headache.

“Yes you are. Enjoy the reading, and I do recommend playing some KH for a better understanding, as not much is written about the keyblade.” Discord said before disappearing.

“I will. Thanks.” I started to go through the books one by one, in historical order, rather than in order of which game came first. “Man, Discord has definitely got an awesome collection.” I said as I went through the various books, guides and journals at hand... I mean hoof.
__________________________________________________________________

Three hours later

I’d fallen asleep about 3/4 of the way through all the books. I was completely wrecked. I was awoken by a voice I recognized as Ven’s came over the intercom, saying “Beam me up, Scotty.”

I got up, turned off the VR, and headed straight to the bridge, where I saw several humans that I assumed were the friends Ven had talked about, and each was an oddity on their own.

The first one was completely covered from head to toe, in a grey, loose fitting robe and face wrap, with a black stripe going up the front and back. Second, there was a guy who wore a simple business suit from the same material as Ven’s outfit, had neon blue hair, and was soaked in water. After that there was a woman secreting smoke from her hands somehow, who wore a t-shirt and shorts ALSO made of the same material. Last, there was a guy with Spiky Red and Yellow hair, who was wearing blue jeans, a red shirt, and a light blue one of those jackets than have fur coming out of the hood.

I walked up to the four new arrivals and introduced myself. “Hi. Noctis, ex-SOLDIER, pony, and immortal, at your service.”

They all stared for a few moments, before the guy in the business suit stepped forward said, “I am Aqua, that” he pointed at the woman secreting smoke, “Is shade, that,” he pointed at the robed one, “Is Tox, and finally, we have ‘Sparky.’” The man in the jacket glared at him.

“Its ‘Jolt,’ not ‘Sparky.’” He said.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you all. So, did Ven tell you about Lumos?” I asked.

“About how he is now four beings, two heartlesses, and two nobodies?” Shade asked.

“And about how one heartless, Umbra, nearly got to me, and released my own darkness, Akumu, who now exists in my human form, while I am now a pegasus and wield a keyblade ? Did he tell you about that?” I asked.

“Well,” Said the one called ‘Tox,’ in a feminine voice, “We seem to be on the same page here.”

“Alright then. So, you know we’re going after Lumos and Malum, and Mirum if it’s possible to save him that is. We have to find them before Umbra and Akumu.”

“Yes, that we do,” Jolt said, “Anyway, Ven also explained who we would be traveling with beforehand, which is probably why Stan refused to come with us.”

“Stan?” I asked.

“One of the others who arrived after Discords defeat, he has earth based powers, and is a stereotype jock, and a sexist pig.” Clare said angrily.

“Ok then. Good thing he didn’t come with you. Anyway, where are we off to first Cap’n?” I turned to Discord, who was in his human form.

“Ask navigation.” He said, pointing at Ven.

“Well?” I asked.

“We’re going to the world every KH game has visited at least once: Hollow Bastion, also known as Radiant Gardens.”

“Nice. So, what exactly are we hoping to find there? Think we’ll meet Yuffie and Cid?”

“How do you know of Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee?” Ven asked.

“I spent the past three hours reading up on Kingdom Hearts, that’s how.” I said smugly. “By the way, I really wanna obtain some of those keychains sometime. They look like they’d be handy.”

“Well, they might have one or two in the shops there, thats one reason we’re stopping there. Also, we’re going to look for information on recent heartless attacks, maybe try to find other keyblade wielders, oh, and maybe meet with some people from your world. Though they probably won’t recognize you.”

“Ok then. If I recall, the ones there should be Tifa, Cloud and Yuffie, right? And Cid, can’t forget that crazy flyboy.” I said.

“Well, Cloud may or may not be there, depending on if the battle with Sephiroth has happened yet.”

I bristled. “Don’t. Mention. Sephiroth.” I said, trying to calm down by taking deep breaths.

“Got it, anyway, if that battle has occurred, then KH2 has already happened, if not, we may run into Sora if we wait near the Dark Depths.” Ven said. “Also, the information we do gather will decide the next location. So I’m only deciding which world to go to out of those available.”

“Ok then. Hey, where are Die and the princesses by the way?” I asked, only just noticing their absence.

Clare answered, “They are all in the game room, Die playing the final fantasy games, and the princesses are playing Halo, oddly enough we have an internet connection here.”

“Ok then. So, got an ETA?”

“One day two hours.” Discord said, and said, “Liftoff in five, four, three, two,” The people who just got on all grabbed onto something and tensed up, “one, and we have liftoff.”

Ven chuckled at the antics of the other humans, and walked over to me, before whispering “Don’t tell these guys about the VR room either, Aqua would ruin it with his water secretion, shade would fill the place with smoke, Sparky would electrocute the damn thing in anger, and Tox would sit in there for hours playing card games with illusionary opponents.”

“Is Tox a gambler in disguise?” I asked.

“No, she plays Magic the Gathering, I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of it from Lumos.”

“Yeah. Era, the elf who tried to kill me, was from one of the places that the game is set in.”

“Yeah, I know, Mirrodin.” He said, “I’m gonna go play some KH in the Virtual room”

“And speaking of Era, where’s he? And why do I keep failing to notice others being absent?”

“Era has been in the ‘dark room’ since we left, as for the second question, you’re not very observant. See ya in a bit.” Ven said as he left the room.

“Oh. Right.” I said, facehoofing. “And yeah, I’m not very observant anymore. It used to be hard for me to miss something. Now I feel like I have to reach that state of alertness all over again.” I said.

“Um, Noctis?” Clare said, “He left.”

“Oh. See what I mean though? I’m starting out as a complete amateur again.”

“Yeah. I see. Maybe having Akumu was constantly keep you on your toes, which now would have to be metaphorical, made you more observant, and being without him, you’re relaxing to the point you stop noticing normal things? Damn, gave myself a headache.” Clare said, gripping her head lightly.

“So because he’s separated from me, I subconsciously lowered my guard and as such, I’m much less observant etc. Well, at least I seem to regain that alertness in battle.” I said.

“Eh, good enough, anyway, goodnight.” She said, and turned to leave.

“Sure.” I said, before turning to Discord. “I’m gonna go train for a while. If I start spending too long, you have my permission to have whoever you want do whatever you want them to if it gets me to take a break.” I said.

“Seems legit,” Discord said.

“Aqua, Shade, Tox, ‘Sparky’.” I said nodding to each of them, smiling despite the glare Jolt gave me, before heading to the VR Room for another training session. Unbeknownst to me, someone was already there.

As I walked in, I found myself in Hollow Bastion, the KH2 version. There, I saw ‘Sora’ battling against an army of heartless.

‘Sora’ charged forward toward the hoard, Kingdom key in hand, slashing through the first three that came his way. This was followed by charging through several, and letting out a wide slash, taking out a good portion of them. His body glowed, and he lept up, diving through the crowd of heartless and floating up several times, before landing again, and continuing his onslaught.

About two minutes into the battle, one of the floating heartless began to create a blue energy. ‘Sora’ saw this, and jumped up and grabbed it. He then landed, and used the heartless to destroy the heartless in a wide radius. His keyblade then glowed red, and with a shout of “FIRE!” several fireballs began to orbit him for a few seconds, striking any heartless stupid enough to draw near.

‘Sora’ kept this strategy up until the rest of the heartless were all dead. At which a mechanical voice said “Battle of Hollow Bastion: Complete. Damage taken: light. Time taken: 4 minutes, 40 seconds. Kills: 1000. Reaction commands used: 2. Spells used: 1. Items used: 0. Overall Score: A”

“Damn, I was aiming for ‘S’ rank... Shouldn’t have used Fire.” Ven’s voice said.

“That was still damn impressive, and coming from a former 1st Class, you know that’s something.” I said as the Virtual battleground faded away.

“Hey,” Ven said, “... How much of that did you see?”

“Pretty much all of it. Never seen fire used like that before. Is that what a keyblade is really capable of?” I asked.

“Hardly, Sora’s abilities are nowhere near those of any who have obtained a ‘Mark of Mastery,’ from what I understand.”

“I remember. Master Aqua was able to completely alter the Land of Departure into what is now Castle Oblivion, where Ventus sleeps and Aqua’s armor resides.”

“Also known as ‘the castle that never was.’ Another ability related to the mark of mastery is the ‘Keyblade inheritance’ ceremony.”

“Actually, that’s not true. The inheritance ceremony can be performed by any keyblade wielder. Take Terra passing his on to Riku as an example.” I explained.

“A fair point, and Riku performed it accidentally with Sora in KH1/”

“And Aqua with Kairi in Birth By Sleep.” I reminded him.

“I think you may have read more than needed.” Ven said with a chuckle.

“Maybe I did, but right now I’m here to train. I need to get back to the level I was at before Akumu was separated from me.

Ven grinned, “Well then, how about this? Change Scenario: Kingdom Hearts 2 final mix, hidden fight: Lingering Will battle, replace characters with Players, unlimited MP, all keyblades allowed.”

“So, Lingering Will, huh? This should be fun.” I said with a mix of excitement and nervousness.

“Create weapon: Way to the dawn. Create weapon: Halted Dusk.” Ven said, the keyblade of Riku appearing in his hand, and a reversed version in his left.

“I’ll stick with my own keyblade for now.”

“Sure you don’t want a keychain?” Ven asked.

“I’ll stick with my own until we obtain some keychains. Then I’ll start learning to use those.” I said.

“Fair enough.”

“So, when do we start?” I asked.

“Simulation: Start” Ven said, and the suit of armor began to attack relentlessly.
_________________________________________________________________

Akumu’s POV

Umbra asked, holding out his sixth attempt at making me an MP5.

“You forgot the firing pin, again.” I said, rolling my eyes.

he mind-shouted, throwing it at the nearest tree, followed by charging chaos into it, making it explode.

“Umbra, calm the fuck down.” I said, drawing the sword he made me. “If it’s that difficult, just stop for now. It’s not like I’m gonna need it right now. Is Noctis here? Is Die here? Are Lumos or any of his other parts besides you here?”

Umbra took a few deep breaths, before ‘saying,’

“Then I don’t need it right now. I want it, but I can wait until you can focus. Maybe trying to create all these weapons in a row was a bad idea?” I said calmly, though inside I was raging. Thank the darkness Heartless can conceal it as well as we can when we want to.

“And besides, Lumos is probably nothing more than a dusk right now. He’ll be easy to kill, and once he’s gone, we can take all the time in the world to finish off Malum and Mirum.”

“Well even if he did, and even if they do, we’re the most powerful Heartless that ever existed, except for maybe Ansem, but since he’s not around anymore, we’re top darkness dogs.”

Umbra said with a sadistic grin.

“Oh, do tell.” I said with a manic smile.

“You didn’t need to. I guessed that was the one you used on Noctis to separate us, good job by the way, you couldn’t even kill him.”

“What, we need seven or something?” I asked sarcastically.

Umbra ‘said,’ his grin widening.

“Oh, don’t keep me in suspense, where are we going? Also, why do you use that mind thing, why don’t you just create a mouth for yourself or something?”