(Frozen North, Third POV)
The Unending Snowstorm outside the recently returned Crystal Empire left little to be seen. This included a trio of bodies that lay in the snow. One was large and draconic, another was average sized and humanoid, the last was ethereal and canine. How long they were there, no one knew, especially them.
The ethereal canine was the first to stir, yawning as if it wasn’t affected by the harsh weather. It looked between the dragon and the humanoid before joyfully bounding towards the humanoid and giving him a lick. The humanoid groaned and opened his yellow eyes briefly, took a look at the canine and then laid back in the snow, closing his eyes as he did so...before he bolted up and awake with realization on his face.
“What in all that is and isn’t Hell or Heaven!?” He shouted, quickly standing and starting to shiver and attempt to warm up.
“What in blue blazes?” The purple scaled dragon asked as he was startled awake. His eyes shot open, then slowly but groggily looked around. “Did I leave the window?” he asked himself as he raised his long talons to rub along his eyes.
“Holy Shit on a Shingle!” The humanoid shouted, jumping away from the awoken dragon. “What? Who? Where?!” He stammered while cowering away from the dragon
“..What are you doing in my-” The serpent stopped in mid-sentence as the snow slowly slipped off of his body. “...Room?” he asked in minor confused as his yellow slitted eyes gazed around the snow barren lands.
“Room? There’s no room! PANIC ATTACK! Snickers!” The humanoid called out in panic, whistling loudly as he looked around for something. The ethereal canine came out of the ground in front of the humanoid, causing him to jump from the jumpscare. “AH! A...Polterpup?” Said Polterpup moved into the humanoid’s arms, the humanoid instinctively petting it. After a few minutes, the humanoid calmed down and looked back to the dragon. “Who are you?” He asked.
“..Better question is where are we and what just happened?” The dragon asked as he looked at his arms that now looked like arms, flexing each finger as an experiment to make sure he was actually seeing this.
“Last thing I remember is going through a County Fair with Snickers.” The humanoid said as he stood back up and started breathing as calmly as possible.
The dragon slowly turned his hand around before looking over the rest of his body. He gives himself a pinch, but felt no pain other than the feeling of scales where skin was suppose to be. “Last night, I came home with a lot of groceries, then everything went blank after that…” the dragon asked in puzzlement. “...Something doesn’t seem to add up here.”
“Does it have to do with the fact that we can’t recall how we got here...and I can’t seem to remember my name...or I can, but it is replaced with ‘Cain’.” The humanoid said as he looked at himself, checking if he had any changes to himself that weren’t obvious. “Lost memories aside, I’m glad I still have my favorite Kingdom Hearts shirt.”
“.. some lost memories, names and body suddenly altered… This is starting to freak me out..” The dragon sad as he slowly got up onto his forelegs. “I mean, I can remember my name, its Jasssss-” His words ended up slurred, as if controlled by something unknown. “-Voris Nil Hilkiin....what?” Voris said in confused. He tried several times, only with the same words, his mouth acting on his name to correct him.
Suddenly, a brief flash of light slightly further north caught the Polterpup’s attention and he jumped out of his owner’s arms and started barking. “Hey...Voris...I think Snickers is trying to get our attention. For what, I have no clue.” Cain said. Snickers turned and pointed his nose to the north, where he saw the flash.
Voris’s head rose where the dog pointed his nose. “It’s at least something to tell us just what in the seven sins of hell is going on,” Voris said as he attempted to stand more straight, only to find resistance in his back. “..ok, walking hunched over it is.” Voris said with an annoyed snort.
“I feel bad for you,” Cain said as he started in the direction that Snickers pointed. “I’ll scout ahead while you see about getting used to yourself and catch up.”
“..I suppose so, I mean you’re most human looking than me right now.” Voris said in agreement.
(Crystal Empire, Several Hours Later)
“I’m both impressed and disappointed at the same time.” Cain said as the odd trio walked down what seemed to be an abandoned main street area. The Crystal buildings impressed him, but the small size of said buildings was disappointing as their sizes (except Snickers’) would probably scare the inhabitants.
“Who would their right mind would build itheir homes out of crystal?” Voris said as he tapped one of the structures curiously.
“Either someone who isn’t in their right mind, or it’s part of their culture.” Cain answered as he knelt down and knocked on one of the doors. They waited a few minutes, but no one answered. “Hmm...definitely not home. Voris, can you see if anyone is around in the general vicinity?”
“I’ve never heard of a culture who would do all of this.” Voris said as he motioned his hand talon around. “As for seeing if anyone is in the area..” He said as he raised his body up, using the wing-like arms to push himself up. As he turned his head around a few times, he noticed a few 3 ft tall equines trotting towards what looked like some sort of fair.
“See anything?” Cain asked.
Voris blinked his hands. “..Just rather colorful ponies whose eyes and head a bit big for their body…” he said as he looked down at Cain.
“If we had money, how much would you bet that those ponies are sentient or whatever?” Cain asked as he started walking in the direction that Voris was looking.
“It’ll make this even stranger than it already is.” Voris said as he lowered himself, then followed after Cain.
The group barely got to the edge of the fair when someone noticed them. “Heartless!” One of the ponies yelled out, causing a blue and rainbow blur to come speeding from the center of the fair and started a collision course for Cain.
“Fuck me.” He muttered before the blur rammed into him and knocked him completely through one of the crystal houses, causing it to collapse.
“Yeah! That’s what you get for trying to mess with these ponies!” The blur, revealed to be a cyan pegasus with rainbow hair and tail, shouted after him.
“First of all, we just got here.” Voris spoke up with a raised eyeridge.
The pegasus turned to look at him and froze when she saw him. She smiled nervously and slowly started to slow her wings, causing her land on the ground. “Umm...can you blame me when those Heartless with that symbol can attack at almost any moment?” She asked uneasily.
“Heartless?” Voris asked curious. Despite not really trying, his presence kept giving the rainbow haired pegasus an uneasy feeling.
“How can you not know about the Heartless!?” She shouted in shock flying up into his face...before realizing she did and backed up, trying to keep a brave face on. “They’ve been a pain in the flank for...I don’t know how long, just forever it seems!”
“Rest assured my companion isn’t one of those. In fact, let’s hope you didn’t just kill him.” Voris said as he started making his way one to the house that Cain was smashed into.
When he and and the pegasus got close to the house, a few crystal fragments shifted, allowing Cain’s head to pop out, eyes spinning and two tiny biplanes circling his head. “Can a guy ever get a break?” Cain drunkenly asked. He looked over to the pegasus. “By the way, that’s $20 dollars to reimburse me for my now ruined shirt.” He then flopped his head forward, seemingly unconscious.
The pegasus looked between Voris and Cain with a nervous look. “At least he’s alive, right?”
Voris blinked in confusion. “..He was just thrown through a crystal building and he appears as fine as a cartoon character…” Voris said as he thought about the craziness thus far.
“Yeah, most Heartless are rather durable.” The pegasus commented nervously. “If I had an aura keyblade on the other hand, he more than likely would have been dead before impact.”
Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard on the edge of the city and something smokey and sinister started flying towards the fair. Voris’s quickly rose to look at what was coming toward them.
“Crap, Crap, Crap!!!” The pegasus began repeating and started flying to the main fair area.
“Now what’s going on?” Voris asked curiously.
“Sombra broke through the shield!” She called back as she flew. “I need to help the others get the civilians to safety!”
Cain’s head shot up and started sniffing. “Umm...why do I smell something that is both revolting and delicious at the same time?”
“Worry about your nose later!” Rainbow called out as she started moving out of sight. “If you aren’t a bad Heartless...if that’s even possible...then help! Bring your dragon friend!”
Voris scratched his head in confusion, knowing nothing about who Sombra is or what was even going on.
“What do you think? Should we help?” Cain asked as he pulled himself out of the rubble.
“It sounds serious, so we might as well go check it out.” Voris was as he began to run after where Dash flew.
“Right behind YOU!!!” Cain shouted as he went to follow after Voris, however, he suddenly tripped and went falling toward the ground, only to suddenly sink in like that of a ghost. Cain had just became a shadow, surprising him greatly. “Gah! Help me! Please! Please!” Snickers stuck his head into the shadowy patch and pulled him out of the ground by his belt. Cain hugged Snickers when he was out of the ground, shivering in fright.
Voris tried to stop himself, only to end up skidding and tumbling across the area. “Ow… ok, let’s just stick with four legs..” Voris groaned as he rolled his long body around to set himself right.
“Looks like we both have movement problems...kinda.” Cain said as he stood up and helped Voris right himself. He then tested the ground and took a moment to get used to moving parts of his body between shadow and 3D, moving his right foot in and out of the ground, acting as if he was testing water temperature in a pool.
“I honestly would love to know what power entity's bright idea was it to this to us.” Voris said as he got on all fours, flexing his body around. Voris thought back on the movements of that of a snake, which was kind of the same principle except with legs this time. It reminded him of a chinese dragon ironically enough. With that mental note fresh on his mind, Voris tried once again to run where dash went, now moving like a ferret.
Cain saw Voris running off. Cain gives chase by leaping into his own shadow and swiftly moved along the ground, keep speed with the dragon’s shadow until they got to the fair area. The many ponies of dull pastel colors were either panicking while running around, or were being herded towards a castle that was in the center of the city. The giant mass of smoke and evil formed an equine-like face and glared down at the fleeing and panicking ponies. With a grunt of disapproval, a few tendrils of evil smoke struck the ground in a few spots and small dark voids appeared in those spots and creatures that had a few similar features to Cain appeared from those voids.
The creatures themselves looked like bipedal crystal golems with odd heart shaped symbols on the limbs. When Cain pulled himself out of the ground, he was hit with the same smell he smelled earlier and froze in place, almost like in a trance.
“...Uh, Cain?” Voris said in an attempt to get Cain’s attention, even going to poke him with a tail. Voris quickly looked down in minor confusion, wondering just how the heck he just did that.
He didn’t get far in his thinking, as Cain got on all four and his body started to change. His shirt started to rip off as some dark spines grew from his back, his feet and fingers started growing claws, and a few dark tendrils sprouted from his elbows and wrists. His head sprouted a few thorn-like horns and his mouth went from it’s zig-zag style to what looked like fangs and sharp teeth. His eyes changed from yellow orbs to swirly eyes. His transformation finished, he roared out a screech and charged the crystal golems.
“The hells gotten into him!?” Voris yelled out in surprise.
“What in Tarnation is a Heartless doing fighting those Heartless!?” A southern sounding voice yelled out in confusion behind the dragon.
“That would be Cain..” Voris said as he looked at the now changed heartless. “..Although I’m not so sure..”
“Wait, hold up, that varmint has a name?” The southern pony stood in front of him, getting his attention away from his transformed friend. “Or are you saying that’s who he was before he became a Heartless? Because either way, he needs to be put dow-” The Orange Pony was stopped in her tracks when Snickers jumped out of the ground and started barking as threateningly as possible.
“Why do you ponies calling him a heartless anyhow?” Voris asked curious as she sat down.
“Because he’s someone that fell too far into the Darkness or whatever!” The pony yelled. “And when they fall, the best thing for them is to-” She was interrupted by another round of aggressive barking from Snickers.
“Ok, first of all, he was being sane when we woke up here outside the… town? Kingdom? Whatever this place is.” Voris pointed out before looking at the dog.
“Umm...excuse me.” A soft voice entered the conversation. Voris and the orange pony looked over to the voice’s owner, a butter yellow pegasus with pink mane and tail. “I...umm...think what Mr. Dragon said might mean that not all Heartless are...heartless.” She borderline mumbled. “I mean...think of those White Mushroom Heartless that live on the edge of Sweet Apple Acres and the Everfree.”
“Makes me wonder if I am on any shrooms right about now.” Voris mentally thought to himself.
“Fluttershy, those Fungus and Flan Heartless are one thing, but the Heartless we’re talking about-” The orange pony was interrupted by more barking.
“Wait, is that a ghost dog?” Fluttershy asked in a worried tone, as she flew over to Snickers. “Oh my goodness, how did you die?” Snickers barked at her with a less intense bark. “Right! Sorry!”
Voris looked back at Cain to see what was going on now since the two other ponies were occupied. He was able to see Cain wrapping up one of the Crystal Heartless in dark tendril and viciously bite into its ‘neck’, causing it to explode into a bunch of crystal shards, dark mist, and a floating heart.”...And you guys call them heartless?” Voris pointed out at what was floating.
“We ain’t exactly the ones who named them.” Applejack explained as the the heart floated away. “The Princess knew some guy that studied them for a while, and he came up with the name.”
“And the name was a metaphor for a heart falling to Darkness.” Fluttershy added.
Voris was about to say something, but a shout from above stopped him. “Help!!!” He looked up and saw a wingless, purple drake falling from the top of the castle with a crystal heart falling with him. Voris’s eyes went wide at what he saw. Driven by a strange feeling in his mind, he suddenly bolt into the air flew off and flew toward the drake. “I’ve got ya!” Voris hollered out as he swooped in a curve to catch the drake. Voris blinked when he realized what he just did. “..How the hell,” Voris whispered in confusion, wondering where the sudden flood of knowledge about flight came from.
Another weight was suddenly present on his back and the young drake yelled out in fear. Voris quickly turned his head around and saw a dark unicorn in armor stalking towards the drake. “Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.” The unicorn said as he moved closer.
“Hold on tight, little guy!” Voris warned. Once the purple drake clinging on for dear life, Voris twirled his body around trying to get the unicorn to fall off.
The unicorn simply anchored himself to Voris with crystal as a means to keep from falling off. When Voris stopped his maneuvers to check and see if he had fallen off. “Sorry to disappointment you, Serpent.” The unicorn said as he undid his crystal anchors. “I can’t be shaken off that-” A dark purple glob suddenly flew from the air and attached itself to the unicorn’s head...before it exploded in a shower of goo, coating his eyes and horn.
As the unicorn yelled in anger and disgust, Voris took this opportunity to dig into his mind to pull out more of that unknown knowledge. “Uraniik… Sot Riik!” Voris shouted, causing a loud explosion of electric to burst out of his maw in the form of a crackling sphere. The sky echoed with his words as the black armored unicorn was sent flying. “...Was that dovah I just spoke?!” Voris asked in bewilderment.
As the unicorn fell, a set of tendrils wrapped around him, and Cain was pulled up to the level of the falling unicorn, falling with him. When the duo landed on the ground, with the unicorn taking most of the fall, Cain backed up and watched as he struggled to even breathe. Just as he managed to roll over onto his belly, a crystal sword was stabbed into the ground in front of him. Looking up at the holder of the sword, he saw the blue pegasus staring down at him with a mean look. “No funny business. We’ve got you now.” She said to him as Voris landed behind Cain with the drake still holding onto his back and onto the Crystal Heart.
“...You got a hold of yourself, Cain?” Voris asked as he glanced over at him.
“For the most part.” Cain snarled. “It takes most of my will alone to keep myself from ripping that dark unicorn’s throat out.”
“Right…” Voris asked with uncertainty in his tone of voice.
“It’ll take me awhile to shift back...I think...this shift was more instinctive or reflexive rather than purposeful.” Cain said, as the drake dismounted and hid behind Voris.
“Umm...not to sound rude...but is that a sentient Heartless?” The young drake asked.
“Let’s worry about that when we get this sorry excuse for a king taken care of.” The rainbow pegasus said as she hauled him up after the orange pony tied him up.
“And maybe get some answers of why this happened to me and Cain.” Voris mentally thought.
Author's Note
Had this idea, I wanted to do it, Heck yeah.