Waking up the next morning, Sora was greeted by a strange and foreboding feeling.

Moon Dancer’s body began to move, getting out of bed sluggishly, and stumbling forward from where it was. The problem?

He wasn’t the one moving it.

“Ugh… what the hay happened last night?” her voice uttered, sending waves of panic through Sora. “I could have sworn I was on the sofa.”

“Uh oh…”

Sora said nothing, as the mare trotted forward in frustration, dealing with the sluggishness he had to assume was typical for her. When she passed by the mirror, she scowled.

“Great, and my favorite sweater got a cut somewhere!” she said with great exasperation. “Just my luck…”

A twinge of guilt was his first response, but that was quickly replaced with a sense of dread, as the events of last night replayed for him. There was no way for him to get out of the interrogation, since as far as he understood, guards were usually very diligent. There was no way they were just going to let this slip under the radar.

“Okay, calm down, just calm down. I can salvage this… I hope.”

Suddenly, Moon Dancer’s head jerked up, her eyes widened as she looked around. Her eyes darted from left to right, as if searching for something in a panic. Dread turned to hope as she let out a sigh, and said aloud “Sweet Celestia, now I’m hearing things.”

“Hearing things,” he thought, wanting to smile despite his lack of a mouth. “You can hear me, Moon Dancer?”

A chill ran up the mare’s spine as she looked around again, this time more determined to find the source of this voice.

“… Who are you?”

“I’m Sora! This is going to sound weird, bu-”

“How did you establish a mental link without my consent?”

The rest of his sentence faded, as he was flabbergasted by the question.

“Mental… link?” he asked. “I… didn’t? It’s kind o-”

“Then disconnect it immediately,” she responded curtly. “I don’t need any interruptions while I’m studying, and I don’t want you hearing my thoughts.”

“Yeah, about tha-”

“Nope, not another word.”

This left Sora conflicted. On one hand, he did not want to leave her hanging like that, especially since the guards would be here at noon, however far away that was. But on the other, this girl didn’t seem like she wanted to listen, and while he was sure he could force her to, he didn’t want to strain their relationship right off the rip.

After all, he was stuck sharing a body with her. He didn’t need her trying to purge him with whatever weird magic she might have.

When he didn’t respond, Moon Dancer decided it was time to begin her studies for the day. She had been in the middle of an interesting read on the trade relationships of Neighpon last night, and she wanted to finish it.

Picking up the book with a silvery glow of magic, Sora watched on as she used telekinesis, in awe of how effortless she made it look.

So, she didn’t bother with anything else, as she just read through the book in complete silence, not even smiling as she did. Being that she’d been halfway in already left Sora completely lost, but couple that with it being about economics and a nation he’d never even heard of, and there was nothing for him to latch on to.

And once she was done, she simply placed it back in her saddlebags, and left the house.

“Whoa whoa whoa!” exclaimed Sora, revealing he was still there. “Where the heck are you going!?”

Moon Dancer stopped mid-trot, her scowl returning. “I thought I told you to disconnect your mental link to me.”

“I would if I could, but I can’t! Now where are you going?”

“The library, genius,” Moon Dancer said, not even cognizant of the strange looks she was getting. “I have books to return.”

“But we need to be back at your place!”

“For what purpose?”

“Well, you see…”

“Ah! There she is, Captain!”

Stopping dead in her tracks, Moon Dancer looked back to see two members of the Royal Guard approaching quick. Confusion laced her thoughts as she wondered why they were coming near her, but she was not so foolish as to try and run. Once they were within speaking distance, she faked a smile, and turned to face them.

“Um, hello?” She said politely. “H-how can I help you?”

The larger Pegasus stepped forward, looking Moon Dancer in the eyes.

“I think you know why we’re here, Miss Moon Dancer,” he said with a neutral tone. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Captain Copper of the Night Platoon, and with me is Iron Lance, the soldier you had a hoof in protecting. We’re here about the answers you promised.”

To this, Moon Dancer’s eyes widened. What was he talking about? She’d never met these two!

“This aint’ good…”

Unless…

“Do you know something about this!?” Moon Dancer tried to say in her mind.

“Yeah, I do, I kind of promised them answers last night,” Sora answered, sounding slightly guilty. “Listen, just tell them that you’ll take them back to your place and answer the questions there.”

“For what purpose? Why should I have to clean up your mess?”

“Well, I’m guessing you don’t want to go to jail for not cooperating with your royal guard?”

Loath as she was to admit it, Sora had a point. If she resisted this further, it might end up worse than postponing a library trip. With a heavy sigh of disappointment, she looked to the knights and nodded.

“Right, sorry, it must have slipped my mind,” she said, following Sora’s instructions. “Follow me back to my house, and I’ll explain everything there.”

“Excellent,” Captain Copper told her. “We appreciate your cooperation, madam.”

‘Not like I had much of a choice,’ she lamented, leading them back to her house. “Sora, was it?”

“Yeah?”

As they trotted back to her abode, Moon Dancer made no attempts to hide her irritation. “You are going to tell me everything I need to know in order to get out of this situation. Got it?”

She couldn’t see it, but based on the noise he made, she assumed Sora did the equivalent of a shrug. “Fair enough. I mean, I was gonna do that anyway. It is kinda my fault.”

The bookworm’s only answer was a slow exhale. Whoever this was, he at least owned up to his mistakes…

“Okay, you referred to them as Heartless. What do you know of them?”

“They are… creatures formed of the Darkness inside Ponies’ hearts. When that Darkness consumes somepony, they become a Heartless. They come in a lot of different forms, the ones you saw last night just being a few of the variations.”

“Fascinating. And where did you learn of these creatures?”

“I’ve… read some very obscure books. That's about all I can say.”

“Hm… what threat would they pose to the public?”

“… They would steal the hearts of Ponies to form more Heartless if we weren’t there to stop them.”

A brief silence followed, so intense a falling eyelash could be heard, nevermind a pin dropping.

“That weapon you wielded…” Iron Lance stepped in, as his commander ruminated on this. “It was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. Functionally, it looks useless, yet it cut through those Heartless like they were nothing. What is it?”

“Weapon…?” Moon Dancer paused, before finally nodding. “It’s a Keyblade. A rare weapon meant for fighting darkness. Though they don’t all look like that. It depends on the wielder.”

“I see. And where did you obtain it?”

“I… I honestly don’t remember. I just woke up one morning, and I had it.”

“Hm… very well. It seemed to be enchanted last night. Did you do that yourself?”

“… It just came to me like that. I can summon and dismiss it as I please, I can slice through things with it far more ease than you might expect, and I can use it as a focus for my Magic.”

“As we saw,” Captain Copper said, finally jumping back into the conversation. “You summoned forth multiple lightning bolts with ease, and perfectly targeted to only hit the Heartless. Along with that, you managed to heal those mares in an instant, a feat even some of our most powerful mages need much time and effort to perform.”

Moon Dancer winced. Had she really done all of that last night?

… No, Sora supposedly did all of that, she reminded herself. None of that was her.

“Does this ‘Keyblade’ greatly enhance one’s abilities just by wielding it?” Captain Copper asked. “Such a feat would require Alicorn-level Magic, and forgive me if this comes off as rude, but you don’t strike me as somepony with Alicorn-level Magic.”

Moon Dancer scowled for a second but brought herself back to a neutral face just as quickly.

“I… do not know. I just wield it by instinct. I’ve never really given that fact much thought.”

Captain Copper sighed. “Fair enough, I suppose. Okay… last question. You said you just woke up one day with this Keyblade? Do you know of any means to get them? Having these Keyblades would be very useful should the Heartless attack again.”

“… I’m sorry, but I don’t. As far as I understand it, Keyblades are semi-sentient, choosing their wielders. Unfortunately, that means one only comes to somepony they deem worthy, and there’s no way to even loan you mine. It would just return to me.”

Nopony said anything, as that last detail left both soldiers looking and feeling rather disappointed. Not that Moon Dancer could blame them – she too would be rather upset if she found out the secret to solving a problem had that kind of exclusivity, and that there was no consistent factor to achieving it.

“Very well,” Captain Copper stood up, his expression belying his irritation at that final answer. “We thank you very much for your time, Miss Moon Dancer. This information will certainly be helpful should those monsters return.”

The captain brought his face closer to Moon Dancer, returning to a neutral expression. “We will be keeping in touch from here on out.”

“I… sort of figured,” she answered. “I will try to be ready.”

The two soldiers nodded and walked out of Moon Dancer’s house without another word. She was alone again.

Well, mostly alone…

“Whew!” Sora said, relieved that it was over. “You did great, Moon Dancer.”

“Well, your explanations could have used some work,” she told him. “You’re lucky I could paraphrase them into a more concise answer.”

“Gimme a break, I was trying to give them give them what they wanted without outing myself.”

While this exchange was going on, Moon Dancer moved into the kitchen, grabbing an apple from the counter, and taking a big bite out of it.

“So, how are you even here, Sora?” she asked in between chewing. “Judging by the lapse in my memory where you were apparently performing supernatural feats, I’m now going to assume this is more than just a mental link.”

Had he been in his own body, this would have been the moment that Sora rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. Part of him knew this question would come up, but he’d been hoping it could have waited a bit longer.

Oh well, no use delaying it.

“So… it’s a long story,” he began, “And I don’t think you’ll want to hear all of it, so I’ll cut to the chase. I… I went against the laws of nature, using the Power of Waking in a way that I apparently shouldn’t have.”

“And this ‘Power of Waking’ is?”

“I’ll explain it later, I promise. Anyway, I was able to save someone very dear to me with it, but it cost me my existence. I wandered the Land of Sea and Sky, hoping to find a way back to Kairi and the others, when I found… Yozora.

We fought each other, and… I lost. The last thing I heard was him saying he’d save me, and when I woke up, I found myself… in control of your body.”

The split-second of shock caused Moon Dancer’s telekinesis to falter, the apple falling right on the ground.

So, apparently, when she lost consciousness, this strange stallion was in control of her body, fighting creatures of darkness with a ‘Keyblade’? And now he’s still here, his soul seemingly linked to her because of somepony named ‘Yozora’, after committing crimes against the natural order?

That was a lot to absorb. Though it did leave one more question at the forefront of her mind…

“How exactly does grafting your soul onto my body save you?” she questioned aloud.

“THANK YOU! That's what I said too!” exclaimed Sora, almost sounding relieved at her inquiry. “Seriously, is there something we’re both missing here?”

Moon Dancer exhaled, picking back up her apple. “Most likely. And considering your last encounter with this ‘Yozora’ guy, I highly doubt we’re going to get an answer.”

As she finished the apple, core and all, the mare went over to her couch and sat down. “So, I suppose that means there will be times when you take over my body, huh?”

“I mean, seems like it,” Sora told her. “But I don’t want to do it without your okay.”

“Why does my okay matter? As I understand it, you’re the one with the super powerful magic and amazing key-sword. I’m just some mare.”

The boy noted disappointment in her voice, and it hurt him inside. While he might not have known Moon Dancer for very long, to hear her talk down about herself like that, especially about having autonomy over her own form brought his protective instincts to the forefront.

Already, the similarities between this and Terra made him uncomfortable. He wasn’t about to do what Xehanort did.

“Because this isn’t a one-ma-… one-pony show,” he answered, trying to use her world’s vernacular. “If I’m going to share your body, then we’re basically partners. And besides that, since I’m the outsider here, I don’t want to mess up anything.”

“Alright, I suppose I see your points,” Moon Dancer admitted. “But still though, we seem to be two very different ponies. How are we going to both be able to do what we please?”

“Simple. We respect each other’s choices. If you want to spend your time in control studying at the library, I won’t get in your way. And if I spend my time exercising so that this body can wield my Keyblade better, you won’t get in my way. Sound fair?”

“As fair as can be expected. But what about how you act?”

“Oh, I’ve already thought of that. I’m gonna try and act more like you, learn what you’re all about. That way I can be convincing that I'm you if I need to.”

Moon Dancer nodded, content with the agreement.

Suddenly, a knock could be heard from her door.

Getting up mostly on principle to check if it was the guards again, she opened the door back up, and was greeted not with the guards, but with three faces she hadn’t seen in a while now. Minuette, Twinkleshine, and Lemon Hearts were standing out in her front yard, eager smiles adorned on their faces.

“Can I help you?” Moon Dancer asked.

“Hey there,” Twinkleshine said. “We never got to thank you for saving us last night.”

“Don’t mention it.” She told them, adding in her mind ‘Seriously, don’t.’

“Well, it got us to thinking,” Minuette continued. “We’re going out for donuts today, and we were wondering if you’d like to join your old friends for a day on the town?”

“Ugh!” she groaned, not even having to think about her answer. “Not happening.”

And for the second time in 24 hours, the door was shut on the three mares, who were just staring for a second at her shift in mood.

Finally, Lemon Hearts sighed. “Well, I hate to say ‘I told you so’, but she didn’t want to join us, Minuette.”

“Aw, come on, Lemon Hearts,” Minuette told her, her boundless optimism still as strong as ever. “Maybe we just caught her at a bad time. I mean, she did have to talk with those guards, after all.”

“That is true,” Twinkleshine chimed in. “I don’t imagine anypony would be in it when they’ve got that on their plate.”

“I guess. I mean, she did at least answer the door. That’s further than we got last time we tried to visit her.”

Minuette nodded. “Exactly. Maybe we can try again tomorrow. Not for donuts, but maybe just go to the park or something.”

Thinking it was worth a shot, the three girls trotted away, a new plan in mind for their old friend.

Meanwhile, behind the door, said ‘old friend’ grabbed the nearest book she could find, and opened it up. It didn’t matter to her that it was one she’d read already, all that mattered was that it was something she could lose herself in.

“Uh, Moon Dancer?”

Or at least, she should have been able to lose herself in.

“What is it, Sora?” she asked, her patience now wearing thin. “Can’t you see I’m kind of busy here?”

“I can, it’s just… well, where did that come from?”

“What? Is it so wrong for me to not want any interruptions?”

“I guess not. But aren’t they your friends? You didn’t need to give ‘em the cold shoulder like that.”

One single word was all it took, and Moon Dancer’s mood was completely ruined. She scowled, as if Sora were standing right in front of her.

“First thing we’re going to have to set straight,” she said, now angry at her new ‘partner’. “I don’t have friends, Sora. Nor do I want them. Now if you’re done, I’d like to get back to my book.”

When she didn’t get a response from him, a swell of satisfaction ran through her. Seems he got the memo, and he’d left her to her book once again. It wasn’t very long before she was lost within the words and the figures she’d been going over, content with the silence that she’d been given.

But unbeknownst to her, someone was not content.

In her mind, Sora drifted, completely dumbfounded by her earlier declaration. Didn’t have friends? Didn’t want them? How could that be?

In all of his travels, he’d never met anyone who didn’t want or need friends in the end. Friends gave strength to each other, gave you someone to count on, made it worth facing even the worst of days for. It was his deeply embedded belief, his own personal mantra, a code he lived by – ‘My friends are my power, and I’m theirs’.

Hell, even Master Xehanort himself, in his final moments, he had his old friend (Master Eraqus, he remembered the others calling him) by his side. So, to imagine anyone not having or wanting friends…

The very thought made his head spin.

Ironic, honestly. Not even ten minutes into their agreement and he already found a scenario where ‘respecting each other’s choices’ was becoming an issue. Sure, she might have said she did not want any friends, but that just wasn’t in Sora’s nature. He was a social guy, and he liked to form new bonds, make new friendships, enjoy the company of others. Even if he wanted to act convincingly like Moon Dancer, he couldn’t imagine bringing himself to be distant to others, even as an act. And plus, that Minuette girl seemed like the nicest pony he'd met so far, so he couldn't bear to make her feel bad.

... But perhaps there was a reason why Moon Dancer felt this way. He’d have to remember to ask at some point. He had meant what he said about them being partners, and that meant her wellbeing was of utmost importance to him. If there was anything he could do to help her, even minorly, he would do it, without hesitation.

It’d be a careful dance, trying to balance his social nature with her non-social one, but he’d do it. And while he was, he was going to try and assist her, to get through to her, in any way he could.

After all, she was his partner.

And even if she didn’t feel the same way, she was his friend.

Author's Note

And there you have it, Chapter 2.

Honestly, I think my favorite part about writing this so far is imagining how Sora reacts, but I suppose that's to be expected. He's a very fun character to think through because, while he's not the smartest, he's a thinker. Might be a bit slow on the uptake, but there's usually something in a situation to get his gears turning.

But now, they've got an agreement going, though we'll see how long it remains the way it is. Tune in next time to see where all these plans go.