Kingdom Hearts: The World's Reluctant Heroes

As the group walked around Ponyville for a time Sombra found that most of it looked the same as before, when she was just a specter that latched onto Fluttershy's body for a short ride, as the buildings were identical and nothing seemed out of place to her. The difference came from the various races and beings that happened to be in the town, like the dwarves that were leaving a workshop they had set up, a group of diamond dogs discussing metals and gems, the vulpera chatting with the snake headed people called the sethrak, and many more. Not everyone was from Azeroth, since there were the dragons from another world who walked on two legs and came in many shapes and sizes, the elf-like people who seemed ready for war, and the strange short orange furred creatures that were a cross between an otter and a weasel, the ottsels as Twilight told them. They then found a few more ottsels, as there was a red one, a blue one, a green one, a yellow one, and a dark furred one that was following an orange one, and yet all six of them spoke in Twilight's voice, despite each having a slight difference to set them apart.

When they approached Twilight's castle, however, Sombra spotted what appeared to be a dwarf sized owl creature that she was sure was from another version or point of reality, which seemed to be silver colored with golden tips on what had to be it's eyebrows, who seemed to be coming out of a workshop area of the castle.

"How do you do-hoo?" the owl asked, speaking in a feminine voice that was very clearly Twilight's, something that caused the group to just pause for a moment, which was when Sombra noticed how the own had the same eye color as Twilight and how the tips of her eyebrows matched Twillight's coat color.

"Just fine, actually." Fluttershy replied, with a smile on her face, something that caused the owl Twilight to smile for a couple of seconds before heading off into Ponyville, though following that she and the others turned to look at their guide, who had a smile on her face as she noticed their reactions towards this discovery, "Twilight, what was that?"

"Me, obviously. Well, to be more exact, it's one of my Alternates, one who was focused on tinkering and ended up figuring out a device that sent her into Bastion, in the Shadowlands." Twilight said, as if that was a perfectly normal thing to say, and for Twilight Sombra had a feeling that this was literally a Tuesday for her and her Alternates, especially when she thought about what Sairozormi had done so far, and it wasn't long before they were brought to the ballroom, which had been turned into an area chalked full of information on the other worlds, "The Shadowlands is, essentially, the final resting place of each and every soul in the multiverse... and no, I'm not joking, as I've noticed one version of a particular orc is in Maldraxxus while a still living version of her is with our growing army. It is ruled by the 'Pantheon of Death': the Arbiter, who rules Orbos and judges each soul that comes to her; the Archon, who rules over Bastion; the Primus, ruler of Maldraxxus; the Winter Queen, who rules over a nature afterlife that you'd like, Fluttershy, known as Ardenweald; the Sire, the lord of Revendreth; and the Jailer, who stands guard over the most vile souls in the Maw."

"So you have Orbos, the core of it all, with a realm of duty and service, another being constant battle, the third being tied to the eternal cycle of nature's life, death, and rebirth, and a realm to deal with sin?" Sombra replied, though she had to admit that this was very interesting, even though she suspected that Revendreth suited her, given her many years of evil before the change of heart she had, "What's the difference between Revendreth and the Maw?"

"You go to Revendreth first, and the Sire's people try to absolve you of your sins... if you let them do their work, and face the sins of your life, you'll be sent back to the Arbiter for secondary sentencing." Twilight answered, where she wasn't surprised that Sombra was the one asking this, since she had come the closest to death out of all of the people in her group, and it was like she was glimpsing into the knowledge of the afterlife to prepare herself for what awaited her, "If you fail to be redeemed you would be tossed into the Maw... from what I understand the Arbiter prefers to send the flawed souls to Revendreth first, even if they're planet ending and life corrupting individuals. The only way you would go to the Maw first is if someone tried to take justice into their own hands... that reminds me, Spitfire was able to convince the Jailer to rejoin his brethren, and he, in turn, returned a number of souls that skipped the line. Allow me to explain: Bastion has the Kyrian, and they're supposed to ferry the souls of the slain to the Arbiter, but every now and then you have a mortal soul in Bastion that breaks the rules and forces themselves to become a winged individual so they can punish their murderers."

"It just... it just doesn't seem real. That after everything we've learned, there's an even greater truth." Prexus said, because he had come with the group since he wanted to learn more about Twilight and their forces, and here he was learning that there was a final afterlife that everyone eventually reached, no matter who they were or where they lived, "So that means that both Tenebris and the thirteen Darknesses would have ended up in Revendreth?"

"Yes, it does." Twilight replied, where she could see that Prexus seemed relieved to know that the foes he had spent most of his life fighting were gone, for real, while Sombra was thinking about her foolish brother, it was easy for her to tell what was going on with the former tyrant of the Crystal Empire, "Now, my little owl Alternate is dead, the device she used killed her, but she was sent to Bastion because her gadgets were used to protect life and the people of other worlds, and she used her talents to become the right hand of an intelligent steward called Mikanikos, the Forgelite Prime. Thanks to all of Spitfire and Rainbow's work, dealing with the troubles of the Shadowlands, the Arbiter and the Eternal Ones have decided to ally with us, to stop the demonic empire and bring some balance to our troubled universe... plus more souls means more Anima for the Shadowlands, so everyone wins."

Sombra remained silent as Twilight continued to talk about the ins and outs of the Shadowlands, since they were walking down that track and she figured she might as well make an afternoon out of it, while at the same time Radiant promised her that they would share information with her tomorrow. From what they gathered Bastion was where souls that focused on the service of others would go to Bastion, to be cleansed of their burdens and become Kyrian, training to become Ascended, which was the winged version of Kyrian who were more important, to ferry souls to the Arbiter. Following that there was the land of Maldraxxus, home of the Necrolords and the Five Houses, which was where the military might of the realms came from and was where relentless unyielding souls were sent, often warriors and war-like figures. Ardenweald, like Twilight told them previously, was where wild gods went when they perished so they could be recharged and then released back into the mortal planes, and it happened to be where people connected to nature went to.

Revendreth and the Maw needed no further explanation, though Twilight did inform them that redeemed souls could come to call the former home, joining the very beings that tended to a soul's sins, but once she was done Twilight left them to their own devices, as she wasn't going to force them to do anything.

"So... what are we going to do now?" Seras asked, because it sounded like they had to get ready for a second war, one that was on the same level as the one they had just finished no less since it seemed to involve all of reality, or the vast majority of it anyway, even though she knew the others were hoping it would be like their adventures, with a break before the invasion started.

"Isn't it obvious? We get some rest, relax for a bit, and then get training with the other recruits as we learn about everything we know about the demonic empire." Sora said, as he knew that Twilight knew more than she was letting on, in fact he was sure that she had intentionally withheld information to avoid scaring them off, just in case the sheer scale of the war might scare them off, or maybe she just didn't want to overload them with information in a single day.

Sombra, on the other hand, headed outside for a moment and watched as Twilight did what Celestia and Luna did, as in she used her magic to move the sun and moon since she knew when it was time to do so, and yet it felt more natural since she did so at a slower rate, letting the world know that night was coming, and soon she was staring at the night sky.

"You seem distracted. Is the information about the Shadowlands bothering you?" Twilight asked, as there was a chance that she might have overloaded some of them with spending such a great deal of time talking about the Realms of Death, where people and ponies would go when they finally perished, but she had seen how interested they had been in Azeroth's vast residents and had figured they'd be okay with the talk.

"No, just... do you think you, or someone from Spitfire's group, could arrange for someone to stay in Revendreth for a time?" Sombra asked, something that caused Twilight to turn and raise an eyebrow for a moment, because she was no doubt eager to hear her reasoning for asking such a thing, even though to Sombra the reason was pretty obvious, "Part of it is due to me wanting to make sure Tenebris is fully processed, as he fully deserves his fate... the other part is my desire to get to work on my sins, as I committed many before I possessed Fluttershy and sent us to Traverse Town. I know, I did a number of good deeds while traveling with Sora... but I also know that my days as a tyrant will send me to Revendreth no matter what, so I'm interested in getting a head start on redeeming myself for the big fight."

"There is some time difference between the realms, a day here could be weeks in the Shadowlands... but mortals don't age in the Realms of Death, so it could work." Twilight replied, which was interesting when she thought about it, that Sombra had changed so much in only three years, in fact when she looked at her she didn't see the dreaded tyrant, rather she saw the fierce warrior who would go above and beyond to secure their victory, "Very well, I'll speak with Spitfire and see if the Eternal Ones would be willing to let a mortal get a jump start on their afterlife, or at least cleansing themselves to be properly judged when the time comes. But don't forget that you have to tell me about the World at some point, and share what you know about the Hungering Maw... though I can wait for you to do what you need to do, for a time."

Sombra nodded as she headed out into Ponyville, deciding to enjoy her time in the unfamiliar town and see what the races had to say, to just relax and enjoy not having to worry about the Heartless, Nobodies, or the other dangers of the World, and it made her look forward to whatever the future had in store for her, her friends, and the rest of the universe.