//-------------------------------------------------------// Kingdom Hearts: A visit to a land of ponies -by Aether Spark- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Arrival //-------------------------------------------------------// Arrival "They Can Take Your World, They Can Take Your Heart, Cut You Loose From All You Know. But If It's Your Fate, Then Every Step Forward Will Always Be A Step Closer To Home" KH- It showed the vast star systems and what looked like a ship traveling amongst them. As it moved on, it approached a world, and a dark presence was sensed. But after traveling through a keygate, the ship was ready to dock, hopefully, they'll make it in time… The CMC galloped through town where several ponies were setting up to witness the show that was coming up. “Apple Bloom! Wait up!” Sweetie called as she galloped after AB and Scootaloo and they went out of town to a designated spot. “I think we’re almost there!” Scootaloo said. “Ah hope we make it!” AB said as she and the other two made it to the top of a hill. As they paused they were glad to see that the shooting star shower had just started. “Whoo hoo! Look at 'em go!” AB said. “So pretty!” Sweetie said. “Wow!” Scootaloo said. “It’s moments like this that are worth remembering right?” Sweetie chuckled. “Yep!” Her friends agreed. As the three continued to watch from the hilltop Scootaloo noticed one star moving weirdly… It seemed to be weaving around in the sky a little. “Uh, guys?” Scootaloo asked. “Yeah?” AB asked. “Is it normal for shooting stars to do that?” Scootaloo pointed at the star weaving around… and then it got bigger. “Guys… somethin' isn’t right,” AB said squinting at it… then they realized. “I think it’s headed right this way!” Sweetie exclaimed and she galloped off. “Wait for us!” Scootaloo cried as they ran off away from the blast zone and then the star hit the ground with an explosion. “AAAH!” The three were flung and they tumbled, when they popped their heads out of the bush they all landed in they looked to see the crater. “Whoa… this was a surreal way to start,” Scoots said. “What in the tarnation?” AB said as she got ready to get closer. “Waitwaitwaitwait!” Scoots pulled her back into the bush “Are you loco? It’s always a bad idea to approach the smoldering crater! There could be an alien in there waiting to lay eggs in you or something!” Scootaloo said. “You’ve been reading too many comics,” AB said. “It literally just happened!” Scootaloo said. “Guys!” Sweetie finally got their attention and they turned to see what she was pointing at. The giant rock had broken open… and to their horror small black creatures began exiting. “Told you so!” Scootaloo said fearfully. “Sorry….” AB said wondering if they should be here. Suddenly a portal opened and the small black creatures turned to it… and out came- That morning “A WITCH! An some big fat dog thing!” AB recanted to her sister. “....Did ya eat poison joke again? Cause that sounds ridiculous,” AJ said with a deadpan. “Ah ain’t lyin!” AB said looking panicked. “We saw the whole thing!” Sweetie said. “It was scary!” Scootaloo said before glancing around and coughing into her hoof “For these two, but I was brave,” Scoots said. “Is that why you were cryin when we got home?” AB said teasingly. “Shuddup!” Scoots snapped. “Girls!” AJ said getting their attention “Ah can understand it was nighttime, maybe ya’ll were seein things?” AJ said. “We’re not kidding sis!” AB said. “Sorry, but till ah see it, Ah’m not sure ah can believe that ya saw a bunch of shadow creatures, a dog and a witch,” AJ said. “But-” AB said before AJ walked past her. “Now come on, we’ve got chores t’day, we’ll chat with Twilight if anything weird has been happenin as of late afterwards,” AJ said. “Ok…” AB said dissapointedly. Spike made his way through town carrying a few books Twilight sent him to collect. “It’s times like these that I wish I had a wheelbarrow,” Spike said as he made his way over to Twilight’s castle. “Hey! Twilight!” Spike called as he entered and he went over to the study and saw Twilight working on several tomes. “Thanks, Spike, please put them with the others,” Twilight said as she busily worked on several piles of paperwork. “Ok,” Spike said as he set them down and sighed “Whew,” Spike wiped his brow. “Alright, I need you to find from the second library area a book on Starswirls theory, we need to crack this code,” Twilight said. “Can I ask what we’re doing again?” Spike asked. “Sure, The cutie map is going haywire and we need to find out why,” Twilight said as she went over to the Cutie Map and saw it was flickering when she tried to turn it on “I need to find out if there’s some kind of mass magical shortage, we need to cover all bases,” Twilight said. “Gotcha,” Spike said as he ran off to find that book. As he ran out into the hallway and made his way upstairs he saw something moving… out of the corner of his eye. He turned and looked but he saw nothing. “Hmph,” Spike walked on and entered the library and grabbed the book. Not noticing several shadows entering the room as well. Spike turned and ran out of the room and the shadows suddenly emerged from the floor as small black creatures with yellow eyes and they immediately began searching for something. One pulled a book on summoning rituals and the shadows made their way out of the room… Fluttershy was feeding her animals and she trotted around spreading feed. “Come and get it darlings,” Fluttershy said to her animals as they gathered around and began picking up the feed. “Alright, that’s the chickens and quails fed, now to move onto the hedgehogs,” Fluttershy said as she made her way to the hedgehog area and she began spreading the hedgehog-safe feed. “Come here,” Fluttershy said and the hedgehogs made their way over to her and began eating. “Next up is the porcupines,” Fluttershy grabbed a few carrots and made her way over to them. It was at this moment she heard the noise of panicked clucking and caws. “Oh dear! A predator?” Fluttershy went to go diffuse things but froze when she got there as she saw something scary. “AAAAHH!” Fluttershy cried as several strange creatures were attacking her pets. “Shoo! Shoo! Please stop!” Fluttershy cried as she tried to chase off the strange creatures but they quickly turned their attention to her. “N-nice… whatever you are’s,” Fluttershy said as she was backed up by the small floating knight-like imp creatures that approached her and one took a swing at her cutting her leg a little. “Eeep!” Fluttershy backed up as the creatures closed in… before a bear roar could be heard and they turned to see Harry running to the rescue. He immediately knocked down the knight creatures and roared at them. They backed away and suddenly vanished as if they teleported. After looking around Harry turned to Shy and licked her injury. “I’m ok dear, thank you for coming to my rescue,” Fluttershy coo’d petting Harry “I have to go tell Twilight, I’ve never seen animals like them, Harry, can you guard the house for me?” Fluttershy asked. Harry nodded and Fluttershy took off into the air. Pinkie Pie pronked past plenty ponies perusing plentiful pastries. “Good one!” Pinkie congratulated the author as she delivered food to ponies around the restaurant. “Pinkie dear!” Rarity called as she and Rainbow Dash came in. “Hey guys!” Pinkie cheered. “We were on our way to invite you to a big shopping adventure,” Rarity said. Pinkie drew a prolonged gasp. “Shopping! I love love love shopping! I didn’t know Dashie liked it too,” Pinkie cheered. “Eh, I mostly came because she offered to buy lunch and i’m a little hungry, speaking of, could we order something?” RD asked. “Sure thing! What’ll ya have?” Pinkie said pulling a paper and pencil out of nowhere. “Cinnamon roll,” RD said not noticing the door opening and closing behind her. “I would not mind a cupcake today, just one though, I am trying to watch my figure,” Rarity said. “Alright, and what about your big friend who totally wasn’t there a second ago?” Pinkie asked. “Big friend?... It’s just us,” Rainbow said. “Then whose that?” Pinkie gestured behind them. “Huh?...” They both turned to see a hug fat creature staring down at them. “......Huh…” Rainbow said rooted the spot, Rarity took several steps back. “Hi big fella!” Pinkie approached and it looked at her. “What’ll you ha-” It smashed it’s fist down where she was standing. “Pinkie!” Rainbow cried. “Soooo, one pound cake?” Pinkie was standing to its left and it looked at her with an admittedly surprised look before it smashed at her again and suddenly she was to its right. “Two?” Pinkie guessed. It got angry and smashed both its fists down at her but suddenly she popped up behind the counter. “If that’s sign language for three I am afraid there will be a wait,” Pinkie said obliviously. “Pinkie! I think this thing means you harm!” Rarity said a mix of exasperation and fear. “Nah, he’s looks-” Pinkie ducked a swing from it “-Harmless,” Pinkie said. “Hey! Leave my friend alone you… whatever you are!” Rainbow said getting into a defensive position as the other ponies in the establishment began to flee, sensing a fight brewing. It turned and tried to hit her but Rainbow dodged back and flew forward bucking it right in the belly, only to bounce off. “Whoa!” Rainbow exclaimed as she flew into a wall “Talk about having guts,” Rainbow said. It approached her to smash her before a magic blast struck it in the back and it turned. “That is enough you ruffian! We can talk like civilized beings instead of- eeep!” Rarity was scooped off the ground by it and thrown across the room. “Rares!” Rainbow flew across the room and caught her. “Thanks dear!” Rarity said. “Hey! I don’t appreciate you hurting my friends, I’ll have to ask you to leave!” Pinkie said. It turned to her and grabbed at her and she ducked its grab and came back up with her party cannon and blasted it in the face sending it onto the ground and it vanished. “Huh? Where did it go?” Rainbow asked. “What matters is that it’s gone,” Rarity said and they gathered up. “What the hay was that thing?” Rainbow asked. “I don’t know but I feel we should put the shopping trip on hold and approach Twilight on this,” Rarity said. “Ok,” Pinkie said. “Let’s move,” Rainbow said and they ran off. Twilight was trying to figure out the Cutie Maps problems when Spike came back. “Hey Twilight, I’m back!” Spike called and he approached. “Thanks again Spike, we’ll find this out,” Twilight said as he brought the book to her and she looked it over. “Ok, I will try this,” Twilight said as she used her magic on the map and it stopped flickering. And the weirdest thing seemed to be happening… There were warning signs all over the map, warning of strange activity. “What?” Twilight stepped back a little. Then suddenly she saw something else, three cutie marks in a distant field, they were of a wand, a crown and a shield… odd… Suddenly the map started distorting again and resumed flickering. “Twilight… what does this mean?” Spike asked. “It means that something is terribly wrong…” Twilight said grimly… before the door was busted open and she spun to see… her friends. “Twilight!” Her friends cried. “And I think the problems are starting to hit close to home….” Twilight said. In a distant cave an inscription was drawn on the ground and a figure reached forward and flickered magic onto it, causing smoke to emerge from the circle and it formed into a pony shape, this pony shape fell to his knees and shook his head a little before looking around. “Wha…what happened?... Where am I?” The pony asked. “In service of me, for now,” a female voice said. “Who are you to order me?” The pony revealed to be Sombra stood up glaring. “Someone who can send you back to the depths easily, but you may call me… Maleficent,” The woman stepped forward revealing herself as Maleficent said. “Yeah, and I’m Pete! Remember the name,” Pete walked forward. “...What are you?...” Sombra demanded. “There will be time for that later, come, we have work to do,” Maleficent said as she left. “Hnngh…” Sombra growled but followed as if just to get out of there. In the far distance was Ponyville and three figures stood there, still getting used to their new… accommodations… “Gwarsh, this is new,” a silly-sounding voice said. “Ah forget it, we’ll figure it out, we always do,” A second slightly harder-to-understand voice said. “Well, new form or not the wings are cool, can’t wait to use them,” A third tween voice said. “Welp, let’s move, Heartless concentration is lookin really bad here,” An earth pony with a shield said. “We can handle it,” a unicorn said. “Let’s go then!” A pegasus cheered and they ran off towards Ponyville. To adventure! Author's Note Kingdom Hearts ahoy! I had a bit of a shaky time with this chapter, beginnings are always tough. But I managed, hope you all will enjoy it! :pinkiesmile: https://static.fimfiction.net/images/emoticons/pinkiesmile.png //-------------------------------------------------------// The heartless //-------------------------------------------------------// The heartless “One at a time please,” Twilight tried to calm her friends down but it didn’t work… until Pinkie used an air horn. “Agh! Ok ok!” RD said and Pinkie stopped. “Thank you, Pinkie,” Twilight said. “Oh no, I was just doing that because it's fun,” Pinkie giggled. “...K… can we get back to the fact that we encountered a monster in Sugarcube Corner?” RD said. “A monster?” Twilight asked. “Yeah, some big fat dude, he started attacking us for no reason,” RD said. “Was it somepony we know?” Twilight asked. “No, I don’t know what we were up against, didn’t look like anything I’ve faced before,” Rainbow said. “And something was attacking my chickens and quails, and then me, see?” Fluttershy showed the scratch on her arm. “Oh dear, are you ok?” Rarity asked. “Yes,” Fluttershy said. “Where’s Applejack?” Twilight asked. “I don’t know, let’s focus on the fact we’re being invaded by something!” Rainbow said. “I get tensions are high right now, but we should remember to include Applejack,” Rarity said. “I can relay what needs to be known later, but for now, you all need to see this,” Twilight said turning to the cutie map and using her magic on it again. It came up once more but this time the number of alerts have gone up, and the cutie marks that were detected before are approaching Ponyville. Eventually, the map went static again. “That…. Is concerning,” Rarity said. “Yes, whatever is going on, we need to get to the bottom of it now, let’s find Applejack,” Twilight said. “Ok,” The group made their way towards the exit to the room when suddenly the doors shut themselves. “Huh?” Twilight exclaimed. “Uh, Pinkie, did you do that somehow?” Rainbow asked. “Nope, not this time,” Pinkie said. Suddenly a group of shadows made their way into the room and came out of the ground. “What in Equus are those!?” Rarity cried. “I don’t know, let’s find out their intentions,” Twilight said guardedly as she made her way to the front of the group with Spike hiding behind her. “Hello, who are you?” Twilight asked. “...” The shadows didn’t respond and instead, they jumped at them. “Whoa!” Twilight put a barrier up and the small creatures bounced off of it. “Guess the big guy had friends,” Rainbow said. “We gotta do something!” Spike said as the shadows attacked the barrier. “Ok!” Twilight fired a beam of magic knocking back several shadows and the barrier dropped as the group got to work fighting off these things. Twilight shot some beams and struck down several shadows who tried to gang up on her. Rainbow bucked one that leaped at her. Fluttershy and Rarity were being grouped up on. “Look out dear!” Rarity shouted as she fired a blast striking one that leaped at Fluttershy. “Thanks,” Fluttershy said as she grabbed Rarity and flew into the air to avoid being swarmed. Pinkie used her party cannon to blast a bunch on them away. Spike tried to help out and was fighting a couple of them by breathing fire at them. Twilight was being swarmed by them but she teleported to get some distance from them. As they fought more shadows crept into the room and even a few soldiers joined them. “It’s those things that attacked my pets!” Fluttershy said and she had to buck one away when it jumped at her. “There’s no end to them!” Rainbow said as she jumped around and hit a few back as they came at her. “We have to retreat!” Rarity cried as she blasted another away. “No!” Twilight said looking to her books, she still needed to know what is wrong with the cutie map too. “Twi! We’re getting swarmed here!” Rainbow said. “I’m running out of ammo!” Pinkie said as she shot another group of heartless away. “Twilight!” Fluttershy cried as a bunch of shadows were climbing atop eachother to reach Fluttershy and Rarity. “Ok ok! Gather around!” Twilight said and the group did as the shadows began surrounding them. As they all lunged Twilight teleported the group. They reappeared outside in a heap. “Ooof!” They all grunted as they hit the ground. “Everypony all right?” Pinkie asked as they all got up. “Yeah,” they all said. “Ah ain't…” And they all looked to see they had accidentally teleported on top of Applejack. “Applejack?” Twilight exclaimed and she helped her up. “What was so important ya literally got the drop on me?” Applejack asked cracking her back. “We were just attacked by shadowy thingies!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Shadowy thingies?.... Huh…” Applejack wondered if AB and her friends weren’t kidding around after all. “We need to alert the princess, I get the feeling something bad is going on,” Twilight said. “Ah was on mah way to see ya when this happened, AB and her friends saw somethin similar,” Applejack said. “They did?” Twilight asked. “Guys?” Spike said but they didn’t hear him. “Yeah, and there was a witch and a big dog too,” AJ said. “...We need to move,” Twilight said. “Guys!” Spike called louder. “What?” Twilight asked. “Look!” Spike pointed and they saw ponies running into their houses as a swarm of shadows made their way down the street toward them. “Not good!” Pinkie said. “What in tarnation!?” AJ said taken aback. “Later! Come on!” Twilight said and they all took off as the shadows chased them. As they ran they saw several ponies in the way. “Get into your homes! The danger is coming!” Pinkie called as she bounced into the air. The ponies began to panic as they saw the shadows coming. As the group ran past Twilight looked back and saw one of the ponies was still in the road panicking, she was about to turn around and help them but then she saw something that assured her her suspicions were right. The shadows went around the confused pony and continued chasing them. “I knew it… they're after us!” Twilight cried. “Why us?!” Spike cried as Twilight picked him up in her magic and set him on her back as he was lagging behind. “I don’t know but we need to keep-” Suddenly she sensed something and she turned in time to see what looked like giant black bubbles descending on them. “Look out!” Twilight cried as she teleported in time and Rainbow’s quick reaction speed helped her dodge it.. Her other friends weren’t as lucky. They were caught in the bubbles and carried into the air. “AAH!” They all cried as they were dragged into the air. “GIRLS!” Twilight cried. “Oh no!” Spike cried. “Oh no you don’t!” Rainbow tried to fly forward to free her friends but several bubbles descended on her and snatched her up “AGH!” Rainbow cried. “NO!” Twilight cried and she ran after them as the bubbles flew away but the shadows cut her and Spike off. “Let me through!” Twilight said as she tried to fly over them but a bunch more creatures got in her way. These ones were shaped like armored pegasi and they had a strange heart-like insignia on them. “What the?!” Twilight said as one zoomed forward and bucked her back to ground level. As Twilight got up she saw the bubbles floating away. “LET ME THROUGH!” Twilight yelled. “I am afraid your orders have no sway over them, princess,” A female voice said and Twilight turned to see a witch approaching. “You… your that witch Applejack mentioned," Twilight said. “I see my presence was already known, my apologies,” Maleficent gave a mocking bow. “What have you done with our friends!?” Spike yelled. “Be silent whelp, the grownups are talking,” Maleficent said dismissively. “Hey!” Spike angrily said. “Where are our friends?” Twilight said getting in front of Spike. “Somewhere safe I assure you, at least until they become heartless,” Maleficent said with a chuckle. “Heartless?” Twilight didn’t like the sound of that. “Yes, my minions, it was thanks to a tip from an old foe of yours that I came and took care of the likely dangers to my plans here first,” Maleficent said. “Give them back!” Twilight said flaring her horn. “I’m afraid not, they as well as you will become heartless, and soon join me in my quest, this land, is so full of magic and power, I cannot wait to make it a land of darkness,” Maleficent said. “Not on my watch!” Twilight said before firing a magic blast at Maleficent who simply swatted it aside. “Huh?” Twilight said. “You attack with only enough force to incapacitate? How naive, heartless, take her!” Maleficent ordered and the heartless began closing in on her. “No!” Twilight put a barrier up around her and Spike and the heartless began swarming all over the barrier like a black tidal wave. Yellow eyes stared at them from every angle as her barrier was subsumed. “Wh-what are we going to do Twilight?” Spike asked. “I-I don’t know,” Twilight said nervously as she strained to hold them back. Her barrier began to crack, it began to crumble and soon, they would be subsumed. Just as Twilight began to fear the worst… Lightning blasted the creatures called heartless on her barrier and they cleared away from the barrier. “Huh?” Twilight looked to see a pegasus overhead “Sir! Flee! This place isn’t safe!” Twilight cried. “Don’t worry, we got this!” He said as he spun in midair and pulled out… a giant key? “Huh?” Twilight said before he aimed it and fired a fireball out. “Fire!” he shouted as the blast flew at the scattering heartless and blew them up. “Ahyup! Come an get ‘em!” Twilight turned to see an earth pony carrying a shield run into the crowd of heartless and smash them aside. “Heads up!” A slightly warbled voice said as she saw what looked like a blue and white unicorn run in and unleash electricity on multiple heartless taking them out. “What the?” Spike said in awe, it was like seeing real-life heroes and villains fighting! “Hah!” The pegasus dove down and took out a group of heartless in a spin attack, and just like that, the heartless were cleared away. They turned their attention to the witch who glared balefully at them. “How are you three always where I am getting work done!?” She growled. “Guess we’re just lucky,” The pegasus said. “Hmph, very well, but our goal is set whether we have the princess or not,” Maleficent turned and left through a portal. “Hey! Get back here!” the unicorn ran after her but the portal closed before he could reach “Aw dagnabit! She got away!” He huffed. “It’s alright, as long as everyone is safe,” The pegasus said. “Eeyup let’s check on the purple lady,” The black and brown earth pony said. They turned and trotted over to Twilight who had let the barrier down, but was still wary. “It’s ok, we’re allies, I’m Sora,” Sora said. “Donald,” Donald introduced himself. “Goofy,” Goofy waved. “....Weird names,” Spike said. “Wh-who are you guys?” Twilight asked. “Just a few travelers, we happened to stop by this world and noticed a heartless presence on it so we drove here-” Sora trailed off when he saw the bewildered look on their faces. “I’m thinkin she doesn’t know about the other worlds,” Goofy whispered. “Or the heartless,” Donald added. “Hmm… alright, then play it cool,” Sora said. “Excuse me,” Twilight trotted over and they turned to her “You three seem to know what’s happening around here, please, they took my friends, if you know anything, please tell,” Twilight pleaded. “Your friends were taken? Hmm, that can’t be good, where can we go to talk?” Sora asked. “My castle but it’s overrun by those… heartless things you were talking about,” Twilight said. “Then we’ll take care of it, come on,” Sora said and they followed. “Can we trust them?” Twilight asked. “Sure we can, they were awesome back there!” Spike cheered “I hope we can,” Twilight said. A heartless fell down defeated as Sora struck another one down with his keyblade. “That all of them?” Sora asked. “I would thinks so,” Twilight said “Come, the map room is this way,” Twilight led them up the stairs. Then she heard tumbling and she turned to see them all at the bottom of the stairs. “Stupid slippery stairs,” Donald said from the bottom of the pile. “Oops!” Sora chuckled “These hooves are hard to get used to,” Sora said. “...What?” Twilight didn’t know what he meant by that. “One sec,” Sora tried to go up the stairs and he wound up slipping again. “...Need help?” Twilight asked. “Kinda…” Sora said. After helping them up the stairs Twilight led them into the map room and up to the map. “Before we go on, what did you mean before?” Twilight asked. “Trust me it’ll take alot of explaining,” Sora said. “...Oook,” Twilight said before resuming setting up the map up again. “So… how did you do that flame and lightning stuff? That was seriously cool!” Spike said. “Oh simple, I used my keyblade and some magic,” Sora said resting the key on his shoulder. “Coool! Can I hold it?” Spike asked. “Sure,” Sora handed it to him and Spike made a few moves with it. Sora expected it to teleport back to his hoof… but it took a little longer than he thought. “Huh?” Sora said when he noticed it wasn’t returning. “Wham! Boom, swish!” Spike said as he fenced an invisible opponent, after a minute the keyblade vanished and reappeared back in Sora’s hoof. “Huh?” Spike looked to Sora. “Wow, you must have an affinity for this stuff if the keyblade was comfortable in your hands for so long,” Sora said with a smile. “Really?” Spike said finding this stuff cooler by the minute. “Ok, I managed to get the map on for now, just be careful it’s acting weird lately,” Twilight said. “Wow,” The three said as they saw the map turn on. “What is it?” Goofy asked. “It’s a map of Equestria, it details whenever there’s a problem or a friendship issue to be solved, speaking of which, there are problems all over, these creatures, these heartless, are appearing everywhere, what do we do?” Twilight asked. “We need to find and stop Maleficent, she’s the cause behind this,” Sora said. “Well to this end I need to find my friends, she mentioned turning them into heartless, and while I still don’t fully understand them I don’t want my friends to become them,” Twilight said. “Then time is of the essence,” Donald said. “Ok, then let’s move, the concentration of problems seems to be the most serious around Appleoosa,” Twilight said. “Right… where’s that?” Sora asked. “You don’t know where Appleloosa is?... come to think of it, you’ve been saying alot of weird things, I think the trip there would be a good time to tell me what you know, and I’ll have Spike send a message to Celestia, she’s my teacher,” Twilight said and Spike ran off to do that, after coming back and drawing out a message he sent it. “Alright,” Sora nodded “Now come on” Sora turned and galloped away with the others in tow. “I hope I’m making the right decisions,” Twilight said as she followed them. Author's Note Twilight has joined your party Things are picking up, can Twilight find her friends in time? Or will they become one with darkness? //-------------------------------------------------------// Train troubles //-------------------------------------------------------// Train troubles They galloped through town as a group. “So how do we get to this… Appleoosa?” Sora asked. “Simple, we go by train,” Twilight said. “Trains? Cool!” Sora said as they made their way to the train station, as soon as they got there however heartless appeared. Shadows, soldiers, and a big one. “Company!” Goofy said breaking out the shield. “We got this!” Sora said and they proceeded run forward fighting the heartless. “I can fight too!” Twilight said as she fired a few blasts taking out the shadows coming at her, Spike hid over by the ticket booth. Goofy threw his shield like a boomerang, hitting several soldiers and knocking them down. Donald tried to use his hooves to buck a shadow that came at him but he missed and got struck by one sending him tumbling. “You ok Donald?” Sora called as he held back the hands of the big one. “Yeah!” Donald said as he got up and shot a fireblast taking down the heartless that hit him. Twilight took to the air avoiding a soldier from grabbing her and she flew forward and fired a blast at the big one. But it just bounced off his belly. “Huh?!” Twilight flew up and avoided being grabbed. “Hit him from behind!” Sora called to her as the big one flailed its arms angrily. “Gotcha!” Twilight said as she swooped around behind the big one and fired a beam at its back and that did visible damage, it turned to attack Twilight but Sora slipped in and struck him down. Finally the heartless were taken care of. “Whew, we did it,” Sora said before continuing on. “Alright, now we proceed into the train, I’ll set our directions,” Twilight said going over to the ticket booth where the ticket pony was cowering from the ordeal. “Um… admit five please, Appleloosa” Twilight said. Twilight sat down across from the others as the train traveled and stared at them carefully. “So, we have time right now, tell me everything,” Twilight requested. “Ooook… how to put this, this is one of many worlds and we’re travelers traveling to each world to save it from darkness and protect it from it, and we happen to not be ponies at all,” Sora said. “Is that it?...” Spike said looking confused. “I’m a duck,” Donald said. “I’m a dog,” Goofy said. “I’m human,” Sora said. “I’m not in the mood for jokes, what’s the real story?” Twilight asked. “....That is the real story,” Sora said. “That’s crazy talk,” Twilight said. “Crazier than a land of magic horses?” Donald asked. “Has us there,” Spike said. “So… there’s other worlds and you guys turned into ponies coming here?” Twilight asked. “Yep,” Sora said. “....And I thought Discord was the strangest thing around,” Twilight sat back in her seat. “Who?” Sora asked. “He’s a friend of my friend Fluttershy… speaking of which where is he? You’d think her being kidnapped would be a reason for him to arrive,” Twilight said. “Maybe something happened to him,” Spike wondered. “Maybe, I just hope Celestia gets the message soon,” Twilight said. “Yeah, I don’t know this Celestia, but she sounds like someone important,” Donald said. “More than important, she moves the sun and rules the nation with a fair hoof,” Twilight said. “Well I don't know about you guys but when we find her we should-” Sora was cut off as something crashed into the side of the train and they all fell out of their seats. “Aaah!” Spike flew out of his seat. “What the hay?!” Twilight looked out her window and saw something that surprised her. Dozens of pegasi were flying about the train, but they looked like heartless! “What’s going on?” Twilight said. “Heh, I was worried this trip was going to be boring,” Sora said as they ran out the door. “Hey!” Twilight followed them before pausing and telling Spike to stay put. “Ok!” Spike said as he tried to hold on as the train rocked again. Twilight got out of the train and climbed up the ladder to join the others on the train's roof. And what she saw surprised her. It looked like an Ursa Minor but as a heartless and it was running beside the train. It roared and fired spheres out of its mouth spawning new minions, they looked like pony-sized Ursa’s! “What in Celestia’s mane!?” Twilight cried. “Hyah!” Sora took out two Ursa heartless before rolling away from a pegasi heartless. Donald used lightning to dispatch some more pegasi heartless. And Goofy seemed to be holding the line further down the train from shadow heartless, he bashed several off of the train and ran forward to hold them off. "I got ya covered over here!" Goofy called. "Good work!" Donald said as he used an ice attack on a shadow that got through. All this was pretty overwhelming but Twilight mustered her courage and climbed on to help out too. She decided to focus on the big bear heartless. “Hah!” Twilight fired several shots at the Ursa but it tanked it and responded by leaping onto the side of the train. “Aaah!” Twilight yelped as the force of the attack nearly knocked her off. “Got it!” Sora said as he ran up to the bigger Ursa and he struck it several times in the head where the heart insignia was. The monster bit at him but Sora jumped back and used his wings to land safely. The monster leaped off of the train and back onto the grass as it continued to run beside the train and it fired more spheres onto the train spawning more Ursa heartless. “Hah!” Twilight fired several beams and managed to take one out but the other one ran forward an struck her with its claw knocking her down and injuring her. “OW!” Twilight cried. It moved to strike again but Sora got it from behind with a keyblade swing and it took it down. “You alright?” Sora asked extending a hoof. “Yeah, just a scratch,” Twilight said. “I gotcha!” Donald said using Heal on her to restore some of her health. “Huh? Wow, how did you-” Twilight said. “Talk later!” Donald said gesturing to the big Ursa leaping onto the side of the train again. “AAAH!” Twilight had to roll away from a slamming paw and she righted herself before blasting it in the face with a beam from her horn. “Keep it up!” Sora said before he jumped forward and slashed it in the face. Suddenly two pegasi heartless flew down and struck Sora back. “Agh!” Sora grunted. “I got the skies!” Donald said as he fired electricity and took out the pegasi heartless above Sora. “Heads up!” Goofy shouted as he continued to hold the shadow heartless at bay. “Keep it up Goofy!” Donald called. The Ursa heartless jumped back again and began ramming the side of the train multiple times. “I think it’s trying to derail us!” Twilight said. “Then we gotta take it down now!” Sora said before he used a block to repel a pegasus heartless and he shot several firaga blasts at the bear. Roaring angrily the bear lunged onto the side of the train again and Sora rolled around a paw slam and he struck the bear several times with his keyblade. “I can help!” Twilight shouted as she used her magic to fire several blasts into the face of the bear and the bear snapped at her. But Sora got in the way and blocked with his keyblade and the Ursa threw its head to the side to throw him. “Not so fast!” Sora said before spreading his wings and he flew through the air and swung back around and delivered a powerful slash to the side of the Ursa’s head. The Ursa roared as a flash of light occurred and time slowed briefly. The Ursa fell to the side and tumbled on the ground beside the train before disappearing. Meanwhile the last of the pegasi heartless was taken out by Donald zapping them out of the air. “Whew! I think we got them all,” Donald said. “Done over here!” Goofy said as he trotted back to them. “Yeah!” Sora said raising his keyblade in victory. “Y’know, I was still doubtful back there, but now I think I believe you,” Twilight said sitting down to catch her breath. “Let’s get back inside,” Sora said. “Yeah. let’s see how Spike is doing,” Twilight said as they trotted back inside the train. Spike was sleeping on Twilight’s lap by the time they got to Appleloosa. “Time to wake up,” Twilight said to Spike who woke with a yawn. “Whew, alright, let’s get moving,” Spike said as he hopped down from the seat. “So, what can we expect here?” Sora asked. “It’s a lovely place this time of year, as long as the heartless aren’t too plentiful here we should be ok,” Twilight said as they went out of the train. And saw a ghost town. “Huh?” Twilight looked around. “Huh, seems like everyone skedaddled or somethin,” Goofy said. “Why?” Twilight asked before suddenly they heard footsteps behind them and they turned to see Pete. “Hahaha! Maleficent was spot on when she said you all were gullible enough to come here,” Pete said. “Huh? Who's that?” Twilight asked. “That’s Pete, he works with Maleficent,” Sora said brandishing his keyblade. “Great I have some questions,” Twilight said getting ready “Like where are my friends?” Twilight demanded. “You mean the other elements of whatever? They're safe with us, I’d be a little more concerned with you right now,” Pete said before snapping his fingers and all of a sudden multiple heartless appeared around them. Including two Ursa’s. “Crud, there’s more!?” Donald said getting ready. “Heheheheheh! Nothing’ll stop us from taking this worlds magic for our own uses,” Pete said “Especially not colorful horses that trumpet ‘friendship’” Pete laughed. “I’ll show you why you should be afraid of us,” A voice said and they all looked up and suddenly a powerful beam struck one of the Ursa’s and took it out. “What the?!” Pete said as Celestia flew in from above with a contingent of guards. “Whose this?” Sora asked. “Celestia!” Twilight happily said. “I came just in time it seems,” Celestia said. “How did- we made sure you were distracted along the way!” Pete said in disbelief. “Your distraction was quickly dealt with,” Celestia said recalling having to fight several groups of heartless along the way. “How did you know to come here?” Twilight asked. “I’ll tell you afterward, firstly, let us deal with this,” Celestia flared her horn. “Tch! Attack!” Pete shouted summoning two more Ursa heartless. “Let’s go!” Sora said. Author's Note Celestia has joined your party I had fun writing this chapter, and don't worry, Celestia has her own big role in this story. //-------------------------------------------------------// The problem worsens //-------------------------------------------------------// The problem worsens Sora took out two shadows and leaped over a big one trying to grab him as he ran at Pete. “Bring it!” Pete said as he ran at Sora. “I will handle the Ursa heartless, you handle the rest,” Celestia strategized as she and the guards got ready. “Got it-... wait, how do you know about-” “Later go!” Celestia said as she took to the air and fired a beam at the bears who dodged while the guards ran forward. “O-ok!” Twilight said and she ran forward and fired some blasts, taking out several soldiers. “Hah!” Pete punched Sora sending him tumbling but Sora rolled to his hooves and fired lightning at Pete zapping him. “YOW!” Pete yelped and he ran around Sora who tried to follow but was cut off by big ones. “Out of the way!” Sora said. Pete ran forward and gunned for Twilight. “This ain’t good, with Celestia here the plans gone belly up! I need to take her student hostage, it’s the only way,” Pete said. Twilight flew upwards a little and shot a beam taking out another soldier when she was scooped up from behind. “AH!” Twilight yelped. “GOTCHA!” Pete said. “Hey! Let her go!” Donald demanded as he and Goofy turned towards him. “Not a chance losers! Hey princess! Got somethin!” Pete called. Celestia had just taken down an Ursa when she turned and saw this. “Twilight!” Celestia called. “Either leave now or the purple pony gets it,” Pete said. “Tch!” Celestia could easily take him down but it would hurt Twilight in the process. “Twilight!” Spike called as he ran over to help. “Back off shrimp!” Pete kicked Spike away. “Ah!” Spike yelped. “Spike!” Twilight cried. “Alright, that’ll be easy, either beat it or lose her!” Pete said. “Hey Pete!” Sora called and he turned around seeing Sora smiling. “Made you look,” Sora said simply. Suddenly a beam from Celestia struck Pete from behind and sent him flying. “WHOOAAAA!” Pete cried as he landed on his face while dropping Twilight. “Twilight! Are you alright?” Donald asked. “Yeah, thanks, sorry for that,” Twilight said. “It’s fine,” Goofy said before he got in the way of a smaller Ursa trying to attack “Let’s get back to fightin!” Goofy said. “Grrr… this is a disaster, I gotta warn Maleficent at the cave,” Pete said before he ran off. “Cave?...” Twilight said having heard that. “Get down!” Celestia said and she flew above Appleloosa and fired multiple beams down taking out the remaining heartless. “Wow, she’s as strong as you said,” Sora said. “That’s my teacher,” Twilight smiled and they grouped up after collecting themselves after the experience. “Whew, everyone ok?” Sora asked. “Yeah, sorry I wasn’t much help,” Spike said. “It’s fine Spike, you did what you could,” Twilight assured him. “Yes, thanks for your help Sora,” Celestia said. “...How do you know my name?” Sora asked. “Yeah, and the heartless,” Twilight asked. “I’ve dealt with them before, but first we need to focus, Pete got away,” Celestia said. “Where to?” Donald asked. “I’m not sure,” Celestia said pondering what their next move should be. “....The cave of harmony,” Twilight said getting an epiphany. “What’s that?” Sora asked. “A place where Equestria’s harmony magic resides,” Spike said. “Why there?” Celestia said. “It’s what Pete said that has me thinking,” Twilight said “He mentioned their goal is to make Equestria’s magic theirs, and he also mentioned a cave, It seems like a wild guess, but I think they may be intending to take the tree of Harmony for themselves,” Twilight said grimly. “Then time is of the essence, we must hurry, Luna is in Canterlot making sure the heartless don’t enter so we’re on our own, guards,” Celestia said turning to them. “Yes?” A guard said. “Remain here to protect the citizens, I fear we may need you here,” Celestia said. “Ok,” The guards took off. “Meanwhile we must make haste,” Celestia said. “Ok!” The others said and they followed her back to the train. As the group took the train back Celestia was writing on a scroll the whole time. “So, you're saying you’ve met the heartless before, how is that?” Sora asked. “It was the heartless who turned my sister into Nightmare Moon, an evil alicorn, and it was only by putting her on the moon she was safe from being further corrupted, luckily I had help,” Celestia said. “Who?” Twilight asked. “A young mouse, with a keyblade similar to yours,” Celestia said. “You mean the king?!” Donald and Goofy exclaimed. “Yes,” Celestia said. “King?” Twilight asked. “King Mickey, he’s our leader, and he’s out there fighting heartless as we speak,” Donald said. “Wasn’t that many years ago? How is he still alive?” Spike asked. “Time is a bit of an oddity to travelers like them, the flow is different in some worlds,” Celestia said. “Gotcha,” Twilight said. “Makes sense,” Sora said. “Come, this is our stop,” Celestia said as they made their way off the train. “Where is this tree of harmony?” Sora asked. “Over this way, it’ll be faster if we fly,” Twilight said. “Ahem,” Donald coughed as he, Spike and Goofy weren’t pegasi. “I got you,” Celestia said, grabbing them in her aura. “Whoa!” Donald and Goofy exclaimed as they lifted into the air. “Alright, we must hurry,” Celestia said and with that, they took off. The flight was short but they made it without any problems. “This seems too easy,” Twilight said. “You're right,” Celestia said. “Whaddya mean?” Goofy asked. “We didn’t meet any resistance in coming here, it’s almost as if-” “Look out!” Celestia used a barrier to block a magic blast and they turned to see a dozen heartless coming out of the forest. “Not good!” Spike said, backing away. “It was a trap!” Twilight said as they got ready but Celestia got in front of them and spread her wings. “I will handle them, go ensure the tree is safe,” Celestia said. “Ok!” Sora said and they ran off. “Will she be ok?” Donald asked. “Celestia is capable, we need to- no…” Twilight paused at the entrance to the cave and they turned. “What?” Sora asked. “Look!” Twilight pointed and they turned and saw the tree but something was different, it had these five weird bulb-like things on the ends of the branches, like fruit hanging from the tree, and inside them. Were her friends… “GIRLS!” Twilight galloped over there. “Look out!” Spike called and Twilight looked up and saw a bubble flying at her but she teleported in time avoiding it. “Tch!” Twilight looked up and saw Maleficent descending. “Hmmph, if it weren’t for that whelp I would have gotten you,” Maleficent said angrily. “Hey!” Spike said. “Maleficent!” Sora said getting ready. “Give up! You can’t win!” Donald said. “Come to save the tree hmm? You believe I am outmatched, little do you know, you’ve been played,” Maleficent said before a barrier came up on the cave exit. “Huh?!” The group exclaimed turning around. “The tree was never our goal, but as long as you’re here, you might as well be entertained,” Maleficent said as she waved her hand and suddenly the tree shook and darkness began to emulate from it. “No… she’s corrupted the tree!?” Twilight said in shock. “Not quite,” Maleficent said before she vanished with a laugh. And the tree suddenly began a transformation. The branches began to warp into crystal tentacles and the bulbs gained thorns. And the cutie mark in the center became a heartless insignia. “That’s not the tree, that’s a big heartless!” Twilight exclaimed. “Then we’ve gotta fight it!” Sora said. The tree roared as it swung one of the bulbs down like a giant hammer and the group scattered. “Hah!” Donald fired several fire blasts at it but the tree blocked it with one of the bulbs containing Pinkie. “Careful!” Twilight said. “Sorry!” Donald called back before another bulb struck him sending him flying. “Donald!” Sora exclaimed before he ran forward at the tree which slammed down several bulbs and he dodged around them before leaping at the insignia and striking it several times. “Goofy!” Sora called as it swung down at him but Goofy blocked it with his shield. “I’m coming!” Twilight called as she took to the air avoiding several swings from the tree and she fired several shots at the tree, hitting it and it growled as it flailed its arms around forcing everyone back. Sora took to the air and deflected two swings from the tree heartless and he used thundaga to shoot at it and it hit the tree making it growl and it suddenly fired a beam from its insignia. “Whoa!” Sora dodged it. It fired the beam a few more times and one blast hit Donald and then Goofy. “Oooowaaaah!” Goofy cried as he landed near Spike who was hiding. “I can help too!” Spike cried and he tried to run out but Twilight landed in front of him. “No Spike, stay put, I don’t want you getting hurt!” Twilight said before she took off again. “....” Spike looked down. “HAAAH!” Twilight flew at the tree and fired a big beam at it but the tree suddenly put her friends in front of it “NO!” Twilight used her magical grip to change the beam's course into a wall. The tree then swung two bulbs at Twilight but Sora got in the way and blocked it… before they both got launched. “AAAH!” They both cried as they were sent flying. “Sora!” Donald cried and he prepared to heal them when a bulb smashed into him and knocked him into a wall knocking him out. “No!” Goofy cried and he ran forward throwing his shield like a boomerang but the tree knocked it aside and then did the same to Goofy K.O-ing him as well. “No!” Sora cried before he got up and deflected another swing from the tree and Twilight put up a barrier as the tree hit it repeatedly. “We can’t-” Twilight said “No we can!” Sora said as he glanced at Spike and he nodded. Spike nodded as well and he ran forward. “Spike! No!” Twilight cried. “Trust him!” Sora said before he jumped out of the barrier and ran at the tree and he dodged several swings but when it swung down again at him Sora dodged and pinned the tentacle down. “Now!” Sora cried and Spike looked to him and saw Sora pointing at the tentacle, getting the plan Spike ran over and jumped onto the tentacle and Sora got off as the tree raised its tendril into the air and swung him around trying to get him off. “Hey! Over here!” Sora called as he galloped around and the tree growled before firing beams at him. He dodged into the air and it shot a limb forward and pinned Sora against the wall. “NO!” Twilight cried. Sora suddenly smiled. “Gotcha!” Sora said before he raised his hand and his keyblade vanished. The tree raised its other bulbs to smash him when it heard Spike give a battle cry and it looked up and saw the small dragon descending… keyblade in hand and he slashed it downwards and split the front of the tree down the middle. The tree screeched in pain and let go of Sora who took back to the air and Spike threw the keyblade upwards. “NOW!” Spike called and Sora caught the keyblade and plunged it into the tree’s heart insignia. It cracked and began fracturing before the tree heartless screeched as the bulbs dissipated dropping the other elements to the ground. Sora jumped back and saw the tree screeching some more before it lurched forward and disappeared, and a heart flew away, revealing the real tree of harmony. “We did it!” Spike cheered. “Yeah, thanks to you Spike,” Sora said. “Heheh, thanks,” Spike said. “Girls!” Twilight cried as she ran to them and checked their pulses, they were alive thankfully she turned and saw Spike approaching. “Spike… you did it!” Twilight hugged him. “Thanks, Twilight, I think I’m ready to fight now,” Spike said as she set him down. “Let me help us first,” Sora said before using healaga to heal everypony. “Whew… my head,” Donald said as he got up. “Gwarsh, that tree packs a punch,” Goofy said as the two made their way over to the group. “Well now that that is fixed, let us get moving, my friends need a hospital,” Twilight said… before a glow overcame the area and they turned to see a light in front of Spike. “Huh?” Spike said before he saw something manifest out of the light… A keyblade. It was designed to look like it was made of fire but the flames were colored green and purple. “Whoa… is that your keyblade?” Spike asked. “No Spike, I think that’s yours,” Sora said with a smile. “My… keyblade?... Wow,” Spike said as he grabbed it and he could feel it the moment he touched it, it was his, he swung it around and laughed. “I got one!” Spike cheered. “Looks like we have another keyblade wielder, this is good,” Donald said. “Should we tell his majesty?” Goofy asked. “Later, for now, we need to help my friends, and solve this problem,” Twilight said still feeling proud of Spike. “Alright, let’s go find Celestia,” Sora said as they gathered up her friends and carried them out. As they got outside they saw Celestia standing there looking a little tired but she saw them she trotted over. “Was the tree alright?” Celestia asked. “Yes, but we had to deal with a heartless posing as the tree," Twilight said. “I see you’ve found the other elements, this is good, let us get them somewhere safe,” Celestia said before they went back to Ponyville. It showed them in the hospital and the others were laying in beds. “They just need to rest and they will be well,” Celestia said. “Yes, but what of Maleficent and Pete? Why take us on this long goose chase?” Twilight asked. “I’m not sure, I-” Celestia paused when Spike burped up a letter and he looked at it. “It’s from Luna to you Celestia,” Spike said handing it to her. Celestia opened the letter and as she looked at it her eyes widened. “What does it say?” Twilight asked. “....This was their game all along…” Celestia said with chagrin. “What?” Twilight asked. “We need to go to Canterlot and gather our resources, the Crystal Empire is in peril,” Celestia said. “What?” Sora asked. “Sombra and an army of heartless have taken over the Crystal Empire!” Celestia said. “No…” Twilight said in horror. “We must go to Canterlot and assess the damage from those who escaped, I fear we’ve fallen into their trap,” Celestia said. “Alright, let’s go,” Twilight said and they left. Spike looked down at his new weapon and gripped it tightly, he wasn’t going to hide anymore! It was time he face his problems head on. And so the group made their way out of the hospital, ready to face their next endeavor. Author's Note It's the moment you've all been waiting for and also an awesome boss battle :moustache: https://static.fimfiction.net/images/emoticons/moustache.png //-------------------------------------------------------// The empire //-------------------------------------------------------// Author's Note Man, I'm a writing machine right now, The end of the story is approaching the next chapter, stay tuned. Also, I have a poll up for my next DD story in my blog posts, if you want to swing by. :pinkiehappy: https://static.fimfiction.net/images/emoticons/pinkiehappy.png The empire Twilight looked out the window of the carriage as she and the others made their way to Canterlot. “Whoa,” Sora and his friends said as they looked out at the giant city but Twilight focused instead on the present problem. “Celestia, did Cadence, Shining Armor, and Flurry Heart get out in time?” Twilight asked. “I’m not sure, they weren’t among the escapees however so it is possible they were captured,” Celestia said. “Then we have to hurry, let’s go talk to Luna,” Twilight said. “Ok,” Celestia said as they made their way to the chariot landing zone. As they made their way out and into the castle Spike was riding on Sora’s back. “So, are we going to go an kick some more heartless butt?” Spike asked. “Not that simple, they may have hostages and we can’t take any risks,” Celestia said as they arrived in the throne room soon enough. “Wow, and I thought this place looked big on the outside,” Sora said. “It’s even more impressive than the king's castle… don’t tell him I said that please,” Goofy said. “Maaaaybe,” Donald chortled. “Sister!” the group turned to see Luna running up to them. “Hello Luna, how have the heartless incursions been going?” Celestia asked. “Dreadful, but I have defeated enough to repel them for now, did you get the message?” Luna asked. “Yes, we must gather the forces, I have a plan,” Celestia said as she turned to Twilight and the others “Since the elements are out of commission for the time being we need to focus on other means then, Sora,” Celestia said. “Yes?” Sora asked. “I am hoping you can lend us your aid again,” Celestia asked. “Sure,” Sora said. “You can count on us!” Donald said and Goofy nodded. “Thank you, the keyblade will be essential to help end this,” Celestia said glancing at Spike “And yours as well,” Celestia smiled. “Yep!” Spike said with a smile. “Now here’s the plan, me and Luna will create a diversion and draw at least most of the heartless away, you must rally your efforts towards saving the hostages and defeating Sombra,” Celestia said “That being the case Spike will be the hostage rescuer while the rest of you will confront Sombra,” Celestia added. “What? Why?” Spike complained. “Because you possess a keyblade now, you’ll be essential in protecting the hostage rescue group, you’ll go with a group of guards trained for missions like this,” Celestia said. “But I can help beat Sombra,” Spike said. “You’d rather not save your brother?” Celestia asked with a raised brow. Spike paused and realized she was right and thinking of it, he nodded “I’ll do it,” Spike said, still a little disappointed admittedly. “Alright, the rest of you be careful, A lot hinges on Sombra and Maleficent not obtaining the crystal heart,” Celestia said. “Ok,” The group nodded and they left to get ready. As they made their way to the carriages along with the others Spike walked to another and Twilight caught up to him and hugged him. “Spike, I hope you don’t think we’re excluding you, those hostages need you,” Twilight said. “I understand, I’m just… I’m worried,” Spike said. “Don’t be, we’re going to be alright,” Twilight said “Now get with your group and be prepared to infiltrate,” Twilight said. “Ok,” Spike said and they went off to the carriages to begin their missions. Luna met the attack group to confirm the plan. “Ok, we’ll land you all outside city limits when the battle starts make your way in,” Luna said. “Ok,” Sora said. “Spike and the others will make their way in from the opposite side and they will escort the prisoners, if Sombra doesn’t suspect anything, we will get through without a hitch," Luna said. “Ok,” Sora said. “Let’s get moving then,” Twilight said. “Alright,” Luna said and they made their way into the carriages. Sombra trotted through the halls of the Crystal Empire, overcome with spires of black crystal and heartless lining the halls. “Now that we have finished our invasion it’s time to prep for the coming battle,” Sombra said with a chuckle. “Remember our deal,” Maleficent said. “Yes yes, you get the crystal heart and I get everything else, but the fools were clever enough to seal away the crystal heart within a chamber that cannot be breached by normal means before they were captured,” Sombra said. “And the power of the crystal heart is too pure for the heartless, but once I have it I’ll corrupt it into a power of darkness, and soon, not even those meddlesome brats can stop me,” Maleficent said. “Heheh, you need not be impatient, I have a special method of getting that door unlocked, it will take time though,” Sombra said. “Get to it then,” Maleficent said as she vanished. “Hmmph, order me around…” Sombra snorted before he entered a dungeon and saw Shining and Cadence in a cell with Flurry Heart. “You can’t hide in there forever, the wards you put up around that jail cell will fail eventually and then, I’ll clip then dangle your daughter over the edge of the castle until you tell me what I need to know,” Sombra said. “You won’t win Sombra,” Cadence said. “With the power of the heartless I cannot be stopped, and besides, I have a secret weapon that will assure my victory,” Sombra said with a laugh as he made his way to the door. “Maybe I’ll hold your sister at knifepoint to make you leave that warded area,” Sombra said before leaving. “Tch,” Shining wanted so badly to wipe that smug look off of Sombra’s face, but he had to put his family first. The carriages made their way into the Crystal Empire area and settled down where it couldn’t be seen and Twilight, Sora, Donald, and Goofy. “Alright, we’re in position, now we wait,” Twilight said. “Can we wait inside the carriage? It’s cold out,” Donald complained. “Don’t worry we got this,” Sora said as they trotted up to the edge of the cliff and looked out at the empire, seeing it covered in spires made Twilight upset but they knew they had a chance to set everything right. Spike and a group of seven guards made their way over to the edge of the cliff on the other side of the empire. “Alright, now we have to be careful,” A guard said. “Don’t worry, you got me,” Spike said, pulling out his keyblade. “Alright, now we just wait,” The guard said as they stared out at the many carriages descending outside the empire. Meanwhile, Sombra and Maleficent were standing outside the empire and watching the chariots landing by the dozen and many pegasi in the air. Celestia and Luna exited their chariot and trotted out to meet them. “Princesses,” Maleficent mock bowed. “Cease the fake gestures and surrender, we can still-” “Don’t bother with the niceties, we want Equestria, and you will hoof it over if you wish to ever see your student again,” Sombra said. “Release my niece and son in law or else,” Celestia said. “I’m afraid their time will be up soon enough, as will your little, ‘surprise attack’ as well,” Maleficent said. Celestia looked surprised “How did you-” “Check your shadow,” Sombra said and Celestia did and saw a shadow heartless leave her shadow and crawl back over to them. “You…” Celestia said with a troubled look. “Yes, we’ve been tracking you since minute one,” Pete laughed as he walked into view “All thanks to Maleficent's planning too,” Pete said. “We’ve been played,” Luna said begrudgingly. “And that’s not all, shall we unveil the surprise?” Sombra asked. “Yes, we shall,” Maleficent said before she shot a glowing light into the air and suddenly the ground rumbled. “Now what?” Luna demanded. “A gift, to the leaders of what will become an Equestria… of darkness,” Maleficent laughed as suddenly the ground rumbling intensified and the guards became restless as suddenly the ground erupted all around them and they turned to see giant Tatzelwurm heartless popping up around them. “AMBUSH!” Celestia cried and the guards immediately moved to defend themselves as the Tatzelwurm heartless began firing spawning spheres out of their mouths and spawning in shadow heartless and soldiers. “Wait a minute, what are those?!” Sora said. “Tatzelwurm's?! When did those-” Twilight exclaimed before more popped out of the ground around them and they turned. “We’ve been predicted!” Twilight said as she formed a barrier blocking one from attacking them. Spike and the guards looked shocked as shadow heartless swarmed the area they were in. “We’re blown!” Spike said as he struck one back “Run!” Spike yelled and the guards fled the area with Spike as the Shadows chased them. “Deal with them here, I’ll go greet the invaders,” Sombra said as he vanished into smoke and flew back into the empire. “Hmmph,” Maleficent huffed as she approached Celestia who had managed to fend off an attack from a heartless. “Well princess of the sun, shall we?” Maleficent said. “Let’s,” Celestia said as she got ready. “Hyah!” Sora struck a wurm heartless several times and it responded by swinging its head and whacking him back. “Agh!” Sora grunted. “This isn’t good!” Twilight said as she blasted one several times with her magic. They spawned more shadow heartless and Donald had to use lightning to blast them away. “Not good!” Donald said as he ran around avoiding a bite from a wurm. “We’re being overwhelmed!” Twilight said as she saw more Tatzlewurms closing in. “We gotta move it!” Goofy said and they all ran for it down the hill as the wurms gave chase. “Come on!” Twilight said as she took to the air with Sora and grabbed Donald and Goofy as well and took them into the air with them. Both groups made their way to the empire while running from their pursuers. Twilight and Sora flew higher and higher as a wurm lunged out of the ground at them but fell short of snagging Donald by a few feet. “YIKES!” Donald yelped as it nearly got him. “We made it,” Goofy said. “Yeah, let’s just hope Spike’s having an easier time then us,” Sora said. “This is not an easy time!” Spike screamed as they ran for it while the shadows chased them, they ran until they entered the city and were approaching the castle, several more heartless joining the chase in the process, pretty soon with Spike’s directions they saw the castle and knew they had to make it, they saw they were approaching a doorway so they jumped for it and they made it in and two guards shut the doors. “We made it,” A guard wheezed. “Ok, let’s move,” Spike said as they made their way in. Twilight and Sora landed on a balcony and made their way into the building. As they entered the room heartless teleported in. “Figures he had a welcoming committee set up,” Sora said. “Let’s get ‘em!” Goofy said and they began fighting the Heartless. As Spike and the others made their way deeper into the castle shadow heartless began appearing and Spike ran faster. “My turn to be a hero!” Spike said before he slashed a heartless taking it out and then he struck another two down. As he fought them off the guards did their best to help by taking down a couple more heartless. Twilight struck another down with her magic and Sora took out another few with a swing. As they continued fighting the door was busted down by a big one and it came charging at Twilight. “Huh?!” Twilight put up a barrier blocking that attack and Goofy came to her aid by shield bashing the big one in the back. Spike managed to take the last one down and he turned to see the guards were successful too. “Alright, c’mon,” Spike said as they made their way towards the dungeons. “You! Um…” Spike forgot his name. “Sturdy shield!” The stallion responded. “Right, you’ve been to the dungeons here before, so can you point the way?” Spike said having forgotten. “Got it!” Shield said as he took the lead and they made their way down the castle. Sora and the others jumped out the doorway and made their way down the halls. “Where do you think this Sombra pony is hiding?” Sora asked. “He has to be where the crystal heart is, it’s the main reason he attacked the Crystal Empire in the first place,” Twilight reasoned. “Then we’re going to the crystal heart!” Sora said and they dodged down another hallway as heartless swarmed from the other side. “This way!” Twilight said as they turned another corner. “This way!” Shield said as they went down some more steps and they saw the dungeon's doorway. “I got this!” Spike said as he jumped up and broke the door down with his keyblade. As he got up the guards ran ahead and began searching the jail cells. “Shining where are you?!” Spike called out. “Here!” Shining Armor called back and Spike followed the voice all the way to a cell surrounded by wards. “They're here!” Spike called and the guards arrived. “Captain Armor, we’re are here to save you,” A guard said. “Alright, come on Cady, Flurry,” Shining said as they exited the cell. “Let’s get moving before-” Spike turned when he saw something and he hurriedly got in the way and blocked an intended attack on Shining. “Huh!?” they all turned and saw Sombra approaching. “Heheheh, I knew when help had arrived you’d leave protected area, now that the wards are broken you’re exposed,” Sombra said. “GO! I can hold him off!” Spike said. “Are you crazy! Come on!” Shining grabbed Spike in his magic and ran for it with his family and the guards while Sombra turned into smoke and chased them. Shining looked back as saw Sombra gaining on them, he knew they couldn’t escape so he had to make a sacrifice…. He levitated Spike onto Cadance's back and stopped. “Shiny!?” Cadence exclaimed. “Keep going! I’ll slow him down!” Shining said. “Shining! No!” Cadence said. “GO!” Shining said as he fired a beam at Sombra and it hit him causing him to slow and he hissed at Shining. “I can help!” Spike said. “....Come! We need to hurry and get to the other hostages, there’s only a few!” Cadence said and they ran off. “SHINING!” Spike called as he saw his brother fighting off the demon. Twilight shot down a pegasus heartless and continued on as Sora and the others followed. “We’re close!” Twilight said. Spike and the others had retrieved the remaining hostages and ran back to aid Shining but when they got there, he was gone. “Huh?” Spike said. “It’s just around the corner!” Twilight said as they ran around the corner and when they saw what was ahead they paused. “Shiny?” Twilight said. Sombra’s magic was holding shining in the air and Sombra was standing there. “Heheheh, and the plan reaches fruition, now open this door for me, or your brother dies,” Sombra said. “No… RELEASE MY BROTHER!” Twilight flared her horn. “You’ll get him back when I have the crystal heart!” Sombra said. “Twiley, don’t,” Shining pleaded with her. “Let him go!” Sora said. “I will not tolerate meddling by fools! Either open this door or else!” Sombra said. “We…” Twilight looked scared. “Don’t believe me? Here’s some incentive,” Sombra then made a black crystal shoot out of the ground and it landed in Shining’s leg. “AGH!” Shining grunted. “NO!” Twilight cried. “OPEN THE DOOR!” Sombra yelled. “...OK OK! Just let him go!” Twilight said. “Twilight!” Sora said. “Don’t!” Shining cried. “I… can’t, I’m sorry,” Twilight fired a blast of unlocking magic at the door and it unlocked. “Yesss!” Sombra said before throwing Shining at Twilight who caught him while running through the door. “Twilight! You shouldn’t-” Shining said but Twilight shook her head. “I couldn’t let him kill you, I’m sorry,” Twilight said. “We have to hurry, before he-” “WHERE IS IT?!” They heard Sombra scream and they looked at eachother and ran into the room, Goofy carrying Shining. When they got in the saw the chamber was empty and Sombra looked around. “IT WAS HERE! I KNOW IT!” Sombra said before turning to the group and snarling “What did you do?!” “I don’t know where it is!” Twilight said. “Grrrrr! Very well then, I’ll simply torture the answer out of you all!” Sombra roared before shouting “COME HEARTLESS!” Suddenly the heartless came in through the door and the group had to step out of the way as they swarmed over to Sombra who was surrounded by the darkness and grew gigantic and shadowy. “TIME TO DIE!” Sombra shouted. “Get ready guys,” Sora said as they got ready. “Got room for one more?!” Spike yelled as he ran in. “Spike?! Why are you here? What about the-” “Taken care of,” Spike said. “Huh?” Twilight asked. “Come come!” Cadence said as she and the other prisoners made their way out of the building heartless on their tail. And it was thanks to a certain Draconequus. “Boy, the viewers have no context whatsoever with what happened to me throughout the story!” Discord said. “Later!” Cadancer said. “Don’t worry whoever's reading this! I’ll explain later!” Discord said, looking at the reader. “Stop speaking at nothing and run!” Cadence said. “Anyways, let’s go!” Spoke said. “....Ok, nevermind, get ready!” Twilight said. The final battle is upon us… //-------------------------------------------------------// Kingdom Harmony //-------------------------------------------------------// Kingdom Harmony Celestia was firing a continuous beam as was Maleficent and they seemed evenly matched. “Soon the crystal heart will be ours, and darkness will spread across this land,” Maleficent said. “Not if my student has anything to say about it!” Celestia said. “Ah yes, your student, she survived my trap, I’ll be sure to turn her into a heartless first!” Maleficent laughed. “NO!” Celestia said as she continued fighting back. Meanwhile, Pete was hanging back and directing the heartless. “Alright, you heartless! Give it to them good!” Pete said. And Luna was aiding her soldiers in fighting off the Tatzlewurm heartless as they fought off the shadow heartless. “There are too many of them! Twilight, Sora, hurry!” Luna said. Sora rolled on the ground and jumped out of the way as a massive shadowy hoof came down on the ground and caused black crystals to erupt around it. “DIE!” Sombra shouted, firing black crystals out of his mouth and Sora jumped back deflecting them. “Get to cover Shining!” Twilight called and Shining knowing he won’t be much help here injured, limped away from the battle. Meanwhile Donald used Thundaga and zapped the giant but Sombra tanked it and fired a beam at Donald knocking him away. “Gyah!” Donald cried. “Perish here intruder upon this world!” Sombra fired another beam at Donald but Goofy blocked it. “Not so fast!” Goofy said as he ran forward and threw his shield at him hitting the giant in the face. “Graaah!” Sombra stomped at Goofy but he dodged. Meanwhile Spike was riding on Twilight’s back as she circled above him and he jumped off and struck the giant in the face. “Will you ever cease to get in my way boy!” Sombra shouted as he swung a hoof down and tried to crush Spike but Sora ran up next to him and they both blocked the stomp. “Thanks!” Spike said. “No prob!” Sora said and they both shoved the hoof back and then struck it multiple times destroying the crystal limb underneath the darkness. “Grr!” Sombra fired a beam at them and Sora grabbed Spike and flew away from the beam. “Donald!” Sora said as he flipped to the ground and set Spike down. “On it!” And they activated Fantasia and unleashed a flurry of fireworks that blew up on Sombra. “AGH!” Sombra cried as he stumbled back. “Another!” Donald shouted and they unleashed more fireworks that struck Sombra back. “I’ll help!” Twilight fired some blasts alongside the fireworks and they pressed Sombra against the wall. “YOU LITTLE!” Sombra fired a big beam at them but Goofy got in the way and blocked it. “GO!” Goofy called and they unleashed final fantasia and a massive flurry of fireworks pounded on Sombra eventually busting the giant through a wall. “NOOOOO!” Sombra yelled as he fell. “Did we get him?” Sora asked. Suddenly Sombra sprouted crystal wings, took back to the air, and circled around. “Nope,” Spike said. “Pests… so many pests!” Sombra said regenerating his arm and then firing a storm of blasts onto the area and the group had to run for it and take cover. “AAAH!” Twilight cried when one sent her flying. “Twilight!” Spike cried. “You can’t win, I have the heartless on my side!” Sombra laughed before he descended onto the now roofless platform and slammed down sending rows of spikes everywhere. “Look out!” Spike jumped out of the way of one. “Agh!” Goofy got hit by one and was sent flying, as he landed he was injured. “Goofy!” Donald cried and he used heal. “Thank ya, Donald,” Goofy said as he got up. “Hmm, Very well!” Sombra said getting an idea and he formed crystal cages and threw them at Donald and Goofy. “Huh?!” Sora saw them fly past him and Donald and Goofy cried out in surprise as they were trapped in cages. “Donald! Goofy!” Sora cried. “Let’s see you make it without them!” Sombra laughed as he created a giant sphere of darkness. “Tch! Let them go!” Sora yelled running at Sombra. “Twilight! Come on!” Spike said as Twilight got up. “O-ok!” Twilight said as she ran out to help. “Take this!” Sombra fired the sphere and Sora dodged it and the sphere continued forward and Twilight grabbed Spike and rolled out of the way as it struck a wall blowing a massive hole in it. “Hah!” Sora jumped up and used his wings to fly at Sombra and land several strikes against him. “Spike!” Twilight threw Spike and Spike landed against Sombra’s face and he then raised the keyblade and plunged it down into Sombra’s eye. “Tch!” Sombra roared throwing his head around as Sora continued hitting Sombra and chipping away at his armor. “Let’s go!” Sora said as he jumped back and then jumped forward and drove his keyblade into Sombra’s chest. Sombra growled and managed to swat Sora way and toss Spike off his head. Both landed and simultaneously and called their keyblades back to them. “Alright, now together,” Sora said as they ran forward. “Stay back!” Sombra said firing beams at them but they ran around the shots and just as they closed in Sombra created a wall of crystal. “Crap!” Spike said. “I got this!” Twilight flew in front of them and fired a beam that blasted a hole in it. Thanks!” Sora said as he and Spike jumped through and Sombra raised a hoof and struck at them. “GRAAAAH!” Sombra roared. But Sora spread his wings and flew higher, carrying Spike with him and they both dodged the hoof and came down at him with a double keyblade swing. And shattered his chest armor, revealing Sombra himself. “What?!” Sombra exclaimed. “NOW!” Sora yelled to Twilight who understood what to do and she flew upwards and fired a powerful beam at Sombra and it blasted a hole through the construct and sent Sombra flying out. He tumbled on the ground and his crystal construct crumbled, along with Goofy and Donald's prisons. “Yeah!” Sora cheered as they landed. Sombra got up and growled at them. “You fools… If I cannot have the crystal heart, NOPONY WILL!” Sombra shouted and he stamped his hoof and transferred his magic through the floor and shards of black crystal broke through. “Whoa!” Spike jumped back from one. “Look out!” Sora struck away a falling piece of rubble. “What’s he doing?!” Twilight asked. “Hahahaha! I’ll bury this whole castle!” Sombra said as he jutted into the air with a massive spire of crystal. Maleficent heard crashing noises and turned to see the castle was being struck by giant black crystals coming out of the ground. “That fool! Is he trying to destroy the castle?! We need it!” Maleficent angrily said. “It seems you're being pushed into a corner Maleficent,” Celestia said as she fired another blast at her and Maleficent teleported away next to Pete. “What are we going to do Maleficent? Sombra’s not sticking to the plan now!” Pete asked. “We search for the crystal heart, it's our only way-” Suddenly Maleficent sensed something and she turned towards the castle and narrowed her eyes. “What is it?” Pete asked. “We’re leaving… it seems we’ve got more company than we need,” Maleficent said. “What?! We can’t leave! We’re-” “Stay if you want, but I imagine the tide will turn soon,” Maleficent said opening a portal and entering. “W-wait for me!” Pete ran in after her. “What? Why did they leave?” Celestia asked… before she noticed something behind her and she turned. And was attacked… Sombra continued unleashing spires of crystal and Twilight and the others were struggling to keep their footing. “We have to stop him before he brings the whole place down!” Sora said. “We have to get moving then!” Spike said. “Alright! Come on!” Sora put Spike on his back and Twilight spread her wings. “We’ll cover you!” Donald said. “Ok!” Twilight said and they took off as they flew through the air they saw the spires popping up around them. “Look out!” Sora called and they dodged multiple spires and Twilight was nearly hit by one coming out of a wall she passed. “RAAAAHH!” Sombra raised a bunch of crystals and launched them but Sora got in front of Twilight and deflected them. “Donald!” Sora said as more spires came out to strike them and Donald used lightning from a distance and destroyed the spires. “I gotcha!” Goofy threw his shield which ricocheted around taking out more spires and opening a path to Sombra. “NO!” Sombra tried to raise the spire he was standing on to escape but Sora did the unexpected, he threw Spike. “Spike!?” Twilight said. “I got this!” Spike said as he flew at the base of the spire and he swung his weapon breaking it and it fell down. “NOOO!” Sombra cried as he tried to react in time but Sora closed in and swung his weapon. “Take this!” Sora said as he closed in with a powerful slash and he delivered. “AAAGGH!” Sombra screeched as they fell onto a lower platform. As they landed Sombra struggled to his hooves and fell down. “It’s over Sombra,” Twilight said as Spike hopped off her back. “No… I can’t lose, Maleficent! Send more heartless!” Sombra called out… to no answer “MALEFICENT! WHERE ARE YOU!?” Sombra demanded… no answer “Did… did she flee?!” Sombra said with a growl. “She tends to do that,” Donald said as he and Goofy made it there with them. “Grrrr! RAH!” Sombra growled angrily as he stood up shakily “Fine, who needs that witch, I’ll flee today and have my revenge another day,” Sombra said as he got ready to leave. “No you don’t!” Twilight and Sora ran to stop him. “Tch!” Sombra turned to attack and- Something landed between them. “What the?” Sora and Twilight paused as a figure stood there between them. “Huh?! Who are you?” Sombra demanded. The figure was wearing a familiar black hood which he pulled back. “No…” Sora said, realizing who this was. “...Hello again… Sora,” the figure revealed to be Saix said before he swung his weapon and struck Sora and Twilight, sending them both flying back to Donald and Goofy who caught them. “Twilight!” Spike cried as she got up. “I’m fine,” Twilight said before looking at the strange figure. “Hmph,” Saix began walking towards them. “Hey! I demanded who you are! Are you with that coward Malefic-” Sombra said… before Saix drew his weapon again and spun striking Sombra, slashing him across the chest. “Huh?!” The group exclaimed. “Ack!...Ack….gh…” Sombra croaked before he fell over and dissipated into shadow and faded away. “Annoying,” Saix muttered. “H-he just killed him!” Twilight said having never witnessed direct murder before that she can recall. “Who is that?!” Spike asked. “Saix, he’s with an evil organization known as Organization XIII,” Sora said warily. “Another evil group?!” Spike exclaimed. “...Enough talk,” Saix said resting his claymore on his shoulder and several nobodies appeared… Each holding one of Twilight’s friends and Celestia. “NO!” Twilight cried but Sora stood in front of her. “What do you want, Saix?” Sora asked. “The Crystal Heart, it would serve the Organization well, hand it over,” Saix said holding out his hand. “We don’t know where it is!” Twilight said. “Yeah it vanished,” Spike said. “Wrong answer,” Saix said as he lowered the weapon to AJ’s throat. “STOP STOP!” Twilight cried. “Hand it over,” Saix said. “We seriously don’t know! Please!” Twilight begged. “Then he operated separately, where is he?” Saix demanded as he began to press the blade against AJ’s neck. “I don’t know who you're talking about… I swear!” Twilight cried. “Stop this Saix!” Sora said angrily. “Wrong answer again, say goodbye,” Saix raised his weapon to kill AJ. “NOOO!” The group shouted. … “STOP THIS!” A higher pitched voice said and Saix paused and looked. “Huh?” The group turned and saw another hooded figure drop-down, only he was a mouse. “Who-” Spike asked. “The King!” Donald exclaimed. “King Mickey!” Goofy said. “Wish there was more time to talk fella’s but lives are on the line,” Mickey said as he walked past the group and produced the Crystal Heart. “Good, hand it over,” Saix said. “Don’t-” Twilight said but Saix held the blade to Pinkie’s neck this time and Twilight quieted, he held out his hand and beckoned Mickey to hand it over. “I’m sorry everyone… I have no choice,” Mickey said as he walked over to Saix and... Threw the Crystal Heart into the air! “Hm?” Saix looked up briefly. “Made ya look!” Mickey winked before he shouted “LUNA NOW!” Mickey called and Saix turned just in time to see a powerful beam heading for him and he raised his guard, blocking it but it sent him skidding back. “Ngh!” Saix grunted and while he was sidetracked Mickey raced forward and struck down the Nobodies and gathered up everypony before leaping back to the group. “Girls!” Twilight cried as she went to them. Luna stopped the beam, flew forward, snatching the heart and she landed beside them. “I am glad I made it in time, thankfully Mickey was wise enough to visit me first to discuss the plan,” Luna said before they all turned towards Saix. “Looks like you lost your leverage,” Sora said as the group gathered. “Hmmph… it seems I have,” Saix said with a sigh as he turned and walked towards a portal. “Wait!” Sora shouted as he galloped towards him. “We’ll meet again, all of you,” Saix said as he left and the portal vanished and Sora had to stop before he went over the edge. “Argh, he got away again,” Sora said, sounding upset. “Let us get moving, we must assess the injured, and clear out the remaining heartless” Luna said. “Alright,” Twilight said as they trotted on inside the castle, Sora looked back before continuing with the rest of the group. The last of the heartless was slain as Twilight, Spike, Luna, and Sora and friends appeared on the battlefield, seeing Discord with the others. “Hmm? Ah, done in there are you?” Discord asked. “Yes, it seems you’ve escaped the heartless’s grasp and made it back to this dimension,” Luna said. “Where were you Discord?” Twilight asked. “I hope you all don’t think I was simply sitting idly by while all this was going down, I was quite busy,” Discord said. “With?” Twilight asked. “Heartless, it seems Sombra knew of me and warned Maleficent, my home was besieged by countless heartless, I tell you it took me quite a few hours to best them all,” Discord said wiping his brow. “Wow, that’s impressive,” Donald admitted. “Eeyup,” Goofy agreed. “Thankfully I was able to escape them and save the hostages, but I still have plenty of damage control to do back at home,” Discord said not looking forward to it. “Then we’ll leave you to it, let us tend to our wounded and we’ll help out later,” Luna said. “Not quite yet, there is still something to do,” Discord said. “What?” Twilight asked. Suddenly Sora’s keyblade glowed and Sora knew his cue, suddenly the crystal heart in Mickey’s hand glowed as well. Sora went on to use his keyblade to lock the world key. When the light cleared everypony was confused save for Luna and Discord. “What was that?” Twilight asked. “Just finishing our business here, now that the heartless have been driven away we need to take our leave,” Sora said. “Now?” Twilight asked. “Yeah, there are other worlds to save too, but we’ll come back and visit,” Goofy said. “Yeah!” Donald said. “Pinkie promise?” Twilight said with a sad smile that her new friends were leaving so soon. “What?” Sora asked. “It's a promise you don’t break, it goes like this,” Twilight said showing them. They all laughed at the cupcake bit and they did the motions as well. “We promise,” Sora said. “Before we go there’s one more thing to take care of,” Mickey said, turning to Spike. “What?” Spike asked. “I haven't witnessed a keyblade wielder being chosen here since Starswirl, when we meet again, let’s do some training, help you get used to that keyblade,” Mickey said. “I’d love that,” Spike said with a smile. “Alrighty then, we should help you get back to your gummi ship,” Mickey said to Sora and the others. “Alright, see ya later!” Sora waved to the other ponies. “See you!” Twilight said, waving back at them as they trotted back to the train. As they vanished into the distance, Twilight turned to the others. “Alright, let’s get everypony together and get them inside, we have a lot of injured,” Twilight said, looking around at the guards who were weary from fighting the Tatzelwurm heartless. “Ok!” The others said as they went to work. Three weeks later Spike was training in an open room in his room and he found the keyblade was like an extension of himself, he set up some dummies and attacked them to sharpen his skill. As Spike trained he heard some steps behind him and turned to see Twilight approaching. “Hey, Spike! How is the training?” Twilight asked. “Going great!” Spike panted. “Well, you have a visitor, I’ll leave you two alone,” Twilight said with a smile as she left. “A visitor?” Spike asked before seeing a familiar mouse enter the room. “Heya there,” Mickey said with a smile. “King Mickey?” Spike said in surprise. “I said I’d be back, didn’t I? And I also said I’d aid your training, well, let’s get training,” Mickey said summoning his keyblade. “...Ok!” Spike said with a smile, as he got ready to spar with Mickey. Twilight walked into the open and saw her friends waiting for her outside. “I’m glad everypony recovered well,” Twilight said. “Can’t keep us down,” Rainbow said as they walked away with her. “Alright girls, while Spike is training, let’s go, we have some old friends to meet,” Twilight said with a smile as they walked off towards Sugarcube Corner. Where the Gummi Ship was parked. And they knew, more adventures were on the horizon. FIN Author's Note Suddenly Sora’s keyblade glowed and Sora knew his cue, suddenly the crystal heart in Mickey’s hand glowed as well. Sora went on to use his keyblade to lock the world key. When the light cleared everypony was confused save for Luna and Discord. This is about this just in case your confused. https://youtu.be/2oVBuxyrues Annnd done! Whew, this was a tough chapter, but I hope you all enjoyed it. I bet that visit from Organization XIII was surprising, wasn't it? Let me know how I did in the comments. Thank you all for the views on my first KH story, and don't miss out on your chance to cast your vote on my next story, which is located in my blogs. [votes end soon] Hope you enjoyed this custom level of KH in Equestria, see you next time. :pinkiehappy: https://static.fimfiction.net/images/emoticons/pinkiehappy.png