Keys, Medals, and Harmony

Chapters

New Arrivals, New Nightmare, and a New Combo

New Arrivals, New Nightmare, and a New Combo

Hello everyone. I am very much new to this site, though you may or may not have read my other fanfiction on other sites. Regardless, I came up with this crazy idea while at work one day (I get very bored at work, sorry, “got”) and decided to write this on a lark, seeing as how I haven't written anything of note in a very long while. I should also quickly note, that this was also inspire by the fanfic, My Little Pony: Subarashii Harmony by Blankmind12 on DeviantArt, so I'm not the first one to have an idea this entirely insane.

So, yeah, crossover fanfiction between Kingdom Hearts, Kamen Rider OOO, and, Friendship is Magic. Sounds totally bizarre, and it is, and it's certainly gonna be weird for fans of one or two of these properties but not the other. Anyways, to let you guys now, the KH side of this fic takes up only a very small portion of this chapter. It will play a much larger portion in future chapters (if this ever becomes more than a “pilot”), but really, the initial chapter is dominated by the characters of OOO and FIM. I did this because I figured the character of Eiji would be the least familiar to the majority of readers, so I wanted to give him a firm introduction to everyone before the story really began.

For all those worried, more than Sora and Eiji from KH and OOO will be showing up. Kairi and Riku will appear as major characters in their own right, and Ankh will come along in some form as well, because you can't have an OOO story with Ankh. Also, as a bit of trivia, and because I'm a huge nerd, Sora, Kairi, and Riku will all have surnames that come from the characters of other shows written by Yasuko Kobayashi (the lead writer for OOO). For example, Sora's surname, Nogami, comes from Ryotaro Nogami, hero of Kamen Rider Den-O.

Now to give you a frame of reference for when this takes place in relation to each series's canon, and the continuity of each franchise:

-This fic takes place immediately after the finale of Kamen Rider OOO. All forty-eight episodes of the television series are in canon, as well as the movies Kamen Rider OOO & W: Movie Wars Core and Kamen Rider OOO Wonderful: The Shogun and the 21 Core Medals are in continuity with this fic (which also means the Black and Orange Cores are, as well). Fourze & OOO: Movie Wars Megamax and OOO & Den-O: All Riders, Let's Go are not in continuity. Also, for the purpose of this fic, we shall assume the following Core Medals still remain in tact: eight Green Cores (one Kuwagata destroyed), eight Yellow Cores (one Lion destroyed), six Blue Cores (a full set of one Shachi, one Unagi, and one Tako destroyed), seven Grey Cores (one Sai and one Gorilla destroyed), six Red Cores (a full set of one Taka, one Kujaku, and one Condor destroyed), eight Purple Cores (one Ptera destroyed), a full set of nine Orange and six Black Core Medals (a full set of one Sasori, one Kani, and one Ebi destroyed after the events of Movie Wars Core).

-This fic takes two years after the end of Kingdom Hearts II, putting Sora and Kairi at age seventeen and Riku at eighteen. Only Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts II are considered in continuity at this point in time.

-This fic takes place at the end of Season 2 of Friendship is Magic (because nuts to Season 3). Although, I have not decided if this takes place before or after Season 2's finale, because I might want to have some fun with that.

Finally, I know that fans, particularly of FIM, can be very... persnickety, let's say. And am not a very detailed oriented person, so if I get something like say, geography or the specific colour of someone's mane or coat wrong, I would just like anyone who wants to nitpick to repeat these words of wisdom from Mystery Science Theatre 3000:

“If you're wondering how he eats and breathes and other science facts (lalala)/Just repeat to yourself: 'It's just a show, I should really just relax'.”

But enough from me, let's get to the show!

Keys, Medals, and Harmony

-OOO-

Chapter 1

-OOO-

New Arrivals, New Nightmare, and a New Combo

A black expanse. A bridge between the many worlds. A zone of perfect silence and stillness, nothing more than endless space in all directions, devoid of any life. That is, until this one brief moment.

Two things, a young man and a what appeared to be the forearm of some human creature, all cast in red, were rapidly descending through the expanse, disturbing the tranquillity that had existed within it for aeons before. The man was unconscious, weary, hurt – both physically and emotionally. The last year he had spent his body and heart defending his own world from a grave threat, and was now listing to parts unknown, a new world somewhere across the breach, though this travel was not of his choosing. A twist of fate that would change the fates of many.

The arm began to move. Most people wouldn't expect a disembodied arm to be able to move at all, besides falling helplessly through the current darkness at terminal velocity. But here it was, moving – flying – towards the unconscious man.

The red arm gripped the man by his cheeks with it's fingers. “Eiji! Open your eyes!” It said with a masculine voice, terse and direct, despite having no visible means of vocal communication. The arm let go of the man's cheeks before slapping him. “You're gonna die!” The man – Eiji – snapped back into reality, as the arm seized him by collar of his shirt.

“Ankh?” Eiji asked in dazed wonderment, as he and the red arm continued to plummet through the expanse. He soon came to his senses, realizing what he had just done, what had just occurred. The battle was won, the war was over, he and Ankh were victorious, and the last thing he remembered was being dragged into a black portal left behind by the enemy.

Eiji let out a sigh of relief, letting any fear of his final fate leave him. “Ah, it's fine. It's hopeless anyway.” He then looked up to the arm, Ankh. “What about you?”

The hand twitched in a way that could only be described as “haughtily” before answering in a voice that was anything but haughty. It was serene and gentle. “Forget me. I got what I wanted.”

“Wasn't that to be alive?” Eiji asked, confused. “But, you died....”

“That's it.” The arm replied, now sounding enjoyed. “You guys think a pile of Medals can die. I can't think of anything as fun or satisfying.”

A moment passed where the two just fell, Eiji looking at Ankh, a look of dread and concern for the arm creature. The previous silence of the void returning for a brief moment, which Ankh destroyed once more.

“I'm glad I chose you. It wasn't a mistake.” And with that, the red arm known as Ankh began to fly away, deeper into the void.

“Hey! Where are you going?!” Eiji twisted his body around to view his companion, reaching out futilely.

Slowly, the arm turned around to face the man. “I am no longer the hand you should be reaching out for.”

Panicked, Eiji stretched out his arm as far as possible, trying to grab hold of Ankh. His fingers came inches away from the hand before he vanished, Eiji's hands grasping thin air.

No. Not thin air. He had taken a hold of something. Small and cool, the object was pressed in a death grip within his hand. Eiji withdrew the arm, slowly uncurling his fingers to see what he had reached out to grab.

One young man, formerly joined by a red arm, was drifting through the expanse. He let out a cry of anguish right before exiting the zone.

“Ankh!”

-O-O-O-

“Hmm...there should be a star there. Another one of the unnamed stars has vanished. That's the third one...”

Out of on the balcony of her house/library, Twilight Sparkle, personal apprentice and student to Princess Celestia, the ruler of Equestria, bearing the image of a magenta starburst on her flanks, had decided that tonight she was going to enjoy the typical peaceful night of the hamlet of Ponyville and do a little stargazing. Or at least, that was the plan, for since the lavender-coated unicorn began peering at the night's sky through her telescope she had noticed three stars that should be present but were nowhere to be seen. A magenta light flared around her horn, indicating she was casting magic, as a similar light appeared around a leather-bound journal and quill pen resting to her side on a small table. The two objects floated into the air, under the presence of Twilight's telekinetic grip, as the tri-coloured maned unicorn scribbled down her findings.

“Twilight, you're worrying over nothing.” A voiced called from within her home. Stepping out onto the balcony with her, was a small dragon with purple scales and green spines jutting out from his back and ears. The young dragon, Spike – Twilight's assistant – continued. “It's just like three years ago, remember?”

Twilight certainly did. Around three years ago, back when she and Spike were still living in Canterlot, Equestria's capitol, Twilight and several other students and astronomers had noticed that several singular satellites that were unnamed nor under the jurisdiction of the Princesses' day-to-night transition had begun to disappear. This phenomenon had apparently been occurring for a decade prior, but at that point in time, the disappearances began to accelerate at an alarming rate. At one point, the number of stars in the sky had decreased by almost forty percent. And then, one day, it just stopped. The stars no longer vanished, and in fact, they began to return to their rightful positions. Within a week, nearly every star that had disappeared in the thirteen year period had returned, with no explanation for either the vanishing or return.

“You're probably right, Spike.” Twilight said, tossing her tri-coloured mane – nearly all indigo in colour, with one streak of magenta and one of violet running through it – aside. She put down the journal and pen, and used her magic to take hold of the third object on the table, a cup of tea. She gave an exploratory sip, deciding it was still too hot, and set it down again. “I decided to stay up and enjoy the night sky, and I should do just that!”

“Just like how I've decided to catch some shut-eye!” Spike declared with as much passion as Twilight, waving goodnight to his employer and surrogate sister. The unicorn already had her eye glued to the view piece of her telescope, engrossed in the night's sky, happily chatting to herself

“Princess Luna certainly went all out for tonight.” Twilight said. Indeed, every star in the sky twinkled brightly and the full moon was particularly large tonight, as was the growing blue-black twist in the sky adjacent to it. Coupled with the lack of clouds due to the weather patrol, it made for an absolutely perfect evening. “I wonder if she goes all out like this every night or if she was just in a good mood at dusk today? Either way, it's a wonder why everypony hated the night a thousand years ago. Maybe I should write her a letter telling her how beautiful her nights really are? We haven't spoken since Nightmare Night and I bet it would mean a – wait!? Blue-black twist?”

Pivoting the mounted telescope back to where the moon was, she saw that, indeed, there was a growing distortion in the sky of this perfect night. In fact, the distortion had gotten so large that it had now formed a gaping hole, about six-feet in diameter or so.

“This is...not good...” Twilight muttered, magic flaring to life again. Her journal whipped open and her pen danced across the page, scribbling down quick observations, as the magenta aura also spread to her telescope. She was using a little trick her astronomy professor had taught her, using her magic to manipulate the lenses in the tool to increase it's magnification power, her view now right up at the edge of the rip in the sky.

Several objects within the abyss flashed in the bright moonlight, giving Twilight a pretty good idea of what was inside. Dozens of small, circular objects, all brightly coloured of a different colour. Red, yellow, green, grey, blue, purple, orange, and black, they all glimmered brightly, swirling around in a chaotic mass. The rip fortunately seemed to have stabilized, no longer growing, but the objects with in it were churning more and more violently with each passing second.

“What are those? Just what is going on?” Twilight asked with bated breath, heavily concerned. The last time strange things like this occurred around town... well, it wasn't a pleasant experience, not one she wanted to relive.

Suddenly the objects, now at the height of their violent storm, began to shoot out from hole; white streaks of light like miniature comets. It began very slowly, with one or two at a time going off every five seconds or so, before a countless number of white streaks shot out at a rapid pace, each light arcing through the sky before touching down all over the territory just outside Ponyville's boundaries.

Twilight's pen began to write at a furious pace, as she tried to list where each object may have landed, trying to figure out calculations for where others might have landed. Whatever they may be, she had a feeling that it would spell bad news if they wound up in the wrong hooves.

As the young unicorn student tried to calculate the trajectory of a few, her eye momentarily darted back to eyepiece of the telescope, seeing that the hole was still very much present.

“No. No!” She muttered. Focusing back on the rip, Twilight noticed that there was still one last thing in the black hole: a small shining light in the centre of the hole that was growing larger and larger at a dangerous velocity. In fact, if Twilight didn't know any better, she could have sworn that the light was coming right at her....

Oh no.... The light was already at the precipice of the hole when Twilight realized it was coming right to her. She quickly went about face, ready to dart into her house and take cover, but the object had gained enough speed that in the time it took her to turn around, it had completely covered the distance between the rip and her balcony, bowling into her and her tools, completely running over her and crashing down on the other side of the second floor of her home.

“Jeez, just as I was about to doze off too...” Spike muttered, stepping out of the bedroom. “Just how did you manage to make that much noise while star ga – holy guacamole!”

Twilight chuckled nervously at Spike's sudden start. “Yeah. Quite a mess isn't it?” Currently, all four of her legs were tangled up in the legs of her end table and the tripod of her telescope, a quill pen tucked behind her ear, slightly too hot tea splashed over her belly, and a leather-bound journal painfully wedged into her lower back.

“Not that Twilight. That.” Spike pointed to the corner of the room, causing Twilight to crane and twist her neck to get a view of just what had given her assistance such a surprise.

Twilight's jaw dropped and her eyes widened in shock.

Resting in the corner was some sort of...creature. Nothing like anything Twilight had seen before, except maybe pictures of apes and monkeys she had only seen in text books. The animal was very large, roughly six-feet, it's skin almost completely hairless save for a slightly messy and short black mane atop it's head. The rest of it's body bore pinkish flesh for the whole world to see; that is, the skin was bare on his body save for the strange clothes it wore. A light coat of strange crafting, purple and gold in colour with a strange design running across the fabric, lightly tanned pants that reach it's mid-thigh, and a pair of heavy boots. Even though it had four limbs, the unicorn assumed it was bipedal, as the animal's forelimbs ended in a hand with five digits. The strangest thing though was that, despite having just crashed into her home at a frightening velocity, the being seemed to be sleeping peacefully, breathing in and out very gently.

“What in the name of Celestia...?” Both shock and curiosity ran through Twilight at the moment, staring at the strange, slumbering creature across from her. Where had it come from? Was it intelligent? Did it travel here of it's own free will, and, if so, what were it's goals? As she continued to stare unerringly at the being, her mind began to work, furiously noting whatever she could observe just from the shocked gaze.

Lacks scales and feathers, but has some fur. Most likely a mammal. Looks to be of the order primate. Comes from a species capable of clothing itself. Can either craft clothing or is intelligent enough to scavenge it from other species. Most likely the former. Species and/or society might be capable of interstellar and/or interdimensional travel....

“Twilight? Twilight!?” Spike called repeatedly, snapping the studious unicorn out of her analytic gaze. She shook her head. “You zoned out there for a bit.”

“Yeah. Sorry about that.” She said, sheepishly. “I'm just in...awe of...whatever this is.”

“Well, you can keep being in awe, but I would recommend being in awe while being upright.” Spike motioned to the clutter Twilight's prone body was still tangled in, causing the purple unicorn to blush slightly.

“Right. Good idea.” The magenta aura returned, surrounding the table, tripod, and Twilight herself. The magical force untangled the legs of the three, setting the two objects off to the side, and righting Twilight herself, all within the span of less than a second. “There. Much better.”

No sooner had Twilight pronounced that, did a rainbow streak blast in though her open balcony, zipping right past Twilight, and circling the room a time and a half. While the streak did that, Twilight was left spinning around like a top, the world a distorted blur of colour, as the unicorn came to a stop, her mane and tail frazzled and unkempt from her short stead as a amateur tornado impressionist, as she wobbled about on unsteady legs.

“Ooh...down I go again....” Her legs gave out, sending her right back down to the floor with a crash.

“Twilight! Twilight! Twilight!” A new voice in the room called out, Twilight still a tad too woozy to see anything but dark, indistinct shapes. Quickly, she found herself picked off the ground, her whole body being shook and rattled about. “Twilight? Are you okay? You're not hurt are you?” After having her brain bounced around in it's cranium for a second, the unicorn finally recognized that, standing – or rather, hovering – before her was a cyan-coated pegasus with ruby eyes, and a sharply cut mane, streaked with the colours of the rainbow, same as her tail. The image of a rainbow-coloured lightning bolt shooting from a cloud was present on her flanks.

“Come on, Twilight. Speak to me!” Rainbow Dash called one more time, still vigorously rocking Twilight back and forth, her wings fluttering frantically.

“Rainbow, she's okay, just put her down.” Spike said, prompting the pegasus mare to do that, giving Twilight a second to acclimate herself after all the shaking.

“I'm all right, Rainbow.” The unicorn finally said after settling down. Though, truth be told, she was better off before Rainbow Dash had barged into the library. “Just still a little shocked is all.”

“Yeah. Tell me about it.” Rainbow said, still hovering in air. “There I was, trying to get a nice, solid, standard, eleven hour sleep, when this...thing comes streaking out of the blue. BAM! It tears through my roof, driving itself into my headboard. So I go outside and see, like, a hundred of these thing flying through the sky, and then a giant light goes flying from out of nowhere into your home. So I dashed off to help out, in case you were attacked by aliens or something -” At the moment, the brash pegasus saw that both Twilight and Spike were half looking at her, half looking at the strange, near furless creature in the corner. “Ah! I was right! Alien! Attack!”

Quick as her name would indicate, Rainbow reared up in the air, charging hoof first at the unidentified creature for a diving strike. Or, at least, she would have charged, if she didn't find herself frozen mid-attack, surrounded by a bright magenta light. She began to twist and turn in mid-air, struggling to move forward.

“Hey, what gives Twilight?”

The purple unicorn had her brow furrowed in concentration, trying to keep a good telekinetic grasp on her squirming friend. “Rainbow, remember what we said about starting fights with every strange thing you come across?”

The pegasus with the colourful mane sighed, exasperated. “Yeah, yeah. I know. Jeez. Okay, I won't attack that thing, just let me down.” Twilight acquiesced, setting Rainbow down on the floor. “So, what is that thing anyways?” She asked, waving a hoof at the animal.

“That is a very good question.” Twilight replied. Her horn had flared up once more, this time grasping a sheet of parchment at the quill still stuck behind her ear. “I've never seen anything like it before. As such, I am going straight to the highest authority.” She began to write on the floating parchment. “Hopefully Princess Celestia can spare an evening visit while Luna holds court. If anypony knows what this animal is or where it came from, it will be the Princesses.” The letter done, she rolled up the parchment and handed off to Spike. “All finished and ready for delivery.”

The young dragon took the scroll in claw and held it up to his snout, breathing a quick gout of emerald flame. The flame consumed the parchment, but it didn't leave behind any ashes. Instead, the letter in it's entirely had been warped directly to Twilight's mentor, far away from Ponyville.

“And you letter has been sent.” Spike proclaimed. “So, now what? I guess we wait for a response?”

“Wait?” Rainbow scoffed, having taken to wing again, hovering slightly above the floor. “C'mon, I'll go and grab Fluttershy. She know more about animals that anypony She'll be able to help.”

"Well, I don't know." Twilight responded. "I've never even heard of anything like this, even in text books on zoology and mythology..."

“Ah, it'll be fine. This is Fluttershy we're talking about.” Then, Rainbow slapped one hoof on top of the other in realization. “Oh! While I'm out, I'll just grab all the girls, they need to see this!”

“Now, hold up Rainbow. Let's not go dragging everyone out of a sound sleep into-” But Twilight's opposition fell upon deaf ears and the sound of rushing wind. Rainbow zoomed off again, her form visibly resembling a rainbow streak once again, passing Twilight closely, with the unicorn again being caught in her air current. And, once again, Twilight was left spinning about before crashing to the ground.

This time, she uttered a groan as she fell. “Ooh...maybe I should spend the rest of the night on the floor...”

-O-O-O-

Despite the tear in the night's sky and the multitude of objects spilling out from it, tonight was still the typical quiet night one would expect in a peaceful world like Equestria. However, right now, in a large apple orchard within the hamlet of Ponyville, the night was too quiet. No owls hooting, no chirps and calls of others nocturnal creatures, not even the wind whistling through the leaves. It was an unnatural stillness that made the peaceful night seem dangerous.

And it all seemed to be centred on one pony.

A single earth pony strode through the quiet orchard, bringing more quiet with him. His tail and mane were a mix of caramel, dark brown, and black, his mane slicked back and neatly tucked behind his ears, both of which had three spikes pierced through them. Over his dark indigo coat her wore a white and grey long coat that was cut just short of his flanks, with a pair of white goggles resting over his eyes, erratic orange markings covering the opaque glass of the ocular devices. His Cutie Mark, loathe as he was to ever use that term to describe himself, bore the image of a green eye with a slit pupil. Six sharp spokes shot out from around the eye, each spoke evenly spaced between one another in a hexagonal pattern.

“So, this is the night you have chosen for my birth, Majesty.” The pony said to himself, droning in a dry and monotonous tone. He peered around the orchard through his goggles, slowly proceeding forward. The grass seemed to bow away from his hooves as he walked, seeming to not want to be tread on by this stranger. “I see. Another hero of harmony approaches. He will probably find the Element Bearers. So... they will help in your development, Majesty? Is that it?” A cruel and joyful smile spread across his face, though the tone of his voice did not change. “C'est magnifique.”

An orange light surrounded his goggles, magically pushing them up, despite clearly not being a unicorn, revealing dark red eyes. “Oui. Indeed this is a bon, bon, bon night for my birth and the beginning of your rebirth, Majesty.”

The bizarre earth pony finally stopped his slow march, as he came across a specific apple tree that drew his interest. Nestled in the boughs of the large and powerful plant was a treehouse, with a soft light and the voices of three fillies coming from within, spoiling the stillness of the night. The pony grinned again.

“Voila! The perfect test, I would say.” With a flourish, an object held within the grasp of his magic appeared before him. It was an odd card, almost entirely black, with orange lines running across either end of the card. One side was branded with the Roman numeral “III”, while the other bore the exact same image as this pony's Mark. “Let's grow a little Nightmare.” The card reared back in his telekinetic grip. “Infect.” The card flew the air towards the tree. Instead of striking the trunk though, it passed right into it, leaving a spider web pattern of orange, purple, and green light running up and down it for a brief moment.

The magic-using earth pony gazed up to the treehouse one more time, before turning away. “A bon nui to you, mes petites filles. For tonight, shall be a night to remember for time to come.”

-O-O-O-

“I'm sorry to have everypony up and about at this hour.” Twilight said to her assembled audience. It was creeping past eleven by the time the last member of her sextet arrived at the behest of Rainbow Dash. Speaking of, Twilight looked at the cyan flyer as she continued “Somepony figured this could not wait until morning. I know you'll all be busy come morning, so I'll hopefully make this brief.” The source of the gathering, the strange creature that had crashed into Twilight, was still in the corner of the room, but now it was piled up onto several thick quilts and pillows, with a butter yellow pegasus examining him.

“While I am loathe to miss even an hour of my beauty sleep, darling, Rainbow Dash was not incorrect. This is quite a bit of gossip you've, I suppose you could say, collided with.” Rarity – a white-coated unicorn with a triple blue diamond Cutie Mark – gave a small and cheeky smile at her pun. The fashionista had been the last to arrive, and certainly looked the part, with her deep purple mane and tail styled into there normal perfect spiral coif despite having been in bed not a half hour ago.

“Ah was perfectly fine bein' rustled outta bed, but Ah certainly would like to make this short. Apple Bloom has her friends over tonight, and those three can sure as sugar stir up some trouble if need be.” The light-orange coated Applejack, who bore a trio of apples as her Mark replied. The earth pony farmer had her mane and tail a little more messy than normal, though it was still banded together in a tail, with her cowpony hat still doffed on her head.

“And I don't know about you guys, but I'm soooooo super excited about this I don't know how I'll ever get back to sleep!” The all-pink and all-hyperactive earth pony Pinkie Pie jumped into the air to punctuate her speech. She trotted around happily in a titter, her curly, dark pink mane and tail bouncing up and down as she did. Her Mark was a trio of balloons – two blue and one yellow – stood out against her bubble gum pink coat. “And I really hope he wakes up soon. I bet he's got all kinda stories he can tell us. Maybe about time travelling trains and demons who grant wishes to change the past! Or monsters in the mirror and a tournament to the death! Or shape-shifting aliens who move at light-speed and all look like bugs! Or-”

“Wait, Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash said, stopping her hyperactive friend in her tracks. “How did you know that thing was a guy.”

“Oh, easy peasy. My Pinkie Sense went off when I came near him.” Pinkie explained, before her tail bent towards the right, perfectly erect, forming at a right angle with her body. “See, when my tail goes to the right, it mean they're a boy. And if it goes to the left,” her tail demonstrated, “it means it's a girl. And when it points up-”

“Something we really don't need to know.” Twilight muttered in a deadpan manner.

Rainbow Dash huffed loudly. “Yeah, well, boy or girl, I don't care. I still say he's some kind of monster out to get us.”

The butter yellow pegasus finally spoke up, her voice a soft reply to her cyan friend. “Oh, I don't think he's a monster, Rainbow Dash.” Flutteryshy peeked up at the group from her standpoint, her soft pink mane covering half of her face. Her Mark was a trio of butterflies. “Just look at him. He looks so peaceful and nice, and his mane is so soft.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, but Twilight spoke up, as it looked like Fluttershy was done with her examination. “So, how is he Fluttershy? Any injuries?” Fluttershy had been the first of the group to arrived after Rainbow's call, but she too had been unable to identify the strange animal lying in the corner of the second floor.

“Well, yes...but...” Fluttershy nervously traced her hoof on the floor. “They really didn't look like they came from a fall. He has a few bruises on him, but what worries me is he's covered in cuts. Some very big, like he's been in the fight with some sort of vicious animal.” She then hastily added. “I-I patched him up though. He should be perfectly okay with some rest.”

Twilight nodded. “That's good. Good job Fluttershy.” The shy mare smiled slightly, as Twilight turned to Spike. “Any word from the Princesses yet?” Her personal assistance shook his head.

“Not a cinder. Sorry.” Said Spike.

Twilight coughed, positioning her body to face everyone at once. “Well, if that is the case, I suppose I should share with your all what I know about this creature. At around ten twenty-three this evening, I noticed a hole form in the night sky. From that hole, shot out several dozen unidentified objects that crashed all around the town. Following them, our visitor ear appeared, landing in my home. From what I can tell, he is most likely a mammal. A primate at that.” When she saw the blank stares on her friend's faces, she explained. “Think a monkey or ape, if you've ever seen or heard of them. Spike and I also found three objects on his person.”

Wit that, Twilight held up the first of the objects, a pair of boxer shorts. Though, not any regular pair of boxers, no. These had to have been the most loud and garishly coloured article of clothing any of the seven had ever seen. A bright tie-dye pattern covered the cloth, showing over half a dozen bright colours mixed and matched and clashed on it's surface.

“Oh, put those away! Put them away!” Rairty wailed, as she covered her eyes with a foreleg, her normal histrionics in full effect despite the hour. “It's a crime against fashion! The fact that the rest of his wardrobe seems to be horribly gosh is bad enough, but to have...those in his possession just crosses the line!”

“Ah kinda like 'em.” Applejack confessed. “Ah'm pretty sure one of my uncles had a couple o' shirts like that.”

Pinkie nodded in agreement. “They sure are funky!”

Rarity made a noise to indicate her annoyance in her friend's taste, before Twilight continued on. “And the other two items he had are...very strange.” She motioned to Spike, who held up the items in question in his claws. The first was a red coin, several times larger than a bit, that had been split in half with a very violent looking cut rendered into the material. The coin was banded in gold and, if you looked close enough, you could make out the image of some sort of bird etched onto the coin. The other time was some sort of rectangular metallic box, black on the back, silver and some blue on the front. Three circular grooves were built into the box, with slots leading to the grooves within the device.

“Now, I have no idea what these things are,” Spike started, “but I know that coin isn't made of any sort of gem. Tastes nasty.” The dragonling stuck out his tongue in disgust.

As the others gazed at the strange items, Twilight noticed something about the two. “Spike, let me take a look at those for a second.” Spike relented his grip, forfeiting them to Twilight's telekinesis. “I think these two fit together....” Using her magic to hold the broken coin together, Twilight tried to position it into one of the slots. After a moment of struggle, the coin slid into the box with a loud, metallic click.

“So, they fit together, huh? Where does that get us exactly?” Applejack asked.

“I'm not sure.... Maybe if we could fill all three slots.” Twilight “hmmed” and “ahhed” over the two object for a second, before inspiration struck. “That's right! I have an analysis spell for just such an occasion.” The lavender unicorn shut her eyes in concentration, as the aura around the coin and box shone with greater intensity, rippling and warping around them like a churning sea. “I just hope that these are actually magical...”

A few minutes passed with Twilight in deep concentration, while her friends looked on in anticipation of her findings. At long last, Fluttershy worked up the nerve to ask, although in a very quiet and timid voice. “So...Twilight? Um...what did you find out?” Twilight opened her eye, her magic aura dying down slowly.

“Well, they are magical. Which is good, because otherwise the spell would have been a waste.” Twilight explained, as the coin and box left her grip, resting on the floor. “Both items are old. Not as old as, say, the Princesses, but still, they were crafted several centuries ago. The magic surrounding them is also very dark.”

“I knew it!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, darting into the air. “He is a bad guy! He's probably a monster who's plotting to steal our blood or something!”

“But he looks so peaceful.” Fluttershy replied softly. “I don't think anything that looks like that could be a monster.”

“Maybe it's just a disguise to fool us into dropping our guard!” Rainbow Dash argued.

Twilight held up a hoof for silence, pleased that Rainbow Dash quieted so easy.

“Settle down, Rainbow. I said the magic was dark, not evil. There is a world of difference between the two.”

“Is there anything else to tell us, darling?” Rarity spoke up. Twilight shook her head.

“Unfortunately no. Whatever these items are, they are powerful. Maybe as powerful as the Elements. And beyond my expertise. So, unless the Princesses show up soon or our mystery guest wakes up soon, I'm out of answers for now.”

At that moment, a powerful and dramatic blast of golden light enveloped the library that Twilight called home, seemingly turning the dead of night into day, before the light subsided and was followed by a very soft and polite rap at Twilight's front door.

The six ponies and one dragonling quickly scrambled downstairs to answer, opening the door to reveal the imposing, magnificent, and powerful form of a white-coated winged unicorn – or alicorn, as it was colloquially known.

“Good evening, my faithful student. I do apologize for not sending a letter before hand, but I figured it would be best if this were made an...'unofficial' visit.” Princess Celestia, one of the rulers of the diarchy that was Equestria, Mistress of sun and day and light, truly lived up to her titles and the reverence her subject gave her. Towering over everyone else present at over six feet tall, wearing the four golden greaves and breastplate befitting her station, her head topped by her long horn and an elegant gold tiara, from which her long mane flowed down; an aurora of cerulean, turquoise, cobalt, and heliotrope light, both luminescent and ephemeral. Her flanks were emblazoned with the mark of a great sunburst.

“Not at all, Princess.” Twilight said to her mentor, pleased to have her present. As Celestia entered her home, Twilight noted that the usual cadre of guards that accompanied the Princess were absent. “Unofficial visit” indeed.

“I do hope we didn't disturb you, Princess.” Fluttershy said meekly, as the group of now eight ascended the flight of stairs.

“Not at all, Fluttershy.” Came the royal alicorn's gracious reply. “My sister and I do not need sleep to function, and even if we did, we would probably only find two hours of rest in a day. Poor Luna is dealing with the platoon of astronomers and reporters curious about that distortion in the sky earlier tonight.” As the group came to a stop on the second floor, Celestia turned to her personal student, “Now, Twilight, what is it that you need to show me?”

“Well, it's funny that you mention the distortion,” Twilight began with a nervous chuckle, “because it left us a little visitor.” She then pointed to the mysterious animal that was still sleeping in the corner of the room.

Much to the surprise of everyone else present, Celestia showed surprise first to the presence of the creature. “A human? In Equestria?” The solar royal gasped.

“'Human'?” Twilight repeated. “Is that what he is?”

“That's a funny name.” Pinkie giggled, repeating the new word over and over. “Huh-men, human, huuuman, huuuuuuuman, hew-mann....”

Ignoring Pinkie's tangent, the Princess continued. “Yes. He is a human. And I suppose if that cat is out of the bag right now, I might as well tell you where he came from. As you are aware, there are plenty of stars in the sky that both my sister and I have no power over. We cannot move them or control them, sometimes there are present, sometimes they are not. They simply are. Each of these stars we cannot control is another world in of itself, separate from our own.”

“So he is an alien. I knew it!” Rainbow Dash cheered, only to be quieted down by Twilight, who was lifting up the three objects they found on the human, as everyone had their eyes on student and teacher. Everyone save Fluttershy, as the shy pegasus's attention was drawn elsewhere.

“We also found these in his pockets after he crashed.” Twilight first unfolded the boxers (which Rarity visibly cringed at) before presenting the box and broken coin. Celestia's light purple eyes instantly fell upon those two, widening in shock. More shock than she had shown even when she first saw the human.

“These....” She started, before she noticed that the others were watching her intensely. “No, it's nothing. Just my mind playing tricks on me.” An awkward and pregnant pause soon followed afterwards.

“So... another world, huh? So, is every world out there populated by these 'human' thingies?” Applejack asked at long last.

“Many of them, yes.” Celestia replied. “Humans are most likely the most common race in the universe, but that isn't important at the moment. Normally, Equestria is very difficult to travel to from other worlds. That, and a spell is placed around the world that changes any other species who enters our world into a pony, as to better blend in.”

“Well, he did come through that distortion.” Twilight explained. “I suppose that's why he isn't a pony at the moment.”

“Um..excuse me....” Came Fluttershy softly from the corner of the room.

The Sun Princess nodded “I suppose that is the only explanation we have at the moment.”

“He was also proceeded by those objects that rained down from the sky.” Twilight then turned to Rainbow Dash and asked, “Didn't you say one landed in your headboard?”

“Yeah, but I threw it away.” Dash said with a casual shrug.

“I-if I could get somepony's attention...” Fluttershy continued, her words falling on deaf ears.

“You what!?” Twilight exclaimed, losing her composure in front of her mentor for a moment. “Why would you do that?”

“'Cause I was ticked off that there's a hole in my roof and it woke me up from my sleep!” Dash returned. “It's a perfectly reasonable reaction.”

“Um...anypony?”

“It's not a 'perfectly reasonable reaction'. Whatever that was could have been very dangerous or destructive and now it could be anywhere.”

“Well sorry for being grumpy after getting forced asleep by falling crap!”

“Now, now, no need to bicker, girls.” Rarity said gently, trying to prevail as the cooler head. “Especially not in front of the Princess.”

“I'm not bickering!” Rainbow Dash barked defensively. “Besides, she started it.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Oh, how mature.”

Twilight and Rainbow were about to start up again, before they were interrupted by a very loud yell of “GIRLS!”

Everyone looked over to where the noise came from, seeing a blushing and bashful Fluttershy. “I'm very sorry for raising my voice, but....” The pegasus motioned behind her.

The mysterious human who, up until now, had been peacefully asleep, undisturbed by all the comings and goings and chatters held within the library, was now sitting up in his makeshift bed of quilts and pillows, looking upon the eight with mouth agape and eyes wide in shock, clearly utterly bewildered by his surroundings. He seemed paralysed in either shock or fear, unmoving save for his mouth that wobbled open and close slightly, no sound emanating from it.

After a tentative and terse moment of awkwardness, Twilight took a courageous step forward, nervously introducing herself. “Hello... Uh...my name is Twilight Sparkle. What's yours?” The man only responded with a babble of nervous and fearful laughter.

“Hmm...how do you spell that?” Pinkie Pie asked, as the man's laughter grew louder and louder, seemingly going insane just by the sight before him.

Suddenly, the man leaped out of bed, frantically pointing at the assembled eight, before exclaiming, “Aaaah! TALKING HORSES!” And then yelling in fear.

“Actually, we're ponies...” Fluttershy corrected softly. To the surprise of the others, she had managed to come within a foot of the human, unnoticed by anyone else.

The human's gaze shifted over to the pegasus. “Oh, my apologies.” He said in a very polite tone, his screaming having stopped. For a second all seemed fine, as Fluttershy let out a gentle smile at the man. The smile vanished as soon as it came, as the man realized how close she was, leaping back again, and resuming his screaming. “Aaaah! TALKING PONIES!” Fluttershy shrank back in fear.

The others though, took a step towards the panicky man, which proved to be the wrong course of action. Every step they took towards him, he took two or three skittering steps backwards, away from them, still screaming and laughing nervously, still completely bewildered.

“Please, calm down.” Twilight tried pleading with the man. She took a step forward, and he responded by moving back again. “Or at least stop moving back, because you're about to reach-” He took a second step back, but this time, he had nothing to step but open air. Without support, the man keeled backwards and began the long tumble down to the bottom floor. “The stairs....” Twilight and her friends winced with every bump the man took on his trip down.

“Owowowowowo....” The human winced in pain, rubbing the back of his head, as everyone started to head down the stairs. “No! No, no, no!” He panicked again, quickly scrambling to his feat, heading to the door. “St-stay back!” He made a lunge for the doorknob, when he suddenly was pulled away from the door and floor, held in mid-air by a golden magical aura.

“Young man,” said Princess Celestia, the source of the golden magic. Her voice was both firm and gentle, as to not frighten him any further, though the fact that he was currently levitating a foot off of terra firma wasn't helping him. “I understand that these surroundings must be new and strange to you, but you need to calm down. Both for your sake and for our own.”

The man took a few calming breaths, ceasing his scared flaying and thrashing. “Okay. Okay.” He said, his voice much more calm and polite. “Uh...could you please put me down?”

“But of course.” Celestia gently lowered the man back to the ground. As soon as he touched foot, the man delivered an apologetic bow.

“I'm sorry for the way I acted.” He said. “But, I've just never seen talking...ponies before. It came as a little bit of a shock.”

“Well, we ain't ever seen a human before neither, but you don't see us flyin' off the handle at the drop o' a hat.” Applejack replied. The man gave a nervous smile, rubbing the back of his head.

“I suppose that's true. Boy, do I feel silly... Oh! Yes, how rude of me.” He bowed deeply again. “My name is Eiji Hino. It's a pleasure to meet all of you.”

Twilight smiles, saying a silent prayer that things were going a bit smoother now. “Nice to meet you, Eiji. As you know, I'm Twilight Sparkle, and these are Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Spike, and Princess Celestia.” She motioned in turn to each person in the now octet that was adding more and more people as the night grew longer.

“P-p-princess!?” Eiji exclaimed, now in a state of shock once more. He fell to his knees, bowing supine to the alicorn diarch. “Please forgive me, Your Majesty, I wasn't aware!” Celestia placed a gentle hoof on Eiji's shoulder.

“There's no need to raise a fuss, Mr. Hino.” She said, motioning for Eiji to rise, which he did so. “Like you said, you had no way of knowing. And besides, I'm not very particular on everypony around me observing every single – Oh!” She suddenly stopped, backing away from Eiji in surprise for a second. “Sorry,” She said sheepishly, trying to regain composure. “I'm just not use to speaking to others who can look me in the eye. Just a little shock.”

“Ah, I see.” Eiji looked about, noticing the average size of everyone else in the room. “So...where exactly am I? This can't be anywhere on Earth – oh, uh, it's where I come from. My home.” He explained after seeing the blank, quizzical faces of his equinoid hosts.

“No, this is not your home, Eiji,” Celestia began, “but a new world. The world of Equestria.”

“You came here after being shot out of a black portal a couple of hours ago.” Twilight explained. “You sort of...crashed into me.”

“'Crashed'? Are you hurt, Twilight? Was anyone else hurt?” A concerned Eiji asked, looking about to see if anyone was visibly hurt.

“I'm perfectly okay, Eiji. Thank you for your concern, though.” Twilight replied. “No, aside from you, no pony else was hurt.”

Eiji sighed in relief. “Thank goodness.” The eight present before the human all raised an eyebrow at his reaction.

“Uh, I beg pardon, but you seem awfully relieved for a guy who just got fired outta the sky and thrown into a floor.” Applejack pointed out. “Not to mention that spill you took down the stairs, and Fluttershy said you were lookin' pretty smashed up even before the fall.”

Eiji pressed a hand to his chest, feeling underneath his clothes a bandage and a cut underneath that. “Well, I might be hurt, but it would be worse if someone else got hurt. Especially if it were because of me. I'd never be able to forgive myself.” The others in the room exchanged looks at Eiji's extreme sense of selflessness, leaving Princess Celestia to break the silence.

“Well, that is incredibly noble of you, Mr. Hino-”

“Please, just Eiji. If I don't need to be formal to you, than neither do you towards me.”

Celestia nodded. “Eiji then. As I was saying, while it is noble of you, there are a few question that still needs to be brokered. Like, where did you come from? Do you know anything about the black hole that you came through or the objects that shot out before you? And – oh, yes.” The golden light surrounded her horn again, as three items floated from downstairs, leading Eiji to pat himself down to realize that they were missing. “We have some items we found on you. We apologize for taking them from your person.”

“No apologies necessary.” Eiji said, as he took his boxers from Celestia, a big smile spreading on his face. “My tomorrow! Even in another world, I still have hold of it.”

“I'm sorry, but you're actually pleased to own those... colourful accoutrements?” Rarity spoke up, trying her hardest to remain polite in the face of the garish underpants.

“Of course I am,” Eiji returned happily, not sensing any of the offence the designer took. He continued speaking as he folded his boxers up to fit into his pockets. “It's like my grandfather always said, all a man needs to face tomorrow is a clean pair of underpants. As long as I have these, then tomorrow, even a tomorrow in an alien world, will be okay.”

“But wouldn't you prefer something less...striking?” Rarity continued. “Maybe made of silk? Of a singular colour? I think you would look rather dashing in red or purple.”

Applejack nudged her friend. “Rarity...”

“Well, I'm sorry,” she whispered back to the farmer, “it's a little hard to restrain myself. Imagine if you were faced with someone who was expounding the virtues of...peaches or kumquats?” The earth pony just rolled her eyes.

Currently, Eiji had taken the box from Celestia and was pocketing that too, he then reach out for the final item, but stopped short. A look of sudden realization and despair spread across his face, as he scooped up the broken red coin in the palm of his hand, before falling to his knees. “So that did happen.... Ankh....” He then looked up to see eight pairs of eyes trained on him, once again locked in curiosity.

“You're correct, Princess,” Eiji got back to his feet, still clutching the broken coin in one hand. “I do have quite a few questions to answer. And I certainly will, it's just sort of a long story and I need to collect my thoughts. Wouldn't know where to begin....”

“Well that's simple, silly.” Pinkie spoke up, popping seemingly out of the ether and right up next to Eiji. Eiji jumped back, a double hit of still being slightly uncomfortable around the ponies and not use to Pinkie being... Pinkie. “You begin with the beginning. Then go to the middle. And then the end. 'Course you could always start in the middle, or a little after the beginning, but I sorta find those stories reeeeeally confusing, at least at the start. Oh! Oh! You could-” A cyan hoof blocked Pinkie's mouth, muffling the rest of her rambles.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at her friend. “Just...keep things short and simple. Bullet points is all we need.”

Eiji nodded, as the pegasus pulled pink poofy pack of energy away from him. “Right...well, it all began a year ago, when monsters known as the Greeed were released into my world.” Eiji paused for a moment, and he could have sworn that Princess Celestia was looking at him with a sharp, critical eye, but he paid no real mind to it. “The Greeed were creatures born from the desire of humans, and they fed off of both desire and the source of their power, the Core Medals.”

“You mean that coin, right?” Spike pointed out and Eiji nodded in return.

“Yes.” Eiji held up the broken Core Medal with the image of a bird of prey engraved on it's surface. “The Core Medals possess the characteristics of animals, and are divided into both colour and animal type. Red birds, yellow felines, green insects, grey large animals, blue marine animals, purple dinosaurs, orange reptiles, and black arthropods. There were three types of Core Medal for each group and three copies of each Medal, nine total for each Greeed. If a Greeed were ever to collect all nine of their Cores, then it would most likely mean the end of the world.”

He fished into his pocket, still holding up the Core in his hand. “This is one of the Taka Medals, and it's special. There's one Medal in the nine that contains the conscious and spirit of the specific Greeed, and this one contained the spirit of Ankh. Ankh.....” Eiji paused again, his right stopped in his pocket, pure solemnity crossing his face. “Ankh was...not really what you would call a 'good guy', but he was still my friend regardless. Ankh was a Greeed too, but when he was released, he was only revived as an arm. We crossed paths shortly after the Greeed were unleashed, and he gave me this.” He held up the strange rectangular box. “This is my henshin belt, the OOO Driver. But loading three Cores into the slots here I could transform into a warrior called OOO.”

Without any warning, both Pinkie and Rainbow charged Eiji again, stopping just at his feet, looking up with wide-eyed adoration. “Wait, so this means you're some kind of superhero?” Rainbow asked, elated.

“This is sooooo cool!” Pinkie squealed in joy, bouncing up into the air repeatedly. “A real life superhero! Oh, I gotta go all out for your eventual party. I've never held one for a hero before, so I gotta wall-to-wall craaaazy amazing for this one!”

Eiji laughed nervously, smiling though, thanks to the praise. “Well, I wouldn't say I was a hero, I just wanted to help people. And Ankh...” The smile vanished, replaced by the solemn gaze from before. “Ankh just wanted to use me as a patsy to collect Medals for him. At least at first.”

“Yeah, hang on a sec there, Eiji.” Applejack broke in. “If this 'Ankh' fella was one of them Greeed critters, then why would he join you to fight his own kind?”

“A good question,” agreed Twilight, “and how did his Medal – the Medal with his spirit, you said – come to be broken?”

Eiji stopped for a moment, gathering his thoughts once more. “Well, Ankh certainly was a Greeed, but he didn't agreed with his kind. At all. He use to tell me 'as bad as humans can be, the Greeed were still worse'. He...truly hated being a Greeed, and in the end, just wanted the one thing the Greeed never had: life.

“But, anyways, continuing the story, besides the Greeed, Ankh and I were also opposed with a man known as Doctor Maki. He desired to bring about the end of the world himself, and used the Purple Core Medals to turn himself into the Greeed to further that goal. In the end, it came down to a battle between myself and Maki, where Ankh gave up the last of his Cores to help me, even though the Medal with his spirit was damaged prior to this.” Eiji paused again, reflecting on what he had just said, trying to maintain his composure. “Ankh...knowingly gave up his life so I could win this battle. Anyways, I did manage to score the final hit on Maki, and his body broke down into a black hole where I was sucked in, and, well, I imagine you can fill in the blanks yourselves.”

Eiji found himself staring down the seven ponies (and one baby dragon), who all gazed back at him with looks of shocked and amazement, and his emotion still running a little high from reciting the tale. He wiped back a tear or two, looking just a tiny bit ashamed at the display.

“Um...Mr. Eiji?” Fluttershy nervously broke away from the pack. “You look like you could use a hug...would you like one?” Eiji smiled at the offer.

“Of course, that would be very nice.” He lowered down to her level, throwing his arms around the butter yellow pegasus. “Thank you, Fluttershy.”

“No need to thank me.”

Twilight spoke up as the two broke from their hug. “Well...that was certainly an amazing tail, Eiji....” Now it was her turn to not know what to say. “Oh! Before you showed up from the black hole, several objects flew out first. Do you think they might have been some of the Core Medals.”

“Probably.” Eiji said. “The area where Maki and I fought had all of the remaining Cores gathered in one spot, and they did get sucked into the hole before I did.”

“Well, now that all the questions have been sorted out, I suppose a new question arises.” Rarity said, looking at Eiji. “Do you have any idea how you're suppose to return home?”

For a moment, Eiji entered a state of deep contemplation, staring into space, very deep into thought. Nearly a minute passed, before the solemn looking man shrugged and simply stated, “Not a clue,” as if someone had asked him what he'd want for dinner tonight.

The casual response seemed to throw the others for a loop. “But ain't you worried about leavin' things behind?” Applejack asked. “A home? Friends? Family?”

“Well, yes, of course I do. And I will miss my friends.” Eiji replied. “But, they're safe. The Greeed are gone and the world is saved, so everything will be okay. If being separated from my friends is the price I have to pay for that, then I will gladly pay it and happily live my life here.” He then realized he may have overstepped his boundaries, turning to Celestia. “Ah, that is, if you would have me in your land, Princess.”

Celestia smiled at the human. “Eiji, your story is truly an inspiring and amazing tale. As a human, you stand as a paragon of selflessness and nobility. I promise you that I will work tirelessly to help you find your way home. And, until such a time, of course I do invite you to make yourself home within my kingdom.”

“I'd be more than happy to offer Eiji a place to stay for the time being,” said Twilight. The alicorn nodded in approval.

Eiji, in turn, bowed to both student and teacher. “Thank you very much. This is too kind of you, to accept me with open arms.”

“You need not worry, Eiji.” Celestia assured the human. “You are my guest in my own land, and I – as well as Twilight and her friends – will show you nothing but the utmost respect and kindness during your stay.” Eiji said his thanks again nonetheless, before Celestia started up again. “But, I do believe this has been enough excitement for one night.” Truthfully, it was approaching midnight. “So, I think it's time for everypony to return home and try and get a good night’s sleep.” Everyone nodded and murmured in agreement, even exchanging a few yawns, as Princess Celestia made her way to the door. “Until we meet again, my little ponies. And, the brave warrior OOO.” With that, Celestia stepped outside, disappearing in a bright burst of golden light.

Applejack was the next to walk towards the open door. “Ah oughta be headin' out, too. My sister has her friends over for a slumber party, and Ah should be keepin' an eye on the three. It was a pleasure makin' your acquaintance though, Eiji.”

“Yeah, I'm out too.” Rainbow Dash said, flying by the human. “I gotta catch up on the two hours I missed tonight. Looks like I gotta fix my roof, too. Oh well, but we should totally hang sometime, Eiji. Maybe teach me some of your hero moves.”

“I must say farewell as well.” Rarity came next. “But, Eiji, darling, please do feel free to stop by my boutique sometime soon. I'd be more than happy to freshen up your wardrobe.”

“Oh, that's alright.” Eiji returned with a smile, but Rarity was not a pony to say no too, at least on this matter.

“Oh, but I do insist. For you, it would be my civic duty.” Eiji was left confused at the comment, but he still said his goodbyes as the unicorn designer made her exit.

“I better go too!” Pinkie Pie bounced her way across the floor. “I need to get started planning my 'Welcome to Equestria Eiji Slash Congratulations On Saving The World and Being An Awesome Hero' party. It's gonna be a blast!”

Fluttershy came last, turning to Eiji before she left. “Be sure to get plenty of rest. And if you're injuries start to act up, please don't hesitate to find me.”

“I will.” He nodded. “And, again, thank you.”

With that, the last of the group finally dispersed, leaving only the residents of the library/home, both it's longtime residents and the newcomer.

“Well, looks like that's all over.” Twilight declared, shutting the door with her magic. “Spike, do you think you could help me prepare a place for Eiji to sleep?”

Instead of her assistance answer her, Twilight got her reply in the form of a loud rumbling. She and Spike both turned to Eiji, the source of the noise, who had a nervous smile on his face, his hand over his stomach. “Heh...I guess saving the world takes a lot out of a guy, huh?”

-O-O-O-

“This...is...so...AWESOME!”

A pegasus stallion with a caramel brown coat, roughly seventeen years of age in human reckoning, new to the crowded streets of Canterlot, Equestria's capitol city, exclaimed his delight for all to hear. His tail, a chocolate brown coloured tail, swished back and forth as he joyously trotted through the city with his wings nervously fluttering, taking in every new sight about with his big, bright blue eyes. His mane was a similar colour to his tail, forming a crown of thick spikes that shot up at multiple angles without the use of hairspray or gel, something that should be physically impossible, but was perfectly natural for him. Most of the city dwellers just figured he was some sort of small towner fresh off the turnip truck, enjoying his first piece of the big city, but the truth was a bit more complex than that. A short-sleeved jacket with a small hood, coloured mostly black with patches of silver along the should and trimmed in yellow and red, adorned his upper body, while a thick chained necklace carrying the pendant of a three-pointed silver crown rest around his neck. His Cutie Mark happened to be an exact replica of the crown, save it was gold instead of silver.

Despite the assumptions of those who paid any mind to the pegasus, his origins were far more remarkable than his benign appearance would suggest. He had come to Equestria from another world, sent here on a mission of utmost importance.

His name was Sora Nogami, the Keyblade Master, a human-turned-pony by the magic of this world, and he would save Equestria from whatever dark force that threatened the peaceful world.

But first, he had to have some fun with his new body.

Okay, I know Master Yen Sid said that I had to go and meet Princess Celestia once I arrived in Canterlot and that she would send me on my way. Sora told himself mentally. He was currently more absorbed in the citizens and the world around him than his own thoughts and his mission. He was quite taken by the ponies of Equestria; all the shapes and sizes with coats and manes of a thousand different colours, everyone brandishing a unique Mark on their Flanks, glancing at them to try and puzzle what they symbolized for their owners and their talent. But it would be a real shame if I didn't look around first. I mean, I've been to a lot of worlds, but I can already tell this one is gonna be so much fun!

Sora craned his neck around to view his own backside, flapping his brand new wings a couple of times. Also, I just have to test these puppies out!

The Keyblade Wielder, crouched down, giving his rump and tail a shake for luck, before letting go a powerful beat from his wings, launching himself into the air with awesome force, surprising those around him the sheer strength of his take-off.

Best. World. Ever!!!! Sora was beyond elation as he zoomed about Canterlot's skyline, diving low and climbing high, soaring in between buildings and streets with critical and sharp precision, performing loops, twists, turns, spins, spirals, and whatever other trick his mind could conjure to manoeuvre through Equestrian airspace.

“Okay, five more minutes of stunt-flying, then stick the perfect landing, and off to Princess Celestia.” Sora told himself, after a total of twenty minutes of flying, where he had told himself this exact same thing ten minutes ago. He crouched down on a nearby cloud, having found that he could walk on them as if it were solid matter, preparing to use it as a launch pad to rocket downward to the ground, trying to get as close before veering upwards.

“Not so fast, kid!” A commanding voice declared from behind, causing Sora to trip up on his four legs. In his periphery vision, he saw a white pegasus clad in gold armour come up from his left, giving the newly-transformed pony a stern look. “I do hope for your sake that you are Sora Nogami.”

“Uh...that I am.” Sora stuttered out, climbing back upright. “Why do you hope for my sake?”

“Because you're lucky that my Mistress is awaiting your arrival.” The armoured stallion returned. “Otherwise, I would be throwing your danger-seeking rump into jail for reckless flying in a public airspace.”

Sora blushed, looking rather embarrassed about the situation. “Oh, sorry about that.... Sorta new with the flying thing.”

“I am aware of your...origins.” The older pegasus returned. “My name is Kite Shield, one of the personal guard to Her Majesty, Princess Celestia of Equestria. She asked me to await for your arrival, but it seems that you believe in being extremely punctual. Regardless, are you ready to meet with my Mistress?”

“Of course.” Sora said with a nod. “Please, lead the way.” Kite Shield matched the nod.

“As you wish. Follow me, young sir.”

Kite Shield seemed to believe in being extremely quick on tasks given to him by his Mistress, darting towards the massive castle that loomed over all of Canterlot's cityscape, dominating the land for miles upon miles. Sora, still new to flying, did a commendable job keeping up with the royal guard member, and before long, the pair found themselves enter the doors of the opulent thrown room belong to the sisterly diarchs, Celestia and Luna.

As he crossed the threshold, Sora noted that the room was conspicuously empty, save for a couple of guards dressed identical to Kite Shield, a cobalt blue pegasus dressed in fancy robes and bearing a massive horn, and what was unmistakably the ruler of this world, the stunning, magnificent, and beautiful living sun Goddess, Princess Celestia.

Caught up in the sheer gravity of Celestia's being, Sora was caught by surprise when the cobalt pegasus spoke up in a deafeningly loud boom of a voice. “Announcing, Keyblade Master Sora Nogami, hailing from the world of Destiny Islands!” He then played a note on his horn that was possibly even louder than his voice, causing Sora to jump back in surprise again.

“That was...wholly unnecessary, Thunder Call.” Princess Celestia declared, with a bit of a wry smile at the situation.

“Just doing my job as your new Royal Herald, Your Majesty.” Thunder Call replied, in a voice that was only a bit quieter than his herald's voice.

“Yes, but your job is not required for a private meeting.” Celestia returned. “In fact, I would like for all of you to leave myself and the Keyblade Master to our privacy for the total of his stay here.”

Thunder Call and the guards all nodded out of respect, before slowly marching out of the throne room, leaving just Sora and the, frankly, imposing diarch.

“I do apologize if Thunder Call gave you a start.” Celestia addressed Sora in a gentle and casual tone. “He's my first Royal Herald in nearly a century, still new.” She then pressed a hoof to her chin in thought. “Though, I think I'm starting to remember why I stopped using a Herald in the first place...”

“I-it's no problem at all, Your Majesty.” Sora replied, slightly nervous. In his three year tenure as a Keyblade Wielder, Sora has come across a multitude of people, of all shapes and sizes and stations. He personally knew plenty of monarchs, kings and queens and princes and princesses, but he could honestly say this was the first time he had been truly intimidated by the magnitude of a being's presence. He then realized that he should show proper respect to his hostess, and moved to bow, but couldn't particularly figure out how to in this body.

Celestia seemed to notice this, letting out a light chuckle. “To bow, put one foreleg in front of the other, and then lower your head and upper body.” Sora did as he was bid, extending his right foreleg, before being interrupted. “But there's no reason to. Do not feel you need to treat me any differently from anypony else, Keyblade Master Sora.”

“Okay.” Sora nodded, feeling a little bit of pressure gone. “And, please, it's just Sora.”

Celestia nodded. “Very well then, Sora. I must say it is a pleasure to meet you. Yen Sid has told me so much about our newest Keyblade Master in the past three years.” She gave a fond smile to the young warrior, who took the praise with a grin. “And it seems that he was correct in his estimation that something wicked has come to root in Equestria. Last night we had two unexpected visitors in my land, one rather pleasant, and the other...less so.”

“This dark force I was told about,” began Sora, “is it the Heartless? Or the Nobodies?” Celestia shook her head.

“It is neither. You see, Equestria is a world so full of light and harmony, that it acts as both a magnet and repellant to the Heartless. They desire to snuff out this light, but at the same time, it is the greatest bane to them next to the Keyblade. As such, for the majority of Equestria's history, they keep their distance without ere. No, this threat is native to my kingdom, and I fear might be as great a threat as the Heartless.”

“What? What is it then?” Sora replied in shock. The Heartless were dangerous, he knew, a virus that could devour the entire universe if left unchecked. Something just as powerful and wicked as them was not a comfortable thought to him, or anyone with a sound mind.

“That...I do not know, sadly.” Sora deflated at Celestia's admission. “Which is why I am sending you to the small village of Ponyville. My personal apprentice, Twilight Sparkle, resides there, and she and her friends have encountered this new threat already. Besides, it seems that nowadays, anything big that happens in Equestria seems to involve Twilight and her friends.”

“Understood.” Sora said. “Anything else I should know before I leave?”

"There is. I have been instructed by Master Yen Sid to grant you a new power for your Keyblade. An old power who's last practitioners vanished thirteen years prior."

Sora leaned forward, excited by this prospect. “A new power? Then again, I think Master Yen Sid did mention something like this before I left. He called it the... power of... Anima...something or other....” He shrugged. “I wasn't paying much attention to be honest. I was too excited when I first heard about this world.”

Celestia smiled at his honest admission. “It is the Anima Artes, an ancient and rare Keyblade fighting style that draws upon the true power of your heart to augment your strength.” The alicorn then shut her eyes in concentration, her horn entirely engulfed in her golden magical light, a small globe of the energy forming at the very tip of the horn, her wings flaring outward. “I, Master Celestia of Equestria, to grant on thee, Keyblade Wielder Sora, the power of sun and light. The grace of laughter, the touch of kindness, and the power of loyalty. I shall let you wield the forces of harmony, to mend and defend. Do you accept?”

“I do.” Sora said in a quiet voice, a little in awe of the spectacle before him.

“Then take your power, and unlock your heart!” The globe of light floated towards Sora, lightly touching him on the forehead before vanishing, the light absorbing into and around his body. A nimbus of golden warmth and light surrounded the human in the form of a pegasus pony, gripping his heart and filling his body with an exhilarating power. Shadowy silhouettes of chains appeared all over Sora's body, in stark contrast to the magical light, before shattering all in succession, save for one that was still wrapped around his upper body. Slowly, the light began to subside, but Sora still felt the power and warmth in his body, every time his felt his heart beat.

A little breathless after the incredible surge of power granted to him by the Princess, Sora took a few cautionary glances about to see if there were any changes to his new body. He didn't find any outward differences, but he certainly felt it. “So...what now?” He finally asked.

“You have been granted the powers of the Anima Artes.” Celestia explained. “Both the Arte Keys and the Arte Styles are at your disposal. Now, instead of having to learn magic spells, you can simply draw spells from your heart, which will dictate the form of the magic used.” Her horn shone with light again, this time her magic taking the form of an image floating in midair, that of a small tumbler-lock key. “These special spells are known as Arte Keys. After retrieving one from your heart, simply insert it into your Keyblade and the you will be able to use the power sealed within the Key. The more you fight and the more you use your Keys, the more powerful they will become and the more you can draw from your heart. Though as a note, certain Keys can only be used once every so often, depending it's level or power.”

Sora nodded along with the explanation, understanding most of it. “So, it's like I'm drawing cards from a deck?”

“A very apt analogy, Sora.”

“And you mentioned something else....” Sora furrowed his brow. “Arte Styles?”

“Yes. Arte Styles allow you to shift your fighting styles and ability mid-battle.” Celestia began. The light construct before her shifted from a key to the image of a pegasus pony wielding a sword, looking not too dissimilar from Sora. “At first, they might be difficult to control, you'll find yourself shifting Styles without any notice, but you should gain a level of control over them eventually, as well as developing new Styles. Your Arte Styles can do many things, from charging your attacks with and element like flame or lightning.” The pegasus construct before Sora suddenly lit up with a bright red aura, swinging his sword around in his mouth, a trail of flames following the motion of the blade. “They could augment your abilities, like speed.” The golden pegasus took off with a burst of speed, darting across the throne room, his blade no a blur of rapid strikes. “Or they could transform your Keyblade into a new weapon.” Suddenly, the blade went flaccid, growing in length at an alarming rate, the construct swinging the lash around. “And, of course, your Arte Style will change the Arte Keys you can summon from your heart.”

“Alright. So, Arte Keys are spells and powers I draw from my own heart. And, these Arte Styles change how I fight.” Sora surmised to himself, before turning up to Celestia. “Is that correct?”

“The long and short of it, yes.” Celestia stated. “Now, before you head off to Ponyville, do you need any assistance from myself? An escort, perhaps?” Sora politely waved her off.

“No thank you, Princess. I'll find my own way. Besides, I think I'd like to take the scenic route through Equestria. It's a very beautiful world you have here.”

Sora nodded, returning the smile. “Thank you for your help, Princess.” He said. “It was nice meeting you.”

“Likewise, young Keyblade Master.”

With that, Sora turned about and walked back out through the threshold, Celestia watching him with interest, thinking to herself, as her guards and herald and regular courtiers marched back into the throne room. Twilight Sparkle. Eiji Hino. Sora Nogami. With the powers of the Elements of Harmony, Core Medals, and the Keyblade. I certainly wasn't expecting such a to-do when he returned, but it seems providence may have given us a fighting chance.

-O-O-O-

“Alright, so I think that's a good enough list for now.” A childish voice declared softly within the confines of a dimly lit treehouse, not disturbing the peace and quiet the night presented. “We can still try the followin' things in order to get our Cutie Marks: laundromat, taxi services, coffee shop, lumberjacks, professional wrestlers, private detectives, novelists, lyricists, typists, crossword writers, billboard writers, billboard top one-hundred list makers, spell checkers, card sharks, shark specialists, shark slayers, loan sharks, marine biologists, architects, city planners, industrial smoothing company, assistant to the travelling secretary for a sports team, and...actresses of both stage and screen.”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders – a trio of three young fillies, one earth pony, one unicorn, and one pegasus, on a constant search of their true calling, their worth in life (well, at least, that's what they believed), and their one and only special talent. Charging headlong into any sort of adventure they could put their heads to with reckless abandon, tonight the three were feeling a little mischievous, choosing to stay up past light's out at their slumber party, their treehouse only lit by a small flame contained in a lantern in order to plan their next set of adventures for the coming weeks.

“I really hope we don't end up with laundry as our special talent.” The orange pegasus filly, Scootaloo, replied dryly. Her mane and tail were a dark shade of purple, the mane cut in a short, boyish style.

“At this point, Ah just hopin' for any talent to come along soon enough.” The earth pony, Apple Bloom, returned, after putting the list of potential talents away. “Ah'd even be thankful to get garbage pony... if we didn't try that already two weeks ago.” She bore a similar accent to her older sister, Applejack, as well as an off-yellow coat and a light red mane tied up with a large red bow.

“Don't remind me.” The last of the three, a unicorn named Sweetie Belle with a curly mane that was light violet streaked with pale rose, chirped in. “Rarity made me take six baths when I got back to the boutique after that.” Rarity happened to be her older sister, as she shared a similar white coat with the designer.

As the three fillies prepared their sleeping bags and pillows, Sweetie Belle perked up when the topic of the elder Apple sister was breached. “So, what do you think happened over at Twilight's tonight? Your sister seemed to be off in an awful hurry.”

“Yeah, and Rainbow Dash showed up all in a panic it seemed, too.” Scootaloo pointed out.

“You mean how she crashed into the barn?” Apple Bloom asked her friend, who nodded back. “Not the first time that's happened, truth be told. Ah dunno what happened at Twilight's, but Ah'd bet my bow that it involved that weird star shower earlier tonight.”

“Hey, yeah!” Scootaloo's wings flapped excitedly at the mention of the strange event. “Maybe we could study the hole and get our astrology Cutie Marks!”

“Ah think it's supposed to be 'astronomy', Scoot.” Apple Bloom pointed out.

“Whatever.”

“But she is right, it's an idea.” Sweetie Belle said. “Or maybe we could look for whatever shot out of the hole.”

“What Cutie Mark would we get for that?” Scootaloo questioned the unicorn.

“Uh.... Meteor...finders?” Sweetie tried. Both of her friends just shrugged.

“Well, we'll figure out somethin' come mornin'.” Apple Bloom said with a yawn. “Right now, Ah just wanna shut my eyes. Goodnight, girls.”

The two other Crusaders returned the sentiment, and all three fillies rested their heads upon their pillows, snuggling up in their bags, eyes finally fluttering shut after a long and fun day. Just as the three were about to drift off into sleep slumber, it was disturbed by a loud and sudden rumble, followed by the entire tree they were nestled in shaking to and fro.

All three shot right back up into the world of the conscious.

“What was that!? An earthquake!?” Sweetie Belle exclaimed loudly. Another rumble and shake followed, and three fillies yelped out in surprise again.

“Don't feel like a 'quake.” Apple Bloom pointed out, which was followed by another of the violent movements. “Look. All the shakes are too far apart.”

“Then what....” Scootaloo started to speak, but the words died in her throat, as her eyes fell outside one of the windows. The others trees in the orchard were moving past them, or, rather, they were moving past the other trees.

Scootaloo pointed out the window to warn her friends, only to be interrupted by a low growling sound, and the planks that formed the treehouse buckling, cracking, and warping, as if in the grip of a giant monster.

-O-O-O-

Eiji clapped his hands together, bowing his head slightly. “Thank you for the meal. It was delicious.”

“You're very welcome, Eiji.” Twilight said with a smile, using her telekinesis to take away her guest's dishes. “It wasn't much, though. Then again, I really didn't have any idea what a human can and can't eat.”

A little over a half hour had past since everyone had left Twilight's home following Eiji's surprising arrival, and Twilight had prepared a quick meal for her famished guest. In the period between then and now, Twilight had decided to return the favour of Eiji's story by explaining her own tale to the human. From her entrance in Princess Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns, to her transference to Ponyville, the Elements of Harmony and the battle with Nightmare Moon, and her task to study the powers and magic of friendship. Soon, the two and Spike found themselves exchanging specific tales from their long adventures.

“Hey, that's a good question actually.” Came Spike. “What do human's eat?”

“Well, we're omnivores, so...anything really.” Eiji said, before standing up from the table and stretching his arms. “Nuts, fruits, vegetables, grains, meat....” He turned over to Twilight. “Oh, I suppose that must be a little strange to hear. Ponies being herbivores and all.”

Twilight just shrugged, as she placed the last of the dishes into the sink. “Not entirely. There are more than plenty of animals out there who subsist off of other animals. Just don't expect anypony around here to cook that stuff for you.”

Eiji smiled, chuckling a bit. “That's perfectly fine. I've lived vegetarian every now and then for months at a time. All part of being a world traveller.”

“Finally, someone who doesn't just munch on grass all day.” Spike chirped. All three were now ascending the stairs. It'd had been a very long and excitable evening, and they were all looking forward to a good night's sleep. “So, Eiji, I have to ask. Does rose quartz give you heartburn like me?”

“Well, maybe. I've never tried them. Stones are about the one things humans can't eat.” Spikes spines dropped ever so slightly, depressed that he was still the only terravore around.

“Wait, so you're a world traveller?” Twilight asked, coming up behind the two boys.

“Yep.” Eiji had mostly shared stories with the two about his tenure as OOO; his past prior to his battles with the Greeed were largely unknown. “Ever since I was quite young. I've been all over Earth. It's actually sort of funny. What's the next step for a world traveller but travelling to a new world, right?”

“I suppose so,” said Twilight, stepping up to the front of the group. “Now, Eiji, you'll be sleeping in here for the time being.” She motioned to the door before her. Eiji stepped forward, opening the door to find a moderately furbished bedroom.

“Isn't this your room, Twilight?” Eiji asked out of curiosity. She nodded, and Eiji replied with a shake of his head. “No. I couldn't take your room. I'll just sleep on the floor.”

“Please, Eiji. You're my guest, and injure besides. You take the room, and I'll have the floor.” The unicorn insisted.

Eiji refused to budge. “I would never impose on my host like that.”

“You're not imposing.” Twilight countered. “I'm offering.”

“Then I politely decline your offer.”

“Take it.”

“It's your bed.”

“Tonight, it's yours.”

“No, after you.”

“Since both of you wanna crash on the floor so badly, how about I get the bed?” Spike offered in jest. Twilight gave him a quick look, before turning back to Eiji to resume their argumentative discussion.

She never had that opportunity, however, as a rainbow-coloured streak came blasting into Twilight's home once more, easily knocking open the close balcony doors while maintaining course towards Eiji and Twilight. The streak too both human and unicorn by surprise, passing by them before circling the bedroom repeatedly, leaving the two spinning around at high velocity.

“Three times she's done this....” Twilight babbled, her legs giving out from under her as she returned to the floor again.

“Ooh...feels like I got into a boxing match with Gamel...” Eiji similarly crashed down, just a second after Twilight had.

“Twilight! Eiji! Spike! Come on, get up!” The rainbow streak, which was, once again, Rainbow Dash, quickly propped the two she knocked to the floor up, wings moving at a nervous and panicky pace. “We got to get moving, quick!”

“Rainbow, slow down.” Twilight said, still trying to chase the stars from her eyes. “What is it this time?”

“There's something down at Sweet Apple Acres. The Crusaders are in trouble! There's some kind of monster rampaging down there!”

Twilight's eyes shot open, her awareness back up to code. “We'll be on our way, you go on ahead.” The pegasus nodded, before darting out into the night's sky again, this time not running over anyone else, thankfully.

Spike hopped up onto Twilight's back, with the unicorn making a beeline for the front door, with Eiji following close behind. The lavender unicorn was quick to notice this. “Eiji, stay behind. You're still too injured.” She said, firmly.

Eiji waved her concern off. “I'm completely okay.” The warrior from another world lied. “Besides, if I know that there is someone – or somepony – in danger, then I can't just sit around and do nothing. I have to help.”

Twilight and Eiji locked eyes for a brief moment, with both Twilight's concern for her new friend and Eiji's determination to be of use writ plainly for all to see. Eventually, Twilight relented.

“Okay, you can come along and help. But please, don't over exert yourself. If not for you own sake, then for everypony else's.”

“I promise.” Eiji replied.

Not another word was need, as Twilight returned to her furious pace, Eiji on her heels. Human, unicorn, and dragon bolted through a sleepy Ponyville, though it seemed like some residents had been awoken by the commotion – whether it was the calamity at Sweet Apple Acres or Rainbow Dash's frantic flying was unknown. Though, a few ponies couldn't help but look on in awe through sleep-addled eyes at the strange bipedal creature running alongside the town's librarian.

Eventually, the two breathlessly arrived at the scene of disaster within the expansive orchard owned by the Apple family. Twilight's five friends had all gathered on the scene already, looking on in shock and horror and desperation at the sight before them.

And it certainly was a sight. Standing a large clearing in the middle of the orchard, was yet an apple tree. But, this was not any mundane tree like the hundred upon hundreds of them that stood all around Twilight, Eiji, and company. No, this was some sort of monstrous being in the shape of a tree. With six broad legs formed from it's roots, the monster lumbered forward; several trees behind it had been knocked clear over, it's only clear way to remove through the tight confines of the grove. Two thick branches jutted out from it's trunk, both ending in massive four-clawed hands. Two features were formed into the trunk of the beast; first, a large, jagged opening that seemed to be it's mouth, as the creature would occasionally let out a deep, bellow. The second feature, high up on the trunk, was the carving of what looked like an eye, complete with a reptilian slit pupil, a circle with six sharp spokes jutting outwards ringed the eye, and a ghostly green flame lit within the hollow of the trunk, giving the eye an even more unnatural look and feel. Within it's canopy, the creature carried dozens of engorged and swollen apples, as well as many leafless branches that served as a thicket of oaken tendrils. Three of these tendrils were currently extended out to the side of the thicket, having seized a terrified trio of fillies within their grasp.

“Rarity! Help!” Sweetie Belle cried, her voice carrying over the cries of her friends.

“Please, hold on Sweetie Belle! Helping is coming!” Rarity pleaded back to her younger sister, near to the point of tears in a state of panic.

“What in the name of Celestia is that thing?” Twilight exclaimed once she had Eiji had regained their breaths.

“No idea.” Applejack returned. Her green eyes were locked on her own sister, making sure that absolutely nothing happened to Apple Bloom. “All Ah know is that I started hearin' the earth rumblin' and the girls screaming', then this blasted thing comes roarin' outta the orchard like a negasus outta Tartarus.”

“Well, we're not gonna save the girls by just gabbing on over and over about that.” Rainbow Dash said, a determined glint her eyes. “Let's go for it!”

“I'm on it!” Eiji declared, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the OOO Driver. He slapped the rectangular box onto the front of his waist, where a bright light emanated from either side, a belt forming around Eiji's waist, the Driver forming the buckle and with two items hanging off his hips. The first, attached to his right, was a black and gold disk with a handle built into it, and on his left was a small silver canister. Eiji turned about, arm outstretched and hand open. “Ankh! Med-” He stopped short when he realized that, unlike almost every other time he turned into OOO, his friend was not behind him.

“I am no longer the hand you should be reaching out for.”

Squeezing his hand into a tight fist, trying to forget about the red arm in the black void, Eiji turned around, seeing that both Rainbow Dash and Applejack had already headed into the fray. “Doesn't matter...” he said to himself. “Medals or no Medals, I can still help out!” With his resolved steeled, Eiji ran forward, circling wide around the creature to it's side, before heading to it's legs, scrambling up them and beginning the long climb up the trunk.

“Hold on there, Apple Bloom. I'll have ya down in a jiff.” Applejack currently had her lasso gripped in her teeth, twirling it about above her head, before launching the length of rope at the tree monster, snagging the tendril that currently had Apple Bloom trapped. The loop cinched tight around the branch, Applejack gave a mighty tug on the rope, trying her hardest to bring the beast closer to earth, to give the fillies an opening to escape. “C'mon you no good, upjumped varmint! You get down here and let go o' my sis – WOAH NELLY!”

The creature decided to pull back on the lash, it's strength proving far greater than the blonde farmer, taking her off of the ground and flinging her into the air behind it. Applejack sailed through the air for a second, before being scooped up by the cyan pegasus.

“Thank ya kindly, Rainbow Dash.” Applejack said, sighing in relief that she currently wasn't a splat against an apple tree.

“No problem.” Rainbow flew in closer to the demonic tree. “Now, wanna give this thing one for me?”

“You bet!” Applejack grit herself, as Rainbow Dash launched her towards the body of the beast, both of her powerful hind legs extended outwards, planning to crash into it's body with a diving kick. “Yeeha – AH!” Both of her legs struck the barked cover trunk, which proved to have no give, as AJ's legs buckled against the armoured bark, causing her to yelp in pain, before plopping to the ground, no damage done to the botanical terror. “Somepony's been eatin' their share o' fertilizer.... What the heck's that bark made of?”

Twilight and Spike found herself asking the same question, the launching a barrage of purple magical bolts and puffs of emerald flames at the tree, all of which were harmlessly bouncing off the thick armour-like bark of her target. Unlike Applejack, the tree did notice this ineffective assault, and seemed not to want to risk taking any damage. Giving it's canopy a shake, several of the oversized apples rustled loose, sailing through the air in a slow, high arc. There clearly was something strange about these fruit, as the airborne apples suddenly pulsing in sizing, glowing bright red, and letting out a high whistle. Twilight, Spike and Rarity were paralysed in shock, taking a few steps back as the fruits came closer and closer.

“Look out!” Both unicorns were suddenly whisked away from the incoming apples, Fluttershy scooping Rarity up into the air and Pinkie tackling Twilight and Spike away. It proved to be the right course of action, as the fruits touched down, quickly bursting into a short column of flame.

“Thanks, Pinkie. Fluttershy.” Twilight replied, sighing in relief that she had almost been turned to ashes like the patches of grass where she had just been standing.

“No problem, but we still got more party crashers!” Pinkie pointed up to the sky, as more whistling apple bombs were raining down upon the four. Fortunately, this time, the unicorns were able to act in time. Both Twilight and Rarity casting their telekinetic magic – Rarity's aura a gentle blue – appeared around the bombs, holding them in place and letting them detonate a safe distance away from them and the Crusaders.

“Don't worry guys,” Rainbow Dash called down, still circling the tree and looking for her opening. “Just sit tight, I've got this!” The pegasus swooped down towards the thick of branches crowning the beast. She appeared behind Scootaloo, seizing the orange filly's tail in her mouth and giving a strong yank to try and pry her free from the grasp of the tendril, but the beast would not let it's prey go. After a few tugs, the tree decided that the nuisance was a bit too much for it's taste, swiping at the pegasus with one of it's claws, sending her flying tumbling away through the night's sky.

“All right, you wanna play rough, bucko!” Rainbow dash snorted while righting herself. “Then let's play rough!” She charged once again, flying close to the trunk of the monster, wings coated in razor sharp air currents, trying to slice into it. But, like Applejack and Twilight before her, Rainbow Dash was finding the bark far too thick even for her wing slashes, leaving nought but a few scratches.

“Oh, come on!” Rainbow Dash cried in exasperation, as she landed next to her friends. “Twilight, can't you just set fire to that thing? Y'know, speed up the process?”

The unicorn mage gave a grim shake of her head. “Unfortunately, no. Not without harming the girls. We just have to keep trying.”

“Everypony, look!” Fluttershy gasped, point up to the monster, which was still slowly advancing towards them at a laborious, lumbering pace. The others looked up to see that Eiji had managed to make his way up to the canopy of the demonic plant, and was currently shimmying across the tendril that held Scootaloo prisoner.

Having never seen a human before, when the orange pegasus got a look at Eiji scrambling towards her, she began to panic even more. “No! No! Stay away! Help! There's another monster living in the tree!”

“It's okay.” Eiji said, very calm and gentle, as if he was trying to coax an animal into the open. “It's okay. I'm here to help.” When the filly settled down slightly, Eiji closed the gap between them, wrapping his legs tightly around the branch and working his hands underneath the tendril, calling upon all of his might to pry them off Scootaloo, even for a moment, to form a gap to pull her out. “Almost... almost...” He pulled and strained, and finally, the oaken arm twisted off the body of the small pegasus ever so slightly. “Rainbow Dash!” He called out. “Hurry. Please!”

Moving in a rainbow blur, the cyan flyer appeared behind Scootaloo once more, seizing her tail in her mouth again. “I got her. I got her.” She mumbled through the tail, giving the younger pegasus a yank, finally freeing her from the grip of the botanical terror. “Thanks, Eiji.” She then made a dash for the ground, safely depositing the frightened Scootaloo down.

Eiji nodded in relief, quickly getting back to work. He hopped upward, grabbing hold of the branch directly above him, the one holding Apple Bloom. Fortunately, having seen Eiji's efforts to help her friend, the younger Apple sister did not panic at the sight of the human, as Eiji began to pull and tug and work at the tendril holding her captive. After another brief struggle, Eiji managed to pull her free, the earth pony wriggling out and into Eiji's arms.

“It's okay. I got you. I got you.” He reassured the frightened filly, who nodded back nervously. Unfortunately, it seemed the tree had finally taken notice of Eiji, as it reach up towards the thicket of tendrils, seizing both human and earth pony in one tremendous hand, before pitching them to the ground. Both of them sailed through the air, plummeting headlong towards solid earth, screaming in fright. Eiji made sure to have a tight grip on the filly, turning around, back facing the ground, in order to ensure he took the brunt of the fall.

The fall never came though, as Eiji found himself surround in a faint, magenta glow. He and Apple Bloom were gently lowered down to the lawn, as the magical light faded. “Thank you, Twilight.” Eiji said breathlessly, seeing that she and the others were still quite a bit away from him and the tree monster. The studious unicorn, however, did not have time to accept the gratitude of her human guest.

“Eiji, look out!”

He turned about again, seeing the beast was plucking two of the exploding apples from it's own canopy, hurling them downwards with vitriol. This time, the bombs were travelling far too fast for Rarity or Twilight look onto them with their telekinesis, the pulsating fruit barrelling toward Eiji and Apple Bloom, their loud, whining cry drowning out all other sounds. At the last moment, Eiji rolled himself atop Apple Bloom, pressing both of them close to the ground, as the two edible grenades exploded around, consuming Eiji in bright flame.

“Apple Bloom!” Applejack cried in despair.

“Eiji!” Came Twilight not long after.

The six mares, single filly, and one baby dragon all held their breath, as the column of fire began to slowly die down. No movement or sound came from them, and they assumed the worse.

“She's okay.... She's okay....”

Everyone perked up when they heard the weak call, the smoke and fire clearing, Eiji's form visible once again. Held breaths were released, as Eiji turned over onto his back, revealing Apple Bloom, shaking and covered in ash, but otherwise unharmed.

“Are you okay?” Eiji said to the young filly, as everyone rushed towards the two of them.

“Mhm...” She gave a shake nod, leading Eiji to smile in relief. “Thanks, mister...” Apple Bloom got back onto her feet and instantly leaped towards her sister. “Applejack!”

AJ gratefully embraced her sister. “It's okay. It's okay.” She cooed the frightened filly softly, stroking her hair to calm her. “You and Scoots are safe, and we'll get Sweetie Belle, just you wait.”

“I'm already on it...” All eyes were on Eiji again, as he got back to his feet, only to have them almost gave out on him. He sank to his knees, panting. Just now, everyone saw how terrible the damage was to him. His clothing was burnt and torn, revealing that the wounds he suffered in his climactic battle with Doctor Maki had reopened. The firebombs had created some new wounds along his face and arms, as well.

“Eiji, please...” Fluttershy came hovering up near the human, placing a gentle hoof on his shoulder. “You need to rest...”

“I can still help.” Eiji insisted, clambering back to his feet again, this time taking a much steadier stance. Pointing up to the still captive unicorn. “She's still in danger. I have to help!”

“You've done more than enough, Eiji.” Twilight told him, still polite, but forceful enough to get her point across. “We can handle the rest, you need to recover.” Everyone else nodded in agreement, but Eiji still looked defiant, struggling with his own desire to continue fighting and helping and the wishes of his new friends. The stubborn determination remained writ on his face for a few terse moments, before he exhaled, sinking back down to orchard grounds.

“You're right.... You're right, Twilight.” He sighed, despaired from his own lack of power. “I guess, if I'm not OOO, I can't help anyone at all. I do need the Cores...”

“Now, what kinda manure is that yer spoutin', Eiji?” Applejack said, coming up to his side. “You did more than yer fair share to give a helping hoof, er... hand. You saved my sister's life.” The farmer threw a protective arm around the young filly. “I don't think Ah could ever repay you for that.” Both Apple sisters smiled at the heroic human, who looked on at them with a little bit of stunned surprise at her gratitude.

“She's right.” Eiji craned his head around to see Scootaloo, the pegasus was slowly and cautiously approaching him. “I don't know what you are, but... thank you.” Eiji's stunned look slowly melted away to a thin smile.

“No need to thank me.” He said, quietly. “I was just trying to help.”

“And you did an amazing job.” Twilight decreed, causing the human to blush a bit. “But now, it's our turn to do some heavy lifting. C'mon girls, we need to think up a-” The unicorn was interrupted when Spike let out a belch of emerald flame, a letter appear out of the aether, as the cinders began to vanish. “A letter? Now?” Unlike most of the mail that came through Spike, this one took the form of an unsealed envelope, not a scroll.

“And it's from the Princess, too.” Said Spike, taking a hold of the envelope in his claws, quickly pulling the letter out. Everyone could see there was something heavier still remaining in the package. The little dragon cleared his throat before reading aloud, “Dear Eiji Hino. I do hope these find you well. Signed, Princess Celestia.”

Quickly, Eiji took the envelope from Spike, turning it over and spilling it's remaining contents into the palm of his left hand. To the shock of all present and sundry, most of all to Eiji, he found in his hand three large, flat coins, all pure white and rimmed in gold with images imprinted on them. One had the head of unicorn pony, another with a pegasus pony, wings spread in flight, and the last had the image of an earth pony reared up on it's hind legs. The coins seemed to pulse with a powerful light in Eiji's hands.

“Core Medals!?” Eiji exclaimed, getting back to his feet. “But where did she...” The injured human quickly realized that this was not the time for such questions. The giant tree was still lumbering towards them, Sweetie Belle still crying for a saviour. He could ask later, now he had to act.

Eiji took the Medal baring the earth pony on it and loaded it into the left most slot of his belt buckle.

“Eiji! Stop!” Twilight called, this time with a much more commanding voice. “We just had this discussion. You're far too injured to continue, so let us handle this.”

“I can do this, Twilight.” Eiji countered calmly. He took the pegasus Medal and inserted it into the centre-most slot. “With the power of OOO, I can do this.”

“Eiji, dear, please. Twilight's right.” Rarity was now pleading with him. “As much as I want my sister safe and sound by my side, there's no point in you pushing yourself like this.”

“I understand, but regardless, I have to do this.” Eiji looked around, seeing the concern writ large on everyone's faces. Ponies he had only known for a few hours, some for only a few minutes, all wanting and desiring for his well being. I found a wonderful place. I'm truly lucky. “But with the Medals I can do this. This is why I took the belt from Ankh in the first place. This is why I kept fighting as OOO, no matter how difficult it got, no matter how badly I was hurt, I kept on fighting. Because I wanted to help everyone. Because I could help everyone. Besides....” Slowly, he stepped forward, towards the fight. Towards the botanical beast and the frightened filly. “If I see someone extending their arm towards me in need, then I need to help them.” He took the unicorn Medal in his hand and flicked it into the air. “Whether they you have a hand or hoof, I have to offer my own arm towards them, otherwise, I would never be able to forgive myself.” Eiji shot his arm outwards and, with perfect timing, shut his hand into a tight fist, catching the falling Medal, before inserting it into the right and final slot on the buckle. All those around Eiji seemed to understand his desire, relenting at last, backing away from him, letting the human stand alone against the fiend.

Ankh. Wherever you are, thank you.

Pushing down on the buckle with his right hand, the box gave way, pivoting downwards at a forty-five degree angle. A strange, electronic pulse began to resonate from the buckle, startling the others, who were otherwise looking on with anticipation. With his right hand, Eiji took the circular device, he braced himself, before running the disk down the slanted buckle, simultaneously raising his left arm diagonally upward across his chest.

“Henshin!”

The images of several large Medals appeared around Eiji – red, green, yellow, grey, blue, black, orange, purple, and now – new to Eiji's sight – white. They revolved around him in three large rings; a vertical ring appeared first, the next was horizontal at his midsection, and the third by his legs, also horizontal. The rings all spun around, until they reached the White Core in their respective rotation, stopping them in front of his face, chest, and feet. During all of this, and much to the surprise of the ponies (and one baby dragon) who had never witnessed this before, the buckle began to speak in a very loud, masculine voice that seemed to have some sort of accent to it.

UNICORN!!!
TENMA!!!
KOUMA!!!

A powerful whiny erupted from the belt, as the the three White Medals came together to form one, at level with Eiji's chest, before colliding with his body. Done announcing the Medals, the device – stranger and stranger still – began to sing of all things.

Uni~ TenKo Uni~ Tenko Ma-Ah-Ah-Ah~

A bright light briefly encompassed Eiji, causing Twilight and the others to avert their gaze briefly. When the flash subsided, the others were shocked by the sight. Their new friend has vanished, or, rather, his image had altered so radically, any similarities were nonexistent.

Eiji Hino, the first human in memory to make it to Equestria, was clad in head to toe in armour, glossy, bright white over a black base suit. His legs were the most thickly armoured, particularly around his calves, and equipped with boots not dissimilar to cowboy (or cowpony, depending on where you're from) boots. His arms, in comparison, were nowhere near as heavily defensive, with only white bracers wrapped around his forearms and very tall pauldrons shaped like rounded triangles mounted to his shoulders. Angular fins, which looked impressively sharp, jutted out from the bracers, ending just behind the man's elbow. On his head, Eiji wore something of a cross between a helmet and a mask; a smooth and rounded black helm covered the entirety of his head, entirely bare in the back, while the front bore similarities to the head of a unicorn, with short equine ears coming out from the top and a unicorn's horn attached at his forehead. Sky blue compound eyes, like that of an insect's, mounted on the front of the mask/visor, allowing Eiji to see the world, while the image of a pony's muzzle, picked out against the black with white plates, completed the helm. At his chest, was a circular plate that combined elements of all three of the White Core Medals, showing the form of a regal alicorn. Lines of white extended from the chestplate, one up to the underside of the helm, one to each pauldron, and two parallel to the armour on each leg.

Needless to say, everyone around Eiji was shocked, having never seen such a dramatic transformation before, nor magic as strange or powerful. However, the shock quickly turned into awe and adoration.

“So, awesome!” Rainbow Dash squealed, as she was want to do when she witnessed something so amazing.

Scootaloo was one to agree. “I have no idea, what's happening, but I know cool when I see!” The filly declared.

“Absolutely marvellous!” Rarity proclaimed, with dramatic bravado fitting the situation, her worries about her sister put at ease with such a stunning hero on the case.

“If he's half as strong as his whole transformin' to-do is flashy, then everythin'll be fine.” Applejack declared, more to her sister than anyone else. Apple Bloom wordlessly nodded along, mesmerized by what had just occurred.

“He's not just as superhero!” Pinkie cheered, bouncing around happily. “He's a super, duper, spectacular, astonishing, amazing, uncanny, super special awesome, megamax hero! Also, that song was really neat, too!”

“Wow...” Fluttershy simply said in hushed awe.

Twilight, while still very much in awe of Eiji's transformation, was much more restrained than the others. “Eiji... this is OOO?” The unicorn has had her nose in a book ever since she could remember, but she had never even heard of magic anywhere like this. It was almost beyond her comprehension.

“It is.” Eiji replied. His voice was as calm and friendly as always, despite being armoured up for combat. “This is OOO, UniTenKo Combo.”

Turning their attention back to the monstrous tree, everyone noted that the thing was not pleased by Eiji's transformation into OOO. It shook it's canopy again, unleashing another barrage of slow-moving incendiary bombs. Eiji made no move to dodge, instead, standing his ground. The horn atop the Unicorn Head lit up with a sky blue light, the same aura surrounding the bombs, halting them mid-flight with unicorn telekinesis magic. After keeping them hanging for a brief moment, Eiji redirected the grenades downward, consuming it's legs and and lower section in raging flames. The creature reared it's whole body back, roaring in pain and anger. Returning to it's normal state, it's lower half now blackened with ash and burns, the tree snatched two of it's fruits in his branches, hurling them at high-speeds toward Eiji.

Still keep his ground, Eiji fired off two bolts of magic from his horn, these coloured midnight blue. They impacted with the fast-moving bombs in mid-air, instantly freezing them, causing the inert bombs to drop to the ground. The monster roared in frustration again, but Eiji ignored it, firing a flurry of the midnight blue shots at the fruits still resting in the canopy, freezing each and every one of them in a thick block of ice. Finally, the warrior OOO charged in, bladed arms at his side, firing more bolts of magic his horn, these neither shade of blue, but red-gold. They zoomed through the air like bullets, driving into the thick bark of the botanical beast, easily tearing straight through the armour and leaving smouldering holes. When finally within melee range of the creature, the lower of legs of the alicorn relief on the OOO armour's chest lit up, the light transferring down the parallel line and into the armour of the Kouma Legs, which likewise shone brightly for a second. Punctuated with a loud battle cry, Eiji struck the trunk of the foe with a powerful kick, a white ring flashing in the air at the point and moment of contact, while tearing and breaking into the powerful barks. More cries and kicks followed, easily shattering the defences that had proven impenetrable for the others.

Meanwhile, as Twilight and her friends were engrossed with the ease Eiji-as-OOO was having battling the friend, a new pony with a dark indigo coat and slicked back mane approached the group from, silently. His goggle-covered eyes fell upon the fight as well, more interested in the tree fiend than OOO.

“Magnificent, is it not?” He pronounced, maybe to no one, maybe to Twilight and company, maybe to just himself. Regardless of who he was speaking to, the group jumped in start, turning around to face the stranger.

“Are you talking about that tree?” Twilight asked, scrutinizing the earth pony. Much to her surprise, a bright orange light enveloped his goggles, pulling them up. This was surprising simply because there was no way this pony was a unicorn, and he had just used magic.

“I am, mademoiselle.” He said, his voice dry and monotonous, though a thin smile was spread across his face. “A living Nightmare. So long as I have waited for this moment....” His tone towards the tree was simply worshipful, but Twilight was more focused on his Cutie Mark than his words. It was exactly identical to the eye on the tree.

“Wait, did you have something to do with this?” Dash asked, angrily.

The goggled pony raised an eyebrow. “And if I did? What then?” Dash was about to reply with a retort (or a threat), but Twilight spoke up first.

“Just...who are you?”

The bizarre pony only smiled, rather amused by the question. “I... am an agent of chaos.” And with that, the bright orange light surrounded the entirety of his body, before his body dissipated in a series of bars of light.

Everyone present took a step back.

“Miss Twilight...just what was that?” Apple Bloom asked, natural childlike curiosity popping up.

“...I am not sure, Apple Bloom.” Twilight said, staring at where the magic-using earth pony had been standing a moment ago, before adding under her breath, “This night keeps getting stranger and stranger...”

Back at the battle, Eiji was still wailing on the tree's body with his powerful kicks. Growing fed up with the assault, the beat sent down several of the tendril-like branches to try and restrain the threat. Without missing a step, Eiji weaved in and out of the onslaught, swinging his arms around in powerful chopes, the edged fins on his forearms slicing through the tendrils with no issue at all.

Spinning about to sever two more tendrils, Eiji placed the sole of his boot on the trunk of the tree, before kicking off, launching himself backwards and avoiding another flurry of tendrils. Landing several feet away from the tree, Eiji came to a skidding stop, bracing himself with both legs bent. All parts of the alicorn relief flashed brightly, the energy coursing through into OOO's Tenma Arms. Suddenly, a pair of large, ethereal wings erupted from OOO's backside, shimmering brightly with an aurora of colours. Launching himself skyward, Eiji charged the tree's canopy, striking with one smooth, fluid motion from the Tenma Arm's blades, severing the tendril holding Sweetie Belle, and then scooping her up in his arms before she even began to fall.

Eiji quickly landed before Rarity, gently placing Sweetie Belle on the ground. “There you go. You're safe now.” He reassured the filly, crouched down, hands on his thighs, acting no differently from how he would normally would, despite the armour. Sweetie Belle seemed confused as to what was going on, but was still relieved that she was okay and reunited with her beloved sister.

With everyone safe and sound, Eiji leaped into the air again, wings spread, and flew to face the tree again. It's prey gone, the monster was in an even more violent mood, reaching towards OOO with one of it's claws. Not fazed even for a second, Eiji crashed into the palm of the hand with a mighty dropkick, striking the beast with enough force that it was launched off of the ground and thrown away, landing on it's back with a resounding CRASH!

“Let's end this!” Eiji declared, as he touched down again. Picking up the circular scanner from his right hip, he ran it across the buckle once more, causing the box to cry out.

SCANNING CHARGE!!!

The sky blue aura surrounded the supine monster, slowly lifting it into the air where it was left helpless, thrashing around the empty air. Six streaks of magic, three midnight blue, three red-orange, launched from the Unicorn horn, flying above the levitating tree, twisting around together to form a large, hollow cone of magical energy, a twist of blue and red, immobile in the air before the creature save for it's spinning. His wings returning, Eiji shot up into the air, now risen above even the cone, holding his elevation for a second, as three rings of white light appeared between the airborne warrior and the cone. Eiji then dove downward, charging the energy construct and tree, flipping around and leading with his legs, left foot tucked under his right knee, the right leg fully extended. As he passed through each of the rings of light, a brilliant white aura surrounded Eiji, growing with each ring passed, as he let out another powerful battle cry.

“Ooooooooo... SEIYA!!!”

Eiji charged headlong into the hollow cone, striking the tip, his momentum now causing it to to charge forward with him to strike the tree monster. The spinning cone made contact with the trunk of the beast, now acting as a drill, boring into the thick bark with ease. The monster roared in agony, still trapped in Eiji's telekinesis, unable to counter the powerful finishing blow, as chunks of wood continued to rain down from the air, the energy drill going deeper and deeper into it's body. Soon enough, the cone pierced the other side, snapping the monster in half, as Eiji rode his momentum back to the ground, the magic of the cone dissipating, and Eiji coming to a skidding stop on the slick grass, posing heroically, his vanquished enemy behind him.

The monstrous plant let out one last roar of pain and rage, it's body breaking down into tiny dark motes, vaporizing into nothing. As the beast died, one could clearly see the image of some sort of card appear in the air, before it shattered, vanishing as well, while a trained eye could see some small object fall down to the orchard's grounds.

Letting out a victorious sigh, Eiji pivoted to see the rest of his group coming over to him. He took the buckle in his hand, and returned it to it's resting position. The OOO armour greyed out, before flaking off of Eiji's body, vanishing as well. Everyone was relieved to see their new friend was okay, Twilight approaching to congratulate him, when Eiji staggered about, falling to one of his knees, and looking suddenly drained.

“Eiji!” The lavender mare exclaimed. “Are you alright?”

“Mhm.” He nodded, smiling despite the injuries on him and his own exhaustion. “It's just using a Full Colour Combo like that wears me out.” He then craned his head around. “Is anyone hurt? Twilight smiled.

“Again, just you.” Eiji showed his relief, while Twilight was about to question what he meant by “Combo” when two figures, one cyan and the other pink, darted passed her and collided into Eiji, tackling him to the ground.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!” Rainbow Dash beamed from atop Eiji's chest. “I can't even think of anything as cool as that. You gotta show me how to kick flank like that one day!”

Pinkie, also on top of Eiji at the moment, was beyond elation as well, hopping up and down before prancing in a circle next to Eiji. “At first that thing was all 'rowr'! But then it was all 'UniTenko! UniTenko!' And you went 'Not so fast, evil doer! Walking the path towards heaven, my strength will make you cry. Woooooooo.... HWACHA!'”

A flabbergast Eiji looked up at the bouncing ball of energy. “Well, I don't think that's exactly how it happened...”

“Girls, please, simmer down.” Came Twilight, calling to her overexcited friends. “Give Eiji a little breathing room.” The two did yield after that, allowing Eiji to sit up once again, only for another figure to rush up to him, though fortunately not tackling him down this time.

“Thank you! Thank you!” Rarity was near hysterics, forelegs thrown around Eiji's neck, showering her grateful praises upon the heroic human. “I don't know what I would have done if anything had happened to Sweetie Belle.” The white unicorn then planted a kiss on each of Eiji's cheeks.

The human smiled, nervous and embarrassed at the praise being heaped on him. “I just did what I could do...” He said, scratching the back of his head. Pushing off the ground with his hands, Eiji got back upright, legs a little wobbly and noodle-like, but he stayed upright.

“Are you sure you're okay Eiji?” Came Fluttershy from his side, eyes big with worry.

Eiji nodded. “I'll be okay.” The man replied.

“Thank goodness,” the butter yellow pegasus smiled and exhaled. “I was terrified you might get hurt again... but you were very brave and noble.”

Applejack agreed with a nod, before speaking up. “Well, Ah dunno about all y'all, but I think it's 'bout time we all call it quit for the night.” The farmer declared to all present, staying close by the Apple Bloom and the rest of the Crusaders. “Let's get these three settled down in bed at the farmhouse, Fluttershy can give Eiji a check-up again, and then we can finally put this night behind us...prayin' that Rainbow Dash doesn't come screamin' in, wakin' us up for a third time.”

“Sounds like a good idea, Applejack.” Twilight said, with the blonde earth pony motioning towards her home, about to lead the group, before Pinkie suddenly began to sniff at the air.

“Hey, does anypony smell anything burning?” She asked, continuously sniffing around. After she mentioned the fact, the others could indeed smell a whiff of something burning. Everyone whipped around, sniffing wildly, Eiji checking his clothing to see if any of it was still smouldering, until Pinkie approached one of the human's pockets, curiously sniffing at it.

His curiosity piqued as well, Eiji reached in and pulled out the object rooted in the pocket, unfolding his brightly coloured boxers to reveal that a massive hole had been burned into the fabric.

“My tomorrow!” Eiji wailed, far more upset now that his underwear was damaged than he was when he found out he was alone on an alien world. Wide-eyed and weary, Eiji suddenly went rigor mortis, rocking back and forth on his heels, before keeling over, falling backwards onto the ground once more.

“Good riddance!” Everyone turned to Rarity at the fashionista's proclamation. “Oh, don't get me wrong, I am beyond grateful for what he did and saving my Sweetie, but I will not shed a tear over the destruction of those wretched things.” She explained, punctuating the speech with a flip of her mane.

Pinkie suddenly burst out in a giggle fit at the absurdity of the situation, rolling around of the grass, clutching her belly. It seemed rather uncomfortable and inappropriate for the moment, no one else sure of how to react, until Eiji began to chuckle along with Pinkie, himself seeing how absurd all of this was. Soon, everyone else, mare and filly and baby dragon, joined in, enjoying in a small joy that they needed after this hectic night: a good laugh.

-O-O-O-

Cloaked within the darkness of the night, hidden away from the heroes of harmony, the strange indigo earth pony watched the scene unfold with an intent gaze. From his creature's defeat to the group bursting out into laughter for no discernible reason, he witnesses it all. Though, despite it being his own creation that had been split in two by the powerful kick of the mysterious Medal-bearing warrior, the pony showed no signs of anger or despair, or even that he was mildly bothered by this turn of events. His face was as blank and emotionless, that it might as well had been carved from stone.

“OOO, huh?” The bizarre magic-using earth pony said, again, not known if it was just to himself or to something unseen. “He and these Medals are an unforeseen twist, but it could prove to be advantageous towards your revival, Majesty.” His goggles fell down over his red eyes, once again moved by the impossible magical aura, as he glared down, specifically peering at the lavender unicorn and the human. “Enjoy this victory while you can, my little ponies and the warrior OOO. For, I promise you, this Nightmare is long and dark indeed, and it has only just begun.”

-OOO-

Author's Note

So, there we have it, this bizarre Frankenstein of a fic. I kinda feel really good about it, though I'm not used to writing for the FIM characters yet, save Twilight, so I apologize if they're kind of weak sounding. Kingdom Hearts? I've written before, so I have that down pat. Eiji and Twilight? He's the hero I ideally want to be and she's pretty much a female, unicorn version of me, so no problem on either front.

Even though they are white in series, the Equestrian Medals will be represented by pink text in the story, as the only other colour available for them would be grey/silver, which is reserved for the Heavy Animal Medals.

And I'm just realizing now that I filled this chapter with tons of references to other Kamen Rider series. Ryuki, Den-O, Faiz, Fourze, W, and Kabuto. This probably won't be a one time occurrence, knowing me.

I do admit, that our magic-wielding earth pony is really just a copy of the character Enter from Tokumei Sentai Gobusters (another awesome Yasuko Kobayashi show that look like it's gonna have an awesome finale). What can I say? Enter is a really fun and entertaining villain, and hoping our antagonist here can channel some of that.

Unicorn Medal: Arms OOO with the Unicorn Head, which grants him the power to cast telekinesis magic.

Tenma Medal: Arms OOO with the Tenma (Pegasus, lit: “Heavenly Horse”) Arms, equipping him with the Tenfa Blades attached to his forearms, allowing for powerful chop attacks. The Arms also allow OOO to glide on air currents for short periods of time.

Kouma Medal: Arms OOO with the Kouma (Earth Pony, lit: “Little Horse”) Legs. These heavily armoured legs allow OOO to deliver extremely powerful kicks that are designed to break armour and heavy defences.

UniTenKo Combo
UniTenKo Combo is OOO's Harmonious Combo, formed from the power of the White Equestrian Medals: Unicorn, Tenma, and Kouma. As UniTenKo, OOO's is has all the powers of the White Medals augmented, and is also fully capable of flight on spectral energy wings. He is also able to shoot out powerful light magic, in the form of chilling moonlight and searing sunlight. It's Scanning Charge finisher is a Rider Kick known as the Harmonious Smash, where OOO traps his foe in his telekinesis, creating a drilling cone of energy out of celestial light, charging into the cone with a flying sidekick, driving the drill into the target, tearing them to pieces.

And yes, the UniTenKo Henshin Song is to the tune of the opening lines of the Friendship is Magic theme.

So, please take a few minutes out of your lives and review. The more reviews I get, the higher chance of this turning into a regular occurring fic.

Thank you everyone, Happy Holidays to you all.