Kingdom Hearts: The Remnant

I woke slowly, letting my senses reassert themselves in short order. I was pleasantly warm, and found myself to be laying in a bed, bundled up in a blanket. My legs hung off the ledge, slightly.

Was I in a kid’s bed? Why not my own? I knew for sure I didn’t drink, and-

My eyes snapped open as my mind reviewed the memories of my recent past. My world consumed, our futile efforts to fight back against the Heartless, friends and family falling to the darkness... the dream.

I noticed the blanket was damp where my head had been. Was... was I crying? The gnawing ache below my ribcage and the fact that I couldn’t inhale with much reliability told me “yes.”

I sniffed, sat up, and shook my head. Keep it together. I looked around the warm, if slightly cramped, bedroom. It wasn’t home, but it was still here. I took a shaky breath and wrapped myself tighter.

Still here.

Still here.

I cut that line of thought off before it could blossom and get a stranglehold on the rest of my brain. I wrestled with my emotions for a time, getting a firm hold of my sadness and my remorse and my anger, and locked them up tight. I took several deep breaths, and finally opened my eyes once more. Now, there’s the question:

...Where was here, exactly?

I slid the blankets off of me before climbing out of the bed, and looked around. Next to the bed was a small basket, assumedly for the owner’s pet. There was a nightstand with an actual oil lamp, bookshelves jam-packed with hardcover books, and a set of double doors leading to a balcony was set into the left wall. Interestingly enough, I saw no seams or nails- it appeared as if the entire structure was cut into a tree.

There was one other exit, revealing a set of stairs leading to a floor below. Beyond it, someone was talking.

I could either sit here, sulk, and run the risk of committing emotional suicide, or I could distract myself with petty eavesdropping.

...Yeah, it didn’t take me long to decide, either.

I quietly nudged the door a bit further open and made my way down the staircase. Whoever was talking sounded awfully familiar. But that was a dream, right? There was no way... Oh. Well, then. I suppose there was a way.

As I climbed down the stairs, the living room/book depository came into full view. In the middle, surrounded by a multitude of books, was Twilight Sparkle. Offhandedly, I wondered if she could still do the “white phosphorous demon” thing in real life. Probably not. She was holding an animated discussion with a rather young someone I couldn’t see.

Many of the books were wrapped in the same purple/pink aura I had seen from the dream. Every so often, one would fly off and slide itself into one of the shelves, while another took its place in front of her face.

“Do you think he’s a Slender?” the boy asked, rattling something porcelain or metal in another room.

“No, I’ve checked already,” Twilight grumbled, flipping through another tome. “He’s way too tan, and way too short.”

Tan? I looked at myself. Sure, I wasn’t exactly pasty, but “tanned” was generous.

“Maybe he’s like a Satyr or a really skinny Minotaur?”

“I checked those before I checked ‘Slender’. His legs don’t even bend the right way.”

“Maybe he’s a Gorilla?”

“Nope. Not enough hair.”

“An Orangutan?”

“Not nearly enough hair.”

“Well, maybe he’s like a weird mammal-dragon. Ooh, that’d be neat!”

“Calm down, Spike. I’ve already checked, and he doesn’t have wings or a fire gland. He’s no dragon.”

“Phooey.”

I considered whether or not to feel violated. Where exactly was the fire gland on a dragon located, and how exactly does one go about checking for it?

“Maybe he’s a human, like that ‘Margham,’ or ‘Mayhap’, or whoever from that medieval history book.”

“Oh, that’s ridiculous. Sure, he’s got the same general build, but his hair’s much too short. Plus he doesn’t have those odd frontal chest-mound thingies.”

Alright, that tears it.

“Yeah, about that,” I said, deciding to reveal myself to Twilight and this “Spike” fellow. “I’m a guy. We don’t typically have ‘frontal chest mound thingies.’”

“Oh! Hello, there,” she said, floating another book away and smiling at me. “You’re up and about sooner than we expected.”

“Yeah, I...” I glanced around at the wooden decor, slightly lost. “...had nightmares.” I looked down at Twilight, who had her nose buried in another book. “Where are we?”

“We’re in my home, at Ponyville Golden Oaks Library,” she said, glancing at what was apparently a fascinating bit of information. “That’s easy. The hard question is ‘why?’”

“Why what?”

“Why you’re here,” she said, standing and floating the book to yet another shelf. “I’m researching species that look similar to you and the homeworlds thereof. You implied you were a-”

“A human,” I interrupted. “And yes, I am.”

I heard something click-clacking on the wooden floor behind me.

“Wow,” said Spike. “He’s a lot taller when he’s standing up.”

I turned around, ready to make full use of my incredible wit and intelligence.

Spike was a lizard in a frilly apron, carrying a tea tray.

“Fff-bwuh,” I said, with much wit and intelligence.

“Rend,” said Twilight, “this is Spike. He’s my assistant here at the library.”

“Hi!” said Spike. “Nice to meet you. Want some tea?” he asked, motioning with the tray. “It’s Earl Grey.”

“Hot?” I asked.

“I’d be a pretty bad assistant if I made cold tea,” he said, chuckling. He trotted his frilly apron (It had a pink heart on it) and his tray to a nearby table and started pouring.

Twilight floated yet another book from one of the shelves and flipped through it, this one boasting a red cloth cover. “Ah. So, are you from Moebius, then?”

Where?

“Where?”

“One lump or two?” Spike asked.

“None,” said Twilight.

“One,” I said. “Whatever this ‘Morbius’ place is, I’m pretty sure I’m not from there.”

“I see. Sera?”

“No.”

“Helghan?”

“Are you making these up?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No,” she said, looking vaguely offended. “This a compendium of known alien species and their homeworlds,” she said, closing the book and levitating it in front of my face. Sure enough, the title read Hal Archer’s Big Book of Xenogeography: Worlds of Wonder, and What Inhabits Them. The cover depicted a ring of planets, each a different color. One, in particular...

“Here.” I pointed to the one with the familiar landmasses, depicted in metallic silver. Twilight floated the book back to herself, a quizzical look on her face.

“Ah!” she said, brightening up immensely. “Praeter! I’ve read about this one.”

“Oh?”

God dammit, self, you had to say “Oh.” Now she’s going to read it out loud and it’s going be a bunch of stuff you heard in history class.

No it isn’t, said a more positive part of my brain. An outsider’s view on our world might be interesting, you don’t know.

“Praeter,” Twilight read. “Class: G, full sphere world. History: four thousand years. Supported life chemistry: Ponylike.”

Well, that’s interesting, I thought, taking the teacup Spike was offering me. Let’s see if she can keep it up.

“Praeter was discovered in 899 PNE by the interplanetary explorer Scavatore. Like certain other planets of its kind, Praeter is inhabited by Humans, a bipedal mammalian species of Ponylike diet, social structure, and disposition. Praetorians are a prosperous race of Humanity, given to large-scale city projects and mass industrialization, as evidenced by their largest and most advanced settlement at the time of Pony explorers’ most recent visit: the fortress-city of Hyalus.”

Hyalus. I seem to recall that name. If I remember right, they’d just finished tearing the last of it down to make room for a new intercity highway. How recent was this book?

“Praeter is expected to make the jump from local to inter-world exploration in the next decade. Stated Royal policy is to extend a greeting to whomever these Praetorian explorers are and aid them in their journey across the cosmos.”

“Might want to put a rain check on that,” I said.

“Oh?” She looked up, confused.

“Praeter’s gone. Remember?”

She looked away, apparently trying to remember when I’d told her this.

“I told you in the dream -- Heartless ate it.” I ground my teeth and silently promised not to get explodey about it. “Just found the heart of the world and gobbled it up. I’m pretty sure you’re the only reason I’m alive right now.”

She winced. “I’m... sorry. All I remember about that dream was you and the monster. Nothing else.”

“Well, to be fair, all I remember is you, the monster, and you being on fire for some reason,” I replied.

Spike had done away with his emasculating apron and sat down on a small stool. I turned my head and gave the little guy a closer look. He was mostly purple in coloration, like Twilight, but had a tannish underbelly, stood upon two legs, and had green spines running up his back. He also had very large, green, reptilian eyes, offset by the fact that he hardly looked menacing at all.

Come to think of it, hardly anything in this library felt dangerous, even despite the knowledge that Twilight’s magic could probably tear me in half without much effort on her part. Morbid thoughts aside, I broke the ensuing silence once more, “Well, we know what I am now. But what are you guys? Who are you guys? What world is this?”

Twilight gathered herself up, smiling. “You’re currently in the world of Equus, in the principality of Equestria...” I had to suppress a chuckle despite myself. Of all the names for a world populated with horses... “...in the town of Ponyville.”

I lost it. I tried not to spray Earl Grey everywhere as I burst out laughing. “A” for effort, in any case.

“What’s so funny?”

I had to wait a few seconds to catch my breath. “You... Every name you just gave me is either a pun about horses or just sticks horse-related words where horse-related words don’t belong. ‘Ponyville?’ Seriously?”

“I take it there wasn’t a ‘Humanburg’ on Praeter.”

That got me laughing again. “No, but I remember something in geography class about an ‘Isle of Man.’ So you’ve got me there.”

Twilight’s smile was a little forced, now, but she continued anyways. “As I was saying, you’re in the town of Ponyville...”

She explained most of the details of my new temporary lodging. She told me about the nation of Equestria, who she and a few of her friends were -- look up the Elements of Harmony, it’s neat stuff -- and who the Princesses Celestia and Luna were. To tell you the truth, I highly doubted magic as strong as was ascribed to these two could even exist, but she knew them better than I did. Quite a lot better, from the sounds of things.

She went so far as to tell me about her being Celestia’s student, learning about magic and friendship (and the magic of friendship, apparently) while away from Canterlot, the capital city nestled in the mountains nearby. Spike was eager to tell me about the ‘wonders’ of the place, if you could call a donut shop a wonder.

On that note, my stomach, neglected as it was, made an ungodly noise that made the three of us lapse into silence and stare at the spot on my abdomen where the offending organ presumably was..

***

Let me tell you about daisy sandwiches.

No, seriously. “Daisy” isn’t some cutesy nickname or anything. We’re talking, literally, two pieces of bread with flower petals between them. Sometimes you add mayo and/or salt, depending on which color daisy it is. And you never ever mix blue and the white daisies.

Have I mentioned that this sandwich is also sinfully delicious?

I was halfway through my second one, a surprisingly tangy and savoury blue-petal tartine, slathered in some form of jelly that had a bite like it had been on the vine that morning. I finally stopped once I realized that my hosts had stopped eating and were eyeing me with interest and amusement.

“What’s so funny?” I asked, putting my sandwich down after my self-consciousness kicked in.

“Oh, nothing,” said Twilight. “I guess you weren’t lying about not having eaten.”

Spike was less polite. “Dude, we should put him against Pinkie and take bets.”

“That was a bad idea the last three times we tried it, Spike.” She turned back to me. “Speaking of bad ideas, are you sure you’re okay with all veggies? I’ve seen your, ah, canines.”

“I don’t own a dog,” I mumbled around a mouthful of daisy, jelly, and bread.

“No, your canine teeth. The pointed ones.”

“Oh, those.” I took another bite. “Well, as you can see, I have successfully overcome my evolutionary history and embraced plant matter.” I placed a hand on my chest and said, a little too seriously, “My teeth do not define who I am.”

Twilight stifled a giggle. Oh God, as if the sandwich wasn’t giving me enough sugar already. I swore from then on never to reveal the effect the average pony had on me. Bad enough they could send me into diabetic shock on accident, I didn’t want one putting me under mind-control with a single well-placed pout.

I finished the sandwich, decided that asking for a third would be asking too much. My stomach then decided to make its position known on the matter of what qualified as “too much.”

“That was delicious,” I said. “Do we have any more?”

“Nope,” Twilight said, peeking into the cupboard. “Fresh out. And there won’t be any more until someone-” she gave Spike a significant look, “-swings by the market like he said he would.”

The little lizard chuckled, scratching the back of his head. “Ah, yeah. I should probably get around to that some time, shouldn’t I?”

“I could go with him,” I offered.

Twilight gave me an uncertain look. “You’re sure? You only just woke up, and-”

“Nah, I’m fine. I could use the leg room. This place is giving me claustrophobia.”

“Still, it might not be the best idea. You’re just planning on walking out there without giving anypony any warning? What if they’re scared of you?”

Spike gave a dismissive razz. “Please. Weird stuff happens in Ponyville every day. Most of it way scarier than this guy.”

“Yeah, I-” My brain processed what Spike had just said. “Hey!”

***

It was weird.

Intellectually, I knew that there was a world outside of the library. There had to be. Where else would Celestia live? Where would these Element Bearers I’d heard so much about be? The name Ponyville did, in fact, mean something, but it was a name without a face until I opened the library’s front door and looked it in the eyes.

“Idyllic” was the first word that came to mind. The library was near the edge of town, which gave me a full panoramic view of one hundred percent quiet, peaceful, out-of-the-way homeliness. I could see plenty of ponies trotting to and fro through the streets, every last one happy or at least content-looking, and every one colored like an Easter egg.

“Uh, hey. You alright?”

“Uhh, yeah. I was just looking at... at everything.”

“Oh.” He smiled and started walking. I followed, keeping my eyes mostly on the scenery. “Yep, Ponyville is a pretty nice place, if you can stomach the occasional musical number. It’s quiet most of the time -- actually made me think I wouldn’t like it here, you know? Thought I’d get bored. But really, stuff happens all over if you know where to look!”

We passed another house, quite like the others. It sported a thatched roof and was highlighted in a surprisingly not-eye-searing pink. More strikingly, to me at least, it wasn’t disintegrated. Or rotting like it was trapped in a time-lapse video. Or being torn to shreds by Heartless. Or...

“Hey, are you okay?”

I shook my head. “What?”

“You were looking kinda zoned out there.”

“No, I’m...” I shook myself. “Fine. I’m fine.”

As we continued walking and Spike continued to extoll the virtues of Ponyville’s pleasant isolation, I kept looking at every house we passed, each one untouched.

Each one intact.

Perfect.

Alive.

There was life here.

Intellectually, I knew that nothing had descended upon Ponyville and eaten it whole, like some other place I didn’t want to think about at the moment. But that hadn’t stared me in the face until I’d looked out and stared back into it. It scared me.

Not the life. The life here was beautiful. What scared me was the fact that I’d only just seen a world much like this one bleed and convulse and die, without so much as a how do you do. It happened to me. It could happen here. When I looked at the bright, vibrant landscape of Ponyville, I was not just scared.

I was terrified.

“Are you sure you’re okay, dude?”

I turned back to Spike and smiled. “Yeah, I’m good. Just admiring the scenery.”

My wellspring of fear and panic and sorrow was forcefully shoved into a lockbox. It was wrapped in chains made of the hardest purified fuckyoutonium and thrown into a river. Not now. I’m busy. I breathed a sigh of relief once the gnawing in my chest had dulled down and I could breathe normally again.

“So!” I near-shouted, causing the purple dragon to jump. “What’s first on the list? I’m not exactly familiar with Equestrian wares.”

“Alright, let’s see... first is... hay.”

“Hey, what?”

“No, hay. The plant.”

“What?”

“Seriously. You can make all kinds of stuff out of it. Hayburgers, hayfries, hay soup, sauteed hay, pan-seared and sauced hay...”

We entered the marketplace proper as Spike continued rattling off the list of dishes that contained dried grass in them. I confess, “hay au gratin” sounded pretty good, if the daisies were anything to go by. And if that didn’t work, anything fried tastes good.

To their credit, the ponies around us didn’t seem scared. Just curious. The sheer number of eyes turned on me wigged me out just a bit, but eventually the crowd’s attention dissolved and I could focus on Spike’s list of dishes again. That kid knows his hay.

“...hay chips, hay bacon, gryphon-fried hay patties.... huh, that’s about it.”

I whistled. "And that's just dead grass. I'm almost afraid to ask what you guys do with fruit."

The baby dragon raised a claw and inhaled.

"Save it! We're here," I intercepted.

I made it a point to pay as much attention as I could to how the businesses worked. The currency consisted of a single gold coin called a ‘bit.’ I half-jokingly asked if they had any bigger denominations. ‘Bridles,’ perhaps. Spike looked at me like I was some sort of crazy person.

Moving swiftly on, we made a circuit of the plaza, snapping up everything on the list... and one gem. I wondered aloud why gems this size and quality were being sold in an open-air market and not, say, in a plexiglass case. Spike responded by biting into it like it was a ripe pear. Judging from the look on his face as he dug in, it had the texture and flavor of one.

I bought a ruby the size of a rhinestone and tried it myself. Chipped a tooth on the first bite, but it’s serving me as a hard candy to this day, like a really pretty Jolly Rancher. Sounds weird, but it’s really about on par with the daisy sandwiches. I was getting used to weird pretty fast.

“Howdy, Spike! Hey, there, stranger. You from out of town?”

I was snapped from my reverie on weirdness by yet another example of same. An orange pony surrounded by red apples, tipping her cowboy hat at me.

A cowboy hat.

...Was I dead, and the afterlife was just screwing with me? It would explain a lot.

“Uhh, howdy,” I said, subconsciously reaching to copy her gesture before I realized I had no hat. “Yeah, I’m not from around here. Name’s Rend. Nice to meet you, Miss...?” I shuffled the groceries in my arms and reached a hand out.

“Applejack,” she said, sticking her hoof in my open hand and shaking it. “Likewise.”

“And let me guess, you sell... apples?”

She made a mock gasp of surprise. “Goodness me, however did ya find that out?”

“Call it an educated guess.” Ye gods, look at all these apples. My arms started to hurt more just thinking about carting it all the way here from... well, from anywhere. Speaking of which...

“Well, nice to make your acquaintance, but me and Spike here have to run. We have to drop these off at the library before either A, I drop dead of hunger or B, my arms fall off.”

“Oh, yer headed that way? Ah was just about to pop over mehself. Y’all mind if I tag along?”

“Not at all.”

“Alright, then.” She stuck two front hooves in her mouth and whistled. That... that wasn’t how sticking an appendage in your mouth to whistle worked, but whatever. We’ll roll with it.

A rather big specimen of the Equestrian species lumbered over from a shaded spot near one of the cafes bordering the plaza. The quite large pony sat down at Applejack’s spot at the booth while she trotted around and relieved me of a couple of my bags.

Did I mention he was big? I had about five inches on the guy, but if he so much as gave me a stern look, I think I’d fall over.

“Ah’ll just be a minute, Big Mac. Y’all know what t’do until Ah get back.”

“Eeyup,” the stallion replied, in a relaxed bass voice. He didn’t even bat an eye at me, instead opting to chew lazily on the haystalk sticking out of his mouth.

Wow, stand-in meat, potato substitute, and now tobacco replacement. Hay really could do anything.

Our party of three made our way back to the library, chatting for a while. Applejack wasn't all that prodding with her questions, thankfully. The library’s main room was empty, as was the kitchen. We gave a collective shrug and began unloading our assorted cargo.

Applejack gave the place a quick once-over. “Now where in Equestria is Twilight? Came all th’ way over to see ‘er and now she up and disappears.”

“Twilight?” Spike called. “You in here?”

“I’m up here, Spike!” she replied, from somewhere upstairs. A flash from the hall doubly confirmed her presence. We summited the stairs to find Twilight's room in a mess, her horn aglow and a focused expression on her face. The bed was shoved to one side and the bookshelves were haphazardly stacked together on the other.

“Uhh, Twi,” Applejack said, “What’re ya doin’?”

“I am investigating,” her horn pulsed, “the circumstances surrounding Rend’s arrival here.”

“Yeah, Ah figured he wasn’t one o’ the natives. You kin tell from th’ accent.”

“Hey, I don’t have a...! Oh. That was a joke.”

Applejack just rolled her eyes.

Spike shrugged and started back down the stairs. “Not even dark and she’s already opening holes in the fabric of reality. I’ll be downstairs sorting groceries if anyone needs me.”

“Be sure and leave out the rice and green pepper!” Twilight called, still in the magicking position. “I’ve been meaning to try out that new recipe.”

Was this a routine for them?

“I see you folks are kind of hard to surprise.”

“Nah. We’ve just gotten used to, you know, Twilight, magic, odd things happenin’. It’d be pretty silly if I lost my marbles every time something weird happened in this town.”

Ah, right. Sort of sitting in the crucible of oddity. I forgot.

“Speakin’ of weird stuff happenin’, that’s why I’m here. Twilight, some o’ the trees in th’ orchard got another o’ them, uh, magicky infections.”

“Did you try the herbicide I made you?” she asked, not looking away from a very interesting point in the air in front of her.

“Yup.”

“How about the ether-b-gone?”

“Didn’t work.”

“Beardo scrubbing sparks?”

“That just made it worse.”

“And you’re sure you’ve exhausted every alternate approach and I have to stop my observations.”

“‘Fraid so.”

Twilight gave a small huff and flicked her horn off. The subtle, luminous tree-root pattern floating in the air faded from view, only noticeable now that it was gone. She turned and followed AJ down the stairs.

“So, uhh...” I started, feeling a bit lost. “What am I supposed to do?”

“You can either stay here and read books or come with us on slime mold duty. Your choice.”

I feel slightly embarrassed that it took me more than five seconds to decide.

***

Apples.

Apples as far as the eye could see and then some.

As many apples as there were stars in the sky.

Applefinity.

So many goddamned apples.

“I think I believe you now when you say he’s a city boy, Twilight.” I had all but forgotten my tour guides.

“Apples,” I said. “It’s like one of those paintings where the eyes follow you. No matter where I look, I’m looking at an apple.”

“Eeeeeyup, he’s a city boy.”

“How are they staring at me? They’re judging me! I’m being judged by freaking fruit!” I waved my arms in the air to stress my point.

Applejack laughed, and Twilight giggled. I crossed my arms and lowered my gaze from the oppressive red demons.

“Not too far now,” AJ said, pointing a hoof straight ahead.

I noticed that the area around here was decidedly gloomy. The sun wasn’t peeking through the foliage overhead, and the shade was cool and damp. No wonder there was moss.

Wait, moss?

This must have been the infection, then. Out a half-mile or so from the Apple homestead was a patch of diseased-looking trees, their bark a pale tan compared to the rich, deep brown of their neighbors. Around the roots and in nooks and crannies in the bark was a frothy-looking black moss that glimmered with an unsettling oily sheen.

Twilight lit her horn again and peered towards the infected areas. The fungus collectively shrank back, sinking into the bark as if it were recoiling from a great heat. She cut the light and it swelled back out again.

“...Yeah, Beardo scrubbing sparks aren’t going to do much against this stuff. Actually, I’ve never seen this species before. And you say it just sprang up?”

“Over the course of a couple a’ nights, yeah.”

“It doesn’t seem to like the light all that much. You think if we thin out the canopy, it’ll die off?”

“No can do. Y’see all these thicker branches? These are old, old trees. No telling how many good fruit-bearing branches I’d have to chop off if I wanted to let the light in. I’d probably end up saving these four trees and killing the dozen or so around ‘em! And that’s assumin’ the light kills ‘em and doesn’t just make ‘em, y’know, hide.”

I scratched the back of my head. “Well, uh. Damn. I got nothing.”

Twilight gave a small grin. “I think I have an idea.”

***

So that’s why we were there again four hours later, after sundown.

The mood of the place went from unsettling to a bit disturbing in that amount of time. I always felt like there was something in my peripheral vision, just out of sight or hiding in the shadows. As a matter of fact, I’d had that sensation a lot right before- No. Not now. Go away.

“Rend.... Rend! You okay?”

I blinked. I was leaning against one of the trees for some reason. Applejack was looking back at me, worried.

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’m... I’m good.”

“If the walk’s makin’ ya dizzy, we could always take a breather.”

“What? No, I’m not dizzy, just...” I looked up at the moon barely making itself visible through the gradually thickening leaf ceiling. “...just really wigged out.”

AJ’s look lingered for a bit, before she turned back to the trail. “If’n ya say so...”

I had the feeling she wasn’t convinced, but at least she was letting it go for now.

We were fast returning to the poisoned batch of trees. And make no mistake, it had upgraded from “disease” to “poison” as night fell.

The moss had almost tripled in thickness and mass, stretching out of the wood and coating the bark in ugly black fungus. AJ winced. From what she’s told me, these trees were almost like pets to her. I understood the sentiment... sort of.

The trees were nearly covered in the infection, and wherever the light from Twilight’s horn thinned, the moss returned with a vengeance. I felt like I was being watched.

“You said you had an idea, sugarcube?”

“Ah, yes.” Twilight stopped in the rough center of the infected area. “As you can see, the fungus swells in the absence of sunlight and magelight. Since it can’t simply be phasing through the wood, we can only assume that it does indeed increase in size whenever it is in shadow.”

“Alright, so what’s the point of all this?” AJ asked, giving a nearby fungus patch the stinkeye.

“The point is that you’ve been trying to spray this stuff dead during the day, when it had minimum surface area and could absorb little, if any, of the poison. At this hour, a jug of Beardo should take this stuff right off.” She levitated said jug out of a deep bag on her side. It held a smoky liquid filled with tiny flakes of a yellow-green substance. “Now, be warned, to get the most effect out of this, I’ll have to cut my light. You two don’t trip on anything.”

The light on her horn winked out.

Now, let’s get one thing straight. I do not have a fear of the dark. That’s stupid. I have a fear of getting attacked and eaten by something I can’t see because of the dark, which makes perfect evolutionary sense. That, and it had almost happened to me the other da- NO. Not thinking about it. Stop. Focus. What was that noise.

clinkclinkclinkclink

...The hell was that noise?

Shinkshinkshisnksh-

...Hell was that noise.

“Twilight?” I quavered.

The sounds of planned mass herbicide stopped. “Hmm?”

“We are not alone.”

There was a small yellow light in the distance, visible between the outlines of two trees. Off to the right were two more. And another, behind those. I decided now was a good time to panic. I turned, intent on putting as much distance between me and the lights as possible. Of course, there were more that way. And every way I looked, in fact. Dozens of yellow lights slowly creeped toward us -- dozens of Heartless eyes, visible in the pitch black orchard.

I began to feel lightheaded. I heard people running. Screaming. Awful things with those damned yellow eyes, murdering and destroying without purpose - without thought. It was like surviving an earthquake only to die in the aftershock. For a second, I wasn’t in the orchard at all. I was fleeing a tidal wave of fanged shadow through a collapsing city - my city - and slowly being overrun.

Twilight and AJ were yelling something. I wasn’t listening. The eyes advanced, and I started backpedaling.

I collided with a tree trunk, my feet instinctively working despite their lack of traction. I slid to the ground. The eyes slowly approached and loomed over me. It had skin like tar, and a mouth filled with dripping ebon teeth. It was armored in rusted, pitted steel, and its fingers were sharpened into stabbing, slicing claws.

I desperately reached behind me for something to grab onto to pull myself to safety. Anything to get away from it. I’d do anything if only I didn’t have to stare into the face of pestilence, famine, war, and death for another second. Anything. Please...

My hand gripped something half-stuck in the dirt. I pulled. Whatever it was, it came loose and connected solidly with the clawed arm the monster was lowering towards me. I heard a muted crack, and the visage of doom hissed and retreated for a second.

I just broke a Heartless Knight’s arm with a tree branch. Therefore, went my thought processes, I could likely break several other things.

I rose to my feet as my attacker cradled its pulverized limb. It looked at me with that soulless, unemotive gaze. It hissed again.

In the corners of my vision, I saw light and motion and a dozen other shapes moving, some in color and some inky black. I ignored them. Right now, it was me and the Knight of the Shattered Humerus.

I hefted my “weapon” in front of me. It was good, thick, and heavy -- it had to be, to survive breaking bones. I was never that good at sparring. I preferred to shoot things, given half a chance. At the present moment, I’d take what I could get.

The Knight rushed me again, favoring the arm in which the bones were not fine powder. I ducked under its swipe and planted a beautiful upward strike on its chin. Its head jerked back and, with a crispy snapping noise, it went still.

A tiny speck of light burst from its chest and floated upwards, disappearing into the canopy above. Its prone body shuddered and dissolved, melting into the shadows.

I’d killed it.

I, Rendynn Spire, had just killed my first Heartless with a tree branch to the face.

I started laughing. Odd, high-pitched, disbelieving. It couldn’t be that easy. It had to be out there, still. I hadn’t truly beaten it, had I? It was out there - watching - waiting. As if it could fool me.

I heard Twilight yell something again. I paid attention to the world around me for the first time in... what, a minute? Two minutes? How time does fly.

A mob of Knights had formed in the clearing, surrounding us on all sides. Applejack was a demon, jumping from dodge to kick to re-dodge to eye-watering kick to the groin in the space of seconds. Twilight leveled blast after tank-grade blast of pure distilled “fuck you” at the encroaching horde, taking out two and three at a time but still being pressed back.

And I was just standing here holding a tree branch. This would not do.

I saw a Knight Twilight had missed, slowly approaching from her blind spot. Not just any Knight, I realized. That stare. Those soulless eyes. I’d just finished driving it away, and here it was again. I started running.

I’ve only just found them, you inky bastard, I’m not letting you take them too.

“TWILIGHT, DUCK!” I bellowed.

She thankfully did, dodging what may have otherwise been a decapitating blow. I vaulted over her, bringing the branch of great justice down on the Knight’s shoulder. I heard a clavicle make a noise like a wishbone. I saw my target’s shoulder blade go at an angle shoulder blades should not go at.

Fool me once, you shadowy asshole. I knew he wasn’t gone. He was still here, somewhere. I felt him watching me.

Why can’t I get him to stop watching me.

“Are you okay, Twilight?”

“I could ask you the same,” she muttered, climbing to her hooves and utterly annihilating another cluster of Heartless nearby. “You look like you’re about to be sick.”

Now that you mentioned it, a dry heave was starting to sound pretty good right now...

“I’ll be fine. I’m just - AJ, look out!”

I didn’t need to waste my breath. Applejack rolled out of the way of a tackle, rearing up and turning the offending Knight’s cranium into paste.

“What are these things!?” she cried, dodging another attacker and bucking it face first into a tree.

“Heartless,” I said. “They’re the reason I’m here now. And now that they’re here... oh, God...”

“We can worry about that later!” Twilight snapped. “Go help AJ!”

I snapped out of it and quickly made my way to Applejack, who was doing a great job at making Heartless jam.

He was there again. I managed to take out his legs before he disappeared once more.

I was starting to get frustrated. AJ and Twilight were making mincemeat out of all these Heartless, and I couldn't even take care of one. No matter how many times I knocked him down, I’d see him again. That same gaze that burned the back of my eyelids. He was after me. I knew it. He wanted to finish what he started back on Praeter.

Not here, too. I’d kill him before I let that happen. As many times as it took, as many bones as I had to break, I’d stop him.

The fight wore on for another hour before we finally dispatched the last one. Twilight had gotten about forty or fifty. AJ had stomped maybe twenty. I’d gotten one. Just one, but I’d gotten him.

I watched as the Knight dissolved under the moonlight filtering through the tree branches.

Not here too, you bastard.

I stopped you.

I finally stopped you.

My throat felt like shit. Something wet was on my face. Something acidic clawed at my diaphragm, screaming too little, too late.

You got him, but that won’t bring anyone back.

“Twilight,” I mumbled. “I’d really like to go home now.”

***

The door to the Library was bathed in an indigo glow before opening up and allowing us entry. Twilight dragged a groggy Spike out of his little basket-bed and had him assist me in making myself not look like I had gone through a blender. In the light of the living room, I found that AJ and Twilight weren’t unscathed either. Applejack had a multitude of tiny cuts and bruises from lucky shots that made it past her dodging, and Twilight’s eyes lacked the energy they had this morning. Both of them were wobbly.

I tried to deny their ministrations, insisting that Spike help them, first. Then they mentioned the fact that I was coughing up a little bit of blood while doing so. I was too tired to argue.

While they had no guest rooms, but Twilight did have a cot that was thankfully large enough for me. I was laid down in it and told to have a good night’s rest. As my back hit the soft blanket, I found my eyes drooping. I heard two sets of hooves retreat, and a door shutting.

The last thing in mind before sleep took hold was how... concerned... they looked.

***

Ponyville was considered a pleasant sight in the morning, when ponyfolk were abuzz with their business and the general feeling of relaxed cheer permeated the air. At night, however, the chatter of ponies was replaced with the chirping of crickets, and Celestia’s radiant sun was replaced by the pale visage of the moon, bathing the town in its cool light.

It was something both Twilight and Applejack could enjoy, had they not had a certain newcomer on their minds. The unicorn and earth pony were taking the dirt road back towards the Acres, where Twilight was to remove the dark fungus before more Heartless could show up.

Applejack was the first to speak.

“Twi?”

“Yes?”

“Ah want you to tell me about that boy. Ah knew somethin’ was up the moment Ah first saw ‘im.”

Twilight frowned. “I don’t think we should-”

The farmpony cut her off, snorting. “Twi. He fought like he had everythin’ to lose, like a wounded animal

“Hurt?”

“Yeah. He had the eyes of a dyin’ pony, even before we fought those varmints. He would smile, and he would laugh, but if ya saw his eyes... y’kin tell he was anythin’ but happy. An’ then there’s that thing he said about his world. He’s an alien, right? What happened, Twi? Why is he here? Why were those Heartless things here?

Applejack’s voice was getting a bit louder than most nightly strolls went for.

Twilight’s ears twitched, then flattened against her head. She looked at Applejack, then back at the library. She sighed and hung her head.

“I don’t know,” she said, staring at the cobblestone passing beneath her. “I get the feeling tonight was just the start of something nopony is prepared for. I don’t know if Rend started it, or if he’s a victim of it, or if he’s just a coincidence, but he’s here now. And I can’t just throw him out on account of extenuating circumstances.”

“No offense to the man, Twi, but these here circumstance are pretty darn extenuatin’.”

“I know.” She straightened back up, determined.“Which is why as soon as your trees are cured, I’m coming back to do what I do best.”

“Magic?”

“Close,” Twilight chuckled, smirking. “Study.”